34 



pike, roach, and perch, in great abundance ; and afford 

 the young collegians who are still in statu pupillari 

 ample opportunity of gradually improving them- 

 selves, till, after a season's fishing in Scotland, Wales, 

 or Ireland, they "become qualified to take J an M.A.'s 

 Master Angler's degree. One of the patriarchs of 

 angling, the venerable Nowell, dean of St. Paul's, was 

 also principal of Brazen-nose College, Oxford; and no 

 angler who visits that city should omit calling to see 

 his portrait, which is still preserved there. It will do 

 his heart good to see the old worthy, even on canvass, 

 " leaning on a desk, with his Bible before him, and 

 on one hand of him his lines, hooks, and other tack- 

 ling, lying in a round; and on his other hand his 

 angle-rods of several sorts." Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, 

 archbishop of Canterbury, and, prior to his advance- 

 ment to that dignity, warden of All Soul's, was the 

 founder of the Theatre at Oxford, where installa- 

 tions, the public acts, and the annual commemora- 

 tion are held, and, according to Walton, most skil- 

 ful in angling for umber and barbel. A living mem- 

 ber of this University, a double M. A. both of arts 

 and angling and who, had he been in orders, would 

 most assuredly have been on the bench, may with 

 confidence take the stream against any fly-fisher, 

 whether amateur or professor, in the three king- 

 doms. 



