Introduction to The Compleat Angler [12]
book. He regards scoffers as 'an abomination to mankind,' for indeed even Dr. Johnson, who, a century later, set Moses Browne on reprinting The Compleat Angler, broke his jest on our suffering tribe. 'Many grave, serious men pity anglers,' says Auceps, and Venator styles them 'patient men,' as surely they have great need to be. For our toil, like that of the husbandman, hangs on the weather that Heaven sends, and on the flies that have their birth or being from a kind of dew, and on the inscrutable caprice of fish; also, in England, on the miller, who giveth or withholdeth at his pleasure the very water that is our element. The inquiring rustic who shambles up erect when we are lying low among the reeds, even he disposes of our fortunes, with whom, as with all men, we must be patient, dwelling ever -
'With close-lipped Patience for our only friend, Sad Patience, too near neighbour of Despair.'
O the tangles, more than Gordian, of gut on a windy day! O bitter east wind that bloweth down stream! O the young ducks that, swimming between us and the trout, contend with him for the blue duns in their season! O the hay grass behind us that entangles the hook! O the rocky wall that breaks it, the boughs that catch it; the drought that leaves the salmon- stream dry, the floods that fill it with turbid, impossible waters! Alas for the knot that breaks, and for the iron that bends; for the lost landing-net, and the gillie with the gaff that scrapes the fish! Izaak believed that fish could hear; if they can, their vocabulary must be full of strange oaths, for all anglers are not patient men. A malison on the trout that 'bulge' and 'tail,' on the salmon that 'jiggers,' or sulks, or lightly gambols over and under the line. These things, and many more, we anglers endure meekly, being patient men, and a light world fleers at us for our very virtue.
Izaak, of course, justifies us by the example of the primitive Christians, and, in the manner of the age, drowns opposition in a flood of erudition, out of place, but never pedantic; futile, yet diverting; erroneous, but not dull.
'God is said to have spoken to a fish, but never to a beast.' There is a modern Greek phrase, 'By the first word of God, and the second of the fish.' As for angling, 'it is somewhat like poetry: men are to be born so'; and many are born to be both rhymers and anglers. But, unlike many poets, the angler resembles 'the Adonis, or Darling of the Sea, so called because it is a loving and innocent fish,' and a peaceful; 'and truly, I think most anglers are so disposed to most of mankind.'
Our Saviour's peculiar affection for fishermen is, of course, a powerful argument. And it is certain that Peter, James, and John made converts among the twelve, for 'the greater number of them were found together, fishing, by Jesus after His Resurrection.' That Amos was 'a good-natured, plain fisherman,' only Walton had faith enough to believe. He fixes gladly on mentions of hooks in the Bible, omitting Homer, and that excellent Theocritean dialogue of the two old anglers and the fish of gold, which would have delighted Izaak, had he known it; but he was no great scholar. 'And let me tell you that in the Scripture, angling is always taken in the best sense,' though Izaak does not dwell on Tobias's enormous capture. So he ends with commendations of angling by Wotton, and Davors (Dennys, more probably) author of The Secrets of Angling (1613). To these we may add Wordsworth, Thomson, Scott, Hogg, Stoddart, and many minor poets who loved the music of the reel.
Izaak next illustrates his idea of becoming mirth, which excludes 'Scripture jests and lascivious jests,' both of them highly distasteful to anglers. Then he comes to practice, beginning with chub, for which I have never angled, but have taken them by misadventure, with a salmon fly. Thence we proceed to trout, and to the charming scene of the milkmaid and her songs by Raleigh and Marlowe, 'I think much better than the strong lines
'With close-lipped Patience for our only friend, Sad Patience, too near neighbour of Despair.'
O the tangles, more than Gordian, of gut on a windy day! O bitter east wind that bloweth down stream! O the young ducks that, swimming between us and the trout, contend with him for the blue duns in their season! O the hay grass behind us that entangles the hook! O the rocky wall that breaks it, the boughs that catch it; the drought that leaves the salmon- stream dry, the floods that fill it with turbid, impossible waters! Alas for the knot that breaks, and for the iron that bends; for the lost landing-net, and the gillie with the gaff that scrapes the fish! Izaak believed that fish could hear; if they can, their vocabulary must be full of strange oaths, for all anglers are not patient men. A malison on the trout that 'bulge' and 'tail,' on the salmon that 'jiggers,' or sulks, or lightly gambols over and under the line. These things, and many more, we anglers endure meekly, being patient men, and a light world fleers at us for our very virtue.
Izaak, of course, justifies us by the example of the primitive Christians, and, in the manner of the age, drowns opposition in a flood of erudition, out of place, but never pedantic; futile, yet diverting; erroneous, but not dull.
'God is said to have spoken to a fish, but never to a beast.' There is a modern Greek phrase, 'By the first word of God, and the second of the fish.' As for angling, 'it is somewhat like poetry: men are to be born so'; and many are born to be both rhymers and anglers. But, unlike many poets, the angler resembles 'the Adonis, or Darling of the Sea, so called because it is a loving and innocent fish,' and a peaceful; 'and truly, I think most anglers are so disposed to most of mankind.'
Our Saviour's peculiar affection for fishermen is, of course, a powerful argument. And it is certain that Peter, James, and John made converts among the twelve, for 'the greater number of them were found together, fishing, by Jesus after His Resurrection.' That Amos was 'a good-natured, plain fisherman,' only Walton had faith enough to believe. He fixes gladly on mentions of hooks in the Bible, omitting Homer, and that excellent Theocritean dialogue of the two old anglers and the fish of gold, which would have delighted Izaak, had he known it; but he was no great scholar. 'And let me tell you that in the Scripture, angling is always taken in the best sense,' though Izaak does not dwell on Tobias's enormous capture. So he ends with commendations of angling by Wotton, and Davors (Dennys, more probably) author of The Secrets of Angling (1613). To these we may add Wordsworth, Thomson, Scott, Hogg, Stoddart, and many minor poets who loved the music of the reel.
Izaak next illustrates his idea of becoming mirth, which excludes 'Scripture jests and lascivious jests,' both of them highly distasteful to anglers. Then he comes to practice, beginning with chub, for which I have never angled, but have taken them by misadventure, with a salmon fly. Thence we proceed to trout, and to the charming scene of the milkmaid and her songs by Raleigh and Marlowe, 'I think much better than the strong lines