CHAPTER XXII. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



We cannot omit inserting the following elegant and appro- 

 priate defence of our art, from the aspersions cast upon it by 

 a great man, by a mild and enthusiastic amateur, who occa- 

 sionally seeks enjoyment, from the cares and vexations of 

 business, in more pleasant pursuits. 



" The great and learned Dr. Johnson satirically described 

 angling thus : ' A stick and a string, with a worm at one end 

 and a fool at the other.' Dr. Johnson never sat in a boat, 

 surrounded by a beautiful landscape, playing a basse of three, 

 four, or five pounds ; nor stood on the green bank, contend- 

 ing with a trout of like weight ; nor struck an Oswego basse, 

 one hundred feet astern of his trolling boat, in Lake George, 

 or he would never have penned such a severe though stupid 

 satire. There is no recreation so admirably adapted to re- 

 cruit the body and mind of the toiling citizen, as angling. 

 Breaking away from his confining and exhausting toil in the 

 counting-house, office, or workshop, leaving all care behind, 



