60 DAYS IN DOVE DALE 



around the beautiful hall of Ham and the old 

 churchyard. 1 



But I am now beginning to think I 

 can enjoy all such pleasures as these with- 

 out encumbering myself with a fishing-rod, 

 basket, and net, and uselessly whipping the 

 stream. 2 



When I first thought of fly-fishing as a holiday 

 amusement, my imagination had pictured to 

 myself a walk by the side of a sweetly-flowing 

 stream on a lovely summer's evening, when 

 one had only to cast one's flies over the water 

 and draw out the simple trout and grayling till 

 one's basket required the aid of a strong boy 



1 " Dr. Johnson obligingly proposed to carry me to see 

 Islam, a romantic scene, now belonging to a family of the 

 name of Port, but formerly the seat of the Congreves. . . . 

 I recollect a very fine amphitheatre, surrounded with hills, 

 covered with woods, and walks neatly formed round the 

 side of a rocky steep, on the quarter next the house, with 

 recesses under projections of rock, overshadowed with 

 trees ; in one of which recesses, we were told, Con- 

 greve wrote his * Old Bachelor. 5 ' : Boswtlfs Life of 

 Johnson. 



2 " I always consider the mere act of fishing as a 

 secondary consideration. I connect with it the enjoy- 

 ment of the country, the song of birds, the beauty of the 

 day, the refreshment of mind, and the calmness of 

 thought which these bring with them." -Jesse's Rambles* 



