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of mankind, was intiis et in cute a fly-fisher. 

 The first voluminous writer on the art was 

 Charles Cotton, Esq., of Beresford, near 

 Ashborne, a gentleman by birth, and far less 

 known to the generality of readers, for his 

 poetical and literary attainments, than he 

 deserves. He was a true country gentleman, 

 and, if not a profound scholar, he was a very 

 general and elegant one. "Dr. Paley," ac- 

 cording to Sir H. Davy, "was ardently at- 

 tached to the amusement of fly-fishing; so 

 much so, that when the bishop of Durham 

 inquired of him, when one of his most impor- 

 tant works would be finished, he said, with 

 great simplicity and good-humour, ' My Lord, 

 I shall work steadily at it when the fly-fishing 

 season is over,' as if this were the business 

 of his life." Robert Burns, Mr. Hogg 

 (the Ettrick Shepherd), Professor Wilson (the 

 Great Christopher North), all great poets, 

 were good fly-fishers, and ardently attached to 

 the sport. Thomson, the immortal author of 

 the SEASONS, and of that still (in our opinion) 

 superior poem, THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE, 

 and Wordsworth, the most philosophical poet 

 of any age or clime, were fly-fishers. Emerson, 

 the mathematician, Dr. Wollaston and Dr. 

 Birch, were also fly-fishers. So are Professor 

 Rennie of King's College, and Mr. Jesse, 



