THE SALMON. 159 



resting on the rug, but if its leaves are crumpling 

 and curling with heat beneath the grate, mid 

 sinful dust and ashes, we request that he will pick 

 it up instanter, and place it where he may. If, 

 again, he is actually awake, and listening steadily 

 to our piscatorial pleadings, let him not start 

 suddenly when we put to him the question, " what 

 is a parr ?" This is the only interrogatory we ever 

 had the honour to address to Lord Brougham, and 

 we believe it is the first ever put to his Lordship, 

 either by ourself or any body else, which he was 

 unable to answer. We shall not, however, at 

 present carry the question by salmon-peal into the 

 House of Lords, but state the case as clearly as 

 we can, and far more briefly than it ever was 

 before. The answer is this, Othello's occupation^ 

 gone, " There is no such fish as a parr." 



It is pleasant to see Sir William Jardine and 

 Dr. Knox, Mr. Selby and Dr. Fleming, Mr. James 

 Wilson (a brother of Professor Wilson's) and Dr. 

 Richardson, not exactly puzzling their brains about 

 this vexed question, for the question seemed quite 

 happy, and so assuredly were they, good easy men, 

 but resting satisfied in the assurance that they un- 

 derstood its bearings in every possible point, and 

 could "box the compass" on the subject, to the 

 clear conviction of each rational being in the three 

 kingdoms and the town of Berwick-upon- Tweed. 

 But, as it is now known to the world in general, 

 and we hope admitted by themselves in particu- 

 lar that these gentlemen knew nothing at all 

 about the matter, we may be here allowed to pass 



