THE COMPLETE ANGLER 261 



from its source, you will find it one of the purest crystalline 

 streams you have seen.* 



VIAT. Does Trent spring in these parts ? 



Pise. Yes, in these parts ; not in this county, but 

 somewhere towards the upper end of Staffordshire, I 

 think not far from a place called Trentham ; and thence 

 runs down, not far from Stafford, to Wolsly Bridge, and 

 washing the skirts and purlieus of the forest of Needwood, 

 runs down to Burton in the same county ; thence it comes 

 into this, where we now are, and running by Swarkston and 

 Dunnington, receives Derwent at Wildon ; and, so, to 

 Nottingham ; thence, to Newark ; and, by Gainsborough, 

 to Kingston-upon-Hull, where it takes the name of 

 Humber, and thence falls into the sea ; but that the map 

 will best inform you. 



VIAT. Know you whence this River Trent derives its 

 name ? 



Pise. No, indeed ; and yet I have heard it often dis- 

 coursed upon : when some have given its denomination 

 from theJorenamed Trentham, though that seems rather 

 a derivative from it ; others have said it is so called from 

 thirty rivers that fall into it, and there lose their names ; 

 which cannot be, neither, because it carries that name 

 from its very fountain, before any other rivers fall into 

 it : others derive it from thirty several sorts of fish that 

 breed there ; and that is the most likely derivation : but 

 be it how it will, it is doubtless one of the finest rivers in 



* Between Beresford Hall and Ashbourn lies Dove-dale, whose 

 crested cliffs and swift torrents are again noticed by Mr. Cotton in 

 his Wonders of the Peak. Through this singularly deep valley the 

 Dove runs for about two miles, changing its course, its motion, and 

 its appearance perpetually ; never less than ten, and rarely so many 

 as twenty yards in width ; making a continued noise by rolling over 

 or falling among loose stones. The rocks which form its sides, are 

 heaved up in enormous piles, sometimes connected with each other 

 and sometimes detached ; some perforated in natural cavities, 

 others adorned with foliage ; with here and there a tall rock, having 

 nothing to relieve the bareness of its appearance but a mountain- 

 ash flourishing at the top. The grandeur of its scenery is probably 

 unrivalled in England. H. 



