xii PREFACE. 



The accuracy of these conclusions, as be- 

 tween Hunting, Shooting, and Fishing, may 

 be, perhaps not unfairly, tested by comparing 

 the standard works on each, and thus forming 

 an estimate of the regard in which Nature 

 and the study of Natural History are held 

 by their respective votaries. 



To go through the whole list would be 

 a tedious and a needless process ; but let us 

 take the best known work on each subject 

 say Beckford's Thoughts on Hunting, Hawker's 

 Instructions to Young Sportsmen, and Wal- 

 ton's Complete Angler. Now what is there in 

 "Beckford" but Hunting, what in "Hawker" 

 but Shooting ? But what a change is there 

 when we come to dear old Izaak ! How keen 

 and pure is his appreciation and enjoyment of 

 Nature for Nature's self. There is scarcely 

 a page in his whole book which does not 

 breathe forth his earnest and devoted love 

 for her. Do not his descriptions almost lead 

 away his readers in spite of themselves from 

 the avowed subject of his book, and incite 

 them to become Anglers more for the sake 



