444 PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 



of trout water within hail of any large town but what is at 

 once monopolised, either by its owner, or by some one who 

 can afford to pay a high price for the privilege of fishing it. 

 In the case of the coarse fisher this state of affairs takes 

 an altogether different aspect; because the very poorest 

 amongst the community can, if he so pleases, and thanks 

 to that binding law which is the result of long-continued 

 user, hie him to the banks of such noble rivers as the 

 Thames and the Lea, and there fish to his heart's con- 

 tent. I am not about to tell you that he is certain to 

 obtain sport sufficient to repay him for his trouble and 

 possible outlay. That is a question in these modern days, 

 and amidst the riot and hurly-burly caused by those 

 angler's pests steam launches and the greatly increased 

 traffic of the river, which must always remain merged in 

 obscurity, until, at any rate the close of the day. An acute 

 mind will naturally reflect that the same ratio of reasoning 

 applies to all classes of fishing, and I am by no means 

 prepared to gainsay it. In the Thames, however, such a 

 reflection comes home with tenfold force, and it only shows 

 how keenly the love of angling is developed in the bosoms 

 of many men, how patient and long-suffering fishermen are, 

 as a race, and how content with the hope even of small 

 mercies, when throughout the season the great railway 

 stations are crowded every week with whole battalions of 

 the rank and file of the angling army. 



It is, however, at the London, Brighton, and South Coast 

 Railway Station, and that at Liverpool Street, on the Great 

 Eastern Line, that the most extraordinary sight in 

 connection with the coarse fishermen of London is to 

 be seen on every Sunday morning. 



It may be that mention of the selected day may offend 

 the " unco guid " section of polite society ; but it must be 



