200 AX ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



In respect to the lath or otter, its introduction into Scotland 

 took place in the year 1824 or 1825, at the hands of a Lanca- 

 shire gentleman of the name of Beaver. It had previously been 

 used on Keswick Water and several of the Cumberland lakes. 

 Out of St. Mary's Loch, by a Scotchman from Moffat, I have 

 seen forty or fifty pounds' weight of trout taken in the course of 

 three or four hours ; twice that quantity suffering, as individuals, 

 the martyrdom of being dragged along on the relentless string 

 of this water-kite, until their jaws or tongues were torn through, 

 and the fish became liberated, only to die a death of sheer ex- 

 haustion, if not of lingering torture ! In the English lake district, 

 through the exertions of my friend Dr. Leitch of Keswick, Dr. 

 Davy, and other gentlemen^ the modellers of an admirably con- 

 ducted association for the protection of the angling interests in 

 that quarter, the use of this instrument of destruction has for 

 some years past been entirely repressed. The system introduced 

 in Cumberland, paved as it is with beneficial measures, I have 

 been told, works well, promising to renovate completely the con- 

 dition of the best-watered portion of England, as far as sport 

 with the rod is concerned. 



I have spoken of Tibby Shiels, my worthy landlady, as a 

 noted and notable person. It now borders upon forty years 

 since, as a wandering pedestrian, armed with the angler's staff, 

 I sought accommodation under her shieling. Several strange 

 characters, at least they were so to me not the escaped from 

 Bedlam, but as, in talking of the dramatis personce of ' Little 

 Dorrit,' a friend observed, ' devilish like the same' had taken 

 up quarters there : among others, a curious-looking, owlet-eyed, 

 old pedagogue, rejoicing in the surname of Lyon, who had done 

 something, no doubt, in his day and generation, in the way of 

 juvenalizing juveniles ; a half-pay army captain, who had played 

 a part, loyal of course, in the Irish Rebellion of '98 ; and a 

 Yorkshire broad-cloth manufacturer, yclept Hodge, an ancient 



