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The Chronicle of 



and, at the fame time, ftrong and valiant, fo as <{ neyther to be 

 amazed with ftormes nor affrighted with Thunder." He muft 

 be generous, " not working for his owne belly, as if it could 

 never be fatifsfied," and of " a thankefull nature, praifing the 

 Author of all goodneffe." And to wind up, he muft be of a 

 perfect memory, and of a ftrong conftitution of body, " able 

 to endure much fafting, and not of a gnawing ftomacke." 1 



In a word, this confummate angler muft be able to fquare 

 the entire circle of the fciences, combine the various perfections 

 of the philofopher, the ftoic, and the Chriftian, and be an 

 tc admirable Crichton" to boot, in general accomplishments ! 

 No wonder fuch men, or any faint approach to fuch, were 

 ftyled £ gentlemen anglers,' and one may picture their dignified 

 gait, and the grave, fcholaftic penfivenefs of their countenances, 

 as they paced, angle in hand, the fhaven lawns of Thames, or 

 traced the meanderings of claflic Dove, finding in the paufes 

 of their fport, 



" Books in the running brooks, 

 Sermons in ftones, and good in everything." 



Thefe, furely, were not the men to apologife for the practife of 

 their art, as we have fhown to have been done by certain of 

 their degenerate defcendants. Johnfonian jokes, Byronian 

 iarcafms, or the jeers of the critics aforefaid, would have 

 bounded off them like hailftones from a flate roof. No 

 vulnerable heel had they for fuch puny fhafts to gall. To 



1 " The Pleafvres of Princes, or Good mens Recreations." 1 63 5. Chap. 3. 

 "Of the Anglers apparrell, and inward quallities," p. 15. 



