64 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



contemptible in the days of Mark Antony 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 Scrip- 

 ture, 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 turbulent, toilsome, perplexing recrea- 

 tion ; and shall find angling allowed to clergymen, as being a 

 harmless recreation a recreation that invites them to contem- 

 plation 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 Dr Whitaker f 

 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 Dr Nowel, sometime Dean of the cathedral church 

 of St Paul's, in London, where his monument stands yet undefaced 

 a man that, in the reformation of Queen Elizabeth, (not that of 

 Henry VIII.) was so noted for his meek spirit, deep learning, 

 prudence, and piety, that the then parliament and convocation 

 both chose, enjoined, and trusted him to be the man to make t 

 catechism for public use, such a one as should stand as a rule for 

 faith and manners to their posterity. And the good old man, 

 (though he was very learned, yet knowing that God leads us 

 not to heaven by many nor by hard questions,) like an honest 



* I must here so far differ from my author, as to say, that if angling was 

 not contemptible in the days of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, that illus- 

 trious prostitute endeavoured to make it so. The fact related by Plutarch 

 is the following : 



" It would be very tedious and trifling to recount all his follies : but his 

 fishing must not be forgot. He went out one day to angle with Cleopatra ; 

 and being so unfortunate as catch nothing in the presence of his mistress, 

 he was very much vexed, and gave secret orders to the fishermen to dive 

 under water, and put fishes that had been fresh taken upon his hook. 

 After he had drawn up two or three, Cleopatra perceived the trick ; she 

 pretended, however, to be surprised at his good fortune and dexterity ; 

 told it to all her friends, and invited them to come and see him fish the 

 next day. Accordingly, a very large company went out in the fishing 

 vessels . and as soon as Antony had let down his line, she commanded one 

 of her servants to be beforehand with Antony's, and, diving into the 

 water, to fix upon his hook a salted fish, one of those which were brought 

 from the Euxine Sea." 



f The fact respecting Whitaker is thus attested by Dr Fuller, in his 

 Holy State, book lij. chap. 13. " Fishing with an angle is to some rather 

 a torture than a pleasure, to stand an hour as mute as the fish they mean 

 to take ; yet herewithal Dr Whitaker was much delighted." 



To these examples of divines, lovers of angling, I here add (1784) that of 

 Dr Leigh, the present Master of Baliol College, Oxford, who, though 

 turned of ninety, makes it the recreation of his \acant hoars. 



