33 



of his poems may be traced images which 

 have reference to, or have been suggested 

 by, the delightful art of angling. When I 

 think of his description, in the Excursion, of 

 the trouts, which a boy has caught, laid on 

 a blue slate-stone, I almost fancy that I see 

 them in reality, as I have seen them so often. 

 The colours of a newly caught trout are 

 never seen to such advantage as when the 

 fish is displayed on a smooth wet slate. 

 Cooper, the next time he paints trout, may 

 take a hint from Wordsworth. 



The Rev. J. T. This talk of eminent and 

 talented men who have been anglers brings 

 to my recollection the name of Hill, the 

 learned tailor, whom Spence, in a little vo- 

 lume printed at Strawberry Hill, has com- 

 pared to that " helluo librorum," Maglia- 

 becchi. Hill initiated into the mysteries of 

 fly-fishing a young scholar, who, in return, 

 taught him Greek ; one of the finest instances 

 of mutual instruction that ever came to my 

 knowledge. Emerson, the mathematician, 



