34- FISH AND FISHING IN SCOTLAND. 



CHAPTEE III. 



LOCH LEVEN. 



THE angler, disposed to fish some of the waters north of the 

 Eoman wall, may start from Scotland's capital, and proceed to 

 Kinross, in whatever way he thinks fit. If he be a true angler, 

 he will cross the Frith of Forth to Burnt Islancf, and wandering 

 westward, leave the coast line a few miles higher up. Now 

 strike boldly to the right across a country by no means un- 

 interesting ; hilly, yet not mountainous ; lonely, yet not deso- 

 late. He will traverse, it is true, no tangled forest nor copse ; 

 nor wade through wastes of blooming heather ; but he will 

 enjoy the walk notwithstanding. And now about midday, 

 should he have crossed the Frith of Forth betimes, from the 

 top of the high grounds, forming the southern border of the 

 valley or basin of Leven, the lake in all its beauty and dis- 

 mantled castle fills his eyes ; before him and beyond, repose in 

 solemn grandeur "the everlasting hills," whilst, at his feet, 

 sleeps the crystal lake ; gently sliding o'er its pebbly bed. 

 But whilst his bodily eyes rest on that nature, which, though 

 ever changing, yet ever seems the same to man, what a crowd 

 of recollections of the past surge up before the mind's eye ; 

 of Marie Stuart, and the Douglas, and of him who drew with a 

 master's touch the ideal panorama now flitting before the mind 

 of the spectator. 



I have a strange habit of always endeavouring to begin at the 

 beginning. I had often visited Loch Leven, and ate its trout, 

 but I had never fished it, and had an idea that its trout were 

 not to be taken with an artificial fly. Experience showed this 

 idea to be incorrect. 



PEESTMANNAN. 



It was during a visit at Biel House, in Lothian, that I 

 chanced to meet one good and honest angler, the late Sir 

 Konald Fergusson. The generous and hospitable proprietor 

 and his lady, had invited Sir E. F. and Colonel F., Sir B. H., Lord 



