256 Salmon-Fishing. 



the attractions of their sport, have yet admitted 

 that the kind of angling which pleased them most 

 was a day's fly-fishing for yellow trout. Whether 

 this be true of all who angle in preserves or not, 

 the average angler in the open stream has, at all 

 events, to " teach his necessity to reason thus," ay, 

 and proudly make a virtue of it. The fates may 

 not have granted him to wield the salmon-rod, but, 

 for all that, he can find abundant scope for the 

 exercise of the angler's craft, and the fullest joy 

 in the emotions it excites, in the pursuit of smaller 

 game, content to know that 



" When he cannot make love to the lips that he loves, 

 He can always make love to the lips that are near." 



And he thanks his stars, too, for the chance. 



To the widest circle of anglers this little book 

 appeals. Should the lovers of salmon and the 

 heroes of sport think that in this brief chapter I 

 fail to give to the monarch of the streams that 

 supreme consideration which is due to its exalted 

 rank, and that I show the scantiest courtesy to a 

 fish whose virtues have inspired the poet's lays and 

 thrilled the angler's soul, I can assure these dis- 

 criminating friends that I fully share in their ap- 

 preciation of the salmon's charms, and join most 

 cordially in their tribute of praise ; but I trust that 

 they in turn will bear with me in my necessarily 



