_The return of the_ Angler _and_ Painter _to_ Ashbourne, _through_ Dove
Dale.
_Angler._
Well, brother, now we are come over the river into Derbyshire, and are
arrived under Wolfscote Hill, tell me what you thought of our honest
host at Alstonfields, and his charges.
_Painter._ I know not which to admire most, the good cheer and beds that
he gave us, or the moderateness of the score. There we have lived like
brave gentlemen for three days, and been most civilly and handsomely
treated, and the charge was no more than I have paid for a day’s
reckoning at an inn in Westminster.
_Angler._ If I may speak my real thoughts, I have not met a more modest
and decently behaved man than Herbert Marsh; so I shall make honourable
mention of him to all my friends that come to these parts, and recommend
them to take up their lodgings at the King’s Head.
_Painter._ And so will I. But whither are we going?—what a desolation is
here!—I wish we might return to that Vale of Tempe, by Beresford Hall,
and Mr. Cotton’s fishing-house: for now, we are scarce come a mile, and
you have only bald hills, with rubble stones that hang on the sides.
_Angler._ It might all seem to be a dull kind of place, but for the
windings of the Dove, that hurries fretfully away from this dreary
region, ‘_which she would not touch but for necessity_;’ and for her
sake, I beseech you, excuse the want of other graces hereabout: for,
trust me, by and by you shall find some master-pieces of nature’s work.
So let us follow whither she leads the way: and now we are come to
Bigging Dale, that has the variety of some tufts of wood, and pointed
crags.
_Painter._ I see no beauties to marvel at; but I will put on my matter’s
patience:—and see,—here are cobbling stones across the river, that will
give us a change, and a passage into Staffordshire.
_Angler._ If you will be advised, we shall do better on this side.
_Painter._ As you please. But look: yonder is a pair of water-birds,
dabbling down the stream before us. I hope they are Alciones, that is,
our native king-fishers; or, as some will call them, Hoop-birds.
_Angler._ It is an even lay they are water-ousels; for you may always
find them up and down about the Dove: nevertheless, they are hard to
come at. But wherefore desire to have them Halcyons?
_Painter._ Because I have a singular regard for those birds, knowing
them to be an emblem and prognostic of calmness; and I am sure, these
days I have enjoyed you on the brink of the Dove have been ‘Halcyon
days’ for me. How does the Sicilian mariner rejoice during the time of
the Alcyons sitting on their nests! for then, as Pliny writes, the sea
is not so boisterous, but more quiet than at other times. And yet, you
are to note, this bird is prohibited to the Israelites, as unclean, in
the book of Leviticus, wherein it is rendered as the Lapwing; but this
learned Sir Thomas Browne declares to be a mistake. And the reason for
this divine prohibition is ‘the magical virtues ascribed unto it by the
Egyptian nation; for they so highly magnified the Halcyon in their
symbols, they placed it on the head of their gods; and Orus, their
hieroglyphic for the world, had the head of a Hoop-bird upon the top of
his staff.’ And I may tell you certain other peculiars of this famed
water-fowl;—as that they make their nest, and hatch their young, in the
middle of winter; and this nest they build so as it may float on the
waves; and because Providence instructs every moving creature with a
secret instinctive wisdom, they will fasten it to some rock or border of
the sea, by an artful slender line, that the changing tides may not
carry it away from home.
_Angler._ Come, my brother, you are poetical; you do but magnify the
nature of your Halcyons, and amuse me with pleasant fables.
_Painter._ Nay, Sir, that is their own contrivance, and none of mine;
and you may believe Aristotle and Basilius, when they declare that the
tempestuous winds are hushed into silence, and the angry sea is
becalmed, for fear they should give any disturbance to this friend of
mariners, whilst they nestle their young ones. And a learned
Augustine[73] monk aptly compares this Halcyon to the Saviour of
mankind, who hath no sooner taken up His place in the soul, than all the
swelling billows of this world’s storms are changed into a holy
quietness. There is no longer any threatening of calamity, but a sublime
confidence: then the lowering clouds pass away before the beams of the
glorious _Sun of Righteousness_, and the pleasant gales breathe nothing
but peace and joy. Then the believer, holding faith and a good
conscience, meets with no shipwreck; for Jesus ‘_maketh the storm a
calm, so that the waves thereof are still_;’ then the Christian mariners
‘_are glad because they be quiet: so He bringeth them to their desired
haven_.’[74]
_Angler._ Oh! that the Heavenly Halcyon might be ever with us, to impart
unto our unquiet thoughts His own divine calm! Then the tempestuous
whirlwind of our passions should be silenced, and we made capable to
enjoy that promise—‘_Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you._’[75]
_Painter._ And thus be prepared for the immortal joys laid up in store
for the humble soul.—But here again you may mark them flitting away
before us;—and now they are alighted on that great stone in the middle
of the stream.
_Angler._ I see them; and I may tell you, for certain, they are
water-ousels. Now would I give two ducats for a gun! for a dear friend
of mine, who is an angler, and has a fancy for all kinds of birds, and
is acquainted with their nature, and feathers, and notes, desired me to
bring him home a water-ousel, if I chanced to meet one, that he might
set it in his museum of stuffed birds. And there is nothing in
moderation I would not do to pleasure him; he is such a civil, honest
brother of the angle.
_Painter._ As namely?
_Angler._ He is one you have an acquaintance with.
_Painter._ Pr’ythee his name, if he be a meek angler.
_Angler._ Well, then, I may tell you, Francis Mieris, whom I have heard
you declare to be one of the choice painters of Holland, bears the same
initials.
_Painter._ Indeed! then I can unravel your enigma: it is your most
worthy kinsman, bound to you not more by a near affinity than an ancient
friendship,
[Illustration: F. M.]
that is, or ought to be, somewhere in Oxfordshire: not many miles
distant from Fair Rosamond’s Bower in Woodstock Park.
_Angler._ The same: and if he had lived there some fifty years agone, he
had been as deserving to receive the dedication of THE SECRETS OF
ANGLING, _teaching the choicest tooles, baits, and seasons, for the
taking of any fish, in Pond or River_, as Mr. Roger Jackson’s ‘worthy
and respected friend, Mr. John Harborne of Tackley, in the county of
Oxford, Esquire:’[76] but that he hath been reserved to these times is
one of the joys of my life, for he is a staunch and trusty friend, that
will stand by a man in the day of his troubles.
_Painter._ But I knew not he was a lover of angling?
_Angler._ Marry is he: and since you are become one of our fraternity, I
could desire you no greater pleasure than to sit by the side of a river
in his company, and hear him make a choice of passages out of Mr.
Walton’s book; and he especially loves that innocent conversation, and
those songs of the milkmaid and her daughter; which I hold to be a more
rural and engaging picture of primitive manners, than is to be found in
any writing:—I will not make an exception of brave Sir Philip Sydney’s
Arcadia; or Will Shakspeare’s “Lover’s Lament.”
_Painter._ I wish that friend were here—what pleasures he would find in
Dove Dale!
_Angler._ Ay, and next to that I wish I now had a letter he wrote me
some days before I left my house, that I might give you the perusal
thereof; it was about an Otter hunt he saw near to Guy’s Cliff in
Warwickshire; and I declare to you he pictured that Otter hunt to my
mind with all the naturalness of Mr. Walton, when he met his friend
VENATOR at Amwell Hill. And this I may tell you, he hath a delicate hand
on a fly rod, and knows more secrets of angling than most others: and
both loves and endeavours the art of husbandry, that is worthy of an
English Gentleman’s practice—insomuch he is acquainted with most of
Thomas Tusser’s ‘_Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie_.’——But we are
entered into Mill Dale—so now, if you please, we may pass into
Staffordshire by this bridge, over the river, and then look out; for
yonder you may see something you have met before.
_Painter._ What is that?
_Angler._ Why, Sir, have you forgotten the Wheelbarrow Bridge? and there
is Hanson Toot on your left hand, and that slippery zig-zag path which
leads to Ashbourne.
_Painter._ And so it is indeed! there is the very spot where we caught
our first brace of trouts; but do not tell me we must part with the Dove
so soon.
_Angler._ Not for the world! but rather walk to Ashbourne along the
river, where we shall find fresh occasions for pleasure and surprise on
both margins—so cross the bridge, and look you do not tumble.
_Painter._ Trust me, ‘_I can go by myself_.’—Why what a fine display of
rocks! We have met with nothing like them for boldness; they are thrown
about in a delightful confusion. What natural arches are those cut in
the cliff, that falls perpendicular into the dell,—and yonder high
pinnacle which stands alone on the other side?
_Angler._ These are called the ‘Dove Holes,’ and that is dignified with
the name of the ‘Shepherd’s Abbey.’—Now you are come to
[Illustration: DOVE DALE;]
now you see crags on crags of all shapes; and the Dove grows more proud
and swelling, seeing herself to be ornamented with such landskips.
_Painter._ And that is not to be wondered at: you are as good as your
promise, for I declare this is one of the most beautiful dales in all
England. Let us tarry awhile, that I may endeavour to sketch this
delightful prospect as a memorial. ’Twill be a day to speak of
hereafter. Every step I take I am more enamoured of your river.
_Angler._ See yonder rock, on the other side, that has slipped from the
mountain, and stands out with a look of defiance.
_Painter._ And which are these to the left hand?
_Angler._ One is the ‘Steeple Rock,’ and the other the ‘Watch-Tower.’
_Painter._ My pleasure is more than I can express. Think of the
nobleness of nature: what tongue can articulate—what pencil can describe
these combinations of a grand design? O Sir! think how God hath planted
a paradise on earth, for ‘bad man’ to refresh himself in; and times and
seasons, and woods and rocks, and rivers, and the glorious sun in his
tabernacle of the heavens, all appointed for the delight of his
creatures; so that, turn whithersoever they will, their eyes cannot look
off from a miracle:—and oh! why is it that our hearts are not attunable
to those high hallelujahs which are sung to the sound of golden harps,
from throne to throne, by angels in heaven, who being ‘_arrayed in white
garments with palms in their hands, and crowns of gold on their heads,
sing the song of the Lamb for ever_:’ this we know to be their present
glorious occupation; man only has no desire for such a transporting joy:
he will forget God in the very midst of his great and marvellous works.
But I beg you pardon, Sir! I was carried beyond myself by these river
prospects.
_Angler._ It is all very enchanting, and begets in a spiritual mind high
thoughts of our Maker’s goodness and glory; and now whilst you work out
your picture of the landskip, I’ll try to kill a brace of trouts. And by
and by, when we are arrived lower down, we will recline ourselves
beneath a large flowering hawthorn tree that I know of, and there you
shall put out your angle-line to fish for itself.
_Painter._ Agreed: and I have not seen a river of so much promise.
_Angler._ Look how the water crisps over the shelving rocks, and is
thrown back into the eddies; being, as Mr. Cotton says, ‘_so
straightened in her course between the rocks_,’ she has a greater
swiftness than ever.
_Painter._ Well then, go you and fish downward, and I will follow when
I’ve made my picture.——How now, Sir; how has it fared with you?—tell me
what luck.
_Angler._ I have caught two brace of trouts and a skipjack, that I put
into the river again. And now we are come to the great hawthorn tree,
that is worthy of note for its spreading branches.
_Painter._ So here let us rest our legs; and now I hold you to your
promise, that my angle should fish for me at breakfast time; so, by your
leave, I’ll fit my tackling, that I may make a trial underneath this
broad cascade.——I am prepared.
_Angler._ Now drop in your line slyly, and beware you do not splash the
water; and then come back to me, and I’ll prepare breakfast, which we
have honestly earned by our two hours’ walk. Then we may drink a cup
merrily, and sing songs in DOVE DALE.
_Painter._ I have done as you bid me, and put my quill in a secret
place, where I promise myself a trout.
_Angler._ Do not doubt it: and therein is the great praise of
angling,—that hope is not only reasonable, but is enjoined upon them
that practise it; and but for that, angling might be a dull recreation.
And now recline yourself underneath this hawthorn, and entertain your
thoughts with the prospects I have brought you to.
_Painter._ Indeed, the delightfulness of all I see, cannot be expressed
by words; and I beseech you what great cavern is at the top of that
rock?
_Angler._ That is ‘Reynard’s Cave’—it is an admirable contrivance of
nature, and if you please, we may clamber up, and pay master Reynard a
visit in his Hall.
_Painter._ You will not easily persuade me to that; why, Sir, it is
perpendicular!
_Angler._ Well, well; as you please—nevertheless you would find no
difficulty worth the naming. And yonder is a rock called ‘Pickering
Tor,’ and that is the ‘Iron Chest:’—but come, take your cup; and here is
delicate meat, so fall to’t.
_Painter._ It is excellent—and now my service to you and to that honest
angler we both know of—that meek friend of yours who described the
hunting of the Otter, near to Warwick, with so eloquent a pen.
_Angler._ That is well remembered; and may he never want opportunity to
take his recreation in a clear stream; and now once more; for I must
drink to another that I love as my own soul—that ordained Priest of our
Holy Church, one of the ornaments and the delight of Merton College in
Oxford. I may not break out into an eulogium that his disposition would
rebuke, if he were present with us: but he cannot deny me the joy to
drink his health;—so join with me!
_Painter._ Most gladly—fill up, Sir! Where was he last heard of?
_Angler._ Near to the Rialto at Venice; but he now walks in his leisure
about the Colossæum in Rome, or the Baths of Titus, or it may be in
Dionysius’s Ear at Syracuse, in Sicily; for thither he purposed in his
mind to go.
_Painter._ And I joy to think that, as in some other concurrences, so in
his travels he is like to Sir Henry Wotton, who ‘_laid aside his books_’
(that he loved so well) ‘_and betook himself to the useful library of
travel, and a more general conversation with mankind, to adorn his mind
and to purchase the rich treasure of foreign knowledge_.’ And this is
declared of Sir Henry Wotton, by Mr. Izaak Walton, in his life of that
excellent scholar. And may your, no less learned and esteemed, kinsman
have all his wishes: for these I know to be full of moderateness, peace
and contentment, and to have their beginning and ending in his blessed
Master’s service.
_Angler._ That is true: and so, here’s a distant health to thee,
‘HENRICE, MI OCELLE,’
from the banks of Dove to Tiber.
_Painter._ Salveto! ‘_Henrice, mi ocelle._’—
_Angler._ As Sir Henry Wotton was called by that learned Italian
ALBERICUS GENTILIS, and by divers of Sir Henry’s dearest friends, and
many other persons of note during his stay in the University.[77]—And
now, brother, do you look and see if you have chanced to make a catch.
_Painter._ How now?—my float has disappeared!—Trust me I have a
knabble—there is a large trout has taken me. I thought that was a likely
fall—see how he turns and wriggles, and how he throws off tuggingly.
Here is an angler’s delight! and all this on the margin of the Dove!
_Angler._ Beware of him; thus—
_Painter._ By your leave, Sir! let me have all the honour to myself: so,
so—now he dives down, and up again with a leap; look at his twistings
and turnings!
_Angler._ Ay, he’ll soon give over. There, now we may net him, and a
fine fish he is; not less than two pounds weight. What would your master
Walton say to this?
_Painter._ I hope he would applaud me.
_Angler._ Come, try for another; this is a likely hole. Look you,
there’s another bite; now check him—ah! he’s broke away.
_Painter._ Indeed he has: I’m sorry I lost him. I’ll try again—look you!
another!—now, Sir tumbler, you may do your worst.
_Angler._ Point the top of your rod to those cliffs; you are all
right;—see how he shakes the tackle, give him line, for he’s a strong
fish.
_Painter._ Trust me, he’s bigger than the last; the water is so clear
you may see him struggle: now he drives against the stream.
_Angler._ Turn him back, or you may lose him behind that stone. ’Tis
well done—‘_why what a dangerous man are you!_’—here’s the net, and now
he is landed!
_Painter._ I thank you. This is a sport indeed! O the contentment of
happy anglers! how many years I have lost since you first invited me to
go a-fishing: but I was then deaf to your persuasions, and I would never
believe you. Well, I declare it hath a gayness that is admirable. But
come, I would not be so selfish as to wish for more, until I see you
handle a trout.
_Angler._ Well;—let us try lower down. But first of all let us have a
song; and do you begin.
_Painter._ What shall I sing?
_Angler._ Let it be that sonnet to the spring in Sir John Davies’s
Astrea—‘_Earth now is green, and heaven is blue_.’
_Painter._ Well—and so it shall.
‘E-arth now is green, and heaven is blue;
L-ively spring which makes all new,
J-olly spring doth enter;
S-weet young sunbeams do subdue
A-ngry aged winter.
B-lasts are wild, and seas are calm,
E-v’ry meadow flows with balm,
T-he earth wears all her riches;
H-armonious birds sing such a psalm
A-s ear and heart bewitches.
R-eserve, sweet spring, this nymph of ours,
E-ternal garlands of thy flowers,
G-reen garlands never wasting;
I-n her shall last our state’s fair spring,
N-ow and for ever flourishing
A-s long as heav’n is lasting!’
_Angler._ I thank you, and now because you have sung these cheerful
verses, I’ll give you a song, ‘apt both for viols and voices,’ by John
Wilbye.
_Painter._ Come then! and sing it finely.
_Angler._ I’ll do my best to please you.
Happy streams, whose trembling fall,
With still summer softly gliding,
Happy birds, whose chirping call
With sweet melody delighting,
Hath moved her flinty and relentless heart
To listen to your harmony,
And set securely in these downs apart,
Enchanted with your melody.
Sing on and carol forth your glee,
She grants you leave her ‘rays to see.’
Happy were I could love so delight her;
But aye, alas! my love doth despite her.
_Painter._—An exceeding sweet melody, and I beseech you sing it over
again; and after that I shall be ready to go with you. So—I like it even
better than at first.
_Angler._ Come now, let us pack up the wallet, and take our walk.
_Painter._ I am all ready. But what is here? we are come to a stop.
_Angler._ Away with you: ’tis a sound footing at bottom, and scarce knee
deep.
_Painter._ Halt, good Sir; you do not expect me to walk into the river.
_Angler._ If you are resolved against it, here you may stay; for you see
how the river washes the very basement of this perpendicular rock, and
climb you cannot. Come, Sir,——follow me bravely: it is but ‘_a spit and
a stride_;’ or I’ll carry you mounted a pick-back.
_Painter._ O! let it not be said. ‘What man dare, I dare;’ so lead on,
I’ll truss up my hose, and be after you. Ah me! I was up to my knees;
but now I am well past.
_Angler._ If you will be a fisher, never fear, for it is your proper
element: but, Sir, did you hear that trout by the further bank?
_Painter._ You may be sure I did, and saw him too.
_Angler._ Well then, I must needs in and wade, if I would twist my fly
thither.
_Painter._ Trust me, I am not coming after you. I find nothing of that
in my master’s book; he declares, ‘how the very sitting by the river’s
side is not only the quietest and fittest place for contemplation, but
will invite an angler to it;’ and think you, he would bring his scholar
to sit under an honeysuckle hedge, and express his cheerfulness when he
reclined himself on ‘the primrose bank,’ if he meant him to wabble in
the water? and I beseech you, call to mind those thoughts of his, which
he turned into verse, ‘when he sat on the grass, and there wished to
meditate his time away.’
_Angler._ ’Tis all very true; nevertheless, Mr. Walton himself must at
sometimes be contented to wet his boots, if he would fill his pannier
out of the Dove; wherefore, delicate Mr. PICTOR, I now leave you to
meditate on the silent pleasures of this flowery bank;
So sit you still,
And watch your quill,
While I the trout entangle.
_Painter._ That will I do; and you may be as big-hearted and get as wet
as you list:—but harkye, Sir; be not over-confident, or you may haste
only to stumble. Call to your remembrance Mr. Boyle’s Treatise of
‘ANGLING IMPROVED TO SPIRITUAL USES,’ how Eugenius, having ‘_espied a
convenient nook for his angling, invited his friend Lindamor to share
the advantage with him, and began to walk thitherward along the river’s
brink? but he had not marcht very far when chancing to tread on a place,
where the course of the water had worn off the bank, and made it hollow
underneath, he found the earth faulter under him, and could not hinder
his feet from slipping down with the turf that betrayed him._’[78]
_Angler._ I do remember: and if that should chance to be my predicament,
I hope you would have the civility of Lindamor, that ‘_catcht hold of
him, and drew him to the firm land_.’
_Painter._ O Signor Pescatore, doubt not my charity, though I might not
deny myself the same liberty that Honourable Mr. Boyle took with his
friend Eugenius, ‘_to make himself merry a while with the disaster when
he found it to be harmless_.’
_Angler._ Well—well, Sir, I give you leave; and let him laugh that wins,
I am not afraid of a somersault if a good fish chop at my fly.
_Painter._ Farewell then: and I’ll go lower down and please myself.
_Angler._ Ay, good brother, do so; and pr’ythee reach me the landing net
before you go.
_Painter._ There it is, and I wish you may have sport.
_Angler._ Look you, Sir; I have a fish; ’tis a small one, I grant you.
_Painter._ Do you call that a fish? he’s a piccolo—a pisciculus;—and
listen—methinks I heard him speak.
_Angler._ Speak? mayhap thou takest him to be ‘VOX PISCIS, or the
BOOK-FISH, contayning three treatises which were found in the belly of a
Cod-fish in Cambridge market on Midsummer Eve last.’[79] And since thou
art so imbued with fish-learning, I beseech you to tell me whether this
be a trout, or what other fish I have caught?
_Painter._ I know not if it be the _Dog-fish_, the _Sea-calfe_, the
_Porpus_ or _Hog-fish_, or the _Asse-fish_ called in Latin _Asellus_:—or
perchance it may be the _Monk-fish_—the _Mere-man_ or the _Mermaid_: all
which I remit to your better judgment. But listen, I say; for though I
am not so wise a philosopher as Æsop, I have, methinks, suddenly
imparted to me his noted intelligence of fishes’ language, and certes I
hear this one speak.
_Angler._ Well then, will it please your marvellous wisdom to be our
mutual interpreter, and give me the substance of this learned fish’s
soliloquy?
_Painter._ It is no soliloquy; for his address is to yourself,—and
seeing (or it may be feeling) how you are taking the hook out of his
gills with a most relentless love, and are going to put him into your
basket, he opens his mouth, and in a pathetical voice implores your
pity, making his humble suit that you would be pleased to throw him into
the river again,—by reason he is young and insignificant, and not so
well worth your while as he shall be some time hereafter, _if_ you catch
him when he is grown more considerable.
_Angler._ Oh—ho! Go to—Go to—thou art a wag; and I beseech you give my
duty to him in the same learned hidden language which he hath so
eloquently pleaded in; and tell him I am not one of those fools who quit
a certainty for an uncertainty;—and that a ‘fish in the pannier’s worth
two in the pond.’ But stay—because he is a grayling, and not a trout,
I’ll e’en put him in again, and let him grow till Christmas for Mr.
Cotton’s amusement. But now look you, brother, saw you that great fish
leap from the water?
_Painter._ I did; he looked as big as a salmon; give him the temptation
of your fly.
_Angler._ Trust me. There he is, I have him fast. So, so, Master
Bullyhuff, you are not like the last; you are for a hard bout, I see.
Ah, ah! this is a trial of strength, and I fear for my tackling.
_Painter._ In with him, Sir.
_Angler._ Nay, let me be gentle. Look you, that was his last struggle;
there he lies his length on the water. So, I have him, and he is full
eighteen inches long. Well, Mr. Painter! what say you now to my Dove?
_Painter._ I declare to you it is all a bewitchment: my tongue is ready
to praise every next turning of the river more than the other; and I
scarce know which to like best, this angling, or the landskips. Look
you! there again are rocks springing up like steeples on this side, and
on that: it is all full of surprises.
_Angler._ Those rocks are called the ‘Tissington Spires;’ for that
retired village lies but the distance of a walk to the left, passing
through Bentley that you know of; and here are two rocks that have
slided from the cliff, and have thrust themselves into the river; they
are known to be ‘The Brothers,’ and so I have brought you within a view
of Thorpe Cloud.
_Painter._ Is that Thorpe Cloud?
_Angler._ None other, believe me.
_Painter._ Well, I declare! he is more changeable than a Proteus; for
here he looks like a beheaded cone.
_Angler._ And now, brother, you are come towards the end of the Dale.
_Painter._ Tell me not this sad news: I may not believe it! or if it be
true indeed, let us recline ourselves on these banks by the stream, and
meditate for an hour or two, and angle and sing, and angle again; and
after that beguile the time with some passages out of Mr. Walton’s book.
Or, if we must needs depart, let us first, ‘_sit down by the waters, and
hang our harps upon the willows, and weep_.’
_Angler._ I am charmed to think how these sweet prospects have engaged
and fixed your affections; and how you are now become a professed
angler, and how at some future time you may desire to take another walk
on the banks of my River Dove. But, I beseech you, climb with me to the
top of this accessible rock, that is called by the country folk here
about, ‘The Lover’s Leap:’ there you may look back on an upward prospect
of the Dove, that is more remarkable than any other you have seen. And
after that, you shall explore some quiet nooks and corners by other
streams, and hear something marvellous I have to tell you of.
_Painter._ Well, I am content to follow your footsteps wherever you are
pleased to lead me.
_Angler._ And now we have scrambled up, let us sit on the grass, and
tell me what you think?
_Painter._ I know not what to think or say. Where shall all these
wonders end! here is one of the most enchanting surveys that this or any
other county in England can exhibit.
_Angler._ Do you observe how the Dale is drawn out to the greatest
length possible? for passing back again by those ‘Tissington Spires,’
and the two ‘Brothers,’ and the rocks above ‘Reynard’s Cave,’ the eye
may look almost as far as ‘the Shepherd’s Abbey;’ and all the way along,
an exceeding number of pellucid waterfalls, and other varieties of the
river make this vale an excellent subject for contemplation.
_Painter._ And the cliffs on either side of the valley are adorned with
shady woods, and a singular combination of natural beauties.
_Angler._ Come then, good brother, let us go down again, and take our
walk along the stream to the right hand, as it flows between Thorpe
Cloud and that opposite hill; and here are some leaping stones, where we
may now cross into Staffordshire, and part company with our Dove.
_Painter._ I am sorry to hear it.
_Angler._ But only for awhile, till we light on her again in some
meadows lower down, and then find her swelled by other rivers that may
pass for wonders.
_Painter._ Indeed! but what is here? Marry, Sir, I thought not to come
again so quickly to the Dove; methinks she has taken us unaware.
_Angler._ This is not the Dove, but the river Manifold; and now do you
follow me to the left hand, where I may bring you to a most shady
retired spot imaginable.
_Painter._ How! another rapid spring, that suddenly starts into life,
and in a few yards is a handsome stream! Let us recline ourselves here
awhile.
_Angler._ I am quite willing; and methinks, for a near sylvan prospect,
we have seen none better since we left Pike Pool; for here you have a
thick grove of trees, and such a calmness as makes it a most enchanting
retreat; and the murmuring waters of this infant brook, with their
harmonious cadency.
_Painter._ And see how the river Manifold hurries away, rejoicing as it
were in her liberty.
_Angler._ And let me tell you, with greater reason than you know of.
_Painter._ How mean you?
_Angler._ Of that hereafter; but see, there are the lowing cattle come
from the meadows to drink; therefore, I beseech you, compose them into a
landskip.
_Painter._ You shall see presently.——there——I have given you the
milkmaid’s mother, with her milch kine, and there is ‘honest Maudlin’
herself, who sung that sweet song to Mr. Walton and his friend VENATOR;
‘Come live with me, and be my love,
‘And we will all the pleasures prove,
‘That valleys, groves, or hills, or field,
‘Or woods, and steepy mountains yield!’
_Angler._ Bravely done! On my word, this picture takes a breathing of
life from your pencil;
‘Where we will sit, upon the rocks,
‘And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
‘By shallow rivers, to whose falls
‘Melodious birds sing madrigals!’
not Claude Lorraine, nor Kuyp himself, could surpass that whole picture,
for it has the very stamp of nature.
_Painter._ Enough, enough; let us be going, and what have we here? A
bridge, and a pretty village with a little parish church! Where are we
come to?
_Angler._ I have now brought you to Ilam Church: and see the door is
haply open; so let us accept this accidental invitation. And now you are
to note, this is the ancient tomb of good Bertram, who there lies (so
much of him as could perish) and waits for that joyful day of the
resurrection, when all the holy angels and the spirits of saints shall
meet the coming of our Lord in the clouds of heaven.
_Painter._ And here is the carved altar that may put the villagers in
mind of the Supper of the Lord, and instil into them an earnest desire
to partake of the Holy Communion, that they may eat and drink, and feed
on Him in their hearts by faith,—and be thankful.
_Angler._ And see this old font in stone, which hath a sacramental
charm; for therein the people from age to age have brought their sons
and daughters to be baptized into Christ’s flock, and be regenerated,
and made children of God and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. And I
may take upon me to say that all these things make this church the
centre-point of the secret reverence and holy affections of the peaceful
villagers, lifting them up to a revelation of the next world.——But,
seeing how time wears apace, I will conduct you forth again: and now
look at this high hill, shaped like an amphitheatre, and beneath is the
rocky bed of a river.
_Painter._ A river! why here is not a drop of water to wet a fly’s wing!
_Angler._ That is true. I said not a river, but the bed of a river, and
of such an one as, had she a tongue, might declare many rarities she has
beheld, and dark doings of that prison-house, where she was lately
detained against her will: nay, for any thing I know, she might have
furnished to that stern regicide, Mr. John Milton, or the great Dante,
some arguments for another poem of the shades below.
_Painter._ How! you are grown enigmatical.
_Angler._ Come, then, step with me to this rock in Mr. Port’s garden:
here is a well in the rock;—so tell me what you see?
_Painter._ I see a great stream pouring itself out in circling eddies
from the ground.
_Angler._ Now mark, that is the river Hamps; and here she joins herself
to another within a few yards distance.
_Painter._ A second stream! and bigger than the first, bursts forth in a
whirlpool!
_Angler._ True; and you are to note this is the river Manifold. See how
joyfully she receives that lesser Hamps, and then flows away with her to
the shady grove of trees, where you and I so lately reclined ourselves.
Trust me they are glad to breathe the air once more, and to play their
gambols in the meadows, after their long imprisonment; for it is a known
truth, these rivers have made an underground journey within the natural
caverns of the earth, for some miles distance.
_Painter._ Impossible! I would not be so uncivil to disbelieve any thing
you say; but as touching your Staffordshire rivers, you take a
traveller’s privilege to be marvellous.
_Angler._ Well, well; I perceive you think this to be all a fable; yet
it’s no less true because it is a wonder: for the last time I came this
way I examined into the nature of it; and, as I am an honest angler, I
saw the very inlet, underneath some high rocks, about Whetton Mill,
where the waters of the Manifold are gurged and lost to every eye: and
the same of Hamps, that is received into its Subterraneous channels,
near to a place called the Waterhouses. And so they take their circuit
through mysterious secret caves and grottoes, which no man has explored,
till they make their happy escape out of imprisonment into these
gardens, and, as you are now a witness, embrace with mutual
gratulations, and hurry themselves away to tell their dark adventures to
the matchless Dove.
_Painter._ Well, I am glad that is the place of their shelter; and I am
enchanted with this romance of the rivers: for, indeed, all the
surrounding prospect is fit to be called a fairy land. There is Thorpe
Cloud maintains himself proudly, and this circle of opposite hills, and
the church, with its ancient porch and tracery of windows, all of
painted glass, beside Mr. Port’s mansion-house, and his ornamental
gardens.
_Angler._ It is indeed all very fine; but it’s time to be gone, so let
us follow these rivers till we are come to the bridge. See, here it is,
and now we may cross over and walk by the right bank of the Manifold;
and so we are once more come to the stream that we both love better than
any.
_Painter._ Is this the Dove?
_Angler._ The same; she is just from the foot of Thorpe Cloud, by yonder
channel to the right hand; and now that we are arrived at this high
bank, look again upon the landskip. There the Manifold joins itself to
the Dove, and there are those meadows, which ‘are too pleasant to be
looked upon, but only on holidays;’ and see the mountains that are now
darker than they were two hours agone, which is our warning that we are
not yet come to Ashbourne; so thither away.
_Painter._ As you please, brother; but remember, on this only condition,
that we walk on the brink of the Dove, as far as we may.
_Angler._ That is a short pleasure; for here is another bridge will
bring us into Derbyshire; and now methinks I see Mapleton Church before
us; so we must take our farewell of Dove.
_Painter._ Alas the day!
_Angler._ Well, well; let us catch some trouts, and then be going.
_Painter._ Ay, so we will. Look you, Sir, my tools are fitted.
_Angler._ So soon! then ply your work—each for a brace.
_Painter._ It is agreed. I will this way down to the stream.
_Angler._ So be it; and I for yonder bent, where the water runs
crisping.
_Painter._ Away with you! I’ll lay the odds on Master Walton’s cork and
bait, against Mr. Cotton’s fly.
_Angler._ Done—the wager?
_Painter._ He that takes the first brace shall mix a cup of good Canary
at Mapleton, and the other shall pay the scores without grudging.
_Angler._ I am content—so do your worst—
_Painter._ Well, good brother, what sport? I have caught but one, and
that’s a troutlet.
_Angler._ Indeed! look you, here is a couple of big ones.
_Painter._ Ah! well—I’m but a prentice in the art: I confess I’ve lost
my wager, and am ready to pay the forfeit.
_Angler._ Well: that’s like an angler, honestly spoken—so let us away.
_Painter._ But make me this promise, that we may (God willing) come
hither again, next summer, a-fishing; and so read that book of Mr.
Walton, whom I love better than ever I did, because you have taught me
how many pleasures are to be found in his recreation of angling.
_Angler._ Trust me, I shall want no persuasion to walk in your company
by the Dove, in the merry month of May, and then do nothing but angle
and rejoice, as you know we have done these last days, and ‘sat as
quietly and as free from cares, under hawthorn trees and rocks, as
Virgil’s Tityrus and his Melibœus did beneath their broad beach tree:’
so says Mr. Walton; and now let me read you these natural thoughts out
of his book.—Here it is: ‘No life, my honest scholar, no life so happy
and so pleasant as the life of a well governed angler; for when the
lawyer is swallowed up with business, and the statesman is preventing or
contriving plots, then we sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds sing, and
possess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams,
which we now see glide so quietly by us. Indeed, my good scholar, we may
say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, “Doubtless God
could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did;” and so (if
I might be judge,) God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent
recreation than angling.’
_Painter._ Every word is true. And what a thankful heart my master has!
_Angler._ Ay, truly; and hear how he persuades every man to
thankfulness; he said to his companion, ‘Let us not forget to praise God
for the innocent mirth and pleasure we have enjoyed since we have met
together. What would a blind man give to see the pleasant rivers, and
meadows, and flowers, and fountains we have looked upon, since we met
together!’ And now we are come to Mapleton, and here’s a clean alehouse;
and the host is a modest man, and hath a fine smooth bowling green; so
before we go back to Ashbourne, let us rest awhile, and refresh
ourselves with the cup you are to pay for. Come, host, bring us a bottle
of that Canary wine you gave me the last time I was this way in company
with a gentleman fisher; and remember the lemon stuck round about with
spices, and some of that sweet cake, that we may be merry with
discretion, as all true anglers are wont to be. There is a large trout
for our civil hostess, with my service to her. And now, brother, let us
walk into the garden, that is so neat and handsome; here you have a
various herbal, fit for a country house-wife, like our hostess: here is
hyssop, marjory, and penny-royal, and thyme, and all kinds of
fruit-trees.
_Painter._ It is all very good, and here is the bowling ground; it looks
like a green velvet. Look, how exceeding smooth;—how the bowls glide
along! Where is the jack? Come, let us play at bowls till the Nectar is
ready.
_Angler._ Agreed: there, I have set the jack; now do you bowl first.
_Painter._ Nay, after you; so, so, master, you are short of the jack:
look, look, mine is the nearest.
_Angler._ Nay, it is a measuring cast; but here goes one will overlay
him. Pish! I have shot him over wide—he had an untrue bias.
_Painter._ Well, then; here’s another.
_Angler._ That was curiously pitched: now for a last endeavour. Ah, me!
that has knocked your first bowl to the jack: I am sure he was wrong
biassed.
_Painter._ Well, I thank you; and so, let me try this;—and now another.
_Angler._ The game is yours.
_Painter._ And here comes the host. Let us have our repast under this
yew tree, that is not less than a hundred years old; here is a
table,—and settles ready prepared.
_Angler._ With all my heart, for it seems a pleasant arbour. Come, Sir,
fill the glasses.
_Painter._ The liquor is exceedingly good: and this even Mr. Walton and
Mr. Cotton would declare, if they were cup-and-can with us. I doubt not
but they are acquainted with this ‘_honest alehouse_,’ and have rested
themselves on these settles, after a day’s fishing in the Dove, and been
refreshed with a cup of good barley wine, and sung _Old Rose_ together,
and played at bowls on this green turf. Do you remember that bowling
ground by the Tower? Think what a choice prospect was there! On one side
the fishing-house, and on another the mansion that we looked over so
pleasantly.
_Angler._ That was indeed a charming prospect! Then have you forgot the
flower garden at the foot of the Tower, and Mr. Walton’s and Mr.
Cotton’s portraits, and all the landskips in the fishing-house, which
you painted in your book; and after that Pike Pool, where you landed
that big trout; and the great Hall, and your master Walton’s chamber?
_Painter._ No more, no more,—lest I forget all discretion, and,
retracing my footsteps, hie me back to Beresford. O! that place is a
delight for innocent anglers. There a man is raised to an excess of
pleasure; he may go forth in the morning and hear the birds ‘warble
forth their ditties:’ the rocks, and the woods, and the merry streams
are the books he reads in; the sun, and the clouds, and the wind are his
oracles to consult; and the speckled trout is his play-fellow, that
makes her gambols and her somersaults for his entertainment. Call you
this an idleness? It were a pretty treason to deny that it is the most
refined, gentle, and gaysome recreation that a man may indulge in; that
is to say, for his leisurable hours,—since only then it may be
reasonable.——
_Angler._ Hey day, Master! not so fast; ‘a man need to have the patience
of Job, that he may sit silently by the river, and look down at nothing
but his float.’[80]
_Painter._ Nay, did I say that?
_Angler._ ‘Nevertheless, I cannot but pity your dumpish anglers, that
wait so meekly for their fortunes, as to seem fixed with all the gravity
of carved statues on the margin of their streams[81]——’
_Painter._ Enough, enough; I said that in ignorance of the joys of
anglers. I will never be a scoffer again; and I beseech you to blot
those words from your memory, and note me down your willing companion
this way a-fishing, every year that God gives us health for such a sweet
walk in the month of May. For remember, this life is short, and is not
in our own hands; ‘_it is as a flower of the field that fadeth_:’ and
what says Mr. Robert Herrick, whose verses you both love and sing so
well?
Fair daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attain’d his noon:
Stay, stay
Until the hast’ning day
Has run
But to the even song;
And having pray’d together, we
Will go with you along.
We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a spring,
As quick a growth to meet decay
As you, or any thing.
We die,
As your hours do; and dry
Away,
Like to the Summer’s rain,
Or as the pearls of morning dew,
Ne’er to be found again.
But come, brother, you must make me a return for these lines; and then
let us be going, for I have appointed a servant with my horses to meet
me in Ashbourne, that I may reach my house at —— —— to-night.
_Angler._ Well, then, if I give you a plaintive ditty, put it to the
account of our parting: it is that sweet sonnet from the Passionate
Pilgrim, composed by the greatest bard of the last or any other age.
As it fell upon a day,
In the merry month of May,
Sitting in a pleasant shade,
Which a grove of myrtles made;
Lambs did leap, and birds did sing;
Trees did grow, and plants did spring.
Every thing did banish moan,
Save the nightingale alone.
She, poor bird, as all forlorn,
Lean’d her breast up-till a thorn;
And there sung the dolefull’st ditty,
That to hear it was great pity.
Fie—fie—fie—now would she cry,
Teru, Teru, by and by.
That to hear her so complain,
Scarce I could from tears refrain:
For her griefs, so lively shown,
Made me think upon mine own.
Ah! (thought I) thou mourn’st in vain,
None take pity on thy pain.
Senseless trees they cannot hear thee;
Ruthless beasts they will not cheer thee;
All thy fellow birds do sing,
Careless of thy sorrowing.
Even so, poor bird, like thee,
None alive will pity me.[82]
And now, good brother, it is almost time to be at home.
_Painter._ Well—I’ll pay the reckoning, and then let’s away: but what is
here?
_Angler._ We are come again to a lower part of the same Bentley Brook we
saw before; so let us pass over; and now we are to the top of the hill.
_Painter._ What noise was that?—
Hark, hark, I hear the dancing,
And a nimble morris-prancing.
Look over the hedge: there they are! there is a troop of lads and
maidens down in yonder green meadows a-dancing.
_Angler._ And so they are!—tripping it merrily round to the tabor and
pipe.
_Painter._ And, look you, there’s a bevy of innocent milkmaids, leading
a fine sleek cow for a whipt syllabub: see how she is deck’d with
ribands and scarfs, and wreaths of flowers, and her horns tipped with
gold.
_Angler._ And there the young woodmen begin to dance with the maidens in
blue kirtles: how they foot it to the measure! Out upon the cares and
tumults of a court life. I do love to see these honest country
junketings, and I pray that merry England may always have a race of
happy peasants, and not let melancholy Precisians[83] forbid them to
rejoice their tired spirits with lawful sports in the flowery meadows
and greenwoods. Hark! how they laugh their sorrows away.
_Painter._ But stay awhile: they have set themselves down upon the
grass; let us see what they will do.
_Angler._ Hist—hist—they are challenging each other to sing—and now they
have begun their
SONG.
Now is the month of Maying,
When merry lads are playing; Falalalalala.
Each with his bonny lass
Upon the greeny grass. Falalalala.
The spring clad all in gladness
Doth laugh at winter’s sadness: Falala.
And to the bagpipe’s sound
The nymphs tread out their ground. Falalalala.
Fye then, why sit we musing,
Youth’s sweet delight refusing: Falala.
Say, daintie nymphs, and speak,
Shall we play barley-break?
Falalalalala.[84] Falalalala.
_Painter._ There’s a ballet for you! a most merry madrigal set to music
by a choice hand.
_Angler._ And now they are silent: and there come the little maids with
baskets of bride cakes, and knots of ribbands at their bosoms, with
nosegays and bunches of rosemary in their hands.
_Painter._ Now trust me, it is some rustical wedding day; and there you
may see the bride in the midst, in a russet gown, and a kirtle of fine
worsted.
_Angler._ And there goes the bride cup, all streaming with bride laces
of red and white, and full of spiced posset, that the bridegroom serves
her with:—and look you, the tankards are passing round.
_Painter._ See—see! the lusty woodman has put on his high crown’d hat,
turned up with a silver clasp, and leads out his bride to the dance:
mark with how special a coyness she gives him her hand; but you may
depend she will foot it with the best as soon as she begins.
_Angler._ There’s the bagpipe again: by my word, Sir, they are going to
Canary it. Now look at my Gentleman in his yellow stockings, and his
fellows all ready.
_Painter._ No, no: they are for a Corantoe. Is it not excellent? with
what a gravity they frolic it up and down.
_Angler._ Ay, ’tis a merry bridal,
Whilst youthful sports are lasting,
To feasting turn your fasting;
With revels and with wassails
Make grief and care your vassals:
but come, we may not tarry.
_Painter._ Well then I am with you. So farewell! ye peaceful sons and
daughters of nature: and may ye never want a spiced bride ale to make
you cheerful and thankful hearts withal.
_Angler._ Hither away then; and now you may see the town of Ashbourne in
the valley, which is to be my resting place to-night.
_Painter._ Alas! I am very loth to part with you; but thou shalt be
remembered in my prayers. And one thing I am resolved, when on occasion
the cares of life come against me, or the fears of greater afflictions,
I will then say to myself, ‘It is now but so and so before the month of
May, when I will throw off all my moody thoughts on the banks of some
retired river, and it may be by the side of Mr. Cotton’s fishing-house.’
_Angler._ It is bravely resolved, and the more so, because I know by
experience, how a seclusion from the noisy world is a favourable aid and
opportunity for religious services,—helps to soften the affections, and
inclines them to a sublime love to God,—and if that be wanting, all
others do but delude.
_Painter._ True; and consider the motives we have to that love; think of
that proper and peculiar attraction—loveliness; and indeed Honourable
Mr. Robert Boyle has declared, how such was the freeness of God’s love
towards us, and so entirely was that love its own motive, that even our
existence in the world is the effect of it; nay, He even ‘_loved us
before the foundation of the world_.’ And consider again the rich
discoveries of His free love in sending His Son to redeem us. Think of
the Divine glory shrouded in the veil of manhood, and so tempered to the
weak eyesight of a fallen race; of His weariness and watchings—of the
buffet, mocking, and scourge, the injurious condemnation, and the
uplifted Cross. And let us not forget how God loves to dwell, by His
Spirit, in them whom He has drawn and disposed to love His Son: ‘_He
that loveth me_,’ said the blessed Jesus, ‘_shall be loved of my Father,
and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him._’
_Angler._ Vast and exalted love! Oh the extreme abjectedness of our
hearts, that cannot soar up to the skies, and there be ravished with a
contemplation of such glorious love. It is enough to stir our
penitential shame, to think of the dulness of our apprehensions! Let us
often secretly, and alone by ourselves, pray for divine grace, that our
souls may be able to rise to the throne of HIM that only can strengthen
them. I might enlarge, but now I must stop here: only this is most
certain, the angler’s retirement is sweetened by a contemplation of
God’s attributes; and the breath of praise perfumes even the banks of
flowers he reclines himself upon, ‘_for the prayers of saints are golden
vials full of odours_.’ And if he desires the best company, let him join
the heavenly choir in spiritual adoration. Therefore, let all lovers of
the angle be lovers of prayer, because they have best opportunity to it;
and I would have them be lovers of God, for they have most reason to be
so. And now, brother, the Talbot is before us, and there is your waiting
man.
_Painter._ This parting comes too soon: do you remember how ‘_the soul
of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as
his own soul_?’[85] and how, when they parted, they kissed one another,
and wept one with another: and ‘_Jonathan stripped himself of the robe
that was upon him, and gave it to David!_’[86]
_Angler._ And so he did, and also ‘_his sword and his bow, and his
girdle_,’ for ‘_he delighted much in David_.’
_Painter._ Well, then, here is a parting gift, that is offered with a
love equal to Jonathan’s, notwithstanding this testimony is so unworthy:
here is my little book, that is no longer a blank book, but full of rude
pictures: they are all your’s, and welcome. They will bring to your mind
some thoughts of the mutual pleasures we have felt along the banks of
the Dove: and you may remember from them, that it was out of love for
you I came this walk; and how you rewarded me beyond my hope, because
you taught me some inward secrets, and sent me back to my house a happy
composed ANGLER.
_Angler._ Indeed, dear brother, I’m in a strait how to answer you; only
let me embrace you, as those loving friends kissed one another; and when
I next go angling, ‘_thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be
empty_.’[87] But we have made a covenant, like Jonathan and David, and
let it be for the ‘glorious twenty-ninth of May.’ And for this book of
drawings, I shall esteem it to be more precious than any thing else I
know of; and indeed I love you for this and many other bounties you have
bestowed on me. And now you may oblige me in one thing more, for my
consolation at parting.
_Painter._ Any thing you desire is, in a manner, performed.
_Angler._ It is this: here is my angle rod, and my landing net and
pouch—I beseech you, let them obtain your acceptance. I do not say it
out of ostentation, but there are some flies in that pouch that are
artfully twisted; and above all others, I present you with the COMPLEAT
ANGLER, in two parts, writ by Mr. Walton and Mr. Cotton; therein we have
found many passages of true piety, that may sometimes again contribute
to your peace and contentment.
_Painter._ A thousand thanks to you; and I accept these gifts of your
love as freely as they are offered; and when we meet again, you shall
give me some instructions in your better art of fly-fishing. And now ‘_I
salute you with a holy kiss—Go in peace_.’
_Angler._ Farewell, brother; and remember always how the ornament of a
meek and quiet spirit is, in the sight of God, of great price.—‘_Follow
peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the
Lord._’[88] We have had some innocent days of leisure amidst the
beauties of the natural world: but let us not forget to give all
diligence in our journey to the glories of the spiritual world. For
these pleasures of the earth are but a faint shadow of the blessedness
of the heavenly Sion. Let us be prepared in the whole armour of
Christian soldiers, that when our temporal warfare is accomplished, we
may receive an eternal crown; and rest and refresh ourselves beside the
‘_pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the
throne of God and of the Lamb_.’[89] Once more, farewell!
[Illustration]
FINIS.
C. WHITTINGHAM, CHISWICK.
-----
Footnote 1:
Arrian. Epict. l. I. c. 16.—ED.
Footnote 2:
‘_A new ballad of bold Robin Hood; showing his birth, breeding,
valour, and marriage at Titbury Bullrunning. Calculated for the
meridian of Staffordshire, but may serve for Derbyshire or Kent._’—ED.
Footnote 3:
See Plott’s History of Staffordshire, p. 437, for an account of the
primitive right to claim the Flyke of Bacon, which Sir Philip de
Somerville was bound to keep hanging in his Hall, in token of his
fealty to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, for the manors of
Whichenovre and others. The same custom prevails at Dunmow in
Essex.—ED.
Footnote 4:
No doubt, in allusion to the Charter granted in 1381, by John of
Gaunt, to the troop of minstrels maintained at Tutbury Castle, in that
time of its splendour. The chief was appointed by the title of ‘King
of the Minstrels;’ and he had wardens and other officers under him to
maintain the rules of the Fraternity, and to levy fines for any
disorders.—_Plott’s Hist._—ED.
Footnote 5:
Drayton’s Polyolbion: Song 12, p. 207.—ED.
Footnote 6:
Henry V. Act III. Scene vii.—ED.
Footnote 7:
‘The Art of Angling, written by Thomas Barker, an ancient practitioner
in the said Art.’ 12mo. London. 1651.—ED.
Footnote 8:
Gervase Markham. This book contains a Discourse of the general Art of
Fishing with the Angle or otherwise: and all the hidden secrets
belonging thereto. 4to. London. 1614.—ED.
Footnote 9:
Pleasure of Princes, ch. iii. p. 15.—ED.
Footnote 10:
The Secrets of Angling; teaching the choicest tooles, baytes, and
seasons for the taking of any fish in pond or river; practiced and
familiarly opened in three Bookes. By J. D. Esq. 8vo. London.
1613.—ED.
Footnote 11:
Pleasure of Princes, ch. iii. p. 16.—ED.
Footnote 12:
Secrets of Angling, p. 20.—ED.
Footnote 13:
RETIREMENT. Irregular stanzas, addressed to Mr. Izaak Walton, and
prefixed to Mr. Cotton’s Instructions how to angle for a Trout or
Grayling in a clear stream. 1676.—ED.
Footnote 14:
‘Unknown,’ because Walton ascribes the ‘SECRETS OF ANGLING’ to the pen
of Jo. Davors, Esquire: but Mr. Roger Jackson, by whom they were
published, ‘after the death of the author,’ entered them at the
Stationers’ Company, ‘1612, 23º Martii, _as practised and opened in
three books, by_ JOHN DENNYS, Esquire.’—ED.
Footnote 15:
Originally written in Greek; but that being lost, there is only a
Latin version, supposed to have been made by Rufinus in the 4th
century. Editio princeps, PASTOR à Nic. Gerbellio. Lat. Argent. 1522.
4º—ED.
Footnote 16:
Translated into English by Cyprian Lucas, Gent. folio, 1588. Tartaglia
was a famous mathematician.—ED.
Footnote 17:
A gentleman of Dauphiny in the reign of Henry IV. Par. 1640. Fol.—ED.
Footnote 18:
London, Printed by Thomas Creede for Robert Dexter, dwelling in St.
Paul’s Church-yard, at the sign of the Brazen Serpent. 1599. 12mo.—ED.
Footnote 19:
THE RETIREMENT. Irregular stanzas by Charles Cotton.—ED.
Footnote 20:
Silk.—ED.
Footnote 21:
Barker’s Delight; or the Art of Angling, wherein are discovered many
rare secrets both for catching fish and dressing thereof, &c. 12º
1657.—ED.
Footnote 22:
LORD CLARENDON, who greatly praises him in his ‘Characters of Eminent
Men,’ in the reigns of Charles I. and II.—ED.
Footnote 23:
THE HOLY BIBLE, conteyning the Old Testament, and the New; _newly
translated out of_ the Originall Tongues: and with the former
Translations diligently compared and revised by His Majesties special
Commandement.
_Appointed to be read in Churches._
IMPRINTED at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the King’s Most
Excellent Majestie. ANNO DOM. 1611.—ED.
Footnote 24:
Rev. xxii. 17.
Footnote 25:
‘BASILICON DORON,’ or a royal gift, written by James the First, and
addressed to his son Prince Henry. Originally printed at Edinburgh, by
R. Waldegrave in 1599.—ED.
Footnote 26:
That this friendship, so happily begun between the two poets, was a
lasting one we have undoubted evidence in Mr. Cotton’s Elegy ‘_To the
Memory of my worthy Friend Coll._ RICHARD LOVELACE,’ appended to a
posthumous edition of Lovelace’s _Lucasta_, printed in 1659, the year
after his death. In this collection of poems is one addressed by
Lovelace ‘To the noblest of our Youth, and best of Friends, CHARLES
COTTON, Esquire, being at _Beresford_, at his house in
_Staffordshire_;’ in which is the following testimony of gratitude for
Mr. Cotton’s having contributed to his necessities, when he was in
prison.
‘What fate was mine, when in mine obscure cave,
‘Shut up almost close prisoner in a grave,
‘Your beams could reach me through the vault of night,
‘And canton the dark dungeon with light.’—ED.
Footnote 27:
William, Earl of Devonshire, mentioned in Cotton’s Wonders of the
Peak, p. 24. 1681.—ED.
Footnote 28:
Probably the son of Mr. Thomas Rolleston, who built the church at
Mayfield, in Dove Vale, in 1616.—_Pitt’s Survey of Staffordshire_, _p.
225_.—ED.
Footnote 29:
Printed by M. F. for John Marriott and Richard Marriott, and are to be
sold at their shop in St. Dunstan’s Church-yard, Fleet Street, under
the Dyall, 1646. A posthumous work, as the poet died in 1644. Francis
Quarles, author of Divine Emblems, had been cup bearer to Elizabeth,
Electress Palatine, daughter of James I., and afterwards Secretary to
Archbishop Usher. His loyalty exposed him to persecution during the
Rebellion.—ED.
Footnote 30:
Is. xlix. 25.
Footnote 31:
The Secrets of Angling; teaching the choicest tooles, baits, and
seasons for the taking of any fish in pond or river: practised and
familiarly opened in three Books. By J. Davors, Esquire. 1652.—ED.
Footnote 32:
Ordination Service: charge to the priests.—ED.
Footnote 33:
Joel ii. 25.
Footnote 34:
Ezra iii.
Footnote 35:
Isa. xxiii. 8.
Footnote 36:
Is. i. 8.
Footnote 37:
S. Ignatius: Epist. ad Ephesiois, iii. 4.
Footnote 38:
His Majesty had so great a distaste to the use of _the weed_, that he
wrote a treatise against it, intituled, ‘A COUNTERBLAST TO TOBACCO.’
It was re-published in 4to. in 1672, with ‘a learned discourse by Dr.
Everard Maynwaring, proving that tobacco is a procuring cause of the
scurvy.’ This royal pedantic treatise is thought to be a considerable
‘_counterblast_’ to His Majesty’s fame as an author.—ED.
Footnote 39:
William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, a finished gentleman, and a most
distinguished patriot, was author of the well-known work on
horsemanship, originally published in French at Antwerp in 1658, fol.,
and afterwards in English under the title of ‘A new Method and
extraordinary Invention to dress Horses, and work them according to
Nature, as also to perfect Nature by the Subtilty of Art.’ 1667.
fol.—ED.
Footnote 40:
In a poetic epistle to John Bradshaw, Esq. describing his journey from
London to _Basford Hall_, in his coach and four, he thus alludes to
the Tower:
‘Tuesday at noon at Lichfield town we baited,
‘But there some friends, who long that hour had waited,
‘So long detain’d me, that my charioteer
‘Could drive that night but to Uttoxeter.
‘And there the Wedn’sday, being market-day,
‘I was constrain’d with some kind lads to stay,
‘Tippling till afternoon, which made it night,
‘When from my _Hero’s Tow’r_ I saw the light
‘Of her Flambeaux, and fanci’d, as we drave,
‘Each rising hillock was a swelling wave,
‘And that I swimming was, in Neptune’s spight,
‘To my long-long’d-for harbour of delight.’
Poems on several occasions, 1689, 8º.—ED.
Footnote 41:
The Planter’s Manual of railing, planting, and cultivating all Sorts
of Fruit-trees. London: 1675. 8vo.—ED.
Footnote 42:
A Panegyric to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, 1660. Folio.—ED.
Footnote 43:
The Moral Philosophy of the Stoics. Translated from the French of
Monsieur de Vaix, 1664. 8vo. And the Life of the Duke of Espernon, in
12 Books, wherein the History of France is continued, &c. Translated
from the French of M. Girard. London: 1670. Folio.—ED.
Footnote 44:
Colonel Richard Lovelace inscribes a panegyric to him in his Lucasta.
And the following lines of Mr. Charles Cotton, addressed to the
painter on another occasion, are applicable to his own portrait, and
testify to the familiarity between the poet and the painter:—
‘Nature and art are here at strife;
‘This shadow comes so near to life,
‘Sit still, _dear Lely_, thou’st done that
‘Thyself must love and wonder at.’
From a poem of Mr. Cotton’s, ‘_To my friend Mr. Lely_, on his picture
of the excellently virtuous lady, the Lady Isabella Thynne,’ POEMS ON
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. Printed 1689, 8º.—ED.
Footnote 45:
A PERAMBULATION OF KENT, containing the Descriptive Hystorie and
Customes of that Shyre, by _William Lambarde_, of Lincolnes Inne,
Gent. 1576. 12^o. He was one of the most eminent antiquaries of this
country, and declared by the great Camden to be as distinguished for
learning and piety. He was appointed Keeper of the Records in the
Tower, of which he presented an account to her Majesty, under the
title of Pandecta Rotulorum. This, with other great works, did not see
the light till published by his grandson in 1635. His tomb may be
found in the church of Sevenoaks.—ED.
Footnote 46:
The second wife of Mr. Cotton; Mary, the daughter of Sir William
Russell, and widow of Wingfield Cromwell, Earl of Ardglass.—ED.
Footnote 47:
Alexander Brome, a poet, born 1620, and died 1666, eminent for his
loyalty. His congratulatory poem on the miraculous and glorious return
of Charles 2nd, fol. was published 1660; and his songs and poems,
1664. 8vo.—ED.
Footnote 48:
Mr. Cotton’s hopeful temper amidst his cares has been well expressed
in these lines ‘To my dear and most worthy friend, Mr. Isaac Walton.
‘And some delight it is the while,
‘Though nature now does weep in rain,
‘To think that I have seen her smile,
‘_And haply may I do again_.
‘If the all-ruling Power please
‘We live to see another May,
‘_We’ll recompense an age of these
‘Foul days in one fine fishing day_.’
Poems on several Occasions.—ED.
Footnote 49:
Thomas Flatman. His poems were first published in 1674, 8vo. The
ballad here alluded to will be found at p. 121. He afterwards took to
him a wife, and was serenaded by his companions with his own
contumelious song against marriage. His own portrait designed by
himself, is prefixed to his Poems: and the following lines, in his
‘Pindarique Ode, _The Review_’ are a testimony to his practice of
limning;
‘To extricate myself from Love,
‘Which I could ill obey, but worse command,
‘I took my Pensils in my hand;
‘With that artillery for conquest strove:
‘Like wise Pigmalion thus did I
‘Myself design my Deity.
‘If she did frown, one dash could make her smile,
‘All bickerings one easy stroke could reconcile:
‘Thus did I quiet many a froward day,
‘While in my eyes my soul did play.’—ED.
Footnote 50:
Author of the Purple Island, printed 1633, 4to. and Piscatory
Eclogues, 1633, 4to.—ED.
Footnote 51:
Michael Drayton was an admirable poet, and amongst other numerous
works, wrote the _Shepherd’s Garland, fashioned in 9 Eglogs_, which
was printed in 1593, 4to. Also the POLY-ALBION, a chorographical
description of all the tracts, rivers, mountains, forests, and other
parts of this renowned isle of _Great Britain_, 1612, 1613, and 1622,
all in folio.—ED.
Footnote 52:
To my ingenious friend, Mr. Brome, on his various and excellent poems:
an humble eglog. Damon and Dorus. Written the 29th May, 1660.—ED.
Footnote 53:
Psalm civ. 10.
Footnote 54:
Eccl. ix. 7.
Footnote 55:
The original of this ballad is to be found in ‘_A handfull of Pleasant
Delites_,’ contayning sundrie new Sonets and delectable Histories in
divers kinds of meters, newly devised to the newest tunes. At London,
1584. Printed by Richard Jhones, dwelling at the sign of the Rose and
Crown, near Holbourne Bridge.—ED.
Footnote 56:
Lib. III. Epist. 3.
Footnote 57:
The Visions of Petrarch, ‘_formerly translated_’ by Edmund Spenser, at
the age of 14: originally printed in a book of some rarity, ‘The
Theatre of JOHN VANDER NOODT.’ 8^o 1569.—ED.
Footnote 58:
And so thought Mr. Charles Cotton; as witness these lines:
‘_To my dear and most worthy friend, Mr._ Izaak Walton.
‘A day without too bright a beam,
‘A warm, but not a scorching sun,
‘A _southern gale_ to curl the stream,
‘And, master, _half our work is done_.
‘There, whilst behind some bush we wait,
‘The scaly people to betray,
‘We’ll prove it just with treach’rous bait
‘To make the preying trout our prey.’
POEMS _on_ SEVERAL OCCASIONS, p. 115—ED.
Footnote 59:
The first edition was printed, 1674, for J. Martyn.
Footnote 60:
Prov. iii. 17.
Footnote 61:
Titus Andron. Act. 2. Sc. 4.
Footnote 62:
Sir John Hawkins, in his life of Cotton, states that ‘a natural
excavation in the rocky Hill on which Beresford Hall stands, is shewn
as Mr. Cotton’s occasional refuge from his creditors:’ and to this
Cotton himself probably alludes in the following lines of his Ode to
Retirement.
‘O my beloved Caves! from Dog-star heats,
‘And hotter perfection’s safe retreats,
‘What safety, privacy, what true delight
‘In the artificial night
‘Your gloomy entrails make,
‘Have I taken, do I take!
‘How oft, when grief has made me fly
‘To hide me from society,
‘Even of my dearest friends have I
‘In your recesses’ friendly shade
‘All my sorrows open laid,
‘And my most secret woes entrusted to your privacy.’
Occasional Poems, p. 138.—ED.
Footnote 63:
Ballads and Madrigals by Thos. Weekes, 1598.—ED.
Footnote 64:
Heb. xii. 22.
Footnote 65:
John xvii. 21.
Footnote 66:
John xiv. 23.
Footnote 67:
Ibid. xiv. 17.
Footnote 68:
Heb. i. 14.
Footnote 69:
Herbert’s Poems, THE CHURCH, p. 117.
Footnote 70:
Richard Marriott was the publisher of almost all Izaak Walton’s
works.—ED.
Footnote 71:
Antidote against Melancholy, A. D. 1661.—ED.
Footnote 72:
She died at the age of 38, as appears from a poem of Sir Aston
Cockaine:—‘On the death of his dear cousin germaine, Mrs. Olive
Cotton, who deceased at Beresford, in the 38th year of her age, and
lies buried at Bentley, by Ashbourne.’—ED.
Footnote 73:
P. Augustinus Chesneau, Orpheus Eucharisticus.—ED.
Footnote 74:
Psalm cvii. 29, 30.
Footnote 75:
John xiv. 27.
Footnote 76:
See Note p. 28.—ED.
Footnote 77:
Walton’s Life of Sir Henry Wotton.
Footnote 78:
Occasional Reflections by the Honourable Robert Boyle. 1665.—ED.
Footnote 79:
The incident here referred to, of a book found in the belly of a
cod-fish, taken on the Norfolk coast, and brought to Cambridge market,
on Midsummer eve, 1626, is no less true than strange. Fuller attests
the fact in his Worthies of England, folio, p. 359, and says he was in
Cambridge at the time: and in Parr’s Life and Letters of Archbishop
Usher, folio, p. 345, is a letter from his Grace to Dr. Samuel Ward,
dated 30th June, 1626, in answer to his communication of the same
fact. I have myself seen a copy of one of these treatises, in ‘_sexto
decimo_,’ printed in black letter, and entitled ‘The Preparation to
the Crosse and to Death, and of the Comfort under the Crosse and
Death.’ John Frith, who suffered martyrdom in 1533, was the
author.—ED.
Footnote 80:
See back p. 8.—ED.
Footnote 81:
See back p. 8.—ED.
Footnote 82:
Shakespeare’s Sonnets.
Footnote 83:
In ‘The King’s Majestie’s Declaration concerning lawful sports,’
Puritans and Precisians are designated ‘as Adversaries of our
Church.’—ED.
Footnote 84:
First Book of Ballads to five voices. By Thomas Morley, 1600.—ED.
Footnote 85:
1 Sam. xviii. 1.
Footnote 86:
xviii. 4.
Footnote 87:
1 Sam. xx. 18.
Footnote 88:
Heb. xii. 14.
Footnote 89:
Rev. xxii. 1.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Books on Angling.
_Published by_ W. PICKERING.
I
Walton and Cotton’s Complete Angler. Edited with Original Memoirs, by
_Sir Harris Nicolas_, Illustrated by Engravings from Designs by
_Stothard_ and _Inskipp_. 2 vols. imperial 8vo. 6_l._ 6_s._ or
proofs on India paper, 10_l._ 10_s._ The Illustrations separate,
4to. proofs before the letters, 10_l._ 10_s._
⁂ Additional Plates (XXXII) to Illustrate Walton and Cotton’s Complete
Angler, consisting of Portraits, Monuments, &c. mostly proofs,
imperial 8vo. 3_l._ 3_s._
II
The true Enjoyment of Angling. By _Henry Phillips, Esq._ Illustrated
with a Portrait of the Author, and Seven Songs, descriptive of the
Art, with Pianoforte Accompaniments. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._
III
Berners’s (Juliana) Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle. Reprint with
fac-simile wood-cuts, crown 8vo. 5_s._
IV
Piscatorial Reminiscences and Gleanings, by an _Old Angler_ and
_Bibliopolist_; with the most complete Catalogue of Books on Angling
ever published, fscap. 8vo. _with cuts_, 7_s._ 6_d._
V
The Angler’s Desideratum, containing the best and fullest Directions
for dressing the Artificial Fly; with some new and valuable
Inventions, “by _The Author_,” from a practice of nearly half a
Century, 12mo. 1_s._ 6_d._
[Illustration]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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