EARLY REMINISCENCES. 9 



conducted by an elderly serving woman to a low parlour, 



where the Lord of is represented by a very diminutive 



old man, in a greasy flannel dressing-gown and Welsh wig, 

 seated by the mistress of the mansion, attired with equal 

 simplicity, and generally discussing a dish of deer's fry, of 

 which I was always invited to partake, together with a glass 

 of home-made wine. He loved a bit of gossip, and was very 

 skilful in extracting all the news he could from, a boy like 

 myself, and even carried his partiality to me so far some- 

 times as to dismiss me with a present of sixpence for school 

 disbursement. 



Peace to his manes ! His memory is associated with some 

 of the happiest clays of my early life ; and although the myste- 

 rious economy of the old hall has been long since replaced by 

 the profuse and noble expenditure of the present race, and 

 mischievous schoolboys like myself are no longer allowed to 

 poach in the preserves, or luxuriate on deer's fry with the 

 proprietor, still there is a lingering charm about the olden 

 time of that no modern magnificence can dispel. 



Guided by the advice and directions of my father, who was 

 the best practical angler I ever met with in my life, I 

 seldom made use of any other bait in this river or its 

 tributary brooks, than the live minnow; indeed, during a very 

 long fishing experience, and after having tried most of the 

 inventions and soi-disant improvements of modern science 

 and ingenuity, I know of none to be compared to it, as the 

 most killing, at all times, seasons, and weathers. 



I have generally found in open unobstructed water, that 

 roving with a minnow on a middle-sized triangular hook 

 (three hooks bound together) through the back fin, and hung 

 on very fine silver gimp, is even preferable to spinning, and 

 in quiet deep holes, not easily accessible by reason of trees 

 and bushes, the Pater poster, or several live baits, hung 

 at different depths on a line leaded at the bottom, is almost 



