§6 MKS. TOWDIE AND THE COD. 



modern days will create into a concord. In the General's 

 pond was one salmon, who had not even the civility to 

 come and shake a fin with me as a sincere Mend of his 

 family. He kept far away at the other end of the pond, 

 and I never saw him hut once. He seemed as black as 

 a rook, and as thin as a starved- out inhabitant of Metz. 

 No, it won't do to keep salmon in captivity. They are 

 wild animals, and must be as free as the red deer or the 

 eagle, or they will not prosper. The more I see of the 

 salmon, the more I acknowledge he is my master. 

 There is a certain divine affiatus about him, which 

 naturally leads men to do a great deal for his benefit, and 

 the more of this sort the better. No fish has ever had 

 more laws made about him than the salmon. I hope I 

 shall never hear a lawyer abuse a salmon ; this would 

 be base ingratitude. 



And now for a sad end to my tale. The General 

 kindly waited a very, very long time, while I was watch- 

 ing his fish. At last it began to get dark. He said : 

 " Buckland, we must go to dinner, but we will take a 

 cod-fish with us." Down the steps again came Mrs. 

 Towdie, with more mussels, and a great white iron cod 

 hook attached to the end of a line. As the General 

 supplies his table regularly from the pond, and as the 

 fish had to be slain as a matter of necessity, I was 

 obliged to stand by and see the execution. Mrs. Towdie 

 then artfully hooked out one of the biggest cod; the 

 poor thing took the mussel with a gulp. Alas ! for 

 feminine temptations ; who among us men has not been 

 treated like this jDOor cod ? His former protectress 

 pulled him out of the water in a moment, and he heaved 

 a heavy sigh as he flapped his tail for the last time. 

 We had this fish for dinner — I regret to say, without 

 shedding tears — and a splendid cod it was. 



