206 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



inland, all the year, we have a natural 

 science ; but what we know of the fish 

 that spend half of their time in the sea 

 is knowledge of another kind, empirical. 

 Between a seatrout or a salmon in the 

 stream and the same fish in the basket 

 there is no relation of cause and effect 

 that you can perceive to have been 

 morally certain or even probable. The 

 capture was a great event ; but it was 

 essentially accidental. You do not under- 

 stand it as you understand the capture 

 of a brown trout. At least, as a rule 

 you do not. When there really is a 

 glimmer of rationality in the triumph 

 we owe our pride of mind to some 

 lesson that has been taught by haphazard 

 experiment not connected with any study 

 of natural law. 



As was said by Mr. William Senior 

 in a moment of comical candour, angling 

 for salmon or for seatrout " is an art, but 

 not a fine art." The lures for brown 

 trout are taken or copied from nature; 

 but such skill as we have in the capture 



