These personages are of course imaginary, though the sentiments attributed to them, the Author may sometimes have gained from recollections of real conversations with friends, from whose society much of the happiness of his early life has been derived; and in the portrait of the character of Halieus, given in the last dialogue, a likeness, he thinks, will not fail to be recognized to that of the character of a most estimable Physician, ardently beloved by his friends, and esteemed and venerated by the public.
He has limited his description of fish to the varieties of the Salmo most usual in the fresh waters of Europe, and which may be defined as a genus having eight fins, the one above the tail fleshy, and without spines.
It is to be hoped M. Cuvier’s new work on fishes will supply accurate information on this genus, which is still very imperfectly known.
Laybach, Illyria,
Sep. 30, 1828.
CONTENTS.
FIRST DAY.
Vindication of fly-fishing—Poem in praise of Walton—Distinguished anglers—Fishing, a natural, philosophical, and scientific pursuit—Scenery—Fish possessed of little sensibility—Praise of fly-fishing—Field-sports related to natural history—Proposed fishing excursion—Comparison of a river to human life
Page [13-29]
SECOND DAY.