16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 



ing of restlessness came over me, a longing- 

 desire to wander forth into some unknown 

 world of waters. The wide river seemed all 

 too narrow to contain me ; and one glorious 

 May morning, when the heavy rains which had 

 fallen on the mountains ' do on ivast ' had swelled 

 the river some foot or two, the migratory im- 

 pulse became irresistible, and, accompanied by 

 thousands of my companions, actuated by the 

 same impulse, I dashed away down stream, 

 seeking ' fresh fields and pastures new/ 



"When the prisoner of Chillon looked out 

 over his dungeon wall upon the waters of Lake 

 Leman, the fish ' were joyous one and all/ but 

 never in that still water so joyous as we 

 escaping, as it seemed to us now, from a hated 

 monotonous existence, though Heaven knows 

 we had been happy enough in it for many a 

 month felt, as we dashed along the rolling, 

 rapid waters of fair Tweed. On ! on ! we went, 

 through Boldside Water, and the rapid stream 

 below it, through Carry Wheel, and that long, 

 glorious reach of the Pavilion Water, which 

 stretches from the railway to Melrose Bridge, 

 through the Wyrlies and the Elm Wheel, and 

 the still, broad waters that lave the meadows 



