66 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



to be esteemed one of the delights of mankind. This man, 

 whose very approbation of angling were sufficient to convince 

 any modest censurer of it, this man was also a most dear lover, 

 and a frequent practise!', of the art of angling ; of which he 

 would say, " it was an employment for his idle time, which was 

 then not idly spent ; for angling was, after tedious study, a 

 rest to his mind, a cheerer of his spirits, a diverter of sadness, 

 a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, a procurer 

 of contentedness ;" and " that it begat habits of peace and 

 patience in those that professed and practised it." Indeed, 

 my friend, you will find angling to be like the virtue of humi- 

 lity, which has a calmness of spirit, and a world of other blessings 

 attending upon it. 



Sir, this was the saying of that learned man, * and I do 

 easily believe, that peace and patience, and a calm content, 

 did cohabit in the cheerful heart of Sir Henry Wotton, 

 because I know, that when he was beyond seventy years of 

 age, he made this description of a part of the present pleasure 

 that possessed him, as he sat quietly, in a summer's evening, 

 on a bank a-fishing. It is a description of the spring ; which, 

 because it glided as soft and sweetly from his pen, as that river 

 does at this time, by which it was then made, I shall repeat it 

 unto you : 



This day dame Nature seem'd in love, 

 The lusty sap began to move, 

 Fresh juice did stir th* embracing- vines, 

 And birds had drawn their valentines. 

 The jealous trout, thfit low did lie, 

 Rose at a well dissembled fly ; 



* I may add to our author's list of distinguished anglers, Professor 

 Wilson of Edinburgh, the late Dr Babhington of London, and the late 

 Sir Humphry Davy, who has imitated Walton's work very closely, in plan 

 and sentiment, in his Stdtnonia. " If," says Sir Humphry, " you require a 

 poetical authority against that of Lord Byron, I mention the philosophical 

 and powerful poet of the lakes, and the author of 



An Oxphic tale indeed, 



A tale divine, of his: h <ind passionate thoughts, 

 To their own music chanted. COLERIDGE. 



who is a lover both of fly-fishing and fly-fishermen. Gay's poem you 

 know, and his passionate fondness for the amusement, which was his 

 principal occupation in the summer at Amesbury ; and the late excellent 

 John Tobin, author of the Honey Mmm, was an ardent angler. Nay, I can 

 find authorities of all kinds, statesmen, heroes, an ; philosophers; I can go 

 back to Trajan, who was fond of angling. Nelson was a good fly-fisher, 

 and as a proof of his passion for it, continued the pursuit even with his 

 left hand. I)r Haley \vas ardently attached to this amusement, so much 

 so, that wh- n the Bishop of Durham inquired of him, when one of his 

 most important works would !><' finished, he said, with great simplicity 

 and good humour, My lord, I shall work steadily at it when the fly-nshinjf 

 season is over,' as if this were a business of his life." Sa/monia. p. 7, 

 3d edit. 



Sir Humphry taught Dr Wollaston fly-fishing. J. R. 



