APPENDIX. 169 



as this symple treatyse shall teche hym. Soo thenne 

 his losse is not grevous, and other greyffes maye he 

 not have, savynge but if ony fisshe breke away after 

 that he is take on the hoke or elles that he catche 

 nought : whyche ben not grevous. For yf he fay lie 

 of one he maye not faylle of a nother, yf he dooth 

 as this treatyse techyth, but yf there be nought in 

 the water. And yet atte the leest he hath his holsom 

 walke and mery at his ease, a swete ayre of the 

 swete savoure of the meede floures that makyth hym 

 hungry. He hereth the melodyous armony of fowles. 

 He seeth the yonge swannes, heerons, duckes, cotes, 

 and many other foules wyth theyr brodes. Whyche 

 me semyth better than alle the noyse of houndys, 

 the blastes of hornys, and the scrye of foulis that 

 hunters, fawkeners, and foulers can make. And yf 

 the angler take fysshe, surely thenne there is noo 

 man merier than he is in his spyryte. Also who soo 

 woll use the game of anglynge, he must ryse erly, 

 whyche thynge is proufFytable to man in this wyse, 

 that is to wyte, moost to the heele of his soule : for 

 it shall cause hym to be holy. And to the heele of 

 his body : for it shall cause hym to be hole. Also to 

 the encrease of his goodys : for it shall make hym 

 ryche. As olde Englysshe proverbe sayth in this 

 wyse : Who soo woll ryse erly shall be holy, helthy, 

 and zely. Thus have I provyd in myne entent that 

 the dysporte and game of anglynge is the very 

 meane and cause that enducith a man into a mery 

 spyryte. Whyche, after the sayde parable of Salo- 

 mon and the sayd doctryne of phisyk, maketh a 

 flourynge aege and a longe. And therfore to all 

 you that ben vertuous, gentyll, and free borne I 



