4 The Anglers Tackle and Equipment, 



venture within the precincts of their temple, and 

 sacrilegiously rob them of their scaly treasures. 

 And although no work on angling would be con- 

 sidered complete without an allusion to the ill- 

 tempered sally of Dr Johnson, regarding "the fly 

 at one end of the line, and the fool at the other," 

 I can afford, in the presence of anglers, to dismiss 

 the Doctor with " the retort courteous," that I sus- 

 pect he must have tried the gentle art himself, 

 and in his chagrin at the poverty of his " take," 

 uncharitably based his definition of angling in gen- 

 eral on what it had proved to be in his own case 

 in particular. 



But I have no desire to be hard upon the 

 Doctor, for I could not accept his description as 

 correct even of unsuccessful angling. Indeed, in 

 the case of not a few, it is the pleasurable pursuit 

 of health, rather than of fish, that brings forth rod 

 and basket. In view of the fact that many of 

 those who, when occasion offers, leave town for 

 a day's "fishing," and hie to the breezy river-side, 

 are confined to the stuffy office or the shop for 

 months together, I am constrained to exclaim, 

 Would that all " fools " were as wise ! 



" Trust me, there is much 'vantage in it, sir ; 

 You do forget the noisy pother of mankind, 

 And win communion with sweet Nature's self, 

 In plying our dear craft." 



