FISHES. 49 



sixty, and even seventy pounds, and that Salmon 

 of this w^eight yield to the skilful angler, " with 

 a diminutive artificial fly, a thin silkworm-gut 

 line, and a rod of pieces lighter and more limber 

 than a lady's riding wand," we may well say that 

 the fly-fishing art is one fully worthy of the 

 sportsman's enthusiasm. 



The charges of cruelty and frivolity have been 

 often brought against angling by those who have 

 taken no interest in its gentle excitement. From 

 the former we fear it cannot entirely be cleared, 

 at least so long as living vertebrate animals, 

 whether frog, fish, or mouse, are used as bait. 

 But adepts in the art have maintained that these 

 are not necessary, mimic representations being 

 made sufficiently true, to answer every purpose 

 of the troller. The accusation of frivolity seems 

 no more applicable to this than to any other 

 recreation, while it has recommendations pecu- 

 liarly its own. A host of brilliant names might 

 be cited among the lovers of angling, especially 

 of its highest branch, fly-fishing. To one of 

 these we shall confide its defence, himself an able 

 master of the art, and a pleasing describer of its 

 charms. 



*' The search after food," remarks Sir Hum- 

 phrey Davy, " is an instinct belonging to our 

 nature ; and, from the savage in his rudest and 

 most primitive state, who destroys a piece of 

 game or a fish with club or spear, to man in the 

 most cultivated state of society, who employs 

 artifice, machinery, and the resources of various 

 other animals, to secure his object, the origin of 

 the pleasure is similar, and its object the same. 

 That kind of skill, however, which requires most 



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