THE ANGLER'S TEMPER 47 



which envelops the river and its banks, effectually 

 putting an end to your fishing. It is difficult to see 

 how the angler can avoid losing his temper after such a 

 day, or how he is to be blamed if he favours the land- 

 scape with some observations on the general subject of 

 fishing. In that very amusing book, " Folly and Fresh 

 Air," which is not so well known to anglers as it ought 

 to be, Mr. Eden Phillpotts has described a day of 

 angling misfortunes, and his hero's summing up is 

 worth quoting : 



" I pitched the loathsome rod on the ground, sat down 

 on a tree-stump, and let Providence have it hot and 

 strong from a lacerated soul. I said : 



" ' What the Foul Fiend have I done that I should 

 be plagued like this ? What crime have I committed ? 

 It is monstrous, it is unfair, it is wrong. I've had 

 enough to break my heart twenty times over to-day, 

 and I won't stand it. I'll go back to town to-morrow, 

 and write a book that shall ruin this place ; I'll blast 

 the reputation of Dartmoor and everything on Dart- 

 moor. I'll warn sportsmen away, and wreck these 

 streams ; and I'm lost hereafter if I ever fish again for 

 trout as long as I live.' " 



With such small alterations as should be necessary 

 for geographical accuracy, these moving words might 

 well be committed to memory. It is not given to 

 everyone to find speech for himself when it is sorely 

 needed, and I have known days on which I personally 

 should have been immensely relieved if I could have 

 remembered this admirable commination in its entirety. 

 There is a completeness about it which satisfies one's 

 yearnings. Of course, the most desirable thing in con- 



