igS ANGLING 



bringing back with him a stock of ideas which he never 

 had before. Indeed, we scarcely believe there could be 

 such a specimen of humanity in the country, who could 

 be proof against the influence of such external objects 

 of grandeur and beauty as here surround him on every 

 side. 



The only sure mode, however, by which we shall be 

 able to reap the full benefit from such an angling tour 

 as we now recommend and point out, is to travel as 

 much as possible on foot. Nearly every principal 

 section of this Lake District is now approachable by 

 railway, and this is a great convenience; but the rod- 

 fisher should only make it a means to an end. If he 

 wishes to do any good in the way of his amusement, he 

 must leave the beaten tracks of mere visitors and 

 loungers, and betake himself to wild and distant 

 sections of the country, where he may possibly wander 

 by a riverside for a whole day and never see a human 

 being. This is the kind of rod-fishing which is really 

 delightful and improving, inasmuch as it is not only 

 conducive to health, but it awakens and sustains the 

 dormant powers of inward reflection, which are too apt 

 to become deadened by the long and continued tension 

 of a town life. Angling should invariably be considered 

 only as a means to an end ; that end the improvement 

 of the man, mentally and physically. It is beautifully 

 and eloquently said by an author, who travelled over 

 this tract of country nearly a century ago, " If travellers 

 and anglers would frequent this country, with a view 

 to examine its grandeur and beauty, or to explore its 

 varied and curious regions with the eye of philosophy ; 

 or to adore the Creator in His sublimer works; if in 

 their passage through it, they could be content with 

 such fare as the country produces; if, instead of cor- 

 rupting the manners of an innocent people, they would 

 learn to amend their own, by observing in how narrow 

 a compass the wants of human life may be compressed ; 

 a journey, either with or without a rod, through these 

 wild scenes, might be attended with more improvement 

 to the traveller, than the tour of Europe." 



