HAL. He is a clean fish, but, in proportion, not so thick as my model, which was a fish of 17 inches by 9 inches, and weighed 2lbs. this is my standard solid. We will try him. Ho! Mrs. B.!-bring your scales, and weigh this fish. There, you see, he weighs 5lbs. 103 oz.

PHYS.-Well, I am pleased to see this fish, and amused with your sport; but though I have been imitating you in throwing the fly, as well as I can, yet not a trout has taken notice of my fly, and they seem scared by my appearance.

HAL.-Let me see you perform. There are two good trout taking flies opposite that bank, which you can reach. You threw too much line into the water, and scared them both; but I will take you to the rapid of the Tumbling Bay, where the river falls; there the quickness of the stream will prevent your line from falling deep, and the foam will conceal your person from the view of the fish. And let me advise you to fish only in the rapids, till you have gained some experience in throwing the fly. There are several fish rising in that stream.

PHYS.-I have raised one, but he refused

my fly.

HAL.-Now you have a fish.

PHYS.-I am delighted;-but he is a small

one.

HAL.-Unluckily, it is a dace.

PHYS.-I have now a larger fish, which has pulled my line out.

trout.

HAL.-Give him time. That is a good Now wind up; he is tired, and your own. I will land him. He is a fish to keep, being above 2lbs.

PHYS.-I am well pleased.

HAL.-There are many larger trouts here; go on fishing, and you will hook some of them. And when you are tired of this rapid, you will find another a quarter of a mile below. And continue to fish with a short line, and drop your fly, or let it be carried by the wind on the water, as lightly as possible. Well, Poietes, what success?

POIET. I have been fishing in the stream above; but the flies are so abundant, that the large fish will not take my artificial fly, and I have caught only three fish, all of which the fisherman has thrown into the water, though I am sure one of them was more than 2lbs.

HAL.-You may trust his knowledge : with a new angler, our keeper would be apt rather to favour the fisherman than the fish. But we will have all fish you wish to be killed, and above 2lbs., put into the well of the boat, where they can be examined, and, if you desire, weighed and measured, and such kept as are worth keeping. No good angler should kill a fish, if possible, till he is

needed to be crimped; for the sooner he is dressed after this operation, the better;and I assure you, a well-fed trout of the Colne, crimped and cooled ten minutes before he is wanted for the kettle or the gridiron, is a fish little inferior to the best salmon of the best rivers. It is now nearly two o'clock, and there is a cloud over the sun; the fly is becoming less abundant; you are now likely, Poietes, to have better sport. Try in that deep pool, below the Tumbling Bay; I see two or three good fish rising there, and there is a lively breeze. The largest fish refuses your fly again and again; try the others. There, you have hooked him; now carry him down stream, and keep his head high, out of the weeds. He plunges and fights with great force ;--he is the best-fed fish I have yet seen at the end of the line, and will weigh more, in proportion to his length. I will land him for you. There he is, and measures 19 inches; and I dare say his weight is not much short of 3lbs. We will preserve him in the well.

POIET.-He has hardly any spots, and is silvery all over; and the whole of the lower part of his body is beautifully clean.

HAL.

He is likewise broad backed; and you may observe his few spots are black, and these are very small. I have always observed, in this river, that the nearer the fish approach to perfection, the colour of the body becomes more uniform,—pale olive above, and bright silver below; and these qualities are always connected with a small head, or rather, an oval body, and deepred flesh.

POIET.-May not the red spots be marks of disease-a hectic kind of beauty? For I observed in a very thin and poor fish, and great-headed, that I caught an hour ago, which had leeches sticking to it, a number of red spots, and a long black back, and black or bluish marks even on the belly.

HAL.-I do not think red spots a symptom of disease; for I have seen fish in other rivers, and even small fish in this river, in perfectly good season, with red spots;