MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 243 



people put themselves to in preparing the sump- 

 tuous feast ; the only music in attendance was 

 perhaps the murmuring burn, the whistling cry 

 of the curlew, the solitary water ouzel, or the 

 whirring wing of the moor game. I would, how- 

 ever, recommend to anglers not to go alone ; a trio 

 of them is better, and mutual assistance is often 

 necessary. 



It is foreign to my purpose to give any history, 

 in this place, of the various kinds of fishes which 

 anglers pursue ; of this there is no need, for, I 

 think, more treatises on this subject than on any 

 other have been printed, to direct the angler to 

 perfection in his art. But I cannot help noticing, 

 as matter of regret, that more pains have not been 

 taken to multiply fish, and to increase the breed of 

 eels, as every permanent pool might so easily be 

 fully stocked with them ; and the latter are, when 

 properly cooked, the most delicious of all fish kind. 

 Walton has been particular in describing his mode 

 of cooking them ; but, unless he killed them before- 

 hand, his method is a very cruel one, and is besides 

 of not much consequence. After being killed, they 

 then only need to be gutted and cooked unskinned 

 in an unabating heat till they are done enough, for 

 if they are cooked on a slow fire they are apt to 

 turn oily and often disagree with some stomachs. 



In thus dwelling on subjects which stimulate 

 man eagerly to pursue the work of destruction, and 

 to extend his power over those animals of which he 

 considers himself as the lord and master, and that 

 they are destined to contribute to his pleasures or 

 to his support, yet he ought not totally to forget 

 that what is sport to him is death to them, and that 

 the less of cruelty the better. 



