PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 7 



Wotton to be " a rest to the mind, a cheerer of 

 the spirits, a diverter of sadness, a calmer of un- 

 quiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, a procurer 

 of contentedness ; " or that what thus ministers 

 medicine to the mind while it invigorates the 

 body, should not prove attractive to all who 



Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. 



To many this prologue may seem as irrelevant 

 as angling seems simple to the uninitiated ; but I 

 have been lured on by my theme as I have often 

 been by the shady banks and singing waters beside 

 which I have cast my fly through the long summer 

 day, in sheer forgetfulness of time and distance 

 and all else save the consciousness of supreme en- 

 joyment. An angler is, from necessity, a rambler ; 

 and if he wields his pen as he makes his casts, he 

 must needs drop his thoughts as he drops his leader, 

 whenever and however the inspiration of the mo- 

 ment suggests. 



