Sobn 12oun0er 379 



" A late distinguished philosopher, I am told, valued 

 himself more on his knowledge of salmon and angling, 

 on which he wrote a volume of something very like 

 nonsense, than on all the rest of his valuable scientific 

 discoveries ; and what is equally strange is, that on 

 account of his otherwise great name this production has 

 gone through three or four editions a sorry print 

 proof of our general human weakness." 



Now put against that criticism of John Younger's the 

 following by the writer of an able article in the Edin- 

 burgJi Review of July, 1883 : 



" Our own century has been fertile in books bearing 

 on angling, but originality is scarce among them. 

 Taken all in all, the book which it has produced of 

 greatest celebrity is undoubtedly ' Salmonia.' He who 

 does not know the mild wisdom of Haliceus is ignorant 

 of the philosophical pleasures of angling. With it we 

 are inclined to place Kingsley's admirable ' Chalk Stream 

 Studies.' They are excellent instances of the sub- 

 sidiary delights connected with fishing." 



But perhaps John Younger had not read " Salmonia." 

 I have often found that the severest critics of a book are 

 those who have never looked into its pages, just as 

 the most rabid denouncers of the Stage as a hot-bed 

 of immorality are those who have never seen the inside 

 of a theatre in their lives. 



The philosopher-poet-shoemaker finally gravitated to 

 St. Boswell's, the attractions of which he thus frankly 

 indicates : 



" In spite of my philosophy, I was still retaining a 

 hankering desire after an occasional outstart to the 



