142 TROUT FISHING 



Is it only a poet's license to assume 

 that all sentient beings may be subject 

 to the same stimulating influence ? No : 

 it is to the weather of spring in England 

 that English woodlands and English 

 meadows and English maids owe their 

 unrivalled beauty. If we protected our- 

 selves and our country from the trying 

 temperatures of its winter solstice, by 

 enclosing these islands in a huge glass 

 case which any trans -Atlantic inventor 

 could easily construct, our women would 

 be no more comely than those of St. 

 Petersburg, who live in hot -houses six 

 months of the year, and our meadows 

 would be as uninspiring as the prairies. 



It has not yet been said where we 

 fished that day. The truth is that the 

 name of the stream is unknown to me. 

 In that respect one may liken oneself to a 

 certain dandy well known in Mayfair. 

 Shortly after joining the Fifth Hussars 

 he met a friend belonging to his old 

 regiment, who asked him what regiment 

 he had joined. "O, my dear fellow," 



