190 SOME WRITERS ON THE GENTLE CRAFT 



the finest fish killed with the rod that season on the 

 Stinchar, the angler's patience and skill were amply 

 rewarded. 



Many admirable books have been written on fishing, 

 with not a few songs, ballads, and idyls, good and bad, 

 indifferent and execrable. The marvel is, that we have 

 no more of them, considering how naturally a man 

 with a turn for literature seeks sympathies among the 

 reading public in a pursuit that has grown into a 

 passion with himself. We have no idea of running 

 over a roll of names, since we should infallibly make 

 invidious omissions ; but there is one that has made its 

 appearance recently, which we would notice before 

 reeling up our article, as being not only among the 

 latest, but among the best of its class. " My Life as 

 an Angler," by William Henderson, with its admirable 

 illustrations, seems scarcely to have received the 

 welcome it deserved. Many of the views on the 

 Tweed and the Northumbrian and Durham waters 

 recall some of the most picturesque features of the 

 scenery that has been immortalised in Border warfare, 

 and in the fiery old Border ballads. Great part of 

 that country, moreover, like Tweedside and Coquet- 

 dale, has been made classic in the lays of the poets of 

 the angle. Nor less attractive are the charming little 

 head-pieces and tail-pieces to the chapters, which blend 

 graceful fancy with realistic truth, while they have 

 much of that characteristic and humorous individuality 

 which distinguished the tiny masterpieces of Bewick. 

 Mr. Henderson, who is now in his sixty-second year, 



