38 REMARKS PRELIMINARY. 



out a- fishing because he had got into an early habit 

 of so going, and finds amusement in it preferable 

 to walking, or even to riding, should he be mas- 

 ter of a horse ; or else he pursues it, fain to find 

 recreation in that in which he perceives his neigh- 

 bour so well pleased, just as he would go a-quoit- 

 ing, a-cricketing, or a-curling. To talk of following 

 it on a principle of love or admiration of field 

 scenery, the wood-skirted grandeur of cliff or 

 stream, is surely either a pretence or an illusion 

 of his own mind ; because every staunch angler 

 may be said to leave his admiration of the 

 picturesque, the beautiful, and romantic in nature, 

 as something to be particularly kept in mind, re- 

 turned to and enjoyed " at a more convenient 

 season'' as governor Felix, did his taste for the most 

 sublime doctrines of Christianity. I have felt that 

 I could admire the beautiful in landscape as much 

 as my neighbours, perhaps any of them, yet never 

 could find either taste or time for the disposition of 

 sentiment while sallying out on a fishing excursion ; 

 and however romantically beautiful the branch over- 

 hung its shadow in the water, I no sooner hanked 

 my hooks on it than, if within reach, crash down it 

 came, whilst a wish hurried over my mind that all 

 river- skirt ing trees were removed. I would hardly 



