iM.r. Asri;i:s of an<ji.iN(;. \-29 



world, ulitTO anj^'liii}; is resorted to as a s[)ort, and not merely 

 as a mode of ohtaininj; suhsistenee, is the frrcat object of the 

 scientitie tisliernmirH pursuit. 



Tliere is no sportsman, who is actuated hy the true animus 

 i>f the pursuit, who would not prefer basketin;^ a few brace of 

 ^ood Trout, to takiuj; a eart-l<».id of the coarser and less pnme 

 denizens of the waters; nor, whether we consider his wariness, 

 his timiility, his e\ti\'ine ciinninu', the impossibility uf takinj^ 

 him in tine and mueh-tished waters, except with the slenderest 

 and most delicate tackle ; his boldness and vigour after beint; 

 hooked, or his excellence on the table, shall we wduder at the 

 judgment, much less dispute it, which, next to the Salmon 

 only, rates liim the first of fresh-water tishes. The pursuit of 

 him leads us into the loveliest scenery of the laml ; the season 

 at which we tish for him is the most delicious, those sweetest 

 months of spring — when they are not, as at present, the coldest 

 and most odious of the year — the very name and mention of 

 which is redolent of the breath of llowcrs, the xiolet, the cowslip, 

 and the eelandiiie, whieh plunge us into a paradise founded 

 upon the rural imaginings of the most ex(piisite of Mnglaml's 

 rural bards, unt'l we an- recalled from our elysium by a 

 piercing gale from the north-east, and perhaps a pelting 

 hailstorm, bidding us crush our wandering tancies, an<l 

 teaching us that spring-time is one of those pleasant things 

 which occurs twi«-e perhaps in a lifetime in the I'nited States 

 of America. 



The hal)its of the Trout have been already di.scussed so fully 

 in the earlier |>art of this article, as well as the nature of his 

 food, that I shall defer further mention of these topics, until I 



K 



