AND ANGLING SONGS. 289 



Langholm Lodge. On arriving at our destination, we found 

 Mr. Shaw deeply engaged, within the precincts of his lovely 

 abode, in the mysteries of gardening. Many years had elapsed 

 since my friend Wilson, then in company with his father, had 

 formed his acquaintance, and the mutual recognition which took 

 place was in consequence not so instantaneous as to preclude 

 a preliminary query or two, capped by a reflective ejaculation 

 on the changes which tell on men and things. A hearty wel- 

 come followed this preface to my introduction, and the lapse of 

 a few moments beheld us seated in a comfortable parlour, plied 

 with the best of cheer, and in the heat of a discussion, on a sub- 

 ject not yet fully made clear, namely, the breeding of salmon 

 and sea-trout. Mr. Shaw's views, expressed in a paper pub- 

 lished among the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 

 have been generally accepted by naturalists. On most points I 

 give my assent to them ; but there has always rested a difficulty 

 in my mind in regard to one particular, the existence of which 

 led me some years ago to attack his theory with indiscreet asperity. 

 Since that time, I have been induced through observation to 

 surrender, in part, my former belief, and to regret that I should 

 so inconsiderately have set up a raw and untutored opinion 

 against the facts ascertained and registered, of which Mr. Shaw 

 was the promulgator. 



Luncheon over, we descended to the salmon-trap,' an ingenious 

 contrivance devised by Mr. Shaw, on the Nith, for the twofold 

 purpose of taking and of keeping alive and uninjured, until re- 

 quired for table, the ascending fish, which at the season of our 

 visit consisted principally of sea-trout. This device (it has pro- 

 bably, under the New Solway Act provisions, been done away 

 with) occupied a part of the river narrowed in by rocks and 

 overhung picturesquely with trees. The force or pressure of 

 water, naturally strong, was enhanced by artificial means, and 

 made subservient to the purposes of the erection. The cage or 



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