156 THE ANGLER'S GUIDE. 



accompany them, lie said he was agreeable ; 

 still he would rather have been without his 

 company than with it, for he did not like him 

 even so well as he did the shoemaker. 



He was a person of rather radical principles 

 and of considerable consequence, though a 

 very little man, and had been, in his younger 

 days, very fond of the stage, and would even 

 now, if he had a little more beer than usual, 

 give recitations or a soliloquy with the greatest 

 emphasis and attitude. He also thought him- 

 self a bit of a poet, and would occasionally 

 compose a song, or give an extemporary piece 

 of blank verse. But all this sort of conduct 

 had not many charms for Mr. Bigings ; he was 

 advanced in life, and was of a more staid and 

 settled character; he was, however, disposed 

 to make all things agreeable, and his wife was 

 very pleased to think that he would have com- 

 pany, so that if his head should swim, and he 

 should tumble into the water, he would have 

 some persons near to pull him out. 



It was not long before they fixed upon the 

 day and the place, and they all agreed to go 

 to Old Father Thames, where the gentle and 

 peaceful Isaac had so often plied his arts 

 among the finny tribes. 



