4 THE ANGLER-NATURALIST. 



of the first angling nation in the world. England is, indeed, 

 preeminently the land of the rod and line the fisher- 

 man's paradise. There is no other country where the 

 gentle craft is so thoroughly understood and appreciated, 

 and where everything around unites to make a man an 

 angler, and to keep him so. Is he a bottom-fisher ? here 

 he may wander by the margin of ever-gliding streams, 

 knee-deep in meadow-sweet, or, with tranquil mind, muse 

 away life "in the green gleam of dewy-tassel' d trees." 

 Is he a troller? in England he will find broad meres 

 and stately rivers that might ravish the soul of a Nobbes. 

 A fly-fisher ? by the rush of a Dove, or a Coquet, he will 

 be mated with trout and the goddess of scenery 



"Shut in left alone with himself, and perfection of water." 

 Yes, England is the paradise of the angler ; and to Eng- 

 land, as Badham has gracefully expressed it, " in after-life, 

 wherever he may have travelled and fished in the mean 

 while, he will be delighted to return, and re- visit the scenes 

 of his angling boyhood the banks of each well-known 

 stream, the unchanged lake, the paternal pond, and the 

 boat of ' auld lang syne ' rising two inches in the boat-house 

 to greet him that dear old boat to which he used furtively 

 to creep, and, loosing her rusty and trusty chain from its 

 moorings, confide his mistress's name and the earliest efforts 

 of his Muse, or else, in some bright August day, 



11 ( When showers were short and weather mild .... 

 Would sit all day, with patient skill, 

 Attentive to the trembling quill.' " 



