137 



SEA-TROUT FISHING.! 



fTlHE literary description of angling that it 

 -" is the contemplative man's recreation 

 is an expression which, though descriptive 

 enough of one aspect of the pastime, is, as 

 applied to the whole art of rod-fishing, singu- 

 larly inappropriate. So I mused, after a capital 

 day's fishing on a sea-trout loch, sitting over a 

 bright fire in the little parlour of a quiet inn, 

 far away from tourists, on the wild western 

 coast of Scotland. To wander through the 

 fields in June among pastoral scenes, such as 

 were long ago touched on with such delicate 

 enjoyment by Walton, is to enjoy a recreation 

 essentially contemplative. The scenery of the 

 English meadows the sober scenery which 

 George Eliot has well portrayed, and the feel- 



1 Reprinted by permission from the ' Pall Mall Gazette.' 



