282 ANGLING 



be too tight-laced on these matters. When they once 

 go over, they afford topics of interest to the mind, and 

 give it the gentle shaking which improves both its 

 strength and elasticity. My notice of this tour must 

 necessarily be very limited. I was full two months 

 with rod in hand almost every day ; and one day's sport 

 and scenery is so like another, that to give an account 

 of everything as it really occurred would be both 

 unprofitable and wearisome. I shall therefore just dot 

 down a few things, without any appearance of plan or 

 method. 



" In the upper streams of the Vilaine, minnow-fishing 

 takes well. At least, this is in accordance with my own 

 experience. There are large deep holes, and the streams 

 are of such a character as to be in favour of this mode 

 of angling. I did fish with fly here, but from the 

 nature of the water I do not conceive this to be the best 

 bait in the early portion of the season. 



" I went a few miles up the streams of one of the 

 tributaries of the main river, called the Seiche. The 

 scenery was wild and rather barren, but the fishing 

 was tolerable. What I caught here were but small 

 trout, such as we often obtain from some of the minor 

 rivers in Scotland. I touched likewise at another of the 

 feeders of the Vilaine, called the Senone, and here too I 

 found the fish small, but numerous. The water was 

 remarkably limpid, and it required the finest tackle and 

 smallest flies to do any good in it. 



" As we descend the parent stream, it becomes better 

 adapted for fly, and the fish become larger, and even 

 richer in flavour. I ran a short distance up the Chere, 

 which falls into the Vilaine, bxit I was so much 

 embarrassed with short brushwood, and other obstacles, 

 that I soon made a retreat. The other feeders are the 

 Lie, Ars, and the Don, in all of which plenty of sport 

 may be obtained both with fly and with bait. There 

 are many beautiful stretches of water in all these rivers, 

 which please the angler's eye, and give a sure presage 

 of his obtaining some success." 



Many British anglers make Paris their chief point of 



