b SELF-COMPLACENT ANGLER. 



sun rides high, and the lake lies hot and motionless, 

 " and the flies make strange streaks, albeit skilfully- 

 thrown, on the mirror-like surface of the water," as that 

 most capital penman, " the organist," has described it, 

 he plants his sketching stool in some shady nook, and, 

 armed at all points with the necessary implements, 

 imagines that he transmits to his canvass a vivid im- 

 pression of what he sees before him. 



Well skilled to select his subjects, he does not take a 

 general view of the broad expanse, but gets a glimpse 

 of the lake between the bolls of the trees opposed to it 

 in shadow. Proud of his ultra marine, he touches in the 

 distant mountain, and the rugged brae nearer the fore- 

 ground he paints rich and sunny ; nor does he forget 

 those accessories that give interest and character to the 

 scene, — the smoke issuing from the cottage lying in some 

 shady nook, the boat hauled up on the gravelly beach, or 

 the cattle that stand listless on some point of land that juts 

 into the lake. Perhaps, too, some shepherd lies sleeping 

 with his flock around him in a sequestered glade. Thus 

 he paints the images of rural life ; and who happier than 

 himself, when he retires to the clean little inn, and 

 selects the trout for his dinner, giving a cut behind the 

 dorsal fin to descry those of the reddest tint? Self- 

 complacent are his regards when he eyes his ample 

 capture, — beaming are his looks when he contemplates 

 his coloured canvass. It is with pain we take leave of 

 the happy man : we would willingly write his memoirs, 

 but we have a higher duty to perform. We are about to 

 sing of Harry Otter, even of ourselves, doing battle with 



