INTRODUCTORY ix 



Francis Francis, I believe, once dryly remarked to 

 an ecstatic angler who was eloquent upon the beauties 

 of nature and the unimportance of slaughter that it 

 doubtless was so, but he himself had noticed a kind of 

 prejudice in favour of a brace of fish in the creel. He 

 was quite right, of course. We all go out to catch fish. 

 Circumstances make it harder for us to do so year by 

 year ; there are more of us, and waters are no more 

 numerous, less rather, while fish grow daily more 

 experienced. Therefore we probably do not expect to 

 catch so much as did our fathers, and the sort of day 

 which they would have regarded as "middling" is 

 received by us in humble thankfulness as a glorious 

 occasion. The standard of expectation is decidedly 

 lower than it used to be. 



At the same time love for the pastime has, if any- 

 thing, become greater as well as more widespread. Life 

 is a more hurried affair than it was, brains are sub- 

 jected to sterner trial, nerves receive a more perpetual 

 strain. It is necessary, therefore, that a man's hobby 

 should be a haven of refuge as well as a mental or 

 physical " change of occupation." And this the pastime 

 of angling assuredly is. People sometimes ask me 

 what I think about when I am fishing. A suppressed 

 hopefulness in their tone indicates that I should be 

 employing long quiet hours in thoughts of Tariff 

 Reform, Woman's Suffrage, the " Encyclopedia Brit- 

 annica," or some other good serious thing. As a 

 matter of fact, the only answer which I could honestly 



