196 Cotton's Breakfast. 



kill, or Lathkin, as he calls it; and to 

 appreciate his " Instructions " fully, it is 

 necessary to do so ; in fact, it is a duty 

 which every fly-fisher owes to his delight- 

 ful art to make a pilgrimage to Beresford 

 Dale, Dove Dale, and the other lovely 

 dales and streams of this district. As 

 Walton said in a marginal note on one of 

 Cotton's pages, 



" The pleasantness of the rivers, moun- 

 tains, and meadows cannot be described, 

 unless Sir Philip Sidney or Mr. Cotton's 

 Father were again alive to do it." 



The scene of the " Instructions " is the 

 little fishing-house. 



" Piscator. Come Boy, set two Chairs, 

 and whilst I am taking a Pipe of Tobacco r 

 which is alwaies my Breakfast, we will, if 

 you please, talk of some other Subject. 



" Viator. I beseech you Sir, do, and if 

 you will lend me your Steel, I will light a 

 Pipe the while, for that is commonly my 

 Breakfast in a morning too." 



That Cotton had the confidence born 

 of knowledge appears in his opening lines. 



"Piscator. Why then Sir, to begin 

 methodically, as a Master in any Art should 

 do (and I will not deny, but that I think 

 myself a Master in this), I shall divide 



