A GUDGEON-HUNTER. 147 



the ploiiglicd lands ; and, as the practice of liming them 

 is very prevalent, the waters are obnoxious to the fish. 

 I have often wondered how the trout could possibly 

 survive this state of things ; but they do survive it, by 

 keeping at the eddies and close to the banks amongst 

 the grass, where the pout nets haul them out by dozens. 



Though I have given the foregoing instructions with 

 much pleasure, I w^ould not advise any one Avho wishes 

 to stand well with society to utter a word about his 

 propensity for fishing. It is generally thought a poor, 

 inanimate occupation; and so, indeed, it is in some 

 cases ; and yet the passion is so strong, that I believe 

 the sedentary angler who catches a roach or dace, worth- 

 less though he be, and weak and diminutive withal, has 

 as much pleasure in his way, as the proud conqueror of 

 a twenty-pound salmon. 



I was once rowing on the Thames when a friend 

 hailed me from afar, and beckoned with joyous and 

 eager solicitation. Though I was pressed for time, 

 I pulled up to him against the wind and stream, for I 

 thought he had something of great moment to impart ; 

 but it was only to say, " that I would be glad to hear he 

 had caught two dozen gudgeons that morning." But I 

 do not think I was glad, at least not particularly so, 

 though he was a very worthy man. 



As for myself, if I am ever so indiscreet as to utter a 

 word about fishing, I am always asked, " if it does not 

 require a great deal of patience." Now, these sort of 

 interrogators are in Cimmerian darkness as to the real 

 thing. But I tell them, that to be a first-rate salmon 

 fisher requires such active properties as they never 



L 2 



