THE JOY OF WADING 75 



to place a solution of Indian-rubber between the 

 human body and a refreshing element. It is like 

 taking a shower-bath under shelter of an umbrella. 



Thus far I can extend ; but desire me to drink 

 water by itself, and I am your very humble servant. 

 Had I been at a symposium of brandy and the said 

 vapid element with that worthy Magnus Troil, he 

 should not have drunk all the brandy himself, and 

 put me off with the water, as he is recorded to have 

 done to his very simple friend. I beg to say that I 

 am not one of those two thousand patients who 

 have been relieved by a water cure, administered by 

 James Wilson, Esq., physician to his Serene High- 

 ness the Prince of Nassau, as advertised. Internally, 

 in its pure state, I totally discard it. But I like the 

 society of fish ; and as they cannot with any con- 

 venience to themselves visit me on dry land, it 

 becomes me in point of courtesy to pay my respects 

 to them in their own element. 



Next to wading in water, comes, I think, the 

 pastime of trudging over bogs and fens — ground 

 intimately allied to it, and which Colonel Hawker 

 has made quite classical. This is a sort of debateable 

 land, and the natural inhabitants of it reject you 

 with most unequivocal signs of disapprobation. 

 The redshank, the peewit, the curlew, and all their 

 allies, scream and dart around you, inhospitable as 

 they are, and tell you, as plainly as bills can speak, 

 to sheer off, and not invade their premises. But we 

 are a sort of Paul Pry, and love to persist responding 

 now and then with our double barrel, which we 

 more especially direct towards the ruff, snipe, wild 

 duck, and teal — birds whose merit we particularly 



