THAMES FISHING. 



The river calmly swells and flows, 



The charm of this enchanted ground, 

 And all its various turns disclose 



Some fresher beauty varying round. 

 The sternest heart its wish might bound, 



On earth to dwell delighted here, 

 Nor could on earth a spot be found, 



To nature and to me so dear. 



BYRON. 



Few fish bite more eagerly than gudgeons, and 

 this perhaps is the reason why so many persons 

 may be seen patiently sitting in punts from morning 

 to night on the river Thames employed in catching 

 these fresh water smelts. There appears indeed to 

 be a fascination in gudgeon fishing which it is not 

 easy to account for ; and the wonder is encreased 

 when we see three or four persons in a punt lightly 

 jerking a rod every instant, and watching a float as 

 it glides down the stream before them, the sun 

 sometimes scorching them, and at others the rain 

 wi-tting them through. Notwithstanding this, 

 however, the fascination certainly exists, and it is 

 mentioned as a fact, that the clergyman of a parish 

 in the neighbourhood of Hampton Court, who was 

 engaged to be married to the daughter of a bishop, 

 enjoyed his gudgeon fishing so much, that he 

 arrived too late to be married, and the lady, offended 

 at his neglect, refused to be united to one who 

 appeared to prefer his rod to herself. 



The gudgeon is angled for in shallows, from the 

 end of spring to the beginning of autumn, and the 



