FRANCE AND BELGIUM. 165 



the working classes of society, who make a matter of 

 merchandise of it; and who are, consequently, induced, 

 from the mere love of gain, to practise sordid and ignoble 

 contrivances to obtain fish. It is this which explains 

 the general scope of the French law of river and canal 

 fishing; and those numerous minute regulations and in- 

 junctions, which seem to the Englishsportsman fastidious, 

 or perhaps incomprehensible. It should be remembered, 

 however, that in Eoman Catholic countries, fish becomes, 

 on religious grounds, a necessary part of the food of the 

 people, and not a mere luxury, as in Great Britain; 

 and this circumstance also tends to depress the art of 

 angling, and make it a catch-penny and sordid matter. 



In the French code of laws relative to river and canal 

 fishing, extracts from which the reader will find in the 

 Appendix, No. 1 , it is provided that angling with the rod, 

 except at periods when fish are out of season, is allowed 

 to all; but this does not invalidate the law of trespass, 

 and can only apply to the right of fishing rivers and 

 canals from public roads and foot-paths. These, however, 

 are so numerous, and are so tenaciously maintained by 

 the people, that every reasonable facility is afforded for 

 the gratification of the angler. He will almost invariably 

 find, that there are public foot-paths from one village to 

 another, all along the banks of the streams; and not 

 unfrequently, these foot-paths are on both sides of the 

 water; thus enabling him to traverse the rivers from one 

 end to the other without any hinderance or interruption 

 whatever. Here and there, he will perhaps find the fishing 

 preserved ; but this is by no means a common occurrence ; 

 and when it does happen, the right is generally confined 

 to one side of the river. The fact is, the great division 

 of landed property in France the result of the non- 



