60 



In rural innocence ; thy mountains still 



Teem with the fleecy race ; thy tuneful woods 



For ever flourish ; and thy vales look gay 



With planted meadows, and the golden grain. 



Oft with thy blooming sons, when life was new, 



Sportive and petulant, and charmed with toys, 



In thy transparent eddies have I laved ; 



Oft traced with patient steps the fairy banks 



With the well-imitated fly to hook 



The eager trout, and with the slender line 



And yielding rod, solicit to the shore, 



The struggling panting prey ; while vernal clouds 



And tepid gales obscured the ruffled pool, 



And from the deeps call'd forth the wanton swarm. 



There are few rivers of the same limited range, 

 whose banks are more picturesque, and streams 

 more agreeable to fish, than those of the Esk. Its 

 entire bed, except near or about the tide-way, is 

 comparatively narrow, which circumstance gives a 

 fulness and depth to its waters, favourable, even in 

 dry and parched seasons, to the rod-fisher's sport. 

 The winding and circuitous route of the river adds, 

 likewise, to its interest ; as we have ever and anon 

 presented to us some fine view, or agreeable com- 

 bination of brushwood, and running water things 

 which have a remarkably plesant effect upon those 

 who have an eye for beauties of rural scenery. 



The next stream, towards the north, is the Sark, 

 which runs into the Firth, but has no great range. 

 In particular states of its waters, in the summer 

 months, a good dish of smallish trout may be readily 

 obtained. The Kirtle "Water, which enters the 

 same estuary a little lower down towards the sea, is 



