FISHER OF FISH

KINGSLEY (Rev. CHARLES, 1819-1875, poet, novelist and writer) AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, extolling the benefits of fishing ('...No one can sympathize better than I with the enjoyments of fishing. One is led through those parts of the country which are at once most peaceful & most beautiful; & often see beauties w[hic]h no road-traveller is aware of, while there is just excitement & expectation enough in the sport to keep one alive, without being fatigued...'), expressing the wish that his correspondent (unnamed) lived closer to Eversley so that he could try the excellent fishing there and discussing the fishing near York Town, particularly the stream above Blackwater Bridge ('...There are now a few very large trout -- about which, in a poaching neighbourhood, one does not talk too much...') in the portion of the stream owned by Mr Lockwood of Hawley ('...A day with the minnow or large flies...might repay you with a brace of three pound fish...'), 3 pages, octavo, Eversley, 21 April 1858

Kingsley was a devoted fisherman and found no conflict in combining it with his religious duties --in ?1851 he wrote to his friend and fellow fisherman Thomas Hughes -- 'Up at five to see a dying man...was from 5.30 to 6.30 with the most dreadful case of agony -- insensible to me, but not to his pain. Came home, got a wash and pipe, and away to him at eight...Prayed the commendatory prayers over him, and started for the river with West. Fished all morning in a roaring N.E. gale, with the dreadful agonized face between me and the river, pondering on the mystery. Killed eight on "March brown"...Came off the water at 3.30...Found my man alive, and thank God quiet...the very incongruity keeps one beany and jolly...' (M.F. Thorp, Charles Kingsley, 1937 and Letters and Memories, edited by his wife, 2 volumes, 1877). The portrait of Kingley by Lowes Dickinson dated 1862 in the National Portrait Gallery shows Kingsley's fishing rod leaning in a window at Eversley. Water ('the mother of all things'), rivers and water sports were major sources of inspiration for Kingsley, including specifically 'Fishing Song.'

£550