A GREAT FISH AND A GREATER FISHERMAN 21 
he also felt sure that it was the same fish. So it 
would appear that the victory of the great fish 
was after all shortlived, and that he was probably 
captured by a far greater fisherman than any mere 
mortal man — let alone my humble self. 
It is a very interesting fact that in the week 
before that in which I was fishing, among the 
salmon which were killed on the neighbouring 
beats were three, each of which weighed slightly 
over 41 lb. It seems not unlikely, therefore, 
that my fish may have run up from the sea in 
the company of these splendid fish, and have 
been much the same weight as they were. 
Notwithstanding my great disappointment I 
heartily agree with the words of Arthur Hugh 
Clough in Peschiera : ^ 
'T is better to have fought and lost, 
Than never to have fought at all. 
On describing my battle to an old friend, who 
is himself no fisherman, but a great sportsman, 
^ It is singular that this poem was written and pubUshed in 1849, 
and that Tennyson's In Memoriam, which contained the famous Unes : 
" 'T is better to have loved and lost. 
Than never to have loved at all," 
was written in 183-i but not published until 1850, and then anonymously. 
This is surely very remarkable, for it is impossible to believe that a man 
of the high and noble character of Clough would have consciously 
plagiarised any other poet. 
