70 By Stream and Sea. 



distribute your finest fish — a brace to this lady, two brace to 

 that gentleman, and so on. As you unwind the cast from 

 your hat and fasten it neatly to the line, you have the flush 

 of victory on your noble brow. And you deliver your first 

 cast. 



Hem ! But the link, of course, requires preliminary 

 moistening, and the hand a little practice, before the cast 

 will fall with that delicacy and precision essential to success- 

 ful fly-fishing. Therefore you try again ; once more ; again; 

 seven times, ay, and seventy times seven; but the adult 

 trout in the eddy winks at you — if that stately wave of the 

 tail is 'the way in which fish wink — and never turns aside at 

 the tempter. Do your best by all means, but you by-and-by 

 begin to suspect that a smaller creel would have answered 

 just as well, and that the lovely Mrs. R. and the hospitable 

 Mr. K. will have no need to write and thank you for those 

 delicious trout. 



Ask any Wandle fisherman whether this is not a fair 

 picture of his earlier experiences by that delightful Surrey 

 stream. It, alas ! too often by half tells the story of visits 

 to other rivers; but it has a peculiar application to the 

 Wandle, until you know the mental and moral character of 

 its trout. 



Roughly speaking, the Wandle has its origin near 

 Croydon. So much you may learn from any geography 

 book that condescends to notice so juvenile a member of 

 the world's river family; perhaps the last paragraph, as a 

 sort of afterthought, following the custom of severely 

 abbreviated treatises, will let you into the secret that " this 

 river was anciently called the Vandle ; " as I daresay it was. 



As to its precise origin, I should not like to be bound to 

 place my foot upon the exact spot ; not so much because a 

 boot-full of water is a thing to be as a rule avoided, as 



