198 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



as much study and perspicacity as the rest, and is to 

 be preferred before many of them. Because hawk- 

 ing and hunting are very laborious, much riding and 

 many dangers accompany them ; but this is still and 

 quiet : and if so be the angler catch no fish, yet he 

 hath a wholesome walk to the brook-side, pleasant 

 shade by the sweet silver streams, he hath good air, 

 and sweet smells of fine fresh meadow flowers, he 

 hears the melodious harmony of birds, he sees the 

 swans, herons, ducks, water-horns, coots, &c., and 

 many other fowl, with their brood, which he thinketh 

 better than the noise of hounds, or blast of horns, and 

 all the sport that they can make. 



Be not dismayed, long- suffe ring reader, by our un- 

 expected erudition, and the sudden gravity of the style 

 of this little book. These words were written nigh 

 two hundred and fifty years ago by Robert Burton, 

 the Anatomist of Melancholy, and in his remarkable 

 work, part 2, sec. 2, mem. 4, you may find them for 

 yourself. They comprise the philosophy of our sport, 

 and prettily point out, in the general, the attendant 

 pleasures of its practice, which in the particular, as 

 regards the streams of these Border counties, we have 

 feebly endeavoured to expound. " If so be the angler 

 catch no fish," which may unluckily happen to the 

 best of our craft Nature is at hand to minister to 

 him consolation ; and history, tradition, and song, 

 the mouldering tower or abbey, the battle-field and 

 the broomy knowe by their associations compensate 

 him for disappointment. Without weakening our ad- 

 monitions to diligence in his calling, we may yet re- 



