38 ANGLING. 



tribute, not only to his scientific knowledge, but 

 his social comfort, trouts when newly angled and 

 nicely fried, being worthy of admiration, as choice 

 productions of nature adorned by the skill of art. 

 But this latter branch of our subject comes so home 

 to the ." business and bosoms" of all men, that we 

 need not here dilate upon it. 



In the hope, however, that some useful knowledge 

 may be conveyed to the minds of our young readers 

 through the medium of the present work, we intend 

 to devote a portion of our space to. a brief introduc- 

 tion regarding the organic structure and physiology 

 of fishes. We know, from experience, that time 

 may hang heavy even on the hands of anglers, who 

 are seldom either feeble or faint-hearted men. We 

 know that spring (all genial though it be in poet^s 

 fancy) has yet its frequent flaky snows on mead and 

 mountain, its spiky ice along the crystal stream ; 

 that summer in its sun-lit splendour suffers its 

 long- enduring droughts, its sudden speats, and 

 fearful overflows ; that melancholy autumn, in 

 spite of all its mild effulgence, is not seldom vio- 

 lent, and perturbed 



" By lightning, by fierce winds, by trampling waves ; " 



and that each of these conditions of time and 

 space is adverse to the angler's art. Even with 

 every sweet advantage yielded by cheerful spring, 

 by glorious summer, by refulgent autumn (we 

 now seek to sooth the seasons by more endearing 

 terms), daylight does not last for ever, and so the 

 angler cannot always ply his trade. Of night fish- 



