INTRODUCTION xiii 



in most salmon rivers, and ought not to remain 

 in any. 



Our border stream has won the homage of many 

 a heart ; none ever beat more truly towards her 

 than that of William Scrope ; none would have 

 thrilled more quickly to the lay of one of her 

 latest minstrels : 



" Brief are man's days at best ; perchance 



I waste my own, who have not seen 

 The castled palaces of France 



Shine on the Loire in summer green. 



" And clear and fleet Eurotas still, 



You tell me, laves his reedy shore, 

 And flows beneath the fabled hill 

 Where Dian drave the chase of yore. 



" I may not see them, but I doubt 



If seen I'd find them half so fair 

 As ripples of the rising trout 



That feed beneath the elms of Yair. 



" Unseen, Eurotas, southward steal, 



Unknown, Alpheus, westward glide, 

 You never heard the ringing reel, 

 The music of the water side ! " l 



HERBERT MAXWELL. 



MONREITH, 1898. 



Andrew Lang's The Last Cast. 



