CHAPTER I. 



ANGLING. 



Its harmonizing influences. — Recollections of Angling in boyhood, its after 

 influence on manhood. — Its social tendency. — What and Who is an 

 Angler ? — Different kinds of Anglers. — The Snob Angler. — The Greedy 

 Angler. — The Spick-and-Span Angler. — The Rough-and-Ready Angler. 

 — The Literary Angler. — The Shad-roe Fisherman. — The English Ad- 

 miral, an Angler. — The True Angler. 



It is not my intention to offer any remarks on the 

 antiquity of Angling, or say much in its defence. Dame 

 Juliana Berners, Isaac Walton, and more recent authors, 

 have discoursed learnedly on its origin, and defended it 

 wisely and valiantly from the aspersions and ridicule of 

 those who cannot appreciate its quiet joys, and who know 

 not the solace and peace it brings to the harassed mind, 

 or how it begets and fosters contentment and a love of 

 nature. 



I ask any caviller to read Dr. Bethune's Bibliographical 

 Preface to his edition of Walton ; and then Father Izaak's 

 address to the readers of his discourse, "but especially to 

 THE HONEST ANGLER," and accompany him in spirit, as 

 Bethune does, by the quiet Lea, or Cotton b}^ the bright 

 rippling Dove; and if he be not convinced of the blessed 

 influences of the "gentle art," or if his heart is not warmed, 

 or no recollections of his boyish days come back to him, I 

 give him up without a harsh word, but with a feeling of 

 regret, that a lifetime should be spent without attaining so 

 much of quiet happiness that might have been so easily 



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