And for the lawfulness of fishing: it may very well be maintained by
our Saviour's bidding St. Peter cast his hook into the water and catch a
fish, for money to pay tribute to Caesar. And let me tell you, that
Angling is of high esteem, and of much use in other nations. He that
reads the Voyages of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, shall find that there he
declares to have found a king and several priests a-fishing. And he that
reads Plutarch, shall find, that Angling was not contemptible in the days
of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and that they, in the midst of their
wonderful glory, used Angling as a principal recreation. And let me tell
you, that in the Scripture, Angling is always taken in the best sense; and
that though hunting may be sometimes so taken, yet it is but seldom to
be so understood. And let me add this more: he that views the ancient
Ecclesiastical Canons, shall find hunting to be forbidden to Churchmen,
as being a turbulent, toilsome, perplexing recreation; and shall find
Angling allowed to clergymen, as being a harmless recreation, a
recreation that invites them to contemplation and quietness.

I might here enlarge myself, by telling you what commendations our
learned Perkins bestows on Angling: and how dear a lover, and great a
practiser of it, our learned Dr. Whitaker was; as indeed many others of
great learning have been. But I will content myself with two memorable
men, that lived near to our own time, whom I also take to have been
ornaments to the art of Angling.

The first is Dr. Nowel, sometime dean of the cathedral church of St.
Paul, in London, where his monument stands yet undefaced; a man that,
in the reformation of Queen Elizabeth, not that of Henry VIII., was so
noted for his meek spirit, deep learning, prudence, and piety, that the
then Parliament and Convocation, both, chose, enjoined, and trusted
him to be the man to make a Catechism for public use, such a one as
should stand as a rule for faith and manners to their posterity. And the
good old man, though he was very learned, yet knowing that God leads
us not to heaven by many, nor by hard questions, like an honest Angler,
made that good, plain, unperplexed Catechism which is printed with
our good old Service-book. I say, this good man was a dear lover and
constant practiser of Angling, as any age can produce: and his custom
was to spend besides his fixed hours of prayer, those hours which, by
command of the church, were enjoined the clergy, and voluntarily
dedicated to devotion by many primitive Christians, I say, besides those
hours, this good man was observed to spend a tenth part of his time in
Angling; and, also, for I have conversed with those which have
conversed with him, to bestow a tenth part of his revenue, and usually
all his fish, amongst the poor that inhabited near to those rivers in
which it was caught; saying often, "that charity gave life to religion ":
and, at his return to his house, would praise God he had spent that day
free from worldly trouble; both harmlessly, and in a recreation that
became a churchman. And this good man was well content, if not
desirous, that posterity should know he was an Angler; as may appear
by his picture, now to be seen, and carefully kept, in Brazen-nose
College, to which he was a liberal benefactor. In which picture he is
drawn leaning on a desk, with his Bible before him; and on one hand of
him, his lines, hooks, and other tackling, lying in a round; and, on his
other hand, are his Angle-rods of several sorts; and by them this is
written, "that he died 13 Feb. 1601, being aged ninety-five years, forty-
four of which he had been Dean of St. Paul's church, and that his age
neither impaired his hearing, nor dimmed his eyes, nor weakened his
memory, nor made any of the faculties of his mind weak or useless". It
is said that Angling and temperance were great causes of these
blessings; and I wish the like to all that imitate him, and love the
memory of so good a man.