128 THE SCOTTISH ANGLER. 



verbs, and Dr Johnson, out of respect for the wise man, 

 would have spared his ill-judged sarcasm. The greatest 

 losses an angler can sustain are those of his patience 

 and good temper ; they are worth a cart-load of salmon. 

 While crossing a rapid ford, expose as little of your- 

 self as possible to the force of the water ; keep the legs 

 close, your side towards the stream, and one calf cover- 

 ing the other ; should you feel yourself losing ground, 

 plant the butt end of your rod firmly above you, but 

 do not rest a single second in any one position without 

 protection from the strength of the current. When 

 angling, always keep one eye upon Nature, and the 

 other upon your hooks, and ponder while you proceed. 

 Never fall in love with one" you meet by the water- 

 side ; there are situations when every woman looks an 

 .angel. And, last of all, keep up the fraternity of the 

 craft. Anglers are a more gifted and higher order of 

 men than others, in spite of the sneers of pompous 

 critics, or the trumpery dixit of a paradoxical poet. 

 In their histories, there are glimpses snatched out of 

 heaven immortal moments dropping from Eternity 

 upon the forehead of Time. As a gift of his calling, 

 poetry mingles in the angler's being : yet he entreats 

 for no memorial of his high imaginings he compounds 

 not with capricious Fame for her perishing honours 

 he breaks not the absorbing enchantment by any out- 

 cry of his, but is content to remain " a mute, inglorious 

 Milton," secretly perusing the epic fiction of his own 

 heart. 



Blame him not that he hoards up the pearls of his 

 fancy that his forehead is unbared for no honour 

 that he hath buried his virtues in a lowly place, and 

 shrunk from the gaze and gathering of men that he 

 courts no patron smile, and covets no state prefer- 

 ment that he is barely heedful of crowns and their 



