BY DICTIONARIES, AND JUDGES 47 
laid in a private river two fishing lines; one end of the lines 
attached to two pieces of wood driven into the ground made 
fast the lines, the other end held hooks baited with worms, 
and a stone to keep the lines under water. ‘‘ The lines were 
left by the men, who subsequently were found taking two fish 
off the hooks, and resetting the lines, of which the keepers 
deprived them. The charge (under s. 24 of the Larceny Act 
of 1861) ran of unlawfully, etc., taking fish otherwise than by 
angling. The Justices of Bangor refused to commit, on the 
ground that they were angling, and thus under the Act were 
protected from damages or penalty for such angling.” 
On appeal both sides cited Izaak Walton and other authors ; 
both quoted the N.E.D.—the appellant its definition of 
‘ Angling,’ 7.e. fishing with a rod, and the respondent that of 
“ Angle’ (vb.), ¢.e. to fish with hook and bait. 
The three Judges, judge-like, disagreed in their reasons 
but agreed in allowing the appeal, and disagreeing in their 
conceptions of angling agreed in abstaining from any definition. 
“In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed is king.”’ Mr. 
Justice Phillimore was the least non-positive. He even 
committed himself to the following: “He did not think that 
a rod must necessarily be part of an angler’s outfit, but only a 
hook and line. He thought the human element must be present, 
and that it was not sufficient when the tackle was set once and 
for all, and then left.”’ 
It is obvious from the above that, while the dictionaries are 
but blind guides, the Law (if on this occasion not exactly ‘“‘a 
hass ”’) fails to elucidate what exactly constitutes Angling. 
Dr. Henry van Dyke, the author of Little Rivers and other 
fascinating books connected with fishing, suggests to me 
“ Angling, the art of fishing by hand with a hook and line, 
with or without a rod.”” I much prefer this to that of N.E£.D., 
because of its greater accuracy and of its inclusion of that 
really skilful method, hand-lining. But for general convenience 
I adopt as the definition of Angling ‘‘ The action, or art, of fishing 
with a Rod.” 
My Fishing from the Earliest Times treats of the Old 
Stone Men, Egyptians, Assyrians, Chinese, Jews, Greeks, and 
