IN THE MIDLANDS. 103 



which we all know so well. I have slain heavy baskets of 

 fair-sized perch that is to say, three-quarters of a pound or 

 thereabouts under the railway bridge across the Huntingdon 

 Racecourse, and I took there close to the bank one of a 

 pound and a half, with a mere scrap of worm. Chub are 

 common in the Ouse and afford good evening sport with the 

 fly, and roach of course swarm in such a stream : eels like- 

 wise. The Bedford district I have mentioned because it is 

 nearest London, but there is good angling for pike in the 

 Ouse along the five or six miles of which St. Ives may be 

 made the half-way house. 



Without intending to be disrespectful or unfaithful to the 

 queenly Thames, I must profess an undying adoration of 

 the Trent, the many-armed Trent that takes much of its in- 

 spiration, if not its source, from the breezy highlands of 

 Derbyshire. It is a kingly river, and terminates its long 

 stately journey by mingling with the waters of another river, 

 many-armed and mountain-flavoured as itself the York- 

 shire Ouse. The only resemblance existing between the 

 Ouse of the Midlands and the river which is supposed to be 

 the north and south division line of the kingdom is that each 

 has its poet. Cowper sang of the Ouse, Drayton and Kirke 

 White of the Trent. Drayton, adopting a prevailing legend, 

 has a somewhat off-hand way of accounting for the word 

 "Trent": 



11 There should be found in her of fishes thirty kind ; 

 And thirty abbeys great, in places fat and rank, 

 Should in succeeding time be builded on her bank; 

 And thirty several streams from many a sundry way 

 Unto her greatness should their wat'ry tribute pay." 



Including the Derbyshire streams which are swallowed up 



