Fly-FiJhing. 63 



guifh and ficken ; gradually exchanging his glofly 

 coat, befpangled with filver, for one of a dingy, 

 dull-looking hue. And as the captive in the dun- 

 geon pines for freedom and frefh air, fo does the 

 poor imprifoned falmon, till he becomes at laft a 

 wafted fkeleton, and dies, as it were, by inches. 



We leave the reader to imagine, how totally dif- 

 fimilar muft a falmon be approaching this condi- 

 tion to one in prime feafon ! 



Incredible as it may appear, I am about to re- 

 cord a faft, not altogether foreign to the fubjecT:, 

 that a friend of mine exults in, (no wonder !) and 

 will doubtlefs remember as long as he can remem- 

 ber anything on this fide the grave. 



It feems that he was one day engaged in his fa- 

 vourite amufement, and picking out of the Wye 

 now a trout, now a laftfpring, and then a grayling, 

 perhaps ; when fuddenlyhe faw,to his extreme afto- 

 nifhment, not a trout, nor a grayling, but a mon- 

 fter of a falmon, as it appeared, rife and take in 

 one of his droppers, a red palmer he was timing 

 with. 



Now juft imagine, good reader, (prefuming you 

 to be a fifherman,) my friend's fituation with a rod 

 about ten feet in length, and light in proportion 

 a mere reed, as it were, in his hand and at the 



