no Fly Fishing for TrouL 



valued both in this and in foreign nations ; he may- 

 be justly said, as the old poet said of wine, and the 

 English say of venison, to be a generous fish." 

 And as old Izaak calls the salmon the king, so the 

 trout may be designated the prince of fresh water 

 fishes. 



To lure him with the artificial fly has been the 

 aim and ambition of heroes, philosophers, states- 

 men, poets, artists, physicians. The names of 

 Thomson, Coleridge, Nelson, Paley, Wollaston, 

 Davy, Wilson, Sir Walter Scott, Chantrey, 

 J. M. W. Turner, and a hundred others are house- 

 hold words amongst fly-fishers. They all — sailors 

 as well as soldiers, statesmen as well as poets, 

 philosophers as well as physicians — require recrea- 

 tion and amusement from the toils and cares of 

 every-day work. 



" For dear and precious as the moments are 

 Permitted man, they are not all for deeds 

 Of active virtue ; give we none to vice, 

 And Heav'n will not strict reparation ask 

 For many a summer's day or winter's eve 

 So spent as best amuses." 



And what amusement can be more beneficial to 

 both health and spirits than a spring day passed 

 on the banks of some charming stream, when 



" The thorn is on the bud. 

 The palm is on the blossom, 



