Sir Dumpbrg Dav>\> 305 



under disease) throw off his cares, and rid his mind of 

 all annoying thoughts. There he recovered the hilarity 

 natural to his disposition, and appeared in his t: 

 character, most cheerful, amiable, and entertaining, and 

 the delight of his friends. They, indeed, I will now say, 

 were almost his only true friends who were his associates 

 in these sports ; and they perhaps were almost the only 

 persons who knew him thoroughly and truly." 



But in his angling, as in everything else, Humphry 

 Davy was nothing if not original. Dr. Paris gives the 

 following amusing picture of the philosopher in his 

 fishing costume : 



" His whole suit consisted of green cloth ; the coat 

 having sundry pockets for holding the necessary tackle : 

 his boots were made of caoutchouc, and, for the con- 

 venience of wading through the water, reached above the 

 knees. His hat, originally intended for a coal-heaver, 

 had been purchased from the manufacturer in its raw 

 state, and dyed green by some pigment of his own 

 composition ; it was, moreover, studded with every 

 variety of artificial fly which he could require for his 

 diversion. Thus equipped, he thought, from the colour 

 of his dress, that he was more likely to elude the 

 observation of the fish. He looked not like an in- 

 habitant o' the earth, and yet was on't ; nor can I find 

 any object in the regions of invention with which I 

 could justly compare him, except perhaps one of those 

 grotesque personages who, in the farce of ' The Critic,' 

 attend Father Thames on the stage as his two banks. 



I shall take this opportunity of stating that his 

 shooting attire was equally whimsical : if, as an angler, 



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