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to angle for salmon, trout, gravel-fry, grayling, graining, gray mullet, chub, bleak, roach, and dace-all of which are sound, rational, and judicious-experto crede Roberto. But, perhaps, after all, the most valuable part of his little work is from page 95 to the end, which treats of the various kinds of flies.

He describes, and gives plates of six salmon flies; all of which, we have no doubt, would kill in any stream in Britain. But we think that Mr Bainbridge has not sufficiently advert ed to this fact-that the salmon of almost every river delight in a peculiar colour-that that colour will, one day with another, prove more killing than any thing else and that, at different seasons of the year, different colours are found to be successful. We have seldom been able to discover the causes of this, but we know it to be the case, and that it is absolutely necessary to be aware of the right colour, more especially of the body of the fly, in fishing each particular river. Neither does Mr Bainbridge state, that salmon lie only in favourite pools or streams of a river, and that other pools or streams, often to all appearance as favourable to their general habits, never retain, on their passage up, one single fish. The best angler in the world would lose much time in fishing a river for salmon, with which he was not well acquainted.

Mr Bainbridge then gives us descriptions and engravings of no less than forty different kinds of trout flies -most of them imitations of aquatic insects. We have tried such of them as were not previously familiar to us, and in general with great success. We quote the following descriptions as likely to be useful to our angling friends.

"No 1. represents a dark fly with black body, which appears very early in March, and sometimes even in February; and as so few flies suitable for the purposes of the flyfisher are at that time animated, it is to be used with great success during the whole day. The body is made of dark fur, to be obtained from a black water-spaniel, or rabbit, with a very small proportion of claretcoloured camlet, merely to give the mixture a tinge when held up to the light: the wings from the back of the fieldfare or hen blackbird; and a dusky black hackle for legs.

"The March Brown or Dun Drake. This very excellent fly generally appears about the middle of March, and is strongly VOL. V.

recommended as a good killer from eleven o'clock until three. Large quantities of

these beautiful insects sail down the streams in succession, and invite the trout to action. Their wings are upright on the body, as shewn in the plate, and whilst they are on the water, it is almost in vain to attempt the use of any other fly; therefore, as they vary in the shade of the body, it is advised to use three flies of this form, but of different sizes and colours, at the same time, which will ensure success to the angler.

"The wings are made from the dark mottled feather from the tail of a partridge; the body of the fur from the hare's ear, inworsted, well dubbed together; a grizzled termixed with a small portion of yellow hackle for legs; and if the imitator choose to be exact, two fibres from the same feather which composed the wings will enable him to form the tail. This appendage to the flies in their natural state need not to be attended to in the artificial formation, as it is of little importance in aiding the success of the angler; although, if flies are dressed for sale, it improves their appearance, and renders them more showy and attractive. It may also be dressed as a hackle by means of the spotted feather from a partridge's back, using the same mixture for the body

as before described.

"The Hazle Fly is of a round form, and rather difficult to be imitated with success. It is to be used in May and June, and is very destructive where bushes abound. By some this is improperly called the Marlow Buzz. The body is made of ostrich harl of two colours, viz. black and purple, which must be twisted very thick: the wings of the sandy-coloured feather from under the wings of a throstle, or from the red feather of a partridge's tail, provided it be not too dark: a bluish hackle, twisted tolerably full, will answer for the under wing, as well as for the legs. The cow-lady flies are also made in this manner, substituting a red or black hackle for the dun, and reducing the size of the fly very considerably.

"The Orange Fly has four wings made from the blue feather of a mallard-teal.

The head is of the dark fur from the hare's ear; the body, gold-coloured mohair mixed with orange camlet, and a little brown fur; a small blue cock's hackle for legs. This is an alluring fly to salmon mort, if dressed rather larger than the representation; and, on a smaller scale, none better can be found for the salmon fry.

"The Yellow Dun is a beautiful insect, and is to be used in the morning and evening during the months of April and May, and again in September. The body is made of yellow yarn unravelled (if martin's fur cannot be procured), and mixed with a little pale ash-coloured fur, which may be obtained from a fox-cub near the tail; the wings from the under part of a snipe's wing, and are to be made upright; with a pale dun hackle for legs.

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"The Gravel or Spider Fly is first seen about the middle of April, at which time the gravel, in which these insects are bred, is literally covered by incalculable numbers of them. They are extremely delicate, and not often visible on cold days; on which, however, success is more probable with this fly, than when they are to be found in such large quantities. They may be used from morning until evening; and the trout are so passionately fond of them, that they gorge themselves with their favourite food, and retire to their secret haunts, thereby disappointing the most skilful endeavours of the angler.

"It is probably owing to the short duration of these flies, that the fish are so greedy in devouring them, as they are seldom to be found at the expiration of about three weeks from their first appearance. The wings are made of the feather from the wing of the cuckoo's mate, the goat-sucker, or, in the absence of the preceding two, from the woodcock: the body of lead-coloured silk for the lower and middle parts, and a strip of black ostrich harl for the thick part near the shoulders; round which a small dark grizzled hackle should be twisted twice, and the fly is completed.

"The Hawthorn Fly is so called from being usually found near the shrub of that name. It is a good killer, and may be used from the middle of April to the end of May, from ten o'clock until three. The wings are transparent, and may be made from the palest feather of a snipe or mallard's wing: some use horn shavings, or the hard substance which is found in the core of an apple, for this purpose: the body of black ostrich harl; and a black hackle for legs."

Mr Bainbridge, like a true angler, speaks with contempt of all kinds of ground-fishing. But of minnow fishing he thus discourses:

"Next to the use of the artificial fly this is the most sportsman-like and successful method of killing trout. Those minnows are to be chosen which are of middle size, and brightest under the belly; where they are to be found in shoals, as is the case in most

trout streams, the landing net, if made of large dimensions, as recommended under the list of necessaries, will, with very little trouble, supply an ample stock of bait.

"The best way of baiting the minnow is to draw the large hook first through both lips, so that they be not torn, and then insert it at the mouth and pass it down the body, until the point protrudes below the ventral fin; the two small hooks must then be fastened through the back of the head, so that they may stand upright with the points towards the head. Some use three small hooks for this purpose; but as the fish take this bait greedily, two in addition to the body, or large hook, are sufficient. The chief consideration is the spinning of the minnow, which cannot turn too quickly; a couple of double box swivels will greatly fa cilitate this object.

"The great advantage of minnow fishing is, that it may be most successfully practised at those periods when the water is unfit for the use of the fly, as the strongest streams are best for this purpose, when the water is clearing after a flood, or is thickened or discoloured from any other cause.

"The line must be thrown across the stream, and the bait kept in continual motion by spinning it towards the angler. The action in striking must be perpendicular, or there will be a risque of the bait being drawn from the mouth of the fish; the rod must be then kept upright, and the fish played in the same manner as before described. Nobb's treatise on this subject, lately reprinted and attached to Best's Art of Angling, will furnish the minnow fisher with every information which may be requisite."

The first time that Mr Bainbridge comes to Scotland, we hope that he will call at No 17, Princes's Street, where we shall arrange with him a dinner at Ambrose's, with a few fishing friends, to talk over all the wonders of the shallows and of the deep.

The minnow is also a deadly bait when the water is low and clear.-REV.

PETER BELL.

A Tale, in Verse.

AFTER allowing a considerable time to elapse without offering any thing to the public, Mr Wordsworth has at last printed a short poem, which, we are told in the preface, has been lying by him for twenty years. Such reten tiveness is certainly quite at variance with the practice of the other authors of the present times, whose works are generally more than half printed before

By Wordsworth.

their conclusions are written, or even determined upon. Mr Wordsworth has probably long since relinquished the belief that any of his compositions can ever be bought up with the avidity of popular curiosity, and, therefore, it is to be supposed, that when, in the course of the leisure of a rural life, he happens to employ himself about an

ingrato caseus urbi," he is in no

haste to push it into the market. He has often been counselled by critics about taking more pains to adapt his mode of composition to the prevalent tastes of mankind; but, if he wishes to have light on that subject, he should at once resort for advice to the booksellers, who are indisputably the best judges, and whose authority should be considered as paramount, in the present age, to that of any critic whatever.As his genius leads him very strongly to the discussion of moral questions, perhaps, if he would be persuaded to venture forth with a volume of sermons, under a feigned name, he might have a better chance of attaining to that success which, as yet, he has so sparingly enjoyed.

The present poem of Peter Bell is of the narrative kind; and even those readers who are most averse to moralizing and reflection, will find a thread of story extending throughout the composition. It has more of the interest of suspended curiosity than almost any other of the tales of the same author; but this is not saying much for it on that score. The diction, throughout a great part of it, is highly animated and poetical, and more especially in the introduction; which, although it relates to the choice of the subject, is no ways connected with the incidents afterwards introduced. No preternatural, nor even any splendid or extraordinary machinery is made use of; and the poem exemplifies a principle which Mr Wordsworth has often insisted on, namely, that the strength and importance of the emotions which are brought into play, can be made to communicate the highest poetical interest to the circumstances which excite them, although these circumstances may be quite homely and familiar in themselves. Although this principle be true, and was never more remarkably proved than by the present poem; yet we must certainly concur with those who maintain that its truth can never be adduced as a reason for preferring incidents and circumstances that are disagreeably homely, and forcing them to become poetical by means of the skill with which they are rendered the occasions of emotion, when other circumstances of a more dignified and agreeable sort can be equally vell made to answer the same end. Nevertheless, it is a great chance whether, if Mr Wordsworth had studied

to find more dignified incidents and circumstances, he would not have lost some part of his originality among the hackneyed conceptions of former poets. If he had assumed any of the materials in common use, he must have had to struggle with all that host of factitious associations which attach themselves to ideas that have long been separated from actual modes of life, and employed only in the artificial combinations of literature. He wished once more to visit the field of nature, and take possession of whatever harvest of poetical materials still remained unsullied by frequent handling. All the other living poets, who have described present modes of existence, have been compelled to seek for poetry in scenes of life similar to those depicted by Wordsworth. Situations of pure invention are seldom interesting, and have never been varied or numerous. With the exception of Walter Scott, living poets seem little inclined to seek for new poetical situations in the history of the past.

The story of Peter Bell is that of a harsh, profligate, and brutal character, who by means of a succession of circumstances acting upon his imagination, is gradually mollified into tenderness and repentance. Like the great Pedlar in the Excursion, he is an itinerant merchant, videlicet, a seller of pottery wares. A perpetual change of situation, and an ignorance of what is next to be met with, are ingredients which wherever they are introduced can scarcely fail to bring something of a romantic feeling along with them. One moonlight night, Peter Bell strikes into a bye-path in order to shorten his way, and loses himself in a wood. On emerging from the wood, he comes to a small meadow, where he finds a solitary ass standing near a stream of water. Being out of humour with losing his way, he determines to steal it as a recompence for his trouble; but, upon his attempting to lead it away, it refuses to stir. He drubs and cudgels it without effect; for some unknown power seems to fix it to the spot. At length, Peter Bell perceives, by the moonlight, the face of a dead man lying in the stream; and after recovering from the horror into which he was thrown by such a sight, he finds means to twist his staff among the hair of the corpse, and to drag it upon the bank. The ass shews the utmost sa

tisfaction when this is done, and allows Peter Bell, who is now touched with remorse for his cruelty, to mount it, that it may carry him to the house of its drowned master. In pursuing his journey, he hears among the rocks the cries of the son of the deceased searching for his father; and his stubborn nerves, having been already shaken with what had passed, are visited by a feeling of sympathy and humanity to which he had before been a stranger. He does not meet with the seeker; but, in pursuing his ride, a variety of circumstances combine to operate on his mind. He perceives blood flowing from the wounds which he had inflicted on the faithful ass. He sees objects and hears sounds that recall the past scenes of his past life. In passing a meeting-house he hears a preacher quoting texts from Scripture, which he applies to himself. And, lastly, having arrived at the door of the drowned person, he witnesses the agonies of the widow. When she has gone to procure assistance, and he has dismounted, one of the children comes home, and recognizing the ass, imagines that his father has returned along with it, and embraces the animal with transports of joy and affection. This spectacle entirely overpowers Peter Bell, and such an effect is wrought upon him, that he leaves off his former profligate habits, and becomes an altered character.

This is the whole subject of the poem; but without having read the composition itself, it is impossible to conceive what a fine effect, and what profound pathos are drawn forth from these leading ideas. The chief fault is the dallying prolixity of some parts, which is the more felt, because there is a progressive interest. Upon the whole, it is equal to any of the lyrical ballads, both in the excellence and originality of the general idea conveyed by it, and also in the poetical merits of the execution. As for the fine and picturesque animal, which occupies so important a place in the story, it would be foolish to laugh at it, when, if properly considered, it is capable of exciting emotions so much better than those of derision. Mr Wordsworth is not in the least shy about his subject; but, when it is first discovered standing on the meadow, he makes its name the last word in a stanza, where it is rendered still more emphatic by

serving as a rhyme. In order to judge fairly of Mr Wordsworth's poetry, a truth which he hints at in his preface should always be kept in view. There is certainly a radical distinction between that species of poetry whose ultimate object is to strike the imagination and interest the curiosity, by means of splendid objects and extraordinary events, and that other species which founds its charm upon the exhibition of the relations which sentiments and emotions bear to each other within the human mind. In the first species, there is no comparison of feelings, nor any mere problem determined. Our pleasure consists in the direct impression made by images upon the imagination, or of incidents drawing us blindly along under the influence of personal sympathy; and therefore, the nature of the images and incidents employed, is here the most important of all considerations. In the other species of poetry, that developement, collision, or other relation of internal feelings, which the poet chooses for his subject, generally partakes of the nature of a universal truth, and is capable of being represented by means of a thousand different forms; and therefore, the images or situations employed, should be considered only in the light of symbols or vehicles, and not as materials of poetry. That relation of feelings which, in such a case, constitutes the true subject of the poem, would retain the same fundamental interest, although the means by which it was expressed were to be shifted through all the varieties of splendid and familiar, or of coarse and refined. Its eternal and universal nature would only be rendered more apparent, without being either vulgarised or exalted, by the outward aspect of the circumstances, in which it made its temporary abode.

In the poetical introduction, Mr Wordsworth figures himself sailing through the sky upon a crescent, and taking a view of the wonders of the universe, to see whether there are any that would serve as subjects for poetry, but, at the end of his career, he concludes that it is best to make poetry on human nature. The following stanzas are from this introduction; Away we go-and what care we For treasons, tumults, and for wars? We are as calm in our delight Among the scattered stars, As in the crescent-moon so bright

Up goes my Boat between the stars
Through many a breathless field of light,
Through many a long blue field of ether
Leaving ten thousand stars beneath her,
Up goes my little Boat so bright!

The Crab the Scorpion-and the Bull-
We pry among them all-have shot
High o'er the red-hair'd race of Mars
Cover'd from top to toe with scars:
Such company I like it not !

The towns in Saturn are ill built,

But proud let him be who has seen them;
The Pleiads, that appear to kiss
Each other in the vast abyss,
With joy I sail between them!

Swift Mercury resounds with mirth,
Great Jove is full of stately bowers;
But these, and all that they contain,
What are they to that tiny grain,
That darling speck of ours!

Then back to Earth, the dear green Earth;
Whole ages if I here should roam,
The world for my remarks and me
Would not a whit the better be;
I've left my heart at home.

And there it is, the matchless Earth!
There spread the fam'd Pacific Ocean!
Old Andes thrusts yon craggy spear
Through the grey clouds the Alps are

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Or we'll into the realm of Faery,
Among the lovely shades of things;
The shadowy forms of mountains-bare,
And streams, and bowers, and ladies fair;
The shades of palaces and king's!

Or, if you thirst with hardy zeal
Less quiet regions to explore,
Prompt voyage shall to you reveal
How earth and heaven are taught to feel
The might of magic lore !"

This is certainly full of lyrical animation, and is well worth both of Gray's odes, being a much more natural effusion of poetical transport, and sweeter in the language. Gray, though a beautiful writer in many respects, shews himself but a heavy bird in quitting the ground. On the crescent's returning to the earth, the following verses are introduced, in reference to the subject of the poem: Long have I lov'd what I behold,

The night that calms, the day that cheers.
The common growth of mother earth
Suffices me-her tears, her mirth,
Her humblest mirth and tears.

The dragon's wing, the magic ring,
I shall not covet for my dower,
If I along that lowly way
With sympathetic heart may stray
And with a soul of power.

These given, what more need I desire,
To stir to sooth-or elevate !
What nobler marvels than the mind
May in life's daily prospect find,
May find or there create!

A potent want doth sorrow wield;
What spell so strong as guilty Fear!
Repentance is a tender sprite;

If aught on earth have heavenly might,
'Tis lodg'd within her silent tear.

The introduction being concluded, the poem enters into a description of Peter Bell's mode of life.

He two and thirty years or more
Had been a wild and woodland rover;
Had heard the Atlantic surges roar
On farthest Cornwall's rocky shore,
And trod the cliffs of Dover.

And he had seen Caernarvon's towers, And well he knew the spire of Sarum ; And he had been where Lincoln bell Flings o'er the fen its ponderous knell, Its far-renowned alarum!

At Doncaster, at York, and Leeds,
And merry Carlisle had he been ;
And all along the Lowlands fair,
All through the bonny shire of Ayr-
And far as Aberdeen.

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