38 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART i. 



but this observation ; Aat-he^that shall read thehumble. lowly, 

 plain-style of that jDrojjhet, and compare>itLwith the high, glorious, 

 ejbquent style-oCthej)ropriet Isaiah (though They boTirbe^equally 

 true), may easily believe Amos to be, not only a shep)ierd r but a 

 good-natured, plain fisherman. Which I do the rather believe, 

 by comparing the affectionatf^ loving Inw1y 1 humble epistles of 

 Peter, St. Tames, and St. John, who 



fisliers, with the glorious language andhigh metaphors of St. 



Arid for the lawfulness of fishing: it may very well be 

 maintained by our Sav?ou?s~l3iddiiig 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 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 

 contemptible in the days of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra, and 

 that they, in the midst of their wonderful glory, used angling 

 as a principal 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 for- 

 bidden to churchmen, as being a turbulent, toilsome, perplexing 

 recreation ; and shall find angling allowed to clergymen, as being 

 a harmless recreation a recreation that invites them to con- 

 templation and quietness. 



I might here enlarge myself by telling you what commenda- 

 tions our learned Perkins bestows on angling: and how dear 

 a lover, and great a practiser of it our learned Doctor Whittaker 

 was, as indeed many others of great learning have been. But I 

 will content myself with two memorable men, that lived near to 

 our own time, whom I also take to have been ornaments to the 

 art of angling. 



The first is Doctor Nowel, some time Dean of the Cathedral 



