82 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 



parties, although he questioned the expediency of ham- 

 pering them with the presence of umpires. It was 

 argued on the side of the club, that to approximate the 

 competitors to each other in the manner proposed, might 

 be apt to occasion too great a spirit of rivalry betwixt 

 them, and have the effect of marring those feelings of 

 ultimate concord which it was desirable to establish. 

 Again, the club could with difficulty understand how 

 the presence of umpires could be felt as a restraint. 

 If it were so, the restraint was a mutual one. In 

 their opinion, however, it was a manifest relief ; the 

 duties of the umpires being to preserve betwixt the 

 parties a strict line of disunion, and to announce to 

 those competing the pre-occupation by stranger anglers 

 of such pools as lay in advance. These explanations 

 were admitted by Mr Wandle-weir to be perfectly 

 satisfactory, and lie accordingly withdrew his amend- 

 ment. 



VIII. That the artificial fly alone shall be angled 

 with, and no cross-lines adopted. 



IX. That no competitor shall be allowed an assistant. 



X. That the fish captured shall be estimated by 

 weight, and not by number. 



XI. That, should one of the competitors happen to 

 produce a grilse or salmon (of which there are a few at 

 present in the water), the capture of such fish being 

 with the trouting-fly a matter of chance more than of 

 skill, it shall not be reckoned, however large, to exceed 

 the weight of three pounds. 



To this regulation the most cordial assent was given by 

 Mr Wandle-weir and the other gentlemen present ; and 

 after discussing a few minor preliminaries, among 

 which the dinner was taken into ample consideration, 

 the two parties started, precisely as the clock struck 

 nine, from the small parlour in H n Inn. Dr 



