35 



beyond the fact of his using Indian rubber 

 with a slit in it to straighten the gut on 

 which his hooks were tied. Sir Humphrey 

 himself, I suspect, was only great as an 

 angler among F.R.S'S. Among the ac- 

 complished anglers of Tweedside and the 

 Highland Lochs he was only, as I have 

 heard, President of the Royal Society ; rather 

 ingenious in devising improvements in ang- 

 ling than skilful in catching fish. 



Oliver. Dr. Johnson has stated, that 

 though there is mention of aucupium and 

 piscatio in the writings of the ancients, they 

 seem to have been no more considered as 

 diversions than agriculture, or any other 

 manual labour. Is the Doctor's opinion 

 well founded think you, Mr. Todburn ? 



Rev. J. T. I think not; for though fishing, 

 as an amusement, might not interest the 

 ancients so much as it does our countrymen 

 of the present day, yet it was undoubtedly 

 practised by them as a recreation, as Plu- 

 tarch's notice of Antony's fishing, and the 



