"Cbrtotopbet Uortb" 193 



door closed for the last time. How different from that 

 fresh and vigorous old age in which he had moved 

 among us the year before ! " 



In the following year Christopher North made his 

 last pilgrimage to the Highlands, the scene of those 

 glorious days with rod and gun which he has im- 

 mortalised in the glowing rhapsodies of the " Recrea- 

 tions." His daughter gives this pathetic picture of the 

 tour : 



" Had my father been able to endure fatigue we too 

 would have had something to boast of; but he was 

 unable to do more than loiter by the river-side close 

 to the inn never without his rod. Alas, how changed 

 the manner of his sport from that of his prime ! We 

 must make use of his own illustration as he speaks of 

 the past and present ; for North's exploits in angling 

 are varied enough to be brought forward at any point 

 of his life. He says to the Shepherd, 



' In me the passion of the sport is dead or say 

 rather dull ; yet have I gentle enjoyment still in the 

 " Angler's silent Trade." So seemed it then on the 

 banks of the Dochart. 



But Heavens, my dear James ! How in youth, and 

 prime of manhood too, I used to gallop to the glens 

 like a deer, over a hundred heathery hills, to devour the 

 dark rolling river, or the blue breezy loch ! How 

 leaped my heart to hear the thunder of the nearing 

 waterfall ! and lo, yonder flows, at last, the long dim 

 shallow rippling hazel-banked line of music among the 

 broomy braes, all astir with black fins on its surface ; 

 and now the feed is on, teeming with swift-shooting, 



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