34 



was also a fly-fisher ; and I have fished in 

 the Tees with an old angler who acquired 

 his knowledge of algebra and the art of 

 dressing and throwing a fly from the eccen- 

 tric geometer of Hurworth.* Dr. Birch, 

 formerly Secretary to the Royal Society, was 

 a lover of angling ; and Dr. Wollaston and 

 Sir Humphrey Davy in our own times are 

 instances of men of the highest philosophic 

 attainments finding pleasure in the exercise 

 of the rod and line. 



Burrell. I am inclined to think the three 

 last named were amateurs rather than profi- 

 cients in fly-fishing. Dr. Birch was evi- 

 dently known to the fish, or he would not 

 have taken such pains to disguise himself 

 like the stump of an old tree when angling. 

 Of Dr. Wollaston 's fly-fishing acquirements 

 I know nothing more than what Sir Hum- 

 phrey Davy reports; and that is not much, 



* Hurworth, a pleasant village, in the church-yard of 

 which Emerson is buried, is about three miles S.E. of 

 Darlington. 



