92 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. 



time, as he advises them "to be patient, and forbear 

 swearing, lest they be heard and catch no fish." 



I shall probably seem to be somewhat over-doing this 

 part of my subject, if I elaborate the many other " virtues" 

 which I believe characterize the fisherman, and which 

 angling tends to form and strengthen in him. Suffice it, 

 then, to say that the angler, as a rule, is marked by many 

 admirable qualities which stand him in good stead in the 

 ordinary vocations of his daily life, and that angling is 

 a nursery for these ; such as concentration, calculation, 

 and observation. It has been well said, that angling is 

 " a sport that requires as much enthusiasm as poetry, as 

 much patience as mathematics, and as much caution as 

 housebreaking;" while John Dennys credits the perfect 

 angler with every virtue that adorns the perfect Chris- 

 tian — faith, hope, charity, patience, humility, courage, 

 liberality, knowledge, peaceableness, and temperance. 

 Angling is certainly a good recipe for safe guidance, or, 

 rather, safe action in many an eventful crisis of our lives, 

 when our minds are strongly agitated. We are often on 

 the spur of the moment almost irresistibly impelled to 

 say some hasty words, to write some hasty letter, or com- 

 mit ourselves to some hasty line of action. A kind Mentor, 

 or our better and more reasonable self, says, " Sleep over 

 it" — I say, "Pish over it." 



Anglers, though I claim for them that they are humble- 

 minded men, are on good terms with themselves, as 

 indeed they ought to be. They are certainly philoso- 

 phers, whose frame of mind is much to be envied. As 

 said one of them, — 



" Sweet Nature around me ; the world's troubles far ; 

 Believe me we fishers philosophers are." 



