FISHING ANECDOTES. 193 



pisces" and in another place he says, " Hi jaculis 

 pisces, illi capiuntur ab kamo" I suspect there are 

 few amusements, or I may say arts, that are more 

 sought after, and which engross the attention of many, 

 than does the gentle art. If one can make out what 

 old Isaac Walton meant to say on this subject, or 

 what he wished to teach, one must believe that he 

 was very fond of fishing. Dr. Johnson, who, doubt- 

 less, was a clever man in his way, was evidently 

 not a fisherman, and is not at all complimentary when 

 he says that a fisherman is " a worm at one end, 

 and a fool at the other." 



" * All fishermen are fools,' he says. 

 Perhaps 'twas so in his young days ; 

 And, because this old curmudgeon, 

 Maybe, never caught a gudgeon, 

 Or with line and crooked pin 

 Once tried to take some minnows in 

 And couldn't, he lays down a rule, 

 ' That every fisherman's a fool' 

 This observation, on my word, 

 I can't but think is most absurd. 

 Indeed, it is not every lout 

 That fishes that can catch the trout : 

 So cunning is he, and so shy, 

 It is not every ill-made fly 

 Will tempt him, but the greatest skill 

 Is needful if you wish to kill 



