56 ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING. 



iii all its beauty. There is nothing to break the 

 solitude save the plaintive bleating of the sheep or 

 the crow of the moorcock. As the angler descends, 

 the music of the song-bird meets his ear from every 

 bush, and the groves resound with the cooing of 

 the wood-pigeon or the soft notes of the cuckoo. 

 And now he approaches the scene of his antici- 

 pated triumph. There are the deep rocky pool 

 and racing shallow, the whirling eddy and rippling 

 stream. Now it pauses as if to enjoy the glory of 

 the prospect, then rushes impetuously forward, as 

 if eager to drink in the grandeur of some new 

 scene. Now it foams over rocks, and then 

 meanders slowly between green banks. Every- 

 thing seems endowed with life to welcome the 

 return of summer. The very river is alive with 

 leaping trout. Everything tends to cheer the 

 angler's heart and encourage his hopes. No 

 wonder that with Sir Henry Wotton he finds " fly 

 fishing " a " cheerer of the spirits, a tranquilliser 

 of the mind, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a 

 diverter of sadness." 



And then the art itself is lively and graceful. 

 Look at the angler as he approaches some favourite 

 spot. See him as he observes the monarch of the 

 pool regaling himself on the incautious insect that 

 sports in fancied security upon the surface. In- 

 wardly he vows that it shall be avenged. Cautiously 

 he approaches, concealing himself by kneeling or 

 keeping behind some bush, lest by any chance his 



