the multiplicity of barbel-well known for their grubbing propensities, and the vast increase, in late years, of the number of the swans.

These beautiful creatures serve indeed to animate the Thames. How often in winding among the emerald islets that gem the silver current of the river, do we break suddenly on a brood. Mark then the parent birds;-the resentment which they express in having their domestic solitude intruded on; with what oaring feet they pursue the boat, as it glides through the water-their plumes ruffled-their wings erect their crests bridled with indignant pride and anger, whilst the callow young shrink timidly away among the reeds.

In losing its swans, the Thames would lose one of its chief ornaments; and yet the fishermen sadly complain of them; if not for devouring the spawn, at least for constantly disturbing it, and preventing the developement of the ova.

Being on the subject of swans, I will describe a singular scene, of which I was a witness at Marlow; and premise it by observing, not to speak of trout under bridges, &c., that otters, cormorants, and even herons, by a peculiar economy, have each assigned them particular spots in rivers and lakes, for their peculiar maintenance, and sole support these rights once established, being unenfringed by others of their kind. Thus with swans on the Thames. A pair whose dominion extended from below Bisham Abbey to the bridge at Marlow, probably through the inadventure of their cygnets, or the deficiency of food for their nurture, were observed to encroach on, I was nearly saying, by a bull, the territories of their neighbours. There was something in the manner and bearing of the birds that showed they were not at their ease; a peculiar whining cry, seeming to indicate that they were conscious of some wrong, or apprehensive of danger to themselves or their offspring. Still, after much apparent indecision, they continued to sail on, till they came to where the river, when swollen, pours the superfluity of its water over a lofty dam, making a considerable cascade; but owing to the summer drought, only a single thread of silver now found its way through a breach in the stone-work.

No sooner had the intruders become visible to the lord of the domain, than leaving his mate and her brood in the pool below, he hastened to make the bend of the river-reminding us of a keeper who has got sight of some poachers entering the preserves of his manor— half flying, half swimming, the noble creature was seen hurrying along to claim satisfaction for the injury. Meanwhile the consternation and dismay of the aggressors became evident. They held a council of war, and it was decided that the female should make a retreat with her pipers; whilst the father remained behind, to bear the brunt of the onset. It was not long delayed. Never did I witness a charge

conducted with greater impetuosity; so fierce was it, that the marauder, after a slight resistance, was forced over the dam, and fell with a heavy crash some ten or twelve feet on the rocks, where he lay for some time unable to move, and evidently much wounded, His foe not daring to follow him by this short cut, immediately re-took his watery path, to renew the attack below; and had it not heen for our interference, and the consequent separation of the combatants, the finale might have been tragical. Unequal as the contest appeared, the boatman told me that these royal birds were really a match for each other in strength; and that had the victor been the aggressor, instead of the aggressed, the fortune of the day would have been the reverse of what it proved.

Like the swan, I have made a considerable detour, and it is fit that I should return whence I set out to Moulsey." Revenons a nos poissons."

A few words as to gudgeon fishing. One of the first desiderata for success is to find a gentle run, of an equal depth throughout, being necessary that the small red and well-conditioned worms, or rather bits of worms-and those not too long-should trail along a gravelly or sandy bottom, frequently scraped with the rake, to attract the little gluttons, who unlike the barbel, bite best when the water is low and clear. No part of the river (though few parts of it are altogether without them) in which I have fished is more abundantly stocked than the water between the lock and Walton. There, by the side of the willows that furnish shelter in the autumn to innumerable swallows, which after having reared their young, take up their temporary quarters in expectation of the signal to commence their passage back to the Western Islands, I have in a very few hours caught eight, ten, and twelve dozen, with a line formed of single horse-hair throughout, two hooks being attached to it. Nor is this sport to be dispised; for the Thames gudgeon, little inferior on the table to the smelt, is of a larger size than any with which I am acquainted, those of the Seine, which I know only in the character of "gugeon frits," being mere minnows to them. The day before I quitted Moulsey, strange to say, considering the weakness of his tackle, my companion whilst engaged with me at this our favourite spot, took an eel of more than half a pound.

Much as I had been accustomed to consider Thames fishing as the most cocknified of all cockneyisms, and to laugh whenever in my rambles I chanced to observe a citizen lounging in his easy chair, and watching a float, till at the end of the run he drew it in for the professional by his side to examine the hook, and, if necessary, re-bait it, I soon learnt to find pleasure in following the same course of proceeding, and I have passed many a hot summer's day in my punt, even at

Shepperton, that darling resort of cockaigne. Yes, brethren, beneath the woods that there throw their almost impenetrable shadows on the deep and gently flowing stream I have whiled away hour after hour with indifferent sport, (indifferent almost, I may say, as to the sport,) enjoying the freshness of the air, continually renewed by the ever changing current, and soothed by the ripple under the boat that added to the sense of coolness; yes, I will confess it, I have almost without a nibble, or display of impatience, so spent or mispent my time. Here also, as well as above the bridge at Hampton, I certainly now and then found barbel fishing, if not the most exciting, one of the most actively engaging of all of which I have had experience. In this sort of angling there is no medium-you have a blank day or a glut. I shall not enter into the minutiae of the requisite tackle for barbel. I shall leave others to be eloquent on the subject of paternosters, &c. But it must be tackle without flaw in it; there must be no hitching in the reel, the gut must be of the roundest and soundest quality— selected with care from the hanks. There is not a fish that swims more powerful than the barbel; and I have not forgotten the struggles of one weighing eleven pounds and a half, which I succeeded in securing at Moulsey. He ran out forty yards-the rapidity of the current, for the river was much swollen, seconding his efforts. In spite of my double gut, I thought I should have lost him; doubting much if a salmon of the same size would have given me more to do. One thing has often surprised me, that this fish should be so flabby and indifferent-so uneatable I may say; even his roe, though I never tried it, has the character of being poisonous. Verily, it is a strange caprice of nature, to people one of the finest and noblest of rivers with so unworthy a race of creatures, seemingly intended for no other purpose than for the amusement of man. And speaking of amusement, Thames fishing is by no means an inexpensive one. Not to speak of the complicated machinery required—the inventory of which is endless, the cost great, and the trouble of transporting irksome-the day wages of a fisherman, the hire of a punt, even the price of baits, (worms are sometimes half a crown a quart,) not to mention the dearness of lodgings and provisions in the towns and villages on the banks of the Thames within twenty miles of London, preclude any but persons in comparatively easy circumstances from wetting a line to any purpose in "the Silver Thame."

MASTERS OF HOUNDS.

BY NIMROD.

MR. BOYCOTT-MR. WILKINSON-LORD

HAREWOOD-MR. FOLJAMBE-LORD KELBURNE

SIR HARRY MAINWARING-THE LATE MR. ADAMS-THE HON. GRANTLEY BERKELEY.

MR, BOYCOTT.

ON Sir Bellingham Graham giving up the Shiffnal, or as it is now called, the Albrighton country, at the close of the season of 1824, Mr. Boycott took it with a subscription, and hunted it three days a week, his kennel being at his own house, Rudge Hall, about eight miles from Shiffnal. His pack was purchased of a gentleman by the name of Nunn, in the neighbourhood of Colchester, and to this he added some drafts from other kennels. He himself performed the office of huntsman, ably assisted by Lord Middleton's celebrated whipper-in, Zat, and Skinner, formerly whipper-in to Mr. Hay, and afterwards to Mr. Dalyell, in whose service he died.

Although not, previously to this period, a master of hounds, Mr. Boycott was a sportsman known in almost all countries as a good judge of hunting, and a horseman of the first class. His reign in Shropshire was not a long one, but he was liked by his field, and had his fair share of sport. Much credit was also given to him for so soon bringing his Essex-imported hounds into the field in fair working condition, for-as-much as they were said to have been in a woful plight in that respect-although right good hunters-when they arrived at his kennel.

MR. WILKINSON.

WHO is "Mr. Wilkinson?" some of your readers may exclaim; we never heard of such a master of hounds. Well, then, you shall have him by his proper name, the renowned "Matty Wilkinson," who kept and hunted the Hurworth hounds, in Durham, for a long series of years.

My Yorkshire Tour, must be referred to by such as wish to be acquainted with the real character, as well as the amusing sayings and doings of this excellent sportsman, and very worthy man, now gathered to his fathers, and represented by his son, who is at this time the master of the Hurworth pack.

Mr. Wilkinson was a sportsman of the old school-I had rather said of the only true school, where practice, and not theory, marks distinction in the class. His great weight operated against him in hunting his hounds, but he was oftener with them than might have been expected from seventeen stone, on not the very best of cattle, and in

very moderate condition. His zeal, however, made light of trifles, and his having swam his horse over the river Tees, at least forty times, after his hounds, without himself being able to swim, makes that point clear, to say nothing of his generally having some of his favourite hounds walking about his house, with now and then a bitch that had whelps, partaking of his sirloin in the dinner room, on Sundays. But this swimming the Tees appears to be a family accomplishment. A friend of mine lately told me, that he was following one of his brothers (to whom he was a stranger), on his road to cover, when, to his surprise, he saw him walk his horse quietly into the Tees, which, for about a dozen yards, was out of his horse's depth. My friend had no alternative but to follow him, or go ten miles round to a bridge, and a wetting to his waist was the result.

When speaking of that excellent rough and ready sportsman, the late master of the Hurworth, I thus pointed him out to my readers :— "You will see before you an English sportsman of the old stamp, keen beyond words; resolute and daring in his favourite pursuit; and of a frame not of the doubtful gender, but manly and powerful, and formed for hardships; not quite so heavy as the great John Warde, nor with a countenance quite so expressive."

The principal feature in the late Mr. Wilkinson's character, as a master, was his management, which enabled him, with a subscription of only £175, to hunt a country three times a-week, his own means as the youngest of three brothers, being very limited. Some idea, however, may be formed of his determination to do the thing as well as his slender resources would admit, by the fact of his giving strict orders to his dairy-maid in the spring, that all the best milk of eight cows was to be kept for the whelps. And now for one more characteristic of the man. A brother sportsman died, and left him five pounds, wherewith to purchase a black coat, in remembrance of him; but he purchased a red one, thinking hereby to show still greater respect to his departed friend, who was as fond of hunting as he himself was.

The Hurworth hounds are now kept by a representative of one of the three brothers, but of which I cannot say, and as the family property, which is considerable, has centered in him, no doubt the turnout of the Hurworth pack is more aristocratic than it was when I hunted with it, in the days of the immortal Matty.

LORD HAREWOOD.

I MUCH regret that I am unable to say much of Lord Harewood as a master, inasmuch as I shall adhere to the determination with which I set out, and only speak of those with whose hounds I have hunted. One half-hour would have given me the opportunity here, when on my Yorkshire Tour. I got within a few miles of Lord Harewood's fixture