2 ANGLING. 



storm and the tempest scarcely hinders his sport. He 

 throws his line when ruddy Autumn gilds the western 

 heavens, and the fruit of the year hangs heavy on the 

 bough, or waves in golden abundance on the uplands. 

 Even stern Winter does not forbid him his enjoyment. If 

 he cares to pursue his favourite pastime, he may do equally 

 \vhen the tall bulrushes, wavy reeds, and reedmace rattle 

 with December's winds, as when the marsh marigold opes 

 its big yellow eyes on an April day, or the tall spike of 

 the purple loosestrife mingles with the creamy hue of the 

 meadow-sweet, and is relieved by the sombre green of the 

 sedges. If he is an ardent sportsman, the whole year 

 is before him. When the trout will not rise to the tempt- 

 ing fly, or be seduced by the seductive bait, the voracious 

 pike will seize the spinning minnow and try the patience 

 and skill of the fisherman. 



It was always so. In the infancy of mankind, the finny 

 tribes were pursued by a primitive people with as much 

 ardour as they are by civilised Englishmen at the present 

 time. Savage and cultivated nations equally followed, 

 either as a business or as a pastime, the occupation of cap- 

 turing fish with a line and hook, with or without a rod. 

 We find its praises celebrated in ancient poetry, and its 

 memory embalmed in Holy Writ. The rudest appliances 

 of a savage life have been used to aid the angler at his de- 

 lightful task, and science has not disdained to aid the modern 

 fisherman in his favourite sport. There are tribes who yet 

 fashion fish-hooks out of human jawbones ; and our own 

 progenitors managed to ensnare fish with hooks formed of 

 flint. Indeed, the Anglo-Saxon race have followed angling 

 with an energy and a zest far beyond any other European 

 nation. We know they pursued it as a profitable occupa 



