Alice Hughes. 52, Gower Street.
SUSAN, COUNTESS OF MALMESBURY.
[SALMON FISHING, WITH NOTES ON TROUT AND COARSE FISHING.]
Autrefois, Carpillon fretin
Eut beau prêcher, il eut beau dire,
On le mit dans la poële à frire.
In olden days the little fish
In spite of all they could say or wish
Were fried in a pan and served on a dish!
La Fontaine's lines, to which I have appended a somewhat free translation, could certainly not be applied to the modern representative of the species, whose extensive educational privileges on the subject of bait and flies have formed his mind, brought his acquirements thoroughly up to date, and elevated him from an innocent unresisting victim into an adversary whose cunning not unfrequently out-matches our own, but of whom the true fisherman should scorn to take an unfair advantage.