When the late Lord -- had run out the length of his tether, his head keeper, a day or two prior to the sale, asked us to meet some of the tenants, and have a wind up. There were several farmers, and two very curious-looking gentlemen-one in dingy black and wellingtons, down at the heels; the other in a modern antique green frockcoat with a black-velvet collar, short trousers, and bluchers: both with very greasy-looking hats, and linen to match. Pouch, the keeper, informed us they were the "Bums." And as they wished for a little shooting, Pouch thought he would gratify them, as he said they were not a bad sort, having allowed him to own several things that never belonged to him. We objected, saying, "They'll be sure to kill somebody." "No fear," says Pouch; "leave that to me." and saying, "Now, Mr. Fi-fa, you stand here; Mr. Ca-sa, you there ;" placed them in a straight ride, facing each other, about eighty yards apart. "Now gents, keep a sharp look out, and you'll have plenty of sport."

In about ten minutes after, as we were beating another part of the wood," Bang! bang!" we heard in the direction of the Bums; and then such a shindy between Fi-fa and Ca-sa: they had both a fair shot at the same rabbit, and peppered each other warmly.

"Make 'em more careful in future," says Pouch; "p'r'aps turn out first-rate gen'lemen sportsmen, and judges of Warner's long range."

We had a spaniel with a head just like your Old Presto here. We bought him of some gipsies three or four years after we commenced shooting. We were not very old, having taken out a certificate at thirteen; and have shot almost everything from a heron to a tom tit.

The character we had with him was, "He's a first-rate dog for any mortal thing;" which he quite acted up to. The day was never too long; and he had a partiality for anything in the shape of sport. Oftentimes has he been red with blood from the briars in single and double hedge-rows. We had a covert near the high road, that travelling curs would run in. The pheasants got so accustomed to them, that they would just spring up in the first fir tree, and there stop. Old Dash soon found out the trick; and we knew what was up when he gave tongue two or three times, and saw him waiting for assistance. If caught in a wire he would give you a call there was no mistaking. For a wounded, mallard or teal, we never saw a quicker; he took to diving with the bird at first, but soon learnt better. There was no getting rid of him if he saw the gun. We have often locked him up; but, whether the servants sympathized with his lamentations, or were glad to get rid of the music at any price, at the first shot, there was Dash-sometimes seven or eight miles from home. He had one fault: he would never leave a hedgehog till you took it from him. This, and the artful way he had of dodging you, he must have got from his friends the Zinganies. We brought him to London with us from within a few miles of Oxford, in a fly to Maidenhead, then by rail. About the third day we lost him. A day or two after, we had a letter to say the old dog had returned to his country quarters. He stopped with us for two years afterwards, and became quite a dog about town, going out and returning when he liked. We have often met him coming from the city to the West End, swelling it down

away

Piccadilly. But getting into low society the day that Mr. Burke killed a pony in his match from London to Bedford and back, he must have been garotted or burked, as we never saw him again. "Now, Stocks, we shall be here all day; you talk like a Cheap Jack. Save the next article' for dinner, and over The claret smooth-red as the lip we press In sparkling fancy, while we drain the bowl; The mellow-tasted Burgundy; and quick As is the wit it gives, the gay Champagne.'

Now, come along; let's look for the bird that doubled back."

THE COQUET AND THE BREAMISH.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "WANDERINGS BY THE LOCHS AND STREAMS of ASSYNT, AND THE NORTH HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND."

CHAPTER VI.

The Breamish compared with the Coquet-Peculiar flavour of Breamish troutHow to reach the River-Quarters-" Linhope Linn "-Ingram-BrandonTweed Salmon occasionally captured below "The County Bridges""Hedgeley "-"The Gallows Law"-The "old" and " new channel of the River A propitious "Eclipse "-The Till-The Pow Burn-Course of the Till -Chillingham Castle-Ford Castle-" Flodden Field "-"Lady Heron of Ford"-Twisel Bridge and Castle-Battle of Flodden Field-St. Helen's Well "The Glen River "-Kirknewton-The College Burn.

The Breamish, although an excellent trouting water, differs in many respects from the Coquet. It is more impetuous in its course, and more readily influenced by a "spate" upon the Cheviots, when it frequently descends like a furious torrent, subsiding perhaps in a few hours; and, on the other hand, after a short continuance of drought, becoming in many places almost dry. Owing to the frequency and impetuosity of its floods, this river is constantly changing its course, by ploughing up a new channel.

To those who object to wood in their piscatorial rambles, from being unable to manage an under-hand cast, so frequently requisite on the Coquet, this water affords peculiar advantages, as through its entire course it offers scarcely a single obstruction in the form of bush or tree. The Breamish literally swarms with trout, which, although generally of small dimensions, are, as regards flavour and personal appearance, infinitely superior to those of the Coquet. The Breamish trout are generally of a fine gold colour externally, their shape being at the same time remarkably symmetrical: the head is very small, while they exhibit great breadth of shoulders, and general thickness in proportion to their length.

Although white fleshed, the Breamish trout possess a richness and peculiarity of flavour which I have never found in those produced by any other water, viz., that of eels, from which it would be almost impossible to distinguish them. Countries as well as individuals have their

peculiar prejudices, and one, amongst many others, in the people of Scotland, is their dislike of eels, by whom they are generally termed "nasty beasts," with which opinion I perfectly accord in an angling point of view (few things being more disagreeable than unravelling a line which an eel has twisted, to say nothing of the decapitation frequently necessary in order to extract the hook); but after they are caught and beheaded, and then skinned, quartered, and fried by a good cook, I can make a sumptuous repast upon the remains of the defunct "nasty beasts." "Every man to his taste." I have stated mine, and should you entertain a dislike to the flavour of an eel, only because he is an eel, I hope your palate may be gratified and your sensibilities unoffended should you be fortunate enough to eat, properly fried, Breamish trout. The Breamish is not so accessible as the Coquet since the railway has caused the discontinuance of the public conveyances which a few years since used to cross it at the County Bridges, which particular spot was considered by the coachmen the coldest between Newcastle and Berwick. The angler from the north should quit the Berwick and Newcastle lines at Belford, from which place he can obtain a private conveyance to Powburn, where he will find clean and comfortable quarters at a small inn (Mrs. Potts') situate only a few hundred yards from the river. The angler coming from the south should leave the train at Alnwick, distant ten miles from Powburn. Good quarters are to be obtained also at Glanton, where there are several inns, but this place is two miles from the water, and I should decidedly give the preference to Powburn.

Having informed my readers how to reach the river, and where to obtain accommodation, I shall proceed to give a brief description of the water, and the various portions of it chiefly deserving notice. Should the angler desire to take a vast number of fish, I should recommend him to wend his way up to Linhope, a distance of about five miles and ahalf above the County Bridges, where, after the month of May, he may catch any number he pleases, either in the Linhope Burn or in the river. Early in the season, however, it is useless to go so far up the water, as the fish will not bite in the higher portions of the river. Some excellent fishing is to be obtained by following the river down from Linhope, at a little distance above which is a very pretty waterfall called "Linhope Linn." The fall is only of moderate height, but, as consisting of a single and unbroken sheet of water, is worth a visit. In fishing the Breamish the angler should stand at a little distance from the edge, to keep his own physiognomy out of sight; and if this be attended to, and the river be in tolerable trim, there is little danger of his having good sport. At a short distance above the village of Ingram is a hand-bridge crossing to the still-water, which, when ruffled by a little wind, is worthy of attention. There is a good pool, though of moderate dimensions, between this spot and Ingram; after passing which place, the best streams are those immediately above and below Brandon, from which village the angler can scarcely go wrong in his selection of water down to the County Bridges. We have now arrived at a point from which to commence fishing in the earliest part of the season. Immediately below the bridges is a streaming pool, the favourite resort of good trout, as well as of the true Tweed salmon, which I have seen leaping here on various occasions, and which, I am informed, have been occasionally captured with minnow.

The next streams which I think worthy of notice, after passing the County Bridges, are those opposite Hedgeley, at a short distance below which the angler will do well to wade through the river (if fishing on the south side) when he reaches a kind of dead water forming a horse-shoe turn, under some wooded "braes." The water to which I allude marks the original course of the river, which has altered its channel for some distance, when it again meets its former road under what is termed the "Gallows Law." The stream has certainly of late years made a more direct course for itself, but not a more satisfactory one for anglers, the greater portion of whom, however, follow it in its new mode of proceeding. I have frequently seen men "whipping" the novelty to very little purpose, while I have been amply rewarded by sticking to its old course, and I strongly recommend my angling readers to follow my example.

I am almost inclined to believe that all the best fish in the river have made "a strike" against the newfangled notions of their own element. I have never done any good, nor have I seen it done by others, on the new line of travel, while I have seldom failed to extract some fine trout from the old and discarded course, in which I certainly never caught a small one. The fact is, the river, when forming a new course, acted wisely in making a shorter cut for itself; but the angler will act wisely also if he follow the more circuitous route, in order to catch some specimens calculated to afford sport in killing, as well as delight in viewing after capture.

The angler, in pursuing the old course of the river, will arrive at a small plantation of overhanging trees, under which a number of fine trout are constantly on the look-out for flies or other insects falling from the branches. From this small pool I once took with fly three trout, weighing together upwards of four pounds. This occurred on an extremely bright day in the latter end of May, when the river was so low that the pool in question did not exceed a foot in depth, and lay perfectly calm. I availed myself of the ripple caused by the fish as they rose to the surface, casting my fly underhand beneath the weeping branches. The finest dish of large trout I ever saw taken from the Breamish was captured with worm in this portion of water by a gentleman who has since, I hope, bettered his fortune in the gold field of Australia. The whole of this back-water should be carefully fished, as it contains plenty of fine trout willing to rise with a moderate breeze, while there is but little chance of capturing "small fry." Immediately after the junction of the old and new course of the river, there is a fine pool in which I seldom failed to obtain good sport. The angler should fish it from the south side, and cast his flies close under the piles on the opposite bank, when, with a little curl on the water, he may calculate on a fish at almost every cast. In the year 1851 I had fished this pool for a short time under a bright sun, which I found, on looking at my watch, had promised to shroud himself in a temporary darkness in the course of a few minutes. The predicted eclipse had scarcely commenced, when I began to make some captures, which increased in number and size as the darkness deepened into what, perhaps, the unscientific

*This eminence is termed the "Gallows Law" (or "Gally Law," according to the usual pronunciation), from the fact of a gallows being erected here for the purpose of execution by the Baron of Beauly in the feudal times.

finsters mistook for approaching night. At all events, whatever might be the ideas entertained by the bulk of the finny population, some of their larger representatives were soon "returned" to my creel, which would, I believe, have been sooner filled if the eclipse or some other obscuration of the sun could have been prolonged. I can fancy "Pat" stopping his watch in order to bring about a prolongation of the darkness promised in the Almanac; and could that great arbiter of time, the sun, or rather the earth, have been disposed to stand still with the stoppage of my "Barraud," I would fain have turned Paddy for a while. I well remember hearing Faraday, the learned professor of chemistry, whilst lecturing on the subject of electricity, state it as his firm belief that more was yet to be learned from narrowly watching fish, so peculiarly subject to its influence, than from any other source. I leave it to the professor of optics to determine how the visual organs of trout are affected by an eclipse, which certainly, in the instance to which I allude, suited the requirements of the angler far more effectually than the ordinary obscurity caused by clouds. As the eclipse was drawing to its close the trout became less eager, and finally relapsed into that state of obdurate obstinacy so frequently displayed in a clear and breezeless water.

There is good fishing from this pool the whole way down the river Breamish, which, at Bewick Hill, a distance of three miles further, changes its name to that of Till, which finally empties itself into the Tweed about three miles below Coldstream. At about a mile, however, beyond the pool we have mentioned (which lies almost immediately below the Beauly tile sheds), the angler will observe a board prohibiting the fishing, which is preserved for some distance, by Oswin Cresswell, Esq., of Harehope.

I would recommend the angler to try the Pow Burn in conjunction with this portion of the river. The whole of this burn is well stocked with trout, which, in point of average size and internal colour, are superior to those of the Breamish, into which it flows at a short distance below the "Tile Sheds." The burn is preserved during its course through the estate of Hedglay (Ralph Carr, Esq.), below which it is free. The Pow Burn is generally fished in a discoloured state with worm, and I believe it is rarely attempted with fly. I determined to make the experiment, which I found succeed beyond my expectations, and I never fished this burn with any other lure. On one occasion, finding the river in top flood with the water almost the colour of cream, I instantly proceeded to the burn, which having advanced a few shades nearer to a proper hue, presented a dark drab, but was still extremely turbid. I killed a trout of a pound weight on the second cast, and in course of an hour and a-half added seven pounds more to my creel. I invariably found that when the river was too thick for fishing, the Pow Burn was in first-rate order for fly. The channel of this burn is soft and rich, and the trout are consequently of larger size and higher colour than those in the river. The Breamish alters its character with its name, its rocky and streamy nature being exchanged for that of depth and sluggishness.

The "Till," which, in common with the Breamish, contains trout and eels, to which are added pike and perch in abundance, requires a good breeze for fly fishing, except in the streams, which, compared with