I4O EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 



a stroke with his rod, upon which it raised a 

 violent outcry and made off towards a wall. On 

 his approaching a stile over which he had to 

 pass, a great number of the animals came 

 chattering out of the wall to meet him and 

 offered an attack. He first made a hasty retreat, 

 but on further consideration he determined to 

 oppose them. He met with a very warm recep- 

 tion; the first assailants made an intrepid 

 charge upon him, striking their puny claws 

 into his trousers, through which they slightly 

 wounded him in the front of his thighs. 

 Numerous attempts were made all round him to 

 get up to his head. The attacks were made by 

 about twenty weasels, independent of a number 

 stationed on the old wall. Such was the violence 

 and perseverance of the ferocious animals that 

 had the object been a timid female they would 

 certainly have destroyed their victim." 



I never heard of a similar attack, nor, of 

 course, can I vouch for the truth of this story ; 

 it is an angler's yarn, ergo, presumably true. 



THE FOOL AND THE FLY 



I by chance was reading, a night or two ago, 

 one of those charming little pocket volumes of 



