82 



THE ANGLER'S SOUVENIR. 



the gentle art, and their skill in its exercise, con- 

 tinue to render the name appropriate ; for so all 

 piscatory authors, booksellers, publishers, and 

 tackle-makers are in duty bound to pray. The 

 conjecture that the name Anglia, or Aengle-land, 

 is derived from "angling," will be considerably 

 strengthened when we consider that the more 

 ancient name, Britannia, is most probably derived 

 from Britthyl, a trout, meaning the country abound- 

 ing in trouts ; a much more feasible etymology 

 than that of Humphrey Lhuyd, who derives it from 

 Pryd and Cam, fertile and fair : a far-fetched 

 etymology, for which Buchanan a savage with the 

 rod, as the royal breech of J ames VI. could testify 

 scourges him soundly. The change of name, 

 from Land of Trouts to Land of Anglers, is at once 

 simple and natural, and exactly what a philosophical 

 etymologist would be most likely to infer. Let any 

 person look at the map of England, including in 

 his survey Scotland, Ireland, and the Principality, 

 that is, if he have not personally visited each 

 country, which every gentleman, at least, ought to 

 do before making the tour of Europe, and from 

 the brooks, becks, and burns which he will see 

 rising in all directions, and winding through the 

 country, at last forming a noble river capable of 

 bearing on its bosom the native oak which erst 

 shaded its banks, but now formed to bear Britannia's 

 thunders, and "to quell the depths below," and 

 he will directly perceive, trom the very physical 



