210 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



Concarneau, and different small tidal rivers near the 

 sea, as a substitute for the nobler sport. I enjoyed very 

 frequently some excellent common trout-fishing amidst the 

 beautiful scenery of the Quimper river, and met with little 

 or no obstruction to my favourite pursuit. The time, how- 

 ever, had yet to come when I was not to be so fortunate. 



About three leagues from Quimperle, near the most 

 romantic and beautiful part of the river, and the most 

 favourite salmon pools, was situated a village, termed in 

 Breton phrase, Knockynolly. To the cure of this place I 

 had paid my court on the first commencement of the fishing 

 season, and gained his affections in the manner that all 

 cures are seduced, viz., by frequent and well-timed presents 

 of fish, wine, and various comestibles, and by paying proper 

 and respectful attention to his housekeeper. I had a general 

 invitation to the parsonage, if such a very humble Breton 

 cottage could be so called, and always put up my pony at 

 his little stable when I came to Knockynolly to fish, and 

 although an Englishman and a heretic, consumed many a 

 fried trout and tender capon, and emptied many a flask 

 of champagne and Bordeaux in company with the good- 

 natured little priest, who was a notable exception to the 

 generality of his confreres in this part of the world, who 

 are usually a very ignorant and bigoted set of beings, 

 Of course my intimacy with the cure* was of great service 

 to me with his parishioners, and caused them to allow me 

 to pursue my fishing amusements without annoyance or 

 hindrance. 



I had succeeded in discovering and making a fly which I 

 found at all times to be the most killing of any I had tried. 

 It was simply the under feathers of the common partridge's 

 tail for wings ; a little red hackle for legs; hare's ear for 

 body, and a couple of rats' whiskers for tail. I manufactured 

 this fly of different sizes, and used them at different periods, 



