THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



field and his son Moses, on the return of the latter from a 

 very similar expedition ; neither can much be said of the 

 appeal to the Squire of Amstead, as a magistrate. As for 

 granting warrants for two 'respectable-looking persons in 

 leather breeches and top-boots,' that was quite out of the 

 question: forasmuch as, in those days, half the buyers and 

 sellers of horses in the fair were thus accoutred; moreover, 

 in the case of these two rogues, it would have been doubly 

 useless, as no doubt but the said leathers and top-boots were 

 hidden from sight, by smock-frocks, or overalls, as soon as the 

 wearers of them were once clear of the town ; and at least 

 three inches taken off the colt's tail, if he were not further 

 disfigured. All that Mr. Raby could do, was to throw back 

 ten pounds of his rent to the old miller at the next audit-day, 

 to console him for his loss, and to caution him, in future, 

 from making ' our John ' believe there were not sharper fellows 

 in a horse-fair than the son of a country miller. 



It was the wish of Mr. Raby that his sons should learn the 

 art of fishing, in its higher branches, if such a term may be 

 allowed me ; but he discouraged the practice of angling with 

 live worms for small fish, as being both cruel and unprofitable. 

 ' The art of angling,' he would say, ' opens a wide field for 

 the naturalist ; and is a rational and contemplative amuse- 

 ment — cheap, and instructive withal.' Mr. Egerton, himself 

 a fisherman, also encouraged this sport in his pupils, remind- 

 ing them not only of its antiquity, but that it was not 

 considered infra dig. by Homer, Virgil, and other celebrated 

 poets, when distinguishing their heroes by their professions, 

 business, or pursuit, to mention the ' skilful angler.' 



Andrew entered heartily into this sport, and, by the instruc- 

 tions of the keeper, Perren, became rather a dexterous fly- 

 fisher ; he could also take good pike with his trolling-rod, 

 generally making his bait an artificial minnow, or frog, by the 

 advice of his amiable tutor. ' Why torment fishes or insects,' 

 he would say, ' by impaling them alive on hooks, when 

 inanimate objects will be equally attractive as baits ? Besides, 

 independently of the reflection cast upon angling, from the 

 unnecessary pain inflicted, the principal art of the fisherman 

 lies in his choice of flies. For example : do you not 

 remember, last summer, when you accompanied me to the 

 Grange, that Mr. Holmes, the rector, killed nearly as many 



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