INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON ANGLING. 17 



Gat, Thompson, John Tobin, S. T. Coleridge, Pro- 

 fessor Wilson, Sir Walter Scott, and Sir Francis Chan- 

 try, were all ardent disciples of Walton; and Admiral Lord 

 Nelson was so passionately fond of the sport, that he fished 

 with his left hand a long time after he had lost his right. 



Benjamin West, who enjoyed many a day's sport with 

 Sir Humphrey Davy, was an American Painter ; and to come 

 down to our own day, Hy. Inm in, one of the best American 

 Painters living, now on a visit to Europe, divides his time 

 partly in painting the portraits of the nobles of England, and 

 partly in the noble sport of trout and salmon fishing, in the 

 beautiful lakes and rivers of Scotland. 



Daniel Webster finds relief; after a tedious winter's 

 session of Congress, in angling for salmon in the Kennebec, 

 and for trout in the various streams of Massachusetts. It is 

 said, moreover, that this distinguished statesman is quite as 

 much at home in preparing a kettle of chowder, as he is in 

 the halls of legislation at Washington; and Martin Van ^■jfc' » 



Buren is acknowledged to be equally successful in angling "S ^Ei \ 



for pickerell as in the cultivation of his beautiful farm. 



Many other names of distinguished men, who 



Oft have tried with baited hook 

 To tempt the tenant of the brook, 



could be added to this list,'to prove that angling is held in high 

 regard by all classes of people, but it is unnecessary. The 

 observant reader will draw hjs own conclusions. 



When, however, we take into consideration the extent ct 

 our country, its many beautiful streams and quiet lakes, where 

 the finny tribe abound, we will find that the number of an- 

 glers, when compared with that of England, is astonishingly 

 small. But the fact is, (and a deplorable one it is, too,) that 

 the majority of the American people are so much engaged in 

 •' getting rich," that they scarcely ever think of enjoying the 



