Fly-FiJhing. 75 



with every found and fight attuned fo harmoni- 

 oufly, as Orpheus-like, to take captive the fenfes, 

 and give inftant birth to fenfations within that are 

 unufually placid ; if it were indifpenfable that you 

 fhould be as much in the water as out of it, the 

 charm (to me at leaft) would be broken ; and I 

 for one fliould be unnatural enough to fly at once 

 the fociety of my brethren of the angle, feared by the 

 eternal fplaming of the water, and the cold creep- 

 ing fenfations it left behind, to fay nothing of a hun- 

 dred other difagreeables it muft neceffarily entail. 



When I fee a good fifh rife beyond reach, to 

 ftep into the water to get at him, is fo natural to 

 me, as fcarcely to need mention ; but it is the 

 habit of wading I difapprove of, that very young 

 men will perfevere in, in many cafes from the like 

 fpirit of bravado, that induces little children, when 

 they firft begin walking, to pick out the dirtieft 

 puddle to try their powers in. 



I remember timing one day in the Wye with 

 Pifcator, when a fudden longing came over me to 

 try fbme likely gravels on the other fide. It is 

 true, I might have crofled over eafily enough, 

 but then I knew I mould, by fo doing, be moft 

 uncomfortable for the next hour or two ; and was 

 it worth while, I afked myfelf doubtingly, for a 



