POIET.

-I will take one or two casts; but give me your fly: I like always to be sure that the tackle is taking.

HAL.-Try at first the very top of the pool,-though I fear you will get nothing there; but here is a cast which I think the Highlander can hardly have commanded from the other side, and which is rarely without a good fish. There, he rose: a large trout of 10lbs. or a salmon. Now wait a few minutes. When a fish has missed the fly, he will not rise again till after a pauseparticularly if he has been for some time in the fresh water. Now try him again. He has risen, but he is a dark fish that has been some time in the water, and he tries to drown the fly with a blow of his tail. I fear you will not hook him except foul, when most likely he would break you. Try the bottom of the pool, below where I caught my fish.

POIET. I have tried all the casts and nothing rises.

HAL. Come we will change the fly for that with which I caught my trout.

POIET. Now I have one: he has taken the fly under water, and I cannot see him.

HAL.-Straighten your line and we shall soon see him. He is a sea trout, but not a large one.

POIET. But he fights like a salmon, and must be near 5lbs.

HAL.Under 3lbs.; but these fish are always strong and active, and sometimes give more sport than larger fish. Shorten your line or he will carry you over the stones and cut the link gut. He is there already: have allowed him to carry out too much line, wind up as quick as you can, and keep a tight hand upon him. He is now back in a good place, and in a few minutes more will be spent. I have the net. There, he is a sea trout of nearly 3lbs. This will be a

you

good addition to our dinner: I will crimp him, that you may compare boiled sea trout with broiled, and with salmon. Now, if you please we will cool this fish at the spring, and then go to our inn.

POIET.If you like. I am endeavouring to find a reason for the effect of crimping

H

and cold in preserving the curd of fish. Have you ever thought on this subject?

HAL.-Yes: I conclude that the fat of salmon between the flakes, is mixed with much albumen and gelatine, and is extremely liable to decompose, and by keeping it cool the decomposition is retarded, and by the boiling salt and water, which is of a higher temperature than that of common boiling water, the albumen is coagulated, and the curdiness preserved. The crimping, by preventing the irritability of the fibre from being gradually exhausted, seems to preserve it so hard and crisp, that it breaks under the teeth; and a fresh fish not crimped is generally tough. A friend of mine, an excellent angler, has made some experiments on the fat of fish; and he considers the red colour of trout, salmon, and char, as owing to a peculiar coloured oil, which may be extracted by alcohol; and this accounts for the want of it in fish that have fed ill, and after spawning. In general, the depth of the red colour, and the quantity of curd are proportional,»

POIET. Would not the fish be still better, or at least possess more curd, if caught in a net and killed immediately? In the operation of tiring by the reel there must be considerable muscular exertion, and I should suppose expenditure of oily matter.

91 HAL.There can be no doubt but the fish would be in a more perfect state for the table from the nets; yet a fish in high seaDison does not lose so much fat during the short time he is on the hook as to make much difference; and I am not sure that the action of crimping after does not give a better sort of crispness to the fibre: this, however, may be fancy; we will discuss the matter again at table. See! our companion on the lake, the eagle, is coming down the river, and has pounced upon a fish in the pool near the river.

PHYS. I fear he will interfere with our -sport: let us request Ornither to shoot him. I wish to see him nearer and to preserve him as a specimen for the Zoological Society. HALO! no. He will not spoil our sport; and I think it would be a pity to

deprive this spot of one of its poetical orna ments. Besides, the pool where he is now fishing contains little but trouts; it is too shallow for salmon, who run into the cruives.

POIET.-I am of your opinion; and shall use my eloquence to prevent Ornither from attempting the life of so beautiful a bird; so majestic in its form, so well suited to the scenery, and so picturesque in all its habits. THE INNKEEPER.-Gentlemen, dinner is

ready.

1

THE DINNER.

HAL.-Now take your places.

think you of our fish?

What

PHYS.-I never ate better; but I want the Harvey or Reading sauce.

HAL.-Pray let me entreat you to use no other sauce than the water in which he was boiled. I assure you this is the true Epicurean way of eating fresh salmon: and for the trout, use only a little vinegar and mustard, a sauce à la Tartare, without the

onions.

POIET.-Well, nothing can be better; and