10 SALMONIA. 



swallow and the trout contend as it were for 

 the gaudy May-fly, and till, in pursuing your 

 amusement in the calm and balmy evening, 

 you are serenaded by the songs of the cheerful 

 thrush and melodious nightingale, performing 

 the offices of paternal love, in thickets orna- 

 mented with the rose and woodbine ! 



PHYS. All these enjoyments might be ob- 

 tained without the necessity of torturing and 

 destroying an unfortunate animal, that the 

 true lover of nature would wish to see happy 

 in a scene of loveliness. 



HAL. If all men were Pythagoreans and 

 professed the Brahmin's creed, it would un- 

 doubtedly be cruel to destroy any form of 

 animated life ; but if fish are to be eaten, I 

 see no more harm in capturing them by skill 

 and ingenuity with an artificial fly, than in 

 pulling them out of the water by main force 

 with the net ; and in general, when taken by 

 the common fishermen, fish are permitted to 

 die slowly, and to suffer in the air, from the 

 want of their natural element ; whereas every 

 good angler, as soon as his fish is landed, 

 either destroys his life immediately, if he 



