288 TROUT FISHING. 



most successfully. But the devoted trout angler 

 never takes a lady with him. Her companion- 

 ship distracts him. And then lady anglers are 

 prone to getting caught in the trees and the 

 like. They must be rescued from their diffi- 

 culties, and the cavalier must smile in his 

 wading boots, as though he enjoyed it, while 

 he marches up to his waist into the cold 

 water to free hooks from the detaining bul- 

 rush, bramble, or drooping ash. Trout fish- 

 ing and flirting cannot be reconciled with each 

 other in a sufficiently profitable manner ; when 

 attempted for consecutive days by young 

 people in the spring, their flirting contributes 

 only to the peace of the trout.* This pursuit 

 (we mean now trout fishing simple,) may be 

 enjoyed in the most picturesque seasons : it 

 may be successfully adventured at the dawn, 

 before the dews are taken from the grass ; it 

 may be (in deep-shaded wood glens) followed 

 up at high noon. 



You may, at the fall of the year, between the 



* Of course an exception may be made when the 

 amusements may be combined in the fashion described 

 in the chapters of the ' Wimple.' 



