INTRODUCTION. 



ANGLING is, as almost everybody knows, the art of 

 taking fish by means of a rod and line, and it has been, 

 as it is now, a favourite amusement, apparently, in all 

 past times. As long since as the time of Isaiah, we 

 read of those who "cast angle in the brooks;" and the 

 practice has been followed, not, as some imagine, by 

 dull, stupid, and insensible persons, but by men of the 

 highest intellect and the greatest sensibility, amongst 

 whom may be mentioned the learned Dr. Whitaker; 

 Dr. Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's, Sir Henry Wotton; 

 Coleridge; Gay; Tobin, author of the Honey Moon ; 

 Dr. Wollaston ; the Hon. Robert Boyle, the great 

 Christian Philosopher; and in more modern times, Sir 

 Humphry Davy, Archdeacon Paley, Sir Walter 

 Scott, Professor Wilson, Sir Francis Chantrey, and 

 the Duke of Roxburgh. These examples may, at least, 

 justify old Isaac's averment 



" Of recreation there is none 

 So free as fishing is alone; 

 All other pastimes do no less 

 Than mind and body both possess; 

 My hand alone my work can do, 

 So I can fish and study, too." 



As a relaxation from severe or mind-taxing pursuits, 

 angling offers a greater diversity, with a call for less mus- 



