Fly-Fifhing. 61 



" No birr \ no whirr ! the falmon's out, 



The noble fifh the thumper : 

 Strike through his gill the ready gaff, 

 And bending homewards-, we fhall quaff, 



Another glorious bumper ! 

 Hark to the mufic of the reel, 



We liften with devotion j 

 There's fomething in that circling wheel 

 That wakes the heart's emotion ! " 



By the way, I never inquired of the indulgent 

 parent how the falmon tafted that coft him two 

 {hillings a pound ? I fhould not, however, be at 

 all furprifed, if fancy had clothed it in his eyes with 

 all the vaunted fuperiority that the king of fifh fo 

 defervedly merits. I may perhaps venture to re- 

 mark, that the foft, flabby flefh of a very old fifh 

 (I fpeak not of years, but of feafon) fuch as that, I 

 would far rather have configned to any other fto- 

 mach than my own. A new fifh taken from thy 

 fweet, pellucid bofom, thou lovely Wye ; what of 

 the whole finny tribe can be named in the fame 

 day with it ? But an old fifh a lean, emaciated, 

 fhrivelled creature oh ! defend me from the un- 

 favoury morfel ! 



The intenfe eagernefs with which the falmon 

 feeks his favourite haunts is a wonderful provifion 

 of an ever kind Providence for his comfort and 



