M Salmonia" and "Bid. Piscatorial 65 



his amusement in many hours which 

 otherwise would have been unoccupied 

 and tedious. . . . The conversational 

 manner and discursive style were chosen 

 as best suited to the state of health of 

 the Author, who was incapable of con- 

 siderable efforts and long-continued at- 

 tention." 



Any one who has read Sir Humphry 

 Davy's Memoirs, by his brother, John 

 Davy, M.D., F.R.S., will see that the 

 Salmonia is made up of his own experi- 

 ences, and that the conversations between 

 Halieus, Poietes, Physicus, and Ornither 

 are reflections of his own varying moods, 

 when, in search of health, he wandered 

 alone among the glorious scenery of the 

 rivers he loved so well, both in this 

 country and on the Continent.* Many 

 of the passages in the Salmonia are trans- 

 ferred almost bodily from his Journal, with 

 the omission of those constant references 

 to his bodily sufferings with which his 

 Journal abounds. " How," he says, in 

 one entry, "I shall enjoy these glorious 

 mountains ! But I have a furred tongue 



* " Halieus" is supposed to be an accomplished 

 fly-fisher; "Ornither "is a gentleman generally 

 fond of the sports of the field ; " Poietes is an 

 enthusiastic lover of nature ; and " Physicus '' is 

 the philosopher. 



5 



