THE ANGLER'S SOUVENIR. 



constitution of the country, that England is pecu- 

 liarly adapted to form a race of anglers. The very 

 climate, which certain foreigners decry as being 

 dull and cloudy, is decidedly in favour of the 

 angler ; for, notwithstanding the number and ex- 

 cellence of our streams, had we the clear atmosphere 

 and cloudless skies of Italy, the fly-fisher's occupa- 

 tion would, in a great measure, be gone. Above 

 all other classes of Englishmen, the fly-fisher has 

 most reason to be satisfied with the climate of his 

 own country ; and were a course of angling to form 

 as it ought a branch of liberal education, we 

 should not have so many absentees misspending 

 their money and their time, and losing the fresh- 

 ness of honest English feeling in the enervating 

 climate and degraded society of Italy. 

 " native Britain ! O my mother Isle ! 

 How shouldst thou prove aught else but dear and 



holy 



To me, who from thy lakes and mountain hills, 

 Thy clouds, thy quiet dales, thy rocks, and seas, 

 Have drunk in all my intellectual life, 

 All sweet sensations, all ennobling thoughts. 

 All adoration of the God in nature, 

 All lovely and all honourable things, 

 Whatever makes this mortal spirit feel 

 The joy and greatness of its future being !" * 



Under the term "Angling," Professor Rennie 

 includes all kinds of fishing with a hook, in salt 

 water as well as in fresh ; and it must be admitted 

 * Coleridge. " Fears in Solitude." 



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