i8 



The Chronicle of 



Mofes Browne's 

 Firft Edition, 

 1750.' 



things that are ct lovely and of good report," named in a breath 

 with the great, the wife, and the reverend, and for an audacious 

 and half profane apotheofis, caught up, as it were, in a glory, 

 with the Saints of God ! To meafure the interval between 

 thefeJ:wo, is, alas ! to fathom alfo the depth of the fall. 



But literary taftes, antecedently to this period, had under- 

 gone fignal changes in a general fenfe, and not in the angling 

 department folely. Artifice had too often been allowed to 

 take the place of art, and " gilding refined gold" and fC painting 

 the lily," hadceafed to be the herefies they were once efteemed. 

 To be fimple and natural was a rule difufed, in fact, whether 

 in literature, or in life ; nature had exchanged rofes for rouge, 

 and fimplicity had acquired a penchant for powder and 

 patches. 



And at the acme of all this came Mofes Browne (formerly 



1 " The Compleat Angler : Or, Contemplative Man's Recreation. In 

 Two Parts. Containing, I. A large and particular Account of Rivers, Fifh- 

 ponds, Fifh, and Fifhing : Written by the ingenious and celebrated Mr. Ifaac 

 Walton. II. The belt, and fulleft inftruftions how to angle for a Trout and 

 Grayling in a clear Stream. By Charles Cotton, Efq. ; and published by 

 Mr. Walton. Comprifing all that has been accounted Valuable, Inftru&ive, 

 or Curious, that has ever appeared on this Subject. Interfperfed with a 

 Variety of practical Experiments ; learned Obfervations ; beautiful Defcrip- 

 tions ; philofophical, moral, and religious Reflections ; Pieces of innocent 

 Mirth and Humour ; poetical Compofitions, &c, fo as to render it entertain- 

 ing to Readers of every Tafte and Character whatfoever : with Exact Repre- 

 fentations of all the Fifh, and the Addition of feveral Copper Plates, defigned 

 as an Embellifhment to the work. Carefully and correctly publifhed, from 

 the belt editions, with a number of occafional Notes. By Mofes Browne, 

 Author of Pifcatory Eclogues. To which are added, The Laws of Angling ; 



