268 ON SALMON-FISHING WITH THE FLY. 



consequence. He can afford to do so, while the other 

 cannot. He can afford to pass it over altogether to 

 forgive his dogs a careless point or a run in. He 

 requires to take no pains and encounter no fatigue. 

 The game rises at his feet ; the bag can be filled at all 

 events. It is different with the latter. He cannot 

 afford the throwing away of a single chance. One act 

 of misconduct on the part of his setter a too hasty or 

 too dilatory pull of the trigger an error in the field- 

 ing a miss from over-excitement or any other cause 

 the escape of a wounded bird, each of these circum- 

 stances by itself tells hard against him, and is fre- 

 quently an occasion of lament and grievance. Such 

 occurrences, however, produce their advantageous effect, 

 by encouraging the endeavour to avoid them for the 

 future. Being felt as matters of importance and treated 

 as such, they all act towards making the sportsman. 

 They inculcate prudence, decision, vigilance, the study 

 also of natural history, as far as relates to the habits 

 of his game. They make him careful, frugal, active, 

 and earnest superior, as respects his occupation, to 

 the slayer of hand-fed pheasants, as is the wild-deer in 

 strength and fleetness to the bloated venison of some 

 palace park. 



And thus it is with the true angler. He is not made 

 out of thick and manifold, but out of few and scattered 

 resources. The science of his art is acquired in a rigid 

 and exacting school. He has to reconcile himself to 

 disappointments, to practise self-denial, to encounter 

 hardships. He requires to study devotedly, perse- 

 veringly; to neglect or omit nothing. With subdued 

 expectations he ought never to despond. His motto 

 should be of bright letter the banner-word of a 

 conqueror. 



