INTRODUCTORY. 



could not have enjoyed it had he tried, and who 

 (the fact is sufficient for us) openly proclaimed his 

 preference for the tumult of Fleet Street to the 

 iinest rural scene in England. Still, we are bound 

 to confess, that the British public is to a considerable 

 extent divided as to which definition is the more 

 correct. There are few amusements which the un- 

 initiated look upon as so utterly stupid ; and an 

 angler seems generally regarded as at best a simple- 

 ton, whose only merit, if he succeeds, is that of un- 

 limited patience, and whose want of success should 

 he not succeed is only attributable to his want of 

 that virtue, of which people seem to take fully more 

 credit for the want than for the possession. Such 

 impressions can only have originated in very confused 

 ideas of both angling and patience ; and though it 

 may suit the unsuccessful to abuse angling as 

 " slow" and monotonous, and to quote Dr. Johnson's 

 famous saying which, so far as they are concerned, 

 is certainly correct angling, as we hope to show, is 

 by no means either slow or simple, and requires just 

 the same qualifications as are required for success in 

 any other pursuit viz. energy and skill, and those 

 in no small degree. 



If, however, on the one hand angling is looked 

 upon with little favour by an unenlightened multi- 

 tude, on the other hand there is no amusement to 

 which those who practise it become so much attached. 

 Nor do we think that anglers generally can fairly be 

 accused either of stupidity, or, let us say, patience. 



