114 FATAL EFFECT OF WADING. 



forty years. At length, in the decline of life, he was 

 seized with the Swiss passion — an unconquerable yearn- 

 ing to revisit the land of his sires. Night after night he 

 heard in his dreams the murmuring lapse of the Leader 

 as it glided down his native valley; again he reposed in 

 the sunny dell, and thought of " auld lang syne ; " then, 

 when the cheerless morn broke forth, and he found him- 

 self on a vast continent, far away from the land of his 

 fathers, he felt as one cast out of Paradise. Gone were 

 the visions of his early scenes and companions ; — lost, 

 long lost, but too well remembered. How distant, alas ! 

 from the bonny copses of Carrol-side ! — how far from 

 the silver waters of the Tweed ! 



After honourable service he set sail for the shores of 

 Scotland, determined to pass the remainder of his days 

 in comparative privacy and tranquillity. I met him soon 

 after his arrival, and gave him some salmon fishing. It 

 was delightful to see how he enjoyed himself: he waded 

 as deep as any of us. And I well remember showing him 

 a favourite seat for a salmon near the point of a cairn : 

 he cast his fly at once in the exact spot to an inch, and 

 threw several times with the same adroitness ; not be- 

 cause he expected to raise a salmon, — for he well knew 

 that if a fish did not come at the first dexterous throw, 

 it was useless to cast a second time for him in the same 

 place, — but because he felt great satisfaction at his 

 renewed dexterity, and he was pleased that any one 

 should witness it. 



Poor fellow ! his happiness did not last long. The 

 habit of wading at his advanced time of life brought on 

 internal disease, which soon ended fatally ; and he only 

 repassed the seas to lay his bones in the father-land. 



