HUNTING LORE. 



265 



not hurry. The day did not hold out to fish the whole 

 brook properly. The largest trout I took at 3 p. M. 

 (you see I am precise) below the meeting house, under 

 a bush on the right bank, two or three rods below the 

 large beeches. It is singular, that in the whole day, I 

 did not take two trouts out of the same hole. I found 

 both ends, or parts of the Brook about equally produc- 

 tive. Small fish not plenty, in either. So many hooks 

 get everything which is not hid away in the manner 

 large trouts take care of themselves. I hooked one, 

 which I suppose to be larger than any which I took, 

 as he broke my line, by fair pulling, after I had pulled 

 him out of his den, & was playing him in fair open 

 water. 



Of what I send you, I pray you keep what you wish 

 yourself, send three to Mr. Ticknor, & three to Dr. 

 Warren ; or two of the larger ones, to each will perhaps 

 be enough & if there be any left, there is Mr. Callen- 

 der & Mr. Blake, & Mr. Davis, either of them not 

 " averse to fish." Pray let Mr. Davis see them espe- 

 cially the large one. As he promised to come, & fell 

 back, I desire to excite his regrets. I hope you will 

 have the large one on your own table. 



The day was fine not another hook in the Brook. 

 John steady as a judge and everything else exactly 

 right. I never, on the whole, had so agreeable a day's 

 fishing tho' the result, in pounds or numbers, is not 

 great ; nor ever expect such another. 



Please preserve this letter ; but rehearse not these 

 particulars to the uninitiated. 



I think the Limerick not the best hook. Whether it 

 pricks too soon, or for what other reason, I found or 

 thought I found the fish more likely to let go his hold, 

 from this, than from the old-fashioned hook. 



YRS. 

 H. CABOT, Esq. D. WEBSTER. 



The greatest of Americans, Washington, 

 was very fond of hunting, both with rifle or 

 fowling-piece, and especially with horse, horn 

 and hound. Essentially the representative of 

 all that is best in our national life standing 

 high as a general, high as a statesman, and 



