Artfulness and Art 51 



"that his club had selected this water on which to hold 

 their annual competition, and that they had fixed the 

 following Wednesday for the day. Thanking him in 

 anticipation, he begged to remain, etc. etc." Fancy the 

 relics that would have remained — the broken bottles, sand- 

 wich papers, etc. ! and imagine the vision of two thousand 

 anglers on camp stools, amongst all the pet ferns and 

 ornamental bushes ! ! My friend begged to decline the 

 proposed honour, and no doubt was held up to the 

 " execration of all true anglers " at the next club 

 dinner ! 



There is one great feature of fishing — that it seems 

 still to enthral its votaries, after increasing old age has 

 caused other pursuits to be relinquished. Eyesight may 

 have considerably failed, obliging a man to give up 

 shooting, but even if he cannot see a trout rise, as of 

 yore, he can still sit in a boat and derive pleasure from 

 catching fish with a spinning-bait, or the more homely 

 float-tackle and worm. An old friend in Ireland, Mr. 

 Eeynell — the brother of the popular Sam Eeynell, of 

 Meath fame — used to be rowed in his boat, on Lough 

 Derravaragh, when past the age of eighty, from the first 

 day of the fishing season until its close, and never missed 

 a day if he could help it. He enjoyed the excitement 

 of catching the great lake trout, pike, and perch, which 

 he caught trolling, with all the zest of his younger days. 

 I met another old friend one boisterous day, fly-rod in 

 hand, on the banks of the Derwent in Yorkshire. When 

 I expressed surprise at finding him out in such cold, harsh 

 weather, he replied, " I don't think I shall take any harm. 

 It is my birthday next week, and then I shall be seventy- 

 four. I shall not be able to go on much longer, so I never 



