144 FISHING -IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



swete ayre of the swete sauvoure of the meede flowres, that 

 makyth him hungry; he-hereth the melodyous armony of 

 fowles ; he seeth the young swannes, heerons, ducks, cotes, 

 and many other fowles with theyr brodes ; whyche me sem- 

 yth better than all the noyse of houndys, the blastes of 

 hornys, and the scrye of fowlis, that hunters, frunkeners, and 

 fowlers do make. And," says the good old lady, "if the an- 

 gler take fysshe, surely their is no man merier than he is in 

 his spyryte." 



Angling, in modern times, is the most refined of all field- 

 sports. If the angler take a fish, he knows that it is only one 

 of a spawn of from a thousand to many hundred thousands, 

 and that all shoals which can, prey on one another. Not only 

 so, but the old prey on their own offspring; and from the 

 time when the mother fish appears in the spawning-pools, 

 there are several milt fish waiting to gorge themselves with 

 the ova; and so, during all stages of fishhood, the larger eat 

 the lesser ones, and as cold-blooded animals they can not 

 be susceptible to an acute sense of pain. These truths can 

 not be said in favor of killing a land animal, whose annual 

 procreative increase never amounts to a tithe of any individ- 

 ual of the oviparous fishes. 



The innocence of angling is therefore a feature which has 

 commended it to the good of all ages. " When bank and 

 meadow lie starred and enameled with flowers; when the 

 trill of the song-bird issues from every thorn ; when all sounds 

 and all prospects are joyous and exhilarating, and the cloud 

 itself, sleeping high in the arch of heaven, is as the honored 

 presence of some benevolent watcher ;" with the soul toned 

 by the sights, sounds, and exercise into a state of harmony 

 with all nature, then the angler realizes that the precious gift 

 he enjoys is 



" One of the spirits nnwithdrawn, 



That, erst the fall, were charged to minister 



To the earth's gladness, and continually, 



Out of their ample and unfailing horns, 



To pre-endow the advancing tracks of men. " 



