1-M TWO DAYS FLY-FISHING 



attempted to describe. Having landed between us 

 two brace of good trout and returned some smaller 

 ones to their native stream, we were proceeding to 

 put up our tackle, when we were joined by Mr. 

 Peebles, the proprietor of the water where we had 

 been fishing, and of a small landed estate in the 

 neighbourhood. I had known Mr. Peebles in Lon- 

 don, and had obtained his permission to fish in his 

 part of the river whenever I pleased. He had 

 been duly informed of our arrival, and now came to 

 see what success we had had. He was one of those 

 unfortunate men who, having sufficient to live 

 upon, have nothing to do. He had been some 

 years seeking for happiness in the metropolis, and 

 not having been able to find it, had purchased an 

 estate in the country in hopes of finding it there. 

 He was a good-natured man, fond of talking of 

 himself, and never so happy as when he could get 

 am one to listen to his prosings. His great amuse- 

 ment, perhaps his only one, was fishing ; and he 

 might be seen almost daily, sauntering along the 

 t>anks of the river with his rod in his hand, and 

 attended by a country lad. He could hardly, how- 

 ever, be called a fisherman, as he made more use of 

 a worm than a fly in taking trout. He was in 

 short, any thing but a disciple of Izaak Walton. 

 Mr. Peebles had one great disadvantage, that of 

 extreme ugliness. His eyes were large and far 

 between, and almost seemed as if they were placed 



