NO. V. APPENDIX. 493 



every month in the year, since ; yet I could not, in any 

 one year, reach that number : perhaps I have done it, 

 before 1751 ; but I did riot, then, keep an account all 

 the year round, only noted those days in which I had 

 diversion more than common. 



N. B. There were some pike and chub, eel and 

 flounder, taken, which are not noted in the above ac- 

 count. 



If I had had the honour of an acquaintance with 

 this keen and laborious Sportsman, 1 might possibly at 

 times have checked him in the ardor of his pursuit, by 

 reminding him of that excellent maxim, Ne quid nimis, 

 i. e. Nothing too much. The pleasure of angling 

 consists not so much in the number offish we catch 9 

 as in the exercise of our art> the gratification of our 

 hopes, and the reward of our skill and ingenuity : 

 were it possible for an Angler to be sure of every cast 

 of his fy, so that for six hours together his hook 

 should never come home without a Jlsh at it, angling 

 would be no more a recreation than the sawing of stone 

 or the pumping of water. 



