142 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



as nivver man bed." Then he describes a 

 merry night at Wastdale, and how, upon the 

 parson coming in, " North " made a song about 

 him. " He med it reight off o' t' stick end. He 

 began wi' t' parson first, then he gat t' Pope, 

 an' then he turned it t' devil. T' parson was 

 quite astonished, an' rayder vex't an' all, but at 

 last he burst out laughin' wi' t' rest. He was 

 like. Naabody could stand it." Wilson was 

 fond of attending the country balls in the Lake 

 District, and especially such as were patronised 

 by a Miss Jane Penny. This lady was " the 

 anchor," as he expressed it, without whom " he 

 should keep beating about the great sea of life 

 to very little purpose." 



Wilson's love of angling went with him to 

 the end. How touching is this picture, drawn 

 by his daughter, when only a few days remained 

 to him on earth ! Although broken in body, 

 his spirit went back to the mountain streams 

 whence he had so often drawn the pink-spotted 

 trout : " Certain it was the ' mearns ' came among 

 those waking dreams, and then he gathered 

 around him, when the spring mornings brought 

 gay jets of sunshine into the little room where 

 he lay, the relics of a youthful passion, one that 

 with him never grew old. It was an affecting 

 sight to see him busy, nay, quite absorbed, with 



