THE COMPLETE ANGLER; OR THE CONTEMPLATIVE MAN'S RECREATION. PART I. CHAPTER I. A Conference between an Angler, a Hunter, and a Falconer, each commending his Recreation. PISCATOR, VENATOR, AUCEPS. PISCATOR. OU are well overtaken, Gentlemen, a good morning to you both; I have stretched my legs up Tottenham Hill to overtake you, hoping your business may occasion you towards Ware, whither I am going this fine, fresh May morning. VENATOR. Sir, I, for my part, shall almost answer your hopes; for my purpose is to drink my morning's draught at the Thatched-house in Hodsden, and I think not to rest till I come thither, B where I have appointed a friend or two to meet me: but for this Gentleman that you see with me, I know not how far he intends his journey; he came so lately into my company, that I have scarce had time to ask him the question. AUCEPS. Sir, I shall by your favour bear you company as far as Theobald's, and there leave you; for then I turn up to a friend's house who mews a Hawk* for me, which I now long to see. VEN. Sir, we are all so happy as to have a fine, fresh, cool morning, and I hope we shall each be the happier in the other's company. And, Gentlemen, that I may not lose your's, I shall either abate or amend my pace to enjoy it; knowing that, as the Italians say, Good company in a journey makes the way to seem the shorter. Auc. It may do so, Sir, with the help of good discourse, which methinks we may promise from you that both look and speak so cheerfully and for my part I promise you, as an invitation to it, that I will be as free and open-hearted, as discretion will allow me to be with strangers. To mew a hawk, appears not only to have embraced "the order of casting and the renovation of its feathers," but to have extended to its "reclaiming, dieting, and practice;" the mews being the nursery of its early training and the home of its reclaimed habits. The King's mews, near the cross, at Charing, on the site of the present Trafalgar Square, existed for two centuries (Edw. III. to Hen. VIII.), appropriate to its designation; whence might have been seen the royal cadgers emerging, each with his cadge full of Gerfalcons and Goshawks, for the diversion of the Majesty of merry England. But it so happened that about the year 1537 the King's stable at Lomesbury (since Bloomsbury), being destroyed by fire, the King caused the Hawks to be removed, and the Mews enlarged and fitted up for the reception of the royal stud; from which circumstance we are probably indebted to the term Mews, as now generally mis-applied to represent a place for horses. VEN. And Sir, I promise the like. PISC. I am right glad to hear your answers: and, in confidence you speak the truth, I shall put on a boldness to ask you, Sir, whether business or pleasure caused you to be so early up, and walk so fast; for this other Gentleman hath declared he is going to see a Hawk that a friend mews for him. VEN. Sir, mine is a mixture of both, a little business and more pleasure; for I intend this day to do all my business, and then bestow another day or two in hunting the Otter, which a friend that I go to meet tells me is much pleasanter than any other chase whatsoever: howsoever I mean to try it; for to-morrow morning we shall meet a pack of Otter-dogs of noble Mr. Sadler's,* upon Amwell Hill, who will be there so early, that they intend to prevent the sun rising. PISC. Sir, my fortune has answered my desires, and my purpose is to bestow a day or two in helping to destroy some of those villainous vermin; for I hate them perfectly, because they love fish so well, or rather, because they destroy so much; indeed so much, that in my judgment all men that keep Otter-dogs ought to have pensions from the King to encourage them to destroy the very breed of those base Otters, they do so much mischief. * Ralph Sadler, of Standon, co. Herts, Esq., grandson of Sir Ralph Sadler, Knt. Banneret. He married in 1601 Anne Paston, daughter of Sir Edward Coke, Knt. In 1606 he succeeded to the family estate of Standon, and died without issue, in 1660. Sir Henry Chauncey remarks that he delighted much in Hawking, Hunting, and the pleasures of a country life; was famous for his noble table, his great hospitality to his neighbours, and his abundant charity to the poor.-Hist. Hert. p. 219. VEN. But what say you to the Foxes of the nation, would not you as willingly have them destroyed? for doubtless they do as much mischief as Otters do. PISC. Oh! Sir, if they do, it is not so much to me and my fraternity, as those base vermin the Otters do. Auc. Why, Sir, I pray, of what fraternity are you, that you are so angry with the poor Otters? PISC. I am, Sir, a brother of the Angle, and therefore an enemy to the Otter: for you are to note, that we Anglers all love one another, and therefore do I hate the Otter, both for my own and for their sakes who are of my brotherhood. VEN. And I am a lover of Hounds; I have followed many a pack of dogs many a mile, and heard many merry huntsmen make sport and scoff at Anglers. Auc. And I profess myself a Falconer, and have heard many grave, serious men pity them, 'tis such a heavy, contemptible, dull recreation. PISC. You know, Gentlemen, 'tis an easy thing to scoff at any art or recreation; a little wit, mixed with ill-nature, confidence, and malice, will do it: but though they often venture boldly, yet they are often caught even in their own trap, according to that of Lucian, the father of the family of Scoffers: Lucian, well skill'd in scoffing, this hath writ: Meaning another when yourself you jeer. If to this you add, what Solomon says of Scoffers, that "they are an abomination to mankind” (Prov. xxiv., 9), let him that thinks fit, scoff on, and be a scoffer still; but I account them enemies to me, and to all that love virtue and Angling. And for you, that have heard many grave serious men pity Anglers; let me tell you, Sir, there be many men that are by others taken to be serious and grave men, whom we contemn and pity. Men that are taken to be grave, because nature hath made them of a sour complexion: money-getting men; men that spend all their time first in getting, and next in anxious care to keep it; men that are condemned to be rich, and then always busy or discontented; for these poor-rich-men, we Anglers pity them perfectly, and stand in no need to borrow their thoughts to think ourselves so happy. No, no, Sir, we enjoy a contentedness above the reach of such dispositions, and as the learned and ingenuous Montaigne says like himself freely, "When my Cat “and I entertain each other with mutual apish "tricks, as playing with a garter, who knows but "that I make my Cat more sport than she makes "me? Shall I conclude her to be simple that has "her time to begin or refuse to play as freely as I 66 myself have? Nay, who knows but that it is a "defect of my not understanding her language (for "doubtless Cats talk and reason with one another) "that we agree no better: and who knows but that "she pities me for being no wiser than to play with "her, and laughs and censures my folly for making 66 sport for her, when we two play together?" Thus freely speaks Montaigne, concerning Cats; and I hope I may take as great a liberty to blame |