The Compleat Angler 



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we know were all fishers, with the glorious language and high 

 metaphors of St. Paul, whom we may believe was not. 



And for the lawfulness of fishing : it may very well be maintained 

 by our Saviour's bidding St. Peter cast his hook into the water and 

 catch a fish, for money to pay tribute to Caesar. And let me tell 

 you that angling is of high esteem and of much use in other nations. 

 He that reads the voyages of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, shall find, that 

 there he declares to have found a king and several priests a-fishing. 



And he that reads Plutarch shall find that angling was not con- 

 temptible in the days of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, and that 

 they, in the midst of their wonderful glory, used angling as a prin- 

 cipal recreation. And let me tell you, that in the Scripture, angling 

 is always taken in the best sense, and that though hunting may be 

 sometimes so taken, yet it is but seldom to be so understood. And 

 let me add this more, he that views the ancient ecclesiastical canons, 

 shall find hunting to be forbidden to churchmen, as being a turbu- 

 lent, toilsome, perplexing recreation ; and shall find angling allowed 



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