AUTHORS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 629 



of the most accomplished trout fishers of his day, and 

 especially in " clear water." He elaborates this particular 

 phase of angling, and discusses exhaustively, and with 

 great fairness, all the vexata qucestiones of the fly-fisher's 

 vocation, such as " up " or " down " stream fishing, the 

 colour and make of flies, the pliability of fly-rods, &c. 

 Some "outsiders" are inclined to smile when anglers 

 speak of the education of modern fish ; but this is what 

 Mr. Stewart says on the subject : 



" Much fishing, besides to a certain extent thinning the trout, 

 operates against the angler's killing large takes, by making the 

 remaining trout more wary, and it is more from this cause than 

 the scarcity of trout that so many anglers return unsuccessful 

 from much-fished streams. The waters also now remain brown- 

 coloured for such a short time that the modern angler is deprived, 

 unless on rare occasions, of even this aid to his art of deception ; 

 and the clearness of the water, and the increased wariness of the 

 trout, are the main causes why the tackle of fifty years ago would 

 be found so faulty now. Fifty years ago it was an easy thing to 

 fill a basket with trout ; not so now. Then there were ten trout 

 for one there is now. The colour of the water favoured the 

 angler, and the trout were comparatively unsophisticated. Now 

 filling a basket with trout, at least in some of our southern streams 

 open to the public, when they are low and clear, is a feat of which 

 any angler may be proud. . . . Angling is, in fact, every day 

 becoming more difficult, and consequently better worthy of being 

 followed as a scientific amusement. So far from looking upon 

 the increase of anglers with alarm, it ought to be regarded with 

 satisfaction ; the more trout are fished for, the more wary they 

 become ; the more wary they are, the more skill is required on 

 the angler's part, and, as the skill an amusement requires consti- 

 tutes one of its chief attractions, angling is much better sport now 

 than it was fifty years ago." 



But as we are now finding ourselves in company of contem- 

 porary contributors to angling literature, the great majority 



