88 PURCHASE OF HORSES. 



the river comes raging and foaming everlastingly, 

 wedging its way through the secret glen, whilst the 

 eagle, but dimly seen, cleaves the winds and the clouds, 

 and the dun deer gaze from the mosses above. There, 

 amongst gigantic rocks, and the din of mountain torrents, 

 let me do battle with the lusty salmon, till I drag him 

 into day, rejoicing in his bulk, voluminous and vast. 



But, alas ! we run riot. Let me now set forth by what 

 chance I became a fisher for salmon. Dining one 

 auspicious day with a friend in London, after a sultry 

 morning gratifying to nothing but a lizard or a serpent, 

 — the town hot, still, and deserted, as the ruins of 

 Pompeii, — we turned from the base thraldom to which 

 we had subjected ourselves, and resolved to wander over 

 the blue hills of Scotland ; " for we had heard of 

 grouse-shooting, and we longed to follow in the field 

 some lusty heath-cock." It was Wednesday. On 

 Friday we would depart, that was certain ; for we were 

 young and ardent. Our travelling means were not very 

 rich : they consisted of a curricle with one horse (his 

 companion having died lately), and a tilbury without 

 any. But the next day there was to be a sale at Tat- 

 tersall's, which all juveniles delight in ; so away we went 

 to the hammer, rejoicing in our soi disant judgment, 

 and purchased two animals most indubitably of the 

 horse species. My friend accommodated himself with a 

 chestnut, I with a mottled grey ; and it would be dif- 

 ficult to say which of the two had the best bargain. 



Now it chanced that these two nags never had harness 

 on their backs from the time of their foalhood ; but this 

 did not interest us in the least : they had it on soon at 



