126 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



is perplexing how the two opposites can live with 

 harmony in the same man at the same time. But 

 certainly they do mingle in this kind of sport as 

 in various forms of angling. I incline to think 

 indeed that the harmony between them, or, say, the 

 partnership, may be more unbroken than in the branch 

 of angling on which I shall touch later. 



The angling scene by the chalk stream in full 

 summer is richer than the shooting scene in these 

 winter woods. There are hours when it moves me 

 more and sinks deeper into me. But the sport 

 can be intenser in chalk stream angling than in 

 this quiet way of shooting, so that I have some- 

 times had to recognise with a kind of shame that 

 during the evening rise of heavy trout the wonderful 

 beauty of the river scene, its sounds, scents, and 

 colours, have formed but a dim background. All 

 my full consciousness has been in the act of angling. 



