6 ANGLING 



Nor are there any good grounds for complaining that 

 other nations have been slow or dull scholars in taking 

 advantage of our zealous labours and instructions. 

 Within the last forty years, since the intercourse with 

 our Continental neighbours has been upon the most 

 intimate and visiting footing, there has been a very 

 marked improvement, not only as it relates to the 

 practising of rod-fishing itself, in all its various forms, 

 but likewise in the spirit in which the amusement is 

 followed, and the literary taste evinced in describing and 

 treating it. 



In Belgium and the Ehenish provinces generally, we 

 have at this hour angling clubs in almost every locality 

 contiguous to where there are eligible fishing-streams, 

 all conducted upon the same principles, and influenced 

 by the generally prevailing sporting sentiments which 

 regulate similar institutions in our own country. 

 Here a free and gentlemanly intercourse takes place 

 among the brethren of the angle ; fishing exploits and 

 adventures are rehearsed over for the common amuse- 

 ment of the members ; and we have had, of late years, 

 some specimens of the poetic efforts made to grace the 

 meetings of this order with something of the sentimental 

 and humorous vein. 



In every department of France there has likewise 

 been, since the close of the last general war, a great 

 increase in the number of rod-fishers. The English 

 modes of angling, especially for trout, have obtained 

 considerable attention, and in some of the finest river- 

 fishing districts are now commonly in vogue among all 

 amateur or professed piscatorians. Many books on the 

 art have also issued from the Paris and provincial 

 presses, containing much useful information, and written 

 in a truly genial and literary spirit ; and, on the whole, 

 there has been a very great change in reference to the 

 extension of this outdoor species of amusement among 

 all classes of the people. 



In Italy, Switzerland, and even in Spain, there has 

 been a considerable augmentation of piscatorians within 

 the last century. Some of the rivers in these countries 



