154 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. 



Examines well his form with curious eyes, 

 His gaudy vest, his wings, his horns, his eyes ; 

 Then round his hook the chosen fur he winds, 

 And on the back a speckled feather binds : 

 So just the colours shine through every part, 

 That Nature seems to live again in Art !" 



Hear, too, another piscatory poet on fly-making — the 

 Rev. Moses Browne — mentioned in the Note on the 

 Literature of Fishing. 



" "When artful flies the angler would prepare, 

 The tack of all deserves his utmost skill ; 

 Nor verse nor prose can ever teach him well 

 What masters only know, and practice tell. 

 Yet thus at large I venture to support, 

 Nature best follow'd best secures the sport. 

 Of flies the kinds, their seasons, and their breed, 

 Their shapes, their hues, with nice observance heed ; 

 "Which most the trout admires and where obtain' d, 

 Experience best will teach you, or some friend ; 

 For several kinds must every month supply, 

 So great's his passion for variety ; 

 Nay, if new species on the streams you find, 

 Try, you'll acknowledge fortune amply kind." 



Thomson also by no means unsuccessfully poetizes the 

 art of fly-fishing : — 



" Just in the dubious point, where with the pool 

 Is mix'd the trembling stream, or where it boils 

 Around the stone, or from the hollow'd bank 

 Beverted plays in undulating flow, 

 There throw, nice judging, the delusive fly ; 

 And as you lead it round in artful curve, 

 With eye attentive mark the springing game. 

 Straight as above the surface of the flood 

 They wanton rise, or urged by hunger leap, 

 Then fix with gentle twitch the barbed hook ; 

 Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank, 



