DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. 269 



In summer heats I've sought thy shades, 



Where cooling breezes blow ; 

 Thy glorious landscapes, fresh and fair, 



Make anglers' bosoms glow. 



Thy murmuring streams, pour'd o'er the rock, 



Fall sweetly on the ear ; 

 And soothe the troubl'd mind to rest 



When sadd'ning thoughts appear. 



Flow on } proud Rhine, and may thy streams 



For ever sacred flow, 

 For those who tread their margins gay 



The "gentle fly" to throw. 



It must be remembered that in Belgium angling is a 

 very ancient art or amusement. Fishing with rod formed 

 a part of the education of young burgesses of Flanders, at 

 a very early period of history. 1 



There are a few French treatises on angling in this 

 century, which are written in a descriptive and sentimental 

 strain. Since the peace of 1 8 1 4, the French officers of the 

 army have cultivated rod-fishing after the English fashion ; 

 particularly in Normandy andBrittany, the Upper Pyrenees, 

 at the towns of Bagnieres de Bigorre and Tarbes on the 

 river Adour, and other localities on the Switzerland side 

 of the kingdom. There have been several small works on 

 rod-fishing published at Paris, Lyons, Rouen, &c, within 

 the last forty years, containing descriptive pieces in verse 

 on the chief rivers of France. We shall venture to trans- 



1 Montfaucon, Book iv, c. 9; Froissart, 4 131. 



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