THE ANGLER'S SOUVENIR. 



139 



the lakes and streams, just as a grand-dad talks of 

 the feats of his youth, or the lover prates of the 

 charms of his mistress. 



Confession is good for the soul, they say, and at 

 the risk of drawing down upon our heads some 

 strong indignation, we must confess that our earliest 

 love was for that which some people call nature ; 

 but as that term has become somewhat hackneyed 

 and indefinite in maaning, we prefer to call it the 

 out-of-doors. We never took well to confinement 

 During our school-life the blue sky seen through 

 the barred windows, and the pigeons or the rooks 

 which circled under it, or the top branches of the 

 chesnuts tossing in the wind, were more frequently 

 our objects of contemplation than the pages of 

 our books. The unrest and the longing, which was 

 never satisfied save in the open air, by the glancing 

 stream or on the far-seeing hill-top, have followed 

 us through life ; and though through the dull 

 winter these feelings may be dormant, yet as the 

 fair spring grows into fairer summer, they arise 

 with a poewr not to be controlled, and away out of 

 doors we must go, and be once more blest in the 

 possession of that which contenteth us. 



There are certain pleasant spots in England 

 which, from their own natural beauty and the 

 associations which boyish romance and youthful 

 friendships have endowed them with, have such a 

 charm that when a holiday-time comes round each 

 year, we are constrained to revisit them, and put 



