TROUT. 



colour :* the expense only, I presume, is the 

 chief inducement ever to use a natural bait. 



* That Trout are extremely voracious, and are often al- 

 lured by tinsel, gaudy feathers, (particularly those of the pea- 

 cock, pheasant, jay, and other birds) the bright colours of 

 silk, and things which are shining or glittering", the materials 

 commonly used in making artificial flies, baits, &c. fully tes- 

 tify, and of which my experience has furnished me with 

 abundant proofs ; but that a Trout should swallow a Diamond 

 Ring, I must confess myself somewhat sceptical : that such, 

 however, was the fact, the following romantic tale (told me 

 by an old inhabitant of Stepney) avers. 



A gentleman, who resided in Hertfordshire, had gained the 

 affections of a young lady in his neighbourhood , some time 

 after this, he quitted that part of the country, and settled at 

 Stepney, as an India merchant : engaged in the gaiety and 

 dissipation of the metropolis, he soon forgot the young lady 

 he left in Hertfordshire. The extreme distress she felt from 

 this cruel treatment of her lover, induced her to leave the 

 country privately, and go to London in search of the gay de- 

 ceiver. During an interview with him on the banks of the 

 Thames, he took a diamond ring from his finger, and threw 

 it into the river, solemnly declaring, that unless she could 

 present him with the same ring, she should never be his 

 bride, and immediately left her. Plunged into the deepest 

 despair by his conduct towards her, and ashamed to return 



