xvi GENERAL INTEODUCTION. 



subsists, and the honey which it produces. For a very long period, the most diligent 

 observers were totally at a loss to account for some circumstances in its history ; there- 

 fore published to the world the most conflicting statements. At length, the Grenevese 

 naturalist, M. Huber, appeared ; and, in a little work, published during the first decade 

 of this century, he cleared away the difficulties. Many of the habits and instincts of 

 the bee, unknown to our grandfathers, appear in the following pages. 



Angling is a sport peculiarly congenial to the quiet of Rural Life, and has found 

 suitable treatment in its proper place. The salmon has not been largely dealt with, not- 

 withstanding that those who favour the pastime, consider the capture of this fish by the 

 rod as their noblest prize. When this monarch of the stream is hooked, nothing can 

 be more exciting ; and the enthusiast, after an hour of terrible anxiety and skill, who lands 

 him fairly upon the bank, we verily believe would feel less glory in having a Roman 

 triumph voted to him, than in surveying the fair and silver side of his beautiful captive, 

 now stretched at length upon the green grass. For the delights of angling we have 

 stores of literary authorities. From gossiping Isaac Walton, down to John Wilson, the 

 Christopher North of the Nodes Ar)ibrosiance of Blackwood, we have the names of many 

 literary lovers of the sport recorded. Even long before their day, the use of the rod was 

 a delight to some of the lovers of literature. The great Raleigh, when banished from 

 court, took to it as a recreation and a pleasure ; and Archbishop Laud, in an epistle to 

 Lord Strafford, in 1638, thus alludes to the salmon, when reposing from the cares of 

 government, at his new residence in the woods of Wicklow : — " I find by your letters you 

 are gone a hunting. I hope you will find time to go a fishing too ; for I mean to be a 

 very bold beggar, and desire you to send me some more of the dried fish (I do not know 

 what you call it) which you sent me the last year. It was the best that ever I tasted." 

 To this he adds — " Do not think to stop my mouth with more of your hung beef from 

 Yorkshire, which was as hard as the very horn the old runt wore when she lived." It is 

 supposed that the archbishop here alluded to salmon, preserved after the manner of the 

 Scotch, who call it kippered. Cotton, the poet and voluptuary, occasionally fled from 

 the world of gaiety in which he lived, to enjoy the pleasures of the rod : Davy left his 

 laboratory ; and even the ethical Paley quitted his desk and easy-chair, that he might 

 enjoy some quiet hours by the stream, where meditation unites with silence to lead a 

 man to thought and reflection. 



Such is a brief resume of the subjects treated in the following pages ; and as infor- 

 mation, rather than amusement, is their aim, it is hoped that the labour of producing 

 them has not been spent in vain, but that their end will be accomplished. 



JOHN SHERER. 



London. 



