A KING AMONG ANGLERS. 143 



the fishing-tackle scattered about his bed, propped 

 up with pillows his noble head, yet glorious with 

 its flowing locks, carefully combed by attentive 

 hands, and falling on each side of his unfaded 

 face. How neatly he picked out each elegantly 

 dressed fly from its little bunch, drawing it out 

 with trembling hand along the white coverlet, 

 and then replacing it in his pocket-book, he 

 would tell ever and anon of the streams he 

 used to fish in of old, and of the deeds he had 

 performed in his childhood and youth. These 

 precious relics of a bygone sport were wont to 

 be brought out in the early spring, long before 

 sickness confined him to his room. It had been 

 a habit of many years, but then the ' sporting 

 jacket ' was donned soon after, and angling was 

 no more a mere delightful day-dream, but a 

 reality, ' that took him knee-deep, or waistband- 

 high, through river-feeding torrents, to the glorious 

 music of his running and ringing reel.' ' 



CHARLBS DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS. 



