In the meanwhile he was giving
instructions to his two disciples, showing them the manner in
which they should handle their rods, fix their flies, and play
them along the surface of the stream. The scene brought to my
mind the instructions of the sage Piscator to his scholar. The
country around was of that pastoral kind which Walton is fond of
describing. It was a part of the great plain of Cheshire, close
by the beautiful vale of Gessford, and just where the inferior
Welsh hills begin to swell up from among fresh-smelling meadows.
The day too, like that recorded in his work, was mild and
sunshiny, with now and then a soft-dropping shower that sowed the
whole earth with diamonds.
* From this same treatise it would appear that angling is a more
industrious and devout employment than it is generally
considered: "For when ye purpose to go on your disportes in
fishynge ye will not desyre greatlye many persons with you, which
might let you of your game. And that ye may serve God devoutly in
saying effectually your customable prayers. And thus doying, ye
shall eschew and also avoyde many vices, as ydelness, which is
principall cause to induce man to many other vices, as it is
right well known."
I soon fell into conversation with the old angler, and was so
much entertained that, under pretext of receiving instructions in
his art, I kept company with him almost the whole day, wandering
along the banks of the stream and listening to his talk.
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