224 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 



come down, as they often do, to the river's edge, he will, 

 even at considerable personal inconvenience, and it may 

 be loss, as far as sport is concerned, avoid treading down 

 the grain ; and this, though there may not be a human 

 being within miles of him. And in his war with the 

 finny tribe, though it is true he uses every artifice, yet no 

 compulsion is ever resorted to, and the ultimate end of the 

 sport is the legitimate one of supplying the table. 



The angler's pastime leads him amongst the most 

 glorious and sublime scenes in nature ; and he becomes 

 familiar with these under all their ever-varying aspects, 

 in quite another way from the ordinary observer. He 

 sees them in the early morning, ere the sun has dispelled 

 the vapours from the still cloud-capt hills, or dried the 

 glistening dewdrops from the grass : ere the curling 

 smoke has begun to ascend from the distant cot, or the 

 rustic labourer has risen from his lowly couch ; and while 

 yet no sound is heard save the cheerful voices of the birds 

 hymning their matin song of thanksgiving. And again, 

 in another aspect does nature present herself when, at 

 mid-day, he sits down to rest and refresh himself, after 

 the morning toils. Now, the sun has reached his meridian 

 splendour, and all the landscape stands out in the full 

 blaze of the perfect day. The air is laden with the 

 perfume of a thousand wild-flowers ; and every leaf and 

 cranny send forth their myriads of winged inhabitants to 

 dance away their short life in the warm brightness of the 

 summer day. The green hill-sides are clad to their 

 summits with the fleecy flocks, and the oxen wade knee- 

 deep in the rich and verdant meadows. He wanders by 



