2 



becoming acquainted with its principles in 

 general and in detail. We will not mince the 

 matter, nor assume a mock modesty, which is 

 nothing more than the flimsy and threadbare 

 disguise of vanity and presumption ; but we 

 will, in the spirit of unaffected candour and 

 a similar spirit shall be found running, in deep 

 vein, through every page of this book ac- 

 knowledge our love for the art we write about, 

 and confess that we think we have practised 

 it long enough to become humble professors 

 of it. 



If a man amuses himself innocently, it 

 neither becomes the philosopher nor the man 

 of the world to scoff at him, or to ridicule 

 contemptuously his pursuits. Live and let 

 live, amuse yourself, and let others do so like- 

 wise, is a charitable maxim, and one that 

 ought to be observed by all brothers of the 

 angle. While we observe it, while we studi- 

 ously avoid giving offence to the patient, 

 placid, plodding bottom-fisher while we con- 

 sider him entirely free from the charges of 

 cruelty brought against him by the over- 

 weeningly sensitive and squeamish* while 



* Nothing ever hurled against angling has alarmed 

 anglers more than the following lines from, in our opinion, 

 the best written, the most popular, and the most danger- 

 ously-immoral poem of our time : 



