68 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 



tion to nod in my own brain- holder. We must be 

 early astir to-morrow, in order to have anything 

 like sport. I intend starting for the river about 

 sunrise. 



Swivel. One might suppose, Bill, from the way you 

 talk, that you were really an angler, instead of which 

 you can manage your rod no better than a tailor's 

 needle. Come, recount thy feats, give us the pick of 

 thy miracles, that we may canonize thee ! Preach of 

 thy ten-pounders and thirty-pounders thy salmones 

 feroces, erioces et truttce thy silver-edged hackles, and 

 green gooseberry ephemerae thy genuine O'Shaugh- 

 nessys and taper Chevaliers thy complex multipliers 

 and witch-hair casting lines thy baits and surfeit- 

 worms, red coral roe, and pearl minnows ; be large in 

 thy discourse, and learned withal, as if the matter were 

 well digested and intimate to thee ; make thy notes, 

 strictures, and digressions ; muster up thy forces, Bill, 

 and tilt at all usage and observance. 



May. facetious Swiveltop ! thou art the king of 

 wits ; thy tongue waggeth as if set in motion by the 

 wind, and not through rational impulse, like the 

 tongues of other men : Thou art a human bell, tink- 

 ling without chime or music ! Where be the brains 

 that should occupy thy hollow head-piece those orts 

 of matter that symbolize the mind ? Hast thou an 

 eik or pertinent thereof ? Wits, like thee, should be 

 whipped for fools. 



Swivel. Better than being hanged for knaves, 



