INTRODUCTORY 11 



appreciate the recreations in which our fellows find 

 relief from toil, we need not sgoff. To deride a 

 pastime merely because it is one for which we have 

 no predilection, is to betray a defective intelligence. 

 Our particular diversion is not necessarily the only 

 one that merits the devotion of a reasonable man. 



Yet the angler is convinced that, as a refuge from 

 the cares of earth, no pastime equals his, and in his 

 desire to convince others he appeals to the witness 

 of his own feelings. But, though shouted with all the 

 stormy vehemence of that wordy adv^ocate of silence, 

 the grim old Seer of Chelsea, convictions are valueless 

 if unsupported by objective evidence. Inward assurance 

 of the reality of an object of belief may suffice the 

 believer, but it is a flimsy reason on which to demand 

 the acceptance of the belief by those who have no part 

 in it. The angler, however, is not reduced to the 

 testimony of his emotions ; he will find abundant 

 evidence of the justice of his claim in a comparison 

 of the literature of angling with that of kindred sports. 

 The latter he will search in vain for any trace of the 

 rapturous delight with which the former overflows. 



Unhappily, the angler's schemes, like those of other 

 men, "gang aft agley." His occupation does not 

 always yield him the delight of which he dreams, and 



