SERPENTINE ANGLERS AND MAGAZINE WITS. THESE long-continued rains will probably
put a stop for the sea- son to the field-sports of an amiable and inoffensive portion of the citizens. The parties alluded to may be seen daily during the sum- mer on the banks of the Serpentine, at the Hampstead ponds, and some other rural retreats of the same kind. There—standing, or seated on the grass, or sometimes on a chair—they remain the live- long day, moticnless as WORDSWORTH'S leech-gatherer, looking at a float in the water suspended by a string from a taper rod held in their bands. Sometimes one or two very little fishes are the reward of a long day's waiting ; and therewith wend they their ways home- ward, contented and happy. This gentle race somewhat resemble the writers in Magazines, who sit absorbed amid the bustle and stirring interests of the Metropolis, fishing all day for jokes, and catching only a few very small ones. There is this difference in favour of the frequenters of the Serpentine, that they do not ob- trude themselves on others and insist upon being admired.
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