XVI INTRODTJCTION. 



such, was not the lot of the majority of the anglers of Great 

 Britain. "We had perforce to make the most of our chances, 

 catch gudgeon, perch, or roach, for want of better, and look 

 upon the big pike or lusty trout as legitimate objects of 

 ambition. 



'Nor is it too mucb to say that the all-round angler can 

 very well afford to smile at the conceit of those who do not 

 follow him in his modest practices. He gets the lion's share 

 of rural delights, for his is, more truly than can be the 

 case with the salmon or trout-fisher, the contemplative 

 man's recreation. All this has been expressed again and 

 again in poetry and prose, and Dendy Sadler, by his 

 charming angling pictures, ever keeps the idea foremost. The 

 seat by the river bank on a summer evening, when the 

 swallows dart and the song-birds are in high chorus, what time 

 the lowing herds come down to the ford to drink, and tbe 

 labourers file slowly across the plank bridge on their way to 

 the cottage, from whose chimney the thin blue smoke ascends 

 straight into the clear air — this is a veritable throne of state in 

 the palace of Nature. The angler may wait a long while before 

 the well-watched float disappears beneath the surface, but he 

 can possess his soul in patience under such circumstances. 

 The situation is one of complete restfulness, of innocent and 

 beautiful surroundings; and patience becomes an easy virtue 

 when all the senses are lulled by the sights and sounds of water, 

 wood, and field. 



The all-round angler, however, is not debarred from the 

 exercise of the highest branches of the sport. The mere bottom 

 fisher, who does not spin for pike, or cast fly for salmon, trout, 

 or grayling, is not an all-round angler in the true meaning 

 of the phrase. Here, as in other matters, the greater includes 

 the lesser, and the true sportsman is he who can settle down 

 with equal zeal and enjoyment to the luring of the gudgeon 

 from the raked-up gravel of the ordinary coarse-fish stream 



