242 .MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



return. Like the pleasing volume of the patriarch 

 of anglers Izaak Walton volumes might yet be 

 written to point out and to depicture the beautiful 

 scenery of woods and water sides, in the midst of 

 which the pleasures attendant upon this exhila- 

 rating and health-restoring, hungry, exercise is 

 pursued. How many narratives of the exploits of 

 the days thus spent might be raked up to dwell 

 upon, when they are all over, like a pleasing 

 dream ! 



Well do I remember mounting the stile which 

 gave the first peep of the curling or rapid stream, 

 over the intervening, dewy, daisy-covered holme 

 boundered by the early sloe, and the hawthorn- 

 blossomed hedge and hung in succession with 

 festoons of the wild rose, the tangling woodbine, 

 and the bramble, with their bewitching foliage 

 and the fairy ground and the enchanting music 

 of the lark, the blackbird, the throstle, and the 

 blackcap, rendered soothing and plaintive by the 

 cooings of the ringdove, which altogether charmed, 

 but perhaps retarded, the march to the brink of 

 the scene of action, with its willows, its alders, or 

 its sallows where early I commenced the day's 

 patient campaign. The pleasing excitements of 

 the angler still follow him, whether he is engaged 

 in his pursuits amidst scenery such as I have 

 attempted to describe, or on the heathery moor, 

 or by burns guttered out by mountain torrents, and 

 boundered by rocks or grey moss-covered stones, 

 which form the rapids and the pools in which is 

 concealed his beautiful yellow and spotted prey. 

 Here, when tired and alone, I used to open my 

 wallet and dine on cold meat and coarse rye bread, 

 with an appetite that made me smile at the trouble 



