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Show FISHERMAN'S LUCK ling. His Chalk-Stream Studies arc clear and sparkling. They cleanse the mind and refresh the heart and put us more in love with living. Of quite a different style are the Maxims and Hints for an Angler, and Miseries of Fishing, which were written by Richard Penn, a grandson of the founder of Pennsylvania. This is a curious and rare little volume, professing to be a compilation from the "Common Place Book of the Houghton Fishing Club," and dealing with the subject from a Pickwickian point of view. I suppose that William Penn would have thought his grandson a frivolous writer. But he could not have entertained such an opinion of the Honourable Robert Doyle, of whose Occasional Reflections no less than twelve discourses treat "of Angling Improved to Spiritual Uses." The titles of some of these discourses are quaint enough to quote. "Upon the being called upon to rise early on a very fair morning." "Upon the mounting, singing, and lighting of larks." "Upon fishing with a counterfeit fly. " "Upon a d anger arising from an unseasonable contest with the 160 FISHING IN BOOKS steersman." "Upon one's drinking water out of the brim of his hat." With such good texts it is easy to endure, and easier still to spare, the sermons. Englishmen cany their love of travel into their anglimania, and many of their books describe fishing adventures in foreign parts. Rambles with a Fishing-Rod, by E. S. Roscoe, tells of happy days in the Salzkammergut and the Bavarian Highlands and Normandy. Fish-Tails and a Few Others, by Bradnock Hall, contains some delightful chapters on Norway. The Rod in India, by H. S. Thomas, narrates wonderful adventures with the Mahseer and the Rohu and other pagan fish. But, after all, I like the English angler best when he travels at home, and writes of dry-fly fishing in the Itchen or the Test, or of wet-fly fishing in Northumberland or Sutherlandshire. There is a fascinating booklet that appeared quietly, some years ago, called An Amateu1· Angler's Days in Dove Dale. It runs as easily and merrily and kindly as a little river, full of peace and pure enjoyment. Other books of the same quality have since been written by the •arne pen,- 161 |