CHAPTER XL 

 THE FISHES. 



" As in successive course the seasons roll, 

 So circling pleasures recreate the soul. 

 When genial spring a living warmth bestows, 

 And o'er the year her verdant mantle throws, 

 No swelling inundation hides the grounds, 

 But crystal currents glide within their bounds ; 

 The finny brood their wonted haunts forsake, 

 Float in the sun, and skim along the lake, 

 With frequent leap they range the shallow streams, 

 Their silver coats reflect the dazzling beams." 



GAY, Rural Sports. 



ELAINE ("Encyclopaedia of Rural Sports;" article, "Fishing") 

 says : " Man we believe to have been first frugivorous, and 

 then carnivorous, and next piscivorous, which left him what 

 he now is omnivorous. The methods he first employed 

 to abstract the finny tribes from the waters around him 

 were, without doubt, rude, and consequently only partially 

 successful ; but, as these improved by practice, fishing at 

 length became a most important, and finally a most interest- 

 ing, pursuit. As an amusement, it calls forth considerable 

 powers of invention and much dexterity of operation. As 

 an economic art it has become most important, by giving 

 rise to vast national fisheries, which have proved objects 

 of great interest in the policy of every civilised country 

 bounded by the sea. To improve and extend these has 

 been the aim of the wisest statesmen ; to defend them has 

 nerved the arm of the bravest warriors ; and to acquire a 

 general and particular knowledge of the creatures which 

 they are meant to capture has been the study of the most 



enlightened philosophers." 



178 



