300 SALMON FISHING. 



tempered now by the exhalations of the copious night-dews, 

 and by the cool breath of the western breeze, which came down 

 through the leafy gorges, in long, soft swells from the open 

 moorlands. 



*' All nature was alive and joyous; the air was vocal with the 

 piping melody of the blackbirds and thrushes, carolling in every 

 brake and bosky dingle ; the smooth, green lawn before the 

 windows of the old Hall was peopled with whole tribes of fat, 

 lazy hares, limping about the dewy herbage, fearless, as it would 

 seem, of man's aggression ; and to complete the picture, above a 

 score of splendid peacocks were strutting to and fro on the 

 paved terraces, or perched upon the carved stone balustrades, 

 displaying their gorgeous plumage to the early sunshine. 



" The shadowy mists of the first morning twilight had not 

 been dispersed from the lower regions, and were suspended 

 still in the middle air in broad fleecy masses, though melting 

 rapidly away in the increasing warmth and brightness of the 

 day. 



" And still a faint blue line hovered over the bed of the long 

 rocky gorge, which divided the chase from the open country, 

 floating about it like the steam of a seething cauldron, and 

 rising here and there into tall smoke-like columns, probably 

 where some steeper cataract of the mountain-stream sent its 

 foam skyward. 



" So early, indeed, was the hour, that had my tale been 

 recited of these degenerate days, there would have been no 

 gentle eyes awake to look upon the loveliness of new-awakened 

 nature. 



" In the good days of old, however, when daylight was still 



