6 In Pursuit of the Trout 



fly-fisherman ; and his 'Chalk Stream Studies' 

 is an angling classic. Chantrey is perhaps 

 more closely identified with the gun than 

 the rod, owing to the immortal brace of 

 woodcocks at Holkham, which he first shot 

 and then carved, but he was a very keen 

 fisherman. Scott — whose favourite method 

 of capturing salmon would, I am afraid, 

 hardly pass angling muster nowadays — said 

 of him : ' We have ourselves seen the first 

 sculptor in Europe when he has taken two 

 salmon on the same morning, and can well 

 believe that his sense of self-importance 

 exceeded twenty-fold that which he felt on 

 the production of any of the masterpieces 

 which have immortalised him.' 



In what, apart from the actual filling of 

 the creel and the capture of heavy fish, does 

 the rare and singular charm of angling re- 

 side ? is a question which non-anglers often 

 desire to have definitely answered ; and it is 

 one which sometimes not a little perplexes 

 the keen fisherman himself who is not ready 

 to analyse his own pleasures very closely. 



