FOURTH DAY.] WADING. 109 



I know there are old men who have done both,, and 

 have enjoyed perfect health but these are devil's decoys 

 to the unwary, and ten suffer for one that escapes. I 

 could quote to you an instance from this very county, 

 in one of the strongest men I have ever known. He 

 was not intemperate, but he lived luxuriously, and 

 waded as a salmon fisher for many years in this very 

 river ; but before he was fifty, palsy deprived him of 

 the use of his limbs, and he is still a living example 

 of the danger of the system which you are ambitious 

 of adopting. 



ORN. Well, I give up the wine, but I intend to 

 wade in Hancock's boots to-morrow. 



HAL. Wear them, but do not wade in them. The 

 feet become cold in a stream of water constantly passing 

 over the caoutchouc and leather, notwithstanding the 

 thick stockings. They are good for keeping the feet 

 warm, and I think where there is exercise, as in snipe 

 shooting, they may be used without any bad effects. 

 But I advise no one to stand still (which an angler 

 must do sometimes) in the water, even with these 

 ingenious water-proof inventions. All anglers should 

 remember old Boerhaave's maxim of health, and act 

 upon it : " Keep the feet warm, the head cool, and 

 the body open/'' * 



PHYS. I am sorry we did not examine more 



* [ The above cautions, as regards " drinking," and high living, are 



