86 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. 



he is a roughish customer sometimes to look at. He 

 means business, with his fishing-bos padded on the top 

 for a seat, his bundle of rods, and other well -selected 

 paraphernalia and impedimenta; and he does it, if the 

 Fish and the Fates are at all propitious. After his kind 

 the London angler is a true sportsman. 



One of the great charms of angling is, that of all sports it 

 affords the best opportunities of enjoying the wonders and 

 beauties of Nature ; while, at the same time, it developes 

 a love of nature, and creates a taste for the study of 

 various celestial and terrestrial phenomena. This sentence 

 may sound like an introduction to a heavy essay, the 

 writer of which is in duty bound to elaborate his theme 

 to the utmost, and not unlikely to indulge in exagge- 

 ration. I shall endeavour to avoid these errors; but I 

 must speak as I feel, and as an enthusiastic angler, and 

 I might say a believer in angling and its virtues, I do not 

 hesitate to " magnify my office." 



Whatever be the season of the year, whether the 

 angler be casting his fly on the early rivers of Devonshire, 

 mid the cold winds and storms of February and March, 

 or later on beneath the more genial skies of April 

 and May, or basking in the summer's sun on the bosom 

 of the Thames, as he is lazily indifferent whether his line 

 tempt the fish or not, or pursuing his pastime during the 

 soft autumn days, or the chill and short daylight hours 

 of winter ; whether he be strolling along the margin of 

 the swift-rushing streams of Wales and Scotland, with 

 mountain and moorland round him, or of the more gently 

 flowing rivers of the South which meander through the 

 rich water-meadows, curtained by hanging woods, or 

 angling patiently on lonely loch or by side of sedgy pool, 



