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breeze blowing over the fern, and a gathering of clouds as 

 dreary as may be, short of actual showers ; sally forth on 

 such a day with your rod, and your belted basket, and 

 your book of ' glittering glories ;' take to the gorge of the 

 mountains, where the water, after having broken from its 

 alpine birth-place, flows gently, but with vigour, through 

 the depths of the valley there take your stand under the 

 shadow of an ancestral tree, and mark where the froth 

 surges on the surface, and where the current is most im- 

 petuous throw in boldly near the spot ; your eye must 

 be rapid and vigilant, your hand skilful and fastidious of 

 its motions, your foot firm, and every nerve on the alert. 

 Do not be dispirited by delay ; patience is the angler's 

 virtue ; do not suppose yourself frustrated by a false rise, 

 or by a failure in your first fly ; persevere until you are 

 convinced, that the sun from behind has cast your shadow 

 on the stream, and so discovered you to the watchful prey, 

 or that you have made an unlucky attempt, and betrayed 

 yourself to some of the sagacious patriarchs of the stream, 

 in either of which cases the sooner you take up another 

 position the better ; but if not, persevere, keep out of 

 sight, be cautious and eagle-eyed and you must succeed. 

 It would be idle to fill up the accessories of the picture. 

 Those who are true anglers need not to be recalled to the 

 living delights that surround them in such a scene the 

 hills crested with foliage, the vanishing tints that float 

 across the picturesque valley, the hum and buzz of the rip- 

 pling water as it frets in the eddies, and sweeps against the 

 loosely-rooted herbage under the shadow of the bank, and 

 the sense of vitality with which the whole is inspired. 

 These are to the angler a part of his own world ; not the 

 dreams of a sickly fancy, but the realities of revealed 

 nature." 



