io FLY FISHING 



and to feel remote. With the exception of 

 Gilbert White's " Selborne," I know no book in 

 which it is so easy for a tired mind to find refuge 

 and repose as in the " Complete Angler." 



As a contrast to Walton it is interesting to 

 consider Charles Kingsley. He, too, has written 

 delightfully about fishing ; there is an onset of 

 enthusiasm in such a piece as " Chalk Stream 

 Studies," which must stimulate the keenness of 

 any angler, and Kingsley has a good store of 

 knowledge of plants, insects, birds and all the 

 life about a river. Who would not have kindled 

 at the thought of a day's fishing with Kingsley ? 

 Who would not have been the better for it ? but 

 any of us might have been somewhat exhausted 

 at the end of it. Kingsley was nobly keen, and 

 he never for one moment leaves us in doubt of 

 the strength and sincerity of his affection for 

 all that was interesting and beautiful out of 

 doors. Every one should know more and fish 

 better after reading him, but he was a strong 

 mind in earnest, and he wrote so strenuously 

 that in reading him I tremble a little, for fear 

 he may strike too hard, if a big fish should rise. 

 The time, too, in which Kingsley wrote, was so 



