Introductory. 3 



In short, we should not expose ourselves to the risks of 

 overweening confidence, whether in the pursuit of pro- 

 fession, business, or sport. 



Of intellectual pursuits, pastimes, field-sports, or what 

 you will, those may be said to have asserted supremacy 

 which have best stood the test of time. Upon exami- 

 nation, such will reveal the possession of infinite variety 

 in detail, an expansive field for study, and stimulant for 

 research. 



These are the legacies bequeathed to the sportsman — I 

 mean the sportsman in a true sense, the man who studies 

 the natural history of his quarry — not the man who pulls 

 the trigger at a bundle of feathers whose contents are to 

 him of little interest, nor him who employs the speed of 

 horse or dog simply as an instrument for gambling. A 

 spectator of a glove-fight, the backer of a dog or horse 

 who has no interest in the animal beyond his bet, is, in our 

 days, flattered by a portion of the Press into the belief that 

 he is a sportsman ; but in my humble opinion it would be 

 preferable, in order to avoid confusion, to grant to him 

 who pursues the sports of the field the exclusive right 

 to his own title, and to describe gamblers and bettors 

 by a more appropriate term. 



Of the many branches of " sport," none has better stood 

 the test of time than angling — none has more votaries ; 

 and although, as in other studies, we commence where our 



