8 SALMONIA. 



ing, should likewise be attached to angling ; 

 but I own, I am at a loss to find reasons for 

 a love of this pursuit amongst philosophers 

 and poets. 



HAL. The search after food is an instinct 

 belonging to our nature ; and from the savage 

 in his rudest and most primitive state, who 

 destroys a piece of game, or a fish, with a 

 club or spear, to man in the most cultivated 

 state of society, who employs artifice, ma- 

 chinery, and the resources of various other 

 animals, to secure his object, the origin of 

 the pleasure is similar, and its object the 

 spine : but that kind of it requiring most art 

 may be said to characterize man in his highest 

 or intellectual state ; and the fisher for salmon 

 and trout with the fly employs not only ma- 

 chinery to assist his physical powers, but 

 applies sagacity to conquer difficulties ; and 

 the pleasure derived from ingenious resources 

 and devices, as well as from active pursuit, 

 belongs to this amusement. Then as to its 

 philosophical tendency, it is a pursuit of moral 

 discipline, requiring patience, forbearance, 

 and command of temper. As connected 



