"THE MOOR AND THE LOCH" 233 



runs into the burns that filled the streams that went to 

 swell the brimming river in their turn. After the first 

 rush of the flood, the water, as it gradually rose and 

 subsided again, was in grand and growing order. Now 

 the stream comes down in a sudden spate, and falls 

 even more quickly than it has swollen. The rushes 

 have disappeared from the haughs and hills under an 

 admirable system of scientific furrow-draining ; and 

 you may see the river shrinking visibly to those silvery 

 rills that meander among the pebbles in crystal trans- 

 lucency. The most finished of artists need hardly put 

 up his rod to try his luck in the sparkle of the sun- 

 shine ; and even an invisible midge on a gossamer 

 casting-line would scarcely move the monsters that are 

 lolloping in the pools. 



That is of the less consequence to many of us, that 

 there is so little good fishing to be had for love. The 

 laird has let his stretches of water, only reserving him- 

 self an occasional day or two in the pools that lie most 

 convenient to his residence ; and the eminent banker in 

 town, who is his tenant, may be said to do his fishing 

 from his offices in Lombard Street. A telegram warns 

 him of the coming condition of the river, and he jumps 

 into a hansom for the night-train from King's Cross, to 

 turn up on the following morning on the platform at 

 Perth or Berwick. These railways have not only run 

 up the rents, but they have wrought a revolution in 

 everything. When you had to make your way into 

 the remote glens of the Highlands by coach, cart, or 

 " machine," you were a welcome and an honoured 



