Charles Kingsley in the Saddle. 57 



watershed, were within easy reach of Eversley Rectory, and 

 the May-fly, " mortial strong last night, gentlemen," as the 

 keeper remarked, would invariably tempt him forth as it 

 tempts every proper-spirited Waltonian to the familiar 

 waterways. He was able in these well-stocked and well- 

 preserved waters in a most literal sense to cast his lines in 

 pleasant places, where the ancient mill hummed for ever 

 below giant poplar spires, bending and shivering in the 

 steady breeze. 



Failing fish, he pries into the mysteries of insect life, 

 abuses the Transatlantic curse Anacharis, distinguishes in 

 the tangled forest, " denser than those of the Amazon, and 

 more densely peopled likewise," grass, milfoil, water-crow- 

 foot, hornwort, startwort, horsetail, and a dozen other 

 delicate plants, never forgetting, however, that there is work 

 to do, seeing that while the green drake is on, all " hours, 

 meals, decencies, and respectabilities must yield to his 

 caprice." Through his pocket lens he shows you millions 

 of living creatures upon the Vorticellse ; he takes you to the 

 muddy bottom and lectures you upon the grubs, tadpoles, 

 and water-crickets. 



Just as when in the saddle he had glorified the foxhound 

 as being next to a Greek statue in grace and strength, so by 

 the river, with the spare casts wound round his hat, he lauds 

 the transcendent merits of drakes green, brown, and white ; 

 of the dun, black alder, and yellow sally, in particular, and 

 of the four great trout-fly families, phryganeae, ephemerse, 

 sialidae, and perlidae, in general, laying down the very excel- 

 lent law that the caperer, March brown, governor, black 

 alder, with two or three palmers, are sufficient to show sport 

 from March to October, and that " if they will not kill, the 

 thing which will kill is yet to seek." In the whole range of 

 angling literature there is nothing to surpass nay, nor to 



