PREFACE. Most of the sketches which make up this volume were published in the Albany Evening Journal, at long intervals, during the past three years. Their title indicates their character and purpose, namely, to set forth the "Pleasures of Angling" by detailing some of the incidents common to its pursuit. If they shall afford any pleasure to the "simple wise men" who enjoy the innocent pastime and the quiet repose which no other recreation affords in such full measure, I will not regret that they have been given a form which was not originally intended. G. D. No life, my honest scholar, no life so happy and so pleasant as the life of a well-governed angler; for when the lawyer is swallowed up with business, and the statesman is preventing or contriving plots, then we sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams, which we now see glide so quietly by us. - [Izaak Walton. Abused mortals, did you know Where joy, heart's-ease and comforts grow, You'd scorn proud towers, And seek them in these bowers, Where winds, sometimes, our woods perhaps may shake, Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us, Saving of fountains that glide by us. - [Charles Cotton. |