He was much noticed too by gentlemen sportsmen of
the neighborhood, had taught several of them the art of angling,
and was a privileged visitor to their kitchens. The whole tenor
of his life was quiet and inoffensive, being principally passed
about the neighboring streams when the weather and season were
favorable; and at other times he employed himself at home,
preparing his fishing-tackle for the next campaign or
manufacturing rods, nets, and flies for his patrons and pupils
among the gentry.
He was a regular attendant at church on Sundays, though he
generally fell asleep during the sermon. He had made it his
particular request that when he died he should be buried in a
green spot which he could see from his seat in church, and which
he had marked out ever since he was a boy, and had thought of
when far from home on the raging sea in danger of being food for
the fishes: it was the spot where his father and mother had been
buried.
I have done, for I fear that my reader is growing weary, but I
could not refrain from drawing the picture of this worthy
"brother of the angle," who has made me more than ever in love
with the theory, though I fear I shall never be adroit in the
practice, of his art; and I will conclude this rambling sketch in
the words of honest Izaak Walton, by craving the blessing of St.
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