THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANGLING. 353 



year, and devoted to angling, shooting, boating, or "camp- 

 ing ont," would not be missed in the long run from the 

 business man's calender, but, on the contrary, would return 

 an interest, which, though it could not be computed by 

 any rate of per centage, would be sensibly felt and realized 

 in a clearer brain, a stronger body, and a better aptitude 

 for business. The clergyman would acquire broader views 

 of humanity, and preach better sermons. The physician 

 would better appreciate, and oftener prescribe, Nature's 

 great remedies, air, sunshine, exercise, and temperance. 

 The lawyer's conscience would be enlarged, and his fees 

 possibly contracted. The poet's imagination would be 

 more vivid ; the artist's skill more pronounced. Nerve 

 would keep pace with muscle, and brawn with brain. 



I have purposely avoided any allusion to the Gipsy 

 blood inherent in our veins, or the savage traits yet man- 

 ifest in our flesh, and their liability to crop out, as evi- 

 denced in our love for Nature and Nature's arts. I do 

 not look at it in that light. I claim that the more en- 

 lightened and civilized a nation becomes, the more it is 

 interested in the works of Nature and her laws; that the 

 more progress we make in the arts and sciences, and all the 

 achievements of a high state of civilization, and the more 

 artificial and advanced we become in our ideas of living — 

 the more readily we turn for rest and enjoyment, for rec- 

 reation and real pleasure, to the simplicity of Nature's 



resources, 



" Knowing that Nature never did betray 

 The heart that loved her." 



Angling is an art, and it is not beneath the dignity of 

 any one to engage in it, as a recreation. It is hallowed 



by " Meek Walton's heavenly memory," and has been 



30 



