DISTINGUISHED ANGLERS. 7 



was ardently attached to this amusement ; so 

 much so, that when the Bishop of Durham en- 

 quired of him, when one of his most important 

 works would be finished, he said, with great 

 simplicity and good humour, " My Lord, I 

 shall work steadily at it when the fly-fishing 

 season is over," as if this were a business of 

 his life. And I am rather reserved in intro- 

 ducing living characters, or I could give a list 

 of the highest names of Britain, belonging to 

 modern times, in science, letters, arts, and 

 arms, who are ornaments of this fraternity, to 

 use the expression borrowed from the free- 

 masonry of our forefathers. 



PHYS. I do not find much difficulty in 

 understanding why warriors, and even states- 

 men, fishers of men, many of whom I have 

 known particularly fond of hunting and shoot- 

 ing, should likewise be attached to angling ; 

 but I own, I am at a loss to find reasons for 

 a love of this pursuit amongst philosophers 

 and poets. 



HAL. The search after food is an instinct 

 belonging to our nature ; and from the savage 

 in his rudest and most primitive state, who 

 B4 



