FLIES. 23 



ways something: and when we believe that 

 we can do things better in a particular way, 

 we really do, by the influence of imagination, 

 perform them both better and with less effort. 

 I agree with moralists, that the standard of 

 virtue should be placed higher than any one 

 can reach; for in trying to rise, man will 

 attain a more excellent state of being than 

 if no effort were made. But to our business. 

 As far as the perfection of the material for 

 the angler is concerned, the flies you find on 

 this table are as good as can be made, and 

 for this season of the year, there is no great 

 variety in this river. We have had lately 

 some warm days, and though it is but the 

 18th of May, yet I know the May fly has 

 been out for three or four days, and this is 

 the best period of this destructive season for 

 the fisherman. There are, I observe, many 

 male flies on the high trees, and some females 

 on the alders. 



PHYS. But I see flies already on the 

 water, which seem of various colours, 

 brown and grey, and some very pale, and 

 the trout appear to rise at them eagerly. 



