THE VALE OF GALA. 43 



Chancellor. 1 It is now pretty well known to be 

 the young of the salmon (a small trout or smolt 

 does, for salmon, equally well). Stoddart has 

 shown how to put this on, k but I generally do 

 it differently. I divide the tail, and cut up off 

 the back, near the size of a good minnow, cut- 

 ting off the back fin. An old and accomplished 

 fisher, John Redhead, whose flies, both for 

 salmon and trout, were the most successful I 

 ever tried, taught me to sew the par and smolt's 

 tail on the hook. He was a good scholar, and 

 wrote in my book the following beautiful lines 

 on the snow-drop in March : 



' Already now the snow drop dares appear, 

 The first pale blossom of the unripen'd year, 

 As if Flora's voice, by some transforming power 

 Had changed an icicle into a flower. 

 Its name and hue, the scentless plant retains, 

 And Winter lingers in its icy veins.' 



The partail takes equally well, and stands 

 much longer on the hook ; in fact, the more it 

 is torn and bitten with trout, they seem to take 

 the better ; and you can cast it farther than even 

 worm or minnow, as you have well fixed it on 

 1 Lord Brougham at Edinburgh. 



