260 I GO A-FISHING. 



no dish of fish to be invented equal to sardines, fried and 

 served as they used to do it in the old San Marco at 

 Leghorn. I lament the closing of that house with pro- 

 found regret. I have gone down from Florence more 

 than once to pass a night there just for the sake of the 

 delicious breakfast I used to get on those sardines. No 

 one else cooked or served them so in any town on the 

 French or Italian coast." 



" I remember fifty years ago seeing them catch sardines 

 along the shore at Naples." 



" Yes, I have sat many a morning in the window at the 

 old Vittoria, looking out on the sea and watching the sar- 

 dine nets come in, glittering with diamonds; and I have 

 taken them with a rod at Leghorn." 



" I never found trout south of the Alps. Why is that?" 



" Simply because you never looked for them yourself. 

 The hotels rarely furnish them ; but you can get them in 

 Lombardy if you want them. I have taken trout in the 

 Izak above Trent, and at Botzen." 



" My dear boy, what a muddle your brain must be in 

 about historic places. The idea of talking about trout- 

 fishing at Trent, a place with which one never associated 

 any idea but of profound ecclesiastical and theological 

 significance." 



"There's a charm in trout-fishing, Major, which you 

 would have appreciated if your education had not been 

 neglected. It has never failed me; and I have studied 

 no small amount of history as I strolled along the bank 

 of a trout stream. Were you ever at Salzburg ?" 



"Three several times, and always fared well at the 

 Hotel de FEurope." 



" Ah yes, you think first of the hotel. So do many old 

 travelers. So I confess do I sometimes. A poor inn is 



