NORWAY AND THE BRITISH SNOB. 305 



wilds of Ireland, and the same time to come back, with all 

 the attendant expense and trouble. But as in grouse- 

 shooting, all this is greatly altered. In some instances, 

 rivers are still held by their aristocratic proprietors. In 

 many more, however, Manchester and Liverpool, with 

 burly John Bright at their head, have invaded the once 

 sacred soil, bundled out the whilom occupiers, and taken 

 possession, and our oldest and best rods have taken yacht 

 and are gone to Norway, and for a time make a close 

 borough of that once piscatorial Groshen. But a while 

 ago Norway was a pleasant spot for a fisherman. The few 

 fishermen to be met with there were (they are not now) 

 fond of telling of their sport ; but they were gentlemen 

 and sportsmen of the old school for the most part, on whose 

 time business had no claims. The natives were civil, easily 

 satisfied, and fishing was easy to come at. But within a 

 very few years business men came in to compete for the 

 prizes, and the British snob soon followed suit, and forth- 

 with he took his abominable annual holiday, and toured 

 the country, dragged his tackle together, and set off in 

 shoals in pursuit of the object of his worship and adora- 

 tion, the snob of his own land. Throwing his spare cash 

 about like the idiot he is when he has plenty; trans- 

 porting his nasty little vices and manners along with 

 him ; aping all that is bad in his model, and unable to 

 understand or imitate the good ; he has played the same 

 pranks there that he has all over the world. Givis Lon- 

 dinensis sum ; and so the natives become grasping, and 

 salmon- fishing is, save at high prices and long leases, not 

 to be had. The people are scarcely as fond of us as 

 they were, and their newspapers ridicule and flout us. 

 Seek the tourist track anywhere, and it will be found the 

 same. Still, to a great extent, the old rods do many of 

 them manage as yet to hold their own in Norway ; and 

 they always must do so to some extent, for you cannot 



x 



