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ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/anglingreminisceOOstodrich
PREFACE.
These Sketches aspire to little more than a delinea-
tion of such occurrences as are naturally met with
by lovers of the gentle craft. They are endued by
the author with a colloquial form and texture, chiefly
because he is of opinion that, so habited, they accord
better with the spirit of the subject to which they
refer. Had it been otherwise, he should not have
obtruded upon a mode of composition already pre-
occupied by the patriarch Walton, Sir Humphrey
Davy, and others. Further apology, however, he
deems unnecessary, as he is not aware, throughout
the following chapters, of having laid himself open
to any censure as a plagiarist.
The dramatis personce of his dialogue are, it may
be stated, generally fictitious, although, as in most
works of a similar nature, not altogether without
their originals. It merits, however, no enquiry who
these are, and the author disclaims all intention of
throwing any light upon the subject.
ivi844795
6 PREFACE.
To lovers of stream-side scenery, it has been
attempted to render this volume acceptable, without
the introduction of local details and methodical sur-
veys. The design of the writer to embody certain
Angling Reminiscences would be very inefficiently
accomplished, were he to occupy the area of this
small work with matters such as these. Accordingly,
he has refrained from doing so as much as possible,
without, it is to be hoped, impairing any of the
interest which a friendly reader might otherwise have
discovered in the following chapters.
PUBLISHERS' NOTE TO THE PRESENT
EDITION.
[This work, published in 1837, and since then
become extremely scarce, is not to be confounded
with either of the other two angling works by the
same author. The present one is an entirely separate
and distinct work. One of the other productions was
published before this, and the other after it.]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY, . . . .
CHAPTER II.
THE RIVER-SIDE, 33
CHAPTER III.
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER, . . 47
CHAPTER IV.
ROOM IN THE INN, 65
CHAPTER V.
INTERIOR OF A POOL ON THE RIVER, . 92
CHAPTER VI.
WANDLE-WEIR AND HERON-BILL, . . 98
^ CHAPTER VIL
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS, . 105
8 CONTENTS.
PAGR
CHAPTER VIII.
ANGLING TOUR TO THE NORTH-WEST
HIGHLANDS, .125
CHAPTER IX.
CARRON, ROSS-SHIRE, 142
CHAPTER X.
ADVENTURES, . 150
CHAPTER XI.
CLOSE OF THE SEASON — NOVEMBER-
FISHING WITH SALMON-ROE, . . 169
CHAPTER XII.
SCENE, A CHURCH-YARD, .... 174
CHAPTER XIII.
FAREWELL FEAST OF THE ANGLING
CLUB, 183
CHAPTER XIV.
THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF WANDLE-WEIR
AND HERL-BROKE, 224
CONCLUSION, . ... . . .235
Angling Reminiscences.
CHAPTEK I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Our venerable fraternity is at length dissolved ! 'Tis
strange, yet true. What fault had nature to find
with us, save that we had lived our time ? There
was no unhealthiness or defection in our members —
no pinings or frailties. We were, in heart, purpose,
and intent, compact as ever. Alas ! how freakish is
fortune, leading us into treasons after . happiness, and
upsetting them with her finger-touch ! The Angling
Club at C h is dissolved ! All its kind-humoured
contentions and merry assemblings, the schemes con-
certed for its longevity, ay, and the friendships it was
wont to form, are out of being ! One might naturally
expect a reason for this breaking-up of interests. If
lo ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
there were any, we never could discover it. It lay
too deep in philosophy for our line and plummet.
" 'Tis wiser oft
To leave the sources of our ills unprobed."
The Angling Club at C h ! we are entitled to
talk of it. It was formed originally under the auspices
of our own great-grandfather. The armchair, in which
sat our president, was once his. After the old man's
death, it was conveyed to our hall, and stood on a sort
of low throne at one end of the apartment, surrounded
with various implements belonging to our craft — rods,
panniers, fishing-spears, &c.
Pardon, reader, a long digression. We have a
natural wish to say something of the ponderous arm-
chair and its revered possessor. How rich in associa-
tions was that worm-eaten piece of furniture ! Its
quaint devices, carved in sable wood, proclaimed it
the masterpiece of some mouldered artizan, three
centuries ago ; the cushion of crimson velvet, worn
and faded; its lofty Gothic architecture, with gilded
figures, Cupids and cherubim — all connected its history
with the days of old.
Alas 1 the solemn heir-loom is no more ! It fell
by degrees from the hands of our club into those of a
private individual, and at length settled itself for three
long years in the back warehouse of a common pawn-
broker. There we detected, but did not purchase it.
No ! it was already profaned by the desecrating gaze
of the many — the auctioneer had placed his unliallowed
INTRODUCTORY. ii
hands upon the once-honoured relic. The heir-loom
of our club is indeed no more. We made enquiries
after its fate, and found that the crazy fabric had given
way under the sirlom of a bloated magistrate. Fire,
the devourer, has in all probability consumed the craft
of its ponderous framework — the massive limbs, with
their relief of gorgeous imagery.
But the old, thin-haired man, its occupant, have we
forgotten him ? Not so. Well we recollect the spare
bending figure of our Saturn — the visage with its
lustreless eyeballs, wrinkled cheek, and thin, sharp
nose. Well we recollect the lofty, solemn forehead,
which Time had reverenced. It was a feature of much
dignity in our aged ancestor, and contrasted strongly
with the other sunken and altered pertinents of his coun-
tenance. The freshness of youth, which had deserted
them, remained with it. Care, whose witchcraft tells
sadly upon the brows of some men, laurelled though
these be, across his had laid not a finger. That fore-
head ! We speculate upon it even to this day. It
was a portion of the genius of the past. Under its
shell had been organized the fabrics of a master
intellect ; fancy and reason had laboured at the forge
below its cavern. But it was of the past 1 The
argument was over — the effect had perished with its
cause. It was of the past ! The subtle thought — the
splendid conception — the wit, eloquence, and poetry,
were each of the past !
Our great-grandfather had been what is termed a
12 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
remarkable man, but by an omission on the part of
his contemporaries, and perhaps through his own in-
difference, the comments upon his history are exceed-
ingly rare. He must, however, we feel inwardly
satisfied, besides a worthy angler, have been a great
man, although neither wealth nor titles formed part of
his acquirements. The inference is drawn by us, we
know not from what quarter ; it may be, indeed, that
the old arm-chair had some hand in eliciting it. This,
notwithstanding, is certain, that great as our ancestor
had been, he had met with very uncharitable treatment
from the world ; for, although reputedly a voluminous
author, we had never the good fortune to stumble upon
more than a single tract, Dc Fluminibus Scoticis,
avowedly of his composition, and only once found we
mention of his name in a very old newspaper, as the
inventor of a wonderful salmon fly. The insignificance
of these discoveries nettled us not a little, but we con-
soled ourselves by the recollection, that the worthiest
frequently pass without reward, and that the humours
of critics are ofttimes lamentably touchy and capricious.
Our great-grandfather was still in our eyes a prodigy,
obscured by a cloud in its zenith, but revealed on its
horizon, ere it set, to a few privileged consecrated
gazers.
Thy second infancy, old man ! was to us a solemn
lesson from Nature's volume — an instructive me-
mento reared up in our presence, to check the exu-
berance of our early follies, and bedim the dazzling
INTRODUCTORY. 13
visions of our boyish enthusiasm. Tenant of the
ancient chair ! tliou art before us, fixed thereto like
a carved allegory ; — thy shrunken limbs swathed in
rinds of flannel to ward off the chilling frosts, with
which, from the hand of Time, old age is assailed !
Vain precaution ! strengthless defence ! thou shiver-
est even at thy fireside ; the tale of thy heart is al-
most at a close ; its passions are over ; the pulse
throbs slowly away. Thy mind wanders, old man !
Conning over the archives of its eventful history,
thou talkest like a dreamer. What connection have
these, disjointed thoughts with the business of to-
day ? They loiter far behind it, and are dark as
prophecy. Yet, in reverence to the tones of the
dying oracle, we listen, our own interpreter. Dote
not they to thy children's children, entering into
their hearts like counsel from a gravestone ?
Our ancestor was beyond, in age, his garrulous
and whimsy days — his prate, the prate of four-
score, had ceased. He was a century old, and the
very wishes of humanity were cancelled from his
heart. All the obstinacy of a polemic temperament
lay subdued within him — he had become like a
willow in the hand of nature. Had we placed him
in his coffin, he would scarcely have discovered it ;
])ut as yet, he looked more to advantage in the
old massive arm-chair; it suited him like a part of
his own wardrobe. The long, blue, silk dressing-
gown, contrasted well with its crimson velvet,
14 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
and the small pendant cap which confined his scanty
locks was self and same with the latter material.
Our great-grandfather did not live on air. He
required to be fed, and sometimes we marvelled at
the appetite of the old man ; he ate like a boy in
his teens, and swallowed his wine-gruel with won-
derful avidity. But it was a mechanical appetite
after all — the palate was gone, and the functions
of the stomach at a stand. Had you offered him
gravel, he would have gaped for it, and exerted
his gums upon pease-straw. The exercise of eating,
however, sustained him ; his jaw-bones kept him alive.
Very old men necessarily lose many of their
faculties, and our ancestor was in a manner both
deaf and blind. He heard and saw, however, by
fits ; and frequently would nod to an angling ac-
quaintance, and such only, in an automaton fashion,
without offering a single sign of further recognition.
To some, it seemed strange how suddenly he could
relapse into a state of the most absolute indifference,
erecting himself slightly in his chair, and fixing his
rigid eyeballs upon the opposite side of the apart-
ment. Now, that we recollect, he breathed his last in
this very position. We were sitting along with him,
engaged in the perusal of an amusing book, and
ever and anon casting our eyes towards the venerable
chair which he occupied, little suspecting how
silently within its confines death was at work, when
a slight deviation from the perpendicular attitude^
INTRODUCTORY. 15
usual to the aged man, happened to attract our at-
tention, and we rose up with a view to arrange the
various cushions by which he was commonly sup-
ported during his last infirmity. Alas ! our ancestor
was already no more ! The patriarchal spirit had
departed out of him ; — we were busying ourselves
with a stiff, uncomplying corse.
Is there any virtue in the blenched lock of an
old man's hair ? We preserved it sacred in our
bureau ; it is mingled with a young girl's tresses,
the offering of one who is also at rest for ever ! No,
not for ever ! The grave will unentomb its saints,
and the infant lead forth the ancient. Our great-
grandfather slept for some years in the family vault
below St. L 's church ; his ashes were at length
disturbed by certain repairs of the building taking place.
We have never discovered to what spot they hap-
pened to be removed, being abroad at the time of their
resurrection ; and who, alas ! exists, ourselves excepted,
to attach any interest to those violated remains ?
But enough: Our ancestor was the founder of our
club, aye, and a good angler to boot, of the old
horse-hair school. We have some of his flies in
our possession. They are so mis-shapen by moths
that we can form no opinion of their pristine virtues.
The wires are ponderous and clumsy, but in the
main exquisitely tempered.
Of the exact year when the original fraternity at
C h was first instituted, there is no authentic
i6 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
record ; neither have we discovered any documents
leading us to suppose, that a narration of its pro-
ceedings was entrusted to the management of a
secretary, until very lately before its dissolution.
Our grandfather, who, along with our older ances-
tor, was a keen and competent angler, introduced
us into the club, when only ten years of age ; the
chief requisition being, that the entrant should have
slain a salmon on Tweedside. This feat we actually
did accomplish at that early period of our boyhood,
although (we make the confession without a blush)
after the fish had been fixed and exhausted by the
tackle of our grandsire, who good-naturedly con-
ceded to us the triumph of hauling it ashore.
The club, at the time of our admission, consisted
of a circle of greybeards, several of them octogen-
arians, and none under sixty years of age. Its num-
bers, as far as we recollect, were about seven or eight, all
jovial fellows, full of humour, and of the right cast.
These were principally country lairds, having no fixed
profession, but independent with regard to circumstances.
The most prominent of them, next to my grand-
father, who, as senior member, held the situation of
president, was one Sir Amalek All-gab, a large
portly, broad-shouldered man, with a very simple
and good-natured countenance, which, to our boy-
ish eyes, appeared monstrously out of character
with his person. Sir Amalek was the last of the
Kne of All-gabs, a family of good repute and ere-
INTRODUCTORY. 17
ditable antiquity. We are not informed who was
the first baronet of that name, or upon what occa-
sion the title was conferred. The entailed estate,
however, dependent upon it, was by no means large ;
and were not Sir Anialek a bachelor, and in some
respects a thrifty one to boot, the world, that is, all
who knew him, miujlit have reckoned his circum-
stances to be distressingly narrow. As it was, there
was no reason to form any opinions about the mat-
ter; the baronet being a firm adherent to celibacy,
and parsimoniously renouncing a whole catalogue of
small comforts, under the titles of equipage, liveries,
fox-hounds, horses, and champagne.
That Sir Amalek was a doughty angler, no mem-
ber of the C h club, save ourselves, ever dis-
puted. He was accustomed to talk them all into a
sort of belief of his prowess; and the strong impres-
sion which his narrations made upon our boyish mind,
immediately after our admission into the club, de-
termined us to watch out an early opportunity of
beholding some of these wonderful feats we had
heard vaunted of by the worthy baronet. Eight
fortunate we were in pitching upon one among the
very seldom occasions, when Sir Amalek thought
proper to set up his standard of war against the
finny tribes ; right fortunate we were in beholding
his huge brawny person, armed with an eight yard
measure, denominated his fishmg rod, which (al-
though even to wield it was quite impracticable for
i8 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
a man of mere ordinary strength) was, to use the
baronet's own expression, as a child's whip in his
hands; right fortunate, of a truth, we were in be-
holding him, with a determined air, stride down to
the water-edge, draw forth his tackle, and fixing a
huge salmon fly at the end of his line, hitch it over
the surface of a deep, transparent pool, where, by
a certain movement of the angler's wrists, it per-
formed for the space of half a minute a kind of
rotatory dance, and was drawn back again to be
relieved by a similar insect of more reduced dimen-
sions, whose pas-seul being unable likewise to at-
tract the notice either of trout or salmon, a third
such monster was brought forth and introduced
upon tlie self-same stage. All these expedients,
however, failing, the baronet betook himself to par-
catching, and actually managed to draw in two or
three unfortunate wretches, whose butchery seemed
to afford mighty satisfaction to their captor, and
ended for that day the exploits of the renowned Sir
Amalek All-gab. Of course, while spectators of
this ludicrous scene, we adopted the precaution of
remaining concealed. The presence of a dog overlook-
ing his operations, would have no doubt occasioned a
precipitate retreat on the part of this modest angler.
We have made mention of Sir Amalek foremost,
not as a specimen of the science and accomplish-
ments under display by the old and long defunct
faternity at C h, but chiefly because he was
INTRODUCTORY. 19
in some degree looked up to by the club itself as its
leading member. He had the talk of three ordinary
tongues ; and that, combined with his humour,
which was infinite, gave him unlimited sway over
those with whom he chanced to associate. Even
our grandsire, who was wont to exhibit a tolerable
proportion of stiff pride, couched a little under the
affability of Sir Amalek, and was known more than
once to be driven from a favourite position by the tor-
rents of wit and persuasion let loose by the baronet.
Our recollections, however, of these times and
matters are very bare, owing to which circumstance,
we are compelled to be brief in our delineations of
the other members belonging to the old fraternity.
The president, our grandsire, bore a striking re-
semblance, both in feature and character, to his
ancestor. As an angler, he excelled not only the
rest of the club, but every Borderer and Briton
that ever came into competition with him. 'Tis
vulgarly rumoured, in the district where he resided,
that the fish in a neighbouring stream held holiday
on the day of his burial, and testified their exulta-
tion by leaping all at once out of the water while
his coffin was in the act of being lowered. He died
very shortly after his father, aged eighty-one, in
consequence of a severe internal contusion, received
while out at a black-fishing.
pf the other ancients composing this venerable
fraternity, we remember only the names of four.
20 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
There was Andy Ged-grapple, laird of the Seggymere
Burn, a short, one-eyed, red-faced man, with brains
enough to serve a sleeping philosopher. Two things could
Andy accomplish; he could catch pike, and drink whisky-
toddy, and further he presumed not to attempt.
After him, there was Bauldy Brig-stanes of the
Chucky-holm, a sensible, kind-natured, old gentle-
man, and a keen good angler withal. We ever
looked up with great regard to Mr. Brig-stanes, and
entertain even to this day a strong respect for liis
memory. Many were the instructions we derived
from him as to the management of our line. Alas !
he fell a martyr to his favourite occupation, and was
drowned at the age of seventy-one, while attempt-
ing, rod in hand, to cross a swollen ford on the
Clyde, near Biggar.
Next to the laird of Chucky-holm, we have a
faint recollection of one Watty Braw-breeks, brother
to the laird of Buskan'-ben. Watty was a sports-
man general, and member of all associations from the
fraternity at C h down to the Eat and Badger
Club in the ancient town of Hawick. He seldom,
however, took his seat with the divan over which
my grandfather presided ; — its proceedings were
not altogether congenial to his unsettled taste, and
he seemed to prefer an otter or fox hunt, where all
w^as bustle and activity, to the more solitary em-
ployments of our craft. However, we have heard
it said, that, when the whim was on him, he gene-
INTRODUCTORY. 21
rally displayed a knack at getting fish, which occa-
sioned even the president to look wonder-struck.
Watty died on his bed, at the good old age of
eighty-three ; and as he was every-body's man, nobody
missed or regretted him.
The last member of the old club our recollection
leads us to, and we are often puzzled to comprehend
why we have forgotten the others, was Mr. Gilbert
Guddle of the Brosy-beck Ha'. Mr. Guddle was a
round, squat, bolus-bellied man, with short, thick
stumps, and a most brotherly pair of knees ; — his
phiz was turnip-shaped, and of a pewter colour about
the chin. 'Twas a farce to suspect this gentleman of
being an angler, and yet he was not without his merits
as a killer of fish, although we have heard it hinted
that the means he adopted for their destruction were
not in all respects the most honest ; nor did Mr.
Guddle pretend to any secrecy about the matter, but
rather prided himself upon his skill in jerking out
trout with his hands from under the banks of small
streams. The pock-net, too, was a favourite with him,
although employed, we suspect, more for the purpose of
furnishing a dish for his table (for he possessed an
extraordinary and insatiable twist) than of affording
him any measure of amusement. Mr. Gilbert, more
familiarly termed Gibby of the Beck, was in his way a
kind of humorist, and his visage being at all times
a droll one, he was enabled, by the smallest contor-
tion of his features, to create a laugh, or, at any rate.
22 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
to give a very ludicrous effect to all attempts at
seriousness on the part of those with whom he hap-
pened to be consorted. Mr. Guddle died of apoplexy
in the seventy-third year of his age. A most erron-
eous report was, however, circulated, that being bitten
by a water-rat while engaged in ransacking a small burn
close to Brosy-beck Ha', he was seized with hydropho-
bia a few days after. This statement, we aver, upon
the authority of his medical attendant, to be totally
incorrect.
Such is the amount of all our recollections with
regard to the pristine fraternity at C h. Alas,
all its patriarchs have returned to their fathers !
Ged-grapple was shot dead by an exciseman, having
resisted the seizure of some illegal spirits which he had
in his possession ; and Sir Amalek All-gab cleared
a road into his coffin by cutting his own throat, which
it seems he was not allowed to make unlimited use of
during a contested election. As for the other mem-
bers, having forgotten their names, we have also
forgotten their fates. Should there be one alive, from
our heart we compassionate him. But why, when old
men have no affections like the young — when their
remembrances are closely sealed up, and ours open afresh,
we sometimes know not wherefore — when — how unlike
us ! — they look upon the world without anxiety, and
their fears of parting from it are all time-subdued ?
Pity them ! Ay ! nevertheless we do, even because
they are so deserted by the glad springs of feeling, be-
INTRODUCTORY. 23
cause, 'mid their freedom from sorrows, they are
deprived alike of their joys.
At the period of our introduction to this assembly
of ancients, it was evidently the purpose of our grand-
sire, in conjunction with the other wise members
belonging to the C h Angling Club, to provide
against the chances of its extinction by drafting into
it as many young recruits as they possibly could
muster. Accordingly, a week had scarcely elapsed
after our admission, when two other candidates were
proposed to the fraternity, viz., Messrs. Leister and
Otter. These young gentlemen were about the same
age as ourselves. They had both completed the ordeal
of killing a Tweed salmon, and we believe in a more
honest fashion than we did.
Before enlarging upon their respective qualities, we
find ourselves compelled to take some notice of the
singular plan of reinforcement adopted by the old mem-
bers of the Angling Club. When formed under the
direction of our great-grandsire, the fraternity con-
sisted of twenty-five members, including the president.
To these it seems, by a standing rule, no addition on
any account was to be made, and should a vacancy by
demise, expulsion, or resignation, occur, it was not to
be filled up without the entire consent of the whole
remaining members.
It so chanced, that among these primitive brothers
of the craft was one Simon Cockle-pate, a self-willed,
obstinate, and opinionative bully, whose whole delight
24 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
it was to destroy the unanimity of the club, by pre-
venting with his vote, on every occasion, the execution
of its wishes. In vain were appeals made to him by
the various members ; he insisted upon his pri\'ilege of
marring their intentions when he thought proper ; and
being threatened with expulsion, made use of certain
gestures, which gave the club to understand that his
enmity was by no means to be disregarded. There-
fore it was that the peace-loving and irresolute frater-
nity at C li made up their minds to endure what
without peril they could not prevent — therefore it was
that their numbers gradually dwindled away, it being
the pleasure of Mr. Cockle-pate to oppose every attempt
to replenish them.
At length, however, after a protracted dictatorship,
this foe to good fellowship walked off the stage of life,
and it was thought necessary, on the part of the club,
to take immediate measures for effecting its own
revival. To introduce, however, a bevy of middle-aged
anglers, even were they able to accomplish such an
object, would be at once to relinquish their own ground,
and change the whole nature of the establishment.
Ancients like themselves they never dreamt of; — they
designed to give perpetuity to their club ; and as a
first step towards the measure, we were hauled in, then
Jack Leister and Tom Otter, all of us mere infants,
just breeched. The lovings of a senile heart, it may be
remarked, are ever with the young. Old men lose regard
for the generation that immediately follows them, and
INTRODUCTORY. 25
stretch what remains of their affections towards their
children's children.
Of ourselves (we refer to. a period long after the
extinction of the old Angling Club at C h)
modesty requires us to say nothing. We could throw
a fiy, it is true, with some address, and always
possessed the art of making our panier appear re-
spectable. Our abilities, however, sunk into insig-
nificance when brought into comparison with the
matured skill of our friend Jack Leister. No one
could command a line with less effort or better
effect. His flies dropped upon the water with most
exquisite gentleness. He had a mode of projecting
them, when angling below trees, which we never
saw practised by any one else. After describing a
(quarter circle rapidly on eitlier side of him, at a
yard's height from the ground, so that he kept free
from any intervention of the upper branches, he re-
covered his line in such a manner, that it proceeded
directly from his rod across the stream towards the
very spot which he intended it to traverse. We
could never thoroughly understand the principle upon
whicli this effect was obtained, no propelling force
being employed from behind.
While angling for salmon also. Leister adopted
a method, which, without doubt, materially in-
creased the length of his cast. He had a custom
of drawing in a considerable portion of the line by
means of his hand, and allowing it to dart out
26 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
with the rest, when in the act of throwing. We
have heard him remark that he gained above a
fathom of water by this system, but we never had
the inclination, or perhaps the necessity, to adopt
it ourselves.
The tackle of Jack Leister was of a first-rate descrip-
tion ; he prided himself greatly upon his ingenuity in
fabricating flies, and he always kept an excellent
selection of gut. He likewise made his own rods, and
we have seldom handled better wands. The butt-
piece was generally constructed of choice fir, and the
upper half (for they were of the tie sort, and in two
parts only) fashioned of hickory wood. In the grasp,
they were light as a riding whip, and so handy, a very
infant might brandish them. They managed the line
as if it were wild-fire, and, over an impetuous and
fresh-run fish,, possessed almost incredible power.
Their spring was at the same moment strong and
facile ; they bent to a struggling par, but resumed
their arrowy straightness with a tired salmon.
The fly-collection of our friend Leister showed him
to be a disciple of the old English school. He was
marvellously fond of variety, and sported at least fifty
sorts and sizes of insects. The smallest shadow of
difference in the wing, dribling, or hackle, w^as to him
of the greatest consequence. He had a mortal aversion
to the plain brown palmer, one of the most killing
lures we are acquainted with, and his partiality to tinsel
was somewhat extravagant. We have seen salmon
INTRODUCTORY. 27
Hies of his which were literally covered with glitter ;
others, likewise, he fabricated in the Irish style, with
a redundancy of the golden pheasant feather under the
outer wing, and, to say the truth, they proved in his
liands remarkably successful. He once recommended
to us a small hook with a light, blue silk body, which
he affirmed would prove very deadly on the salmon
species in large, clear waters, during the summer
months. We never used it, not because we doubted
its efficacy, but our experimenting moods are entirely
worn off, or, like all anglers, we look upon innovations
with a sort of horror.
Leister, when angling, was accustomed to vary his
flies every half-hour, and in the case of a salmon
refusing the hook, he would run over his whole stock
in endeavouring a second time to bring it to the sur-
face. This is not an uncommon practice with some,
who, upon raising a fish, have recourse with as much
speed as possible to a new and totally different fly.
Others, again, recur to the one in use, but refrain
from recasting the line until sufficient rest has been
allowed to the fish.
Among the members of our modern fraternity.
Leister found a powerful rival in the person of Tom
Otter. Tom, however, did not equal him as a fly-
fisher, but in the management of the minnow was
greatly his superior. He had a way of attaching his
bait, which gave it a particularly captivating appear-
ance. Under his management, it span with unparal-
28 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
leled activity, and probed into the very haunts of the
largest trout. His most eminent feats, indeed, were
accomplished with the par-tail, and he gloried not a
little in recounting them.
We remember well his description of the capture of
a large salmon with this lure. He happened to be
trolling in the narrow well-known gorge, immediately
below Yair bridge, and while in the act of drawing tlie
bait ashore, he observed behind it a slight convulsion
of the water accompanied by one of those momentary
gleams, which none but a practised eye can detect as
proceeding from the flank of a heavy fish. Tom im-
mediately proceeded several yards higher up the pool,
and commenced angling down and across, towards the
spot where these indications took place. The salmon
again rose, and fortunately, by allowing " the bait to
run until gorged, he succeeded in hooking it. No
sooner was this accomplished, than it commenced its
long, steady dart, almost on the surface of the water,
terminating it with a sudden plunge, which threatened
to snap both rod and tackle. The struggle of the
fish to escape proved, however, unsuccessful, and only
served to strengthen the hold of its enemy. But
still there was no appearance of exhaustion about
it. It turned (to use Tom's own expression) like
a philosopher, and leisurely walked up the stream,
as if meditating upon the three Fates. Suddenly,
however it coursed in a new direction, exerting at
the same time its whole energies in order to get
INTRODUCTORY. 29
rid of its tormentor, lashing with its tail at the line,
and plunging about with considerable violence. A long
rapid run succeeded to these fruitless manoeuvres, and
Otter had to use his legs to some purpose, in order to
save his line, which birred off the reel like a string of
lightning. Forthwith the fish once more turned ; its
broad, huge snout, stemming the upper current, and the
tail flapping heavily at intervals ; but down again it
sunk upon a bed of rock, like a dead, heavy immoveable
mass. This was no novel occurrence to Otter ; but, as
he was not willing to allow the somewhat exhausted
fish in any degree to recruit itself, he commenced
tossing in large pebbles close to the spot where he
judged it lay. In this he was not so speedily successful
as he anticipated, for the subtlety of the fish, and per-
haps its state of fatigue, retained it at the bottom,
in spite of his utmost endeavours to effect a start.
At length, however, oft' it went like a race-horse,
making its way along several pools in succession.
Otter followed in the rear, at one time immersed
waist-deep in the current, at another steering his
course close to the margin, under the row of tall,
green trees, which overshadow that part of Tweed.
Here, as it happened, he was confronted by a brother
angler, engaged like himself with a fast salmon.
Unable to control the exertions of his own fish, Tom
felt at a loss how to avoid running foul of the long,
deep line to which the other struggier was attached.
A collision was evident, more especially as the va-
30 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
garies of the latter, a newly hooked grilse, prevented
any amicable crossing of rods, such as is generally
adopted on similar occasions. Besides, the other angler
seemed determined to keep his ground, and preserve
the full altitude of his rod, although Otter's run of line
was considerably the longer. The spot where this
fellow, a surly poacher from the neighbourhood of
Hawick, happened to stand, was a small ledge of rock
running into a deep, dangerous eddy of water.
Although requested by Otter to alter his position and
lower his rod, both of which he might have done with-
out the slightest risk of losing the fish, he notwithstand-
ing thought proper to remain obstinately immoveable.
Time, however, was not to be thrown aside, the line of
our worthy friend being pretty far spent, and the salmon
in no mood to be thwarted. Accordingly, enraged at
the hindrance offered by the sulky and determined rustic,
Otter in rather angry terms ordered him a second
time to move out of his way. This demand not
being complied with, our incensed angler took it at
once into his head to trip up the fellow's heels, in such
a manner that he popped directly into the river,
and commenced floundering for his life in the midst
of the rapid current. There arose a sort of dilemma
to our friend, who was forthwith called upon to
hesitate betwixt the poacher and the salmon ; and
really, thought he, if to save the one I must relin-
quish the other, it is no gain to me. Accordingly, he
continued at his fish, notwithstanding the impre-
INTRODUCTORY. 31
cations of the drowning man. These, however, were
becoming every moment less vehement. The force of
the stream had swept him forwards to a considerable
distance, and he was about to sink altogether, when
luckily Tom Otter landed his salmon, a thirty pounder,
gave it a few smart, killing raps on the head, and
hurried to the assistance of the exhausted sufferer.
He was not long in rescuing him, the part of the pool
to which the poacher had been carried being, although
deep, smooth and safe for an expert, venturous
swimmer, such as Otter was. The grilse, however, had
made its escape, after having broken the line to which
it was attached, and the rod likewise of the deserving
boor was somewhat injured. Of course, Tom swallowed
his curses with excellent humour, bowing profoundly
in acknowledgment of the mortified angler's good
wishes, and offering him the fins of his huge salmon
as a recompence for all loss and damage sustained
in his perilous voyage down the Tweed. He then
shouldered his fish, and trudged off to another pool,
with a snatch of an old ballad in his mouth.
Otter's attachment to Tweedside was altogether
uncommon. The river to him seemed hallowed
water. He revered its banks and channels, its tri-
butaries, from their very sources, and all belonging
to it. With respect to other streams, he was wholly
indifferent. He depreciated, above all, the rivers
in the north of Scotland, where he happened to
sojourn for some months ; and although achieving
32 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
among 'them several angling feats, he was accustomed
to talk of these with great contempt. This was a
prejudice on his part, the foundation for which we
could never entirely comprehend, as we know of a
truth that he was wont to capture most extraordinary
loads of fish in a certain Highland water, surpass-
ing by far any that he ever dislodged from the
pools of Tweed. But his skill, remarked he, when
alluding to his northern campaign, was not put to
the test. An urchin unbreeched, without a shred
of sagacity, could achieve equal triumphs over the
finny tribe, and he was not willing to be reduced to
a par with any such.
We check all inclination to marshal off before
the reader the various other members composing our
late fraternity. Their merits as anglers are unfolded
in the records of their communings by the stream-
side and at the feast table. Why enter into dull
details concerning them ? They will speak out
honestly for themselves. Ah ! Doctor, and ye
merry-men all — Bill, Tim, Tom, and Harry — have
ye" fled ? Are there to be no more humorous meet-
ings amongst us ? Are we defunct indeed ? Had we
no projects to complete ? — no contemplated happi-
nesses yet to enjoy ? But be it so ! We built up a
palace with smoke, and where is it ?
33
CHAPTER II.
THE RIVER-SIDE.
TOM OTTER AND BILL MAY-FLY.
Otter. Thou hast an enviable wand, May-fly, and
goodly gear; an' thou dost not tempt a fin with
these flies of thine, thou art no angler.
May. Ay ! my rod is a fair one — a neat piece of
wood, I must confess ; it is light and taper as a
water-rush, bends to a breath, but is strong in the
marrow as an oak-post ; yet, as for my tackle,
though it looks tempting, and is wrought seem-
ingly by subtle and fantastic fingers, may I be
thrice soused if it will raise even a minnow.
Otter. No marvel indeed! thou art whipping at the
water like a boatswain's mate, and makest a perfect
maelstrom on the surface ! Think you that fish
will be curious to look at thy flies 'mid such a tem-
pest? Let the line fall more gently, and keep from
34 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
the edge a pace or two; the best of the pool is where
the shadow lies ; throw across, and take a curve with
thy cast down the stream. That was but a par, and no
monster, as thou seemest to think, by that start of thine.
May. I pricked him. But ha! did you see that?
I have lost both flies ; he jerked them off like a pick-
pocket. What a prime fellow he was!
Otter. By no means — only another par; but you
struck at him too forcibly. There, you see, he leaps
about with your hooks like a ballet-dancer. But
arm again, put on this red professor for a trail-fly,,
and a hare-lug bobber ; one of these black hackles
will suit as well; you can try either or both, as it
pleases you. Be sure to fasten neatly, and tie a
firm knot ; chop off with your penknife the useless^
extremities of the gut upon your nail, but not too*
closely. Now, allow your line to soak a moment
at the edge, and set to. I will angle with min-
nows over the pools already fished. But there! you
have got hold of a good trout, a half-pounder at
the least. Don't let the line run if you wish to take
him, but keep it tight to his mouth, and haul down
with the current.
May. He is gone also, and bids me good-bye. It
provokes one to break his rod, and forswear angling
for ever.
Otter. Have patience. Bill, have patience; thou
must not hope to be a conjuror in the craft all at
once. Time will make thee an able hand if thou
THE RIVER-SIDE. , 35
perseverest. Keep up heart, my boy, and don't get
into ill-humour with thy flies ; they are as pretty
Limericks as I ever set eyes upon, and well barbed
to boot. Only, when thou takest in a good trout,
keep a hand from the line, and allow the rod itself
to do the office, otherwise the fish and you must
part company. Here comes one of our fraternity
— honest Jack Leister, or I mistake — a worthy
angler as ever breathed, and a salmon on his
shoulders. Well, Jack, where got ye that fish?
Enter Leister.
Leister. In the cauldron pool, immediately under the
large cradle-shaped stone, where one who can manage
his fly nicely, may raise a fellow almost every day of
the year, when the water is in humour. But how.
Otter, are you and May-fly engaged at catching minnows,
and such a prime breeze on the river ? Look you, there
is an old, wily trout feeding below yonder bank; my fly
is a salmon one, and would only frighten the rascal; a
grey midge were his surest poison — he would suck it
in eagerly, I warrant you. Lend me your rod. Bill;
this red professor will do the deed notwithstanding.
Now I have him fast ! He is a fox of a fish, and
would take himself into cover among the ash roots.
See how lie pushes towards the bottom with his strong,
subtle snout, and attempts to saw through his fet-
ters. I must use my bit more powerfully, although
at the risk of losing him. Hal he feels the barb.
36 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
<and moves out into deep, unobstructive water ; but he is
not nearly exhausted, as you may see by that fling of his.
May. 'Tis right vigorous and methodical, and had
nigh proved a swamper. Saw you not how he
aimed with his broad tail at the line, or rather threw
himself plump upon it, in order to try its strength ?
Leister. He did so, and might have succeeded
in breaking it, had I not been aware of his design,
and kept in readiness for it by slackening the reins.
But now he confesses himself baffled ; his efforts to
escape become weaker; he turns in three or four
directions, and is scarcely able to face the current.
I have wheeled his head round, and lead him cau-
tiously along with the stream ; and here he comes
to land; — run. Bill, and secure him.
Otter. A goodly fish, but somewhat big-pated
and black. I have seen trout more to my fancy ;
but this is an old boy, and tough-leathered.
Leister. He measures in length about nineteen
inches, and weighs short of two pounds. Ha! look
you what the lean, gluttonous cannibal has dis-
gorged ! — one of his own species, entire and fresh ;
another half-digested; two small eels; and a singu-
lar concoction of worms, beetles, and leeches. A
hearty meal has he made of them, as you may no-
tice. Lay him in your creel, May-fly, we shall do
likewise in part upon him. And now, take the
trouting-rod, and angle carefully over the next
pool ; there be some prowlers out scanning the
THE RIVER-SIDE. 37
surface for food. Throw a long, light line, and carry
your flies clear of yonder bush, bringing them in on
this side of the rapid water, and allowing tlie trailler
to sink a little, while you move them slowly towards
you. Strike — there is a fish !
Otter. No less than a couple, and both at your
beck ; but they are par, small, weak and trashy.
Throw them in again, Bill.
May. Why so ? Are they not somewhat, and of
manifest account ? They will swell the contents of
my creel to boot. I will e'en retain them.
Leister. As you choose, but do not magnify their
dimensions alarmingly, lest the truth creep out in the
end. I have known some anglers who turn minnows
into whales by the magic of a bounce ; others that
have the knack of multiplying one into a dozen, and
so forth. It is wiser, however, to be honest in such
matters at the first. The braggart, after a stroke or two,,
is soon detected, and loses generally all his credit at
once. Did you ever hear of Eory, the black liar ?
May. A strong epithet !
Leister. It is a Gaelic one, given to a poor wretch
who lives in one of the most miserable of Highland
villages in the north of Scotland. This man's mother
was a coiner of scandalous stories for the district.
Her mouth was eternally foaming falsehoods and
exciting mischief. She ruined more reputations
with her tongue than an army of cold-blooded
villains, giving rise, besides, to petty feuds and
SS ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
disasters without reckoning. Her darling Eory is
a born drunkard, and inherits so strongly his mother's
propensities, that all who dwell in the neighbourhood
abhor his very presence. Nature has aptly twisted
his shape and features so as to resemble his words.
He is the incarnation of falsehood, and yet, strange to
say, an angler ; — but, mark me, a desperately bad
one — the mere murderer of other men's sport. He
rakes and harrows the best pools with nets and other
destructive engines, in order to obtain fish, disposing
of these as fresh and clean when in their worst and
stalest condition. His braggadocio is staringly large,
but too commonplace to be amusing ; there are no
jokes in the heart of it; it is one concoction and tissue
of absolute and unredeemed falsehood. It has, how-
ever, a plot and manner, a minuteness and dramatic
progression about it, somewhat imposing. Eory is
too artful not to embellish the deception ; he gilds
the bolus before he asks you to swallow it.
I once met him, and not at the time knowing my
man, was led to ask him concerning some hill lochs
which I fancied to exist in the neighbourhood of the
village where he lived. He mentioned the names of
several, and of one in particular, where he asserted he
had often killed trout of an enormous weight ; — more-
over, he described its size, situation, and curiosities —
gave me an idea of where it lay, and induced me,
without much ado, to go in search of it, the distance
being a mere trifle, and no guide required. Off I set,
THE RIVER-SIDE. 39
and soon arrived at an eminence from wliicli I was to
overlook the promised sheet of water — but where was
it ? I beheld nothing but a wide stretch of heather,
and two or three individuals on its surface cutting
moss for fuel. Inquiring of them where the spot lay,
they one and all seemed astonished at my query,
declared they knew nothing of its existence, and
demanded from whom I had received my information.
On describing the personal appearance of the man,
they broke out into a sort of chuckle, exclaiming, " It
was Eory the black liar ! "
May. And did you chastise the dog ?
Leister. It would need good leather to take skin
from the devil ! But, look you, what a lovely trout
Tom Otter is in the act of landing.
Otter. I have him hooked with my minnow-tackle,
and in such a prime stream, no wonder the fish is a
good one ; see what a breadth he has, and how unlike
the large -headed monster captured a few minutes
ago. He wants five inches of its length, and weighs
notwithstanding an additional half-pound. He is
in miniature what I once took in Loch ; but
I must get him paired speedily from the same pool,
and with a fresh bait. Choose me a minnow, May-
fly, out of the pitcher.
May. Here is a large one, and coloured like a
rainbow.
Otter. Toss it away ! Thou art no judge of a
dainty bait. I want a small, silvery, spruce-look-
40 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
ing fellow, with a lively eye, and smooth fore-
head.
May. I have lingered out the very imp ; — but he
is slippery as a pig's-tail, and has fallen somewhere
among the grass. Ha ! here he is, dancing about
with the spirit of a mountebank.
Otter. I have fastened him to my wish, and he
turns admirably. I saw a fish follow to the water's
edge ; and there again ! the same sly prowler ; — but
he has seen me, and slinks off. Heaven forgive him !
Leister. He was no doubt a thunderer, Tom, his
escape annoys you so terribly.
Otter. And well it might ; for a goodlier trout never
showed fin, even to old Isaac himself; no, nor in-
habits black Styx, nor Lethe, with its laudanum-
running streams ; — but he shall die to-night ! His
haunt is under that tuft of rushes, and a par-tail will
spring him an hour or so after sunset, else the skill is
out of Otter's right hand.
May. Bravo ! thou art a threatful and dangerous
man, and wilt extirpate the whole race of giants.
Methinks I espy Timothy Gaff wending down the hill
to join us.
Leister. Thou art right. Bill ; and who are with
him but our skeleton-shaped friend, Harry Hackle,
and worthy Doctor Swiveltop ! Are they not ang-
ling dons of the hrst- water, tastefully rigged out
in modish apparel ? Yet Harry is a genuine
sportsman, and throws a fly with wonderful neat-
THE RIVER-SIDE. 41
ness and precision. The Doctor himself is no bad
hand at the par-tail and minnow, but prides himself
over-much upon his novel contrivances in the way of
tackle. He angles upon a system, and his system is
not exactly the true one ; for it seldom manages the
capture of above half-a-dozen good trout, and a couple of
small pike. Gatf is, without question, the best angler
of the three ; that is to say, he kills more fish in the
same space of time than either, or perhaps both, of the
others. There is nothing, however, extraordinary in
his manner of going to work. The secret of his suc-
cess lies in his being able at a glance to discern the
best water ; — lie seldom flings away a throw ; but
angles a good deal too rapidly for my taste, striding on
before one, and picking up the choicest fish without
stay or compunction.
May. We can bind him to a tree, should he intend
the same trick at present.
Otter. Fortunately, he is without rod, and must act
the mere spectator of our exploits, which are not likely
to be wonderful, seeing that the breeze is low and the
sun strong. — But how fares it with our gallant friends,
Harry Hackle, Timothy Gaff, and Doctor Nathan
Swiveltop ?
Enter Uaff, Hackle, and Swiveltop.
Hackle. Right heartily. We are fresh from tlie
city, and armed at all points with health and hu-
mour. Are fish astir to-day, and what wonders
have been enacted among them ? You have killed
42 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
an angel of a salmon, Leister ; — he weighs nine pounds
at the least, and is broad, thick, and clean-run. Some
of these trout are to be talked of reverently, and ought
to have given glorious sport. We must lie upon our
oars until to-morrow, and then
May. An ominous and prophetic pause ! By the
ghost of old Isaac ! Hackle, you intend to level us into
mere nothings — to take the conceit out of us in a
twinkling ; but no, old boy !
Hackle. Ah 1 Bill, we had almost forgotten thee.
Thou art the newest top-piece of our divining rod,
and mayest, in a season or twain, work miracles ;
at present go catch gudgeons; thy cunning may
achieve thus far. They are a silly, quickly-gulled
manner of fish ; a thread and crooked pin may fill thee
a hatful.
May. Were it thy hat, Hackle, the wisdom I
should drop into it were weightier than it has con-
tained hitherto. But, seeing thou fanciest thyself
to have some trouting wit, I am willing to back
Leister against thee for three songs and a supper, to
be paid nightly to all present after each successive
combat, during our stay.
Hackle. Not agreed to, Bill. — Fortune is no friend
of mine.
May. This salmon afears thee, Hackle ; thou hast
a doubt of thyself more than of Fortune. We shall
have our song and supper notwithstanding. What
say you, Timothy ?
THE RIVER-SIDE. 43
Gaf. So be it, Bill. But this meadow is sweet and
fragrant. What hinders us, now that the air is hot
and the iish dull, to seat ourselves awhile on the
grass ? Hollo 1 Doctor; thou must keep to our com-
pany, and not probe the water against all usage.
There is nothing to be made out of it at present.
Siuivel. Indeed, sagacious sir ! This nibble refutes
thee at the outset ; look, what a masterly tug ! and
there again ! my line is forced out. I have him.
Gaff. An eel, Doctor. Ha ! ha !
Swivel. No bad fish, Master Timothy ; nay, the
very pick of dainties to those who are men of dis-
cernment.
Gaff. Such as thyself, for instance. But the ugly
rascal has gorged thy hook to his centre ; bisect him
if thou art wise, and uprip his catacombs.
Sivivel. As you say, Tim ; we shall unfold our
lancets, and lay on among his vitals.
Gaff. His vitals, Doctor — the vitals of an eel ! Thou
must needs shred him into morsels ere thou findest
them.
Leister. Barbarous and inhuman talk ! unworthy of
anglers and of a refined age ! Gaff and Swiveltop, you
are twain unnaturally savage souls. Dash at once the
poor, lingering reptile against the ground ; it will put
an end to its sufferings, and save us the pain of listen-
ing to your abhorrent and damnable schemes.
Sivivel. rare sentimentalist ! Know you not
that eels are heretics, and we the inquisition ? But
44 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
your counsel shall be followed to the letter. See
what a lovely paralysis it has effected ; the creature is
stone dead ; and now I shall creel him up for burial,
and join your group. Ha ! Hackle ! you are sketching.
A cottage, a tree, a hill, and a river, — all indispensable
objects in a taking landscape.
Hackle. Moreover, I shall not forget Doctor Swivel-
top in the foreground butchering eels ; it will finely
relieve the other ingredients of the scene, and add
wonderfully to its general effect.
Otter. You say justly ; the Doctor's person would
help to dignify the subject ; and yet, in sooth, there
is much to admire on all sides of us. Yon group of
elms might be chosen as the bath-guardians of Diana,
they are so leafy and patriarchal. What stems several
of them possess I gnarled and warted over from the
root upward ; their shadows too are entirely pagan.
One could imagine Night herself to issue out, like a
vampire, from under those solemn hangings. No pencil
can do them justice. They defy, with their brandished
arms, all the trickery of art.
Hackle. 'Tis a venerable group, but heavy, umbra-
geous, and too closely massed for pencil-work ; it wants
meaning and variety, and resembles a square thunder-
cloud. I dislike it uncommonly, and would rather yon
solitary and disfigured oak, blast-worn and thin-
mantled as it is — a forest-outcast, cleft athwart the
chest — its muscles, aye, its heart laid bare, but still
existing — existing as if in the teeth of nature.
THE RIVER-SIDE. 45
Otter. Perhaps you are right, but you judge only
with the pictorial eye. I am taken with both, and
admire each the more for the contrast's sake. It
is so also in regard to those hills. One is huge and
uniform, coated with heath and verdure ; knolls,
pleasant, pastoral, and sunny, scattered over it ; its
summit round, smooth, and shining ; its base thick
and sovereign-like. The other is a mere rock, of more
contracted dimensions ; but still vast, having the
forehead of a Gorgon ; scarred with ravines ; and on
its side, a torrent of shivered granites, arrested
singularly in their descent. Altogether, indeed, it is a
motley but pleasant scene.
Hackle. It is so, and under skilful hands might
form a lovely sketch. This river is the spirit of the
picture ; it glides into it and out of it with a dream-
like imperceptibility ; here sunned and sparkHng,
there shaded and sombre. I admire much the long,
still, shadowy pool, situated under yonder cliff, on
which you may discern the grey and ivied battle-
ments of a feudal castle.
Otter. I have killed ofttimes a good salmon at the
upper part of it, where there are two or three choice
eddies, and a delectable stream. At this moment I
perceive two fishers, not of the worthiest sort, busily
employed in harrowing it with the double rod.
Leister. Let us up and put an end to their sport, if
this nefarious manner of angling can so be termed.
Gaff. You advise well. They deserve a severe
46 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
drubbing, and a bellyful besides of river water ; at
any rate, we shall give them a screed of our opinion,
and compel their compliance into the bargain.
May. Nay, now, we had better delay our inter-
ference ; it will gain us nothing but ill-will and a
grudge. These rascals never forgive what tliey
imagine to be an insult, and are in no wise particular
about the manner of their revenge. What say you,
Doctor ?
Svnvel. Why, stand up for our rights, to be sure,
— Can we hit upon a better plan than to march up at
once in two bodies to their shoe points, and, without
even a good-morrow, commence stretching a series of
cross-lines in front of them ? It nettles a man
stylishly to be foiled with his own weapon !
Leister. Good, Doctor ; the expedient is an admir-
able one. Hackle, yourself, and I, will ford the river ;
while Otter, May-fly, and Tim Gaff, assail them on this
side of it.
Swivel. Moreover, let us hang out instead of tackle
an array of scares, in the shape of crow-feathers ; they
are to be found, I have no doubt, in great plenty
under yonder rookery in the elm-grove.
Otter. Excellent, Doctor ; thou hast the knack
of scheming well ; so we shall e'en lend thee a hand,
in order to take the devil destructive out of these
rascals.
47
CHAPTEE III.
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER.
Enter Two Poachers.
ist Poacher. Haud up your wand a bit, Watty ;
ye're playin' the deil wi' us a'thegither. What gars
ye wark the flees in that fashion ? ,
2d Poacher. Faith ! man, it's no sae easy managin'
them as ye think ; there's a muckle troot on the near
end o' the line.
1st Poacher. Tak him in, then, an' dinna spoil
the lave o' the water ; there's twa fathom to ye, and
be canny. Gie these bits o' par a yerk into your
creel, and fasten on a hantle sawmon flees ; — there*s
a gude chance o' a fish amang thae rocks. It was
just here we hookit the thirty punder last Martin-
mas. Ye'U mind hoo it bang up wi' its muckle
head to the yallow flee, and awa, when it fand itsel'
grippit, to yon stane, and there it lay, like a clod.
48 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
as if it hadna sense or motion, till we stirred it up wi'
a ring o' liard aim, and doon again it darted, amaist on
the tap o' the water, its braid tail stickin' oot ahint,
an' noo and then giein' a sair and wrathfu' wallop I
There's the very spot whare we landed the cratur ;
an' no easy wark, as ye ken, it was ; for I had lost the
handle o' my gaff, and couldna get Jock Anison to
strike the huik intil it, as he micht hae dune. We
made a famous catch o't that day, forbye what the twa
grilses fetched — Sax-and-twenty shillings, hard money,
atween the pair o' us ! But what gran' callants are
these haudin' up in this direction ? I wish they
mayna spoil our water amang them.
2d Poacher. The deil's in the chaps, wi' their
strings o' craw-feathers, and ither sic nonsense !
They're gane clean witless. Hollo you ! what gars
ye hinder ither folk's sport in siccan a fashion ? Is
this like respectable gentry, to gang direct up to the
very front o' twa honest men, an' commence fricht-
ening the lish frae their presence ? Awa wi' ye,
gin ye be wise, an' dinna brak the temper o' Wat
Waddell.
Enter Leister, Otter, May-fly, Swiveltop, Hackle, and Gaff,
on either side of the river.
Swivel. Fish rise well, gentlemen — crow's feather
capital ! Strike, Tim ! What a huge fellow ! a
sturgeon ! Ha ! you missed him ; never mind.
There attain — a mere minnikin. Shake him off.
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER. 49
Tim ; that's good. Hurra ! a mermaid ! Give line,
Tim. Softly, boy, softly, lest you tear the lip ver-
milion, and mutilate the peachy complexion. What
a rare creature she is ! How she astonishes these
natives beliind us with her languishing sky-blue
eyes, and light amber hair ! By the shade of Tobit !
we shall capture her, and feasten therewith the
palate of regal epicures ! Ha ! saw you that bosom
with its twain huge semi-pearls ? How it rose up
luringly from the pool, and then vanished ? Again !
— and such a face of sorrow and superhuman anger
I never beheld. Her tresses are all dishevelled, her
features mangled ; and now, she dives down to her
rocks of coral, and, lute in hand, performs her death-
dirge. Hold tight, Tim, and keep her head down
with the stream.
Hackle. Good, Doctor ; the achievement is won-
derful. There is witchcraft in these crow-feathers
of yours — most astonishing ! Let this honest man
have a peep at your tackle. We may entrust him
with the secret.
Swivel. Not for worlds ! I pray thee, keep the
clown at a distance. It becomes us not to counten-
ance his curiosity. Who or what is he, that the
renowned inventor of the mermaid-fly should suc-
cumb to instruct him ? Were he a brother of the
craft, like thyself, honest Hackle, one might be re-
<luced to tolerate his intrusion. But not so, my
ancient chum ; he wants the distinctionary charac-
50 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
teristics of our worthy fraternity. He is a base^
bungling water-raker, and no angler.
2d Poacher. I'd gie a croon-piece for a grip o' ane
o' your throttles, ye senseless pewter-heids. What
richt hae you, I ax, to stap in afore ane, and steir up the
pride o' the water wi' your nonsense in this wise ?
It's a shame till ye to be plaguin' the like o' us ; and
ye'U repent it, I'se warrant ye I
Hackle. Thou art bold, friend, and somewhat
saucy ; see you not we are double-rod fishers, like
thyself — fair dealers after a kind. Come, let thy
wrath cool, and be wise; — shut up the sluice-gates
of revenge, else shall we spare thee a ducking.
Nay, now, look not to thy fellow across the river ;
there be enough at his elbow to keep him in trim ; —
and mind, when angling in future, you leave some
chance of success to those behind you.
Leister. This is like preaching to the devil,
Hackle ; — but the rascals slink off' to perpetrate
their iniquities somewhere else. Well do I recol-
lect the physiognomy of one of them. He is an
arrant desperado — a natural mischief-maker. His
respect for the game-laws is like that of a buzzard-
hawk. A grey-hen on her eggs is not safe in his
presence. He would unshell the very chicks, in
order to satiate his sanguinary lust ! I have seen
him with a pannier-full of birds slung across his.
shoulders, none of them feather-soiled, but all noosed
and netted from the choicest coppices and corn-
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER. 51
fields of the district. He has the various calls by rote
and instinct, and can lure, almost to his arm's-reach, a
harem of moor-hens. He is the pink and paramount
of poachers — an apt and dead shot — a tasteful dog-
breaker, sinewed like the hill-fox, with somewhat also
of its sneaking and cowardly dispositions. When
challenged, he exhibits his gun in such a manner as
effectually to keep at bay the individual attempting to
capture him. How he has managed so long to escape
the handcuffs, is to me a matter of wonder; for the
villain would halt at nothing, and has no more com-
punction or sensibility than a tiger-cat. In fact, with-;
out allowing an over-sufficiency of credit, I have reason
to give some faith to the report of certain sable
delinquencies, which, if committed by him, display in
its true colours the vindictive nature of the vagabond.
Swivel. There is a prank in his pate at present,
or I much mistake. See you, he fords the water,
in order to join his vinegar-visaged companion.
That the twain are holding war-council, you may
divine from their gestures. Let us cross also, and
increase our forces on the opposite bank. Two such
able-bodied scoundrels might drub the breath out
of them ere our column come into action.
Leister. No fear. They will fight it stoutly ;
and yet, to keep off mischief, we may as well be at
hand. Such vagabonds are in nowise particular
about their mode of attack, and will not hesitate to
use sturdier weapons than their mere fists.
52 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Sivivel. As you say ; the knobs metallic of these
ponderous clogs of theirs might fell a buffalo. I had
rather be pawed upon with the hoof of a mettlesome
stallion than risk my bones so unsatisfactorily. The
dogs are giving signals to some one. Hollo, Otter ! keep
a look-out to the right. There is need of a sharp eye.
Otter. And no lack of one, Doctor. I take the
heart out of your hint.
Hackle. Methinks these ugly customers are well
backed, however ; there be no less than five or six
others advancing to join them. Such a band of rag-
gamufiins ! — Satan- visaged rascals ! — They would make
the tread-mill go round merrily.
Swivel. One hath a cock in his eye, and is sinister
as a lean raven ; another hath the shoulders of a
Milo, and sports a pair of huge Erebean whiskers :
he is the don of the crew, and in time of despera-
tion might wrench off a man's head with his mouth.
I marvel how he manages to find food for such a
magnificent semi-globe.
Leister. A pennyworth would preserve him.
Being an exciseman, he subsists entirely by
drink.
Swivel. An exciseman — and a poacher — and a
drunkard !
Leister. Ay, Doctor ! Thou art not lessoned in
these matters. Thou knowest little of the excise
in Scotland. It has proved the curse and canker-
worm of our country : its influences have deranged
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER. 53
the entire community. Instead of promoting social
order and happiness, or of furthering the cause of
virtue, they have only served to create misery and op-
pression, and withal to encourage the increase of crime.
Our Elysian soil, from which root to root, morality and
religion were wont to spring, has been impregnated,
out of the storehold of this baneful system, with the
seeds of contention, profligacy, and harm ! Who, in
fact, are most of the dirty-jobbers employed in its
service, but a set of worthless miscreants, and reduced
debauchees — men, of course, who have few pretensions
to principle, and fewer still to those golden charities
of the heart, those tendrils of our natural philanthropy,
which have adorned the virtuous in all ages ? What
such creatures effect in the way of contaminating
an unguarded people is almost incredible. Disposed
of in an artificial manner through every item in the
land, they enforce their several examples beyond the
reach of control. Achieving nothing but corruption
of principle, and the unfrequent demolition of a few
whisky stills, they are incomed, notwithstanding, with
large and lavish emoluments. The public gain nothing
but detriment at their hands ; and yet the public it is
by whom they are pampered up. Every one knows
how the poet Burns felt his situation among them —
how he abhorred the company necessity had compelled
him to ndngle with ! Since his time, they have
grown worse and worse, and, strange to say, although
cursed by him from his very heart, glory in the fact
54 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
that he was forced to be one of themselves. Forced
he was, indeed ! To select, willingly, the outcast bread
of an exciseman, is to abandon for ever all principle,
all feeling, and all hopes of redemption to come !
Svjivel. This is a tirade, Jack — a right impetuous
volley of words ! But see these worthies are charging
down upon our comrades ; we must ford the stream
and unite forces.
Exeunt.
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER.
Enter Leister, Otter, May-fly, ti-c. , d'C. ; aho Poachers.
Gaff. They love not our appearance, methinks, and
will move off after all.
May. I trust not. Let us force the shy humour
out of them should they flinch. Are they not more
in number than we are, abler-bodied, and stronger-
sinewed, having fists like rough iron cased in harness-
leather ? Why then not encounter us ? Ha ! they
advance like men and heroes 1 How now ? What
need ye, my honest fellows, that ye beat up our
intrenchments so unceremoniously ? Are ye on a
pilgrimage, and want food ? Are ye traffickers, and
have wares to dispose of ? Foot-pads haply ? Nay,
look not so wisely ignorant, so lost-like. Maybe we
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER. 55
<3an aid you in your perplexity. Come, be talkative ;
unlock your jaw-bones, and let run the reels of your
discourse.
1st Poacher. We'll tak the jaw oot o' you first,
Maister Muckle-gab. There's naethin' like a richt
lesson for you gentry. Sae baud till them, Wat, and
let them ken it.
2d Poacher. That we will, there's nae mistakin'.
Oome on, chaps.
3d Poacher. Losh ! sic a clooter as I hae gotten frae
this lang chiel ! It has amaist dang in the neb o' me !
His neive's like a perfect sledge-hammer. I canna
stand till't ony langer.
1st Poacher. Ye're no gaun to cut, Rab, ye white-
livered loon ? Back, if ye're wise, or ye needna peril
a sicht o' your shadow for thae three twalmonths.
Wat, man, can ye no tak' the spunk oot o' that sma'
weasel-lookin' callant ?
2d Poacher. Faith, Jock, its kittlish wark gettin' a
grip o' him ; he's like the tail o' a moss-ether, gye an
ill to baud, forbye the stang. Deil tak him ! if the
varmint hasna driven twa o' my foreteeth doon my
thrapple. It's waesome to part wi' sic auld freends.
1st Poacher. Get his head doon aneath your oxter,
and lay it in till him like the very mischief.
2d Poacher. Easier said than dune ; it's ill seein'
through a patch o' blue waifers ; my barrel ee's
naethin' better at present. But what's the ganger
aboot ?
56 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
1st Poacher. Ax himsel ; he seems hard put to't.
The four half mutchkins hae spoilt him a'thegither.
There's a muckle chap there has got him clear under,
and he's no sma' beer.
AtJi Poacher. It's time for us to be aff, callants ! I'm
a' a clod o' sairs. They're no canny customers thae
gentry.
2d Poacher. Geordie's in the richt ; it's nae fun
gettin' lickit like a wheen bairns. Tak to your legs,
Jock, an' leeve the exceeseman ; he's no worth a bodle
at rinnin' I
Exeunt Poachers.
Swivel Nobly done, my hearties ! We've doctored
them in style, my river militia-men ! But what
carcass is this on the field ? — The black- whiskered
ganger, I declare. Vulnerable after all, old boy ?
Are there cracks and fissures in the hide of such a
rhinoceros ? How he grunts, like the mandarin of a
boar-stye ! We must pommel him up again ; he is only
semi-thrashed, and can spare half a stone additional
of ruby blood. Eun, May-fly, and fetch a capful of
river water ; there is no restorative like a good
sousing !
May. Beyond all compare, it is the best of soberers,
if largely administered. Methinks I espy a tub not
far from this, belonging to some washerwoman, which
should answer dashingly. Gaff and I will run for it.
Exeunt Gaff and May-fly.
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER. 57
Swivel. Do so. And how reckon we our wounds,
comrades, after this desperate affair ? Any maladvert-
ences or sanguinary effusions ? — any dental infrac-
tions or dislocations of the ossa ? — the nasal arches
uninjured, and no tendons divided ? Thou hast a
curtain on thy left eye, Leister, I note ; — and ho 1
Harry Hackle, thou art lame as a modern hexameter ;
— and thou, Tom Otter ! — But there is nothing like
it, boys.
Hackle. Amen, Doctor ! We have come off swim-
mingly : save the hoof-mark of that drunken be-
hemoth, I am skatheless as ever. It were better to be
maimed outright with an oaken cudgel, than have such
a monstrous piece of ordnance as a ganger's leg driven
athwart our shins !
Sivivel. Eevenge, Harry, acts as a sweet salve.
Here come Gaff and !May-fly to retaliate for thee.
We will of a truth cool the dog's forehead with this
surcharge of the element ; and, ye tritons and river-
amphitrites, bear a hand ! How cozily the rascal
lies ; his huge bluster-ball of a skull half sunk
in moss. He hath a touch of the Russian autocrat
in his countenance. 'Tis a pity he is not a tyrant,
and we patriots — ^liow neatly we could massacre
him !
Leister. Shame, Doctor ; you have not the heart of
a Turk.
Swivel. Towards this excise-bear, that I have.
Jack. We shall jerk off our thunder-plump athwart
5
58 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
his muzzle. Bring the pitcher to this side, and be
ready to start, boys. — Now for it !
SwivELTOP and May-fly empty the
water tub on the Gauger.
Exciseman. Ugh ! — d — n it 1 — What the mis-
chief's here ? — blast them ! — Wat, Eab, ye deil's
taed-eaters ! — whar hae ye gane, ye gude for nae-
things ? Ugh ! Ye'll get it, as share's I'm a born
man. — Ugh ! ugh !
Exeunt.
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER.
Enter Leister and Otter.
Otter. The evening is a delicious one. How lightly
across our favourite pool steals the dew- winged zephyr!
The late shower seems just to have ambered the water,
and no more. It is in the loveliest of trims. Not a
trout keeps its shelter, save two or three of the largest,
and these also will soon be astir after their food. I
prefer much the arching boughs of this oak-tree to the
coffin of a room we have just left, with all its roaring
joUity and good-fellowship.
Leister. Ay, Tom, 'tis the winning side of the
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER. 59
contrast, and so would even our friend, the Doctor,
allow, could we have prevailed upon him to quit his
close quarters for the fresh, kind air of heaven, the
fading landscape, and another bout at the river. But
let us put our tackle in readiness. I have an eye after
that calm, deep bend, a short way before us, and shall
first give it a trial with small moth flies, and, when it
becomes darker, use my famous black beetle.
Otter. Your famous black beetle. Jack ! — Let me
see it.
Leister. Here it is : merely a large ebon hackle
twisted round a strong hook, and winged with raven
feather.
Otter. As you say. But, I presume, you find it
killing on occasions ?
Leister. Always — during calm summer nights. It
takes the cunning out of an old trout amazingly.
These small moth-hooks are poor killers in comparison.
However, as it is still twilight, I shall give them the
prior chance. You intend to confine yourself to the
minnow ?
Otter. I do ; and a dozen of the sweetest, silvery-
sided little spinners have I gotten. They will be the
death of an equal number of goodly trout, or I mistake
my skill. Look you how transcendently this one is
baited ; it will run to perfection.
Leister. These water-coots destroy one's patience ;
what a lovely cast this had been, were it not broken
up by the flight of that bird. I noticed a large
6o ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
trout feeding on the way of its trail, and now it has
retired to the bottom, and probably will not rise again
for some time. There goes another of the plagues ! I
wish it were in a pike's mouth, or had an ounce of
lead under its wing. Bats, too ! One might suppose
himself angling in Lake Avernus, with a cloudful
of hobgoblins on each side of him ! These leather-
winged imps are wonderfully taken with my line and
flies. I have caught one of them ! a curious little
creature, having the face of a virtuoso or relic-gatherer,
with a spark or two of more sagacity about him. He
has swallowed the hook, and as I cannot extricate it
easily, must needs put an end to his sufferings by
placing my foot upon him.
Otter. 'Tis a pity to do so, and not rather set him at
large. Such a small piece of wire may work no harm
to his vitals, should you allow it to remain. Divide
the gut close to his teeth. There he goes, straight to
the old oak-tree where his lodge is, in the caverned
arm-pit of a shadowy bough
Leister. To die of indigestion. But see, Tom, a
trout followed your minnow to the surface ; you might
have fixed him too, had your eyes been where they
ought, and your swivels in motion.
Otter. Perhaps he will thrust at it again ; hunger
gives courage to some creatures. Am I not right ?
I have him beautifully bridled, and will lead him
round this alder bush into a cove or bay. Seize
him. Jack, with your hand, and let him smell our
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER. 6i
atmosphere. Hold ! he is too strong yet, and may
escape.
Leister. I have my fingers round his body, like so
many lassoes, and a plump handful he is. But it is
now dark enough for my beetle fly; and there are^
three tempting holes not far off, where I intend to dip
it. One of them is quite palace-ground for a kingly
fish ! There is a sort of still eddy in it, and, on the
near side, a gathering of white froth, stretching to the
bank itself. Under this lies a man's depth and more
of water, at the bottom of which are several old
trunks and tree-roots, full of fissures and hiding-
places. I have frequently seen the lips of a goodly
fly-sucker kissing the surface thereabout, and hope to
tempt him towards me ere long. The hero is on the
feed at this moment — you may notice his air- bell
scattered up and down. I have hold of him, Tom ! —
egad, I have. He is a noble fish, and would run a
cable.
Otter. Bravo 1 Jack, be sparing of your line, not-
withstanding. These dead roots, should they catch,
will play the mischief with it. He makes for them to
a certainty. Show him the strength of your tackle ;
you may do so witliout dread of its giving way. Now
he turns, and takes a cruise towards the opposite bank.
Humour him, and allow the reel to move more readily ;
— again, work your windlass, and haul in.
Leister. He is scarcely exhausted, and still keeps
on the poise ; but I have the upper hand of him
62 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
beyond doubt, and can teach him the four cardinal
points with a few twists of my arm. You see now
how submissively he comes to land, and turns his
broad, starry-side uppermost upon the channel. Four
pounds and a half is his weight, barring three ounces,
and a lovelier trout seldom kissed the shore.
Otter. We must have him at supper an hour hence.
That black beetle of yours. Leister, is a witch ! I
have twirled a minnow over this hole fifty times,
and not shaken a single fin. It will be long ere
it get another such resident as this ! What an ogre
the fellow must have been to travelling par and the
young wanderers of its own species ! How startled
they would be when he dashed after them, with his
grim jaws horribly expanded ! Methinks I behold
the swarms floundering on these shallows opposite,
earnest to escape from the inexorable cannibal. It
is not a straggler he seizes, but the plumpest and
foremost of the shoal — a nimble, silver-sided water-
pet, which one would have imagined could beat him
hollow in the chase. — But my rod is idle, and time
flies. I shall only beat down this pool with my
minnow, and give over.
Leister, It is almost time to do so. This dew is
falling to some purpose, and I have no wish to be
drenched altogether. What animal is that moving
among these rushes ? You hear it, Tom ?
Otter. Ay, Jack ; it is an otter, or I mistake. He
is at some distance from the water, and had we
ANOTHER PART OF THE RIVER. 63
cudgels and were active enough, we might intercept
his retreat, and add the marauder to our spoils.
Leister. There is no want of weapons ; let us
wrench up a couple of stakes out of this old paling
and set upon him. I have a spear on the butt-end
of my rod, which might pierce the corslet of a
rhinoceros.
Otter. Hist ! He will notice us, and contrive to
escape. Steal you softly with me along the margin
of the river, so as to be able to rush directly up
towards the spot where we now perceive him. He
is occupied, methinks, with the carcase of a large
salmon or pike ; and, if w^e act cautiously, will not
suspect our approach until fairly attacked. Deal
your bitterest blows upon his pate, and give no
quarter. — This way. Jack.
Leister. The fellow defends himself like a hero,
and would fain have a hold of my leg. Beshrew
me ! if he hasn't chopped this cudgel in style. Those
teeth of his might champ iron, and I had as lief have
it mutilated under the spokes of a mill-wheel as trust
a limb of mine within his jaw-vice. You hit him
cleverly, Tom, and have fractured his helmet.
Otter. So methinks, the creature sprawls like a
riddled Frenchman ! Another tap, gently dealt, will
demolish him.
Leister. He is dead as his grandsire of the ark I
Saw you ever so stuffed and oily a carcass ? — such
a bon-vivant of a brute ? He hath a touch of the
64 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
alderman under his jacket — a blown, pulpy, and
dropsical aspect about him, that renders it more the
marvel how he could display such activity, and suffer
so many hard licks as he did. Well the glutton
knew what are the choicest morsels on a clean-run
salmon ! Look you how this noble fish has been
dealt with ! All the epicure bits torn scientifically
out. What a gap there is betwixt the pectoral and
ventral fin, and round the shoulders also 1 — See what
gobs have been extracted 1
Otter. Ay, Jack, well may all honest anglers ap-
plaud us for the service we have done them in
destroying this river-tyrant and unconscionable glut-
ton ! But we must bind his legs together, and carry
him shoulder-high over one of these stakes ; he will
astonish bravely our fraternity at the inn, and extract
a fling of ecstacy from the worthy Doctor. It is high
time for us to march, and we are laden, like kings,
triumphant.
Exeunt.
65
CHAPTER IV.
ROOM m THE INN.
MAY-FLY, SWIVELTOP, GAFF, aild HACKLE.
Swivel. 'Tis a craze, Bill, a very craze, this out-of-
door humour of Otter's and Jack Leister. — I abhor
night angling ! 'Tis a chill, comfortless business,
suited to savage likings and the blood of brutes. How
much more befitting is it, and congenial to our natures,
to mete out the evening together in social converse,
coloured and improved by the influences of the circling
toddy jug !
May. As you say, Doctor. I envy not, nor yet
greatly compassionate them ; they will capture only an
ague-touch or dew-fever. No trout itself would venture
abroad at hours so unseasonable as this ! 'Tis a craze
altogether, as you say.
Swivel. Ay ! Bill, truly so. Fill up your glasses,
my boys — there is no peril in this good liquor ! 1
66 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
hate all moping and owlishness, and measure my attach-
ments accordmg to the latitude of a Christian counten-
ance. Come, take a provoker to mirth, honest
Timothy ; and thou. Hackle, is thy palate out of
humour, man, or hath the sober fit seized thee ?
Drink ! Bah ! this world will run to wreck for sheer
want of jollity ! 'Tis fancied becoming, now-a-days,
to wear the visage of a death's-head, and look apostolic-
ally demure and Santon-like — to whine and grunt over
God's mercies, and use weak water to deluge our wits
withal ! Some men seem born only to see their coffins
made, and deal ice among their fellows. We have
none of the rare, old, Bacchanal souls among us — the
prime wits of three gone centuries ! Alas, no ! they
are run out and become extinct. Where is the twink-
ling humour of the eye, that we remember our grand-
fathers to have had — the right comic setting of the
mouth, and puckering of the cheeks ? — ^Where is the
tongue always agog — the droll gait and gesture — the
endless fund and wallet-store of rich and racy anec-
dote, snatch and stave, jest and merriment ? Oh !
your modern men do and dare nothing ! They can
mimic no better than elephants, and when they
laugh, 'tis after the fashion of hyenas ; — they white-
wash their faces, deeming it sage-like to look pale
and spectral ; they are cold, cautious, naiTow, and
knavish — full of glooms, frets and heart-aches, galled
livers and consumptions. Out on them that cannot
find flowers and honey on the field of life, but must
ROOM IN THE INN. 67
needs exhume its bitter roots, wherewith to feed their
melancholy !
Hackle. Your satire, Doctor, is wickedly over-
charged : There be fires and faces merry as ever,
in our free, glad homes — hearts light and innocent,
that need not the goading impulse of strong drinks in
order to stir them up — that call not to ,aid the blands
of novelty, but are alway buoyant, alway in time to
joyous measures.
Swivel. I know it. Hackle ; but over their cups men
are no hypocrites. See the wariest of them reveal
themselves ; they betray their characters, and open up
their schemes ; they let out the issues of frail human-
ity ! Here it was that Shakspeare took lessons in the
study of mankind ; here true philosophy is taught, and
not in abstract spheres, in grave, solemn circles, nor in
wildernesses, nor in garrets. Over the cup, my boys,
more glorious things have been uttered than are written
in immortal books ; the walls of the senate-house have
been put to shame by the eloquence displayed in
corners at the feast-table ! Yet, mark me. Hackle, I
cry not up the drunkard who extinguishes reason ; 1
cry not up that excessive indulgence, which takes the
curb off our passions, and allows an impress to the
dominant powers of darkness ; — moderation, boys,
moderation in all things !
May. Eh 1 Doctor, and thyself as the example,
most abstemious Swiveltop ? By the bye. Gaff
yonder is sound asleep, and there is some inclina-
68 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
tion to nod in my own brain- holder. We must be
early astir to-morrow, in order to have anything
like sport. I intend starting for the river about
sunrise.
Swivel. One might suppose, Bill, from the way you
talk, that you were really an angler, instead of which
you can manage your rod no better tlian a tailor's
needle. Come, recount thy feats, give us the pick of
thy miracles, that we may canonize thee i Preach of
thy ten-pounders and thirty-pounders — thy salmones
feroces, erioces et truttce — thy silver-edged hackles, and
green gooseberry ephemerse — thy genuine O'Shaugh-
nessys and taper Chevaliers — thy complex multipliers
and witch-hair casting lines — thy baits and surfeit-
worms, red coral roe, and pearl minnows ; be large in
thy discourse, and learned withal, as if the matter were
well digested and intimate to thee ; make thy notes,
strictures, and digressions ; muster up thy forces. Bill,
and tilt at all usage and observance.
May. facetious Swiveltop ! thou art the king of
wits ; thy tongue waggeth as if set in motion by the
wind, and not through rational impulse, like the
tongues of other men : Thou art a human bell, tink-
ling without chime or music ! Where be the brains
that should occupy thy hollow head-piece — those orts
of matter that symbolize the mind ? Hast thou an
eik or pertinent thereof ? Wits, like thee, should be
whipped for fools.
Sivivel. Better than being hanged for knaves,
ROOM IN THE INN. 69
Bill — but here come Leister and Otter. Arouse thee,
Tim, and let us give noble greeting to these night-
birds. I engage to swallow the whole host of their
spoils, were it even ten finger-loads.
Enter Otter and Leister.
May. Thou wilt have a dainty supper, Doctor. A
dead dog ! by the eye of the Cyclops !
Leister. wise Bill ! most sapient May-fly !
May. Is it not a cur, masters ?
Sioivel. Bah ! Bill, art thou a hedgehog ? 'tis an
otter, man ! The Tritons have had sport — rare sport.
Egad ! boys, ye are in the eyeball of Fortune ; she is
your mistress. Fish too, and — oh ! Gaff, pull the
blanket from thy temples, and have a peep at this
trout 1 Saw you. Hackle, ever such a fly-sucker ? — he
is the Amnion among those other fishes, and seems as
if he had sailed down Niagara, or was lessoned into
prodigiousness among the waters of the Mississippi ! I
lo\'e the sight of him. 'Tis a heart-stirrer, and causes
jealousy. I am in humour to massacre ye both, be-
cause of your nocturnal achievements. — More whisky,
Meg ! It becomes us to drown our vexation, and you,
mighty twain, to demolish before birth the effects of
the night air. This brute must be stuffed and incased ;
— 'twill form a befitting ornament to the walls of our
Club-hall, and will match magnificently with our
gorgeous specimen of the Loch-Awe trout, weigh-
ing two stone, and altogether without a parallel in
70 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
the united kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland.
But fill joMV tumblers — and ho 1 Meg, cook this
fellow of a fish in a style we love, and fetch him
in smoking, like a Dutchman, and girdled with
viands — victuals, I mean — meats, rural and urban, of
all kinds and flavours, to suit all palates, likings, and
opinions. You have knocked the dormouse out of
Gaff's pate, and pricked up our jaded selves once more.
Skulk not. Bill ; and thou, Hackle, top off thy freezing
dregs, and fill anew to our worthy and scientific
brothers of the angle — Tom Otter and Jack Leister !
Hurra !
Otter. I would. Doctor, thou wert a salmon, with
one of my black barbs run through the tough gristles
of thy tongue. The capers of the kangaroo were not
so nimble as thine would be. How thou would'st
bound from the surface, and dart indignant through
the water — a run of forty fathoms ! — nothing less
could I allow thee in a broad river like the Tweed.
Gaff. Let me tell thee, Tom, thou would'st find
him ill to manage with seven such lengths of line.
No common fish 'twould be which had the Doctor's
mettle to assist it, leaving his cunning entirely out
of the question. He would shake the best rod to
shivers, and take the sinew out of your ablest horse-
hair, almost ere your eye caught the sparkle of his
broad flank, or the jut of his dorsal fin.
Swivel Ay ! ay ! Tim, thou art right. Make
a salmon of me. Master Otter ! Show thyself a
ROOM IN THE INN. 71
Christian in thy wishes. Of a verity, would it rejoice
thee to have me under thy beak, my jaw torn up with
thy torture-iron — my nerves straightened, and hot
with agony — my frame striving against exhaustion,
and yet weaker becoming, and weaker, until the power
and the spirit within it were both vanquished, and it
floated into thy very grasp, only to receive its cruel
death-stroke at those unsparing hands. Oh ! wretch
pitiless and unfeeling, insensate as marble, cold as
lead!
Otter. A truce, worthy Doctor, a truce ! Thou art
bitter in thy usage of words, like a certain parson I
know of, who wars, eloquently by mouth, and abuses
his hearers, right and left, without check or reason.
Give us a stave. Hackle, and help to restore the
Doctor's good humour.
[Hackle sings. '\
^Ies« toith mc iht syring-tibe hlmb.
Bless with me the spring- tide bland,
All ye anglers of the valley !
Wave aloof the slender wand,
And around the oak-tree rally,
II.
Bless the birds, that all along
Send us such a cheerful greeting ;
To those measures of kind song
Joyously our hearts are beating.
72 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
III.
Fleeted now the winter snow
From the forehead of the mountains,
And the mild sweet waters flow
Freshly through their several fountains.
IV.
In the secret of the sod,
Moss and primrose lie together ;
But the wild bee shoots abroad.
Fonder of the April heather.
V.
Fresh and free the breezes blow,
And the amber stream runs gaily,
Forth, and warble as ye go,
All ye anglers of the valley !
May. Finely touched off, Harry. I envy thine ear
and throat ; they are replete with melody beyond all
compare. What swells, cadences, and quavers ! Such
a sea of music as thou hast within thee !
Sivivel. Take the velvet off that tongue of thine,
Master May-fly, and give us a peep of the pike's
tooth. Art thou a judge in music, Bill ? 'Tis
strange, of a verity — thou, May-fly, who hast neither
wit nor reason, head nor heart, the voice of a dor-
mouse, nor the ear of a landrail ! — A judge in
music ! Oh ! 'tis of dolorous ditties, such as bedes-
men chant, of nasal drones and tooth-sawing
discords, of rookery airs and toad symphonies —
ROOM IN THE INN. 73
caws, croaks, mews, brays and caterwaulings ; —
but not of music, Bill — not of those charmed intri-
cacies of sound — those tones that soothe, and some-
times agonize — those avulsions from angel voices,
flung in among the fractured tongues at Babel's
tower ; — not of these. Bill ?
May. Mayhap of these, Doctor, I can discourse
to thee on the soul of the matter ; but it is heavy
and hackneyed to talk of crotchets and semibreves,
as do your catgut men and the small school-girls of
the day. There is no cunning in the modern science
of music, more than in our modem poetry. It hath
lost its Memnonian magic ; — 'tis fallen and tricked
out with harlotry. What was chaste, energetic, and
solemn, has become tainted, feeble, redundant, and
grotesque. It runs not in its natural channel, but
is cooped up within angular sluice-beds, and marred
by the introduction of ill-judged embellishments.
'Tis music only to the depraved ear and the unfeel-
ing heart. What are the songs of Italy, sung as
they are by the donnas of the scenic board, but a
replication of squalls and quavers, infinitely more
annoying than the gibberish of crones and the
yelling of jackals ?
Swivel. Good, Bill ; thou art right, though har-
pies thrust a bodkin through thy tongue. I am in
humour to love thee for this heterodoxy of thine.
'Tis sheer diablerie our modern music — diablerie
and madness. Fiddlers, pianists, flutists, harpers,
6
74 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
guitarists, organists, bellmen, and bagpipers — all are
mad ; and so, too, are your glee-singers and stage
vocalists — your choristers and anthem-boys — your
lion-throated men and rat-throated females. They
deem the lungs to be the throne of the intellect,
and reduce humanity to a level with cage-birds !
Leister. Hold, infatuated barbarian, despLser of
the usages of social life ! Thou hast an ear of iron
and a heart of the same metal. that I could
wring thee as a sponge, or melt thee like lead at
the forge ! What ! have the tears never issued
from under those eyebrows when a dulcet melody
stole into thy presence — a gush of sad, kind sounds,
like the shaking of flowers or the blending of sum-
mer rainbows ? Have thy thoughts never been
drawn from their dull, ordinary channels, by the
notes of a sweet air awakened, whether on minstrel's
instrument, or flowing through the lips of some
loved enchantress ? What ! do not the martial and
naval anthems of Old England arouse the patriotic
spirit within thee ? — or art thou charmed never, nor
yet subdued by the likenesses of joy, truth, and
sorrow, embodied in our national harmonies ? Art
thou deaf as the adder, Doctor, and perverse as the
he-bear ?
Swivel. Go on, go on, I pray thee — nay, go on,
go on. Jack — do not draw up so hastily ! 'Tis a
prime gallop thou art at. Scarcely can I eye thee,
but thou art past my post. Master Leister, and con-
ROOM IN THE INN. 75
tendest with thyself alone. Spake I against thy dictum,
Jack ? Not in any wise. I decried no measure of
that natural and soul-stirring music thou art propping
so vigorously. 'Tis the core of what I venerate, and
shame be to the man who injures or assails it ! No,
Jack, 'twas to the modern innovations I directed my
enmity — to the mystical machines which fabricate our
popular combinations of notes and quavers — to the
German and Italian natures which are grafted upon our
orchestras, and have drunk up the sap and spirit of
what is nationally ours. The taste is low — fallen,
indeed — which prefers to the artless simplicity of
olden music the corrupt and insipid substitutes so infa-
tuatedly cherished by the amateurs of the day. But
thy song. Jack — thy stave — and, mind thee, no extra
flourishes or off-shows.
[Leister sitigs,]
i:he Anglers' %xi^&iinQ-\xtt.
Sing, sweet thrushes, forth and sing !
Meet the morn upon the lea ;
Are the emeralds of spring
On the anglers' trysting-tree ?
Tell, sweet thrushes, tell to me,
Are -there buds on our willow tree ? —
Buds and birds on the trysting-tree ?
76 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
II.
Sing, sweet thrushes, forth and sing !
Have you met the honey-bee.
Circling upon rapid wing
Eound the anglers' trysting-tree ?
Up, sweet thrushes, up and see ;
Are there bees at our willow tree ? —
Birds and bees at the trysting-tree ?
III.
Sing, sweet thrushes, forth and sing !
Are the fountains gushing free ?
Is the south wind wandering
Thro' the anglers' trysting-tree ?
Up, sweet thrushes, tell to me.
Is the wind at our willow tree ? —
Wind or calm at the trysting-tree ?
IV.
Sing, sweet thrushes, up and sing !
Wile us, with a merry glee,
To the flowery haunts of spring —
To the anglers' trysting-tree !
Tell, sweet thrushes, tell to me.
Are there flowers 'neath our willow tree?—
Spring and flowers at the trysting-tree ?
Otter. 'Tis a pity we have so meagre a fund of
good angling songs. Most of our modern poets
are, or have been, brethren of the streams ; and
yet who among them has ventured to weave us a
melody in honour of his favourite craft? Scott,
Burns, Wilson, Wordsworth, and the Ettrick Shep-
ROOM IN THE INN. 77
herd, all of them well and devotedly loved our pas-
time. It matters nothing to us ! They have left of
their attachment no relic in immortal rhymes. We
marvel, but do not upbraid them. They have written
on loftier themes, and sought therefore a loftier meed
of honour than the discourse of a few wandering
anglers could possibly confer.
Hackle. You say truly. Man was their study —
man, under the dominion of nature and his own fellow-
creatures — man, with his heart, and its world of con-
flicting passions — man that drops from the womb into
the cradle, and, springing from thence, gathers, with
the winds, power and knowledge, until the star of
independence settles upon his forehead, and he shivers
with one strong impulse all derogatory bonds, showing
himself what he is, a son of his Maker, in frame and
intellect equal to any king. 'Tis a theme exhaustless
and illimitable, as it is to reckon and compute the
surges of the sea ; they change in number, feature,
body and altitude, in sound and in transparency ; so
do men. The matter is not worn out, as some small
critics happen to imagine, who, to appear sagacious,
assume a knowledge of human nature, even the tithe
of whose workings is to them an incomprehensible
hieroglyph. Have they the key of a single heart,
among the plotting, careworn, joyous, jealous, and
distressful numbers, that throbs along the highway
of life ? Can they lay bare the actuating motives
for a solitary deed, performed by any being ? They
78 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
may infer, but they cannot divulge : inferences are
not truth
May. Hold, Harry, and prate within limit. Wilt
thou strangle us at feast-time with thy dry logic and
dusty philosophy ? Is't not better, think you, to
make a book on't, which the dull may read at pleasure,
than force it adown our throats against all inclination?
But now another song ; I love thy snatches marvel-
lously ; they reach to my inner man, and stir the pith
of my nature.
Hackle. Strike up thyself. Bill — come to light with
a love-lilt.
May. I, Master Hackle ! — warble forsooth ! Heard
you Doctor Swiveltop opining concerning me ?
Swivel. Spilt words. Bill ; we revoke them with
good-will. Truly, May-fly, thou art the ablest of
able performers, albeit, like other great men, sprinkled
with conceit of thyself. Nay, man, I miscalled thee
not, save with the intent of reducing thy vanity.
'Tis a monster thou should'st put in irons, else
the fingers of it will tighten around thy throat
with the clutch of a hyena. But thou canst sing.
Bill — thou canst play upon thy windpipe, and knowest
it to boot. Be not backward, or sham modesty, like
a school-girl ; start into metres, as the bards of
Fingal did ; throw out a bravura from the hoUow of
thy lungs, or be plaintive and exceeding tender, as
" a love-sick pigeon ! "
May. You distress me. Doctor, beyond measure.
ROOM IN THE INN. 79
Vanity ! modesty ! eh ! — what else ? But have my
stave, boys, and welcome ! [Sings.]
%he (Sfa-tr^atit grag.
The sea-trout gray
Are now at play,
The salmon is up — hurra ! hurra !
For the streamlets brown
Are dancing down ;
So quicken the cup — liurra ! hurra
II.
The cloud-cap still
Is on the hill,
And the showers fall fast — hurra ! hurra !
But the sun and breeze
Will scatter these ;
So drink while they last — hurra ! hurra !
111.
We'll start by dawn,
O'er lea and lawn,
Through thicket and thorn — hurra ! hurra !
On merriest limb,
With rods in trim ;
Come, drink a sweet morn — hurra ! hurra !
All. Hurra ! hurra !
Mai/. And now, masters, that ye have got it, what
think ye of it ?
So ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Hackle. 0, 'tis the pride of melodies, and might
win its way before caliphs !
Leister. 'Tis witching as a star- song.
Gaff. 'Tis jeopardy for a damsel to list to't.
Otter. Let us build a shrine.
Swivel. Ay, Otter, you have it ; we will erect a
column — no, a mosque, a temple, a pyramid — ay,
a pyramid, with vaulty labyrinths and Sphinx-dens,
wherein to embody — what ? thee. Bill ? Nay, but
thy song personified in shape of a but here en-
ters supper. It dips the eye of an ogre into one's
forehead to peep at such a stalwart fish. 0, Leister !
'twas a noble catch, worthy a king's toil. I'd rather
the turning of that broad flank than the control of
an armed legion on such a field as glorious "Waterloo
— even so.
Leister. Let us devour. Doctor, thanking heaven.
I have two plump flappers before me, bred among
bulrushes — dainty birds I warrant them.
May. They tickle the lamina of my palate. A
breast-cut and the left thigh-bone, if you please.
Leister. The left. Bill 1 — Ere long there will be
nothing left at this rate.
May. 'Tis plain, thou art right, Jack ; forget not to
administer an onion.
Leister. I shall seize on thee otherwise, Bill, an' thou
art longer clamorous. How now, Doctor, no duck ?
Swivel. Keep a reserve, old boy. My first attack
is on the fish — my second on these choice-looking
ROOM IN THE INN. 8i
morsels of mutton — then, for a semi-flapper from
thee — and I shall crown all by quarrying into the
heart of yonder ewe-milk kebbock.
HacMe. This is supping with a vengeance !
Swivel. Say you, Harry ? Any pigeons-eggs on
the table for our friend Hackle ? He hasn't the
appetite of a tom-tit. These arms of thine want
brawn, Harry ; and these legs — ha ! ha ! Didst thou
ever behold a well-shaped, unhosed, and finely-
rounded limb without blushing at the poor,
scraggy, and unfortunate shanks on which thou
thyself trudgest ? 'Tis a pity, man, the art of flesh-
gathering is so rare with thee. See Tom Otter,
there, and Tim Gaff — ay, and the rest of us — we
have more than skin and bones — we are not dry,
rattling bags, like our great-grandmothers ; and
why ? 'tis past nature we should be otherwise ; see
how we eat !
Hackle. Stuff, cram, gorge !
May. Not so, Master Hackle ; I for one am
esteemed singularly abstemious. I have no whirl-
pool within me, like these honest gentlemen. I
don't discuss a mutton at a meal, nor shake a firlot
of eggs down my throat at breakfast, as some of
them do. Am / stuffed, crammed, and gorged ?
Hackle. Gluttonous beyond measure, Bill.
May. Listen, ye shades of doughty warriors !
to whom a sirloin of stout beef was as a matter of
moonshine — ye who could tuck under your noble
82 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
ribs what a modern can scarce stride across, who
swallowed bacons entire, and measured your brose
with a cauldron 1 — listen and wonder ! the de-
generacy of the age ! the spare-thrift and rigid
self-denial of us manikins ! How are we shrunk
and become sickly, having weak lives and sad di-
gestions ? What think ye of Harry Hackle, the
scarecrow ? — this thin, pill-purged, frog- kneed an-
atomy !
Otter, Eat, Bill, eat ; you make no supper, man.
Hackle will hurl his fork betwixt your jaws, unless
you employ them to better purpose.
Hackle. Ay will I, Master May-fly.
May. Is he wrathful, Tom ? Hath he the canine
tooth ? Can he bite ?
Otter, Do not tempt him. Bill ; lean sharks are
least to be trusted. But what is this ? — a letter,
Meg.
Enter Meg with a letter.
" To the worthy and able Anglers assembled at
Inn." This is something facetious.
Leister, A beggar's petition haply.
Otter. Nay, Jack ; the paper is of honest size
and quality, clean withal, is well waxed, and neatly
impressed.
" Gentlemen,
" Understanding that you intend to reside a few-
days in this neighbourhood for the purpose of amusement.
ROOM IN THE INN. 83
and that you reckon among you more than one angler
of celebrity, we, the undersigned, being similarly situated,
are anxious that, as the river is broad, convenient, and in good
condition, a trial of skill should take place betwixt an equal
number of your party and two of ourselves — say to-morrow,
or any other day of this week which you may find suitable.
The fly only to be used, and the contest to commence and
terminate at fixed hours, and under such restrictions as may
be agreed upon before starting ; — the party losing to forfeit a
dinner. Should this proposal meet with your approbation,
you will not refuse us the honour of breakfasting with us to-
morrow, at half -past seven, and settling the preliminaries.
" We remain, although strangers, brethren of the craft,
and your very obedient humble servants,
"Richard Heron-bill.
Mark Wandle-weir.
Anthony Smoulter-jaws.
All. Agreed, agreed.
Swivel. So say we, masters : but who are these
Goliaths of Gath that come out against us ?
Hachle. It matters not ; they offer fair, and will
fight honestly.
May. 'Tis a civil challenge they send us. To
refuse is to kill our own good repute. Let us re-
spond — and arm.
Swivel. What ! thou, Bill ! thou engage to kill a
crocodile, who art slow to master a minnow ! Nay,
most valiant May-fly, aback, and learn modesty !
It behoves our heroes of to-night to represent us,
84 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
and not thee. Stand forth, Jack Leister and Tom
Otter, stand forth ! Ye are our men of pride, and
these bones bear witness to you ! Yon grim, huge
head, gapes monarchically from the dish, where it
lies and proclaims your merits. And you, gentle-
men, what say you ?
All. Leister and Otter for ever !
Leister. You greatly honour our poor abilities,
Doctor ; — but be it so. How, Tom, are you dis-
posed ? Shall we obey the commonwealth ?
Otter. I object not, aided by so powerful an
ally ; yet, or I am mistaken, these rival brethren of
the craft, who so seK-confidently challenge us, are
neither raw nor undisciplined. I know one of them
already by repute — Wandle-weir, an Englishman,
I believe, and one well versed in all the mysteries
of the art. However, 'tis more endurable to be
vanquished by men of skill, than have a fair name
taken from us through vulgar and dishonest craft,
such as is practised against strangers by the dons
of a small watering-place on Tweedside. But we
must send a reply.
Swivel. Be thou our secretary, Harry, and so
dictate:
" Gentlemen,
"We gave ready welcome to your note of chal-
lenge, and have selected two out of our body, willing to com-
pete with you on the proposed terms. We suggest more-
over, that the contest shall take place to-morrow, and accord-
ROOM IN THE INN. 85
ingly shall avail ourselves of your polite invitation to breakfast
at half -past seven exactly, when umpires shall be chosen, hours
determined, and other preliminaries settled.
" We are, gentlemen, your obedient humble servants,
and brother anglers,
"J. Leister. H. Hackle.
T. Otter. T. Gaff.
N. SwivELTOP. W. May-fly."
Gaf. Excellent, Doctor ! Address to " The Honour-
able Fraternity of Anglers now residing at Inn."
Swivel. Even so ; and now let us append the crest
of our club — a salmo rampant — with the motto.
[Enter Meg.] Ho ! Meg — who waits ?
Meg. A boy, sir.
Swivel. Let him run like a twinkling, and deliver
this, he knows where. [^Exit Meg.] We must be up
with the larks. Is your tackle in readiness, Jack ?
and yours, Tom ? Ay ! ay 1 always ready. Eead us
the barometer, Harry.
Hackle. Inclined to rise. Doctor.
Swivel. 'Tis all the better. The water is still in
good trim — a degree too small, but more room for
display of science. And now, as it is not very late,
let us draw out a code of river-regulations for the pro-
tection and advantage of the competitors. "We can
submit them for approval before the contest com-
mences, to those gentlemen who have thrown down
the gauntlet ; and I have no doubt they will cordially
86 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
acquiesce in the arranoements we propose making.
But clear the table, Meg, and bring glasses ; we can do
nothing without the jug social ; our wits won't work
without it.
[During the dictation of these by the worthy Doctor,
assisted by Jack Leister and Tom Otter, GafF slyly
slunk away to bed, and Bill May-fly stood at the
shutters, amusing himself with an apostrophe to the
moon, part of which is preserved in the MS. scroll of
regulations drawn out in the neat and diminutive hand
of Harry Hackle, Esq., who obviously took advantage
of certain pauses in the Doctor's composition to pre-
serve this singular record.]
■May, Ha ! my maiden moon, astart to-night !
Have the sun- vampires stolen the blood from thee ?
Thou art ever blenched in the forehead, and solemn of
countenance. Hast no saffron to heighten thy com-
plexion ? — Lack-a-day ! why dost thou rob me of my
laughs and frolics ? Thy melancholy is catching. Ah !
my fair mistress thou hast none of the merry twink-
ling these stars have — nothing humorous about thee.
Why come hither ? Art thou on an embassage to
tearful lovers ? Oh ! thou'rt a false witch, and pryest
into our crimes and calamities. Aback ! aback ! there
is nothing for thy search beyond these shutters — no
sorrows here madam ; and yet, not good-night — 'twould
be an early parting to bid good-night so soon, and to
one so lovely. Was't thus in the beginning — and did
ROOM IN THE INN. 87
father Adam gaze on thee ? Did Egyptian Sesostris,
and he of Macedon, and Hannibal, and the Caesars,
and Tamerlane, and Mahomet ? Did Hesiod, Homer,
and Sappho ? Did Shakspeare and Milton ? — Come !
thou'rt familiar with all these, and hast their histories
at heart. Nigh six millenniums must have unfolded
wonders 1 How many battlefields hast thou ridden
across ! how many plague-struck realms, void of joy I
Oh ! ours are but dull, tame times to thee, when em-
pires are at peace. 'Tis no spectacle, this commercial
theatre, like the war-field. Come, ope thy lips ! Why
so chary of thy knowledge ? Say, what thou seest
now ? — what of navies in the broad blue sea ? — what
of slumbering cities and tented armies ? — what of
forests, wolf-infested ? — of rueful wastes, stupendous
mountains, and mighty rivers ? Is thine eye on the
pyramids, and thy soul back among the Pharaohs ?
Art thou mingling thine with the cold silvers of their
north, or dost thou lace the waves, washing up the
corals to the very roots of broad-leaved palms, around
an Indian isle ?
[The MS. sohloquy assumes at this point such a frag-
mentary appearance that we are induced to omit a
considerable portion of what remains. The following
appears to be its conclusion.]
What dost thou with a cloud ? treachery ! the
ship is on a rock ! — Ha ! forth again, to show his
88 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
grave to many a breathing mariner ? — Good-night,
thou hag of mischief! What are horrors to thee,
before whom stalk our feud and pestilence — our out-
rage and calamity ? Lift not thou the angler's curtain ;
'tis no blessing to have thy prostituted light shed on
his slumbering forehead. Away ! he provokes thee
not ; get thee homage from the bandit and jackal.
Good-night — good-night !
[After this extraordinary effusion, Mr. May-fly thought
proper to follow the example of Tim Gaff, leaving the
remainder of our worthy anglers still busily engaged
in framing and counter-framing such enactments as
were necessary, they severally opined, to preserve the
balance of the competition. The result of their labours,
was as follows. It is unnecessary to add, that on sub-
mitting the regulations next morning to the contend-
ing party, they received a cordial and unanimous ap-
proval, and a vote of thanks was immediately tendered
to the industrious projectors.]
LAWS OF COMPETITION,
AS SUBMITTED DURING BREAKFAST ON THE FOLLOWING MORN-
ING TO THE PARTY OF ANGLERS AT H N INN.
I. That the arrangements already settled in previous com-
munications betwixt parties shall be held as binding.
IL That umpires shall be appointed, one by each party, to
overlook the observance of regulations by the competitors, and
ooic\i^ fliA r>nn+.psf..
decide the contest.
ROOM IN THE INN. 89
III. That no individual shall be allowed to join in the com-
petition, who is not at the starting-post precisely at nine
o'clock, A.M. ; but the absence of such individual shall not
exclude the contest, should the remaining competitor, in his
reduced position, think proper to commence it. The non-
appearance of an entire party shall of course occasion the
forfeiture of the stake.
IV. That tlie competitors shall again appear at the starting-
post at five o'clock, p.m., when the match shall be held termin-
ated, and the umpires called upon to decide.
V. That the place of contest shall be confined to the river
itself, all tributaries excluded.
A slight objection was raised on the part of Mr. Wandle-
weir to this enactment ; but as he avoided carrying it to
any length, it was generally concluded that he was secretly
not displeased at its introduction.
VI. That, upon starting, the two contending parties shall
proceed in different directions, as shall be decided by lot ; one
up and the other down the river, and to such a distance, that
before commencing to angle, there shall be at least a full English
mile of water betwixt them.
VII. That each party shall include the umpire chosen by its
opponents — who, however, shall not be entitled to angle, or to
interrupt, in any way, the progress of the contest.
Both of these regulations were canvassed by Mr. Wandle-
weir, who proposed, that the competitors should be
set off, one against the other, on opposite banks of the
river. He agreed, however, to the division into two
7
90 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
parties, although he questioned the expediency of hamper-
ing them with the presence of umpires. It was argued
on the side of the club, that to approximate the competi-
tors to each other in the manner proposed, might be apt
to occasion too great a spirit of rivalry betwixt them, and
have the effect of marring those feelings of ultimate con-
cord which it was desirable to establish. Again, the club
could with difficulty understand how the presence of
umpires could be felt as a restraint. If it were so, the
restraint was a mutual one. In their opinion, however,
it was a manifest relief ; the duties of the umpires being
to preserve betwixt the parties a strict line of disunion,
and to announce to those competing the pre-occupation by
stranger anglers of such pools as lay in advance. These
explanations were admitted by Mr. Wandle-weir to be
perfectly satisfactory, and he accordingly withdrew his
amendment.
VIII. That the artificial fly alone shall be angled with, and
no cross-lines adopted.
IX. That no competitor shall be allowed an assistant.
X. That the fish captured shall be estimated by weight, and
not by number.
XI. That should one of the competitors happen to produce a
grilse or salmon (of which there are a few at present in the
water), the capture of such fish being with the trouting-fly a
matter of chance more than of skill, it shall not be reckoned,
however large, to exceed the weight of three pounds.
To this regulation the most cordial assent was given by
Mr, Wandle-weir and the other gentlemen present ; and
after discussing a few minor preliminaries, among
which the dinner was taken into ample consideration,
the two parties started, precisely as the clock struck
nine, from the small parlour in H n Inn. Dr.
ROOM IN THE INN. 91
Swiveltop, unanimously elected umpire on the side of the
club, accompanied Messrs. Wandle-weir and Heron-bill
up the river ; while Smoulter-jaws, the other arbiter of
the contest, along with Jack Leister and Tom Otter, pro-
ceeded in the contrary direction. Hackle, May-fly, acd
Tim Gaff, set off towards a neighbouring loch to dabble
for perch and set pike-lines.
92
CHAPTEE V.
INTERIOR OF A POOL ON THE RIVER.
Enter two Trout.
1st Trout, 'Tis getting on in the summer, comrade ;
we shall have a hatch of stone- flies ere long, and fill
our bellies quietly, without risk of being tongue-
grappled by a treacherous torture-iron, in shape of a
fat insect. Ay ! we shall have to pick and choose
upon, and can look before we leap.
2d Trout. This caution, neighbour, won't work
always. Should I, for instance, take to conjecturing
about a fine morsel I see floating towards me, up
pops a hungry-headed kelt or some such grim
glutton, and away it vanishes. Speculation would
make us as lean as eels ; so better trust to chance
than take to suspicion. However, as you say, this
weather will give us abundance — see, there are
INTERIOR OF A POOL ON THE RIVER. 93
swallows abroad. I lately overheard Clang-chops, the
old pike, say to fat uncle Baunch, after both had taken
their suppers, and one might venture near them with
impunity, that he had not infrequently made a spring
after one of these birds, but found their feathers hard
of digestion. By-the-bye, I have not observed our
worthy uncle on the feed this morning. Think you
he is unwell ?
1st Trout. No wonder, he over-eats himself. I
have no compassion for the glutton, and, should he pop
off, will immediately take possession of his castle,
being next of kin, and older than yourself by four
seasons. But come, let us have a peep at him, and
inquire after his health. How is this ? — he is not
here ; 'tis strange indeed ! Is't possible he has changed
his residence ? But no, everything so comfortable ; —
at his time of life, too, quite impossible ! But what
news. Master White-fin ?
Enitr another Trout.
3^ Trout News ! why is't not news enough, that
King Baunch is no more ?
\st Trout. My fat uncle no more !
2id Trout. Alas ! indeed — he was captured by one
of the land-craft no later than yester-eve.
1st Trout. Wliat 1 out-witted too ! my clever, close,
sapient uncle, out-witted with a feather ! 'Tis a lesson,
faith, and a good one. I shan't eye food for a fort-
night, no, nor venture from home neither ; — and now
94 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
that I think on't, I may as well reside here, since the
old boy's gone. 'Tis a quiet, retired place, and no
bustle about it to tempt me abroad. But ho ! 'ware
pike, comrades ! here comes old Clang-chops to look
after his neighbour.
2d Trout. The wily ruffian ! I shall round and have
a sly bite at his tail. He did the same office to me
some months ago ; but he was nimbler on the tack then
than he is at present. I wish some of the land-craft
had taken him instead of uncle Baunch, who, praise to
his memory ! never devoured above one of his own
progeny at a meal. This fellow thinks nothing of
whipping up half a score of us !
Exeunt Trout.
Enter Pike.
Pike. Hollo ! — King Baunch, up, thou oily knave !
and account to me for the rumpus thou madest after
sunset yesterday. One would have fancied that Sir
Otter had a hold of thy spine-bone ! Now that I think
on't, thou owest me still for protection against the
robber nine dainty par and half a gross of minnows —
ay, and for last night's slumber too ; besides, not a bite
came my way, owing to these capers of thine. Your
majesty must tell down ere long, or I shall hoist my
war-fin, and show the bloody tooth. But what, King
Baunch ! art afraid to come out of thy castle ? Might
I not blockade and starve thee in't ? Show face, like
an honest fellow, and fear nothing. Answer, friend —
art deaf ? I roar enough, don't I ? What is the matter.
INTERIOR OF A POOL ON THE RIVER. 95
King Baunch ? Ha ! not at home ? — 'tis strange, and
after breakfast too — against his custom.
Enter Trout, and retires, after snapping at the Pike's tail.
My tail ! this is audacity ! a blackguard eel, no
doubt — loathsome pest ! There's no checking the
freedoms these wretches use with our anointed persons
— and then they screw themselves under ground ere
we can get a peep at them. But this bite is a con-
founded sharp one, and no eel's neither, but a traitor
trout's. King Baunch 's mayhap ; the sagacious knave !
he shall suffer for it. Methinks, however, I should
have had a glimpse of his unwieldy flanks, wheeling
round, as I did, so readily. Eevenge is my motto,
and away I set to deal heavy havoc for this act of
aggression ! The starry-sides, I warrant them, will
soon come to terms.
Exit Pike.
Re-enter three Trout.
1st Trout You managed old Clang-chops neatly !
He is in a fearful fury, and swears destruction to our
whole tribe, dashing this way and that, whisking his
tail and grinding his teeth.
2d Trout. He is as blind as a worm, and will run
himself ashore ere long. Poor King Baunch was
accustomed to catch half his dinner for him, and no
small matter it was. He hasn't a slice of the wits
96 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
of our late sovereign — and with a resolute master,
I have no doubt we could force him to abandon the
pool.
Sd Trout. 'T would be a praiseworthy action.
2d Trout. Not so, Master White-fin. Who is our
safe-guard against Sir Otter ?
Sd Trout. Why ! 'tis rumoured he is dead also.
2d Trout. Strange rumours these, if true.
M Trout. Moreover, 'tis whispered the land-craft
are abroad.
1st Trout. Ay ! plain enough, Master White-fin.
They have a hand in these butcheries, no doubt. But
see what a sweet morsel above thee — a prime fly.
Thou'rt lean in the shoulders, and hast need of food ; I
yield it.
Zd Trout rises, and finds himself fixxed.
Zd Trout. Oh ! oh !— help ! help !
1st Trout. What ! trapped ? have they a hold of
thee, loon ? Good-bye, good-bye ; come away, com-
rade.
2d Trout. He's past rescue, methinks. Adieu,
Master White-fin.
Exeunt \st arid 2d Trout,
Zd Trout. Oh ! ungrateful traitors, will nothing
save me ? Three times have I leapt upwards, twice
have I sounded the channel, and once have I made
for my den across the stream. I must e'en come
ashore now. Alack-a-day !
3c? Trout is dragged qj^.
INTERIOR OF A POOL ON THE RIVER. 97
This very fictitious chapter is evidently the joint compo-
sition of Harry Hackle and Bill May -fly, who appear
to have written it on the day of the competition, and
while watching, in company with Tim Gaff, an array of
pike trimmers floating along the reedy margins of Loch
. Their success was limited, but they professed
to have derived considerable amusement from the
number of nibbles they encountered, and which Tom
Otter thought fit, greatly to their wrath and vexation,
to attribute to one small-headed, but particularly
hungry eel.
93
CHAPTEE VI.
WANDLE-WEIR AND HEEON-BILL,
Enter Mark Wandle-weir and Richard Heron-bill,
on <ypj>osite sides of the river.
Wandle, Absolutely, Dick, I have a mind to hang
myself upon this very tree. No less than three casts
of choice flies have I anchored already among its
boughs, and all while attempting to strike one dull-
headed trout, who persists in rising tail foremost, or
something very like it. Yet I have no wish to leave
the booby without a taste of the cold steel. Were
you able to manage from that side of the water, a
fly -trailer is certain to start him ; he lies to the right
of yonder stone, and will steady your basket beauti-
fully, weighing upwards of a pound. Throw higher
up and softly ; ay, he broke the surface. You draw
your flies too rapidly.
WANDLE-WEIR AND HERON-BILL. 99
Heron. Not a bit, he is tired of us. But how get
you on, Wandle-weir ? 'Tis slow work with me as
yet ; — nothing save a few par and one satanic-looking
creature I took out of the last stream, having a large
black head and inky breast. 'Twill be made a ques-
tion whether it belong to the trout species or not.
The umpire has his doubts.
Wanclle, I have the lead of you, but not greatly.
However, 'tis only eleven, and the fish are just com-
mencing their forenoon feed. An hour or two will
make us better contented. Try the March-brown.
'Tis a late insect on this water compared with what
it is in England. A light hare's-ear body is also
commendable.
Heron. My upper dropper is a small Limerick, with
blue jay feather, yellow hackle and silver twist.
Wandle. Eidiculous ! off with it, as you value your
own repute. A Scotchman in this quarter would
laugh at you, and ask how many " puddocks " you
had bagged. The fal-de-rols hereabouts will achieve
nothing ; reserve them for August, and our intended
trip to the north-west ; they may answer well with
the sea- trout and salmon.
Heron. Would you advise a brown palmer fly ?
Wandle. By all means, but let it be small — one
degree bigger than a midge.
Heron. I have what will suit exactly. — You hold a
good trout, or I mistake.
Wandle. He seems a fair fish, and obstinate too ;
loo ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
however, walk into my pannier, friend. — Hollo
Dick!
Heron. Another!
Wandle. A brace, I believe ; — there is one at my
trail-fly also, but neither of them are large. You see
they begin to do us homage.
Heron. So I observe. Look what a world of them
are agog in yonder stream ! — why, every inch of water
is alive ; let us down to it, and give no quarter.
Wandle, Eemain where you are, Dick, if you are
wise. Take my word for it you'll not capture a single
fin. 'Tis the same on this very pool. See, how the
March-browns are descending ! — Our feathers can do
nothing among such tempters.
Heron. Sad enough ! my mouth waters at the sight
of these great fellows popping up every mortal second,
and no way to run our hooks athwart them. I have
one in jeopardy, however ; he is but tenderly fastened,
and I must wile him in among the levels.
Enter Swiveltop.
Swivel. You will teach our club humility, gentle-
men. Of a truth they may abandon the contest ; but
I fear I disturb you, Mr. Heron-bill.
Heron. Not so. Doctor ; I angle all the better now
that you are with me ; believe me you are no mar-
sport, and aid wonderfully in keeping up my courage —
Svnvel. Which I had as lief see extinguished.
WANDLE-WEIR AND HERON-BILL. loi
Nay, if my company prop thee, 'tis well. I love to
look on an able angler. It kills all jealousy, and,
to tell the truth, 'tis with me a matter of indiffer-
ence which turns out to be the winning party, pro-
vided each individual so performs as to win the re-
spect of his rivals.
Heron. I agree with you entirely, and shall not
take a defeat to heart so deeply as my friend Wan-
dle-weir; however, fight I shall, were my bones to
crack.
Swivel. A wise resolution. You pricked a pretty
fish just now.
Heron. Ay, but he is gone. I hit him on his re-
flective organ ; he will abjure flies during this fore-
noon at least. Wandle-weir, I perceive, has some-
thing weighty at his lines, and — ha ! ha ! — a dead
sheep — what a trophy ! Into your pannier with it,
Mark, should you land him '
Wanclle. 'Tis an excellent Cheviot, Dick, and
in glorious order — very savoury, I assure you ; but,
alas ! I must bid good-bye to it, for my flies are clear,
and a tiny par, moreover, dangling at the trailer. I
trust. Doctor, you compassionate our miseries.
Swivel. Not a whit — how should I, when I be-
hold your good fortune ? nay, nay, Mr. Wandle-weir,
thou art loading thy shoulders in style. Show them
some charity, an' thou lovest them.
Wandle. They merit little ; my pannier has only
three brace of honest-sized fish in't, none of which
I02 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
weigh above thirteen ounces ; as for the others, you
would positively laugh to see them. But, by the
three Graces I there is a raree-show, a girl of sweet
nineteen crossing the ford. Look, Dick ! — such a
symmetry of limb and ancle — what a vision ! 'tis
worth the gold of a sculptor. Hal she observes us,
and now drops her robes, but not altogether. She
is knee-deep, and evidently embarrassed. There is
no help for it ; so on she goes, blushing and laugh-
ing by turns. This is genuine modesty in distress,
Dick! — a prude so situated would get angry — a
flirt stumble into a hole, as if by accident, but for
no other purpose than exciting sympathy, bringing
assistance, and giving a certain celestial impulse to
her drapery.
Heron. I am glad the poor thing has got over
safely, without any such awkward mischance as you
allude to. 'Twas a small measure of forbearance
we granted her, watching her attitudes so narrowly.
She is in full retreat to yon farm-house — and God
bless her !
So endeth this chapter, and wisely. The remarks of
anglers, when deeply engaged in the sport, are, besides
being limited, somewhat monotonous ; and for this rea-
son, we presume, the club has given us no insight into
the operations of the other contending party, further
than a bare statement of the amount of fish produced
by each competitor at the close of the contest. It
stood as follows : —
WANDLE-WEIR AND HERON-BILL. 103
Captured with the fly by Jack Leister,
16th May, 18—,
By Tom Otter, ditto, .
LBS.
37
31
oz.
. 7
. 6
Largest
Trout.
LBS. oz.
2 . 3^
2 . 7
Sum total,
Captured by Mark Wandle-weir, 16th
May, 18—,
By Richard Heron-bill, ditto, .
68
LB8.
30
21
. 13
oz.
. 13
. 1
Sum total,
61
68
.14
. 13
Balance in favour of the club, 16 . 16
(Signed) Anthony Smoulter-jaws.
Nathan Swiveltop.
Accordingly, the club competitors were by the
umpires declared victorious.
Of course, some chagrin was felt by Mr. Wandle-
weir upon this declaration, and testified, besides, by
a challenge immediately given to Jack Leister to
compete with him next morning, single-handed, and
on opposite banks of the river — no wading permit-
ted, as it seems this worthy and excellent member
of our club generally adopted the heron-mode of
angling, to which system was attributed the whole
of his present success. Leister, without hesitation,
agreed to take part in the contest, which being de-
cided on the following afternoon, the result was im-
mensely in Jack's favour. He ran no less than 1 5 lbs.
ahead of his opponent, and accordingly ended all
I04 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
disputes about the matter. Meanwhile, the feelings
of disappointment at first exhibited by Mr. Wandle-
weir soon wore off, and he united with great good-
will in the lengthened festivities of the evening — a
record of which seems to have been originally pre-
served among the club papers. Upon this we have
been unable to lay our hands. It appears, however,
from inquiry and recollection, that Messrs. Wandle-
weir. Heron-bill, and Smoulter-jaws, were with due
ceremony, and at their own request, admitted in the
course of the same evening members of the club,
and made entitled to its various immunities and priv-
ileges.
105
CHAPTEE VII.
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS.
LEISTER, WANDLE-WEIE, AND HERL-BROKE.
Leister. You intend, Mr. Wandle-weir, I under-
stand, to investigate our Northern Lochs and Eivers.
You will find many of them excellent, especially those
in the counties of Inverness, Eoss, and Sutherland ;
which, however, are for the most part strictly watched
over, and carefully preserved.
Wandle. Indeed, sir, I was not aware of any restric-
tion imposed upon trout-fishers throughout this part of
Britain.
Leister. Agreeably to the laws of our ancient
realm, there are none. Trout are reckoned as res
nullius, and the property of those that can capture
them. But, sir, you must understand that our north-
ern landholders have a law with themselves in regard
to this matter, which, as no patriotic individual has
8
io6 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
as yet thought it worth his while to dispute, is kept in
severe practice against all who infringe upon it. In
Sutherland especially you will find it in its fullest
force. Belonging, it may be said, to a single proprietor,
this immense territory is controlled upon a system
which infringes very considerably upon Scottish privi-
leges. Its numerous lochs and rivers, where the
destruction would scarcely be noticed were an army of
us scattered among them to angle for a century, all
these are in a manner shut up against the craft, nor is
it an easy matter to acquire access to them.
WaTidle. And Eoss-shire ? — Do these innovations
upon public rights extend to it also ?
Leister. Partly to every shire in the north of Scot-
land. You perceive in our southern districts, how-
ever, we are able to keep ourselves free from such
unhallowed interference on the part of the landhold-
ers, who well know that all measures taken to check
anglers in the peaceful exercise of their pastime must
prove abortive — provided, of course, they have estab-
lished by usage a right of access to the water-edge,
otherwise the tenant of the lands through which they
pass has it in his power to pursue them as trespass-
ers. In the counties I have alluded to, a mere ac-
tion of trespass could scarcely be supported in any
court, unless damage had actually and conjointly
been effected — a thing next to impossible among
moorland wastes, and along the unrestrained chan-
nels of the rapid rivers. The soil, unless planted
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS. 107
or cultivated, is free to all. Even some of its posses-
sors do not dispute this ; but display your angling-rod,
and you will have keepers immediately at your side,
charging you to change the scene of your operations.
Wanclle. And were one to resist their authority,
what would be the consequences ?
Leister. The immediate ones would of course be
greatly against the party challenged, although I can-
not persuade myself but that the proprietor, unless
holding the water and its fishings directly from the
crown, would ultimately be the loser — at least, the case
never having been pushed to any proper determina-
tion, I am urged, upon legal principles, to believe so.
Alas ! Mr. Wandle-weir, they know little who imagine
of Scotland that her hills are the dwelling-places of
the free — they dream not of the inroads of gigantic
monopolies athwart the rights and liberties of her
children — of lords of the soil expatriating their vas-
sals — usurping public and prescriptive privileges —
acting the unchallenged despot over every foot of
their petty dominions. But so it is ! An unnatu-
ral policy is in force under the outworks of the true
constitution, neither assisted nor yet opposed by
state machinery — the spirit of a system, which threat-
ens to reassume and concentrate the barbarous in-
vestitures of feudal ages. These are excrescences
upon the trunks of power, displacing every humble
hindrance to their growth, often through legal wile
and artifice, but oftener by the strong arm of might.
io8 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
The aggressions of men of influence in the north are
becoming every day bolder — the attitudes assumed by
them more and more insolent. They distort the ear
of justice, trample upon the prerogatives of the people,
delete the most sacred charters, and encircle with
a palisado of obnoxious enactments their ill-gotten
acquisitions.
Wandle. This is a sad picture of things, Mr. Leister,
and bids fair, Herl-broke, to knock our projected
excursion on the head.
Leister. Nay, gentlemen, I have no such design, and
would only depress a trifle your preconceived notions
of Highland liberality. You may find, however, this
praise-besplattered virtue better exemplified by ex-
periencing the proofs on't. By all means trip it north-
wards — you will not want amusement, and, if sketchers
as well as anglers, may occasionally drop in among
enviable masses of scenery, choice groupings of tree,
hill, and water, weU worthy of your attention. Among
our club papers, by-the-bye, we have several communi-
cations from different members of our fraternity regard-
ing various waters in the districts of Scotland you
intend visiting. You are welcome, should you desire
it, to a perusal of these, and I have no doubt they will
afford you some minute information with respect to the
angling qualifications of such lochs and rivers as you
are likely to fall in with during your tour.
Wandle. You greatly oblige us, Mr. Leister, and I,
for my part, shall certainly take advantage of your
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS. 109
offer, as also, I have no doubt, will oiy friend Herl-
broke. What say you, Dick ?
Herl. Most thankfully and by all means.
The above is a fragment of conversation which took place
betwixt Messrs. Leister, Wandle-weir, and Herl-broke,
previous to the departure of the two latter gentlemen
for the north of Scotland. As in the course of it allu-
sion is made to certain papers communicated by mem-
bers of the club, we think it proper, having obtained
possession of one or more of these, to insert them in
this place, premising, that they appear to us generally,
if not specifically correct. The following is an account
of some of the streams and lochs belonging to Easter
Ross-shire.
LOCH ACHILTY, ROSS-SHIRE.
There are few lakes in Scotland so attractive as
Loch Achilty. It is situated in a forest of natural
birch, the more graceful of our British trees. On
one side stands its own Tor, the nursery of our
northern red-deer; on the other rises Craigdarroch,
a wild accumulation of rocks and masses. Both
hills are plentifully wooded, and have a thick,
waist-deep heather covering in many parts. Loch
Achilty is a singular piece of water — singular in
its make, its workings, and its produce. It has
several inlets, and, strange to say, no visible outlet.
The bottom is of a softish substance, full of springs^
and strewn over with trunks of sunken trees that
no ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
have lain there for ages. Although fed from a
mossy origin by dark-coloured streams, the water
of Loch Achilty is during summer pure and crystal-
line, unlike that of Loch Nech-Beann, or the Lake
of the White-Horse, above Towie, out of which,
and through a smaller tarn, its principal feeder comes.
In this uppermost loch are found fine-sized red-trout,
which dash eagerly at the fly towards gloaming, but
at other times are shy or asleep, for they rise
infrequently and with more circumspection ; yet one
may occasionally capture a dozen or two of them by
nice management, and this number will fill a common-
sized creel to the very brim. There is a heronry on a
small island within this mountain reservoir, which is
well worthy of observation.
The middle sheet of water, Loch-an-Drame,
lying down in a fairy-haunted hollow, teems with
small, lively fish. In Loch Achilty itself, the trout,
though by no means large, are yet well-sized, and
singularly strong. When hooked, they make di-
rectly for the bottom, and cause an uncommon
vibratory sensation along the line. They are not
remarkably thick-shaped, but the head is small, and
the flesh red and well-flavoured.
The most curious production of Loch Achilty is
its char. This beautiful fish is indeed discovered
in a number of our Scottish lakes, but nowhere
have we found it so eager in its approaches towards
the fly as in this loch. On a calm, warm day, the
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS, iii
whole surface is alive with its bellings, which one
would imagine proceeded from so many springs at the
bottom. It rises to any colour and size of insect
employed, repeating a false snatch until pricked with
the barb of the hook. Its dart, however, is not so rapid
as that of the trout, and scarcely so true. The char of
Loch Achilty generally measures from six to nine inches.
It is shaped like the gurnet, and, in proportion to its
length, is of small depth and circumference. The head
and upper parts are of a gTeyish-brown colour, marked
with whitish spots ; the belly and lower fins pink,
approaching to carmine. At table it is a perfect
dainty, having a fine, delicate flavour, superior to that
of any trout I ever tasted. One might easily capture
three dozen of them among twice as many trout on a
favourable day in Loch Achilty.
Besides the char and trout, this beautiful lake
teems with another fish of smaller dimensions, and
seemingly a variety of the stickle-back. It swims
sometimes in shoals, like the minnow, and some-
times alone. Although no doubt occasionally de-
voured by the trout and char, I never observed any
attacks made upon it by these fish, and am inclined
to believe that it is by no means a favourite food of
theirs ; yet I cannot affirm that I actually investi-
gated this matter with any degree of care or
curiosity. Be that as it may, the stickle-back of
Loch Achilty is itself a singular production, differ-
ing in its habits and appearance from the more
112 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
common varieties of that little fish. It is thick and
girthy, prefers swimming in places of considerable depth,
although close to the margin, and moves at a sort of
jerking but by no means rapid pace. It loves also to
congregate in an unsuspicious and familiar manner
round the legs of the wader, exhibiting a sort of stupid
tameness that not a little surprised me. There seems
to be no regular season for the spawn of this diminutive
animal. I observed it paired off both during summer
and winter along the shallows, in order to deposit its
ova. When in this ripe state, it presents a dull and
unhealthy appearance, and its movements were evidently
painful and constrained.
The spawning of the Loch Achilty char seemed
to me, in several instances, if not in all, a subter-
raneous operation, carried on among the roots of
springs, and in the oozy and caverned outlet of its
waters. The fish, I am credibly informed, have been
caught repeatedly by means of a creel, during
winter, in places where the effluent current, after
finding its way some hundred yards under ground,
emerged again into daylight, before discharging
itself by other subterraneous channels into the
Easay or Black-water, a considerable stream in
the neighbourhood. That the char of Loch Achilty
do not, at least in any quantity, ascend its feeders
to spawn, I am convinced, for I have examined
these carefully the whole of the autumn, winter,
and spring months, and for some time during sum-
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS. 113
mer, without being able to discover any traces what-
ever of the fish. It is possible, indeed, that they carry
on nocturnal operations along a piece of shoal ground
lying at what may be termed the foot of the loch, op-
posite Craigdarroch, although I never had the fortune
to observe a single straggler during daylight on the
spot I mention ; indeed, the occupation of it by a large
and voracious species of Canadian water-fowl prevents
entirely the intrusion of small fish over this part of
Loch Achilty.
THE RIVER CON AN, LOCH LUICHART, ETC.
Not far from this lake runs the Conan, a deep and
dark-coloured river, passing in its higher channels
through a number of excellent trouting lochs. "Were it
not for the cruive fishings near its mouth, Conan would
no doubt prove a favourite stream with the angler. The
falls also, a short way below Loch Luichart, are a great
obstacle to the progTess of salmon, which, were they re-
moved, might proceed inland above thirty miles, and
over a succession of spawning beds of a first-rate quality.
It has been in the contemplation of those interested
in the fishings of this river to blast or cut out a
stair-case channel through the bed of rock forming
the principal fall, and I have no doubt, were this done,
the salmon would immediately take advantage of the
improvement. The same experiment might be tried
at the Kogie falls on the Black-water, a tributary of
1 14 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
the Conan. Of course, scene-hunters and lovers of the
picturesque would, and with some degree of justice,
place their interdict upon such proceedings. The de-
struction of a beautiful cascade is certainly a piece of
Gothicism quite out of character with the spirit of a
polite age, and I would join sincerely with them in
deprecating the unhallowed act, were I not convinced
that effect might be given to the plan on foot with-
out detriment to the scenic attractions connected
with either of the waterfalls. At any rate, ample
compensation is made for petty injuries, by the in-
troduction of the salmon through a chain of moun-
tain rocks, unequalled in their wildness, and into
the higher parts of a river possessed, as the Conan
along Strath-Bran is, with every requisite which
could occasion and further the increase of this noble
fish.
Both falls — those of Conan and Eogie — merit the
curiosity of the tourist. The former are of a savage
sort, and the body of water launching itself over
the naked rocks is of huge compactness, foamy and
turbulent. The approach to it is not the best, and
we believe it is seldom visited, although nowise in a
very secluded situation, lying about a mile above Little
Scatwell. Notwithstanding that it is of very con-
siderable height, more so than an ordinary salmon-
leap, a fish occasionally has been known to get the
better of it. One was taken, not long since, at
the head of Loch Luichart, in a very weakly and
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS. 115
exhausted state. Kogie falls on the Black-water are
much more frequently ascended than those of Gonan,
being lower, and having on one side of them a de-
tached run, over the precipitate part of which salmon
can easily toss themselves when the river is in any
degree flooded. A cruive, however, is placed during
the open season at the bottom of this passage.
There is a good deal of picturesque beauty about
the Rogie falls, but they scarcely equal those of
Conan. On one side of them wave graceful birch -
trees, of natural growth ; the other is what may
be termed a bare ascent, although covered with
heather and furze-bushes, broom and juniper. The
Black-water is a first-rate angling stream, being as-
cended by the larger proportion of fish that find their
way over the cruives at Conan mouth. The part of
it immediately below the falls is rocky, and contains
some choice water for the rod. Besides salmon, some
portions of it contain beautiful yellow trout, weighing
in general from one to five pounds. These may be
taken with the fly, but more easily with a small par,
although pike are apt too frequently to interfere with
this bait. I once caught four trout of betwixt three
or four pounds weight each, a short way above the
Rogie falls, while trolling with wire tackle and the
upper half of a smaller fish. These fellows did not
display much cunning, but darted voraciously at the
mangled lure, assailing it with the eagerness of a
shark, and by no means uninclined to repeat a false
1x6 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. *
bolt, although evidently pricked and cautioned to their
heart's content, as I at first imagined. It was plain
they were perfectly unacquainted with the shadow of
a rod, and never until that day had been taught
the mysteries of honest old Isaac. Peace be to their
manes !
There are few trout in the lower parts of Conan so
large, which is owing perhaps to the constant sifting
of its principal streams for salmon. T have occasion-
ally, however, taken them above a pound weight in
places inaccessible to the drag-net. Along Strath-Bran
also, after the river leaves Ledgowan Loch, and a short
way above Achnanault, great fish are to be met with in
some of the deep pools. They will rise at a large, red
professor-fly, and even grilse hooks have been found
effectual. I would much, however, prefer angling
there with a small fish upon swivel tackle. Gimp also
should be used, to prevent pike, which are very numer-
ous in that district, from doing mischief to the ap-
paratus. Loch Luichart, through which Conan runs,
is of good repute as an angling loch ; perhaps, indeed,
it is somewhat over-rated. The trout found in it aver-
ages from half a pound to a pound in weight ; occasion-
ally, however, it has been caught of a much larger size.
It is a beautiful and strong fish, with salmon-coloured
flesh, and magnificently spotted on the outside, but
rises to the fly lazily and with great caution, at times
merely approaching your hook, and retiring again
without so much as a single snatch. I have killed,
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS. 117
angling from the side, betwixt three or four dozen in
the course of a forenoon with a red professor of the
ordinary size.
The streams running into Conan below Loch Lui-
chart are, besides the Easay or Black-water, the Meig
from Strath-Conan, and, lower dowm, the Orrin. I am
not acquainted with any prime salmon pools on the
Meig, except those in the neighbourhood of Scatwell,
and immediately below a rocky and dangerous pass,
over which the fish only occasionally find a transit.
The trout in this stream are generally insignificant,
as also are those found in Orrin, although we believe
well-sized ones are now and then to be captured in
the upper parts of both waters.
Immediately above Loch Luichart, the Gradie river
falls into Conan, issuing from Loch Fannich, a con-
siderable extent of water. — Loch Fannich contains
numbers of small trout, and possibly a few of great
size. It is, however, scarcely worthy of the angler's
attention, being situated in a wild, pastoral, unaccom-
modating district, and not readily approached even
by the pedestrian. The Strath-Bran lakes, although
frequently angled on, and some of them stored with
pike, are infinitely superior.
Besides these, a small tarn, lying upon the hill-
path betwixt Scatwell and Achnanault, is by no
means to be overlooked. There are twain together,
but I allude to the more northernly ; for although
angling in both, I failed to discover fish in the other.
ii8 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
In fact, I take to myself the merit of being the first
who ever drew trout out of this one, and I had failed
doing so, were it not for a fit of perseverance which
came upon me at the time, for I cannot affirm that
the fish are exceedingly numerous or incKned to bite
well, yet they are large, and so singularly beautiful
and well-formed, that I defy any loch in the kingdom
to produce their equal. I caught only three of them,
with the red professor, upon a Limerick hook. The
biggest of these weighed seven pounds, and measured
somewhat about twenty- two inches. Its girth, when
compared with its proportions, was enormous, and its
head no bigger than a walnut. On the breast, it had
the colour, and to my fancy the fragrance also, of a
water-lily, only that there was a tinge of the rose in
its nature. Farther up, the body became of a light
olive colour, gloriously starred over with orange spots.
He fought with great spirit, and sprang out of water
like a new-run grilse at the end of his first heat, and
when obliged to succumb, did so with all the un-
willingness of an expiring Ministry ! At table, I
never saw even a salmon redder in the flesh, which
was interlay ered with curd of marrowy flavour and
unequalled whiteness. The other two fish were of the
same description, only much smaller, not weighing
above a pound and a half each.
Eeverting to the Strath-Bran lochs, the angler, a
short way from the bridge at Grugie, where there is
a public-house, comes, pursuing his way up the Conan,
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS. 119
to Loch CuUen. The trout in this sheet of water are
some of them of great size ; many, however, are under
twelve inches in length, but there are few very small
ones. I killed one there weighing three pounds, on
the same day that I caught the large one mentioned
above, besides several others. But I did not handle
the rod with much enthusiasm or for any length of
time, as it was then getting late and no breeze on the
water ; besides, I was over-content with what I had
already taken. The Cullen trout, judging from the
specimens captured by myself, wants both beauty of
form as well as fleshy fairness. My largest fish,
although not half the heaviness, was almost of the
same length as the one previously alluded to from
the hill-loch, and its head fully three times the size.
The smaller ones, from a pound weight and down-
wards, were better proportioned, but by no means
beautiful in appearance.
Achnanault Loch lies immediately above Cullen, and
is somewhat of the same description, although I have
heard it asserted that the trout therein are of larger
size and less plentiful in number, pike being very abun-
dant. The cursory trial I took of it showed in a man-
ner the reverse ; for of the two fish I captured there in
the course of ten minutes, both were smaller than any I
caught in the other loch. This, however, arose possibly
from accident; indeed, I have generally remarked, when
two lakes are near each other and joined by a run of
water, that the uppermost contains the larger fish.
I20 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Conan above Achnanault, where there is an excellent
inn, runs over a channelly bottom, favourable to the
spawning of trout, which, however, are not quite so
plentiful as one would naturally expect. This arises
partly from the depredations of their enemies, the pike,
partly from the cannibalism of the giants of their own
species, and perhaps also from the long-continued de-
scent of snow-water into Conan during spring and the
early part of summer. There are, however, in many of
the pools heavy and well-conditioned fish. These wink
at a small fly, and love better the bushy and bearded
lure, or else a spinning bait worth darting after, that
gleams across them when the water is quick and swollen.
A mile or two above Achnanault, the Conan
leaves Loch Gowan, a sheet of water of no very
great extent, but celebrated above all others in Eoss-
shire for the size of the trout it affords. These
weigh generally from three to ten pounds. I can-
not say with accuracy whether any heavier ones
have been captured. I suspect not a great number,
for the range of water is by no means extensive — a
mere pool in size compared with Loch Awe or Shin
— and the fish is evidently not the salmo ferox, but
a lake trout of inferior description, differing from it
both in its shape and general features. Like all
large trout, it has certain feeding hours, dependent
frequently upon the state of the weather, but for the
most part regularly timed off by sun and shade.
During these only it can be taken, either by a dark
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS. 121
grilse fly, or by trolling with a small fish. The fly, I
believe, is preferable, there being numbers of pike to
snap at a spinning bait.
At no great distance from Ledgowan, and in the
neighbourhood of Auchnasheen, lies Loch Roshk, a
considerable sheet of water, affording very superior
angling. Its trout, like those in the places already
mentioned, attain to a large size, and may be captured
by a good angler in considerable numbers.
I am not personally acquainted with many other
lochs worthy of recommendation in the eastern districts
of Eoss-shire. There are, it is true, Lochs Garve or
Malaing, through which the Black-water runs, Ussie
and Kinellan, near Strathpeffer, all of which contain
quantities of pike ; and as to Loch Garve, and a smaller
sheet of water in its vicinity, they boast of some good
trout, but these are scarcely worth wasting our patience
upon, being so dull and capricious. The inky nature
of the water which they inhabit seems indeed to injure
their appetite for the fly. Perhaps there is no stream
in Scotland so dark in its colour, during summer, as the
Black-river. Such, in fact, is its quality in this respect,
that salmon ascending it have been known to become
perfectly foul-hued in the course of forty hours.
Such is the substance of a communication made to the
club by one of its members, regarding some of the
waters in Easter Ross-shire. No mention, we perceive,.
is made of Loch Moir, lying at the extremity of Wyvis,
9
122 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
neither of Monar in Strath-Orrin, both of which are well
spoken of by such as have visited them. The adjoining
very brief extracts from another epistolary paper, oflFered
to the inspection of Mr. Wandle-weir, are perhaps worthy
of perusal, relating as they do to the more prominent
waters in the western districts of the same shire .
WESTERN DISTRICTS OF ROSS-SHIRE.
I HAVE just angled in the Ewe, Gruinyard, Torridon,
Carron and Shiel waters, and may safely assert that,
taking them in the mass, they stand altogether unri-
valled. The Eve, issuing from Loch Maree, and justly
celebrated by Sir Humphrey Davy, consists merely
of two or three pools, but these of such a quality,
that at certain times a couple of skilful rods might
load a horse with salmon, grilse, and sea-trout. The
fish, however, are capricious, and refuse to rise during
particular states of the water, which, owing to the
influence of the wind on Loch Maree, is constantly
varying. The loch itself affords what may, in that
district, be termed poor angling. The salmon find
their way into it with some difficulty, and yellow
trout, though occasionally to be met with, are by no
means very abundant. Char, resembling those of
Windermere, inhabit its deep places, but are not to
be captured with the fly. The scenery is grandly
wild, yet scarcely so savage as that on the banks of
the Torridon, which present to the eye a continued
surface of loose and scattered rocks, singularly ar-
THE NORTHERN LOCHS AND RIVERS. 123
ranged, and prodigious as to quantity. I found this
latter water in a very exhausted state, and conse-
quently met with little success. I am informed, how-
ever, that, when flooded, the angling is very superior.
I was more fortunate by many degrees on the Carron,
the lower pools of which being in prime condition, and
full of fish, afforded me as fine sport as I ever before
experienced. Had I been provided with good tackle, I
might easily have mastered above a hundred weight of
salmon and grilses. As it was, having only a trouting-
wand, and slenderly-dressed flies, the execution made
by me among the larger sorts of fish was greatly
limited, and I had chiefly to content myself with the
demolition of some scores of sea-trout and finnocks.
The former of these gave excellent play, being fresh-
run and generally well-sized, averaging from one to
three pounds in weight.
There are several fresh-water lochs in the district of
Loch Carron, but I cannot greatly commend them, save
that they are somewhat picturesque. Salmon which
have surmounted the cruive-dyke above New-Kelso
are, however, occasionally to be caught in the
lowermost.
Passing to Loch Alsh, and from thence to Loch
Duich, a beautiful and superbly wooded arm of the
sea, I fell in with the Croe and Shiel waters, both of
which, when in a flooded state, are reckoned excel-
lent. My success at the mouth of the latter was
fair, but by no means equalled what I met with on
124 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
the Carron. I had, however, a store of fish in my
creel, and trudged on with a contented heart towards
Cluany, from which next morning I angled my way
through Glen-Garry to Fort-Augustus.
»25
CHAPTER VIII.
ANGLING TOUR
TO THE NORTH-WEST HIGHLANDS.
Early in the month of August 183 — , Messrs. Leis-
ter, Otter, Swiveltop, and May-fly, as was their
wont during summer, set forth on an angling expedi-
tion to the North-west Highlands. The route selected
by these gentlemen differed in some respects from
that taken by Wandle-weir and his friends, who were
probably by this time on their return southwards.
A communication from Mr. Herl-broke, dated 25 th
July, had been received by the club at C h,
previous to starting, wherein he stated their suc-
cess, considering the dryness of the season, to have
been of a satisfactory nature ; only three salmon,
however, had as yet been captured, the reduced
state of the streams confining their amusement, in
a great measure, to angling in lochs and hill-tarns.
126 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Mr. Leister and his companions were fortunately
not destined to experience the calamity complained of
by their English brethren. On the contrary, their
very outset was conducted under a beautiful discharge
of the watery element ; and on arriving at Loch Awe,
where it was intended their operations should com-
mence, it proved to one and all of our anglers a matter
of no little gratification to discover the Orchy and other
surrounding waters desirably flooded and trimmed out
for sport. A large salmon was quickly taken by Tom
Otter, above the kirk at Dalmally, and Jack Leister
was so far successful as to load his pannier to the lid
with honest-sized trout. Nothing, however, worthy of
notice was achieved either by May-fly or the worthy
Doctor, who, it may be remarked, went to work in an
indolent, leisurely, and over-presumptuous style, with-
out deeming it worth their patience to exercise any
degree of craft or ability,
The day following was spent by all four in trolling
from a boat for the sahio ferox, of which redoubtable
species of fish they had the misfortune to lose three
fine specimens, securing only a sorry individual of five
pound weight, along with a score or so of excellent
yellow trout, averaging in their length from twelve to
fifteen inches. The escape of the larger fish was
owing principally to the intervention of a strong variety
of water- weed, along the nettings of which the boat at
the time of their seizing the bait happened to be di-
rected. To this subaqueous retreat the trout, on
TOUR TO NORTH-WEST HIGHLANDS. 127
finding themselves hooked, naturally retired, and, en-
tangling the cordlines by which they were held among
a series of lengthy roots and inextricable cables, gave
to our anglers no other choice than that of parting
company with them, which, as this act of submis-
sion was more than twice repeated, had the effect of
calling forth many sore expressions of temporary
regret.
We have no intention, however, of following out
the movements of our piscatorial adventurers further
than is detailed in course of the annexed conversations,
which, linked though they be with little incident, may
nevertheless prove worthy of a hasty perusal.
GLEN ETIVE.
Enter May-fly and Swiveltop.
May. Stretch thy wits, good Doctor, a hair's length.
I am sorely nonplussed, and confoundedly knocked
up. Oh ! this weary trudging o'er moss and moor,
through strong chasms and torrent beds — this wrest-
ling with hunger, rain, wind, and darkness — it takes
the romance out of one for ever ! Where, in the
name of wonder, is this track they talked of, and
the precious domicile yclept an inn ? — eight miles
128 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
off ! — ay, and eight twice told ; which, with our
morning's walk to boot, is no small matter. We have
been sixteen hours agog. Doctor — I don't bate a
minute — and no cheer at our lips neither.
Swivel. Keep up heart. Bill, we're in old Scotland
still, and by a stream-side.
May. Plague on the stream ! Now that you talk
on't, these fish on my back are not feathers.
Swivel. Toss them to the ravens. Bill — no marvel
thy courage is low under such a burden.
May. Art thou serious. Doctor ? — is it in thy philo-
sophy to separate us from our spoils ? Thou hast
broad shoulders ; prithee carry them awhile, and ex-
change panniers.
Swivel. Ay, Bill, with wondrous satisfaction. — Is all
to thy mind ? [UxchaTige baskets.'}
May. Even so.
Swivel. And to mine also. Bill. [Drops May-fly's fish
among the heather.} This load steadies me, and puts
vigour into my limbs. I can now resist the wind,
and plant my foot with more firmness on the heath.
May. I wish thee all joy of such blessings. Doctor.
But where are we, and why advance ? What a
wilderness I can fancy around me ! — hills, mosses,
and decayed forests. This glimmer is more frightful
than utter darkness — I like it not. The stone-blind
night hath fewer horrors. Ha ! what is yon ?
Sioivel. A white ghost to be sure ! Maybe, Bill,
'tis the ghost of the inn we are searching after.
TOUR TO NORTH-WEST HIGHLANDS. 129
No lights, however — no merry fires to draw the
damp out of us ! But stay — it moves.
May. Ay ! Doctor, so it doth. Gra'mercy, 'tis
a wraith !
Swivel. If so, by all means let us capture it ;
'twill make our fortunes, Bill. A show-spectre will
charm the virtuosi, and reduce the over-stock of
men's wits. Mayhap 'tis one of Fingal's heroes !
We are not far from Cona, mind you- — and if such,
what tales it may unfold ? How the tomes of
learned antiquaries will slide from the glass-case to
the lumber-room, when their pure palaver is exposed
and contradicted by its legendary tongue ? But how
shall we bribe it to approach. Bill ? Shall we offer
it thy trout, man ? — wandering ghosts are always
hungry. — But ha ! it moves again.
May. Let us pass quietly to this side —
Swivel. And flee our good fortune ? — Nay, Bill,
nay, thou advisest without judgment. I will show
my front, and question it as to our track and
destination — where this King's-house on the moor
of Eannoch lies.
May. Folly ! perilous folly ! — but take thy way
on't. Doctor.
Swivel. Oh ! by all the miracles of St. Anthony ! 'tis
a horse — a cart-horse — and nothing but a cart-horse 1
Hie thee, Bill, this way, and behold a cart-horse.
May. No unwelcome omen. Doctor ; — the inn
cannot be far distant.
130 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Svnvel. But how are we to find it, Bill ? Is't to
the right or left hand of us, think you ?
May. To the left, I opine.
Swivel. To the left, then, let us turn by all means^
although I have my doubts on't.
May. Doubters are always in the wrong, Doctor.
Swivel. We shall see. Bill. I marvel much what
Otter and Leister can be about at present ?
May. Snug at Bunaw, where we ourselves ought to
have remained, instead of trudging up this houseless
glen without their company, and at dead of night too
— ay I and hungry as wolves, wet as fishes, and
weary as souls in purgatory.
Sivivel, Who is to blame, Bill ?
May, Oh ! of course, my unfortunate self. But
what could we miserable anglers capture out of the
broad Awe ? — not even a wretched par.
Swivel. And what did we capture out of the narrow
Etive ? — Where were the hosts of sea-trout you pro-
mised me. Bill ? — the sparkling salmon and capering
grilses ? Where that pleasant inn your fancy
pictured, overlooking a pool paved with fish, so that
from its windows we might handle our wands, and
while discussing the contents of a punch-bowl, land
at the same time a sixteen-pounder ? — Glorious
dreams, these — Elysian visions, Bill ! What a brief
walk we had, besides, from Portsonachan, level and
void of roughnesses ; — to be sure our eyes were well
feasted : there were heaths, and brackens, and barked
TOUR TO NORTH-WEST HIGHLANDS. 131
trees in abundance, and heads of hills besides, rather
grand-looking, but to my taste very unsocial and grim-
visaged. I fancy a green, southern, flowery knoll
before any of them.
May. Tasteless impiety ! thou'rt a monster of pre-
judice. Doctor.
Swivel. So be it ! But how shall we turn now ? the
river, you perceive, takes an angle, and should we
pursue it on towards the source, 'twill only bewilder
us the farther.
May. Then, Doctor, I must drop. Should the inn
be not at hand, 'tis useless to goad me on, I am past
remedy, and can take my chance upon the wet heather
until sun-rise.
Swivel. Out on thee 1 thou art not so flagged. Bill ;
give me back my pannier. We must ford the stream ;
'tis impossible that the King's-house lies on this side
on't. There is neither road nor foot-path — and road,
of a certainty, there ought to be, or Scotland is not
Scotland.
May. I protest against such daring. The river is
swollen and rapid as a race-horse ; we shall be carried
off in a twinkling and never again heard of. Many of
the pools are whole fathoms deep. — There's peril in't,
even in day -light — but now —
Swivel. Be brave. Bill, be brave. I'll pick thee
a passage, man, will not over-whelm thee. Strangle
these Gorgons of thine, and follow me. See you,
the river is not greatly flooded, and this is no doubt
132 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
a shallow stream, although somewhat rough and
noisy. I shall feel my way with my rod. Not
knee-deep, Bill, I affirm ! — Come on, boldly — ha !
there's a slippery stone hereabouts^push to the left.
May. I shall be down to a certainty.
Swivel. Keep thy legs together, and thy side to
the current — move ! move ! — deliberation is danger.
See, I am nearly across. Thy hand, Bill — we are safe !
May. 'Tis well, for I am sadly worsted ; and now
let us rest an hour on this bank.
Swivel. Not one minute ; I value my life more.
'Twould stiffen us to do so into sheer corses. Up,
up. Bill 1 and shake the drench water off thee by
a brisk gallop towards yon dark-looking object a
short way before us. 'Tis a hut, but an uninhabited
one — a goat shed, methinks. But hurra ! here is
the road — the government road leading to Fort-
William ! We are close upon King's-house, Bill !
May. I see it not — and yet, as you say, it must be
at hand. How shall we proceed. Doctor? right or left?
Swivel. I am puzzled, Bill, like thyself 'Tis cer-
tain, however, that Glencoe lies in the latter direc-
tion ; should we take the other we stumble upon
Eannoch moor, where, for ought I know, we may
stand at this moment. Let us decide by the toss
of a coin ; heads, right — tails, left.
May. TaHs!
Swivel. To the left then we go —
May. And on a good, smooth road, which 'tis a
TOUR TO NORTH-WEST HIGHLANDS. 133
pleasure to travel, after the rough bone-shaking we
have just had. I feel wonderfully recruited, and able
to perform miracles.
Swivel. Vaunt not, Bill ; but take thine own creel,
an' thou be'est so valour-getting. These trout of thine
annoy my shoulders not a little.
May. Ah ! Doctor, art thou failing at last ? But
hand the pannier this way — why, it seems to me like
an air-bladder 1
Swivel. So it ought, Bill, seeing its contents are one
and the same.
May. What ! hast thou made away with my fish ?
Audacity indeed ! unexampled sacrilege ! — flung what I
have toiled and sweated for to the base-born carrion-
crows ? 'Tis too much to endure meekly. Doctor
Swiveltop ! I abjure thy fellowship. Thou art a com-
mon cateran and body-spoiler. Away ! away ! lest I
inflict the bastinado, and pommel thee into shivers.
Swivel. Most valiant May-fly ! we honour thy very
infirmities. Be not wroth as the roused lion, nor slay
us in the heat of thine anger ! — What to thee, Bill, are
a few score of fingerlings ?
May. Fingerlings ! Doctor Swiveltop ? — they were
pounders — ay, two pounders !
Swivel. Oh ! Bill, not a two-ounce fish amongst
them. 'Twas an absolute sin in thee to butcher such
fry. Saw you not how the very swallows, while thou
wert swinging them out, pounced upon them instead of
gad-flies ?
134 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
May. I assert, Doctor Nathan Swiveltop, that
those trout of mine, you so wilfully and criminally
abandoned, and which you now most slanderously hold
up to ridicule, were, one and all of them, large and
delectable fish — that they weighed in general from two
to three pounds, although, at the same time, I will to
any one, save yourself, allow that five or six of the
smallest did not greatly exceed nineteen or twenty
ounces.
Swivel. Good ! — excellent ! — bravo ! — well-done ! —
hurra ! — and thou wouldest have forced me, Bill, to
carry thy pannier, containing five dozen such fish (far
beyond a hundred weight, mark you), for the pure sake
of displaying thy prowess to the ignorant inmates of a
country inn, and without any regard or fellow-feeling for
my fatigue and endurance ? Methinks I did well to
rid me of such a load ! Egad, Bill, thou art a vile com-
puter and wretched arithmetician. This paltry fabric of
willows, yclept thy creel, may barely contain a stone-
weight of fish, yet, to thy fable-making fancy, 'twould
conceal leviathans. ! how thou stretchest the borders
of nature to make room for unheard-of marvels !
May. Hold thy prating, Nathan Swiveltop, and
anger me not.
Swivel. Thy wrath is pleasant. Bill — pleasant as
comedy. I love thee when fired, and hate thee when
cool. I love all passionate men. The even-tempered,
and what some term the amiable, are either villains,
cunning, selfish, and avaricious — otherwise they are
TOUR TO NORTH-WEST HIGHLANDS. 135
fools, silly, simpering, and inanimate. But here, heaven
be thanked, Bill ! is a turf-hovel — and inhabited, I pre-
sume. Let us arouse the slumbering Celts, and make
enquiries as to the inn. (Knocking.) Ho! good folks, hollo !
May. Hit harder, Doctor ; apply the butt-end of thy
rod to this make-shift of a door. Hear you that
flourish of nose-trumpets ! What a snorting these
sleepy-pates make ! Hollo ! bestir ye ! (Knocks.)
Sivivel. Thou hast thunder in thy fists. Bill, like old
Jupiter; but these worthy souls seem charm-bound,
quite entranced — hollo ! you, hollo !
May. Ha ! they move and hold consultation. Can
you direct us to King's-house, honest folks ? — (J^o
answer. ) Hollo ! you inside ! have you tongue-pieces or
ear caverns ? — speak for the sake of mercy — we are
lost wayfarers, tired as tinkers' mules, and hungry as
trapped weasels. (Another whispering.)
Swivel. They take us for burglars or cut-throats.
"We are now in Glencoe, methinks, and the massacre is
not out of memory !
May. Give them a touch of Gaelic, Doctor; quote
Ossian, or shout a war-cry.
Swivel. Alas ! Bill, I am a poor scholar, and know
not the lingo. Up, knaves, and show face instanter ?
Uncourteous hounds ! why lag ye on your straw, while
two wandering knights of the angle crave their way to
the hostelry ? — Up, ye lazy loons !
( Voice from within.) Her nain sel pe comin — what
does she want with Alister Mactonal' ?
136 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Sivivel. Why, the road to King's-house, good
Alister.
Voice. Ta Sassenach is on ta road.
Swivel. Ay ! but on which hand does it lie ? — east or
west ? north or south ? up or down ? right or left ? —
Dost thou hear, Alister Macdonald ?
May. The fellow has slunk off to bed. Hollo !
Alister Macdonald — son of a dog ! show thyself — come
forth, Alister, come forth.
Voice. What does ta Sassenach want ?
May. Thy face, rascal. Do you take us for gangers ?
Ajar with that gateway of thine, and give us a peep at
thee.
(Alister, cautiously opening the door.) Ta man be
good, and her face pe good.
Swivel. Better than her heart! — And now, Alister Mac-
donald, tell us, I pray thee, where we are — Is thisGlencoe?
Alister. To pe shure.
Swivel. And how far may we be from King's-house ?
— a mile ?
Alister. To pe shure.
Swivel. Six miles ?
Alister. To pe shure.
May. The man is a dolt — let us on. Doctor !
Swivel. He is a knave, Bill. Stay — dost thou know
what this is, Alister ? (Displays his purse.)
Alister. Ta siller, to be shure.
Swivel. Well, tuck thy kilt on, and be our guide to
King's-house ; we will reward thee like princes.
TOUR TO NORTH-WEST HIGHLANDS. 137
Alister. And what will ta Sassenach gi'e to her
nain sel' ?
Swivel. Make an honest demand, Alister.
Alister. Twa guineas frae sic shentlemans, shure
enough ?
Swivel. Get thee to bed, greedy hound ! — thou
shalt not see a doit of mine. Away, bare-faced, lazy-
boned rascal ! we have no need of thee. Put wind
into thy sporran, and make a bagpipe o't. Come along,
Bill, and leave that boor to learn modesty.
{Alister MacdoncUd shuts the door, muttering a curse in Gaelic.)
May. Another specimen of these western Celts I
— rude, abject, and rapacious. They have neither
conscience nor good-feeling. Marked you how that
miserable wretch shook with sheer terror, as he dis-
played himself cautiously at the entrance of his hovel,
after the long colloquy held with his helpmate
under the blankets, during which, I have no doubt,
they both convinced themselves of our intention to
rob and murder them ?
Swivel. Very likely, Bill, but we must now retrace
our steps ; for the inn, I feel assured, lies not in this
direction, and as for obtaining a night's lodgings
elsewhere, 'tis out of all likelihood, judging from the
reception we have just met with. Quick march. Bill !
— what ails thee, thou man of valour ?
May. What ails a wind-broken horse or a jaded
hound ? I am desperately flagged. Doctor, quite
10
138 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
knocked up ; I can't drag a leg after its fellow, I can't
lift a jaw, or turn a cheek, or throw up an eye-shutter.
My back aches, my belly groans, my legs totter, and
my hands are weak and passive as an infant's.
Swivel. This is a sudden change. Methought thy
vigour was restored, and that thou wert fresh as at
starting. Where now hath thy valour gone, that I
may bring it thee ? But move, man, move ! Force
up courage for a score of minutes. Shake thy ma-
chinery into action.
May. Nay, Doctor, I cannot. I am conquered
for want of thews invincible ; I have walked off all
power of walking on — my heart halts and
Swivel. Fudge ! But thou art ill-like in earnest,
and chalk-coloured in the visage. Mount upon my
back. Bill ; I will carry thee, man ; come, get up.
May. Not so, not so ; let me lean on this stone
awhile. 'Twill revive me. Doctor, and freshen my
limbs.
Swivel. Folly ! hoist thyself on these shoulders of
mine. Thou art light as thine own pannier, and
salmon-sized withal. Fancy a stirrup. Bill, and put
thy foot in't. I am no restive unruly charger, but
sure-paced, and quiet as a lamb. So mount thee,
Bill — necessity has no law — besides, thou hast the
joke to thyself.
May. I will e'en ascend thee, thou biped perilous !
— but not fast, not fast ; for I am giddy as a wind-
mill, and the wits are . flying out of me in legions. Be
TOUR TO NORTH-WEST HIGHLANDS. 139
thine amble gentle and measured, as thou wert a
lady's palfrey and no war-horse. Methought I saw
a light — and there again !
Swivel. Some marsh-lanthorn or Will o' Wisp.
May. Nay, Doctor, nay ; lift thy head and opine
on't. Is't this King's-house, think you ?
Swivel. A haunted cairn. Bill, and a witch at her
cantrips.
May. 'Tis the inn, Doctor, I wager a round sum.
Halt, and let me dismount ere I am jostled to death.
Swivel. Thou art a poor equestrian. Bill — but
look ! there be two figures approaching us from the
stream side.
May. Heaven defend us ! — move quicker.
Swivel. thou craven 1 — where are thy ails and
heart-burns ? How gottest thou wings in such a
hurry ? Speed, speed, speed ! — the Celts are after
thee. Bill ! {May-fly exit.) What hath seized the
fool, and who are here to harm him ? Do none walk
i' th' night save cut-throats ? O white-liver ! what
cost is't to resemble a man, and by an assumption
of courage hold his attitude, albeit having no more
o' the true virtue in thee than a mouse's hide.
Were there not twain of us besides, should they
prove dishonest ? An air of comnion resolution
would have scared them. But these are no night
marauders. Ha ! ha ! ha ! Otter and Jack Leister.
Enter Otter and Leister.
Leister. Even so. Doctor. What dost thou here ?
r40 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
thy creel on thy back moreover ? Where is May-
fly ?
Swivel. Saw you not how he fled, terror-struck,
at your approach ? 'Tis plain he is no hero. His
misapprehensions converted you into highwaymen,
and I doubt not he will have reached the inn by this
time, should these be its walls from which yonder
light proceeds.
Otter. How, Doctor, still in search of your night's
shelter ? We thought to have found you snugly
seated by a good fire, merry about the face, and in
that sort of agreeable semi-slumber which refuses
all power of locomotion to him who is seized with it.
Swivel. And you envied us mightily, Tom, no
doubt. Ah ! to your fancy, we came off easily, after
being thrice drenched, bogged, and bewildered. I
might fabricate a winter's-night tale out of our dis-
asters, did I so design ; but you are laden, like ele-
phants — ha ! here is a salmon.
Leister. Ay, and three grilses — a salmo ferox, and
eleven sea-trout. These are only part of our day's
sport. The remainder, however, which we left at
Bunaw, were chiefly yellow-fry and finnocks. Our
salmo ferox, as you see, is on Otter's shoulders, and
weighs sixteen pounds. He is a rarely-formed fish, and
was taken with the Maule-fly at the outlet of Loch
Awe. But you shall have him to scrutinize at lei-
sure, when we reach the inn. How got you on at
the Etive, Doctor ? Did May-fly fulfil his vaunts ?
TOUR TO NORTH-WEST HIGHLANDS. 141
Svnvel. Question himself, Jack. — See, there he is
in propria persona^ attended by a Celtic body-guard,
for the purpose, I imagine, of delivering me from the
liands of such notorious highwaymen and slayers of
the king's lieges, as you and Tom Otter.
Otter. Greet him with three cheers.
All. Hurra ! hurra ! hurra !
Enter May-fly, attended hy two others.
Swivel. To the rescue, most valiant Bill I I am
sore beset by these foot-pads on either side of me.
What ? armed with a pitch -fork, too ? charge upon
them.
Leister. Nay, a truce. Master May -fly, we sur-
render — mar us not, I pray thee, with a weapon so
unseemly.
May. Is't thou. Jack, and Otter too ? egad ! boys,
but ye have sprung out of the water, and must have
rushed up Etive, like twain milters. Here is the
hostelry yclept King's-house, as you see, and here am
I, Will May-fly, blind and pinched below the ribs
with fatigue and famine ; wherefore, haste ye, mas-
ters, and enter, so that I may satiate instanter the
cravings of nature — fill up my internal vacancies,
nook and cranny, with such moor dainties as this
refuge-roof affords — and forthwith betake myself,
plenteously primed, to slumber on cool sheets, all
blanketings abjured and discarded.
Intrant omnes.
142
CHAPTEE IX.
CARRON, ROSS-SHIRE.
Otter and Leister.
Otter. I am all in a tremor, Jack, and cannot un-
riddle my tackle for want of nerve. See how these
flies are bewildered ! Here is a Gordian knot with
a vengeance, and no remedies beside me but patience
and my penknife. The former I have lost, and to
it I set with the latter, hacking and maiming this
way and that, while you, already trimmed, are on
the point of discharging your hook at the snout of
one of those gallant fish, which belabour the water
with their tails in all quarters. What a muster of
salmon, grilses, and sea-trout !
Leister. Ay, Tom, and I have hold of a fellow at
throw first — a grilse by his capers, five pound weight.
CARRON, ROSS-SHIRE. 143
and wild as a north-west swirl. He seems as if one
shook nettles at his forehead, flinging and floundering
without stay or reason. I have captured many that
held their death -strife more deliberately. 'Tis in
vain, Sir Silverside, that thou art so frolicksome ! I
have the lead of thee, friend, so shore-in sideways.
Now, Tom, take thy turn o' the pool.
Otter. Nay, Jack, I will onward or above thee, and
may pitch on a stream to my fancy, where the fish
are as numerous as they seem hereabouts.
Leister. I doubt it ; there is no part of the whole
water so promising, barring the Cruive pool, which
has already been dragged by the fishermen, and of
course, besides having been thoroughly disturbed, is
pretty well emptied of its contents. No doubt, you
may meet with abundance of sea- trout near the mouth
of the river, but the salmon and larger fish are chiefly
lodged within a hundred yards of us. Set to, Tom,
and take the noblest of them in tow. Ha ! you raised
a huge fellow, but neglected to strike. Change your
fly for a smaller one, and cast higher up.
Otter. I shall bide by my hook. Jack ; 'tis faultless.
There again — a different fish
Leister. And missed him, too ! I would cause my
fly to move more rapidly over the surface ; the fel-
low rose at it as if suspicious of harm. Send it a
sort of galloping pace, and it will smooth down this
distrust. Excellent ! he springs after it like a tiger.
— Line, line, line — line and your legs — a sixteen
144 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
pounder — run, Tom — now, wind up like lightning,
— he takes a somerset
Otter. And is off 1 hook and all — no help ; my gut
tackle is single, and hy some degTees too weak; I must
use it in plies, or run the risk of parting with every fish
which I may chance to fix. You need not stand idle.
Jack; lay on amongst them right and left; you are sure
to have hold of a fellow immediately, only use caution in
guiding him, and disturb the water as little as possible.
Leister. I shall certainly keep on guard against
doing so. What plunges these monsters are taking !
But there is no use throwing my fly over them, they
have not appetite for it at present, and are merely
diverting themselves ; yet there be some less capri-
cious spirits awaiting me underneath, which keep their
frolics in check until quickened by the taste of my
steel barb. One showed face at me this instant, and
leaves a vortex on the water behind him — again he
has risen, and with no better result. I shall put on
a lively looking Irish fly in exchange for this dull
insect, and should it not ruflle his gorget, I abjure
further intermeddling with him.
Otter. No mighty threat this. Jack. I have now
armed my line with a stout Maule-fly of moderate
size, and have no doubt it will banish the lethargy
out of some half-dormant epicure, and cause his flanks
to turn over magnificently on the gravel. Already
I have fastened on one of N'eptune's ambassadors
to the river-gods, a splendid salmon, excelling the
CARRON, ROSS-SHIRE. 145
one I have just lost. See how he posts across the
pool ! But what ! are you similarly occupied with
another of the retinue ?
Leister. I am, Tom ; and 'tis a gallant fin. Who
shall conquer first ?
Otter. My rod is a degree too slender, and I cannot
deal as is meet with this fellow. It bends almost to
my wrist, and is in danger of giving way immediately
should he make any violent efforts to escape. But he
is too heavy to throw himself out of the water with
readiness, and seems inclined to steer deep rather than
vault and gambol on the surface. I shall find it
difficult to fatigue him, as I dare not trust to this
switch of mine, and his leisurely saunterings up and
down the pool are no small proof of inherent strength.
That fish of yours seems in a fair way of subduing
himself by over exertion.
Leister. He is an active fellow, and, were not my
wand a double-handed one, might manage to give me
the slip ; but I hold him firm, and have no fear of his
flinging off. I have already taken much of the devil
out of him, and he now begins to show rib and turn
up his keel despondingly. • But no ! he is out again,
marring the reserve of the pool, as if there were fire at
his tail. Should I get him into shoal water, I must
have the gaff-hook employed instanter — and yet with-
out assistance, 'tis no easy matter to run it across his
flanks. Hilloa ! boy, can I trust you to take the
keeping of this rod into your hands a moment, while
146 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
I lodge my grappling iron in the body of yonder
salmon ? Hold tight, my youngster, here he comes,
twelve good pounds I warrant him.
Otter. The fish I have hold of is still heavier, and
flags a degree or two in the main, but I shall have
some work yet ere he is thoroughly tired out. His
paces are more measured and sober, and he seems not
a little non-plussed how to proceed. The curbing of a
prime salmon like this is pleasurable to our nerves. I
like his runs and rangings — his zealous pushes after
escape and liberty — his strong facing of the rapids,
and his plunge brave and systematic. Help him to a
touch of thy gaff-hook. Jack, and, mind thou, keep
clear of the line, and do the job cleverly, as thou art
wont. Good ! he is mastered ; lay him alongside of
the other, and let us test the twain, while the pool is
under process of recovery. The floundering of these
fish must have scared their neighbours ; — but no, they
are still at play, and, if tempted cunningly, will show
face to us anon. The salt-water louse is still on the
pate of this fellow ; he has but lately left the sea, and
is in beautiful trim for the table. Shall we pack him
off to the inn, Jack, and have him cooked for our
dinner ?
Leister. Nay, Tom, I love to be graced with my
spoils, and were you to rob me of their presence, 'tis
ten to one but I should lose all power and inclination
to take another cast. Allow them to remain, I shall
angle the more vigorously when they are by me.
CARRON, ROSS-SHIRE. 147
What is this ? no other than a lively fresh-run sea-
trout.
Otter. A boisterous rollicker, Jack, agile as Har-
lequin ; tame him, tame him.
Leister. 'Tis pretty sport gettmg hold of such merry
ones ; he is sport, however, and must ashore without
further ado, else he will aid in rousing his comrades to
suspect our propinquity. That was a good salmon
you struck at, Tom.
Otter. Ay, but he is clear off, with the bite of a
Limerick, on his tongue-end. Marry ! he will bethink
himself well ere he venture again after fly-food. I
have taught him to be sapient.
Leister. A rare spot this for fish, Tom. Look you
here what famous fellows are still holding gaudeamus !
— but 'tis no use marching my hook over them, they
are too saucy to raise a nostril towards me, save in sheer
contempt of my skill and feather-craft. Methinks we
should abandon the pool for an hour or two, and go sea-
wards after the white-trout and finnocks. We have
thrashed the water hereabouts to our heart's content,
and are not likely to evoke aught more of the monstrous
out of it at present. So e'en let us proceed.
Otter. You advise justly, Jack, but first we may
as well make a change in our tackle. I shall append
a black-professor and one of my own grasshoppers.
'Tis killing, as you know, among sea-trout. The boy
will carry our fish.
148 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
ANOTHER PART OF THE WATER.
Leister. Count your spoils, Tom, muster up your
booties ; 'tis time for us to be steering towards our
night quarters. I am somewhat voracious, and my
rod-arm is waxing stiff. Besides, what further is't
possible to achieve ? the breeze is dead, and the fish
dull. 'Tis now past four in the afternoon, and we
have plied at it these eight hours, doing, it must be
granted, no small damage. Let me see, I have here
twain salmon, five grilses, and twenty-nine sea-trout,
along with a score of finnocks and burn-fish.
Otter. Good ! you out-weigh me, I fear, but not
greatly. I have but one salmon, four grilses, thirty-
two sea-trout, and about a dozen or so of the other
trash. Scarcely are they to be carried homewards,
methinks, by these tired arms and aching shoulders.
'Tis a herculean load after its sort, and fortunate we
are in not having to travel any distance. Wet thy
lips at my flask, Jack, 'twill help thee to strength,
and annihilate the seeds rheumatic, which a day's
cold wading is apt to imbed in the soil of one's con-
stitution.
Leister. Thy medicine. Otter, hath an honest look ;
better is't, of a verity, than most stuffs and liquids.
They are fools that cry out on't, as it were alway
harm's maker, though used at need-time and in
moderate measures. Prime whisky 'tis, that hath
tricked scrutiny and baffled the ganger, having the
CARRON, ROSS-SHIRE. 149
breath of the heather and the spirit of the grain,
welled out in silence by the tarn-side. Dark forms
watched at its birth ; the eagle and the red-deer were
in their trust ; and up at midnight, like a ghost
of the mountain, rose the small smoke of their
secret fire.
Otter. What, Jack ! whisky eulogies ! — ahem ! poetic
too ! Oh ! tush, man, tush !
Exeunt.
150
CHAPTEE X.
ADVENTURES.
Enter May-fly and Swiveltop.
May. Let us down upon earth's lap, good Doctor, and
take note of the prospect below us. Of what use is't
to tramp onward in rear of Jack Leister, for the purpose
of persecuting a few loch-trout? Have we not laboured
already, enough and in vain ? I am cowed out of
patience by heat and gad-flies. Oh ! for the cold de-
scent of some winter-spirit, to fan off in his flight these
stinging sun-rays. Art thou not in a thaw, Doctor ?
dropping apace ?
Swivel. Ay ! verily. Bill ; but here is a tree-trunk,
old, girthy, and wizard-like, yet withal green in part,
and offering kind, cool shelter to our exhausted limbs.
Let us throw ourselves down beneath its shadow.
'Tis an alder — and such an alder ! There are other
trees of like size in its neighbourhood. What trees i
ADVENTURES. 151
they rival England's eldest oaks — not in height, I
allow, but in circumference of stem ; perhaps in age
also. See these knotted congers and hideous constric-
tors — the writhing and athletic mass of disinterred
roots. Are they not worth our contemplating ? Here,
Bill, let us drop.
May, What! among these ferns, and in the proximity
of this ant-hill ? I love not the offensive crawlers,
nor consider my flesh safe in their neighbourhood.
They are a bandit brood, and infest the bracken-forest
far and wide. Eather let us ascend to yonder jut of
gray rock, from which the bearded goat hath just now
sprung ; 'tis more to my mind as a resting-place, and is
sheltered also by another of these alders, fully as large
and fantastic as the one which you first admired.
Swivel. We are both of us bad selectors of a lux-
urious seat. If you dread ants, I am no friend to a
rough, hard, and uneasy stone-crag, when it may be
avoided by our progressing to yonder patch of smooth,
dry verdure, the very spot which a wood-nymph would
select for her summer couch. It is both sunned and
shaded, and see, from its ferny marge, upstart two
gentle roes, wild, beautiful creatures — children of a
dream. They are not altogether afraid, but pause and
turn to gaze with large, mild eye, on our intrud-
ing presence. Who that saw them now could be
their butcher ?
May. I would not trust even thyself, Doctor, wert
thou aptly armed. 'Tis bad sensibility, and mawkish
152 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
to compassionate a prime roe-buck because of his big
eyes and graceful attitudes. I sympathize none with
it. But the twain are gone, and have no faith in
thee, despite of thy pitying phrase. Howbeit, thou
hast pitched upon a pretty covert for our day-slumbers.
The turf is to a wish, soft, green, and free from damp ;
and these birches, though they want the architectural
build and amplitude of the trees we have left in our
rear, form a cool, pleasant screen, such as we much
desire to ward ofP from us the sun's oppression. Let
us rest our rods athwart this bough. Have they not
a picturesque and natural look about them, as if they
were things of growth, not of handicraft ? This is
true luxury. Doctor — more so than wading waist-deep
for a nibble.
Swivel. Allowed, Bill ; — but I have still an eye
river-ward, and fondle the notion of some huge, black
trout inhabiting yonder deep, half-sluggish pool.
Yet as for starting them now under such a sun,
'tis impossible. I am content to imagine their
existence, and should I be led to angle again in
this quarter, may have the good fortune to take
prisoners a creelful. At present let them enjoy life
untempted.
May. Even so ; — the sights and sounds on all sides
of us are infinitely more attractive to me than the
cutting off of their brief careers. Hear you not the
falls at this distance ? how this continuous murmur
haunts the air, intermingled with the more lively
ADVENTURES. 153
brawling of the stream below ! What various musics
hath nature, and with how much of nicety do they suit
humanity — ay, and operate on the heart, moulding its
moods and tempers according as they are high or low,
solemn or humorous, glad or terrific ! The voice of
such a waterfall speaks home to our feelings, and
separates from the servile flesh, where they are
inhumed, those loftier portions of our nature, that are
akin to the Maker and God of good. Among Scottish
cataracts, Doctor, I w^ould reckon this of C n not
the least imposing. 'Tis in no wise hackneyed or hurt
by tasteless artifice, like many of greater note, yet
hath it all the sublimer characteristics of these. The
body of water is strong and straitly confined, descending
vigorously over a rampart of high rocks. 'Tis a gallant
and terrible leap, as of a whole legion into a pool of
wrath — and alway in front arises a spray-spectre,
taking its form from the winds. You may mark it
from where we recline, but not so clearly as to distin-
guish the rainbows with which it is inlaid.
S'wivel. To tell thee my mind, Bill, I am no mighty
admirer of waterfalls. Should they be well reputed
and praisingly talked of my fancy is apt to exaggerate
their attractions, and when visiting them I ever
become disappointed. Yet such a cascade as this,
stumbled upon unexpectedly, fails not to arrest my
attention. There are no violations of nature through-
out its confines — no foot-print of the Goth within the
sanctuary ; all is secret as where the hinds calve.
11
154 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
What see we around but huge hills, bare and bleak —
or skirted, like this one, with promiscuous wood —
and below us, to our left, only a single stripe of
plough-turned soil, with a few scattered hovels, each
of which is tenanted to the full by the children's
children of such as were centuries past the inhabiters
of the self-same spot ? These are no intruders on
solitude, for they hum ever close to their own hives,
and adventure not in quest of sights and sounds, remote
but a step from the roofs under which they harbour.
Despite of them build within call the boding raven
and the sun-buzzard, while the red-deer of Achilty
brandishes his careless antlers from rock and forest.
Listen thou, and spell out the elements of nature's
anthem — the dulcet clusters of glad voices, that fill
the surrounding air. Bees, birdS; and waters, mingle
together their several harmonies, and now, among these
thousand twinkling leaves above us, singeth plaintively
the summer wind. Its tones unman me most, for they
are soft and touching as of female sorrow — yet this
^ust is bolder. Bill, and creates a crave in me to test
again the water. I must up and away to the loch of
Herons above Tarvie wood, where I may chance,
should the breeze improve, to ring the snouts of a
score as spirited fish as ever cleft flood — and that
in spite of all threat or restriction on the part of the
proprietor.
Mo.y. This is a sudden resolution, Doctor — a
wayward caprice. I am in no mood to second thee.
ADVENTURES. 155
but shall slumber pleasantly where I am, until Leis-
ter heave up alongside, on his return from Loch
Luichart.
Swivel. The ravens will assail thee, Bill, an thou
sleepest ; moreover, there be wild cats in the neigh-
bourhood, and weasels without count. See, what is
this ?— no other than a huge viper.
May. Say you, Doctor, a viper ! a hydra ! Egad 'tis
time to shove off — where is the legless ruffian, that we
may smite him ?
Swivel. Here, Bill, coiled up like a Eussian knout,
and hissing on us with head erect, after the fashion of
a tea-kettle. He will escape an you be not quick at
marring him.
May. No fear ; I shall stay his careering stylishly,
or the cunning is out of my right hand. Marry ! I have
hit him on the sconce, and ta'en the edge out of his
fangs ; but I must now impede his motion with a tail-
cut, else will he, as you say, bid us good-morrow
among the brackens. How lovest thou this, thou worm
of Acheron ? methinks thy vertebral screw is somewhat
damaged 1 Oh ! thou ugly, flat-pated fiend, toad-hued,
abominable reptile, still wouldest thou exalt thee with
grim malicious visage and horrid crest ! Abate thee,
Master Spitfire, and bite the sod !
Swivel. What bloody fractions. Bill, thou hast
parcelled him into ! Where is thy heart, man ? Be-
shrew thee for want of charity !
May. Bah ! Doctor, 'twas in sheer charity I so
156 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
inalefactored him. Were he not vile in his natuK?
and dangerous, I had as lief let him free. As 'twas,
he got bat a semi-torturing. But start you or stay ?
— In truth, I myself have no relish for further down-
sitting, seeing 'tis at such peril as these ambushed
adders cause to one's breech. Nay ! to speak truth,
I have an inkling after merry sport in this loch you
talk of, and though inclined to be sluggish, shall
nevertheless shake myself, out of courtesy, into an
active humour.
Exetmt.
HEEON LOCH.
May. The little waves are riding forth by hosts. I
like well the water's aspect. See you, there be some
fellows on the feed at the distance of three rods.
Let us lay our lines over them. 'Gad ! what a
vault this copper- fin took ; but the barb is in his
tongue, and he may whistle a death-dirge. By Jove !
'tis a very cayman in \dgour ! — he runs line like a
salmon, and
Swivel, Is off, Bill.
May. Ay, Doctor, sped and away ! gone by the
spirit of mischief I My courage is down ten degrees
at a start.
Swivel. Faith ! 'tis true ; what a melancholy atti-
tude you are in ! Cheer up. Bill ; one would imagine
you were become bankrupt, and had a surcoat out
at the elbows — in fact, that you meditate self-
ADVENTURES. 157
destruction — and all for loss of a twelve-inch trout,
the like of which may be taken at next cast by one of
moderate skill and even in the temper.
May. Is't so, Doctor ? then I'll to't again. Marry !
as you predicate, I have seamed another at the muzzle,
and no stripling — but I must use caution, for he makes
towards the bottom, where the weeds are dense. —
Hallo ! knave, astir and shun trickery — fight fair,
master trout !
Sivivcl. So, to my mind, he doth ; not being on
parole, he is free to escape when and how he listeth.
May. I have him.
Sivivel. You have, Bill ! conquest unparalleled !
triumph without equal ! never within its ribbed con-
fines throbbed, like thine, the big heart of some king-
subduer — never was so stirred the pride of orator, when
he held in the chains of eloquence a thousand listeners
— all naturally freemen ! Come, be not too large in
thine own reckoning ; lower thyself a grade out of
charity, lest I be terror-struck in thy presence. Bill,
and lose valour. Howbeit, I am nigh on a level with
thee, and hold fast some lively water-cleaver, which
mayhap is destined immediately to bite the marge.
But who is this making towards us. Bill ?
May. Marry ! I know not. He hath a boorish gait
— but is armed, one may perceive, with authority.
No doubt he intends to act the mar-sport. What say
you. Doctor, shall we resist, or move off quietly at his
bidding ?
158 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Swivel. Eesist, by all means, Bill. There can be
no legal hindrance to our angling hereabout, seeing
we possess freedom of trespass from the tenantry.
Are trout not common to all, and the property of
the captor ? Let us combat the matter, Bill, and
stand fast.
Enter Keeper.
Keeper. May I ask, masters, whether you have the
proprietor's written permission to angle in this loch ?
Swivel. How, friend, does your laird shut up his
waters, so that strangers, like us, have it not in our
power to take an hour's amusement even on a re-
mote hill-top ? We have no passport, nor count upon
one as needful, but intend to remain where we are,
until driven away by the strong hand ; wherefore
attempt not of thyself to foil us, but betake thee
else-ward.
Keeper. Having warned you, masters, you will
not refuse to yield me your names for prosecution,
else must I proceed to call in assistance, being so
empowered ?
Swivel. Here be our cards, friend, which you
may bear on a thunderbolt to your laird ; mean-
while, we shall angle here according to our discre-
tion, and shall possibly, you can inform him, do
ourselves the honour of presenting him, ere sunset,
with a creelful of good trout — so God speed you !
— What wait you for ?
ADVENTURES. 159
Keeper. To say truth, masters, you will find it better
to be advised.
Swivel. Oh ! we are in no such humour, and shall
abide the issue with great content ; again, I pray you,
depart, an you bear love to your master.
Exit Keeper.
May. The fellow hath a look expectant, and moves
snailishly on his errand.
Swivel. Ay ! he gapes after a bribe, and would fain
wink at our breach of his laird's ordinance ; but what
is rightfully ours we design not to purchase, so e'en let
him wag his tongue against us ; 'tis to me a matter of
moonshine.
May. Set to, Doctor, now that we are quit of the
knave, and fill up thy pannier. 'Twill astonish Leister,
should we out-weigh him, as we might do with a little
management. There is a deep piece of water eastward
of the heronry, to which I would fain repair, while you
thrash on hereabout.
Swivel. I am content to do so, Bill, having promise
before me of good sport.
ANOTHER PART OF THE LOCH.
Swivel. What, Bill, seated disconsolate on a stone,
waiting like cock o' the weather for a wind-puff ! Are
thy flies still in sallying mood ? Hast had luck, boy,
that thou'rt so patient grown ?
May. I have tooth-ached not a few rascals, but
i6o ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
the greater part were too nimble for me, and fought
themselves off the hook ere I could enforce their sub-
mission. Out on them ! they are tender-mouthed, yet
strong in the tail and of ample muscle, else had I
encreeled a neat score of them. See, the seven I have
slaughtered make of themselves an honest heap, and
might stand in room of an eight-pound slice of salmon.
But where. Doctor, hast thou been ? I have missed
thee from the water's edge these two hours, yet seem-
ingly art thou well-laden with fish, if fish these be on
thy shoulders, causing thee such uneasiness.
Swivel. Ay, that they are ! two and three pounders
each ! I captured them in a small tarn lying not
three hundred yards from where we stand, yclept
Loch L n. 'Twas signified to me by an urchin
I chanced to fall in with, immediately after your
departure ; and although somewhat incredulous of
his information, I determined, as it lay at no great
distance, to give myself the benefit of a trial.
The trout, such as I have taken from it, seem to
have been planted there some years ago, and are
by no means numerous. In fact, I question much
whether they have as yet spawned, notwithstanding
the facilities they have of doing so ; there being
several small water-courses running into various
parts of the loch. I have mastered thirteen of them,
and, strange to say, these were all I encountered ;
but they rose with great truth and avidity, and
were mostly hooked in the throat or lower part of
ADVENTURES. i6i
the tongue, so that, without any very great exertion,
it was impossible for them to escape, my tackle being
.strong and in good order.
May. How, think you, they weigh ?
Swivel. Two stone at the least, not an ounce under.
They are no bagatelle you will allow, and pain my
shoulders considerably — the strap of my pannier being
somewhat narrow. I will relieve myself for a space,
find lay out my spoils on the heather.
May. What a swasher lias this been ! — gaunt and
big in the bone, a contrast rare to that sleek-sided
monk of a fish you threw just down, which more
resembles one of those caught in this loch, save that
it hath twice its dimensions, and is of darker hue about
the belly ; — altogether, you have wrought an achieve-
ment, which will cause Leister to rub his eyes out of
suspicion that they are sadly bewitched. Faith ! but
I shall forth myself, an it please you to guide me, and
make second mischief among the knaves.
Swivel. Nay, Bill, not in such haste ; 'tis a dead
•calm on the water surface. Moreover, methinks I
have mastered all such as were within reach of my
fly and in rising humour. Delay till to-morrow, and
may you speed well !
May. I shall task myself to do so, seeing your
-counsel hath reason in't. Do you not marvel.
Doctor, at the heronry on yonder islet ? What a
singular aspect it presents ! Not a leaf is there on
the whole cluster of trees, where are cradled the
i62 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
huge nests of the fisher-bird, but bare they standi
as if under the thraldom of winter, and disarrayed
by the tempest. 'Tis, at such a season as this, a
strange sight, out of accordance with all summer
things.
Swivel But not so, Bill, with nature. From her
treasure-house of wonders she ever instructs us, foil-
ing her blooms with barrenness, and, in the centre of
what most rejoices, exhibiting a wreck like this, to
remind us of frosts, winters, and decay. There is
something impressive in the aspect of those rude
fabrics, reared by unwieldy birds, and repaired by
them with religious diligence, as if they were indeed
very sanctuaries. And so too they are, for in them
have been cradled many generations of the heron-
tribe. Through antiquity they have become sacred,
and sacred moreover are they, as domestic abodes —
retreats for the young, the wearied, and the blood-
bestained. Hearken to the clangour of their many
inhabitants ! the various notes and signal-cries with
which they fill the air. One might imagine a military
encampment not far off, and these sounds to be martial
ones. See, there is a heron-patriarch, wheeling above
the others — a slow air-pacer, with white crest and
plumage. He is a bird of authority, and, as he lowers
himself towards the islet, all in the garrulous divan
become quiet.
May. Let us swim across. Doctor, and indulge our-
selves in a narrow inspection of this curiosity.
ADVENTURES. 163
Swivel. With all my heart, Bill. I wish we could
send a truce flag before us, and cause these long-
shanked islanders to know of our pacific intentions :
however, at the worst, we shall only scare them
during a brief interval from their domiciles, and
this, methinks, is no great grievance. What, Bill,
already on the point of plunging ? Have a care
of those water-weeds to your right. They are
tough and long, and should you strike in amongst,
them 'twill be no easy matter, I apprehend, to escape
perdition. But stay ; let us start together. I would
fain back my oars against thine for a handful of
groats. Now, push off.
THE HERON ISLE.
May. Manifestly, we are intruders, and, to speak
truth. Doctor, I am alarmed lest a bold bird or twain
from among these screamers should take heart to
attack us. We have no weapons of defence, and
by these beaks overhead run risk of being stilettoed
at a swoop. Good luck ! here is a cudgel, and a
strong one.
Swivel. Polly, Bill ! Art afraid, man, of a few
water-fowl ?
May. Not so. Doctor, but I stand on guard, being
ignorant of their natures. Marry ! are they not
threatening in their attitudes, wrathful in their cries,,
dangerously armed, and desperately congregated ? But,
what have you there ?
i64 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Swivel. An unfledged bird, which I am somewhat
at a Iqss how to capture, he employs his rostrum to
such good purpose. However, I have got my fingers
about his throat, and shall lug him into your presence.
May. 'Sooth, a strange-looking object ! Think you
he would prove delicate at the fork's point ? 'Tis
a prize, Doctor, and must visit the mainland in our
company. He will roast trimly, despite of these stilts
of his.
Swivel. Aback! pitiless epicure — is this thy hu-
mour ? Came we here as kidnappers, forsooth ?
Why tarry these birds that they enact not the harpy
upon thee, destroyer of their progeny, and violator
of their cradles ? But it must not be, Master May-
fly, and this scion of theirs I shall hoist again into his
nursery forthwith.
May. Truly, he merits no such favour. Look at
this pile of bone, scale, and refuse. What gluttons
he and his kin are ! 'Tis their usage to make a
pretty havoc hereabout among the infant fry. They
are poachers consummate, and do more to depopulate
our salmon rivers than the whole of our fraternity.
Let us make an example, and gibbet this bird at the
threshold of his sires.
Stvivel. Most monstrous and unchristian ! I credit
not my ears. Master May-fly. Is such truly thy
proposition ?
May. Even so.
Swivel. Thou'rt cool withal — singularly cool. Can'st
ADVENTURES. 165
take a scalp, Bill, or sever a windpipe, or brew
broth of vipers ? Art up to all the sleights and
trickeries ? Stars ! I have a perilous neighbourhood,
and walk on thorns. Where gettest thou thy lack of
clemency, Bill ? Is't framed or natural ? purchased or
gifted ? Hath it limits ? or is it in extension infinite ?
But come — at length off thine eyebrows is the grim
resolve ; thou art driven to be compunctious.
May. Not a whit ; — to appease thee, however, I
am content to forego the committal of an act so
thoroughly barbarous as the neck-screwing of a
young heron. Now — may we recross, an it pleases
you.
Sivivel. With much good- will.
SIDE OF THE HERON LOCH.
Swivel. Array thee in haste, Bill ; I espy yonder
our morning friend the keeper bearing down upon
us in company with two other mongrels of like stamp
or calling.
May. E'en let them pass —
Swivel. If so they list, but such is not their design,
Mark you how the rascals will make law for us.
without warrant or commission. Their whole aim
is to usurp our angling-rods, but they may save their
cunning, else have I, Nathan Swiveltop, lost stance
for my wits.
i66 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Enter Keepers.
1st Keeper. So ho ! masters, still as I left you ?
Swivel. N"ay, friend ; my rod is idle, as half an eye
might discern. This is a fair piece of water.
1st Keeper. And I warrant me, you have raked it
foully. But you must e'en deliver these rods and fish
into our keeping, and trudge off.
Swivel. Hear you. Bill, what the knave hath need
of ! I presume, friend, you hold special authority for
this demand. Well ! should we decline compliance,
how mean you to act ? What ! is't thus ? Aback and
discover your warrant, else shall we reckon with you as
common foot-pads. I pray you, hands off ! — is it your
design to assault and rob us ? 'Sooth, ye should have
studied your men more accurately — but take a care.
2d Keeper. D you, sir, yield up this rod !
2o? Keeper attempts to seize the fishing-rod from Swiveltop,
who knocks him down.
Swivel. Art satisfied, friend ? — By heavens ! rascal,
lower that barrel of thine.
1st Keeper. Surrender by G — !
Presenting his gun, which May-fly, rushing up to him^
forces out of his hand^ andfiings into the loch.
May. Eh ? villain, wouldest play the miscreant ?
March thou after that birding-piece of thine, and allow
ADVENTURES. 167
lis to pass. Gad, Doctor, yonder comes Jack Leister
at full speed.
Swivel. And in the nick of time — Ho ! master
keeper, no slinking ! an thou goest, carry thy gun
with thee ; 'tis within reach, and will pop out splen-
did bilge-water. Art pettish, forsooth ? stay then, and
file in with thy comrades. Marry 1 we shall find
law to redress us, seeing you have been handled so
smoothly. Assault with intent of robbery ! — 'tis no
light offence, mark you !
1st Keeper. We had the laird's orders.
Swivel. Your laird's order, friend! — what! to plunder
us of our property, and, in case of resistance, level a
barrel at our heads ? Who is this laird of yours that
is so absolute ? By Jove ! he hath rare power now-a-
days, that can frame his own statutes ! But go your
ways, and learn to give the laws reverence. Were we
so minded, you might find this matter one of some
cost. Well, Jack, whence come you ?
Exeunt Keepers.
Enter Leister.
Leister. Across from Loch Luichart, with intent to
take a cast hereabouts on my way to the inn. But
what has happened, Doctor ?
Swivel. Only a tussle with some of the laird's
keepers, the particulars of which I shall recount to
thee on our road homeward. How has it fared with
thee, Jack, in the way of sport ?
i68 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Leister. By no means as I expected. I have about
nine pounds weight of fish slung over my left shoulder,
and these earned by sheer dint of perseverance, with-
out help of breeze or cloud. Is it by otter-craft you
procured such a burden, Doctor ? Uncover, I prithee,
and give me the benefit of an in-peep.
Swivel. Immediately, Jack ; but first let us on a
space, and baifle the eyes of these three knaves who
have just quitted us. 'Tis want of policy to allow
them knowledge of our good fortune.
Exeuni.
169
CHAPTEE XI.
CLOSE OF THE SEASON NOVEMBER FISHING
WITH SALMON-ROE.
May-fly and Oiter.
May. 'Tis yellow November ; and on apace creeps
chills and storms, those calamities among which the
year closes. Methinks there is a mood o' the mind
to every month in the calendar — and now, 'tis our
month of melancholy. Let us hang up the wand,
Tom, until spring-tide. I hav6 lost my love to it a
degree or two, and feel as if nature for a season
were wresting it from my hands. How hastily the
dark waters glide, leaf strewn, as it were by the' fin-
gers of fairy foresters ! They have too mournful a
hue for our flies, and not a trout can one note at the
surface.
Otter. I design angling, Bill, with the salmon-roe, of
which I have a store in my creel. See, there are Leis-
12
I70 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
ter and Swiveltop doing execution therewith on the
stream immediately above us. That trite saying, " the
more the merrier," holds good of this sort of water-
raking. Wherefore let us set to — they will join us
ere long, should we have pitched upon the better pool.
Shorten your line, Bill, and throw up against the cur-
rent. A large single hook you may, on the whole, find
preferable to the double ones you have in your pocket-
book ; however, try them, they will retain the bait
more readily than the other, but are scarcely so well
adapted for securing the fish. I feel already the rub
of a snout against my barb ; and now I have one fast,
a good yellow fin, and not a whit out of season, judg-
ing by his complexion. Fix a leaden pellet or twain,
four inches above the hook. Bill, and while angling,
keep your casting-line more on the stretch. Tug
smarter, man ; you would scarcely run your point
through a fungus at that rate of striking. I have
another, and shall capture half a score besides, ere you
draw blood.
May. The fault is in the fish, Tom, they bite with
such delicacy and want of vigour.
Otter. 'Tis their manner, Bill, when feeding on this
bait, to suck it like the carp — but less hesitatingly than
you imagine. I mistake much if it be not frequently
engrossed within the jaws of a huge fellow, without our
being able to perceive the slightest indication of an
attack made upon it. The true secret of roe-fishing is
in fact to strike immediately upon the progress of the
CLOSE OF THE SEASON. 171
liook appearing in any degree checked, and not defer
doing so until we sustain a direct and palpable assault.
But you employ too large a bait, and compress it arti-
ficially round your wire, like a soap-ball, designed to
cleanse the outside rather than tickle the palate. A
bit the size of a horse-bean is sufficient ; — and note you.
Bill, allow it to cling to the steel-barb, as you naturally
remove it on your finger-point from the jar which con-
tains it. — But I have hold of something huge ; 'tis a
sea-trout methinks, black, lubberly, and impotent. He
wallops down the river without half his ordinary
strength, and can with difficulty draw out a fathom of
line from my reel. I pity the poor fellow, and should
I land him, shall suffer him to escape. He is of no
account out of his element save as manure ; even
crows would pick lazily at him !
May. Toss him to me, Tom, he will aid wonderfully
the filling of my pannier.
Otter. Nay, nay ; 'tis a fish forbidden, and must
off out of sight in a twinkling. There are water
bailiffs about the place, that no doubt keep eye upon
us ; — moreover, I have a certain strong respect for
tlie close-season, and am unwilling to violate the
enactments relating to it by the detention even of
a paltry finnock.
May. This sounds well ; but, faith ! 'tis somewhat
questionable. I had rather trust gold with a knave
than a goodly salmon with thee, Master Otter, be the
day of his capture when it might. Were not this a
172 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
lank kipper, of woe-begone aspect, beshrew me an thon
woiild'st have parted with him so readily !
Otter. I grant you, Bill, you have reason for your
conjecture. There is strange magic, I allow, in the eye
of. a clean-run salmon, which one hath just uncoffined
from the pool where he designed wintering. I could
no more resist it than Adam could the apples of our
grand-progenitrix. Yet with respect to ripe, pregnant,
and unwholesome fish, I aver that the meddling there-
with is a disgrace to our craft, who ought, above all
others, to be the natural protectors of the spawner, and
favour, to their utmost ability, the increase of salmon.
May. Neat professions these, were they alway acted
up to. But how comes it, Tom, that your mighty
regard for the close-season allows you to break in upon
it as you do at present ? See you nothing injurious to
the breeding of these noble fish in our angling for
trout among their places of resort, and over the very
channels where they are accustomed to shed their ova ?
Otter. Much otherwise. There is no species of
enemy so hostile to the salmon while spawning as
the common yellow trout, a single individual of which
will consume, in the course of a day, nearl}- its
own bulk in roe. You may perceive, by the readi-
ness with which they assail our baits, how deadly
they are to the unhatched progeny ; and truly
we can do no greater service to the holders of sal-
mon-fishings on the lower parts of the waters than by
thinning the swarms of spoilers, which at this period
CLOSE OF THE SEASON. 173-
hover around the pregnant fish. These, in order to
obtain the dainty meal, rake up the gravel in all
directions, and scruple not to devour promiscuously
the roe and fry of their own species. I have now
hold of a voracious-looking rascal, and shall discover
to you the contents of his wallet. Is not this an
offender of note ? — here is no less than an ounce of
newly shed spawn, mingled sparingly with flies and
water-insects.
May. He hath paid the penalty. But look you,
Tom, how Jack Leister and Swiveltop bring in the
bald-pates. If, as you say, the more the merrier, what
objection have you to dip a hand into the mine of
their good fortune ?
Otter. None in the world, Bill.
174
CHAPTER XII.
SCENE, A CHURCH- YARD.
Enter Leister, Otter, Swiveltop, and May-fly.
May. Here let us wind up and unscrew. What
is more fitting than that we close the feats of the
year in a church-yard ? Ah ! Doctor, we are out of
all humour with Time, he hath put to flight so many
schemes of ours. Designed we not more than the
summer hath room for ? and now where is even the
smoke of our intentions ? But 'tis better in truth
as it is, else were there too many remembrances of
happiness in our hearts not to make the future miser-
able. I like to find that disappointments have been
mingled up with pleasures, it steels me the more
against suffering. And this has been the last of the
year's anglings. Doctor ; I am sorry for it and yet
glad !
SCENE, A CHURCH- YARD. 175
Swivel. Well do I comprehend thee, Bill, for sorrow
and gladness are in me also, blended into that affection
which men call melancholy ; — perhaps 'tis the place
we stand in that awakens it, — this fastness, of which,
saith one,
" In the valley of life is the garden of death,
Mourner on mourner entereth
That Eden of woe, and on its sward
Layeth the burden of his regard.
Mourner on mourner ! another tiain
Bringeth the earlier back again ;
They have chosen his home, and borne his bier.
And watered his turf with a human tear.
" It is a strange and solemn spot !
Friendship, and faith, aud feeling, forgot !
Folly findeth wisdom there.
Walking the tombs with a sombre air ;
And awed into thought are the giddy, and they
That have fostered pride fling the bantling away."
What epitaph, Otter, are you and Leister decy-
phering ?
Otter. That of an honest man and an angler, one of
the old members of our fraternity.
May. Peace be to his ashes !
Otter. Amen ! Bill. I knew the old man well ;
he was my earliest instructor in the gentle art !
You remember him. Leister, when we were yet boys,
how he loved us. I have his rod still, and a ster-
ling piece of wood hath it been in its own time.
176 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
There are notches on't, along its butt, denoting the
length of great fish mastered by the skill of its first
possessor. I can recall, through means of these, many
of the venerable man's exploits, as related to us by his
own lips in the days of our childhood. Now that I
think on't, the pool we have lately been angling upon
was a prime favourite of his, and I hold some recol-
lections, too, of aiding him at the landing of a huge
salmon among yonder shallows. Yes, Jack, 'tis a dream
of yesterday. I have the kind eyes of the aged angler
beaming upon me, as I attempt to carry in my arms
the ponderous fish ; he relieves me silently of the
burden — silently ! — the familiar spectre cannot speak !
there is no voice in the visions of memory !
Leister. How rapidly, Tom, fleets the mind over the
thousand links that connect it with the past, and with
what mysterious power it enters into the hermetic
chambers of Time ! Well hath one said, " There is no
such thing as forgetfulness ! " Standing here, I could
recount the tale of my boyhood — those little plots of
which it was formed, until now lost sight of, even by
myself.
May. The angler's grave ! What associations it
presents of one that hath trodden the vales of his native
land — of a lover of peace, poetry, and the poor — of
him who lived in contentment, and died
Otter. Not on his bed. Bill. My ancient friend,
Mr. Brigstanes, fell a martyr to his angling enthusi-
asm, and was drowned, aged seventy-one, at a swollen
SCENE, A CHURCH-YARD. 177
ford on the river Clyde. It was nature's way of taking
liim from the world, and could scarcely be termed a
death of violence. Another of our fraternity lies
buried in this very church-yard ; but the head-stone,
owing to some accident or other, has been removed,
and I know not the exact turf under which he sleeps.
Nor is it of much matter ; he has lain nigh half a
century, and there is nought in the treasure-house of
our memories whereby to call up in his behalf a single,
solitary regret. Some brief verses, which now glance
across my recollection, relative to the death of one of
our fraternity, you will allow me on this fitting
occasion to repeat.
i:he ;|Vn9li:rs airabf.
Sorrow ! sorrow ! — bring it green ;
True tears make the grass to grow ;
And the grief of the good, I ween,
Is grateful to him that sleeps below.
Strew sweet flowers, free of blight ;
Blossoms gathered in the dew ;
Should they wither before night,
Flowers and blossoms bring anew.
II.
Sorrow ! sorrow ! — speed away
To our angler's quiet mound ;
With the old pilgrim, twilight gray,
Enter thou on the holy ground.
178 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Here he sleeps, whose heart was twined
With wild stream and wandering burn ;
Wooer of the western wind,
Watcher of the April mom.
[II.
Sorrow at the poor man's hearth !
Sorrow at the hall of pride !
Honour waits at the grave of worth.
And high and low stand side by side !
Brother angler, slumber on !
Haply thou shalt wave the wand,
When the tide of time is gone.
In some far and happy land.
BURNING OR WATER-FORAY BLACK-FISHING.
May. Let us leave this spot, Jack. The look oii't
lowers my spirits, and the dismal moaning which these
ash-trees make hath an effect on me which I love
not to encourage.
Leister. I have no wish to remain here any longer,.
Bill, and 'tis meet we should forthwith be on the start.
There is a rumour afloat of a burning to* be held to-
night on the Meikle- water. Intend you to be present^
Tom?
Otter. Nay, Jack, I have no great relish for this
illegal sport. It is both cruel and irrational, and
harms immensely the increase of salmon. As for the
spearing of healthy fish during the open-season, and in
daylight, as I have seen practised with the single hand
SCENE, A CHURCH-YARD. 179
on some waters, I say nought against it, seeing it
requires like skill and perseverance as angling with
the rod does ; — but what is there needed of these
virtues, in order to strike a row of steel prongs into
the ribs of a dormant spawner, lying with exposed fin
in the narrow of a mere brook, especially when those
engaged in the employment are a numerous band, and
in use to surround the pool with their persons as with
a net, giving no chance of escape even to a solitary
straggler ? 'Tis in truth a barbarous pastime, pursued
more for sake of the fish, black and unwholesome as
they be, than out of frolic and amusement.
Leister. You are somewhat severe in your con-
clusions. Be persuaded, however, to join us for one
night, and, believe me, you will abandon your present
opinions with respect to this mode of salmon-fishing.
Otter. In truth, I have but little wish to act the
beholder of your intended massacre, and might be
tempted, were I to accompany you, to offer some
measure of interference ; more, in fact, than I could
enforce with safety to my person.
Leister. You are not altogether so rash, Tom ; our
poor old friend Brigstanes, who now lies here, would,
as you well-know, have been among the foremost in a
ploy of this nature.
Otter. No doubt, no doubt ; and for his sake, I shall
resolve to join you. — What say you, Doctor ?
Swivel. I am already bound to show face.
Leister. So is Bill here.
i8o ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Otter. Faith ! we are a posse of pretty scoundrels,
and merit well the pillory for our intentions ; ne'er-
theless, we shall not draw back in the matter.
Exeunt.
We possess no lengthened record of the black-
fishing alluded to in the above conversation. It
seems, however, that Tom Otter took no inactive
share in the proceedings of the evening, and actually
slaughtered with his own hand a trio of huge kippers,
much to the satisfaction of his friend Leister ; who
thenceforward prided himself not a little in having
vanquished so effectually the scruples of his brother
angler. The burning, or water-foray, as it may appro-
priately be termed, proved on the whole a successful
one. Seventy fish, salmon, bull-trout, and grilses, bit
the shore ; yet, strange to say, so monstrous and sinful
a butchery elicited no further comment from the late
traducer of the spear-system, than — " 'tis a marvel the
simple fools knew not their element better ! " A con-
vivial meeting was held by tlie club on the following
evening, which was attended by Leister, Otter, Swivel-
top, Gaff, May-fly, and Hackle.
The year was now drawing to a close, and our
anglers had resolved to lay aside for a time the im-
plements of their craft, and betake themselves reso-
lutely to the more serious occupations of life.
A sketch of the farewell feast, devised and parti-
SCENE, A CHURCH-YARD. i8i
cipated in on this occasion, is the only remaining
fragment we possess relating to the now defunct
fraternity at C h.
The subsequent spring brought along with it to their
customary haunts no return of jovial and light-hearted
souls. One member only, save ourselves, of the dis-
persed' brotherhood was beheld traversing the deserted
valley. Over his broad shoulders waved carelessly a
long, black wand, the point of which ever and anon
caught among the obtruding twigs of a green hazel
fence. Nor did this repeated annoyance seem in the
least degree to ruffle the temper of the philosophic
angler, who, at the continual recurrence of it, retraced
his steps with unaltered patience, in order to extricate
his line from the mischievous impediment. It was our
friend Jack Leister.
Jack Leister ! We cannot speak of changes in
the melancholy manner they ought to be spoken of,
but a certain pressure of our comrade's hand, as
we came up to him, denoted that he had not alto-
gether escaped their influence. The breaking up of
the fraternity at C h had greatly affected him,
and it was evident he possessed no degree of appetite
for the sport which he almost unconsciously was about
to pursue.
But why say more of this our interview — to both
of us so sad ? Why linger over scenes which it were
better to close up, lest, opening them afresh, we
open the heart with them ? Ah ! the enthusiasm of
i82 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
those first days, how it has departed ! What a
fashion hath the reality of the future presented it-
self in, so different from the resemblances which
Hope, the deceiver, led us to rely on! We shall
not think of culling flowers out of the quicksand
any longer.
i83
CHAPTEE XIII.
FAREWELL FEAST OF THE ANGLING CLUB.
Leister, Otter, May-fly, and Swiveltop.
May. Pile high the faggots, Meg ; give us an
ample, exhilarating flame — an ox-roaster, prithee.
Ay ! that is the fashion on't ; put- thy bellows into
its ear, and blow right lustily — force a joUy heart
into the centre of these fir-logs. Thou art a good
girl, and pretty withal, and wilt lack neither mate
nor merriment. There is nought, my boys, equal
to a prime sparkling fireside. 'Tis, next to his Bible,
the poor man's best comfort ; and merciless wretches
are they who refuse, as many do, the clearings of
their coppices to supply the hearths of those needy
gleaners, with whom God surrounds them in His
mysterious, but just distribution of wealth and
of poverty ! Without this blessing, how rugged
and unsocial were we, kept all apart from those
i84 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
kindly intercourses, which are formed and enlarged
within the hallowed semi-circle ! His fireside is the
true secret of the Briton's strength and superiority,
of his intellect, his patriotism, his piety, and the
thousand virtues with which he is adorned ! Eome,
like Britain, long as she flourished, venerated her
hearth and household lares.
Swivel. Give the jug an impulse, Bill, and
hearken a stave from Jack Leister. The lilting
humour is in his throat, an I guess accurately.
Out on this thy practice of thrusting soliloquies
across our converse ! Is it not better, when a pause
is in't, to fill up the occasion with a song ? Come,
Jack, take the lead.
[Leistek sings.]
€) tonliett, toinbs, toaken!
O wakeu, winds, waken ! the waters are still,
And silence and sunlight recline on the hill ;
The angler is watching, beside the green springs,
For the low, welcome sound of your wandering wings I
II.
His rod is unwielded, his tackle's unfreed,
And the withe-woven pannier lies flung on the mead ;
He looks to the lake, through its fane of green trees,
And sighs for the curl of the cool, summer breeze.
III.
Calm-bound is the form of the water-bird fair,
And the spear of the rush stands erect in the air,
And the dragon-fly roams o'er the lily-bed gay,
Where basks the bold pike in a sun -smitten bay.
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 185
O waken, winds, waken ! wherever asleep.
On cloud or dark mountain, or down in the deep ;
The angler is watching, beside the green springs,
For the low, welcome sound of your wandering wings.
Otter. There is no need to invoke the elements at
present ; the blast is bitter enough, and with pitiless
anger tears down the beechen draperies inclosing our
retreat. How it howls, as if through the monstrous
windpipes of many air-fiends ! its very pauses are
parts of the unearthly concert, enacted by some demon
of silence. I would love none to be belated to-night
on some moor-stretch.
May. Nor I, Master Otter.
Sivivel. As we know well ! Recollect you our trip
to King's-house up Glen Etive ? Ah 1 Bill, who that
saw thee then, and beheld not misery in person ; a
weary, woful, and bewildered wight, famished and
courage-fallen. But scowl. Master May-fly, with less
unkindness ; neither sharpen thy tongue against me.
Bear with my humours, T pray thee.
May. Were I to do so, Doctor, the charity of the
deed would pass without recompence. Of a verity,
thou deservest the cudgel.
Swivel. Confessedly, Master May-fly.
May. Albeit I shall rest content with a song.
Leister. You usurp. Bill — but agreed. The penalty
is a fitting one ; so, Doctor, strike up.
13
i86 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
[SwiVELTOP sings.]
%ht faUotD-Jins o' farrflto ^alc !
The yallow-fins o' Yarrow dale !
I keiiTia whare they're gane tae
"Were ever troots in Border vale
Sae comely or sae dainty !
They had baith gowd and spanglit rings,
Wi' walth o' pearl amang them ;
An' for sweet luve o' the bonny things,
The heart was laith to wrang them.
III.
But he that angles Yarrow owre,
Maun changes ever waken ;
Frae our Ladye's Loch to Newark Tower,
Will find the stream forsaken.
Forsaken, ilka bank and stane,
O' a' its troots o' splendour,
Auld Yarrow's left sae lorn and lane,
Aiie scarcely wad hae kenn'd her.
Waes me ! the auncient yallow-fin,
I marvell whare he's gane tae ;
Was ever troot in Forest rin
Sae comely or sae dainty !
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 187
Otter. I had as lief, Doctor, thou haclst left thy stave
uiisimg ; it hath troubled the strings of my affections.
— Ah ! I shall never visit Yarrow any more, not
because its breed of yellow-fins is now extinct — and
well might they be so — for the waters of that stream
have been harrowed without mercy, sifted and ran-
sacked by every species of ingenuity, down from
Douglas-burn-foot to the bridge at Broad-meadows, and
farther perhaps; but farther we never angled, although
often, from Newark Tower to that of the wizard Sir
]\Iichael Scott at Oakwood, have we trodden, along the
birchen braes of the silvery river. Its yellow-fins are
indeed departed ! — the huge, thick-shaped, golden-
fianked fellows, that were wont to be caught in the
May month, during glints of the sun on a warm rainy
morning. They loved best the clear, shining minnow,
or sometimes a yellow-bodied fly, with a rough red
liackle twisted round it ; but of these, the minnow was
tlie more captivating lure; it brought out the daintest
fish from their retreats, and spun so enchantingly down
the primest streams that, troutless as one knew many
of these to be, there was still a delight, difficult to
forego, in playing among them its tiny form. The
Yarrow yellow-fins were ever famous, and an unfre-
<pient specimen may to this day be taken, but only one,
out of some scores of gray, lean, loch trout, or of
tlie big-bellied variety found in Tweed. It was, in
truth, a lovely fish, ornate with a rare sprinkling
of stars, darker than crimson, and these on a light
1 88 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
amber ground, which, shaded off towards the belly,
became gradually like mother-of-pearl. Tlie head was
small, the back curved, and the fins yellow, as a newly
minted guinea.
THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD.
But not for the loss of these is it, that I shall
never visit Yarrow any more ; — it is because the
genius loci — the Ettrick Shepherd — has departed I
Alas ! gentlemen, I have too many angling associa-
tions connected with James Hogg, ever to endure again
the sight of his favourite Yarrow. Times without
number have we traversed its banks together, our
slender wands bending alternately with the weight
of a struggling trout ; and on St. Mary's too, and
Loch Skene, and Meggat - water, have we twain
fashioned our thoughts and converse to the wild,
mystic, unviolated scenery around us. But those
thoughts and that converse may not be renewed ; from
the crushings of the mould there is no rescue, and
nature's ordinance cannot be disturbed by any turbu-
lent aspiration of ours.
The Ettrick Shepherd was a singular character —
a combination of many virtues with some defects —
genius mingled up with its foibles ; and these latter
the more conspicuous, seeing that no measures were
ever put in force to conceal them. In the sphere
where most men of talent move, they learn the art of
hiding, by a splendid hypocrisy, their other weak-
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 189
nesses. But this art was never understood by James
Hogg. He delighted in the broad exposure of his
frailties ; and a natural conceit (for such it must be ac-
knowledged he possessed) made him too careless of the
censure and advices of others. He hated the trammels
of criticism, and disclaimed the sagacious precepts
of the lettered inquisitor. Most of his productions
were rapidly thrown off — their execution kept pace
with their conception ; accordingly, they remain full of
crudenesses and contradictions. These defects, how-
ever, are overlooked in the fancy and originality of the
Shepherd Poet ; — the drossy and faulty surface is con-
cealed among the ignitions of his genius.
For one of the self-taught, Hogg shone wonderfully.
His best honours were gathered without the aid of
patronage. He climbed the obelisk of fame alone —
not that officious advisers kept altogether aloof, but he
rebutted with vigour their sacrilegious suggestions. In
none of his poetical compositions was the Ettrick
Shepherd an imitator of the Ayrshire Ploughman.
His songs differ in their fabric and melody from those
of Burns. They are wrought of a lighter and more
fanciful material, but they want the strength and judg-
ment — the severe beauty of execution — the felicity of
thought and language. Among them, however, there
are many lovely and soul-stirring ditties, pastoral
harmonies, and Arcadian airs. Hogg was a master
in rural poetry. He had an eye and heart for all
the operations of nature, and reverently did he pro-
I90 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
gress her domains for wild and beautiful fancies
wherewith to beflower his page. He revived the old,
elfin superstitions of his country — strewed with ideal
structures the valley ed hills, and cast over them a
new mantle of glowing and kindly associations. Much
of what the Ettrick Shepherd has written will con-
tinue imperishable, and much also lie entombed with
himself, or, at any rate, remain, as matter of mere
curiosity, whereon may speculate some sage unborn
philosopher, the pride and paragon of a future century.
Hogg, talking of him as the man, not the poet,
was out of his element in society. He appeared to
anything but advantage abroad from his own fireside.
His real character became disguised among follies and
affectations, to which, in his calm and natural mo-
ments he was an utter stranger. To such as knew
him intimately, these feelings had a very different
seeming from what they possessed in the eyes of
others. The latter regarded them as habitual and
monstrous improprieties ; the former as mere vagaries
of the moment, brought into play, certainly, without
forethought, but in perfect innocence and in want of
wrong motive. At home within his family circle, the
Ettrick Shepherd was a different being ; he had the
feelings of the husband, the father, and the Christian
— and was, besides, without measure benevolent and
hospitable, full of those charities which commend
themselves to the heart, and so winning in his con-
duct and conversation as to subdue at once tlie stub-
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 191
born rebellions of prejudice, and remodel the precon-
ceived notions of those who judged from surface
glimpses, and without any proper acquaintance.
I have often wondered at the respect paid to less
amiable men. How they are prated of and homaged
as patterns of moral worth — how their meagre vir-
tues are bandied about from mouth to mouth, and
a dignity is given them greater than their merits —
how, because they industriously cloak up and con-
ceal their foibles, therefore they are deemed ever
upright, without flaw or blemish, the embodied per-
sonifications of human propriety. Not, indeed, of
this sort was James Hogg ! — he had none of the
solemn pragmatism of the scholastic grandee, none
of the starch and stiffness of the moral pedant. He
despised to affect a gravity and demureness foreign to
his buoyant and playful nature, and loved laughing
wisdom better than serious folly. I have an esteem
for his memory, which is injured none by the carpings
and prejudices of others. I knew the man better than
they did, and have ever regarded him as uniting in
his chai*acter many of the most valuable aspects of
human virtue.
But enougli of this — James Hogg was a zealous
angler, and that is saying much for any man. He
had the mysteries of the craft at his finger-ends.
It was a part of his poetical existence to lavish the
forenoon hours abroad by the river-side, enticing the
yellow-fins with his big, brown hackles or scrutiniz-
192 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
ing the channels for a November fish, with a long, six-
pronged leister in his hands. Latterly he patronized
the otter. He was wrong, but his hands w^ere perhaps
feebler, his dispositions less active than formerly, and
he hesitated to wade, as of old, along the margin of
St. Mary's Loch, when, without this fatigue, he might
continue the capture of some scores of half-pounders
and a kelt or two, lank, lean, large-headed, and
silvery. The Shepherd was a persevering, and con-
sequently a successful angler ; but he never, in my
humble judgment, threw a nice fly ; he was ignorant
of the proper sweep necessary to be taken before the
line could be fairly projected, and he had a strange
affection for strong coarse gut, and large heavy hooks,
superfluously loaded with feathers. A flail might have
scanned the surface with more delicacy than his un-
trained tackle ! How he managed to catch fish at all,
was to me a marvel ; but they rose, not a doubt, to his
fly, and found an entrance also to his pannier.
Methinks I once more behold him wending his
way back to Altrive Cottage, clad in a grayish shoot-
ing-jacket of light summer fabric, with his pastoral
plaid, forming a cross in front, and knotted on the
left side, so as not to interfere with the use and ex-
ercise of his rod arm, over which waves one of Baillie
Grieve's best ties — worsted certainly, but still in
spring, and able to control the efforts of as noble
fish as ever swam upward from Yarrow fues. Know
ye not the poet by his free, firm step ? — by the light
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 193
blue eye, reflecting nature in its joyous sphere ? —
by the forehead, solemn and lofty, in which the mind
performs its mysteries, where the fragment of divi-
nity in man upholds him in communion with his
Maker ? This is not a small creel pendant from his
shoulders, and it is filled to the saugh-lid with clear,
star-sided fish, elf-dolphins, a fairy gift from a kind
water-sprite to our Shepherd-bard.
A day's angling with the ettrick shepherd.
I dream ! This is a past irrevocable vision — yet I
remember it as of yesterday! Does it not seem
like yesterday when we twain set forth from under
the roof of Tibby Shiels, our hostess on St. Mary's
Loch, to angle together far up among the hills in the
burn of Winterhope ? It was a half-drizzily, half-
rainy morning, with a dash or two of wind at intervals,
which considerably agitated the sheet of water, along
whose margin, at outset, our road lay. Thick masses
■of mist floated across the heights, and the distant
ravines, giving egress to a number of small torrents,
mingled their continuous roar with the occasional gusts
of the dying storm. An uncharitable sort of day it
seemed for our angling excursion ; but we had the
expectation and trust that matters would mend, and
so trudged on, in teeth of the weather.
After leaving the loch-side, our way led up a small
glen, bisected by a black, mossy brook, on reaching
194 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
the sources of which we conjectured ourselves at the
summit of no inconsiderable hill. There, however,
the mist was thick, rapid, and impenetrable, and a
cold rain slanted athw^art us, in large, ugly drops.
Somewhat breathless with our upward ascent, we
planted ourselves upon a tuft of thick heather, and, as
the phrase goes, took our morning from the flask of
mountain dew and its accompanying quaich — which,
as a matter of course, we carried along with us. One
plaid it was under which both of us, for the space of
several minutes, were sheltered ; but soon again we
started along the level moss, with a strong, quick step,
anxious to make the best of our time, and gain with-
out delay the wisiied-for stream. But, wanting a
compass, we had to struggle through a cursed obliterat-
ing fog ; and although at the first instinctive of our
course, we soon began to lose all knowledge of where
we were. Track there was none among the chaos of
moss-hags round about us. A solitary heath-cock
whirred up in our van, and took its own path through
the humid air, but we had no wings to follow the
phantom bird ; and the one-eyed pointer which accom-
panied us returned shivering to our feet, in marvel
that the game had not dropped dead before her, out of
sheer courtesy to her splendid abilities. And now a
ragged sheep, seeming huge as a lion, started up at
our side — it dived forward into the cloud, and vanished
as if evaporated. But on we held, as our fancies-
directed us, having at whiles a dim, indistinct memory
FAREWELL FEASl^ OF ANGLING CLUB. 195
of some knoll or other — of this rude shepherd's cairn
or of that heathery ridge — yet, no sooner recognisant
of where we were, than again plunged into the circle
of absolute ignorance.
Lost in a mist ! — it was a pretty piece of knight-
errantry ! Through what a battalion of shadows had
we to tilt our way ! The wind blew in more directions
than one, and even the mossy rills seemed to veer
about and retrace their courses at our pursuit. Some
of them became dead and stagnant, others escaped from
our presence, we knew not where. Our converse was
now monosyllabic and ejaculatory, but there was still
a lightness at our hearts and in our step ! — we were
amused rather than distressed, for assured felt we, that
human habitations were not out of reach, and that
it was neither a Siberian desert nor Indian prairie
within which we wandered.
The rain became at length more violent than ever,
mingled with hail pellets, large and piercing. —
What of that ? a soaking was nothing extraordinary
for anglers to encounter ! We esteemed it no
resignation to endure so petty an evil, and courted
rather than shunned the boisterous elements. But
lo ! we were close by the margin of a sheet of
water, and a hurra burst from both our lips, for
well knew we Loch Skene — the dark, heath -fringed
tarn.
196 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
LOCH SKENE.
What epicure could desire a richer, more deli-
cate morsel, than a Loch Skene trout ? — it is the
perfection of a fish — curves of a pink carnation
colour, and is creamed, betwixt the flakes, with a
white, oily, well-flavoured substance. Not large
is it, but thick-shaped, golden-hued, and firm, becom-
ing after death ribbed over with irregular clouds on
a bright, dainty ground.
Our rods were soon up ; we intended not to angle
there, but help it how could we, although Win-
terhope-burn was scarcely half a mile off ? There
are few days that suit Loch Skene, and this was
not one of these. Its trout rise freest during a
warm, soft, south-west wind, in a small, quick ripple,
and a gentle rain ; but the water at present was all
eddied and frothy, our lines were carried up from
its surface, and we were unable to guide to our
wishes the guileful fly. Not a dozen betwixt us in
two tedious hours did we capture ; and, vexed at our
ill success, away again we set toward Winterhope-
burn ; yet not till the mist had cleared off, and we
had sung out to the circle of hills, in order to stir
the slumber of an echo choir. Hymned back were
the rotund words, as if by a thousand voices, imitative
of misery — the misery of the damned !
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 197
WINTERHOPE-B U RN. — MEGGAT- WATER.
It was a glorious day for stream-angling. The
fountains of the hills were gushing over — every cavity
was charged with water. How full and how finely
coloured was Winterhope-burn ! — All of its finny
dwellers were astir ! The first fall of our flies decided
our fortune. We moved at half a mile's distance from
each other. It would have been folly to have angled
closer, especially along the upper part of the stream,
which, although divided into fine promising pools, is
still narrow and easily traversed. Lower down, it
widens up considerably, and when meeting with
Meggat-water, which it does after a run of two or
three miles, offers, when in a swollen state, ample
room for the closer exercise of two rods.
The weather had now greatly improved ; there
was a glimpse of blue sky over-head, and one of the
hills at a distance was covered with sun-gleams.
It was milder and calmer. The day's creation of
flies was abroad — some of them skimming the air,
and others, less secure, the margin of the ^ pools.
Nimbly and eagerly the trout rose, not in single-
ness but by pairs, darting at our deceitful hooks
without caution or forethought. We hoUo'd to
each other on the capture of every fresh dozen, and
frequently was our note of exultation repeated.
The contents of our creels increased rapidly, and
198 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
ere four in the afternoon there was mustered betwixt
us above three stone weight ! By this time, we had
angled over a considerable portion of Meggat-water,
and had reached, almost in company with each other,
the dark, deep pools lying immediately above the
Kirk. These, we well knew, contained a number of
prime and subtle fish — to be captured only when the
water, as at that time, was of a dark porter-colour.
Accordingly, we threw" off our somewhat worn and
dismantled flies, exchanging them for others of a
larger and brighter sort, and, tossing for the choice
pool, commenced carefully to rake the water-surface.
Almost at the same moment, each of us happened
upon a sturdy two-pounder. They fought like heroes,
throwing themselves at full length out of the pool, and
pushing straight up against the current. Now they
relaxed a little, and showed their sides. They gasped
submission, and our bended wands brought them to
the margin. How lovely they looked, lying among
the pebbles, not as if in agony — they felt none — but
like a tribute-offering devoted to us, their conquerors ;
and in our creels lovelier still, curled up over the rest of
their tribe, seemingly their monarchs or their patriarch
sires I These creels were full, crammed to the lid,
ere we arrived at the Henderland-rocks ; but the
Shepherd had a game-bag, and I an honestly huge
couple of coat-pockets, so that we lacked betwixt us no
store-room !
St. Mary's Loch was again in view, but not as at
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 199
ilawn, when we set forth, for now it was cahn, beauti-
ful, and serene. There were an handful or two of
clouds up amid the azure of heaven, indolently basking
in the retiring sun-rays. Spiritual existences were they
not, draperied with ether, curious of the evolutions of
•spheres or the abodes of humanity ? At the meadow-
foot waded a heron, with his long skeleton-legs half
immersed in the ford ; but now, spreading his huge,
broad wings, away he sailed, homeward to his distant
nest. We were wet, tired, and hungry, willing to bid
our brief adieu to the river margin. Our tackle was
soon overhauled, and the contents of our creels emptied
out, side by side, upon the mossy sward.
I know not of a more generous feast for the eye
than a display of this nature I It is worth a peep
at the regalia of an Eastern Khan. Here the very
confusion is the finest order. Were we to arrange the
fish in rows or pairs, according to their sizes, how stiff
and stall-like they would appear ; but tumble them
over carelessly upon the gTass, and they will assume
attitudes of the greatest beauty. No ordinary take of
trout had we on that occasion ; in all, seven and
twenty dozen ; a couple of two and nine one-pounders,
fifty and more half the latter size, and the rest smaller
but not despicable fish.
Such was a memorable day's doings in company
with my late friend, the Ettrick Shepherd. Many
others have I spent of a similar sort, and none, can
I well recollect, which failed to exhibit feats on his
200 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
part of great prowess as an angler, although I take
upon me to doubt that he displayed any degree of the
science and system esteemed so highly by the Cockney
school.
These sagacious rodsmen, armed with their cunning
contrivances, equipped and tricked out in all manner
of novelties, may, from sheer and intolerant conceit,
turn up the fuming nostril at the plain and rustic
enginery of the northern angler, with solemn eulogy
exalting their unpractised theories, and making boast-
ful exposure of their gieamy baubles ; — yet, advance
them to the proof, cause them to contest it with the
artless craftsmen of Tweedside, and they will confess
the utter impotence of their system, renouncing for
unadorned simplicity the unnatural similitudes and
grotesque inventions of the city artizan. The lure
fascinates none the better because it is of brilliant
texture or curious and expensive fabric, set off with
orient plumage, and bedizened with ribs of tinsel ; —
more bewitching is the coarse and homely device
fashioned after nature by the hands of the untaught
peasant.
These remarks are perhaps over-strained, and entirely
out of place. I make them out of a strong abhorrence
to the practice of foppery, in an art which, by the
good old rules of its patriarchs, ought to disclaim
everything of the sort. An ape angling with hum-
ming-birds is too severe a caricature upon our craft,
and we wish it to be rendered totally inapplicable.
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 201
To return to James Hogg. — He was in many
particulars a good example of the old Border anglers.
His notions concerning our rights were liberal in the
extreme, and strong in their opposition to the narrow,
selfish, and oppressive systems in force among northern
aristocrats. He was persevering and enthusiastic, fond
of adventure, and regardless of peril. He had a frank
and generous disposition, warm feelings, and unequalled
good-humour. "With him there was no grumbling at
the caprices of fortune, and he encountered her hardest
rubs with singular indifference. Perhaps, indeed, this
easy and immoveable temper of his was rather a failing
than a virtue.
Happening to be at St. Mary's Loch, during the
time of an event, by no means a happy one in the
experience of Hogg, I was afforded an opportunity
of judging with what calmness he encountered re-
verses of a distressful nature. It was at the period
of his removal from Mount Benger to Altrive Lake —
a circumstance attended, as his personal friends
may recollect, with considerable grievances. Almost
during the very progress of his removal, or but
a day or two after, he walked up to the head of
St. Mary's Loch with his rod in hand, and actually
spent the night at Mrs. Eichardson's cottage, nor was
I able to discover the smallest abatement from his
usual good spirits and cheerfulness. He conversed,
laughed, and projected schemes of amusement, as if
nothing had happened.
14
202 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
The Ettrick Shepherd owed much to his matri-
monial alliance. He had a sensible wife, and an affec-
tionate domestic circle. I shall ever regard his loss as
one of no common sort. It will destroy much of the
spirit of the Border land, wither many of its associa-
tions, and harm not a little the fine tone of fraternal
feeling which existed there. It will throw a melancholy
over the pastoral hills and the quiet valleys — over the
mouldering tower and the lowly cottage — across the
glassy lake and the shining river; — ^his imperishable song
will not fill up the place of its minstrel, nor supply
what is departed of the husband, the father, the friend,
the patriot, and the angler.
This lengthened oration of Tom Otter's seems to
have been listened to with beseeming attention by
the other members of the club, and was accordingly
followed up by their dedicating a toast to the
memory of the Forest-Poet. Topics, however, of
a less melancholy nature found, during the course
of the evening, their way into discussion, and the
right festive humour prevailed exceedingly. Our
recollections, we confess, in an attempt to methodize
and embody the principal matters touched upon on
the occasion of the fraternity's final meeting, have
proved disappointingly brittle ; and we find our-
selves under the necessity of merely subjoining a
few fragments of desultory discourse, along with
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 203
such angling verses as we have had the good fortune to
keep in remembrance.
We may here mention, that the usage of the club
in their festive meetings prohibited the introduction
of all songs, save and except such as were strictly
of a piscatory nature — and that by a special indul-
gence only, granted by the president, was it rendered
allowable for the members present to launch out
among staves and rondos of the more ordinary
sorts. A law of this complexion was indeed re-
quisite, in order to keep up the spirit of the fraternity ;
and only on rare occasions, when a certain period of
the night had passed over, did the ruling member ever
think it proper to lay it aside.
The following was sung by Harry Hackle, who,
along with Tim Gaff, had joined the company
shortly after Tom Otter had pronounced his length-
ened eulogium on James Hogg. These gentlemen,
it appears, popped in unexpectedly, on their return
from a shooting excursion held at some distance
from the club cottage. Three hares, a brace of old
blackcock, and thirteen plump partridges, formed
the produce of their day's sport — all of which were
committed on arrival to the culinary hands of our
worthy and discreet hostess.
[Hackle sings.]
204 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
le EEnrbtrs xjf the Skaters !
Ye warders of the waters !
Is the aldered stream-side free ?
Hath the salmon sped
From its winter bed
Adown to the azure sea ?
Eideth afloat
The fisher's boat
Below the white-thorn tree ?
II.
Go forth, ye anglers jovial !
The waters are open wide ;
No longer we ward
From vernal sward
The glittering salmon glide.
Free at your will
The crystal rill,
And tuneless torrent side.
III.
Ho ! warders of the waters !
Is the yellow-trout at feed ?
And the March-flies broM'n,
Are they sailing down
Where current and zephyr lead ?
See you abroad
With pliant rod
Some gentle brother speed ?
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 205
IV.
Go forth, ye auglers jovial !
The ring of the trout we spy,
And the south winds pour
In a pleasant shower
The merry March-brown fly ;
With vigorous wand
' The fisher hand
Among the dark pools ply.
Swivel. The day's labours, Harry, have in nowise
lessened the vigour of thy song. But how is't thou
preferrest the fowling-piece now-a-days, and puttest
thy rod-arm out of practice ? 'Tis a leaning towards
revolt in thee and Master Timothy, which I, Nathan
Swiveltop, take upon me to reprehend.
Hackle. They are twin sports. Doctor, those of the
stream and field — the one vernal, the other autumnal.
— Faith ! I love them both.
Swivel. Not without a preference, master renegade.
Be honest, Harry, and detail to us thine angling
exploits during the last three months.
Hackle. Ay ! that I will. Eiddled with my gun
three pike on the third of September ; marred a flying
salmon on the nineteenth of August ; and, only a
fortnight ago, pinked, off the coast of Ayrshire, an oily
porpoise !
Swivel. Bravo ! Harry. And now, Tim, 'tis thy
turn to give account of thyself — or, failing to do so,
render a song instead.
[Gaff sings. ]
2o6 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
"iEke cStr«am3 of ©lb cScxrtlanb for mc !
The streams of Old Scotland for me I
The joyous, the wilful, the wild ;
The waters of song and of glee,
That ramble away to the sea
"With the step and the mirth of a child !
The valleys of England are wide,
Her rivers rejoice every one ;
In grace and in beauty they glide.
And water-flowers float at their side
As they gleam in the rays of the sun.
III.
But where is the speed and the spray ?
The dark lakes that welter them forth ?
Tree and heath nodding over their way ?
The rock and the precipice grey.
That bind the wild streams of the north
IV.
Hath the salmon a dormient home
In track of the barbel or bream ?
Or holds he his fastness of foam
Where the wraiths of the dark storm roam
At the break of a wandering stream ?
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 207
V.
Even there you will find him, among
The glens of Old Scotland afar ;
And up through her valleys of song
He silently glances along,
In corslet of silver and star !
VI.
The rivers of Scotland for me !
They water the soil of my birth,
They gush from the hills of the free,
And sing, as they seek the wild sea,
With a hundred sweet voices of mirth !
Otter. And ever may they do so ! and ever may our
craft continue to haunt them unrestricted ! May no
rude, illiberal enactment, usurp from them the privilege
bestowed by nature upon her lowliest children !
Leister. I fear, Tom, you supplicate in vain, — our
rights, alas ! are daily abridged and interfered with.
Streams, where one, a few years ago, might angle
without challenge, are now shut out and protected ;
and ere long our pastime will become fenced in with
a set of arbitrary injunctions, compared with which
the game laws themselves must appear clement and
inoppressive ! — But stiffen thy tumbler a degree, and
favour us with a stave.
[Otter singi. ]
2o8 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
®iUx's ^nglhtg jSong.
Through sun-bright lakes,
Round islets gay,
The river takes
Its western way,
And the water-chime
Soft zephyrs time,
Each gladsome summer day.
II.
The starry trout,
Fair to behold,
Roameth about
On fin of gold ;
At root of tree
His haunt you may see,
Rude rock or crevice old.
And hither dart
The salmon grey,
From the deep heart
Of some sea bay ;
And herling wild
Is here beguiled
To hold autumnal play.
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 209
IV.
Oh ! 'tis a stream
Most fair to see,
As in a dream
Flows pleasantly,
And our hearts are woo'd
To a kind, sweet mood,
By its wondrous witchery !
May. Here's a health to thee, Tom ; yet, as for thy
singing, I commend it not. To my judgment, thy
cranium lacks the hill of tune.
Otter. I am glad on't, Master May-fly, seeing I
shall thereby escape plague and persecution, the in-
evitable consequences of having the mood musical
about one ; — but Swiveltop and you, it is alleged, are
wont to practise duetts together by the stream-side,
when the angling humour wears off, as it frequently
does, betwixt you. — Marry ! let us have one.
May. That you shall, Tom — so join in. Doctor.
Swivel. Lead, Bill, lead, and trust to my assistance ;
perad venture the words on't cross my memory.
[May-fly and Swiveltop sing.']
(ioob Cheer ! brother JlngUx-, sajj.
May-fly.
Good cheer ! brother angler, say,
Is the swift salmon abroad to-day '?
Have you noted the flash of his silvery mail,
Or the proud free cvirl of his glittering tail ?
ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Hath he sprung at the winsome fly,
Smitten by the treacherous feather,
Heedless of the steel and tether,
And of human subtlety ?
SWIVELTOP.
Alas ! brother angler, nay,
Salmon none have I stirred to-day ;
Feint, frolic, nor dart, have I beheld ;
But round me the wily dark-trout belled-
One in greed, another in scorn,
And a third one of pleasure
Sprang at my fly — See, all the treasure
Ta'en by me this live-long mora !
May-fly.
Ply on, brother angler ! hark !
The grey wind warbles across the park ;
It ruflles the water from bank to bank.
And shakes the green covert of rushes lank.
See how it paces round and round,
Wild of foot, with step unsteady.
Dancing on the amorous eddy.
To a low, uncertain sound !
Both.
Ply on, brother angler ! deep
Under the rapids the bright fins sweep,
And the salmon holdeth his secret track
O'er ledges of rock, through fissure black.
Oh ! most hath an angler need
Of sweet patience and of plodding ;
For the good wand, ever nodding,
Better than cunning, bringeth speed !
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 211
Due honours having been paid to Doctor Swivel-
top and Mr. May-fly for this joint effusion, the latter
gentleman thought it proper to fatigue the fraternity
with a tedious, semi-political address — in the course
of which, after acknowledging the complimentary
civilities conferred on himself and his illustrious
friend, he launched forth into a detail of his own
wonderful feats as an angler, whereby it appeared
that he had beaten hollow the powers of warlockry
in unfolding the secrets of certain lochs and rivers,
the finny inhabitants of which had, without doubt,
established a subterraneous communication with the
great lakes of North America, such was their power,
speed, voracity, and amplitude. Previous, however,
to the delivery of this rhapsodical oration by the
somewhat elevated member, our friend Jack Leister
volunteered the following song : —
[Leister sings.]
^l\z hxttzt is on ihz ^erxnt-lakc !
The breeze is on the Heron-lake !
The May-sun shineth clear !
Away we bound through the broomy brake,
With our wands and angling gear.
II.
The birch-wreath o'er the water-edge
Scatters sweet flies about,
And round his haunt of sighing sedge
Bells up the yellow trout.
212 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
III.
Beware ! beware ! his eye is bright
As falcon's in the sky :
But artful feather, hove aright,
Will hood a keener eye.
IV.
Beware ! beware ! the water- weed
And the birch that waves behind,
And gently let the good line speed
Before thee on the wind.
V.
O gently let the good line flow,
And gently wile it home ;
There's many a gaUant fin, I trow,
Under the ribbed foam.
VI.
A merry fish on a stallion hair,
'Tis a pleasant thing to lead,
On May-days, when the cowslip fair
Is blooming on the mead ;
VII.
When the breeze is up, and the sun is out,
And grey flies two or three
Sport in the noon-tide, round about
The shadow of a iree.
VIII.
O then the heart bounds pleasantly.
And its thoughts are pleasant things,
Gushing in joyous purity.
Like silent water-springs !
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 213
Of Mr. May-fly's address, by which the above was
succeeded, we forbear offering more than a single
extract, relative to a certain angling feat vaunted of
by him — for the truth of which, however, we hold
ourselves in nowise responsible. An exploit, similar
in some points, was once narrated to us by a gentle-
man whose veracity we had every reason to rely on,
and singular to say, the same locality was assigned to
it which is spoken of by our worthy brother, as having
formed the scene of the following adventure.
MAY-FLY S PERILOUS ANGLING FEAT.
" I trust, gentlemen," continued he, after much
previous detail, " I trust to your further forbearance
for permission to recount another of those singular
angling feats which it was my good fortune lately to
perform. You are most of you acquainted with the
stream connecting Loch Lydoch with Lochs Aich and
Eannoch, and are aware that it contains, among in-
numerable quantities of small trout, some of a very
superior description. While fly-fishing there last
summer, and in the act of tossing out a pair of puny
individuals, I was surprised by a singular agitation
of the water behind them, which was repeated again
after a few seconds, farther up the pool. Conceiving
this double movement to be occasioned by a large
fish in pursuit of food, I immediately substituted for
the slender tackle I had hitherto employed, an ordinary
214 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
pike-hook, with its wire arming, affixing thereto one
of the small fry just captured.
"Proceeding, thus equipped, a few yards up the
stream, I allowed my bait to drop gently into the
centre of a strong, dark-coloured eddy, within which it
was no sooner enveloped, than I became sensible of its
being seized by a pair of powerful jaws. Immediately
also, a steady determination thereof towards the op-
posite bank warned me to give out line with my hand
from the reel. On finding this, however, speedily
exhausted by the determined progress of the fish
across the stream, I thought it proper to strike sharply;
and no sooner, gentlemen, was this accomplished, than
there came at once to view the fluke of a prodigious
tail, announcing to me the presence of a fish at least
five stone in weight ! {Great cheering.)
" I do not exaggerate — I am incapable of exagger-
ating. Five stone ! be it repeated, was the weight of
this fish ; and the sequel, gentlemen, should you listen
to me, will remove all doubts of my veracity.
" Before I could well recover from the astonishment
caused in me by the partial display of such a mon-
ster, he commenced ascending the river at an able
pace, but by no means so rapidly as to occasion his
pursuer over-much distress. In fact, to my best
recollection, I was not constrained to yield above
four fathoms of line during the whole run, which
lasted fifteen minutes at a moderate calculation, and
took me a mile's distance from the spot where I first
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 215
encountered him. When at length the fish halted,
which he did with singular suddenness, and more
seemingly by way of whim than from fatigue, I began
to make calculations as to the possibility of securing
him before night, seemg that the afternoon was already
far advanced, and my situation in the uninhabited and
swampy moor, should darkness happen to overtake me,
was not to be regarded as one altogether free from
peril.
" Being, however, unwilling to break from the
chance I possessed of capturing a trout so enormous,
I found it necessary to put in practice some means, in
order to rouse him as quickly as possible from the
lethargic and immoveable position assumed by him
after his recent exertions ; as, without doing so, I had
no likelihood of so fatiguing the fish as to obtain a
speedy conquest over him. Accordingly, I committed
myself with great caution to the water — which, be it
remarked, was deep, rapid, and, as to the footing it
afforded, not a little precarious. Scarcely, indeed, had
I advanced three paces, before I found myself engulphed
waist-high, and on the point of being carried downward
by the strength of the current !
" At this moment, however, a sudden strain on my
line indicated the intentions of the fish to renew his
run ; whereupon, more regardful of him than of my
own peril, I only clenched my rod with the greater
vigour, and relying on the strength of tackle with
which I happened to be provided, actually suffered
2i6 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
myself to be dragged forward into the midst of a
black, dangerous pool ! — Here, fortunately, through
the assistance of my left arm, I kept pretty fairly afloat,
and managed at the same time to control a desperate
plunge of the infuriated fish, who forthwith, finding all
such exertion to no purpose, resumed his career up the
river.
" Gentlemen, I cannot describe to you my situation
at this juncture. I have no recollection of how I felt
and acted for the space of some minutes, seeing that
such must have elapsed before I again found myself
able rationally to decide what steps, consistent with the
honour of an angler, it were best for me to pursue. I
had been hauled upwards of an hundred yards through
the centre of the water, and was now lying, altogether
exhausted, on a shoal-bed of gravel. My rod, strange
to say, remained uninjured in my grasp, and instinct-
ively I felt apprised of the continued presence of the
great fish, again at rest, within the distance of five
paces. He had, however, fortunately, no inclination to
stir fin previous to my reaching terra firma, on the
south bank of the river, where, by the aid of my flask,
I was enabled ere long to regain a good portion of
my lost strength and courage ; which having done, I
commenced a violent attack with sods and stones
upon the spot where he lay, and speedily had the
gratification of beholding him at full sail down the
stream. Following, of course, as fast as the drenched
' state of my habiliments allowed me, I felt further
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 217
encouraged by an indication of great exhaustion on
the part of the fish, who evidently had lost the power
of retaining his proper balance, and not unfrequently
rolled over, belly-uppermost, in the water. This, how-
ever, might have been a stratagem of his to put me off
my guard, as all of a sudden he sprang directly into
the air, and would certainly have shivered my tackle,
had I not become instinctively aware of the movement,
and provided for it forthwith, by lowering the point of
the rod. Finding himself thus baffled, the fish seemed
in no humour to resume his descent, but commenced
thrusting with his snout against the opposite marge of
the river, from which, however, hastily recoiling, he
took a cross run towards that on which I stood, and
continued without intermission, for nearly a quarter of
an hour, passing and repassing betwixt the two banks.
It was now growing dark — -I was far from any
dwelling, and possessed of a very imperfect knowledge
of the wide and dangerous moor with which I was
surrounded ; moreover, I had the hunger of a wolf, and
was thoroughly soaked to boot ; — yet, gentlemen, for the
honour of our craft, I resolved to remain and subject
to the dominion of the wand a fish, I feel assured,
without its equal in broad Scotland. Nor was I long
in so doing, and that in the manner which I shall now
relate to you.
The part of the river which I had at this time
reached happened to branch off in two separate
streams, which, joining again below, formed a small
15
2i8 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
island. Through the principal of these I had al-
ready been conducted by the fish during his ascent,
and it was now my fortune, being on the opposite side
of the water from where I then was, to direct him in a
manner along the other, which, although in some parts
nearly as broad, was by no means either so deep or
rapid as the main branch. In fact, at a short distance
above their reunion it was crossed by a bar of gravel,
which had the effect, while it widened, of greatly
obstructing and shallowing off the stream.
Upon this, the fish, in an attempt to carry him-
self clean over it, fortunately ran aground, and owing
to his fatigued state, and the great bulk he possessed,
proved unable to force his way back again into deep
water. I immediately marched forward through the
stream, recovering line on my way, until I came
into close contact with him, and found the monster
jammed in as it were betwixt two furrows of gravel,
which, by means of his chin, he had reared up on
either side of him. Instantly pulling out a large
pocket-knife — the same, gentlemen, which I now
exhibit to you — I rushed upon my prize, inflicting
across his spine the fatal gash ! It was, to the best of
my recollection, as it were, done upon the mane of an
earthquake, so violent and terrible was tlie death of this
water-lord ! Blood, sand, and pebbles, were flung about
on aU sides of me, and I narrowly escaped being laid
prostrate by a tail-blow from the infuriated fish !
After the lapse, however, of a few seconds, life became
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 219
extinct, and I dragged him exultingly to the water-
edge, there to quaff off to his memory the remainder
of my flask, and devise in what manner to bear home-
wards, through moor and darkness, a trophy so magni-
ficent.
My first idea was to conceal the fish in some hollow
or other, and endeavour to thread my way towards the
inn, which lay several miles off in the neighbourhood
of Loch Eannoch, whence, on the day following, I
should set out to fetch him, having procured proper
assistance. I regret, indeed, that this plan was not
[)ursued, as, had it been, I should probably have
escaped the mortification I was destined to suffer, in
being obligated to relinquish so noble a prize. Un-
willing, however, to proceed without him, I took it
into my head, as a good expedient, that I might
readily, by means of my tackle, which remained as yet
unextricated from his gorge, float the fish forward
down the Gawin and through Loch Aich to within a
few yards of where I intended to quarter for the night.
Accordingly, I commenced the attempt, but had
scarcely proceeded above two hundred paces, when my
attention was directed to the plunge of a large animal
immediately below me, and before I could drag in my
captive out of harm's way, he was in the grasp of a
powerful otter ! In vain, gentlemen, did I shout ; in
vain rush forward into the stream ; tackle and fish
both had disappeared in a twinkling ; — the rascal had
carried all away with him. To say more, would be
220 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
to describe the feelings of one crazed by misfortune I
I know not to this day how I reached Loch Ean-
noch
Swivel. On the back of a hippopotamus, was it not.
Bill ? — Say so, man, an thou wantest credit for this
exploit of thine ! To superadd a marvel or twain
will improve the effect on't, and in nowise harm its
probability !
May. Courtesy, it appears, Nathan, is no director
of thy faith.
Swivel. If so, Bill, my creed would be a mon-
strous one.
May. Marry, indeed ! Doctor — thou hast swal-
lowed rawer fictions ere now than are of my fashion-
ing. How little credit findeth an angler's tale I
'Tis among truths unsworn to, the oftest ridiculed.
Men stare on't, as it were moon-dropt, and would
take the say of a pagan into more account.
Swivel. Well might they. Master May-fly, bpining
from these feats of thine. — But how, gentlemen, is
the bowl ran dry ?
[Sings.]
Jfarftufll to tht rSnteon.
We part not thus ! — nay, anglers, nay-
A farewell to the season !
So fill the bowl and drink away,
Who drinks not harbours treason.
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 221
II.
O fill it high ! the joyous draught
Is native to our heather ;
If bravely drained and largely quaffed,
'Twill bind oar hearts together.
III.
Now wintry winds, with rapid pace,
O'er mead and mountain sally ;
And gloomily the waters race
Through each deserted valley
No more sweet birds, in merry strain,
Sing from their bowers of beauty ;
Lay down the wand — the spring again
Will call it forth for duty.
V.
Lay down the wand — no longer now
The fearful trout is belling ;
All leafless left, the alder bough
Moans o'er his glassy dwelling.
Then heap, heap high our social hearth !
Why should the good fire flicker ?
And quaff ! quaff on ! —The best of mirth
Lies deepest in the liquor !
222 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
May. And best of melody to boot, Doctor; thou
art tuii'd to the point of admiration. But these are
voices familiar to us outside ? — Hark you ?
Leister. So methinks, Bill, albeit when or where
heard, I recollect not.
Otter. Marry do I ; an it be not Mark Wandle-weir
and Master Herl-broke, Tom Otter is other than Tom
Otter.
Leister. Thou sayest it. Welcome, gentlemen, most
welcome. [Enter Wandle-weir and Herl-beoke.]
Hilloa ! mistress, loads of comfort ; bring fire, water,
meats and marrows — with cordials cunning and
strengthy — hose and hot slippers ; there be two here
who have dropt out of a cloud, blastworn and wetted
throat high.
Wandle. A pitiable account of us, Mr. Leister ; but
in truth thou hast hit the mark. How fares it with
our loving fraternity ?
Swivel. Eight bountifully, gentle brother, • This, you
may note, is our feast of farewells, whereat we encase
our wands, close our panniers, and determine our retreat
from the stream-side. But play thy part at the tren-
cher, good sir ; thou must unfold a tale of thy wander-
ings ere we separate.
Wandle. Willingly, Doctor. You shall have the arcana
of my exploits at a beck, although, to speak the truth,
I have proved an adventureless adventurer.
Swivel. And hast achieved nothing worthy of thy
craft ?
i
i
FAREWELL FEAST OF ANGLING CLUB. 223
Wandle. Nay, I said not so : never was hand more
gory. But a truce, a truce, sweet Doctor good, let
forks wag before tongues.
Swivel. Amen ! valiant sir.
[After partaking of the bountiful repast provided by our
worthy landlady, Messrs. Wandle-weir and Herl-broke
proceeded to amuse the club with an account of their
wanderings in the north. It is not, however, within
the province of these pages to enter into any elaborate
detail of the manifold incidents met with by our
intelligent brethren of the angle; we find it incumbent
to olfer nothing further than such portions of their
relation as have reference to the pastime daily pursued
by them among the least frequented of our Highland
lochs and rivers. To this purpose we shall devote the
following chapter.]
224
CHAPTEE XIV.
THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF WANDLE-WEIR AND
HERL-BROKE.
I TAKE it for granted, gentlemen (commenced Mr.
Wandle-weir as spokesman on the occasion), that you
are already made acquainted with the result of our
rod operations up to the end of July last. My friend
Herl-broke, if I remember rightly, addressed a com-
munication to your honourable club, under the inten-
tion of regaling his brother members with a spice of
our doings and sufferings on certain angling stations,
north of the Tay. Our chief matters of complaint,
should you recollect, were the dryness of the season,
want of winds, and the incessant torment we met with
from hordes of gad-flies, w^hich haunted our steps with
provoking pertinacity along the water's-edge. From a
combination of maladies so unlooked for, it was natural
for us to determine our escape. Measures accord-
ingly were taken for a retreat homewards, and our
journey had actually commenced, when down pops
ACHIEVEMENTS. 225
one of the loveKest showers imaginable — a glorious,
soul-stirring, nerve-renewing thunder-plump ! Never
was one resolve so thoroughly dissipated for another
by this unexpected discharge of the element. We had
been waiting at Fort- William the arrival of one of the
.steamers plying betwixt Inverness and Glasgow, with
the intention of joining her on her voyage south, when
the first wild peal burst down from Nevis, gathering in
the responses of a thousand lesser hills, recognizant all
of their chieftain's terrific slogan.
May. Quite poetical grown, Mr. Wandle-weir ; thou
hast stocked a note-book with rhymes and images, I
venture to infer.
Wandle. Nay, my humour was not so inclined.
But to proceed. Allowing the smoky conveyance
(a glimpse of whose tall funnel, walking the great
•canal into Loch Eil, we had been so anxious for two
long days to obtain, and which, just as the last
shower-drop reached the earth, glided triumphantly
into view), allowing, I say, the murky water-coach to
wheel onward, out we danced, Herl-broke and my-
self (our friend Smoulter-jaws having waved his
adieus some days previous), toward Lochy-side, where,
at the distance of a stone's-throw above the castle,
we lit upon some shoals of princely sea-trout, fresh
from the brine. Of these, we took no less than
thirteen out of a single pool — the largest weighing
upwards of four pounds, and as fleet, wary, and
nimble a fish, as ever line thwarted. But our good
226 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
fortune was not destined to cease here, and we had
soon the further gratification of showing the rod-bubt
to three prime grilses and one salmon, which latter
was anchored on by myself in midst of a perilous
eddy, out of which I found it no easy task to force
him, and prevent the cutting of my line on certain
sharp-toothed rocks which lay in the direction he aimed
at. Luckily, however, my tackle was not deficient in
strength, and on putting it resolutely to the test,
I was able to effect the wished for control over my
fish, and ere long to gaff and secure him. I will not,
however, detain you with any further mention of our
angling exploits in this quarter. Zealous craftsmen as
we were, our appetite for sport became strangely im-
paired by the want of those scenic attractions, which
operate like sunshine on the heart, and keep the
springs of joy open within it. The savage desolate-
ness of the surrounding moorland had greatly lowered
our spirits, and we shrunk away after a week's resi-
dence at Eort-William, like guilty things that had
busied ourselves with butcheries, not of fish, but of
our fellows.
The next scene of our achievements (continued
Mr. Wandle-weir) was Loch Ness. Hiring a boat
early on the morning after our arrival at Fort-
Augustus, we beat up and down both sides of this
beautiful expanse of water, without so much as
stirring a single fin until the approach of noon.
ACHIEVEMENTS. 227
when the breeze stiffenmg, we were fortunate enough
to capture several good-sized trout and a brace of
noble salmon. Here we were shown a fish weighing
fourteen pounds, of the ordinary loch variety, which
had been taken during the previous day by means
of a spinning bait. It was reckoned a fair pattern of
build in a trout of its dimensions, but did not strike
me as nearly so magnificent a fish as the salmo ferox
of Loch Awe, of which your club, gentlemen, possesses
such an admirable specimen. I have caught trout
from our English waters, which struck me as infinitely
more attractive in form, and not a whit inferior to it
in complexion.
May. To my mind, bulk is the prime matter. Master
Wandle-weir. I account the beauty of a fish as nothing,
provided it weigh like a mill-stone.
Swivel. Betake thee to the Arctics, Bill, and "bob
for whales."
May. Not yet. Doctor, not yet — I am in nowise
weary of thy company. But pardon our interrup-
tion.
Wandle. It would be tiresome, gentlemen, to all
parties were I to detail circumstantially the numer-
ous excursions Mr. Herl-broke and myself engaged
in during our stay at Fort-Augustus. The Garry,
Morriston, Oich, Foyers, Coiltie, and Enneric, were
all visited in succession, nor did we neglect running
a fiy over two or three of the best reputed lochs,
situated in the surrounding district of country.
228 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
Fish, of course, were not always on the fin, and we
had, upon more than one occasion, to hold ourselves
satisfied with an empty pannier. The grandeur of the
scenes, however, among which our wanderings intro-
duced us, amply compensated for the want of success
occasionally encountered.
[Here Mr. Wandle-weir digressed into an eulogium on
various natural beauties discovered to him during the
course of the above excursions, after which he amused
the club with an account of the piscatory raid under-
taken by him and his friend Herl-broke into Eoss-shire.
We have no design, however, of following our worthy
brother-anglers along this portion of their tour, having
already, in a previous chapter, entered somewhat at
large into an analysis of the various waters belonging
to the several districts which they visited. We shall
only confine our observations, in regard to the country
alluded to, within the limits of a single interrogatory,
addressed by our intelligent narrator to the members
of the club. The purport of Mr. Wandle- weir's inquiry
was as to the reasonableness of a statement he had
seen repeatedly advanced among northern journalists,
whereby it was made to appear that an alarming decrease
had of late years taken place in the quantity both of
salmon and trout frequenting such streams as discharge
themselves along the Western coasts of Scotland, and,
moreover, that this decrease was owing solely to the recent
introduction of sheep into those pasture-grounds which
border on the waters in question.]
May. What 1 Mr. Wandle-weir, sheep devour salmon !
They say, 'tis true, goats will bolt vipers.
ACHIEVEMENTS. 229
Swivel. And pigs eat bairns ! Bill.
Wandle. I believe, gentlemen, no such unnatural
propensity is intended to be attributed to the pec-
oral tribe. The destruction chiefly complained of
is imagined to be in operation against the ova and
fry of the fish. Wool- washing — the abridgment
of food presumed to have taken place on the sub-
stitution of sheep for black cattle (which, as you all
know, formerly constituted the live stock of the
districts to which I allude) — and numerous other
causes, are brought forward in support of this sin-
gular allegation.
Leister. Singular, Mr. Wandle-weir, you may
well call it. It is, besides, utterly irrational, and
at variance with what happens to be observed
in the Southern districts of Scotland. Of a piece,
notwithstanding, it seems with other attempts
made by the prejudiced Highlanders to resist the
introduction of sheep into our Northern pasture-
grounds. I need only, however, in order to
prove its inconsistency with fact, direct your
attention to what happens to be the case in
.Selkirkshire — a county where it will be allowed
the woolly tribe is reared to no inconsiderable
extent. You are yourself acquainted with many
of its numerous streams, such especially as have
their channel and origin among sheep-pastures, and
cannot fail to agree with me, that of these, one
and all are crowded with trout almost beyond belief,
230 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
and that during the autumnal and hibernal months
they are visited, although lying at a great distance
from the sea, by salmon and other fish, not singly or
at infrequent intervals, but in large and continued
masses.
Otter. You say truly. Jack. I have seen no less
than forty or fifty gallant fins abstracted by a party
of black-fishers from one pool, and that the very
one into which the neighbouring sheep-farmers were
accustomed to drive their flocks during the washing-
month !
Wandle. It is, however, to be confessed, Mr.
Otter, that the purifying operations performed upon
the wool of sheep do in some measure affect the
salubrity of those waters wherein they are carried
on.
Otter. This I do not deny. The impregnating
of a burn or pool with the corrupt smearing
materials attached, among other filth, to the fleece,
before clipping, cannot fail for the moment to
sicken and alarm the delicate inhabitants of the
stream. No serious result, however, takes place ;
as far, at any rate, as my experience goes, I
do not remember to have stumbled upon a
single fish, small or great, in which the vital
spark had been rendered extinct, owing to the
cause above alleged.
ACHIEVEMENTS. 231
[Some further conversation here took place among the
members of the club relative to the decrease of game
in pastoral districts. This discussion, however, we
are urged to pass over, with a view of conducting our
readers along with Messrs. Wandle-weir and Herl-
broke, after their departure from Ross-shire. Their
success among the streams and lakes of that county
was fully as great as they had anticipated, although
the weather encountered by them was not of the de-
scription which the angler reckons most favourable.
About the commencement of September, and a fortnight
previous to the time when the waters north of the Tweed
are closed up, we discover our lately installed brethren of
the wand among the mountainous regions of Strath-Glass,
descending which, they shortly afterwards reach Inver-
ness, and strike onward from thence into Morayshire.
We must, however, give the conclusion of their angling
adventures in Mr. Wandle-weir's own words.]
We had now arrived (continued he) at the Find-
horn, where it passes under the bridge of Dulsie.
Much as I have witnessed of river scenery, my
recollections are unable to call up any continued
stretch of bold decorations, equal to what is pos-
sessed by this noble stream. From the Streens to
the Suspension-bridge near Forres, a distance, fol-
lowing its course, of not less than fifteen miles, one
unbroken chain of magnificent landscape is presented.
With a body of water sufficiently large to attract
attention, the Findhorn makes its way betwixt masses
of rock, imposing, equally from their height, their
form, and their distribution. Trees, the skirts of a
forest, old and fantastic, peer over its parapets
232 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
mingled with shrubs and saplings, which steal down
luxuriantly among the rill-worn fissures. Here,
with imprecating arms, a storm-cleft oak towers
over the abyss — there an ivy mourns — and,
beyond it,
" Self-pleased, a graceful birch
Nods to its image in the glassy pool."
To eye Eindhorn to advantage, one must adopt
the angler's method of river-coursing. Its channel
he must convert into his highway, and plunge un-
hesitatingly through such fords as promise to lead
him towards the best view-stances and juts of observe.
Your knapsack-tourists will gain nothing by confining
themselves to the pinnacles and embankments ; they
must e'en descend to the water's surface, and look
for an eye- feast upwards, not, as is their use, over
and across.
As an angling water, we found Eindhorn at certain
points incomparable. The period, liowever, of our
visit was such that it required little or no skill to
take fish. Five, eleven, and nine salmon, were the
several results of our operations during the three
days preceding the loth, when the waters, to our
great disappointment, became shut up, and we were
forced to adopt our route southward, without testing,
as we originally intended, the primest of salmon-
rivers, Spey.
May. A mighty mortification, indeed, Master
ACHIEVEMENTS. 233
Wandle-weir, after the liavoc committed by you
and Herl-broke ! 'Twere time, methinks, to put
the pannier aside with good will, instead of lusting
afresh, against law and reason.
Swivel. The soul of an angler hath gone out of
thee, Bill.
May. Not so, but its cravings, Doctor, are time-
subdued. I despise to be affected by the throbs
and longings of a school-boy heart, such as were
wont of old to accompany me, while trudging forth,
during play hours, to hitch oiit minnows from a
water tank.
Swivel. Then are you grown a philosopher.
Bill. 'Tis a change for the worse, an it be
true. We must have no stoics among us. Master
May-fly.
May. A sapient resolution. Lead down the aqua.
Doctor. What, Tim, anchored already ? — and thou,
Master Hackle ? lieplenish, I pray you, my merry
men all.
Otter. Keep the concord. Bill, lest we bind and
bed thee. Free and good-humoured, without break
or brawl, should be our Feast of Farewells. No
apple of contention ought ever to lie upon its board!
It should be a sealing up of the friendships of the
year, that they may be kept faithful until we meet
again. But, gentlemen %
IG
234
ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
And further than this we can add nothing. — Of what Mr.
Otter observed in continuation, we are left totally in the
dark. Reader ! go on for the moral to our conclusion.
Say we not, with Solomon —
All things a-.e vanity. '
235
CONCLUSION.
Our matter is at an end. We possess no other relics
of our loved fraternity — and what, gentle angler, are
these before thee, save an unassorted, imperfect medley ?
We have not troubled ourselves to trick them out for
favour. They are better, perhaps, as they are, even
with all their likeness to those lettered follies which
the day gives birth to.
Will the angling fraternity at C ever revive ?
Alas ! the conclusion that our hearts come to is, that
it never will. We have reason to believe that its dis-
solution has been a final one ! There are no signs or
chances of returning animation among us. The
electric fires of sympathy are all gone out. Even
236 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
the tenement where our festive meetmgs were wont
to be held begins to show symptons of disrepair. Its
kii'tle gay of briars and woodbines now hangs about it
in careless shreds — the thatch has been partly torn
away, while what remains thereof is furred over with
wind-sown mosses ; — there is a huge fissure from base
to chimney-top at one end of the building, and several
great stones are commencing their escape outward
above the porch. Its diamond-shaped panes, more-
over, are many of them supplanted by patches of
vellum — abstractions, probably, from some ancient
manuscript formerly possessed by our club, and left,
unthought of, to the spoiler's mutilating hand.
Ah ! and our hostess too — our mirth-loving, kind-
hearted landlady, is no longer to be seen. A stranger
fills, her place. The tones of sweet humour and
benevolence which circled below her hospitable roof
are exchanged for the austere brawlings of a drunken
publican. There is a sign-board also, swinging aloof
over the door-way, with the likeness of a fish pictured
upon it — surely not that of a salmon — a creature set
and proportioned so smgularly never cleft the flood ; —
it seems a compound of the tench and the tad-pole,
and is coloured over with a sloughy, blue mixture, such
as might be formed from the cleanings of some well-
CONCLUSION. 237
daubed palette. At one end of this nmrky monster is
represented a big-bellied bottle, with its accompanying
gill-stoup ; at the other depends the figure of a
huge fly-hook or parrot pad ; while immediately over
these, along the top of the board, one may discern,
painted in big, black characters, " The Fisher's Tryst."
The Fisher's Tryst I Pity the angler that ventures
below its ungracious rafters I In vain will he look for
the rural pleasaunces they so lately overshadowed.
Its once tidy furniture is mostly removed, while a
couple of deal benches, guarding on either side a
coarse, oaken table, occupy instead the principal
apartment. The recess beds have both been robbed
of their pannellings, and lie exposed in offensive dis-
order towards the entrance. One chair, halt and
maimed, leans its fractured form against the narrow-
portion of wall by which these are divided, and a
mirror (we recognise it as an ancient friend) is
suspended directly over its back. Nothing happy may
ever look again upon that darkening surface I
'* They cannot smile on't,
Who trim their count'nance at its perilous front."
We turn with a shiver from this reflector of the
human face divine — the loved things we looked for
238 ANGLING REMINISCENCES.
are there no longer ! We turn with a shiver from the
now desecrated dwelling, and its sordid inmates, — from
the stream, too — and why from it ?
" Still its waters glide,
Unsullied at our side,
Making sweet music through the valley wide."
Why, then, turn from it ^ — where the change that
urges us to this ? — It lies, gentle angler, within our
own heart !
THE END.
PRINTED BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE, UNIVERSITY PRESS, GLASGOW.
i
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it
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