410 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



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 

 clown 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 a lock 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. I have had many an enchanting fishing- 

 day on its banks, and if I cannot but prefer those waters to 

 which early associations bind me, yet the pleasure of wander- 

 ing along the green banks of the southern streams, as they 

 sweep through the clovery meadow or the fringing copse, is 

 perhaps increased by contrasting them with the grey rocks and 

 purple hills of my country ; while the laugh of the woodpecker, 

 the song of the nightingale, the " azure plume " of the little 

 halcyon as he flits past on a calm summer's eve, are noticed 

 with a more lively interest when substituted for the swoop of 

 the eagle and the crow of the " gorcock." 



1 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. 



