Cfie Jftrst Dag. 



CHAPTER I. 



PISCATOR JUNIOR, AND VIATOR. 



PISCATOR. You are happily overtaken, Sir : may a man be 

 so bold as to inquire, how far you travel this way ? 



VIATOR. Yes sure, Sir, very freely ; though it be a question I 

 cannot very well resolve you, as not knowing myself how far it is 

 to Ashbourn, where I intend to-night to take up my inn. 



PISCATOR. Why then, Sir, seeing I perceive you to be a 

 stranger in these parts, I shall take upon me to inform you, that 

 from the town you last came through, called Brailsford,* it is five 

 miles ; and you are not, yet, above half a mile on this side. 



VIATOR. So much ! I was told it was but ten miles from 

 Derby ; and, methinks, I have rode almost so far already. 



PISCATOR. O, Sir, find no fault with large measure of good 

 land ; which Derbyshire abounds in, as much as most counties of 

 England. 



VIATOR. It may be so ; and good land, I confess, affords a 

 pleasant prospect : but by your good leave, Sir, large measure of 

 foul way is not altogether so acceptable. 



PISCATOR. True, Sir, but the foul way serves to justify the 

 fertility of the soil, according to the proverb, " There is good land 



* Brailsford is six miles from Ashbourn, and Ashbourn thirteen miles from Derby. 



