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has been no lack of diligence, nor any means 

 left untried as to a variation in flies. This 

 uncertainty has sometimes given the Coquet a 

 bad name from strangers ; who have, perhaps, 

 come fifty or a hundred miles, and been thus 

 scurvily treated. Falling upon one of these 

 unlucky days, they have become disgusted, 

 and have left the stream in a pet. Every 

 visitor of the Coquet has witnessed numerous 

 cases of this kind. I well remember a party of 

 anglers from London, eight in number, making 

 their appearance on the Coquet, on their route 

 to Scotland. They fished the streams in all 

 directions for seven or eight hours; and all 

 they brought home were six small trout, not 

 weighing, in all, three-quarters of a pound ! 

 Nothing could exceed their mortification. They 

 swore there were no trout in the water, and 

 that they had been grossly imposed upon by 

 some friends who had spoken highly of this 

 river. I endeavoured to convince them that 

 their judgment was a hasty one, and that if 

 they would wait for another day, in all pro- 

 bability they would meet with such success 

 as would compensate in some degree for their 

 present disappointment. But they one and 

 all declared they would not rest a single hour 

 longer on its banks ; and they carried their 



