22 DAYS IN DOVE DALE 



the very top of the precipice, and I landed clear 

 above it on the mountain's brow, triumphant, 

 but exhausted in wind and limb. 1 



After a short interval of rest, I descended 

 gradually to the margin of the gently-flowing 

 " Dove." In coming down I had heard some 

 crashes in the woods" on the opposite hills, 

 and on reaching the bottom whom should I 

 see on the other side but my old friend the 

 keeper. 



l "The Rev. Mr. Langton, Dean of Clogher, in 

 Ireland, proposed to ascend on horseback a very steep 

 precipice,* near Reynard's Hole, apparently between 

 three and four hundred feet high ; and Miss La Roche, a 

 young lady of the dean's party, agreed to accompany 

 him on the same horse. When they had climbed the 

 rock to a considerable height, the poor animal, unable to 

 sustain the fatigue of the task imposed upon him, fell 

 under his burden and rolled down the steep. The dean 

 was precipitated to the bottom, where he was taken up so 

 bruised and mangled by the fall, that he expired a few 

 days after, and was buried in Ashborne church ; but the 

 young lady, whose descent had been retarded by her hair 

 entangling in a bramble bush, slowly recovered ; though 

 when disengaged she was insensible, and continued so for 

 two days. The horse, more fortunate than its riders, 

 was but very slightly injured." William Shipley's Art 

 of Fly- Fishing. 



* This was the route by which I descended the moun- 

 tain. A. A, 



