222 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Those who have been born and brought up in towns, and whose 
avocations restrict them to a residence in “ the busy haunts of 
men, 5 ’ have often little or no relish for natural scenery, and no 
inclination towards the pursuits or pastimes of country life. Dr 
Johnson, it is well known, thought Meet Street much to be pre- 
ferred to Greenwich Park, and maintained that no man would live 
in the country who could help it. Boswell, in recording this with 
approval, “ shelters ” himself under the authority of one whom he 
describes as a man of fashion, but distinguished also by a love of 
literature, who declared that he preferred the smell of a flambeau 
at the playhouse to the fragrance of a May evening in the country.* 
Madame de Stael, when an enthusiastic friend was expatiating on 
the delight which such a heart as hers must take in green fields 
and gentle streams, replied — “ Ah ! il n’y a pour moi de ruisseau 
qui vaille celui de la Bue de Bac,” a street in the Faubourg St 
Germain, through which a paltry rivulet flows. There are many 
who, without having a distaste for the country so pronounced as 
this, are yet supremely indifferent to it, and either never care to 
visit it, or if they are seduced into it, are never happy till they 
turn their back on it and find themselves once more among streets 
and houses. Mr Russel was not of this class. Though born in a 
town, and from his youth up a dweller in towns, he had a passion- 
ate love for the country, and found no relief from his toils so 
refreshing and exhilarating as a ramble among the hills and by 
the streams of his native land. He was also enthusiastically 
devoted to angling, and there are few of the angling waters of 
Scotland with which he was not acquainted. With the Gala 
and the Tweed he was especially familiar, and often sought on 
their banks that recreation which their streams afforded to him in 
the pursuit of his favourite pastime. With the habits of the 
tenants of the waters he was careful to make himself acquainted, 
and he knew them all well, from the trout to the salmon. His 
observations were embodied in an article which appeared in the 
“ Quarterly Review,” and which he afterwards expanded into a 
volume ; and on the subject of fishing he became so much of an 
authority, that he was repeatedly examined before Parliamentary 
Commissions appointed to inquire into this matter. Besides tra- 
* Life of Dr Johnson, i. n. 438. 8vo edit. Lond. 1807. 
