CHAPTER XI 



" Tis night, dread night, and weary Nature lies 

 So fast as if she never were to rise ; 

 Lean wolves forget to howl at night's pale noon ; 

 No wakeful dogs bark at the silent moon, 

 Nor bay the ghosts which glide in horror by 

 To view the caverns where their bodies lie ; 

 The ravens perch, and no presages give, 

 Nor to the windows of the dying cleave ; 

 In vaults the walking fires extinguish'cl lie ; 

 The stars, heaven's sentry, wink and seem to die. 1 ' 



Lee. 



Before I describe what is called "burning the 

 water," I will make an observation that may be of 

 service to the rod fisher. It is, that salmon which 

 have been disturbed in the night with boats and 

 lights will draw into the streams above, and take 

 the fly all the better for this disturbance the follow- 

 ing morning ; and as burning always takes place 

 when the water is very low, they probably will 

 not be found far from the place of the nocturnal 

 operations. 



Trout also will take better for having been 

 routed about, and for change of situation ; a re- 

 markable instance of which I witnessed a few years 

 ago at Castle Combe. A hole under some hatches 



