6 SALMON FISHING 



arranged and the most attractive possible to him, 

 are close to the truth as he perceives it. Literature 

 born to immortality is in most cases, I think, of 

 roseate hue and happy on the whole. 



The immortals, as a rule, seem never to have time 

 for field sports. The few exceptions I can think of 

 at the moment are Walton, Sir Walter Scott, Mr. 

 Lang, and Mr. Blackmore. A passage in Sir Walter 

 here and there shows that the neglected vein is rich ; 

 and " My Lord the Elephant," which has the atmo- 

 sphere of sport, though not the motive, is the happiest 

 of Mr. Kipling's tales. What a book on Salmon 

 Fishing we should have if a poet essayed the sub- 

 ject ! Sport, like a battle, being not in rhythm, he 

 would not write in verse ; but he would bring to the 

 task a gift in which we pedestrians of the prose 

 plains are lacking. An ordinary vagabond, such as 

 myself, sees all that he would see, and feels all that 

 he would feel ; but it is not easy to weave the 

 countless incidents and circumstances, none omitted, 

 into a life-like pattern of words. From the poet's 

 hands, the printed page, with all these thrown 

 orderly upon it, would be a rousing magical 

 lantern. 



Emotions to be recollected in tranquillity are 

 plentiful in the sport. A salmon on is a singularly 

 agitating crisis. It is, I think, the most deliciously 

 terrifying in the whole range of British sports. " Do 

 you know stag-fright?"" I may be asked. Yes; I 

 do know stag -fright, of which I have had seven 

 attacks. I had it, of course, when first, after nearly 



