Considered as a Sport. 235 



as an object worthy of the angler's wiles. Beauty 

 alone may prompt desire to win, but not in the 

 case of a sportsman's fish ; for there at least 

 " beauty must be saved by merit." And so Mr 

 Francis hastens to chronicle the virtues of Lady 

 Grayling, and heads the list with this one : she 

 "seldom becomes so shy as the trout does," and 

 is "free to rise to all comers." I stop not to 

 inquire whether womankind in these days, in 

 their hurried quest of "rights," have 



" Left all reserve and all the sex behind," 



and relegated shyness to the bashful man. But 

 I am quite of opinion that the fish that values its 

 own reputation, whether it values its life or not, will 

 be disposed to show that caution and circumspec- 

 tion which a first acquaintance might impose, if not 

 also the artful coyness of the shepherdess who 

 harangued her impatient suitor thus : 



" But ken ye, lad, gif we confess o'er soon, 

 Ye think us cheap, and syne the wooing' s done." 



Whatever it may be in folk, at least in fish the 

 want of shyness will, in the estimation of a proper 

 fisher, be no charm at all. But it appears and I 

 am sorry to know it that many Southern anglers' 

 foau-id6al of a good fish is one easily deceived and 

 easily caught. It is not mine. I consider the 

 wariness of the trout a strong point in its favour, 



