NORTHUMBERLAND 



country, which was deep-seated in all of us, as by 

 any very serious designs on trout. I think the sombre, 

 peaty depths of the Weald (wbeale I believe originally), 

 with possibilities more than hinted at by our accom- 

 plished friend the schoolmaster, was something of a 

 magnet, though it proved fallacious. But beyond a 

 few small fish picked out of the dark runs of the river 

 below among the roundest and most slippery boulders 

 I ever encountered in my life, there is really nothing 

 to be said, so this excursion here into Teesdale and 

 the back of the Pennines may be held, perhaps, as 

 unjustifiable. A little inn sheltered us on one occasion. 

 But on another, inspired with undue confidence by the 

 pedagogue, we pinned our faith on a small farm- 

 house on the moor. Our welcome, however, if such 

 it can be called, was of the dourest ; so much so, that 

 if it had not been nightfall, and hunger and even 

 fatigue, hardy as we accounted ourselves, insistent, 

 we should have turned our backs upon the rude in- 

 hospitable shelter and the churlish boors who so 

 grudgingly entertained us without a moment's 

 hesitation. 



The rivers of Northumberland are fairly numerous, 

 and the trouting burns more numerous still. I have 

 fished at one time or another in most of the former 

 and in some of the latter. As to the rivers, I may 

 fairly say I know them qua rivers from the sea to their 

 source. For all of them rise in the Cheviots, and all 

 but the Till run eastward into the ocean. Some 

 even of the burns cut out their own course and 

 pay tribute to no lesser waters than those of the North 

 Sea. And every burn and every river in Northumber- 



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