Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-04-11
LITERARY.

full volume, that a work so universally popular
has not been before repubished in this country.
II apueared. if we mistake not, at least eighteen
months since in England. Salm0nia, from which,
IN our occasional selections, we have repeatedly
extracted passages. is a little work whose cOmpo-
sition formed the recreation Of the latter days OF
Sir Humphrey Davy, when increasing Ill health
prevented the philosopher from pursuing his Gus
tomarv scientific avocations. 1t processes to be
a treatise on angling, but is written in so d'scur-
sive stvle, that while that sport constitutes the
pripcipai subject Of the book, many other de-
nsrtments Of human knowledge are taxed, In IL
Illustrating its practice. -,
The disciples OF old Isaac Walton are chiefly
catered for, but their treat is one in whose enjoy
ment thew are by no means exclusive; tor the
book so abounds in scientific observations. poet.
&c descriptions, and interesting anecdote. that,
like that Yankee dish yclept cho,rder, it the
whole mixture is not palatable to the sportsman
obliged so make meal on it, he is at least GER
tain, in the infinite variety Of materials which
compose it, to lind some mOrsel that VIII relish
The work is written in the dialogue form, and the
character Of faithful angler is kept up through.
out all the philosophizlng Of the principal person
who speaks; though doubt whether amateur
fishermen are much in the habit OF 50 conversing.
sonaye, and when at his sport eschews converse
ton as devoutly as whist player; while he often
amply makes up for the hours thus past in ST.
Ience, b, fighting over his pscatory battles, when
ever he can secure good listener. And indeed,
a is something worth talking about, when man
can number among his angling feats. the Ringing
twenty wards of line with such accuracy as to
strike trout on his eye-teeth, or kill hundred
of those leopards of the brook, that shall average
a pound each in a mornings fishing. The ancient
avenues TO distinction are all pre-occnpied The
hero business is overdone. and poets are drug
in the market: while painting and sculpture
won't nav, and it's idle to think of executing
something rare in the way of a steamboat. while
the Stevens have a monopoly Of ingenuity; SO
that il only remains for genius to assert its pre-
eminence over vulgar minds by either fishing or
fdling, in which walks of art it has only an lsa-
&C Walton or Paginini for rivals. How many
yesty and turbulent spirits would the world get
rid Of. would but these aspiring people lncont-
uently betake themselves to trout hshlng. 1t Is
q capita leuitiye for undue excitement. Byron,
indeed. calls angling "a solitary vices aud go
il NAV De libelled, If to sit with drop-ne in an
omen boat a, summer noontide, or bob Tor cells in
a muddy stream AT nightiail; but this is not trout
fishing. Is il not the diversion of a pOot to dart
along some living brook in light canoe, impeled
and guided by his single paddle-at one moment
shooting under the interlacing branches Of alder,
and al another, STUNNING the smooth surface Of
the sheltered lagoon into which the stream sud-
denly widens; now dropping his line into the
quiet pool beneath the root of spreading elm,
and again Hnging it into the wave that ripples
around the stone near which his scaly prey IS
lurking. With what a strange intensity do all
sounds with which the woods are TILED, fall on
the ear when so engaged! Not only the drum
ming of the partridge, the uncouth cry OF the
jay, and The Querulous note OF the h'shho'e' as
he digs cot his dinner Of grubs from an old stump;
but the innumerable noises winch even al noon
da, appear to teen out from every object around
You, and which. without conveying any distinct
impression to the ear, seem, as Vt were, to make
silence audible. The insect race generally. and
possibly even the ephemere-who are born, 1--we
and die. while we are pausiug to watch the world
fall on which their fate is cast. the leaf from
whose narrow regions they never travei-may in
their unimaginabe numbers produce this sound;
which. feeble as l. is. seen to tell Of an invisible
world rife with an animated creation around US.
Robert Montgomery This young and be-
plauded writer, who had made the universe. hea-
ven, hell. and strange variety OF known and un-
known things OeSluP, tue suoJeSts VI MS "uses
is not only very mediocre spirit. but an excess
siveIy VAIN one. H. has been Aattered BY some
of the London puff papers into most complain
SAINT confidence in his own powers, as we may
infer from the following verse. written BY HIM
self. under his own picture. We have scarcely
on record such another instance Of profound ego
tism.
Ardent enthusiastic, gentle. wild.
Too soon a man, and vet too late chd
Beloved BY sumo. misunderstood by more,
Aud rich in talents, though in fortune poor
Speaking Of his animal man, Fraser. from whose
Magazine the above verse is taken. says that there
is much in the mise of Montgomery that announces
the poet He swings on chair in the see-saw
fashion of his verse, and his throat is uncravated
in the anti-neckcloth fashion OF Lord Byron. As
be is a religious bard. his hands are clasped in
adors,;ou of the picture he is worshipping, ar. as
10 thar picture itself, directed to his ear, in order
N mint out TO notice that he has one. which the
readers Of his verse would De inclined to doubt.
Hair and whiskers are as tim as becomes so oily
4. ,s..s,er. anil the whole figure speaks the IA