lo ANGLING 



the pleasant spirit of narrative, and inherent evidences of that 

 mastership of subject which always inspires the reader with 

 confidence. It will be noticed throughout that he seldom 

 misses a legitimate point. In most angling books it is the 

 custom to set out references to the Scriptural allusions to angling, 

 to the knowledge which existed of fish-catching by hook and 

 line in the old empires ; but Blakey lays himself out to work up 

 every scrap of material bearing upon what he terms ' ' the state 

 of the angling art amongst the Anglo-Saxon tribes who first 

 settled in this country," as throwing a light upon "the origin 

 of this striking predilection for the sport." How much there is 

 of legend and how much of fact in the dialogues of Elfric, each 

 reader must determine for himself. It will be observed that 

 the fisherman, in his confessions, throws in hook, bait, and rod, 

 and is definite in the statement that he fishes in the river, as a 

 rule. The question will naturally arise to the student of these 

 latter days, how haddocks and skate could by any possibility get 

 amongst the eels, minnows, and lampreys, of the fresh-water 

 streams. The explanation probably is that the entire reference 

 was to estuary-fishing, and the haddocks and minnows may be 

 taken in this connection as figurative. 



This work, it must be remembered, was written nearly fifty 

 years ago, and it should not fail to be remarked that the author, 

 who had lived on the Continent, speaks of angling clubs in the 

 Belgian and Rhenish provinces in almost every locality of 

 eligible fishing-streams. The same remark is made of France. 

 We must not therefore too readily pride ourselves upon being the 

 earliest to establish angling clubs ; certainly at that time there 

 were very few practical angling societies in this country by 

 comparison with the hundreds which exist at the present day. 



It is very edifying to read of the free and gentlemanly intercourse 

 among the brethren of the angle, and of tlie sporting sentiments 

 which prevailed ; but, roughly speaking, it may be taken as a 

 general fact that in the present day there is more pot-hunting 

 on the open streams of the Continent than devotion to the canons 

 of high-class angling. There are, of course, trout and other 

 streams preserved by wealthy anglers abroad as well as at home, 

 upon which the orthodox practices of sport are followed, but 

 very often the brethren of the Continent have their own ways, 

 which are not exactly those of the English Waltonian. The 

 latter, for example, is accustomed to put the fish which he catches 

 into his own basket and dispose of them as he likes ; therefore 

 he never takes kindly to the Continental custom of giving up 

 his fish to be preserved alive for despatch to market or for use 

 in hotels. Denmark is mentioned amongst the European 

 countries where the British mode of angling liad been followed 

 with enthusiasm, but it must not be considered an angling 

 country in the same sense as Norway, Finland, Sweden, France, 

 Belgium, Germany, or Austria. 



The angling capabilities of the United States were apparently 



