angler herself, yet I can quote the example of her lovely daughters to
vindicate fly fishing from the charge of cruelty, and to prove that the
most delicate and refined minds can take pleasure in this innocent
amusement.

Gay's passionate love for angling is well known; it was his principal
occupation in the summer at Amesbury; and "the late excellent John
Tobin, author of the _Honey Moon_, was an ardent angler." Among heroes,
Trajan was fond of angling. Nelson was a good fly-fisher, and continued
the pursuit even with his left hand; and, says the author, "I have known
a person who fished with him at Merton, in the Wandle. Dr. Paley was so
much attached to this amusement, that when the Bishop of Durham inquired
of him when one of his most important works would be finished, he said,
with great simplicity and good-humour, 'My lord, I shall work steadily
at it when the fly-fishing season is over.'"--Then we have a poetical
description of river scenery, till two of the party arrive at the
following conclusions:--

I have already admitted the danger of analyzing, too closely, the moral
character of any of our field sports; yet I think it cannot be doubted
that the nervous system of fish, and cold-blooded animals in general, is
less sensitive than that of warm-blooded animals. The hook usually is
fixed in the cartilaginous part of the mouth, where there are no nerves;
and a proof that the sufferings of a hooked fish cannot be great is
found in the circumstance, that though a trout has been hooked and
played for some minutes, he will often, after his escape with the
artificial fly in his mouth, take the natural fly, and feed as if
nothing had happened; having apparently learnt only from the experiment,
that the artificial fly is not proper for food. And I have caught pikes
with four or five hooks in their mouths, and tackle which they had