198 VARIOUS REMARKS ON THE 



" * ANGLERS ! ye are a heartless bloody race. 1 

 'Tis thus, the half-souTd sentimentalist 

 Presumes to apostrophise us to the face 5 

 Weak, paltry, miserable antagonist ! 

 To deem by this compassionate grimace 

 He doth sweet service to humanity, 

 And yet when of his fellow's misery, 

 Of wars, of pestilence, and the woes that chase 

 Mankind to the interminable shore 

 He hears, to treat them with a hasty sneer, 

 Nor let their shrill appeal disturb a tear 

 Or one emotion waken in his core ! 

 It is too much ! Anglers, your cruelty 

 Is tend'rer than this man's philanthropy." 



T. S. STODDAET. 



ANGLING. 



" Then there were billiards ; cards too ; but no dice ; 



Save in the clubs no man of honour plays ; 

 Boats when 'twas water, skating when 'twas ice, 



And the hard frost destroy'd the scenting days ; 

 And angling, too, that solitary vice, 



Whatever Izaac Walton sings or says ; 

 The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb in his gullet 

 Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it." 



Don Juan. 



"It would have taught him humanity at least. This 

 sentimental savage, whom it is a mode to quote (amongst 

 the novelists), to show their sympathy for innocent sports 

 and old songs, teaches how to sew up frogs, and break 



