An Angler's Paradise. 19 



is " cornered " here, and in his power, and before him must melt 

 away ; not so in the great city, where the mist is made by human 

 beings into something else, and even Sol in all his grandeur often 

 cannot lift the curtain when it falls upon St. Paul's and West- 

 minster. But here, to stand and see it lifting, leaving behind a 

 view on which 'tis good to gaze, the moor, the rocks, the trees, 

 the mountains hanging over all, and down below a peaceful valley 

 with its river winding far till lost in the expanse of distance. 



But at our feet a brook, its mossy sides and rocky buttresses 

 reflected in the still clear pools, the gossamer upon its banks still 

 hung with dew-drops, and the plants upon its margin with their 

 heads still hanging down as if in slumber. Sol has not touched 

 them with his finger tips as yet. To gaze on such a scene inspires 

 the town-born traveller with ecstacy, and a feeling as of awe and 

 wonder rises within him, mixed with keen delight, as the water 

 of the brook beneath him circles round a given point where Salmo 

 touched its surface. A little one, 'tis true, but t'was a Salmo 

 really. See ! there another rises. 



The traveller smiles a pleasant smile, brings forth his tackle, 

 and essays to tempt the little fish into his creel at the third cast 

 he is successful, and steps lightly on to the next pool to try again 

 another fingerling is thrown upon the bank, and yet another, 

 lured from its watery home. And this the traveller is content to 

 call his fishing, and to view all things round as exquisitely beauti- 

 ful ; more beautiful because he holds a fishing-rod it helps him 

 to enjoy the scene most thoroughly and to make the best of 

 everything. 



Then how much more, when climbing yonder bank he comes 

 upon a pool larger than all the rest, and deeper too, a pool which 

 human hands have made, and stocked; and here he tries his 

 " gentle art " soon has a rise is into one, " A monster " quoth 

 our tyro. Off goes the fish, out runs the line till thirty yards are 

 gone, then slackens, and he reels him in awhile. But off he goes 

 again, now plunges and then leaps from out the water, shewing 

 for a moment his bright silvery scales a full three-pounder 

 surely ah ! yes, he turns the scale at that when he is brought to 

 bank at last, and safely landed. Another cast or two and then 

 another fish is hooked, more playful even than the last ; he plays, 



