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50 art, may be said to characterize man in his highest or intellectual state; and he who fishes for Salmon and Trout with the fly, employs, not only machinery to assist his physical powers, but applies sagacity to conquer difficulties: the pleasure derived from ingenious resources and devices, as well as from active pursuit, belongs to this amusement. Then, as to its philosophical tendency, it is a pursuit of moral discipline, requiring patience, forbearance, and command of temper. As connected with natural science, it may be vaunted as demanding a knowledge of the habits of a considerable tribe of created beings,—fishes and the animals they prey upon,—and an acquaintance with the signs and tokens of the weather and its changes,—and of the nature of waters and of the atmosphere.

"As to its poetical relations, it carries us into the most wild and beautiful scenery of nature; amongst the mountain-lakes, and the clear and lovely streams that gush from the higher ranges of elevated hills. How delightful is the early spring, after the dull and tedious time of winter, when the frosts disappear, and the sunshine warms the earth and waters, to wander forth by some clear stream, to see the leaf bursting from the purple bud, to scent the odours of the bank perfumed by the violet, and, enamelled, as it were, with the primrose and the daisy. To wander upon the fresh turf below the shade of trees, whose bright blossoms are filled with the music of the bee, and on the surface of the waters to view the gaudy flies sparkling like animated gems in the sunbeams, whilst the bright and beautiful Trout is watching for them below; to