On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    client to effect the grand point of keeping out of sight—the patient fisherman lightly daps his fly upon the clear rippling eddy , as lie sees the insect disyort itself when alive and at liberty . Housed by the slight undulation ¦ which even this delicate movement communicates to the water ' s surlace , ¦ the largest trout and grayling of the pool sally forth to reconnoitre from belund great stonee or a sunken tree , under patches of floating driftwood , and from beneath hollow banks . Some , or all of these , are their chosen haunts . _ Such is the eagerness with which they usually dash at the lure—^ resembling somewhat the swoop of a hawk at her quarry—that they generally hook themselves . ^ If the fishermun lias not forgotten to bring his landing-net , and some village urchin to assist him in its use , he will probably succeed in transferring the best of these captures to his pannier . Without ^ such aid , however , his success will he more than doubtful . It is a great mistake to defer the commencement of trout fishing until themoath of May , as is the practice of naany London anglers , especially those wlo frequent the Thames and Uxbridge Colne .

    When the alder leaf * s big as a goose ' s eye , Thea the trout is fit to fry , says an old saw ; and that , in a forward spring , would be about the middle of February . March , and April are eertainly the best fly-fishing months of * he whole season . ^ Angling for pike or jack , which latter is , however , the peculiar designation bestowed on fish of a certain age only , affords much diversion iiv the autumn and winter quarters . The writer of this book gives a decided preference to what he calls the dead snap bait : — Taking a fancy fora day ' s pike fishing , I started off for the river , rod in hand , and a few dead baits in my pocket . The w ind was to my mind , and the water -was in fine condition . 1 speedily commenced work , ani in a cast or two hooked and landed a . very good fish , weighing seven pounds . Just as I had done so , up came my friend . " That's a fine fish , " said he . " I have fished down all this side of the water , and have not had a single run . Would you have any objection to ray accompanying you ? " " None whatever , " I replied . So . we both started together ,, and in a short tinie I landed three inore fish , one five pounds , and two three pounds each . " How ia it , " ^ he said , " that although I throw into the same places withyou , I never get a run ? " Now my fxieud was trolling , or dead gorge fishing . There was a sharp stream , and-over the stream a quiet spot , in which place the fish lay . He threw his gorge into the still water , but while he was ¦ permitting it to sink a little , the current pressed on the line and dragged the bait away lief ore he had the chance of working it . My tackle was spinning , or dead snap , -which can be worked attractively the moment the bait drops on the -water , which cannot be done with the dead gorge . 1 recommended , my friend to put on a spinner , which I lemt him , and at the second thTow he lulled a fish of six pounds . Mr . Bailey ' s experience of pike fishing seems to have been confined to the river Trent . The great pool of Eilesmere , situated close to the town of that name in North Shropshire , and the property of Mr . Mainwaring 1 , holds pike of thirty pounds weight . The Cbmbermere lake in the adjacent count 7 of Chester—which is full- three miles in extent—breeds fish even larger than those of Ellesmere . The barbel , though coarse , and of no repute for the table , is , however , ft handsome fish , large , lusty , and game . The author , who seems to have devoted more than ordinary attention to this branch of angling , thus communicates the results of hia experience : —

    The water was about nine feet deep , and as clear as glass . The swim -was not <} uick , and in water of this description I generally go up five or six yards from where 1 standl to fish to throw in the worms , and catch the barbel eight or ten yards below me , so that the wonn 3 swim fourteen or fifteen yards before they get to the bottom . " Well , the first swim , my two friends both got hold together , and killed two barbel ; the next swim , they killed two more , then oue killed , and the other mi 6 sed . Wliem we had caught nine , I threw in a few more wornis two yards lover down than the first lot , which inado the fish bite at least twenty-five yards off . This was a great distance to hit a fish , but they were hit to perfection , for a bite was seldom missed or a fish lost . When we had fished three hours , they left off biting , and we went and had a bite ourselves . We returned in about a . couple of hours , and found them as keen and eager for the bait as -when ive first commenced . I must tell you I never gave them a worm while they were biting , but -when I saw two or three swims -without a "bite , I threw ia a few . By this plan I kept the fish hungry all the time . In About five hours and a half we had caught one hundred and thirteen pounds of barbel , without stirring a yard from the standing we first took up , and every fish was hooked from twenty to five-and-twenty yards off . The author of this little book is a professional angler , residing where

    Trent doth spread His thirsty arms along the indented mead , and his proximity to this , one of the most famous of English rivers , has , of course , largely contributed to perfect his experience . The observations on ground-bait , and the directions for its advantageous employment , not only as a subsidiary lure for the coarser species of fresh-water fish , but for trout and grayling also , are new and valuable . They will be eagerly perused and sis eagerly adopted by all anglers , when the opening spring shall again invite them to try their fortune in the sharps and shallows of their favourite streams .

    Untitled Article

    MAULEVERER'S DIVORCE . AfauJcverer ' s Divorce : a Story of Woman ' s Wrongs , lly the Author of " Whitefriimj , " " The City Banker , " &c . 3 vote . Sk « et . Wm have been a little perplexed by this novel . It professes to have been written by a woman , and seems to benr in its composition the traces of a woman's pen . And yet we had imagined the authorship of Whitcfriars to have been not unknown . Whitcfriars ^ Whitehall , Westminster Abbey , and Cccsrtr Borgia form a characteristic cluster of historical romances which have retained their popularity through many seasons , and nro continually reprinted . They were well studied , dramatic , and vigorous . Tho City Hanker belonged to > a different and , in our opinion , an inferior class . The story was original in its conception , and ran on rapidly from beginning to end , but it was less a worlc of art than Whitcfriars , less graphic than Oaisttr Borgia . Mauleocrcr's JHoorco is again the exemplification of ji new stylo adopted by the writer . It has n definite social purpose ; it bears upon a question , of the day ; it abounds in apostrophe and in forvid declamations .

    Its most prominent fault is the tendency to long interludes of soliloquy on the part of the lady who is supposed to present lier autobiography Manv readers will think the-introductory chlpter almost entiXVup ^ riS Occasionally too , the author ' s literary theory is illustrated \ yTurTof speech , which we cannot but rank as barbarisms . The writing goweler has character , and the narrative is constructed Avith peculiar skUL J £ merous readers , no < k » ubt , will foUow with curiosity the vicissitudes of the Mauleverer career , parallel as they probably are with those of a certafc proportion of persons m the happy and decorous society of the Encash nineteenth century . We do not think the circulating library subscribers will-be disappointed if Mauleverer ' s Divorce is sent for in the expectalba that it will charm away some hours of the long November evening .

    Untitled Article

    THE BRITONS OF CAMBRIA . The British Kymry ; or , Brkalns of Cambria . Outlines of their Hi 3 torjr and Iastitujtiohs , from the Earliest to the Present Times . By the Rev . R . M . Morgan , P . O . Tregynon . Author of ' Christianity and Infidelity , ' &c . &c . Ruthin : J . Clarke ; London : Hardwicke . The history of the great Gomeric or Kimbric race constitutes one of the grandest dramas of old or modern times . It is the primogenital family of mankind ; and as such we find its various divisions established under the same or very slightly modified names in different countries , in the earliest dawn of tradition and letters . Around the shores of the Black Sea they-were known as Cbumerioi ; in Caucasus , Armenia , and Bactria , as Gormarai ; in the Baltie , Chersonese , and Scandinavia , as CiniMri , in . Italy , as Chumbri or' Umbri ; in Britain , as the Kymry . From them sprang the nations which have led , and still lead , the destinies of civivilization- ^ the Persian and Parthian in ancient Asia , the Roman in Italy , the Norman ofthe mediaeval , the Briton of the present , era . Of tluV family , the Keltic race of France , Spain , and Ireland are junior branches .

    The Druidical religion : was brouglit into Britain , by the Gomeridas irom the mountains of Noah or the Caucasus , at the first emigration under Hu Gadarn . Its leading principles were as follows : — - " God is an Infinite Spirit , -whose nature is wholly a mystery to man in his present state . ZELe is self-existent ; from him all creation emanated / and into him it will always continue to resolve itself . To the human mind , but not in himself , he necessarily presents a triple aspect in relation to the past , present , and future - —the Creator as to the past , the Saviour or Preserver as to the present , the Re-Creator as to the future . In the He-Creator , the idea ofthe Destroyer was also involved . TheDruidic names for God were Duw , Deon , lXovydd , Celi , Tor , Perydd , Rhun , N er . The sacred animal of their religion was the milkwhite bull ; the sacred bird , the tvren ; the sacred tree , the oat ; the sacred plant , the misletoe ; the sacred herbs , the trefoil and the vervain ; the sacred form , that of the three divine letters or rays , in the shape of a cross , symbolizing the triple aspect of God ; the sacred herbs and plant , with another plant , hyssop , the emblem ; of fortitude in adversity , were gathered on the sixth day of the moon . The great festivals of Druidism -were three , the solstitial festivals of the rise and fall of the year , and the winter festival . At the spring festival , the baitan , or sacred fire , was brought down by means of a burning glass from the sun . No hearth in the island was held sacred till the fire on it had been relit from the baitan . The baitan became the Easter festival of Christianity , as the mid-winter festival , in whie-ii the misletoe was cut with the golden crescent from the sacred oak , became Christmas . The misletoe , with its three berries , was the symbol ofthe Deity in his triple aspect—its growth on the oak , of the incarnation of the Deity in man . The canonicals of the Arch-Druid -were extremely gorgeous . On bibhead he wore a tiara of gold , in his girdle the gem of augury , on his Ireast the tor moram , or breast-plate of judgment ; below it , the glan neidr , or draconicegg ; on the foretinger of the right hand , the signet ring of the order ; on the forefinger of the left , the gem of inspiration . Before him were borne the coel bren , or volume of esoteric mysteries , and the golden crosier with -which the misletoe was gathered . His robe was of a white linen , with a broad purple "border .

    u Prior to Cajsar , " observe the classic authors , " no foreign conqueror had ever ventured to assail the shores of Britain . " There the warrior , for the first time , saw the chariot system of Troy , familiar to him hitherto only in the descriptions of Hoiner , in actual operation . The heroic and historic modes of warfare were pitted against each , other . The admiration of the Roman general—already the hero of thirty victories on the continent of Gaul—for the war-car , as distinguished from tho cavalry system , appears to be based on solid grounds . It embodied the two essentials which military science seeks to combine in a perfect branch of service , the rapidity of cavalry and the stability of infantry . The chariots were built of light , -well-seasoned wood , many of them richly blazoned and adorned with the precious metals . They generally held two , sonaetime 8 four , combatants , and were drawn by two horses abreast , so thoroughly broken in to their work that Ceesar declares in descending a hill full speed they would , on a motion ofthe charioteer , wheel round and retrace their course , scarcely slackening their pace . The charioteers themselves frequently leaped from the chariot upon the , pole , rearranged the harness and returned to their place . They drove standing . From tliu axletrees of the chariots kcon falchions of great breadth projected , inuicting the most ghastly wounds , and rendering it a matter of no small peril to attempt to attack the chariot on tho flank . They drew up in divisions , each under its own commander , and all of them under tho Pendragon . One of the divisions commenced the action l > y benring down on somejiiven point of the enemy ' s line . The spectacle of the chnrgo itself , the cheers of tliu eoinbatunts , the rush of the horses , the roar of so many wheelu , nniii > l « d with tho clang of arms , rarely failed , before a blow was exchanged , to disorder the ranks of the best disciplined troops opposed to them . A passage being forced , the combatants , as circumstances pointed out , cither quitted their chariots and formed in a body in the centre of tho enomy , or broke out nt some other point , discharging , aa they swept on , their heavy javelins , and rc-

    Untitled Article

    ISTo . 399 , November 14 , 1857 Q , T H B LEAj ) EE . 10 ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 14, 1857, page 1099, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2217/page/19/