THE ANGLER'S GUIDE. 147 



wish his wife to be unhappy while he was 

 taking his pleasure, and therefore he resolved 

 to have a companion. But then, who was 

 that companion to be ? He did not want it 

 noised abroad that he went a fishing, for 

 many ignorant people would laugh at him, 

 as he would have laughed at any one else, 

 before he read Isaac Walton. It should be 

 some one with whom he was familiar, yet 

 he should not be familiar with many others. 

 Who should it be ? He could hardly tell. 



At length he pitched upon his next-door 

 neighbour, Mr. Samuel S tickings, the shoe- 

 maker, who, taking him altogether, he thought 

 would answer his purpose, because he did not 

 come in contact with any of his cronies. 

 There were, indeed, some things respecting 

 him that he did not much like, but he thought 

 he would over-rule the objections he had to 

 them for convenience sake. Stickings pro- 

 fessed to be a teetotaller, and he did not like 

 that, and it was not to be supposed he would, 

 when he was so fond of tippling, and therefore 

 they always disagreed upon that point. Yet, 

 if they had both been really prudent men, 

 there would have been no disagreement be- 

 tween them ; they both went to the extreme. 



