60 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 



tion to nod in my own brain-holder. We must be 

 early astir to-morrow, in order to have anything 

 like sport. I intend starting for the river about 

 sunrise. 



Swivel. One might suppose, Bill, from the way 

 you talk, that you were really an angler, instead of 

 which you can manage your rod no better than a 

 tailor's needle. Come, recount thy feats, give us 

 the pick of thy miracles, that we may canonize 

 thee ! Preach of thy ten-pounders and thirty- 

 pounders thy salmones feroces, erioces et truttce 

 thy silver-edged hackles, and green gooseberry 

 ephemerae thy genuine O'Shaughnessys and taper 

 Chevaliers thy complex multipliers and witch- 

 hair casting lines thy baits and surfeit-worms, 

 red coral roe, and pearl minnows ; be large in thy 

 discourse, and learned withal, as if the matter were 

 well digested and intimate to thee ; make thy notes, 

 strictures, and digressions ; muster up thy forces, 

 Bill, and tilt at all usage and observance. 



May. O facetious Swiveltop ! thou art the king 

 of wits ; thy tongue waggeth as if set in motion by 

 the wind, and not through rational impulse, like the 

 tongues of other men : Thou art a human bell, 

 tinkling without chime or music ! Where be the 

 brains that should occupy thy hollow head-piece 

 those orts of matter that symbolize the mind ? 

 Hast thou an eik or pertinent thereof? Wits, like 

 thee, should be whipped for fools. 



Swivel. Better than being hanged for knaves, 



