SEA-FISH. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
“Happy England!” exclaims Goldsmith in his 
Animated Nature, “where the sea furnishes an 
abundant and luxurious repast, and the fresh 
waters an innocent and harmless pastime.” 
Times are changed indeed! Not alone are many 
of the said inland waters fished out, others become 
private property, others again depleted by lime 
and coal-tar ; but even the sea, its harvest gathered 
without restraint by the trawl, has within the last 
twenty years been invaded by many in search of 
that same “innocent and harmless pastime,” which 
is increasingly hard to find inland at a moderate 
cost, and of which the following pages treat in 
some of its modern aspects. 
It is not easy, even for an enthusiast, to say 
anything new in praise of sea-fishing. Four 
B.S.A.S. dinners, with their accompanying orations, 
have exhausted the subject,—the healthfulness of 
the sport, its cheapness, the variety and excellence 
of the fish, and the constant charm of uncertairity 
B 
