EMOTIONS OF THE ANGLER. 103 



Fly-fishing, considered as a branch of the angler's 

 art possesses peculiar advantages. As an exercise, it 

 is healthy, and just to the proper degree exciting. It 

 braces the muscles, enlivens the spirits, gives rise to 

 an agreeable alternation of hopes and fears, calls into 

 activity the judgment as well as the fancy, the good 

 taste and discrimination of the artist, not less than his 

 ideal and creative powers. It affords room, also, as has 

 often been remarked, for the display of elegant mo- 

 tions and graceful attitudes impersonations of earnest- 

 ness and intense enthusiasm, of hope, of anxiety, of 

 joy, of disappointment, of admiration, of pity, of con- 

 tent, of love, of holy feeling, and of crowning felicity. 



Is it not, for instance, in the attitude of hope that 

 the angler stands, while in the act of heaving out his 

 flies over some favourite cast ? Of hope increased, when 

 he beholds, feeding within reach of his line, the mo- 

 narch of the stream? But now, mark him, he has 

 dropt the hook cautiously and skilfully just above the 

 indicated spot ; the fish, scarcely breaking the surface, 

 has seized it. A fast, firm hold it has, but the tackle 

 is fine, and the trout strong and active. Look ! how 

 the expression of his features is undergoing a change. 

 There is still hope, but mingled with it are traces of 

 anxiety of fear itself. His attitudes, too, are those of 

 a troubled and distempered man. Ha ! all is well. 

 The worst is over. The strong push for liberty has 

 been made, and failed. Desperate as that summerset 

 was, it has proved unsuccessful. The tackle knot and 

 barb is sufficient. Look now at the angler. Hope 

 with him is stronger than anxiety, and joy too beams 

 forth under his eyelids ; for lo ! the fish is showing 

 symptoms of distress. No longer it threatens to ex- 

 haust the winch-line; no longer it combats with the 



