32 LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES 



sundry illustrated papers, and illuminated texts. Serton 

 had sojourned in this humble dwelling-place before, 

 and expatiated upon its manifold merits to his friend, 

 who prided himself upon being practical, and said 

 'twould do, but a five-pound note, he supposed, would 

 buy the lot. " No doubt," replied S., " but to me 'tis 

 a cosy nest for anglers." 



The fishing, however, was the first consideration, 

 and with a sense of satisfaction induced by good 

 quarters out went the anglers, across meadows, by the 

 banks of a river. It was fine fun to help the lock-keeper 

 with his cast-net and store the bait-can with gudgeons 

 and minnows, and to crack jokes before the tumbling 

 and rumbling weir, with its deep, wide pool, high banks 

 around, and overhanging bushes. Serton, electing for 

 a little Waltonian luxury, sat him down in comfort, 

 plumbed a hard bottom in six feet of water, caught a 

 dace at the first swim, and, with his cockney-bred mag- 

 gots, took five others in succession three roach, and 

 a bleak which he reported in town, at the Bottle's Head, 

 as the largest ever seen. 



Meanwhile M., who was paternostering with worm 

 and minnow, came down to inform S. that he had 

 already landed four perch, and that the shoal was still 

 unfrightened. With a recommendation to his friend 

 to do likewise, he returned to his station, and his basketed 

 perch might soon have recited, " Master, we are seven." 

 Thereabouts a shout from S. made the welkin ring ; he 

 cried aloud for help, and M. sprinted along in time to 

 save the fine tackle by netting a big chub. From the 

 merry style of the beginning, the captor had felt assured 

 of more roach, and now confessed that they and dace 

 had ceased biting, though he had used paste and maggot 

 alternately. Then he took to small red worm and 

 angled forth a dish of fat gudgeon, that would have 



