202 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 



The Ettrick Shepherd owed much to his matri- 

 monial alliance. He had a sensible wife, and an affec- 

 tionate domestic circle. I shall ever regard his loss as 

 one of no common sort. It will destroy much of the 

 spirit of the Border land, wither many of its associa- 

 tions, and harm not a little the fine tone of fraternal 

 feeling which existed there. It will throw a melancholy 

 over the pastoral hills and the quiet valleys over the 

 mouldering tower and the lowly cottage across the 

 glassy lake and the shining river; his imperishable song 

 will not fill up the place of its minstrel, nor supply 

 what is departed of the husband, the father, the friend, 

 the patriot, and the angler. 



This lengthened oration of Tom Otter's seems to 

 have been listened to with beseeming attention by 

 the other members of the club, and was accordingly 

 followed up by their dedicating a toast to the 

 memory of the Forest-Poet. Topics, however, of 

 a less melancholy nature found, during the course 

 of the evening, their way into discussion, and the 

 right festive humour prevailed exceedingly. Our 

 recollections, we confess, in an attempt to methodize 

 and embody the principal matters touched upon on 

 the occasion of the fraternity's final meeting, have 

 proved disappointingly brittle ; and we find our- 

 selves under the necessity of merely subjoining a 

 few fragments of desultory discourse, along with 



