FISHING AS A SPOUT. 81 



Guide to Scotland, and himself one of the most accom- 

 plished fishermen north of the Tweed. The Norway 

 waters are familiar to them ; they have landed monsters 

 from the salmon-haunted rivers of Eastern and Western 

 America, and by way of a new sensation now betake them- 

 selves to the bright waters flowing from the Himalayas, to 

 struggle with the gigantic and plucky Mahseer. Among 

 the more humble fishermen are all sorts and conditions of 

 men; the comely gentleman, the professional man, the 

 artist, the lawyer, the physician, the divine, the " city 

 man," the artisan. I know among the most devoted 

 of anglers a celebrated modern artist, one of the most 

 eminent surgeons of the day, a distinguished "Officer 

 of Health," an eminent East-end undertaker, a scientific 

 master sweep, and a most learned examiner for the 

 Civil Service whose greatest delight after "marking 

 papers" is to get away to the banks of a trout 

 stream. Not a few modern statesmen have been vo- 

 taries of the rod and line, among whom I may mention 

 M. de Salvandy, a member of the Cabinet in the reign of 

 Louis Philippe, who would day after day escape from his 

 official residence at the Ministry of Public Instruction to 

 indulge in his favourite sport of gudgeon-fishing at a 

 well-known spot under the Ponte de la Concorde. I 

 cannot indeed understand from his character how Mr. 

 John Bright is one of the most enthusiastic anglers 

 of the day, any more than I can imagine that Mr. 

 Gladstone is likely to become one ; but the fact remains 

 that the honourable member for Birmingham is one 

 of the fraternity. Daniel Webster, President of the 

 United States, was an angler to the backbone, as his 

 Angler's Tour, a fine piece of literary composition, bears 



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