Notes and Sport of a Dry-Fly Purist. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 



A REMINISCENCE OF DERBYSHIRE. 



HAVING received the gracious permission of the 

 Duke of Rutland (through the steward of the 

 estate) to fish for four days in each week in the 

 river Wye, betwen Rowsley and Bakewell, from 

 August 20th to October 2nd, I passed the whole 

 of that pleasant time in Derbyshire. It was my 

 first visit, and as first impressions are generally 

 the best, and they were duly noted, mentally or by 

 brief memoranda on the spot, or at the close of the 

 day's angling in my diary, the following extracts 

 from the latter retain their freshness and interest. 

 Although I am a lover of Nature in all her charms, 

 and ponder over her mysteries, my chief object was 

 dry-fly fishing. And as the dinner hour and meals 

 at the Peacock Hotel (far famed for its excellent 

 management) would have much interfered with my 

 freedom for sport, especially in the evening, I took 

 unpretentious lodgings at Mrs. Greatorex's cottage 

 at Bowsley, situate within a minute's walk of the 



