284 NORTHERN MEMOIRS. 



that when you come to see her arbours and avi- 

 aries, so naturally dress'd up in the shades of the 

 Forest, and perfum'd with fragrancies from the 

 redolent meadows of Trent ; besides the pleasant 

 prospect it has into the cultivated fields in the 

 fruitful vale of Belvoir, then would you say 

 that Nottingham is the magazine for Cheshire 

 and Lancashire ; and the daily supply of those 

 mountainous parts in the Peak of Derby-shire. 

 These; are those ports, where the angler (and in- 

 genious) never yet entred without sober accom- 

 modation, let us therefore first consult the vir- 

 tuoso's of the rod ; afterwards sweeten our ears 

 with rhetorique from Apollo. 



Theoph. As you have given us a fair and 

 large character of Nottingham, so have you been 

 as copious in your practical experiments of Ang- 

 ling, and brought to. test the undeniable asser- 

 tions of truth, not imaginary fragments, nor ro- 

 mantick fictions, stoln or suggested by plund- 

 ring plagiaries. Now every one knows that ig- 

 norance emulates art ; and impiety above all 

 things abominates devotion. Tradition also that 

 truckles under forms, and hypocrisy and flattery, 

 are time's apostates : But science and experience 

 are the confirmation of eye-sight ; and truth the 

 standard of divine speculation. By these we 

 proportion the measures of vertue, which is 

 found by him that treads the tracks of wisdom, 



