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
broken only a few minutes before; and the hooks seemed to have had no
other effect than that of serving as a sort of _sauce piquante_, urging
them to seize another morsel of the same kind.--The advocates for a
favourite pursuit never want sophisms to defend it. I have even heard it
asserted, that a hare enjoys being hunted. Yet I will allow that
fly-fishing, after your vindication, appears amongst the least cruel of
field sports.

We must, however, confine ourselves to a few colloquial extracts from
the _practical_ portion of the volume; as

_Flies on the Wandle, &c._

_Orn._--Surely the May-fly season is not the only season for day-fishing
in this river? [the Wandle.]--_Hal._ Certainly not. There are as many
fish to be taken, perhaps, in the spring fishing; but in this deep river
they are seldom in good season till the May-fly has been on, and a
fortnight hence they will be still better than even now. In September
there may be good fish taken here; but the autumnal flies are less
plentiful in this river than the spring flies--_Phys_, Pray tell me what
are the species of fly which take in these two seasons.--_Hal_. You know
that trout spawn or deposit their ova, &c. in the end of the autumn or
beginning of winter, from the middle of November till the beginning of
January, their maturity depending upon the temperature of the season,
their quantity of food, &c. They are at least six weeks or two months
after they have spawned before they recover their flesh; and