MR. FRANCIS' OPINION ON FLIES. 83 



require to find some other reason for its being 

 unnecessary in Scotland than this. In comparing 

 the severity of the fishing in Scotch and English 

 streams, it must be borne in mind that the former 

 are, as a rule, open to the public, and that the 

 latter, as a rule, are preserved and fished only by a 

 favoured few. If Mr. Francis will point out any 

 stream in England, in which he thinks it worth 

 while to throw a fly for trout, that is more and 

 better fished than Tweed and its tributaries, we 

 shall be very much surprised. And on behalf of 

 Scotch anglers we repudiate with scorn the bare 

 idea that it requires less skill to catch a Scotch 

 trout than an English one, or that the former in 

 any way receives an inferior education as regards 

 flie?, etc., to his English brother. In fact, we 

 believe that in the before-mentioned streams the 

 education of the inhabitants is as superior to that 

 of the inhabitants of English streams as the educa- 

 tion of the people of the one country is admitted 

 to be to that of the other ; and supposing the most 

 accomplished believer in the English theory ay, 

 even Mr. Francis himself engaged on a mile of 

 Tweed along with twenty or thirty Galashiels 

 weavers (by no means an unusual number), we 

 question if his basket at the finish would illustrate 

 very strongly the superiority of his theory and 

 practice. We have met English anglers even in 

 Scotland counting their takes by the brace, and 

 not in much danger of going wrong in their reckon- 



