136 FISH AND FISHING IN" SCOTLAND. 



that they, like the gipsies, were there on such a day, and jour- 

 neying up the Beaumont to Town Yetholm, soon reached our 

 resting-place for the night. 



The desire to discover the unknown, in the interests of science 

 only, without any reference to a practical bearing, is a rare quality 

 of the human mind. Paley would say, again, that this is ar- 

 ranged most providentially, else mankind would become speedily 

 a world of theorists, in which all invented and none applied. 

 Laputa, which Swift left traversing amidst the clouds, would 

 descend upon earth, there to rest and to abide for ever. Soon 

 would the fields cease to be productive. Men would be engaged 

 in endeavouring to secure sunbeams in hermetically-sealed 

 bottles ; in extracting sunbeams from cucumbers. The quadra- 

 ture of the circle would not be forgotten, nor the perpetual motion. 



But he need not fear that anything of the sort will ever 

 happen in England or in Holland. The natives are "wide 

 awake." At any time, should it be expedient so to do, they 

 will call a " hawk a handsaw," but they never mistake the 

 one for the other, whatever be the set of the wind. When my 

 esteemed friend Henry Witham told me one day that it was a 

 curious fact that about the same time he and another foxhunter 

 had both abandoned the chase of foxes for geological pursuits, 

 for science, I could not help smiling. It is possible, I said, 

 quite possible, but see that you do not convert an honest fox- 

 hunter into a wily pseudo philosopher, affecting to look for, in 

 Siberia and elsewhere, that game which he well knows lives much 

 nearer home. 



THE TILL. 



I never fished the Glen lower than the spot just mentioned ; 

 but I am aware that it is a good angling stream. Its banks 

 are quiet, pleasant, and have an English look. The Glen in 

 fact, is chiefly in England or on the borders. We crossed the 

 country and sought the banks of the Till, a rather sluggish, 

 slow running stream, but favourable to the angler. I fished it 

 at a stream below the mill on the road to the Tweed. The 

 usual trout appeared, but I learned that the river is frequented 

 by salmon and sea trout, and pike or jack. I have caught perch 



