208 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 



Boats when 'twas water, skating when 'twas ice, 

 And the hard frost destroy'd the scenting days ; 



And angling, too, that solitary vice, 

 Whatever Izaac Walton sings or says ; 



The quaint old cruel coxcomb in his gullet, 



Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it." 



Another famous satirist of the old school defines 

 angling as "a stick and a string, with a fish at one 

 end and a fool at the other," while a third, the well- 

 known Peter Pindar, in closing a " Ballad to a Fish in 

 the Brook," takes occasion to say : 



"Enjoy thy stream, oh, harmless fish, 

 And when an angler for his dish, 



Through gluttony's vile sin, 

 Attempts— a wretch — to pull thee out, 

 God give thee strength, oh, gentle trout, 

 To pull the rascal in." 



All who love to go a-fishing can well afford to smile 

 at the malicious flings of morbid critics, and while rec- 

 reating both mind and body in casting the mimic fly 

 along the dashing mountain stream, think of the 

 deluded satirists in pity rather than condemnation. 



Let us, then, in unison with the quaint and charm- 

 ing poet, Gay : 



' ' Mark well the various seasons of the year, 

 How the succeeding insect race appear, 

 In their revolving moon one color reigns, 

 Which in the next the fickle trout disdains; 

 Oft have I seen a skilful angler try 



