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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. 
 
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it 
 
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