42 ANGLING. 



" We plunge and strive from spot to spot, 



But not a fish will rise 



In wonderment at our ill-luck, 



Turn up our wistful eyes. 



" In daily life the same we see. 



When hope mounts on the wing ; 

 Our means to ends may not agree, 

 And griefs from labour spring. 



" Again, sometimes, the day is sour, 



And darkened is the sky ; 

 Fair sport seems not within our power, 

 Though artful be our flies. 



" But here, again, at fault we are, 



Success attends our skill, 

 And fish in scores come wide and far, 

 Our fishing creel to fill. 



" In life's career the same we see, 

 When hope flags in the near, 

 And dark's the shade of destiny 

 When our success is near. 



"A moral, too, your line may point, 



When tangl'd is the hair ; 

 Letpatience with her oil annoint, 

 'Twill save you from despair. 



" The same in life when ills assail, 

 Perplex' d with, mischiefs rank. 

 Patience and skill will seldom tail 

 To unloose the knotted hank." * 



Trout-fishing is the very principle of life to the practised and 

 enthusiastic angler. It is that which gives _ vitality and animation 

 to all his movements, and constitutes him > what he really is. 

 Without the trout and salmon he would be, in many respects, a 

 truly pitiable object nearly reduced to that degraded state which 

 would justify fir. Johnson's snarling definition of the angler's 

 profession. 



Eishing for trout may be comprehended under three heads : 

 Ply-fishing, trolling, and worm-fishing. Other modes are known 

 and sometimes practised, and we shall mention them incidentally, 

 "but we shall confine the general burden of our suggestions and re- 

 marks to these three leading divisions of our angling art. In doing 

 so we shall be chiefly guided by our own experience in a variety of 

 waters, both at home and abroad. 



* Eclectic Review for July 185S. 



