THE SALMON. 315 



Midway, seated under a rock, an old shepherd and his dog are resting, yet 

 both alert that none of the flock stray beyond bounds. Hard by, with its ivy 

 and its daws, the ruins of an abbey (scored by the terrible mandate of 

 Cromwell) moulder away. Over the water Mr. and Mrs. Venerable Goat 

 peer at us wonderingly, while their two fair "children of peril" gambol 

 in frolicsome mood and munch the grey-green herbage on rugged heights 

 inaccessible to feet bebrogued. Below, in the river that we love, a solitary 

 stag, alarmed by the grouse shooters, pursues a tranquil course through 

 the tail of our own pet pool, nodding his royally plenished head the while. 

 And as yon level sun sinks lower and lower and the silver sheen of 

 twilight fades from the darkening current, all these, save for the music of 

 rumbling waters and rustling trees, 



In sweetest silence seek the shade of night, 



And fill the pause the Salmon's leap made bright. 



Then the moon glides, queen-like, into her great throne-room of the 

 heavens. 



How vivid and how full of pleasure is the memory of such scenes ! 

 And yet how temperate is the emotion compared to that which the 

 Fisherman experiences when he stands prepared for the fray on the marge 

 of faultless pools stocked with fresh Salmon on their way from the sea ! 



And the Salmon, the monarch of the river, what of him '? For 

 though there are several species of Salmo, from our standpoint there is 

 only one Lord and King ; the rest are offshoots of a noble family. 



He is a picture once studied never to be forgotten. His proportions 

 cannot be taken in at a glance. He is courageous in the dead calm, and 

 bold as a lion in the very tornado itself. He shows no fear of men who 

 show no designs upon him. Like his captor, he varies in temperament 

 he is shy, volatile, determined, impressive, and forgiving, yet sometimes 

 very sulky. He has his own innumerable havens of rest, sometimes 

 shaded and shut in by feathering trees where sunbeams glimmer fitfully 

 the very place for a water nymph discreetly shut out from the gaze of 

 man. And in rivers that know no impurity he reigns in all his glory. 



But our object is to catch him not with a prawn, not with a worm, 

 not with a " colley," nor with a spinning-bait. Not to any of these 



