48 FRESH WOODS. 



hill called Whitlift. Everybody knows that 

 Ludlow Castle is the place where " Comus " 

 was first performed before the Earl of Bridge- 

 water, and that Samuel Butler once dwelt in 

 a corner of it and wrote " Hudibras " there. 

 Surely that is fame enough for any old castle. 

 Now I go a-fishing. 



I started about six o'clock in the evening 

 of a lovely summer's day, my destination 

 being the grassy meadows below Ludford 

 Mill. As I was crossing the quaint old 

 bridge at the bottom of the town my attention 

 was arrested by a curious figure in the water ; 

 it was a sweep fly-fishing, and as he fished 

 there in the middle of the broad and shallow 

 stream, under the shadow of the high cliffs 

 of Whitlift, he formed the centre of a weird 

 picture which Gustave Dore' might have de- 

 lighted to paint. His face was as black as 

 soot could make it ; the hat he wore was, 

 naturally, a " chimney-pot " ; but it was not 

 all a hat part of the brim was gone, and the 

 crown was battered in. His breeches were 

 tucked up above his knees, and bare-legged 

 he waded in the river. His rod was of an 

 ancient make, and must have been in the 

 family for a generation or two ; but it was 

 strong and pliant, and he wielded it with the 

 hand of a master. 



