59 



greedily, that no great nicety in the choice of flies 

 need be observed. 



The iWis "Water joins the Esk at Langholm, and 

 has a run of full ten miles. It is full of small trout, 

 but not to be fished with fly. The Tarras is another 

 feeder, which enters the main river a few miles 

 below, and it partakes of much of the same character 

 as the Eirais. 



The Liddal, which springs from the English bor- 

 der, and which flows a few miles within the boun- 

 dary line of Scotland, is a good fishing stream, when 

 its waters are not too fine and low. It has long 

 been celebrated from the beautiful lines ascribed to 

 it, and other neighbouring rivers, by Dr. Armstrong, 

 in his poem, " On the Means of Preserving Health," 

 who, in his younger days, was a keen angler on the 

 banks of the Liddal. 



" But if the breathless chase o'er hill and dale 

 Exceed your strength, a sport of less fatigue, 

 Not less delightful, the prolific stream 

 Affords. The crystal rivulet that o'er 

 A stony channel rolls its rapid surge, 

 Swarms with the silver fry. Such through the bounds 

 Of pastoral Stafford, runs the brawling Trent ; 

 Such Eden, sprung from Cambrian mountains ; such 

 The Esk, o'erhung with woods ; and such the stream, 

 On whose arcadian banks I first drew air. 

 Liddal till now, except in Doric lays, 

 Tuned to her murmurs by her love-sick swains, 

 Unknown to song : though not a purer stream 

 Through wood more flowery, more romantic groves, 

 Rolls towards the western main. Hail sacred flood ! 

 May still thy hospitable swains be blest 



