XXVI. 



ANGLING 



I HAVE often thought that the practice of angling was 

 so intimately connected with the prospect of green 

 fields, and the smell of fresh meadows, that the general 

 fondness for the sport, originated in a great measure, in 

 our love of nature. I am so far, therefore, from con 

 sidering the angler a model of patience, as Dr. Franklin 

 regarded him, that I would rather look upon him as a 

 sort of indolent devotee of nature, who prefers the 

 voluptuous quiet of this sedentary sport to the more- 

 active habits of the gunner, the botanist, or the geolo 

 gist. There are individuals, undoubtedly, who delight 

 in angling from the love of the sport itself. Such are 

 our inveterate fishers around the wharves and harbors, 

 and who are generally better acquainted with the respec 

 tive flavors of the different species of the finny tribe, 

 than with fishes as subjects of natural history. But 

 the majority of anglers will be found to be genuine 

 lovers of nature ; and like old Izaac Walton, as famil 

 iar with the plants that are growing at their feet, as with 

 the little shining inhabitants of the lake and stream. 



I am not of that sect of the humane who would con 

 demn angling, on account of its cruelty. The pangs 



