to encounter the Philistines Theoph. That Authority that tolerates Solomon to have Wisdom the same Authority concludes Saul inquisitive after Witches Arnold Admit it does what then that Power that gives Life a Being is indisputably more noble than the thing that has Life God created the World and by Wisdom animated it with Life so that Life shines every where in every Individual this is manifest to every Man and every Creature that breaths in the Creation Theoph. This I agree in but I can't reconcile my self to your Opinion that Solomon and Saul's Case run in parallel Lines Lucifer and Michael though Stars of the first Magnitude yet they paid not equal Adoration to their sovereign Superiour Arnold I don't question but you will grant that nothing has Life of it self but from something else that 's eminently superiour That the World is governed by Divine Providence and that every Beginning is destinated to Death in time Theoph. All this I grant what infer you from thence Arnold I infer and observe you are somewhat too severe in censuring Saul's Sin by the Rule of your Judgment unpardonable Now for one Man to take upon him to judg another he betrays his Rashness because his Judgment is not infallible Theoph. I know where it pinches you 'll hinge upon Mercy Arnold I must tell you that God is a merciful Judg whose Mercy as recorded is above all his Works and a Mystery so sacred and secretly conceal'd that Angels themselves dare not pry into it How then shall Man discover this admirable Arcanum of Mercy when lock'd up in the secret Cabinet of Heaven Let us not assume such previous Conjecturals but rather consult and expostulate Death since Death is the Wages and the Reward of Sin Man and the World terminate in the Arms of Death because they alike consist of elementary Principles But Death will be found the Extinguisher of Life except that Life that 's lighted by the Torch of Regeneration that Life will outlive the second Death Theoph. But you 'l agree in this that a vicious Man living and reigning in Sin all the Days of his Life his Life may be taken for a living Death Arnold I 'll comply with any thing except Censoriousness for that end trumpet not Solomon's Praise too loud lest the Eccho resounding ecchoes Ostentation On the other Hand not to hope an Indemnity for Saul we straiten God's Mercy which is infinitely boundless So let 's leave it to the Judg of all the World for if the World be left to determine this Case she 'll denounce a false Judgment because of her Partiality Nay she may be suspected uncharitable too and such are we if Children of the World because subject to err by the Rule of Instability Theoph. You bear hard upon me yet I 'm loth to give up the Cause there 's little or no Difference in the length of our Weapons but this I 'll say so drop the Argument Solomon was an Oracle of Wisdom and Learning and the blazing Star that shin'd in Ierusalem And Saul was a King and the first King in Israel but then he was that King God gave in his Wrath which was soon after removed for David stood in Saul's way Arnold So did Vriah in his when inamoured on his Wife Theoph. But David was a Prophet and a Man of God and Saul was censured for his impious Exorcisms as if the Tincture of Regeneration was obliterated in him Arnold God forbid that the Sting of Sin should be so venemous a Poison that no Antidote can cure it Did not the Lord of Life die to conquer Sin and Death and Hell in every Believer Let us be so charitable as to parallel Saul with Sampson who had his Dalilah as Saul had his Endor Here we read that David found Repentance after the Prophet's Reproof And Sampson had his Satisfaction upon the Lords of the Philistines These two had their Pardon feal'd before Death and fain would I be so charitable to conclude so of Saul Theoph. Ay but Saul's Fault is writ in Capital Characters Arnold That 's instituted for our Admonition and the Reformation of succeeding Generations Theoph. O Arnoldus the Generations to come will abominate this that inflames it self to set the rest of the World on fire Arnold Then let them burn and consume one another for Lust and Pollution augment the Flames Theoph. Do not all the Nations and Kingdoms about us exhaust their Treasures to indulge themselves and devote their Services to the Hypocrisy of the Times Arnold It 's rare to a Miracle to find Faith amongst Men especially such as daily expose Conscience to the wreck of Opinion And he that makes a God of his Belly devotes all his Services to his luxurious Appetite Thus Men as by Machination traduce one another into the Devil's School to brazen themselves against the Modesty of a Blush lest Sin should be thought to be shame-fac'd And others raking up the Embers of Revenge fire themselves by quenching the Flames Theoph. So let them But what 's all this to our Angling Design Arnold Stay a little till we come to the Water-side In the mean time I have a Question to put and that 's this How comes it to pass that the Hinge and Poize of Politick States move and turn about with such rapid Motions that Kingdoms and Potentates are dash'd in pieces Theoph. The Naturalist we see him consult Natural Causes and the Judicial Astrologer Planetary Events but the more Religious devotes himself to the Providence of God Is there not a Time for Frost and a Time for Hail a Time for Rain and a Time for fair Weather a Time for Revolution Dissolution and Death and all these Times and various Changes are exercised by him that holds the Poize and Ballance of Government That Naturalist therefore that concludes a Divinity in Celestial Influences does but grope in the dark and the Astrologer pins his Faith upon other Mens Sleeves Arnold You tread upon the Heels of my former Assertion Theoph. What if I do I hope not to hurt you The Prince of this World rules in the Air insinuating himself into the Heart of Man from whence comes War and the Rumours of War as Rapine Ravages Murder and Blood Does not Pride strut up in the Face of Piety and Hell presume to justle Heaven And can Good and Evil think you run in parallel Lines No Arnoldus I perswade my self this Age lives within one Step of Destruction were it not upheld by an Almighty Providence Arnold O the Subtilty of Man's Heart that nothing but Arrows from the Almighty can reach it Theoph. He that reads his own Heart without a Perspective reads all the World but to know God is Life eternal and that 's more than the World knows because wanting the Key of Knowledg Arnold Man is like a Ship in a turbulent Sea where every Wave threatens him with Death and every Gust of Wind one Step to his Grave How mindful therefore ought
For militant Saints in Grace here shall be triumphant Saints in Glory hereafter made beauteously to shine in the New Jerusalem and wear the Royal Badg of Heaven and that 's an immortal Angelical Crown to which is affix'd the Diadem of the Divinest in legible and intelligible Characters of the Cross. God in Love with his own Image beautifies and adorns the Soul with Immortality It 's true Heaven knows no Limit nor Dimension but Earth has Periods With what Circumspection therefore ought we to travel through this mortal Pilgrimage to the sacred Temple of Piety and Devotion where the blessed Sweets of Eternity are perpetually tasted by contemplating a Preparation for Death And what is Death but the Key of Eternity These and such like pious Considerations lift up the standard of the Mind to the Elevations of Contemplation For if the Progress of Life be but one single Scene of a Tragedy of necessity the World must be the Theatre Life the Prologue Heaven the Design and Death the Exit So not only to live but to live well imports a well-dying and to die to Sin is to live Eternally Thus whilst premeditating the Life of Solitudes give me leave to publish to the World this mystical Art and the Intrigues of Angling and because animated by the Mediums of Experience I thought it Argument good enough to gratify the Age and reward the Industirous with Trophies of the Art which indeed is the ultimate End and Period of Experiment Now tell me a better Accommodation than what naturally flows from solitary Hours solemnly dedicated to the Divinest when to discourse with Birds in shady Bowers and converse with Fish in Rivers and Rivulets to obliterate the World and vain Conversation so take our flight as high as Heaven by Divine Faith and Heavenly Contemplation such a Life as this explains the Angler not only a Monument of Patience but Experience so that Ambition can never be a Bait to ensnare him that already is delivered from Pride and the Arrests of Arrogancy O how sweetly does such a Man's Habitation smell whose Entertainment and Salutation is the Dialect of Peace where every Action if thorowly examined reads harmonious Lectures of Concord and Content labouring what in him lies to stand a distance from this ambiguous World whilst the World pursues her flattering Admirers and such only as vainly heap up accursed Riches to perplex themselves and blast Posterity But I fancy and it may be but a Fancy that some prevaricating Zoilist will arraign my Hypothesis and stigmatize Anglers and the Art with those black Blemishes of Barbarity and Cruelty when only design'd to kill a Fish To which I reply That the Creatures in the Creation by Divine Appointment were appropriated for Vse and what may that Vse be if not the Refreshment and Nourishment of Mankind Adam had a Commission from the King of Heaven impowering him Lord over all sublunary Creatures Will any one question this Privilege And Peter was commanded to arise kill and eat when doubting with himself the Legality of the thing who disputes this Commission Now for any Man to question these Divine Truths except a Banian be questions the Scriptures the Authority of Truth The Creatures in the Creation we must grant were design'd for Nutrition and Sustentation yet no Man had a Commission so large to take away Life upon no other account than to gratify his Lust. Then the next Question arising will be Whether the Rod or the Net is rather to be approved of I have only this to answer since both contribute to Health and Maintenance the Apostles themselves they used the one why then may not the Angler plead for the other Thus far I enter the Angler's List and resolve to encounter this critical Age by promulgating the Series of the Art of Angling But to shape out Rods twist Lines and appropriate Times and Seasons with variety of Waters and sutability of Baits as also the making of Instruments arming of Hooks forming the accurate Proportion of Flies shaping of Corks staining of Quills forming of Swivels and drawing out Wiers besides casting of Plumbs and moulding of Shot I resolve against for it 's nothing my Business though a Task neither intricate nor tedious to the several and various Artificers pregnant in the Art For that end you may dedicate your Opinion to what scribling Putationer you please the Compleat Angler if you will who tells you of a tedious Fly Story extravagantly collected from antiquated Authors such as Gesner Dubravius c. but I rather commend you to famous Isaac Owldham whose Experiences sprung from the Academy of Trent so did that eminent Angler George Merrils and as eminent as he was John Fawlkner whose known Abilities to cultivate this Science both for Directions and Manuels I modestly prefer before any other Yet how frequently is this Art promulged by Mudlers and under the plausible pretence of Anglers when upon examine you 'l find them deficient in Practicks and indigent in the lineal and plain Tracts of Experience yet so fortified with Confidence and Ignorance enough I declare to make an Artist blush if only but to hear them assert that from one River in a Nation all the rest may be nationally understood which preposterous impertinent Opinion if I should not publickly oppose it would seem to confirm and assign me a Confederate with the Rout and Rabble so ignorantly opinionated But I shall offer my reason to avoid the suspicion of an Imposture lest I be thought to traduce my Proselytes into the extreams of an Error otherwise I had shrowded my self under a Taciturnity had not I dreaded the Censure of other able and practical Anglers that in reason may expect a replication from me For that end I publish this Treatise to the World where my Arguments are synonymous connect together like Links in a Chain in opposition to that inconsiderate Opinion that by one River all the Rivers in England c. may be included for Fish and Diversion Which is alike probable that an Orchard without Cultivation should produce Foreign Fruit or the Peak in Derbyshire should assign us Gold instead of Lead or the Minera of Oar. Now supposing this eminent difficulty resolved yet some will be solicitous to puzzle themselves about Baits and Seasons so that I foresee it will aggravate and fret their intoxicated Patience Where note such may search as already prenoted in the mouldy Records of Androvanus Dubravius Gesner or Isaac Walton whose Authority to me seems alike authentick as is the general Opinion of the vulgar prophetick for neither all nor one of them is an Oracle to me Experience is my Master and Angling my Exercise yet moderated so that I don't always employ my self with throwing in nor haling out as Pochers do that covet more than their Panniers contain this makes the Sweet of their Labours unprofitable when the Angler only designs Diversion the final end of his Recreation However somewhat of this Nature is expected from
me otherwise the Prejudicate will conclude me ignorant or affected with paucity but I shall prevent that Suspicion by publishing to the World this Treatise of Angling wherein the Practicks are manifestly divulged though the Contemplative be but in part express'd And what hinders I pray you to withdraw sometimes from the trembling Streams of Trent to dedicate your vacant Hours to the Shrines of Solitudes to sit upon Rocks or in shady Groves there to contemplate the beautiful Creation and meditate our present and eternal furture State so with a holy and reverentical Fear call to mind the Creator and Original of all Things through whose Wisdom Kings rule and Princes decree Iustice But doubting some may want other moral Inducements to such I have brought a Glass of Morality wherein they may view the World's state of Inconstancy but to the more religious and contemplative Angler a Model of Piety Jacob will struggle hard for a Blessing where be may see the inamour'd and Seraphick Soul surmount the Aether whilst Earth-worms like-Otters prey below upon Fish Now to such as love Travel I have brought them History but to such others as love Fish and pleasant Waters my Treatise for the studious Geographer here are Cities and Countries but for the active Engineer Castles and Citadels Should thy Fancy be mean here are shallow Brooks deep Rivers require the skilful Art of Swimming Thus my Book seems a Mart where a Man may trade for Trifles or merchandise for things of greater Value The World is all Purchase and Death the Pay-master Think not therefore to naturalize Earth into Heaven since every thing adheres and partakes of its own Nature I advise therefore the Lovers of a solitary Life to study Sobriety Temperance Patience and Chastity for these Divine Blessings are the Gift of God So is Contemplation which never shines so clearly as when retired from the World and worldly Incumbrances Woods Rocks Grotta's Groves Rivers and Rivulets are Places pick'd out for Contemplation where you may consider Creational Work and melt with the warbling Notes of Philomel and the innocent Harmony of musical Birds that deliciate the Air and delight the Attention Or you may proportion your Meditations with the Pulse of the Ocean or the soft and murmuring Complaints of purling Streams that imprint their Passions as they pass along when melting the smiling florid Banks Nature consults no Artificer to imbellish and adorn her illaborate Works and shall the God of Heaven the great Creator draw his Lines from the faint Shadows of Nature Pray but consider who makes the Sea keep her regular Motion the Constellations their Rotations and the erratick Stars roll in their several Orbs Are not all the Reins of Government in the Divine Hand of him that made them Is not the Christian's Diadem and the Purchase of the Cross there Liberty and Freedom there the sweet Tranquillity of Peace there the blessed Society of Saints and Angels there Iustice and Mercy there the results also of Life and Death there And where shall we be found if not there in those everlasting Arms of Beatitude that exert our Souls by the Divine Ray of Contemplation Study Patience practise Humility and let Repentance be our daily Exercise since these with other Vertues are Duties incumbent Then may we sing Hallelujahs at an Angelical pitch and that 's a strain above the World's Ela. These and such like Divine Impressions we ought to imprint on our immortal Minds when with impatieney we pursue our Exercise either to the River or solitary Lough For the Taper burns and the Thread of Life because lap'd up in this fine tiffany Web of Mortality like a Meteor terminates sometimes in a Blaze Too late then to confer with Reason or think of Religion So farewel and be happy in the Rules of Friendship but happier to live in the amiable Arms of Vertue ever honoured and admired by thy Friend Philanthropus To my Book GO tell those Men that bait their Hook with Gain That plow the Hellespont and cross the Main To fish for Gold in ev'ry muddy Pit And hourly wait for ev'ry paltry Bit That make their Shops the Fishponds and the Fry Knacks of all sorts to catch the Standers-by That trole with silver Hook but use no Rod And freely strike perchance the Line but nod That use no other Links than such as are Compos'd of golden Threads not Stone-horse-hair Such mudling Anglers all the Baits they lay Tempt nothing more than Arguments of Clay Not well consid'ring all this while they paddle In Craesus wealthy Ponds their Eggs prove addle For when they come to scale their Fry and Cook Ev'ry surprize reach'd them with silver Hook They must conclude more Fin than Fish was caught 'Cause ev'ry Action proves an empty Thought Come trace the Angler's footsteps he will lead Thy Genius to some Grove or Rock there feed Thy thoughts with Contemplation whilst most Men Think such retirements but a Cave or Den And I 'll assure thee when thou com'st to know Those Vertues that from Contemplation flow Thou surely wilt conclude the whole Creation Was made for Man Man but for Contemplation Philanthropus To my Honoured Friend Capt. Richard Franck upon his Contemplative Angler I Am no Fisher But a Well-wisher to the Game And as oft as I look And read in your Book so oft I blame My Minutes spent with frothy Recreation Whilst others live aloft by Contemplation It s true sometimes I read In Cambden and Speed and sometimes Mercator Yet in them I can't spy How the scaly Fry floats in the Water We grant those Anglers were elaborate To fish the World but you the Anglers State John Richards To my Worthy and Honoured Friend Capt. R. F. on his Contemplative Angler SIR you have taught the Angler that good Fashion Not to catch Fish with Oaths but Contemplation No Man that 's Wise but out of good Intention Will hug your Plot and well-contriv'd Invention To take the Fowl and Fowler let alone That 's not the killing two Birds with one Stone But he that catches Fish and Fisher too Has done as much as Man or Art can do Honour 's the Bait for one but silly Flies Are mortal Engines for the scaly Fries And he that thinks to scape the present Danger Fastens himself thinking to noose the Stranger For one or other's still catch'd in the Net When Politicians have the Pool beset And haling to and fro to fill their Dish Lites on a Chub perchance or some such Fish That dies without Redemption unless be Amphibion-like can live by Land or Sea But in the Calms of silver silent Trent There 's no such danger in the Turnament For you may fish till Sun-set nay all Night Find but your Gamesters a fresh Appetite And that a Bait will do when you would court Your Game ashore that dies to see the Sport Mercurius Hermon To my Honour'd Friend Capt. R. F. Author of the Contemplative Angler I Know Ingenious Sir that Sol's
as if there were no Death in dying Such Men as these think the Sun shines Blessings no where but in their Chimney-corners that build their Habitation upon a sandy Foundation that judg and pre-judg both Moralist and Heathen that rather deserves their Pity and Charity and censure all the World when they themselves cann't live without it Arnold What crazy Props such Men lean upon that exchange their Profession for Profit If Christ be our Foundation let 's believe as Christians not barely to honour the Appellation of Christianity but live the Life and Practice of Christians otherwise we build on a sandy Foundation that sinks beneath the Surface or tumbles down in the Storm We daily observe the Earth a fix'd Body yet it bears not the Heavens nor it self neither because it hangs by Poize of its own and the Providence of God supports it For our blessed Saviour that made the World is the Support of the World for none less than he that made the World had Power to redeem Man and save the World This is the Water of Life that 's drawn from the inexhaustible Fountain of Christ our Redeemer This is the true Physician of Life that blots out the dismal Characters of Death Thus whilst the formal Christian draws Streams from the muddy Cisterns of the ambignous World his Devotion reaches no higher than himself and the gaudy Titles of Ambition and Hypocrisy Theoph. Shall I oblige Arnoldus to entertain us with a Contemplation of Seraphick Joys whilst the silent Night passes away and the blazing Torch of the Sun appears that causes an early Blush in Aurora Arnold Every Day has a new Birth but Time and the World had but one Beginning The Night was made to shadow the Day but the Sun to light and illuminate the Universe and this was ordain'd by the Wisdom of him that stuck the Stars in this beautiful Order before whose triumphant Throne the devout Penitent prostrates his Devotion and pours forth his Orizons and sweet Adorations in the Presence of that great and ineffable Good that made the glittering spangled Orbs and is himself the Light of the World before whom every Nation and Kingdom must bow or break whose Mercy infinitely excels all his Works and whose Justice and Judgment who shall dispute Theoph. O ArnolduS pray goon Arnold The Elements nay the Heavens contain him not nor is he comprehended within the circular Globe of the Spherical Orbs. These luminous Bodies of Sun Moon and Stars were ordained by him to light the Creation for he that made them gave them a Being and dignified them also with prolifick Virtue adapting them Parents of Vegetation Procreation and Prolongation of Life whereby to regulate and reform Times and Seasons as also to distinguish betwixt Summer and Winter The greater Light he made to govern the Day but the Moon he made to patrole the Night and that they have Influence upon secondary Causes no Man is so irrational I hope as to question it Theoph. For my part I do not pray proceed Arnold Thus the Stars and Constellations have Divine Order and Influence and the Celestial Powers and Principalities as Angels and Arch-angels Thrones and Vertues have Dominion also over humane Frailties And where the Patriarchs and the Prophets are with the Apostles and Evangelists with the whole Quire of Saints Cherubims and Seraphims perpetually singing Praises and Glory to him that sits on the Throne and rides triumphant on the Wings of the Wind. O let the silent Deeps and the ponderous Mountains with every thing that has Breath praise the Lord For the Earth is his and the Fulness thereof by whose Wisdom the World was made and Time begot and by whose infinite Power the separated Elements live still in Harmony who form'd the Fetus of Earth and made the Firmament its Swadling-band and in the vast Circumference of Heaven he hung up the glorious Creature the Sun whereby to illuminate and illustrate the World whose Centre nor Circumference contains him not nor the Excellency of his Glory that superexcels all Creatures and Creations from whom the deplorable Sons of Men wail for Deliverance and Redemption from Sin And now let 's contemplate the nocturnal Muses Sleep first presents us with an Emblem of Death yet is it the poor Man's Solace tho the rich Man's Terror A Repose and Recreation to the wearied Limbs but a Disease of Inquietude to the voracious Mind the Body's Requiem and Death's Effigies Now Death is the desired Hope of him that truly conteMplates the State of Immortality And as Mortality is the End of Sorrow so by Consequence it 's the Beginning of Joy A Period of Misery but the Trophy of Victory The Resurrection of Life and the Bloomings of Eternity For as the barren Ground thirsts after Rain so does the Oppressed seek Deliverance in Death Great and good is our glorious Creator whose Divine Excellencies superexcel the Creation whose infinite Wisdom display'd it self before Time and the World had as yet a Beginning Pardon my Presumption most sovereign Power when to prostrate my Humilities before thy sacred Shrines that with a holy Reverence and divine Piety all my Devotions may be acceptable to thee We are but finite but Thou art infinite Infinite in Power to create the World and infinite in Wisdom and Providence to uphold it Thy Government is in Heaven yet thou rulest upon Earth but thy Habitation here is the Tabernacle in Man O sacred Divinest direct us in thy Paths of Wisdom to lead us the ready way to thy self for thou rewardest every Man answerable to his Works and our Works as Paul saith do certainly follow us then will they as certainly be an Orb to environ us and because an Object continually before us we can neither evade nor shake them off whereby they 'll delight or be a Terror unto us As the Tree falls so it lies and in the Grave there is no Repentance therefore seek the Lord early in a Spirit of Meekness for the Meek are said to inherit the Earth whilst the Proud that exalts himself shall be abased Thy powerful Arm has often reached Deliverance the Righteous therefore shall rejoice in thy Salvation and all that sollicit thy Paths of Peace shall be found in their Duty as by Wisdom directed but Destruction as a Judgment is prepared for the Scornful Therefore let the Pious rejoice in his Hope for the End of the Wicked shall be an Abomination Lord when we contemplate our mortal State below and those invisible immortal Powers above blest for ever to behold the Glory of thy Majesty it brings us to consider the Beginnings of Time and to ruminate where we were when the Foundations of the World were laid and stretch'd out and who but thy self by Infinite Power fastened the Ends thereof and lifted up the Curtains of Heaven's glorious Canopy and caused the Face of the Firmament to shine Who but thy admirable Arm could separate Light from Darkness the Sea from dry Land
abominates Sycophants that fawn and flatter and seem to adore the rising Sun yet with Impatience longs to see it set Not but that no Sun shines without some Cloud nor any Court is kept without some Flatterers till that time comes and I hope is at hand that Vertue shall naturally flow from the Streams of Piety and not from Imitation which spontaneously spring from the Celestial Fountains of pure Christianity Theoph. When Democrasians dagger the Crown then the perplex'd Native stands a tiptoe every minute expecting some fatal Event and so it is when Insolency justles Justice then the Magistrate suffers Affronts in his Legal Justiciary Proceeds Such Scorpions as these wound and infect the Body Politick Ar. From thence I observe whenever Pride is most predominant there of necessity a Nursery of War is planted that in time will murder the Blessings of Peace We have learn'd by Experience that Fulness of Bread without a Blessing perverts into Wantonness so into a Curse that by degrees grows up into such a Vice that murders all it meets with and kills without Care it 's a Vertue therefore to shun its Acquaintance Th. Come Arnoldus let us enter this solitary Grove here we may dwell among Rocks consort with the Creation and keep time with the Pulse of the fluctuating Ocean Here we may refresh our Ears with the relishing Notes of tunable Birds and astonish our Eyes with the beautiful Model of Heaven Where whilst we gaze on those glittering Orbs our Hearts as inspired may breath forth Flames Ar. A solitary Life I always approv'd of to trace the polite Sands to sit down under the Shades of Woods and Rocks and accost the Rivers and Rivulets for Diversion as now we do and trample on the beautiful Banks and florid Medows beautified with Greens that will not only refresh our Senses with their redolent Perfumes but enamour us beyond express when to see their Banks bath'd by such Silver Streams Come and let 's pitch our Tents in these delightful Plains where every shady Grove as an Vmbrella will shelter us from the scorching fiery Beams of the Sun till the Earth sends forth her sweet Aroma's over which the burnish'd and beautiful Firmament of Heaven surrounds all the Earth and the blessed Creation with Melody like Birds and murmuring Streams I fancy it a kind of Counter-Paradise for Mortal Content And how sweet and sublime is that Contemplation that surmounts Angels for Divine Associates Observe Theophilus that little rowling Rivulet where every Eye may evidence Fish in those purling Streams courting the Sun as if naturally enamoured with Stars and Celestials Such Observations flow from our present State let us therefore consider both the Author and the End Th. If Ends and Beginnings have a like Fate and Period as indisputably they have then Time and our latter End contemplates Eternity our future Hope so that a retired Life of all Lives in my Opinion will be most agreeable to our present Condition for I like not the Aspect of our Friend Agrippa Ar. Nor I neither but be it what it will be the Rocks and the Woods if I calculate right shall contribute to Arnoldus any Man may read in legible Characters a discontented Frown on his Martial Brow Th. What if it be it won't make new Breaches in our Loyal Breasts Ar. Nor cement old ones for here 's a Breast ready to receive the Charge of Danger tho Death be Conduct I value not the Swellings of my Adversaries were every one of them as great as Goliah as deep-mouth'd as the Cyclops that roar in Mount Aetna or as formidable as Thunder that cleaves the Cedars and the sturdy Oaks yet the Shrubs may escape and live in hope to see a Purgation of such eminent Contenders Th. If ill Omens presage fatal Conclusions I like not Agrippa's Aspect Ar. Nor I that Resolution that only endeavours Self-security Th. Would you have me turn the Point upon my self Ar. No nor your Friend neither by turgid Repetitions come what will come let 's talk no more on 't high Tides have their low Ebbs and the higher any Man rises the greater is his Fall expected I know the World is such an inviting Morsel that attempting to swallow it some have been choaked Alexander of all Men bid fairest for the World yet when he went out of it a Sepulchre of six Foot serv'd to inter him Th. It 's just so now have not we a sort of Senators that impatient of Destruction pull down the House upon their own Heads to noose other Folks in the same Snickle Ar. There 's nothing can stand against the rapid Torrent of a giddy Multitude it 's good to stand clear of Male-contents that justle Superiors and call Parliaments Pick-locks and Robbers of the People under the pretence of publick Faith Th. Such Furioso's I must confess are of an odd Kidney that can silence Justice and sentence the Laws that sit uneasy under Governments tho of their own contrivings that are angry with any thing that 's uppermost nay they shall arraign themselves if no Superior to contend with Such Men I question not will condemn us for Victims tho without Breach of Law or Affront to good Manners Ar. That can never be done by any except such as exchange their Loyalty for Luxury that degenerate from Native English Men and renounce their Oath in Baptism that swear they do not swear and be Religious to boot But the great Acts of former famous Men will live upon Record on the Stage of the World whilst the World has a Being more especially such great Actions as drew Life from Vertue Such Heroes we have had but asleep now whose Memories still blossom and after Death smell sweet in the Dust. Th. What then must we despair of our selves as poor silly Birds do that are seiz'd in a Gin and wait Deliverance from the wretched Fowler as if Death would solace our captivated Fears and refer them and us to the Grave for Reconciliation Ar. I am not ignorant that the Rape of a Sword results in a SCar and amputates sometimes to the loss of a Limb lest peradventure the whole Body be hurried into a Fever For the Sword you must know is Death's cold Harbinger that depopulates Kingdoms and lays Countries in waste sucking the Lives of the Subjects and Treasure of the Nation till at last like a Cripple it creeps to its Grave Th. But what if the Banks overflow with Plenty and the Nation superabound with luxurious Inhabitants may not a War in such case be thought requisite to purge the Kingdom of superfluous Vagrants Ar. Where Excess and Intemperance extend the Veins by Surfeit or Pleurisy beyond their natural Bounds it 's better to bleed than blow up a Kingdom Th. I 'm of your Opinion in that matter in all acute Distempers there ought to be adequate and expeditious Expedients but without Offence may I ask you one Question Ar. Two if you please if I can answer them Th.
silver Streams with our harmless Artillery here needs no Auxiliary force to guard our Approaches when only to trample these delicious pleasant and fragrant Banks enameled with Flowers and green Coverings where every chrystal purling Stream is overshadowed with a stately Fir-tree or some spreading Sycomore through which Zephyrus inspires a softned breath of Air to curl the Surface of the milder Streams and where the glittering Shores shine like Peru or the golden Sands of the admired Tagus as if purposely erected for a Tomb or Sepulchre therein to inter the generous Trout which is the Anglers Trophies and the ultimate Period of Art Reach me that Rod Arnoldus and furnish me with Tackle to try my Fortune Are these Flies proper and sutable to the Season Is the Line tapred and the Rod rush-grown Every thing answers to promise Success and now have amongst them for I resolve beyond dispute to approve my self an Angler or shame the Art Ar. An Angler an Allegator rather to rush so rudely upon a River and forget your Rudiments Th. My passionate Zeal hurried on by Avarice confirm'd the difficulty of catching Fish no more than a cast of my Fly to summon them ashore Ar. That wou'd excuse your over-forwardness to put a force upon your Exercise the Anglers Direction and the Mediums of Art are the Pole-Star you must steer by Th. You do well to reckon up my Errors and lay down Rudiments to oblige me to reform all that I sollicite is to be Master of my Exercise that Theory and Practice be made legible and intelligible Nature then will demonstrate her self obvious to the Artist Ar. You have hit the Mark it 's true what you say Art at the best is but Nature's Imitation Instructions made legible gratify the Ingenious whilest the Ignorant read but Lectures in their ABC Th. Then I need not despair however as I 'am solicitous after the Secrets of the Art direct me how to flourish a Fly in a torpid deep and melancholy Water such as this is Ar. Stand close be sure that 's your first Caution and appear least in sight that 's your second Direction and dibble lightly on the Surface of the Water that 's your third and final Instruction now order and manage the Affair as well as you can Th. So I will and fancy that a City is more than half conquered where Resolution has got footing in the Besiegers Camp Ar. From your Inference I must conclude that confident Theophilus will approve himself an Artist because he 's so forward in the Art of Angling Th. I 'le observe the Anglers Axioms Ar. So you must if you intend to be an Artist but how will you flourish a Fly in that solitary Water whereby to compleat your self Lord of your own Exercise consider it seriously In the next place you must mind the Season of the Year Small Rains fair Weather and intermittent Sun-shine all these contribute to your Entertainment but Snow-broth and Storms stand in opposition to your Recreation You must also observe the Wrack of Clouds and the hovering Winds that curl the Streams these Circumstances judicially observed an ordinary Artist may kill a Trout provided he purdue himself at a reasonable distance But what must be done when the Air is undisturbed nor the least breath of Wind to fan the Sholes Can you then kill a Fish to recompence your Labour and sweeten your Toil Come lend me your Rod and I 'le hazard my Skill to puzzle the Art or lay a Trout in your Lap. Th. That 's as much as to say you will give me Handsel Ar. And I do but little if I do not do that Observe that Bush whose slender Branches wantonly dangle sporting themselves on the Cusp of the Water there 's no Stream you may observe nor any thing of Motion nor the least breath of Air to invade the Calms Put case I kill a Trout from that silent Surface what will you think on 't Th. I 'le think you an Artist Ar. When Th. When I see your success Ar. Have amongst them then Now there 's what I promised you Th. And I 'le promise you you are a Man of your Word Ar. I seldom use to be less Th. And I 'le never desire to be more But one thing I observe and that 's very remarkable why so circumspect in making your Approaches when accosting the River as an Engineer approaches a Fortification Ar. There 's Reason for that I do Th. Then there 's Reason you resolve me what I shall do since Trouts are so difficult to deal with Ar. You will tell me more I question not when you come to examine them Th. And that won't be long if I have my liking But what an admirable Fish is the Trout for Shape Beauty and Proportion Ar. Such is the Char next to him the Umbar Th. And are they of as much Agility of Body Ar. In every respect Th. Of necessity then they must be excellent Companions to consort with the Angler whiles the Miser and Avaricious hugs his Bags the Epicure his luxurious voracious Appetite and the wretched and covetous Angler his Paunch and Pannier Let Art Industry and Experience gratify the Artist But as Fortune favours you in your second Adventure such are my resolves to magnify the Art Ar. You do well I perceive to do nothing rashly Th. And you do it better by doing on 't advisedly Ar. Then have at all and I think I have him look how he leaps and struggles for Life but this prognosticks a Sign of Death for when the Swan sings his own Funeral-Epitaph which of the Family of Birds join in Consort with him so when the Trout dances Coranto's to the Angler what but the Line rings his Funeral Passing-peal Now see how he lies gasping for Breath though every Breath of Air is as bad as Opium and laments his Misfortune to be so unfortunate because not to live out half his Time where every Cheque of the Line challengeth Death and sends him a Summons to prepare for the Pannier So that you see he is no sooner deprived of natural Strength but submits himself to the fatal doom of the Angler who assures him no better Quarter than Death Are not these terrible Arguments to terrify the Fish out of his Element who whilest he endeavours to evade the Angler falls foul upon the Art with equal Hazard and designing Flight pursues the Pursuer so struggles with the Artist to cheat his Appetite by proffering his Life for a silly Fly By this you may see it 's not difficult to court him when with little difficulty he comes to Hand nay to his Grave meerly for a mouthful for this simple Novelty cost him his Life And what was it think you only a Fly of another Figure and of a different Complexion the one Artificial but this was Natural and there he lies naturally devoted yours not daring to petition his Judg's Reprieve Where note for your encouragement I present you with my Conquest
not all these mortal Signs of Submission Ar. And if he submits he dies without Redemption and Death you know is a total Submission Th. I 'le kill this Fish or forfeit my Reputation Ar. Take your Chance for I know you are resolute Th. I 'le take my Chance and return Victorious Ar. But there 's no Triumph you know till possest of the Trophies Th. And I am pretty near them was it not that one or two Stratagems strangely amuse me the one of them is the casting himself on the Surface as if designing thereby to cut my Line and the other his fastning himself in the Bottom thinking as I apprehend to tear all in pieces which if he do I lose my Reputation besides I grow weary and would fain horse him out Ar. You may do what you please you are Lord of your own Exercise the Law is in your Hand manage it with discretion Th. I 'le manage it with all the industry I have Ar. Do so and you will see the Event Th. Then have at all Ar. And what have you got Th. I have got nothing but the Foot-steps of Folly Ar. And Nothing out of Nothing is Folly in the abstract was not I Prophetick Th. An Oracle too true to confirm my Loss for what have I left nothing but Folly to lament and condole this fatal Conclusion to be rob'd by a Fish that I reckoned my Reward Is not this Felony to steal my Tackle and ruin an Angler but he 's mark'd for my own and let whose will take him I 'le challenge an Interest Ar. That 's very pleasant when another has catch'd him you 'l put in your Claim Th. So I will where-e're I find him for his Marks I am sure will certainly betray him Ar. As if he wore your Livery to no other purpose than to describe his Servitude Th. So he does for my Hook I am sure hangs still in his Chaps and part of my Line is entailed to it Ar. I thought all along what it would come to for I knew well enough there was nothing wanting but the exercise of Patience to kill this Fish Th. What would you have done had it been your Case Ar. I would not have handled my Play-fellow so rudely Th. What! you rather laugh at me than pity my Loss Ar. I pity the Fish to feed upon such sharp Commons Th. Peradventure the Hook may go near to choak him Ar. That it will never do nor hardly check him upon a fresh Entertainment Th. Why so will the Hook remain in his Chaps without Detriment to the Fish Ar. Some small Season it may remain but Time and Action soon discharges it For if when to consider his frequent Motion his continual gliding and glancing against Stones it loosens the part without Detriment to the Fish so that the Hook of it self leisurely drops off Th. How comes this to pass it's incredibly strange Ar. Yet not so strange as true that you have lost a Line as compleat a Line as Art could proportion it 's well you kept your Rod for I 'le assure you it 's exactly taper'd and as streight and plient as ever flourish'd a Fly to facilitate Death by Dâ—xterity But this artificial Novel you lost but now gives no more satisfaction to a voracious Appetite than a Witch's Banquet or the unlimited Desires of a wretched Usurer who never desists the pursuit of Riches till tantaliz'd like your Game to Death with a Trifle And now Theophilus I must reprove your Precipitancy because a great Error in young Anglers Patience must be moderated to promote the Art and Time procrastinated to proclaim the Angler an Artist These Precepts I have laid down oftner than once always provided your Swim be clear your Line long and strong enough then shall you see the Fruits of your Labour and the Fish himself act the part of a Felon that puts a Knife to his own Throat wherewith he secretly murders himself and that this Desperado had certainly done upon exchange of Elements so become his own Executioner who beyond dispute had struggled to strangle himself which without difficulty is easily and the more expeditiously done by frequently but cautiously exposing him to Air for that suffocates his Vitals whereby he necessarily falls under very fatal Consâ—quents And how little a thing blots out the Character of Life every one knows that knows Air is as Opium to force a sleepy Pulse that deprives of Motion and makes passage for Death Be mindful therefore to observe Directions in handling and managing your Rod and Line and cautiously keeping your self out of sight all which Precautions are requisite Accomplishments which of necessity ought to be understood by every ingenious Angler And so is that secret Art of Striking which ought never at any time to be used with Violence because with a moderate Touch and a slender proportion of Strength the Artist for the most part has best Success Another Caution you must take along with you and that is when you observe your Game begins to make an out that is when he bolts or when he launcheth himself forth to the utmost extent of your Rod and Line which a well-fed Fish at all times frequently attempts upon the least Advantage he gains on the Angler be mindful therefore to throw him Line enough if provided you purpose to see his Destruction yet with this Caution that you be not too liberal On the other hand too streight a Line brings equal Hazard so that to poize your Fish and your fore-sight together is by keeping one Eye at the Point of your Rod and the other be sure you direct on your Game which comes nearest the Mediums of Art and the Rules and Rudiments of your precedent Directions But this great Wound is easily solv'd for if when to discover your Fish fag his Fins you may rationally conclude he then struggles with Death and then is your time to trifle him a Shore on some smooth Shelf of Sand where you may boldly land him before his Scales encounter the Soil which he no sooner apprehends by the prospect of Death approaching as a dying Man that grasps every Twig because thinking thereby to save himself so will your Game extinguish his Strength and blaze out the Flames of his Life with a Struggle Another Expedient is the landing-Net or the Landing-Rod which I rather approve of let the Swim be deep or let it be shallow we direct this Artifice to amuse the Fish and facilitate his Destruction when he struggles with Difficulties Notwithstanding all this some Hazards must be encountred by the more Ingenious that flies high at his Game Incomparable Sport the Salmon makes and so did this for he made me laugh Th. Why so severe to run at my Misfortune take the Rod if you please and display your Skill I 'le defy all your Art to discover such a Fish though unfortunate I must confess to hazard my Reputation with such ill Success whereby to lose such an eminent
Dews to moisten the florid marly Banks and tinged as you may see with a Rubido they strike a vivid Tincture into the flourishing Streams and thus the Complexion of the Water was changed once upon a Time when I fished those Streams where the Trouts to divert me and augment my Entertainment came ashore to court me and courteous beyond curiosity laid their Lives in my Hand Th. Then they gave you handsel I perceive but this is some Aenigma pray explain it Ar. It 's no more an Aenigma than a Trout is a Trout for you must suppose him an active Fish who no sooner finds himself intangled but he plunges and breaks the Surface of the Streams thinking thereby to disintangle himself and reprieve himself from the danger of Death that already has laid an Arrest upon him Thus by picking and casting he casts his Life away so swims ashore to hear the Angler's Doom in whose Breast lies the Sentence of Life and Death On a certain solitary and gloomy Day the Face of the Firmament was sullied with Clouds that roll'd to and fro but did not melt I remember I armed with a glittering Fly the Body composed of red twisted Silk intermingled with Silver and an Eye of Gold the Water in temper as you now observe it but the wing of my Fly was the dapple Feather of a Teal the Day as prenoted promiscuous and gloomy and the Clouds as I told you stained with blackness but no noise of Thunder disturb'd the Air nor was there any Symptom or appearance of Rain save only some sprinkling scattering Drops that trickled down the marly Banks and moistned the Cheeks of the craggy Rocks so amalgamizing the mollified Earth with Water to my Observation invited the Fish from their Habitations insomuch that the Streams were not Charms strong enough to contain them for in Frolicks as I apprehended they made haste to meet me and that was as much as to complement Death but the Landing I confess was difficult enough by reason of Distance and the hazardous Passages I frequently encountred because of Rocks which with difficulty I evaded But that I need not recount when only designing to recite the executive Part of Angling in order to which my ensuing Discourse will instruct you in the Art and in the mystical Intrigues of the Angler also Th. Ingenious Instructions will signalize the Art easy and impregnate the Artist Let the Luxurious furfieit with the Sins of the Age I 'le trace the Angler's Footsteps and pursue this inoffensive Life and silver Streams to propagate and cultivate the Art so compleat my self an Artist in this mystical Artillery for I can raise my Ambition no higher than the Device Fashion and Form of Flies with Advice also for their management together with seasonable Time and Use. Ar. That was my Intention had you never mentioned it but were it to another I should rather refer him to our modern Assertors For indeed the frequent exercise of Fly-fishing though painful yet it 's delightful more especially when managed by the Methods of Art and the practical Rules and Mediums of Artists But the Ground-bait was of old the general Practice and beyond dispute brought considerable Profit which hapned in those Days when the Curiosity of Fly-fishing was intricate and unpracticable However Isaac Walton late Author of the Compleat Angler has imposed upon the World this monthly Novelty which he understood not himself but stuffs his Book with Morals from Dubravius and others not giving us one Precedent of his own practical Experiments except otherwise where he prefers the Trencher before the Troling-rod who lays the stress of his Arguments upon other Mens Observations wherewith he stuffs his indigested Octavo so brings himself under the Angler's Censure and the common Calamity of a Plagiary to be pitied poor Man for his loss of Time in scribling and transcribing other Mens Notions These are the Drones that rob the Hive yet flatter the Bees they bring them Honey Th. I remember the Book but you inculcate his Erratas however it may pass Muster among common Mudlers Ar. No I think not for I remember in Stafford I urged his own Argument upon him that Pickerel weed of it self breeds Pickerel Which Question was no sooner stated but he transmits himself to his Authority viz. Gesner Dubravius and Androvanus Which I readily opposed and offered my reasons to prove the contrary asserting that Pickerels have been fished out of Pools and Ponds where that Weed for ought I knew never grew since the Nonage of Time nor Pickerel ever known to have shed their Spawn there This I propounded from a rational Conjecture of the Heronshaw who to commode her self with the Fry of Fish because in a great measure part of her Maintenance probably might lap some Spawn about her Legs in regard adhering to the Segs and Bull-rushes near the Shallows where the Fish shed their Spawn as my self and others without curiosity have observed And this slimy Substance adhering to her Legs c. and she mounting the Air for another Station in probability mounts with her Where note the next Pond she happily arrives at possibly she may leave the Spawn behind her which my Compleat Angler no sooner deliberated but drop'd his Argument and leaves Gesner to defend it so huff'd away which rendred him rather a formal Opinionist than a reform'd and practical Artist because to celebrate such antiquated Records whereby to maintain such an improbable Assertion Th. This was to the Point I confess pray go on Ar. In his Book intituled the Compleat Angler you may read there of various and diversified Colours as also the Forms and Proportions of Flies Where poor Man he perplexes himself to rally and scrape together such a parcel of Fragments which he fancies Arguments convincing enough to instruct the Adult and Minority of Youth into the slender Margin of his uncultivated Art never made practicable by himself I 'm convinc'd Where note the true Character of an industrious Angler more deservedly falls upon Merril and Faulkner or rather upon Isaac Owldham a Man that fish'd Salmon but with three Hairs at Hook whose Collections and Experiments were lost with himself Th. That was pity Ar. So it was but to thee Theophilus so well improved if Salmon or Trout be your Recreation remember always to carry your Dubbing-Bag about you wherein there ought to be Silks of all sorts Threads Thrums Moccado-ends and Cruels of all sizes and variety of Colours diversified and stained Wool with Dogs and Bears Hair besides twisted fine Threads of Gold and Silver with Feathers from the Capon Partridg Peacock Pheasant Mallard Smith Teal Snite Parrot Heronshaw Paraketta Bittern Hobby Phlimingo or Indian-flush but the Mockaw without exception gives flames of Life to the Hackle Thus arm'd at all Points with Rods Rush-grown Hooks well temper'd and Lines well tapered you may practise where you please in any River in Scotland provided always the Season be sutable And forget not be sure
Inhabitant with the Blessings of Plenty and that 's enough So to sum up all in a Compendious Narrative we intitle Montrose the Mount of Roses Th. What Encomium more elegant or what Character more eminent for these sweet Situations than the Rosy Mount of our Northern Latitude Nay what expressions could be added more compendiously significant to characterize the Beautiful Elevations and Imbellishments of Montrose I know not then let this short Derivation answer all Objections whilst we enter her Ports and use Arguments of Refreshment to our hostile Appetites in regard so famous a River as the famous Ask salutes her Banks and flourishing Shores with daily supplies to relieve her Inhabitants and accomodate Strangers Ar. Now our next Advance is to the Town of Dundee but give me leave to call it Deplorable Dundee and not to be exprest without a Deluge of Tears because storm'd and spoil'd by the rash precipitancy of Mercenaries whose rapinous Hands put a fatal Period to her stately Imbellishments with the loss of many innocent lives altogether unconcern'd in that unnatural Controversy Ah poor Dundee torn-up by the Roots and thy Natives and Inhabitants pick'd out at the Port-holes Can Honour shine in such Bloody Sacrifices to lick up the lives of Inhabitants as if by a studied revenge Can nothing sweeten the Conquerours Sword but the reeking Blood of Orphans and Innocents Blush O Heavens what an Age is this There was Wealth enough to answer their Ambitions and probably that as soon as any thing betrayed her Could nothing satisfy the unsatiable Sword but the Life of Dundee to atone as a Sacrifice English Men without Mercy are like Christians without Christianity no Moderation nor Pity left but parcelling out the lives of poor Penitents in cold Blood Who must answer for this at the Bar of Heaven before the Judg of all the World but he that doom'd Dundee to die is dead himself and doom'd e're this and Dundee yet living to survive his Cruelty Th. Is this Dundee Disconsolate Dundee where the merciless Conquerour stuck down his Standard in Streams of Blood Ar. Yes this is that Unfortunate and Deplorable Dundee whose Laurels were stript from the Brow of her Senators to adorn the Conquering Tyrant's Head Here it was that every Arbour flourished with a Fruitful Vine and here every Border was beautified with fragrant Flowers Yet her Situation seems to me none of the best for if bordering too near the brinks of the Ocean proves Insalubrious or stooping too low to salute the Earth incommodes Health by unwholsom Vapours then to stand elevated a pitch too high suffocates with Fumes that equally offend and infect the Air by blotting out Sanity with the Soveraignty of Life Th. This somewhat answers my former Opinion that neither Honour nor Riches nor the Ambitions of Men stand in competition with the Mediocrity of Health nor is there any Blessing under the Sun adequate to the Soveraign Sanctions of Sanity on this side Eternity but the Radies of Sanctification from the Sun of Righteousness The World 's a Fool and none but Fools admire it Yet not that I prophane the Beautiful Creation when only censuring that fictitious and imaginary World in Man Go on with Dundee I overflow with Pity and could wish my Reluctancy Penitency enough to weep her into a Religious Repentance but not with Rachel never to be comforted Hark Arnoldus Don't you hear the Bells Ar. Yes I hear them and what of that Bells and Bonfires are two Catholick Drumsticks with which the Church beats up for Volunteers only to debauch them For what end were Bells hung up if not to Jangle and Bonfires kindled if not to Blaze like an Ignis fatuus Thus People uncultivated are like Land untill'd and Arts unimprov'd print the footsteps of Penury But Arts are improv'd by industrious Ingenuity when through want of Ingenious Industry they slide into a Non-entity As no Man can be truly Religious without good Morals so no Man without good Morals can be in any measure Religious Not that I assert Religion is Morality but Morality is the Porch that lets into the Temple Th. You paraphrase upon Bells I wonder how you miss'd Bag-pipes since the one has as much the root of the matter in 't as the other By these mystical Metaphors if I hit the Mark you present England an Emblem of Canaan and Scotland but a piece of English Imitation Ar. You don't hit the Key right but I perceive England lies close siege in your Bosom however there ought to be some charity for Scotland that so generously entertained you withall sorts of Varieties Th. Scotland'tis true has variety enough to confuse and confound all the Cooks in England Ar. All this I 'll grant Th. Then you must grant their Butter but little better then Grease we usually grease Cart-wheels withal which nauseates my Palat if but to think on 't or remember the Hand that made it up I know there are Men that have Maws like Muck-hills that can feed as freely upon tainted Flesh as you and I upon Pheasant and Partridge Ar. What then Th. Why then you argue as if you had lost your English Appetitie and I would not for all the Varieties in Scotland that the resentments of England should expire in my Palat. Ar. Does Hunger make any distinction in Dainties if not then why should Scotish Kale blot out the Character of English Colliflowers Th. I shan't dispute the point but the very thoughts of England sweetens my apprehensions that possibly e're long I may taste of a Southern Sallad However this I 'll say in the Honour of Scotland that Cold and Hunger are inseparable Companions but their Linens are fresh and were not their Beds so short they would serve well enough for weary Travellers Ar. Then I fancy they will serve well enough for us whilst we trace the fragrant Levels of Fife For now we relinquish the beautiful Ports of Dundee to transport in Boats that are steer'd with a Compass of Straw by reason of the embodied Mists to which Dundee is as incident as any part because standing in a bottom that 's besieged with mucky miry Earth from whence there insurrect such pernicious Vapours as nauseate the Air whereby it becomes almost infectious Th. Why so Ar. Because it debilitates both the Native and Inhabitant and would certainly incapacitate them of Health and long Life did not Custom and a Country-Habit plead a prescription both as to Physick and Diet Insomuch that neither Gass nor Blass nor any nauseating suffocating Fumes nor hardly Death it self can snatch them from Scotland where some Natives have lived to a prodigious Age. Th. But to the Country of Fife I fear you 'l forget it Ar. No no doubt it not nor would I have you startle the Mariner who because destitute of a Card to pilot us over by is compell'd to make use of a Compass of Straw Th. A very ingenious Invention pray tell us the manner on 't Ar. Don't
come to fee her Arbours and Aviaries so naturally dress'd up in the Shades of the Forest and perfum'd with Fragrancies from the redolent Meadows of Trent besides the pleasant Prospect it has into the cultivated Fields in the fruitful Vale of Belvoir then would you say that Nottingham is the Magazine for Cheshire and Lancashire and the daily supply of those Mountainous Parts in the Peak of Derby-shire These are those Ports where the Angler and Ingenious never yet entred without sober Accommodation let us therefore first consult the Virtuoso's of the Rod afterwards sweeten our Ears with Rhetorique from Apollo Th. As you have given us a fair and large Character of Nottingham so have you been as copious in your practical Experiments of Angling and brought to Test the undeniable Assertions of Truth not imaginary Fragments nor Romantick Fictions stoln or suggested by plundring Plagiaries Now every one knows that Ignorance emulates Art and Impiety above all things abominates Devotion Tradition also that truckles under Forms and Hypocrisy and Flattery are Time's Apostates But Science and Experience are the confirmation of Eye-sight and Truth the Standard of Divine Speculation By these we proportion the Measures of Vertue which is found by him that treads the Tracks of Wisdom and wades through the profound Depths of Patience for as he that devotes himself to a solitary Life lives a Life most congruous to Devotion so he that devotes himself to Piety lives a Life analogous to Contemplation For what signifies the Court but to remonstrate the Prince his Magnificence and the Palace but to heighten his Enjoyments On the other hand where Humility is celebrated to Piety there Content dwells every-where in an humble Breast and Humility and Penitency like Links concatinate content themselves with the garb of a Cottage Thus we may read the State of the World but that which I always approved of as the best State was to seek the Blessings of Content in every Condition Then welcome Woods Rocks Rivers Groves Rivulets nay it 's possible the very Shades of a Forest in some measure answer to the Comforts of Life and Life answers to the Ends of the great Creator Consider therefore that the Soul 's great Diadem is Christ and Christ by Wisdom and Sanctification every Christian knows is God And who but God created this stupendous Creation and drest up this imbelish'd Fabrick of Heaven and Earth when he made the Majesty of his Invisibility visible and placed Man in this sublunar Orb to conduct and manage his Fellow-creatures But Man imprudently transgressing in not answering the glorious Ends of his Divine Creation in Obedience to the Commands of the Sovereign Decrees of God the Almighty discharged him the Soveraignty of Government so exil'd him from the glorious Sun-shine of Paradise Of whom if you please let us have an account But I wonder at one thing to me it 's a Paradox Ar. What 's that Th. You writ your Book in 58 and spread the Net to 85. Ar. What if I do I lived in the Reign of five Kings and in the Time of four great Worthies Th. Was O. P. one Ar. I leave that Bone for you to pick. But this I assert that great English Hero was exemplary in Piety eminent in Policy prudent in Conduct magnanimous in Courage indefatigable in Vigilancy industriously laborious in Watchings Heroick in Enterprize constant in Resolution successful in War one that never wanted a Presence of Mind in the greatest Difficulties all the World owns him for a great General that influenced all Europe gave Laws to all neighbouring Nations and disciplined France with English Arms. Th. These are great Encomiums Was the Lord R. one Ar. That great Man of Worth and Honour was truly Vertuous the Patriot of his Country and the Glory of the Court beloved of the People and a lover of Piety who left Legacies of Love to the surviving Natives when he sealed his Death with noble English Blood Th. Was Col. A. S. one Ar. That great Soul was too great for the World whose Life in a manner was a continued Death signified by those Trophies of War he carried about him He died but to teach his Country-men the easy Methods of honourable Dying to the astonishment of Mankind and foreign Ambassadors Th. Was Alderman C. one Ar. That brave and worthy Citizen to his eternal Praise sealed London's Magna Chart a with a Christian Exit and a Voice from Heaven Therefore put no more questions for the Aenigma is explained but begin where you left off so let us conclude Th. Then I 'le only desire a Description of Man Arnoldus his Meditation Ar. Adam as an Angel in the Shades of Paradise typified his Creator then it was that this mortal State seemed Immortal and Man because a Signature of this admirable Creation was made to live by that Life that made him for it was the Will of the Supreamest that made him to shine a Ray of the Majesty upon him and generate in him the glorious beauteous Ray of Himself But this was done when the Divine Majesty made Man absolute Lord and commissioned him Conduct over all the Creatures So that Adam was now a Divine Substitute because the Divinity had divinely inspired him and stamp'd the Impress of his Royal Signet upon him the lively Emblem and Character of Himself whereby to demonstrate in him a Sovereign Power over all the Families of Creatures that God had made and by Wisdom bless'd in this stupendous Creation So that you may read Adam was made in the Likeness of his Maker but he begot in his own Likeness This was once the blessed State of Adam and a regenerate State to be born again in Spirit is the same with us now for Primitive Purity can never be blotted out by National Impiety Nor shall Age nor Time nor Death it self vacate the Lustre and Glory of Christianity for as the Donation of Purity is the Royal Act of him that 's pure and lives for ever so the Piety of Christianity shall out-live all Ages to the utmost Limit and Period of Time Where note the Primitive Times have liv'd till now and that that begot Time in the Bosom of Eternity is Christ in us the Hope of Glory Why then do Christians violate their Faith Does it become us to enslave it by Lust A proud Faith is as great a Contradiction as an humble Devil The glorious Hope we have of Paradise incites and invites Believers to the Duty of Repentance and Repentance leads on to a humble Submission to cruciate our selves and this temporal State that naturally resigns upon every Assault of Death for all complicated Elements melt into Obscurity Shall the Clay rebel against the Potter that moulds it Shall Man resist his Maker that made him Shall the Vice of the Times vote against Heaven and Impiety provoke us to mutiny against the Deity Must we learn no Language but Oaths and Imprecations and denounce no Dialect but the Rhetorick of
Hell Can no bounds be put to luxurious Ambition nor any Limit to the impudent Impostor who has not considered the Body sometimes diseased and how Death stands ready to blot out the Character of Life so that if ill Symptoms but happen to invade us the Grave immediately stands gaping to devour us Nor can our Limbs any sooner be touched with the Cold and icie Finger of Death but our vital Fires begin all to extinguish and the glorious shining Sparks of Life look languid and dim and so by degrees lose their sparkling Lustre Then it is that the natural Artifice of Men and Means suddenly forsake us and the secret Subtilties of our deceitful Hearts basely and cowardly renounce and desert us And then it is that our truckling Faith prostrates a false Heart on the cold and frozen Altar of Despair which formerly was the common Factorage and Receptable of impure Flames where we used to offer up adulterated Sacrifices with impious Adorations as the Athenians did to unknown Gods prophetically Prognosticating our merited Destruction So that now in a Clod or lump of Clay the lustre of Life is silently sealed up and secretly conveyed to the Sepulchres of Death and because translated from the beauteous Creation is made to cease from a natural State and embrace Corruption and the putrid Grave in eternal silence where we shall never see Light nor Day any more nor with Sorrow or Reluctancy look back upon the anguish and anxiety of those we formerly persecuted by unjust Sentences when as Judges we sat and perverted Judgment yet would seem to appear as Angels of Light But strip'd and stark naked the World now inspects us and all those Graces that naturally adorn'd us discover themselves but personal Deformities So that Disease finds as little difficulty to attempt us as Death to encounter and overcome us For have not our sensual Guards all declin'd us and the Arguments of Sense and Reason revolted from us Every Instrument and Organ has reclaim'd its natural Function whereby we perceive our selves deserted by the active shining Motions of Life and doom'd to Death by the Law of Sin we subscribe to the fatal Decrees of Mortality O fatal flattering Impiety where 's all those specious Pretences of Purity that link'd and intail'd our suborn'd Inclinations to the gaudy Temptations of luxurious Honour What if every Man had the Wealth of a Monarch and as great as Alexander in Empire and Dominion and suppose his Domesticks as numerous as the World yet Death would arrest him and send him Summons to appear before Heaven's high Tribunal where he must answer for himself and not another for him whilst Conscience as a bold and daring Accuser will accuse him for the Deeds done here in the Body So that as our Work was here upon Earth such also will be our Reward in Heaven But how sad will it be when to behold the Portals of the New Ierusalem firmly bolted and barrocaded against us when to hear the dreadful and irrevocable Sentence of eternal Excommunication pass upon us to be utterly secluded Society with the Saints and denied Community with the blessed Angels that perpetually triumph with Seraphick Hallelujahs as the Seraphims and Cherubims with heavenly Ejaculations whilst we are made to grope in Darkness unutterable and to lament there the Impiety of Life and debar'd Repentance after Death because to reject it when proffred unto us for in the Grave there 's no Contrition nor after Judgment is there any Revocation This is a sad and deplorable Sentence beyond the reach of Sorrow to contemplate for if but to consider the Janglings in Hell and the murmuring Complaints of the Damned in Torments that belch out Blasphemies to confirm their Impieties and by spiritual Pride prophane the Beauty of Holiness and would if possible corrupt the Creation prostituting to Idols and the Ides of Time and as much as in them lies pervert and poison the Sacred Oracles of Judgment and Justice But what Tongue can express the glorious Raptures and beatifical Visions the Saints enjoy with the Seraphick Harmony of the blessed Hierarchy whilst Penitents pass by the Gates of Hell to the heavenly triumphant Joys of Eternity O what Love so convincing and stupendously manifest as a Saviour to die for unregenerate Sinners to affix himself to the Cross of Death to fasten our Souls to Eternal Life to load his Body with the Burden of Sin to purchase for Sinners the Seal of Redemption This is that great and sublime Elixir that transmutes our Nature into Divinity Time into Eternity and our Souls into Himself from which supereminent Heavenly State there 's no relaxation but an intire Unity and Community with God for ever and ever to all Eternity For as Light is inseparable from it self nor can Darkness co-mingle or incorporate with it such is the Soul that is truly sanctified and sprinkled with the Blood of this Miracle of Mercy that never for the future can be separated from its Saviour but as Sin hates the Light because the Light discovers its Darkness so Light because it 's the Standard of Truth not only discovers but dissipates the Darkness The Lamb of God is the Light of the World that for ever shines and for ever frees the penitent Soul from the Shades of Darkness How great therefore must that Light be that enlightneth the World and every Man that cometh into the World Now the true State of Felicity is only attainable by Faith in Christ and Faith directs to the Portals of Humility Humility to Piety and Piety leads on to the Duties of Charity by a religious resignation of our inglorious Will to the Glory of his Will that bore our Burden of Sin on the Cross. Here let us sigh down if possible the Sins of the Age as Christ by the virtue of his pure Divinity depress'd those Mountains of Sin in the World then in obedience to this great Example let us cruciate our selves the better to enable us to triumph over Death for to conquer Self forceth the Devil to recoil and to render the Vanities of this World contemptible is to lead Hell and Captivity captive which none but Christ can do and has done yet ought we to imitate our Leader as true Volunteers of the Cross if we hope to imbrace the Royal Sanctions of him that bore his Cross in a bloody Shower for the Redemption of Mankind This I recommend to the Christian Reader that follows the Lamb the Captain of our Salvation Th. By this most excellent Description of Man he labours I perceive under great Anxiety till Christ affix him by his Sovereign Ray of Light whereby to illuminate and sublime his immortal Soul into the everlasting Arms of himself the glorious Being of his all-glorious Father where Time shall be no more for Time is but the Child of Eternity as is Generation the Child of Time Generation therefore devolves in Time and Time results in the Arms of Eternity But Eternity is the Beam
prefer the Goose to the Gossander and vie the Hog with the Hind It 's true some hug and imbrace the Vision of remote Novelties because to fancy that Distance and Difficulty make things rare so it may well enough for it makes them dear And what would it signify to a rural Palat was that Palat by foreign Curiosities daily impos'd upon Besides it 's Treason in the abstract against the Law of Bounty for any Man to imagine Partiality in Nature since every thing is destinated by an immutable Decree to answer the primary Ends ordained The great Work-master needs no contribution from the Mine to enable him to infuse Virtue into the Creation nor needs he to borrow any thing from the Creature since the Creature is only the marginal Note of the Universe the Creation it self being the stupendous Volume But as every thing naturally adheres to its own Like and Semblances partake of their own Properties Stars then were not made meerly to gaze at nor Elements but as Vortrices for corporeal Reception otherwise how could Birds divide their ambient Air or Fish force a Passage through the fluctuating Ocean where sometimes the treacherous Net betrays them yet so resolv'd are they with contempt to Cruelty that they scorn to petition a Reprieve for Life but rather submit themselves to be tortur'd to Death by the tormenting Hand of the scarifying Cook that dispenseth with Art to elevate the Appetite if when only to make it pleasant to a generous Acceptation But to look for the Perch you need not go far to seek him that is to be found almost any where if you please but to step to the Suburbs of the Streams of Trent or the solitary Deeps near the rapid Streams in most Rivers and Rivulets in the Circle of England if examined at the Bottom for you may search and find him under hollow Banks Eddies Pools Miln-Pits Turns of Streams at the Tales of Sluces Flood-gates and back-Waters near to the Stumps of Trees Wier-heads Stanks Candocks and Bull-rushes but if there be any ruinous Decays there you will certainly find him that is to be found Indeed one would think him a piece of an Antiquary because he loves to be rifling among Ruins Now presupposing you have found him what is next to be done that ought to be considered in regard it 's the Angler's Care and Study to accommodate him like an Artist with what he loves But you will ask me what that is And I readily answer and tell you not with coarse Tackle nor a slovenly Bait for though the Carp is not squeemish nor the Perch shame-faced yet he hates Rudeness coarse Tackle and slovenly Commons greatly admiring Dew-worms if well depurated Cankers Caterpillars Cod-worms Grubs Brandlins Minews and the junior Fry of small Fish these Novelties affect him to a change of Element who lays down his Life for what he loves But the Charm of all Baits that invites him ashore as Fancy is seldom unfurnished with Invention is that truculent Mortal the Gild-tail which sooner than any thing sends him a Summons of Death for which at any time he shall give you his Life and that is as much as the World has to part with nor hath he any more than himself to give Now let the Angler that would fish for Perch The Turns in Rivers and back-Waters search In deepest Lakes the largest Perch you 'l find And where the Perch is Kind will answer Kind BREAM The Bream though we grant him a flegmatick Fish and a Fish as naturally as any Fish addicted to Ease and Idleness yet he enjoys himself as much in limpid Streams as other Fish do that seek Sanctuary in solitary Lakes And as he hates rambling far from Home so he abhors Correspondency with those that do contenting himself with torpid Streams and hugs his Fancy in solitary Deeps Trent I have observed for the Race of Bream may challenge all England nay all Europe for ought I know more especially near those Streams that wet the Ports of Gainsborough where sometimes he washeth his Fins with the Eagre and arrives there to that amazing bigness that I blush to report it lest the Reader should suspect me Indeed the Bream is an excellent Companion if you can but get him into humour to bite which may easily be done if you do but treat him with the compost of Paste for that will insinuate him into the Pie where his Bones will absorp and his Flesh amalgamize with fresh sweet Butter which being dissolved will entertain you with a nutricious Liquor that for phlegmatick Humours is both Physick and Diet. I never knew any Angler except it was one that singly devoted himself a whole day's Diversion in order to court and entertain this Fish nor do I remember him inroll'd in the Angler's Catalogue among the first Classis of dignified Fish For that end therefore as I intend brevity in his Description so give me leave to shew you the readiest way how to surprize and take him But then you must consider him no constant Companion for all Constitution of Rivers and Rivulets though our Southern Streams frequently enjoy him except otherwise they prove too rapid and forcible for if so then he takes up his Residence in calmer Streams that enamour him with Bull-rushes at other whiles with Candocks whose Recreation is little more than the limits of his Confinement from whence he seldom extravagants himself until compell'd from thence by the Mediums of Art as at other times by Inundation or Deluges of Water that send him sometimes a Goal-Delivery But the variety of Baits to allure this Fish being so numerous and various I shall confine my self only to a few which upon examination will be found effectual Compound therefore a Paste as formerly described of Honey intermingled with a little Brandy Bean-flower and the Yolk of an Egg which you may if you please tinge with Gambogium Vermilion c. This Bait sometimes as soon as any thing entices him ashore But in regard he is a Fish inconstant as to Diet some therefore feed him with Gentles and not without good Success some others with Grubs and othersome with Caterpillars but better is that of Cod-worms and sometimes any thing will do if he be in Humour But then you are to consider he loves early rising and is ready for Breakfast by break of Day so that if his Commons affect him and you so fortunately happy to meet with a cloudy gloomy Morning you may engage him for ought I know to keep you Company till the solitudes of Night which a well-scoured red Worm will sometimes do and so will Cheese for he loves the Dairy but all the World cannot make him Fly-proof yet a Brandlin makes his Teeth water But the Gild-tail as above is such an invincible Charm that all his Powers cannot withstand it but he will come ashore in despight of Death Now if the Angler fish in Thames for Bream Or famous Trent ne're let him search a Stream
of Segs and Candocks which assign him a sutable Sauce to his Diet. I never yet knew an Angler with the Rod that designed a Day 's Diversion with this piece of Suspicion It is true I have heard him variously discoursed and perhaps as often as other Men have seen him make Circles in his own Element but irregular ones out on 't for I have been at his Death sometimes with an Instrument and sometimes without it but never at his Destruction with the Rod and Line The next enquiry will be how we shall surprize this Argos and reduce him in some measure to the Angler's Designs In order to that some court him with Loaches some with Minews some with Dew-worms a small Gudgeon or toasted Cheese but the Maw of a Beast best pleaseth him of any thing and truly I fancy it the most natural Bait for such a kind of a nasty Fish that nothing can surprize but the noosed Net except he happens to meet with the berbed Speer The Lampre loves a gravely Bottom best And 's fam'd for Pie-meat more than all the rest I needs must say the Angler takes a Prize That takes this Argos or this Fish All-eyes ROACH As the Roach is no costly Fish so is he not over-curiously enquired after He that seeks him without difficulty finds him as early for breakfast as the Sun salutes the Creation whose habitation is found bordering upon Banks in Eddies small Turns and meandring Streams and where there 's a Bush in the Suburbs of the Streams there you shall find him sheltring himself when recruits of Rain force down the Freshes and drive the Soil from off the fertil Fields for then you may fish him and not go far to find him when at other times more especially near the approaching Winter he houses himself in the more solitary security of Candocks and Bull-rushes in Depths of the Water but whilst we paraphrase and discourse the Roach we but decipher and interpret the Rud since Nature's Laws are alike to both for both have but one Fate and Period though of different complexion in Fin having natural Inclination to long and warm Days to small and trilling Streams yet neither of them lovers nor admirers of Travel by which you may guess that seldom or rarely they are found far from Home for placing a Content in their little Confinements shews their unwillingness to examine the extent of their Confines Now you are to consider the Roach a great Fly-admirer who examines the Season by the Sun's distribution of Heat that generously warms and nourisheth the Creation by giving a new Life after the Death of an expiring Winter And since we observe him so inamoured with Flies care must be taken to bring him what he loves and that is the Ant when Insects come in for which servile Gratitude he recompenseth the Angler Or if in the mean time he be accommodated with Bank-flies small Flesh-flies or a well-scoured Gentle he doubly retaliates when he gives you himself I have given him Brandlins Bee-grubs Cow-Grubs Cabbage-Grubs Cankers Caterpillars Pastes of all Compounds and of various Tinctures for which he never was ungrateful but he that brings him the yellow Cod-worm brings him what he loves for his Patrimony can never purchase the Prize but submits to the Charm and proffers himself to the Angler The Roach or Rud not greedy of promotion Loves Ponds and Rivers better than the Ocean In solitary Pools they spend their Time And Travel hate as an immortal Crime DACE The Dace or Dare is the Fresh-water Herring a Fish that is common and constant one that loves to divert himself and is the Angler's Diversion for it 's rare to come to the Waterside and find him out of Humour to bite Now to tell you where he lives I need not for you shall find him in most or all the Rivers and Rivulets in England and to acquaint you with what he loves is needless for there 's nothing that is edible he 'l at any time refuse Hot Weather allures him forth of Deeps for warm Days invite him abroad for Recreation because then he bathes himself in the glittering Streams but when affected with Cold he dives into the more solitary Deeps as most or all other Fishes do that burden themselves with Water as Age is burdened with Diseases and Infirmities But at the Period of bright Cinthia's Progress when the Sun and long Days have consumed the Recrement of the expiring Winter then you shall find him sporting and picking among the gliding silver Streams of Trent so in most Rivers in the confines of the Kingdom where you may recreate your self and refresh him with a Bank Stone or Flag-fly as the Opportunity of the Place and the Season of the Year presents For in the Vernon Ingress if you proffer him Drakes either the green or the gray Drake he will never refuse them or should you invite him with their Shadow viz. the artificial Resemblance you complement him with a Curiosity But the natural Fly more abundantly than the Artificial contributes to his Humour But his Ground-bait is the Brandlin if well purged in delicate sweet and new Moss or a fair large Gentle well depurated and scoured in Bran but the yellow Cod-worm excels all the rest as a Flame in Bowdie excels all Colours provided it be adorned with the Head of a Fly This is the Charm that invites him ashore and as soon as any thing brings him to Hand The Dace of all Fish is the daring Fish To sport with Flies and after in the Dish He 's not to be despis'd because his end 's To sport the Angler and to feast his Friends RVFF The Ruff some call him Pope but call him what you will for I suppose he obtained that Title from his infallibility of biting which he seldom fails to do if the Angler happens to come where he is and that is almost every where This little Desperado tho he wants Conduct yet has he Resolution and Courage enough to encounter Death who seldom as any Fish gives an Affront yet rarely or never refuses the Combat It is true he is Cautious but not Contentious more a Hero than a Hector who never flies except at the Face of his Enemy and is for the most part constant in Victory save only when encountring the victorious Angler This little Buckaneer arm'd at all Points consorts the Angler and entertains him at all times provided he seek for him near the solitary decays of broken Bridges ruinous Foundations and the Roots of Trees Besides he loves Bull-rushes Beds of Segs and Candocks where frequently you may find him So in Eddies turns in Water but in meandring Pools you will rarely miss of him and where Stumps Stakes and hollow Banks are there is he to be found otherwise conclude he is not in that Colony This little resolute Animal his Stature considered is of as great resolution as any Fish that wags a Fin and as generous and profuse of his Life as his
Lordship not unlike the Prodigal that hates to out-live his Estate and Patrimony The Angler therefore that would civilly treat him ought to bring him what he loves and that you know is but requisite and reasonable and where-ever you find him it 's a hundred to one that the whole Armado is not far from him since for the most part they move all in a Body One would think them Mutineers because all of a Piece for if you hang but one all the rest are in danger Nor will they revolt or retreat from their Diet since every one resolves to eat till he die I fancy them somewhat of the Nature of Negroes that expect after Death to return back to the Goldcoast for if you bring him but a Brandlin or a well-purg'd Gild-tail he shall shew you his Face and leap into the Pannier The Ruff or Pope inhabits little Holes Betwixt the Artick and Antartick Poles Who seldom quarels yet can't well dispense With an Affront who arms for his defence GVDGEON As the Gudgeon is a most delicious Fish so ought he to be most delicately drest and because the Angler's and every one's Entertainment therefore he 's preferr'd before many other Fish that make not so fine a show in the Platter It 's true there 's no fear to surfeit of a Diet that 's so naturally nutricious and converts all into Nourishment without the Law of Physick This piece of curiosity is a curious admirer of limpid clear and cristalline Streams more especially when surrounded with gentle turns in Rivers and Rivulets that have sandy Bottoms and if paved with Gravel it 's never the worse who almost to a Miracle affects Cleanliness in eating and as he loves his Life loves that his Meat should always be well washed before he eats it This fresh-water Smelt seldom or never roves abroad as other Fish do to recreate himself with Insects and Flies but contents himself at home with a Gentle rather than to ramble abroad for Varieties for to speak plain English his Life is in danger and Sentence of Death pronounced at the sight almost of every master-Fish But the Brandlin he adores as his select Modicum and the Gild-tail sweetens all his Diversions so that if either be brought him to sport and play with he would have it vivid but not livid and sweetned and adorned with an odoriferous Perfume Now some Anglers have been pleased to write various Encomiums on this little curious piece of Mortality and they do him right for he is a Fish that not only entertains the Angler with the Rod but as if there were a familiarity betwixt them nibbles at his Toes whilst he muddles in the Streams diverting not the Angler only but the Salmon also Besides the Perch admires him and the Eel and the Burbolt adore him So do many other Fish but the Pike above all Fish no sooner sees him but his Teeth water till he taste of the Dainty The Gudgeon loves the Water sweet and clear In freshest Streams and smallest Turns he 's there Lock till you find him then you find your Wish If for a Banquet or a Bait for Fish BLEAK The Bleak or Whitlin is the Summer Intelligencer and more of a Masculine than a Feminine Nature that conceals himself Ladylike all the Winter till long Days and a warm Sun invites him forth to purchase Flies which are sold him sometimes at the rate of his Life This Fresh-water Sprat is of most accurate Motion and feeds not much unlike the Swallow partaking very much of his Nature and Quality as near as Fish and Fowl can do or as near as Fish and Flesh can have and that 's as near as the Elements can admit of which certainly is a Secret yet very observable if the Angler but consider their coming in which is in the Vernon Ingress their natural Food and their going out together in the Autumnal Equinox You must also remember that he loves not a Stream yet would he by no means dwell far from it and bites aloft at the Race of Flies yet gratifies himself with the Soil of the Earth At Mid-water if you seek him he 's solicitous after Gentles and if at the Bottom he desires a Brandlin but he that would court him to death with a Dainty must bring him a parcel of Ant-flies The Bleak or Whitlin floats in silent Deeps In Summer-time but all the Winter sleeps For then he 's seldom seen this curious Dish Implicit Walton calls the Swallow-Fish MINEW The Minew or Penk is in my Opinion but a very small Banquet for Fish or Fisher. But a little discourse shall serve for this little Fish that is no ways difficult to find nor is he over-curious to catch provided the Artist but come where he is and that 's almost every where nor need you search him in rapid Streams for there he is not yet dwells not far from them but in Rills and Rivulets in their small Turns of Water with a bit of a Worm or a Brandlin if you please you may turn him out as soon as with any thing The Minue lives I need not tell you how Examine Trent and there you 'l find enow The Salmon Trout and Perch sliely he 'l cheat Them of their Lives and yet 's their daily Meat Th. And must this be our Exercise to trample the beautiful Banks and the florid Meadows of famous Trent to rifle her Fords for Diversion and sweeten our Senses with fragrant Odorates that perfume the Air blest beyond expectation to imprint on her silver Sands the lively Character of the Angler's Footsteps whilst we flourish our Artillery over the trembling Streams as they silently glide through the redolent Fields with a soft but sweet and murmuring Noise Ar. Thus we may divert our selves with the Streams of Trent until the radiant Zenith strike us with Heat and then consult Umbrage under the shady Oaks where not to be idle we may there form Flies and keep out of Sun-shine where the Rocks and the Woods will invite us to contemplate the imbellished Creation the variety of Creatures and the All-glorious Creator Th. This I confess is Sovereign Advice and if I mistake not the shady Trees of Sherwood will conduce to moderate the fiery Strokes of the Sun whilst Phaeton with his Chariot careers to the Western Fountains Ar. Nor till then is it needful to return to our Exercise and make inrodes with our Art and artificial Artillery for to practise the Ground-bait in the Heat of the Day is a piece of Industry without any Ingenuity since the true knowledg and disquisitions of the Ground-bait if sedulously consulted will sufficiently compensate the Toil of the Artist because when to afford him a due poize of Profit with solitary Pleasure Moreover it 's less difficult to calculate the constant Commons that Fish themselves frequently acquire than to enumerate the various and multiform Classes of Emmits Insects Worms and Flies Th. I believe no less Ar. Then cast back your
Eye on those solid Foundations of Earth and Rocks and consider with your self the Ornaments of Nature how Concretions are link'd together and Earths and Clays amalgamiz'd and coagulated into Minerals How Animals and Insects are lodg'd and conceal'd in the Surface of Soils and stagnated Pools meaning such as compensate the Art and Industry of every Industrious and Ingenious Angler Nor is it difficult to procure this mortal Entertainment for Exercise and Recreation since it 's nothing more than a knotted Earth-worm of which there are several Sorts and diversity of Sizes consequently various Kinds and variety of Colours Th. Pray explain your self Ar. Thus I explain my self as the Nature and Quality of the Earth is such also are the Generations and Productions of Animals and Insects ingendred ther in Some Products we observe them to be naturally leprous and such are usually struck with morbifick Deformities Some again are Prolifick and animated with Life as some others are design'd for Vegetation Some Earths are cold frigid and moist on the contrary some others by reason of the salinity of Sand are fortified with Heat almost to excess There are also various Complexions of Earths and Soils which calify and indurate by the Sun's Reflection so incrustate themselves by Contact and Connexion that with little difficulty facilitate a Warmth so that whilst some are accidentally Cold as ardent are othersome because influenced by Callifaction But as some are naturally Cold by Northern Influence destinated to a marly spungeous Clay intemperately Hot are othersome by confluence of bituminous and sulphureous Mixts cooperating with them Some are boggy some gravelly some naturally fertil othersome as naturally sterril All which demonstrate the various Modification and Methods of Nature and the Divine preordinate Wisdom of God the Creator whose Decrees are inviolable and whose Laws are irrevocable and from whom Nature in all her Operations copies to the Life from the first Original When therefore seriously to consider the various Families of Insects and Animals naturally protruded and thrust forth into the World for the supply of themselves and their fellow-Creatures it demonstrates a Benevolence and not a Prodigality in Nature to stock the Elements with such a numerous Increase as my self and others have curiously inspected So that sometimes one Animal and sometimes another infinitely excels as to the Anglers Recreation But the Classis of Worms are multiform and various manifestly the Lob or more properly the Dew-worm Knob or knotted Worm Red-worm Brandlin Gild-tail Marish-worm Flag and Dock-worm Tag and Tagil Spotspere Munck and Muck-worm Cod-worm and Straw-worm c. But it 's impossible to enumerate the innumerable Sorts and Varieties of Worms and the Texture of Insects different also in Shape Colour Beauty and Proportion except prophetically instructed beyond the due mediums of Art or otherwise inspected by natural Observation As when to imagine some of them smooth of a contrary Quality are those that are ruff fretted and knotted The various like we read of Colour Form Beauty Proportion and Complexion as when to inspect some of them Red some others Green some Red and Green with a greenish Cast and some Green with a reddish Tincture and some affected with a glance of both Some again display a brownish blewish and purplish Rubedo some others shine forth a Citrine Colour so that some are Yellowish and some again Orange some are Gray some Livid some Veril some Azure and some more obscure imprest with various Signatures and remarkable Observations Nature generously provides multiplicity of this animal Race whereby to furnish her Common-Weal and accommodate her solicitous Admirers But of all the Worms that move in the Earth the Gild-tail alone is the Angler's Corona Th. Now I conclude the Fish as good as half catch'd had we but Cooks to order and dress them and our Appetites in effect moderately refresh'd had we but patience to pick out the Bones After this manner Recreation brings a Reward when proportioned to propagate the Sovereign Ray of Health but not that I extol the luxurious Angler that prefers the Platter by the pentiful Pannier for he that imitates generous Nature must when he puts a Period to the Progress of the Life of one Fish charitably endeavour the multiplication of Thousands otherwise he that voraciously pursues his Exercise either spoils the Creatures to gratify his Luxury or sports away their Lives for the vanity of Excess Ar. I approve of your Morals and modest Conceptions that direct the Angler to furnish himself with such convincing Arguments as invite him only to fish for Recreation How few Pretenders to the Rod then would covet the Death of Fish for Fancy Nay who would not study to prolong their Lives were it for no other End than to furnish the Fords to relieve the Necessitous and divert the Angler Were not the Ends of the Creation made answerable to the Means of Preservation Who disputes it Then if so let me tell you that immoderate Exercise in all or any one puts a damp to Pleasure and if the End of Pleasure can be adjudged Destruction then no Man can be satisfied without Excess And what is Excess but inordinate Riot that makes a breach in the Royal Commandments in opposition to Life so results in Death Where note this Distinction is necessary to be understood that as Rods and Nets are different Means so they also answer to different Ends. The first if when to consult rapid and roling Streams but the latter results in such Parts of Water where no Line nor Rod claims a right of Privilege or with such a Fish whose invincible Strength nothing but the Net can encounter and overcome Thus arm'd at all Points with our innocent Artillery and resolved to trample the redolent Fields and the florid Meadows of famous Trent we shall there encounter with murmuring Streams that invite to Exercise and Contemplation whilst the shady Forest and solitary Groves advance our Speculation to the Suburbs of Paradise where all the Trees stand in such a beautiful Order to admiration and divinely drest by the Royal Hand of him that made this stupendous Creation denotes Mortals immortal and Time eternal which true Felicity no Man attains to by the study of Morals only and the Beauty of the Creation but a Crucified Saviour and the Piety of Christianity and then I know not but the Streams of Damascus may as effectually cleanse as the Pool of Bethesda Th. Your Discourse seems too intricate and ambiguous for the Vulgar Ar. Not at all for it neither violates Humanity nor opposes the Piety of Christianity it only points to those destitute of Devotion that would if possible enervate the mystical Ray of Discovery assassinate Piety and silence the Oracles of Truth to strike truth dumb so bury and entomb it in the Sepulchre of Oblivion But Truth 's bright and illustrious Star will convince the World of the Truth of this Hypothesis that neither Envy nor Emulation nor studied Art in opposition to Truth