-J 2 ANGLING IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



of pike-angling by casual recollections which it is pleasant 

 for me to recall. 



The first scene is a lake in one of those old English 

 estates which have been in the possession of one family 

 for generations. As I wait for the keeper to open the 

 doors of the boat-house and bring out the little fishing- 

 boat from which I am to operate, I can descry over the 

 tree-tops the turrets of a castle of modern build, and 

 behind me, peeping through the leafless branches of another 

 plantation, I can see, beyond a group of noble cedars, the 

 ivy-covered ruins of a building in which Sir Walter Raleigh 

 spent a portion of his time, and which was made short 

 work of by Cromwell, who placed his cannon upon the hill 

 yonder, at the bottom of which is the deer fence. In the 

 home park a choice herd of Jersey cattle are grazing, and as 

 I put my pike fishing-tackle together, I notice the S,quire, 

 an octogenarian within a month or two, drive down the 

 chestnut avenue with his workmanlike four-in-hand. 



An angler here, who had the necessary permission, might 

 fish all the year round. Beginning with January, there is 

 not only this lake, with its coarse fish, but a grayling 

 stream within three miles. When, in spring, the trout are 

 in condition, there is a river within an hour's drive behind 

 a fast-stepping dog-cart horse. Roach last until the " ides 

 of March " are over, and they may be caught even in winter 

 in shoals around the promontory on the lawn where the 

 swans are fed. Tench of enormous size infest the waters, 

 biting well in spring, and timing their domestic duties, as 

 an old writer intended them to do, with the blossoming of 

 wheat. The head of the extensive house of Cyprinidae 

 Brothers may be left out of consideration, for the fat, lazy 

 rascal seldom comes from his hiding-place until the winter 

 is over and gone ; yet in the under-keepcr's garden there is 



