2 CHATS ON ANGLING. 



spring begins to assert her revivifying powers, the longing, intense as 

 ever, comes over us, and we yearn for the river side. And the lessons 

 that we learn from our love for it are not without value ; patience and 

 self-control come naturally to those who have the real angling instinct. 



How widely spread this natural instinct is we may gather from 

 observing the long lines of fishermen, each with his few feet of bank pegged 

 out, engaged in some competition, and watching with intense interest for 

 long hours the quiet float in front of him. Give him but a better chance 

 of following up his instinct, and doubtless he would take with increased 

 zeal to those higher branches of the sport that appeal more directly to 

 most of us — the keenness is there, the opportunity alone is wanting. 



Seeing that fishing and its charms have been so amply extolled and 

 set forth by such able and various pens, from Father Walton, the 

 merchant, prince of all writers on this subject, down to later days in 

 continuous line, through such names as Kingsley (man of letters), or Sir 

 Edward Grey (man of affairs) — writers whose works will live, and who 

 can inspire in us the enthusiasm of sympathetic feeling — why, it may be 

 asked, is it that we are not content, and that so many of us cannot refrain 

 from publishing our impressions ? There can be no answer to this query 

 except it be as in my own case, the confession of a desire to record some 

 of the experiences, gained through many years, in the hope that some 

 crumb of information may be gleaned therefrom, and that the pleasure 

 taken in recording them may find a responsive echo in some breast. 



I would wish at once to disarm possible criticism by candidly 

 admitting that this little work has no literary, or indeed any other 

 pretensions. It is merely what it purports to be — a series of articles 

 strung together, with the object that I have already described. 



I would desire also to thank the proprietors of the Field for their 

 permission to reprint such articles as have already appeared in that paper. 

 My thanks are also due to my old friend Mr. W. Senior and to 

 Mr. Sheringham for having been kind enough to glance through my 

 MSS. and give me the benefit of their most valued criticism. 



Wardley Hall, August, 1Q05. 



