THE THAMES. 51 



what luck has fallen to this casual waterside acquain- 

 tance in the every-day of life. He was very original, and, 

 for one of his class, well-informed. A tattered ready- 

 reckoner, &fac simile of the famous Orton diary produced 

 during the Tichborne trial, he always carried with him, as a 

 receptacle of rare entomological or floral specimens. A 

 present of a " Walton's Complete Angler " brought tears of 

 gratitude into his eyes. It was not necessary to warn him, 

 at any rate, against a certain selfishness which I fear, though 

 not peculiar to Thames-side, is much more prevalent there 

 than it used to be amongst Waltonians. Because of this I do 

 not say the prize system should be abolished, but it is an 

 additional reason why the humblest of clubs should culti- 

 vate a spirit which is fatal alike to unbrotherly and un- 

 sportsman-like behaviour. Surely, surely, anglers are so 

 comparatively few and the world is so wide that there is 

 room enough for all ! 



If the anglers who have not the opportunity of punting 

 farther than Teddington or Hampton are to be congratu- 

 lated upon the fair scenes surrounding them as they pursue 

 their avocation, what shall be said of the more fortunate 

 who pay leisurely visits to Windsor, Maidenhead, Cook- 

 ham, Marlow, Sonning, Caversham, Pangbourne, Goring, 

 Moulsford, and Wallingford ? It is a very trite saying that 

 we despise what is nearest home. One has no patience 

 with travellers who persist in shutting their eyes to the 

 beautiful scenery of the Upper Thames, or in placing her 

 charms lower than those of other rivers, which they feel 

 constrained to adore because they are more remote. The 

 Thames, it is true, boasts of no bouldered bed, rocky banks, 

 or turbulent currents that roar their troubled journey to the 



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