14 



x nor drank, except a glass of Cogniac or G-lenlivat, qua- 

 lified with a dash of pure spring water from the stone 

 trough of a way- side well see it here on his way 

 home. When he goes to the water side, as it is more 

 than likely that he will have to wade, he puts on a pair 

 of lambswool socks and an extra pair in his pocket. 

 Should his feet he wet when he leaves off fishing, he 

 exchanges his wet socks for a pair of dry ones, and 

 walks home in a state of exceeding great comfort ; the 

 glass which he took at the well, just after changing his 

 socks, having sent the "blood tingling to his toe ends. 



Delicate, nervous people such fragile "beings as, in 

 country phrase, are said to "be " all egg-shells" who con- 

 ceive, and very truly, from some deli ghtful papers in 

 Blackwood by the "old man eloquent," that fly-fishing 

 must he a most fascinating amusement, and who think 

 that straightway they can enjoy it in all its charms, 

 are for the most part wofully disappointed when they 

 come to make the trial. Fly-fishing is indeed delightful, 

 but not to them. A poor whimsical thing poor in 

 Heaven's "best gift, mens sana in corpore sano, who 



" Is everything by fits and nothing long," 



has persuaded himself that he would enjoy fly-fishing, 

 and is determined to try the Wharfe, which he is in- 

 formed affords good trout-fishing, the next time he 

 visits Harrogate. Previous to -leaving London, he pro- 

 vides himself with an excellent rod and such lines, of 

 hair and silk, as would make the mouth of an old angler 

 water, who spins his own from no better material than 



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