Nowell
It would be unpardonable, in a work which treats seriously of good cheer, to forget the name of Dean Nowell, classed by Fuller among the worthies of England. This excellent divine had a truly apostolical character, being a fisher of men as well as of fishes. To him we are indebted for the Church Catechism, which instils into the infant mind the elements of religious knowledge. To him also we are indebted for the discovery of bottled beer. It appears, according to Fuller, that on one occasion he was fishing in the Thames-but at the very time when he was trying to catch perch to carry them to the gridiron, Bishop Bonner was trying to catch him to tie him to the stake. The reverend gentleman heard of it, and fled in haste, leaving untasted in a safe place a bottle of beer which he had filled in the morning. Bonner's day did not last long, and Dean Nowell was soon able to return to his old haunts. Fishing as usual, he went to look after his bottle of beer, and found that it had turned to something like a gun-it went off like a shot. Thus Nature, which is ever kind, Noyau turned the martyrdom and misery of Bloody Mary's reign to good-it brought about bottled beer. The Dean unbosomed himself of his great discovery to his clerical friends, and the clergy gradually let it out to the laity. So to one man a kindly, good old man, fond of fishing, we are indebted for our earliest instruction in heavenly things, and for that bottled beer which nerves the soul to noble deeds.