DOVE DALE REVISITED 1 29 



James Thorne quotes from some old British 

 geography book an account of a visit to this 

 sanctum sanctorum ; the house was described as 

 " being in ruins, the roof decayed, the inscrip- 

 tion illegible, the table broken, and, instead 

 of being ' all exceeding neat/ all overgrown 

 with dank moss and weeds; while, to crown 

 all, the only access was through a broken 

 window." 



When Thorne himself visited it he found it 

 " as perfect and as neat as when * Viator ' 

 stepped into it." It was rebuilt early in the 

 nineteenth century. 



With regard to the Fishing House it may be 

 a surprise to some to learn that, so far as I can 

 discover, Izaak Walton never saw it as is partly 

 shown in the following conversation between 

 " Piscator " and "Viator " (" Piscator " is Charles 

 Cotton). 



" Pise. I will tell you that my house stands 

 upon the margin of one of the finest rivers for 

 Trouts and Grayling in England ; that I have 

 lately built a little Fishing House upon it, dedi- 

 cated to anglers : over the door of which you 

 will see the two first letters of my Father Wal- 

 ton's name and mine twisted in cypher; that 



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