CLOSING TEARS. 445 



vealed the depth of his suffering; and it was only by fits and starts 

 that any thing like composure visited his heart. Still did he speak 

 of returning to his labors at the commencement of the session ; and, 

 in order to regain strength, he proposed to make an excursion into 

 the Highlands, provided that a family party went with him. There 

 was no difficulty in arranging this ; and in June, accompanied by 

 his two eldest daughters, his sons John and Blair, his son-in-law 

 Professor Ferrier, his brother James, and his niece Henrietta Wilson, 

 he set out for Luib ; at which rendezvous he was joined by Mr. 

 Glassford Bell and his eldest daughter. Luib, as we have seen from 

 his letter in 1845, is a pretty wayside hostelry in the central High- 

 lands of Perthshire, about seven miles beyond Killin. There we 

 encamped for a fortnight, encountering such caprices of weather as 

 generally pass over the mountain districts of Scotland. The more 

 adventurous of the party treated the weather with contempt, taking 

 long walks. Of these were Mr. James Wilson and his niece, who 

 wandered over large stretches of ground : but few of the others 

 could compare notes of adventure with them. 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 

 in the neighborhood of 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 for- 

 ward 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 hun- 

 dred heathery hills, to devour the dark rolling river, or the blue 

 breezy loch ! How leaped my heart to hear the thunder of the near- 

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

 rippling hazel-banked hue of music among the broomy braes, all astir 

 with back-fins on its surface; and now the feed is on, teeming with 

 swift-shooting, bright -bounding, and silver-shining scaly life, most 

 beauteous to behold, at every soft alighting of the deceptive line, 

 captivating and irresistible even among a shower of natural leaf-born 

 flies, a swarm in the air from the mountain woods." 



