THE MOOR -BURN. 201 



but no part of the line, to touch the water. After one or 

 two attempts I hooked and killed a fine trout, fresh from 

 the sea, and as white as silver. So small was the burn 

 that he never even tried to get out of the pool, and my 

 great difficulty was to scramble down the precipice in 

 order to secure him. This trifling occurrence would not 

 be worth mentioning, did it not serve to show that an 

 angler always has a chance, however little he suspects 

 it, if his energy and perseverance do not fail. Perhaps 

 the following may be a still better instance of the efficacy 

 of this latter qualification, when science and skill have 

 been found unavailing. One of the fat lazy trout of the 

 Thames, which I detected feeding near one of the locks 

 above Henley Bridge, after refusing my artificial flies, a 

 bleak, and a minnow, I hooked at last with a common bee 

 sunk like worm, which I had intended for a chub, and 

 happened to think might take his fancy ! * 



Having named the noble Thames, I cannot let him pass 

 without a tribute, and, if I may be permitted, will offer a 

 few hints on river-fishing, though not properly belonging 

 to my subject. I have had nearly as much practice 

 in the sluggish and muddy waters of the Lowlands 

 as in the rapid and rocky Highland burns ; and, if I 

 cannot but prefer those to which early associations bind 

 me, yet the pleasure of wandering along the green banks 

 of the southern streams, as they sweep through the 



* The above examples are not related for imitation, as they would 

 probably be unsuccessful ninety-nine times out of a hundred, but merely 

 to enforce the advantage of patience the angler's good genius. 



