90 NOTES ON PISH AND WISHING. 



moral virtues and excellencies, which are closely allied to 

 Christian graces. I will not discuss the question which 

 may arise as to whether these " virtues " " excellencies " 

 and " graces " lead a man to be an angler, or whether by 

 becoming an angler these virtues are developed; for I 

 have taken the latter hypothesis for granted, though of 

 course in these, as in many other matters, there is a 

 process of " action and reaction " ever going on, more or 

 less. 



Or, to put it in a more abstract way, let us say the 

 angler has certain " gifts " of a very enviable character, or 

 even less strongly, that he is taught many admirable 

 lessons. He has, for instance, the gift of, or is taught the 

 lesson of contentment, calmness, and composure. This is 

 how old Isaak puts it, — 



" Sir " (says Piscator), " there are many men that are by others 

 taken to be serious grave men, which we contemn and pitie ; men of 

 sowre complexions ; money-getting men, that spend all their time 

 first in getting, and next in anxious care to keep it ; men that are 

 condenm'd to be rich, and always discontented, or busie. For these 

 poor-rich-men, wee anglers pitie them ; and stand in no need to 

 borrow their thoughts to think ourselves happie. For (trust me, 

 sir) we enjoy a contentednesse above the reach of such dispositions." 



And in another passage, thus, — 



" Anglers, and meek, quiet spirited men, are free from those high, 

 those restless thoughts, which corrode the sweets of life." 



Colonel Venables, a contemporary of Walton, writes in 

 a similar strain, — 



" In the art of angling man hath none to quarrel with but himself, 

 and this enmity, if any, can be easily composed. This recreation 

 falleth within the lowest fortune to compass, — affording also profit as 

 well as pleasure, in following which exercise, a man may employ his 

 thoughts in the noblest studies, almost as freely as in his closet, the 



