197 



b 



BACHELORS' BLESSEDNESS. 

 ROUND THE FOURTH. 



MY dearly beloved Bachelor, As I am, by nature, 

 the mildest mannered man that ever chucked a kill-devil 

 into the mouth of a hungry eig hteen-pounder salmon ; 

 you may be assured that I felt exceedingly sorry on 

 noticing the discomposure which my little joke in the 

 S. D. M. occasioned you, and as I know no better way 

 of tranquillizing a mind ill at ease than by ministering 

 to the wants of the stomach, I sent you, as a peace offer- 

 ing, by the Barnstaple Coach, feven dozen of trout 

 consigned to the Editoi^ of the " Museum;" I suppose 

 that the major part have, long since, been committed to 

 the jurisdiction of your gastric juice. Salted any? Eh? 



As you have so ingenuously shifted ground and now 

 seem disposed to advocate my side of the question ; I 

 suppose that I need not continue the argumentative 

 part of the business. However I have a remark or two 

 to make on your quip modest and, as heretofore, in 

 the spirit of Christian kindness. 



First, then, as to your insinuation about my basket 

 which, by the way, seems to have proved one of the 

 most efficient baits thrown out in the S. D. M.; you 

 would degrade it to the size of a pannier a pannier ? 

 Lord bless your soul, courteous reader! a pannier is 

 nothing to it, many and many a time, when I have been 

 hooking out the fair finny ones, three at once, the 

 bachelor has sat in wy basket, to shelter himself from 

 the wind, reading Tristram Shandy ; whilst I, to accom- 

 modate him, have deposited all my fish on the grass, 

 instead of stowing them away happily in their des- 

 tined wicker house, their last home one excepted. 



* A basket, containing seven dozen of trout, was left at the 

 " Museum" office, the upper half of the address card .had been, by 

 some accident, torn oft'; so. that nothing remained but 



" The Editor of the * South Devon Museum,' 



Plymouth." 



Taking it for granted that the fish were intended for ourselves, We, 

 as in duty bound, annihilated them with all convenient speed. ED. 

 VOL. in. 1834. DD 



