Apropos of sporting, the example of Markham and his friend has brought angling into fashion with some of the officers of the garrison. Amongst the rest we found a captain of engineers, making his maiden essay on the banks of the Moselle; but he complained sadly of the shyness or inappetence of the fish, which had refused even to nibble, although for the last two hours, as he took the trouble to prove to us by pulling up his line, he had been fishing at the bottom with an artificial fly! The only drawback to the amusement is the fall of large stones, not meteoric, but projected by the first idle Coblentzer of the lower class who may happen to pass by. To such a pitch was this nuisance carried, that the military piscators were obliged to post men to intercept and punish the runaway offenders. "I can only account for so malicious a practice," said Markham, "by supposing that, as the amusement is English, the low-born are infected with the same petty jealousy as their betters occasionally exhibit towards our country, from Prince Pückler Muskau, down to Mr. Aloys Schreiber. But you have not perhaps seen the latter's sketch of the English in Baden? I have entered his description of an Englishman in my pocketbook, for fear of meeting one without knowing it. Here it is:

"If you meet a man in a great coat that reaches down to his ankles, wide enough to enclose a whole family, and with pockets, in each of which a couple of folios might be concealed, its wearer having a careless gait, and taking notice of nothing so much as of himself, it is, without doubt, an Englishman. If he quarrel with a coachman about his fare, and with an assdriver about his drink-money, be sure it is an Englishman.'

"Now for a companion picture. If you meet a man in a frock-coat as glossy as if it had just come through a shower of rain, with pockets big enough to hold a bale of tobacco in one and a gas-pipe in the other, its wearer strutting with an indescribable swagger, so full of himself that there is no room for sour-krout, beyond question he is a German. If he catches up his umbrella and his precious meerschaum, leaving his wife and child to scramble after him as they may, be sure he is a German. If he has a little cross, or a snip of haberdashery at his buttonhole, and a huge ring on his ungloved forefinger, you may set him down as an Aulic Counsellor into the bargain. If you see a young lady - But no, I will not

6

imitate Mr. Schreiber in his want of gallantry to the daughters of the haughty Isle of Shopkeepers,' a phrase borrowed from England's bitterest enemy, and therefore sufficiently expressive of the animus of the ungrateful Guide-Book-man towards so great a majority of his Courteous Readers."

66 THE POMPS AND VANITIES OF THIS WICKED WORLD."

In

As you are a meteorologist, I must not omit to inform you, that during our walk we had an excellent sight of a waterspout. It came down the Moselle, and at first seemed a whirlwind of dust, in the midst of which some unlucky jackdaws were flapping about in a very bewildered manner. a few seconds the dust or vapor cleared away, and the waterspout made its appearance, extending from the water to a vast height in the clouds, where it terminated in a ragged funnelshape, like the untwisting strands of a rope. Against the black sky behind it, the general resemblance was to a long, narrow gray ribbon, bellying a little before the wind, with several smaller curves towards the top, as if from different

currents of air. In this order it crossed the Rhine, rather deliberately, where, surging against the bank, it caught up a wash of linen, as it had previously carried off some skins from a tannery, — and, passing to the right of the fortress, was lost to sight behind the hills. It had scarcely disappeared, when, at an exclamation from Markham, "There's a screw loose in the sky!" I looked up, and saw a long black cloud slowly revolving, parallel with the earth, and pointing with its sharp end- the other was almost flat - to the course taken by the other phenomenon. We have since heard that the water-spout dropped the linen and leather, and expended itself, after trifling damage, not far distant from Ems.

And now, as the Convolvulus says to the setting sun, it is time for me to close. How I wish, Gerard, you could stand beside me, rod in hand, some fine evening, on the banks of my favorite Lahn! But as it cannot be, I send you a sketch instead.

Dear love to Emily from
Yours ever truly,

FRANK SOMERVILLE.

THE LAHN. AN ECLOGUE.

PICTOR AND PISCATOR.

Pis. STAY! here we are, at the likeliest place on the whole water. Come, put together your

rod.

Pic. O my friend, what a sweet picturesque river is this you have brought me to! But surely one of the worst for angling in the whole world!

Pis. Nay, you shall find passable sport here, I warrant you. There be good perch herein, and chub of an arm's length, and barbel; and, what is better, as you are a tyro, not shy and suspicious, like the experienced fish in your wellangled English streams, but so greedy and simple as almost to catch themselves. The Germans, however contemplative, are no followers of the gentle art.

Pic. My friend, you mistake me. My speech aimed not at the fish or the water, whereof I have had no trial, but at the beautiful scenery, which will distract me so, I shall never be able to watch my float or my fly. What feudal ruin is that which overlooks us from the top of the bushy hill?

Pis. It is called Lahneck, and belonged aforetime to a commandery of Teutonic knights. But come, make ready your tackle; for here is a notable place at this rapid, where the current rushes and eddies amongst the large stones.

Pic. Now I am ready. But by your good leave, being only a beginner, I will use a worm rather than a fly.

Pis. At your own pleasure. For my part, I prefer to fish at the top. Look! I have one at the first cast! a huge chub! A rare struggle he makes at the outset, but he hath a faint heart at bottom: anon you shall see him come into the landing-net as tame as a lamb.

Pic. How beautifully it comes out

Pis. Ay, doth he not?

Pic. against yonder dun-colored sky! Then all those gray tints and verdant stains! And those little feathery flying

clouds !

Pis. They run very large here. You may hear them chop at the flies and chafers like a dog! And though they be reckoned elsewhere the very worst of dishes for the table, let me tell you in this country, where they do not get fish from the great deep, a chub is a chub, as the saying is. I make bold to say, I shall obtain store of thanks from some good woman of a house for this same loggerhead.

Pic. Of course, there is a tale to it?

Pis. A what? - a tail? It would be a rare sort of fish without one.

Pic. I cry you mercy! I was thinking of the old feudal castle and some marvellous legend. There must needs be some romantic story about it amongst the rude peasantry. How beautifully the light plays upon the crisp fragment! Marry, 't is quite a picture! I should like prodigiously to take such a one.

Pis. And so you would, — provided you would bait as I do with a 'live chafer or a white moth. But hist! I have him! A still larger chub than the other!

Pic. It must be many centuries old!

Pis. How? I did not know the chub was so long-lived, But perchance you were thinking of a carp. In the moats at Charlottenburg there be carps so venerable that their age is unknown; and the moss has grown on their backs. But see,you have a bite your float is gone half-way across the river! Pic. Truly, I was gazing another way. Lo! here he comes it is a fine perch.

Pis. They are caught here of four and five pounds weight, and especially nearer to Ems; for they delight in the warm springs which thereabouts bubble up in the very midst of the Lahn. But here comes an old fisherman from the village. How he stands and stares at our prey, with his mouth in a round O, as if he would take a minnow!

Pic. What is the aged man discoursing of, with such a vehement gesture and emphatic voice, in the German tongue?

Pis. He says he is gospel-sure we have some smell or some spell to our bait beyond the natural, - seeing that he hath fished here the two last days all through without a fin! And little marvel, for his tackle is a German hook like a meat-hook,