official, and go on netting, sniggling, salmon-roeing, and destroying sport in the sacred name of Liberty. Scots wha fish wi' salmon roe, Scots wha sniggle as ye go, Wull ye stand the Bailie? No! Let the limmer die! Now's the day and now's the time, Poison a' the burns wi' lime, Fishing fair's a dastard crime, We're for fishing _free_! 'Ydle persones sholde have but lyttyl mesure in the sayd disporte of fysshyng,' says our old _Treatise_, but in southern Scotland they have left few fish to dysporte with, and the trout is like to become an extinct animal. Izaak would especially have disliked Fishing Competitions, which, by dint of the multitude of anglers, turn the contemplative man's recreation into a crowded skirmish; and we would repeat his remark, 'the rabble herd themselves together' (a dozen in one pool, often), 'and endeavour to govern and act in spite of authority.' For my part, had I a river, I would gladly let all honest anglers that use the fly cast line in it, but, where there is no protection, then nets, poison, dynamite, slaughter of fingerlings, and unholy baits devastate the fish, so that 'Free Fishing' spells no fishing at all. This presses most hardly on the artisan who fishes fair, a member of a large class with whose pastime only a churl would wish to interfere. We are now compelled, if we would catch fish, to seek Tarpon in Florida, Mahseer in India: it does not suffice to 'stretch our legs up Tottenham Hill.' FOOTNOTES {1} The MS. was noticed in _The Freebooter_, Oct. 18, 1823, but Sir Harris Nicolas could not find it, where it was said to be, among the Lansdowne MSS. {2} The quip about 'goods and chattels' was revived later, in the case of a royal mistress. {3} Sir Walter was fond of trout-fishing, and in his _Quarterly_ review of Davy's _Salmonia_, describes his pleasure in wading Tweed, in 'Tom Fool's light' at the end of a hot summer day. In salmon-fishing he was no expert, and said to Lockhart that he must have Tom Purdie to aid him in his review of _Salmonia_. The picturesqueness of salmon-spearing by torchlight seduced Scott from the legitimate sport. {4} There is an edition by Singer, with a frontispiece by Wainewright, the poisoner. London, 1820. {5} Nicolas, I. clv. {6} _Barker's Delight; or, The Art of Angling_. 1651, 1657, 1659, London. {7} I have examined all the Angling works of the period known to me. Gilbert's _Angler's Delight_ (1676) is a mere pamphlet; William Gilbert, gent., pilfers from Walton, without naming him, and has literally nothing original or meritorious. The book is very scarce. My own copy is 'uncut,' but incomplete, lacking the directions for fishing 'in Hackney River.' Gervase Markham, prior to Walton, is a compiler rather than an original authority on angling.