102 FISH AND FISHING IN SCOTLAND. 



saw approaching me a singular figure, in the human shape, how- 

 ever ; he had on a seaman's cap lined with fur, and wore a long 

 blue coat of coarse duffle, girded with a black leather belt sup- 

 porting a fishing basket ; ii^ his hand were a rod and tackle. 

 I could see at a glance that he was an experienced real angler. 

 Besolving to speak to him, I stood still as he approached, 

 and was saluted in a very friendly way by name. Known to 

 all the world, I took it for granted that he was some one 

 who had met me somewhere : not so ; he turned out to be 

 an ancient schoolfellow. I learned his history in the village ; 

 he was a hermit and a miser, and resided in a very small 

 thatched mud-built cottage on the banks of the river. He 

 fished daily, and had done so for many years ; Sundays excepted, 

 I presume. He never changed his attire. To me he appeared 

 sane enough : in his day he had been a naval surgeon, a class of 

 men very much to be pitied. If not insane, he must have been 

 of the stoic class of philosophers who hold themselves entitled to 

 terminate existence so soon as it becomes insupportable to them ; 

 for he committed the rash act a few years afterwards, as I was 

 told. Alas for man ! Why did he live a recluse ? And if so, 

 had he nothing to go back upon ? No resources within his own 

 mind ? Or was it the east winds, that for eight months of the 

 year creep up the lone valley of the Lyne and embitter human 

 life ? I have heard the nine of diamonds called the Curse of 

 Scotland ; but I rather think it must be the east wind. You 

 may include the east wind of merry England. 



CHAPTEE II. 



THE TWEED FROM PEEBLES TO INVERLEITHEN AND THENCE 

 TO GALASHIELS. 



I HAVE never fished the Tweed from Peebles to Inverleithen ; 

 nevertheless the angler may find excellent sport here. Trout 

 take fast when the waters are dark and thick, or red and muddy. 

 On such occasions, the preserved salmon-roe is a telling bait for 

 all sorts of trout. Tweed trout, it is true, are but sorry fare, but 



