OUR OLD NOBILITIE. 141 



stantly and mysteriously bawling about the support of 

 the Established Presbyterian Church, in which they 

 somehow affect the deepest interest, though giving it 

 the go-by on Sundays. 



Feeling slightly relieved by the above expectora- 

 tion of spleen produced (who knows ?) by the recol- 

 lection of the contemptible preserving spirit that 

 actuates so many landowners in Lauderdale we pro- 

 ceed to our work ; but before leaving Lauder we must 

 pay a passing tribute to one who is not a noble, but 

 who has, we believe, acquired some notoriety as a 

 " catgut-scraper " at country fairs. James Baillie of 

 Lauder, however, is probably the best fly-fisher in the 

 world. We do not know that he has much more 

 book-learning than Archibald Bell-the-Cat, nor are his 

 abilities in any other capacity much to be talked of ; 

 but for several months in the year he is able, by a few 

 hours' trout-fishing in the day, to keep a wife and fa- 

 mily, and can pick out 12 or 20 pounds of fish where 

 most people would find a difficulty in getting any at all. 

 He is weak in constitution, and is afraid of cold, or of 

 wetting his feet ; so he usually devotes only the fore- 

 noon to the Leader or the Gala. But necessity has 

 so sharpened his angling faculties and perfected his 

 skill, that in that time he can fill his basket. Whether 

 he really was the first to find out the advantages of fly- 

 fishing up-stream, we do not know ; but it is certain 

 that he is the most efficient practiser of the method, 

 and we believe that he gave the hint to Stewart, who 

 has, after personally testing its advantages, brought 

 it out in the volume from which we have made so 

 many quotations. There are two brothers of the name 



