AND ANGLING SONGS. 171 



TYNE AND DEVON. 



IN the Diary kept by me, I find the river Tyne in Haddington- 

 shire frequently made mention of. My first rod-in-hand recol- 

 lections of it, as they may be termed, extend three or four years 

 beyond the record referred to, and are associated chiefly with 

 my school-boy days. They are not altogether devoid of interest. 

 The establishment at which I was placed as a boarder, was 

 located at East Linton, a village lying on the banks of the Tyne, 

 about five or six miles below the county town. It was presided 

 over by a septuagenarian, whose infirm state of health acted as 

 a bar to strict discipline, and gave opportunities to those under 

 his charge, systematically to break through the rules of the dor- 

 mitory, which was so situated as to allow of an easy escape 

 through its windows into the playground, without alarming the 

 reverend Doctor or his unsuspecting satellites. Of the ten or 

 dozen boys who occupied this range of apartments, four or five 

 were decided victims to the angling mania. The disease, so to 

 call it, gained strength from communication with the villagers, 

 some of whom were looked up to as expert hands with the rod. 

 The attractions presented by the river itself, also, in the shape of 

 large beautifully formed trout, helped to confirm the malady, 

 which grew to such a height, that at least three nights in the 

 week, during summer, became dedicated to stolen excursions 

 along the banks of the Tyne, in the neighbourhood of Hailes 

 Castle or Phantassie ; the arrangement betwixt those who shared 

 the pleasure and danger of them, and the inglorious sluggards 

 fain to babble, being, that the spoils (which, let them turn out 

 what they might, finny, furry, or feathery, we had no great diffi- 

 culty in persuading the good-natured mistress of the kitchen to 

 make ready), should form a common repast on the following 

 evening. 



