118 INTRODUCTION. 



and the eye immediately falls on such passages as 

 the following. " Let the angler approach the place 

 with caution, and cast his hook, neatly baited with 

 a live and moving worm, so as to lie about the 

 centre of the ground ;" " The Rudd, in addition to its 

 vivid colours, is also tenacious of life, and is on that 

 account preferred by trollers as a bait ;" " When you 

 see your line move, you may certainly conclude that 

 the Pike has pouched your bait ; wind up your line 

 till you think you have it almost straight, then 

 with a smart jerk hook him, and make your plea- 

 sure to your content ;" " There is not, on sea or 

 river, always excepting angling for Salmon, any 

 sport comparable to the delightful amusement of 

 trailing for Mackerel ;" " The Tunnies, in the Medi- 

 terranean, are driven from chamber to chamber to 

 the last, called the chamber of death. Here the 

 work of destruction commences; unequal battle 

 being given with poles and other lethal weapons : 

 this is one of the great- amusements of the rich 

 Sicilians. When Louis XIII. (that sanguinary 

 monarch, under whose reign 4 torrents of blood had 

 been shed') visited Marseilles, he was invited to a 

 Tunny fishing, and found the diversion so much to 

 his taste, that he often said it was the pleasantest 

 day he had spent in his whole progress through the 

 South." What a contrast to all this, the outpour- 

 ings of the benevolent heart : — 



*&- 



" Roll on, ye spouting Whales, who die or keep 

 Your independence in the fathomless deep ! 



