94 ANGLING SKETCHES 



to our Doctor: many a bad day have I had on Clear- 

 burn Loch, and never a good one. But one thing 

 draws me always to the loch when I have the luck 

 to be within twenty miles of it. There are trout 

 in Clearburn ! The Border angler knows that the 

 trout in his native waters is nearly as extinct as 

 the dodo. Many causes have combined to extir- 

 pate the shy and spirited fish. First, there are 

 too many anglers : 



Twixt Holy Lee and Clovenfords, 

 A tentier bit ye canna hae, 



sang that good old angler, now with God, Mr. 

 Thomas Tod Stoddart But between Holy Lee 

 and Clovenfords you may see half a dozen rods on 

 every pool and stream. There goes that levia- 

 than, the angler from London, who has been 

 beguiled hither by the artless ' Guide ' of Mr. 

 Watson Lyall. There fishes the farmer's lad, and 

 the schoolmaster, and the wandering weaver outr 

 of work or disinclined to work. In his rags, with 

 his thin face and red ' goatee ' beard, with his 

 hazel wand and his home-made reel, there is 

 withal something kindly about this poor fellow, 



