72 AN ANGLER'S HOURS v 



the illustration down the other side might 

 prove distressing to love's young dream, and 

 I would shatter no ideals. It has, in fact, 

 sorrowfully to be confessed that in fishing at 

 least " the great too much," as Shakespeare 

 feelingly calls it, induces satiety in the fish 

 if not in the man. And I have no hesita- 

 tion in speaking of the May-fly as too much ; 

 viewed from any aspect it deserves the 

 censure. The fish eat too much ; they eat 

 too quickly ; and they are too full after- 

 wards. Indeed, one might almost say that 

 the angler catches too many. There is 

 nothing in the least admirable about the 

 pride which many men take in being able 

 to say that on Friday last they took five 

 dozen fish, weighing anything they care to 

 put them at, or best omitting the weight, as 

 Christopher North in the Nodes Ambrosiaruz . 

 " A hundred and thirty in one day in Loch 

 Awe, James, as I hope to be saved not 



one of them under " And the candid 



Shepherd puts in the details for him : " A 

 dizzen pun' and two-thirds o' them aboon't. 

 A'thegither a ton." With growing candour 

 he elaborates a little story for himself 

 wherein he figures as the captor of some 



