EGGS FOR GRANDMOTHERS 39 



freshing dram, if he ' tastes,' or at all events the half- 

 sovereign or more which he has so richly earned. 



Who shall say that my picture, if an imaginary 

 one, does not describe a scene which, with slight 

 variations of incident, has occurred again and again ? 

 I shall not, I hope, be accused of depreciating a 

 sport to which I am devoted, if I express my con- 

 viction that skill counts for much more in trout fish- 

 ing, especially with the dry fly, than in salmon fishing. 

 Take a good day and equal conditions on the Anton 

 or the Test, the Mimram or the Lea, and match an 

 unfortunate beginner, with the best professional ad- 

 vice, against such masters of the art as Lord Granby, 

 Mr. Croft, or the late Mr. John Day. Not only are 

 the odds a thousand to one that the expert beats the 

 tiro, but the latter may consider himself fortunate in- 

 deed if his basket contains a single fish at the end of 

 the day. As he pursues his course up-stream the river 

 is furrowed by departing fish, and if he succeeds in 

 keeping out of sight long enough to try for a rising 

 trout, the flop of his fly upon the water, if it ever gets 

 there, is the signal for its departure. The slightest 

 splash, the least drag, is fatal, and the fly refuses to 

 float, while he finds it much easier to hit the weeds 

 and cressets which occupy the greater part of the 

 stream than the narrow belt of water where the gnat 



