270 SALMONIA. 



all have a happy meeting in England in the 

 winter. I have made you idlers at home 

 and abroad, but I hope to some purpose; 

 and, I trust, you will confess the time be- 

 stowed upon angling has not been thrown 

 away. The most important principle per- 

 haps in life is to have a pursuit — a useful 

 one if possible, and at all events an innocent 

 one. And the scenes you have enjoyed — 

 the contemplations to which they have led, 

 and the exercise in which we have indulged, 

 have, I am sure, been very salutary to the 

 body, and, I hope, to the mind. I have 

 always found a peculiar effect from this kind 

 of life ; it has appeared to bring me back to 

 early times and feelings, and to create again 

 the hopes and happiness of youthful days. 



Phys. — I felt something like what you 

 described, and were I convinced that in the 

 cultivation of the amusement, these feelings 

 would increase, I would devote myself to it 

 with passion; but, I fear, in my case this is 

 impossible. Ah ! could I recover any thing 

 like that freshness of mind which I possessed 

 at twenty-five, and which, like the dew of 



