PREFACE
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in the verse which is indeed hid the echo of the several streams to which the angler's fancy returns. If we look deeper, we find many accurate pictures of Nature and sage reflections upon human life. Further still, and here you have the core of the matter, — a cheerful idealism, a brave spirit, a gallant determination that the world is a good one and life well worth living.
In angling verse we do not look for any great perfection of art or depth of philosophical insight. The muse of fishing is not an introspective dame: she loves the crust of things better than the kernel. Yet the poetry is not without elements of a deeper seriousness, in the shape not only of moralisings and practical philosophy, but also of a rare perception of all but forgotten truths, the primary truths of Nature and life. There is in every man, deep down in his nature, something simple and primeval, a memory of an earlier and fresher life. Hence angling and hunting, travelling and sailing on the sea, are things of an enduring interest to humankind. All do not care for literature, not many for art, few indeed