THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



V 



Venator. Sir, I for my part shall almost answer your hopes ; 

 for my purpose is to drink my morning's draught at the 

 Thatched-house* in Hodsden, and I think not to rest till I come 

 thither, where I have appointed a friend or two to meet me : but 

 for this gentleman that you see with me, I know not how far he 

 intends his journey ; he came so lately into my company, that I 

 have scarce had time to ask him the question. 



AucEPS. Sir, I shall by your favor bear you company as far 

 as Theobald's,"!" and there leave you ; for then I turn up to a 

 friend's house who mews a hawk for me, which I now long to 

 see. 



Ven. Sir, we are all so happy as to have a fine, fresh, cool 

 morning, and I hope we shall each be the-happier in the other's 



Viator. Sir, I shall almost answer your hopes : for my pur- 

 pose is to be at Hodsden (three miles short of that town), I will 

 not say, before I drink ; but before I break my fast : for I have 

 appointed a friend or two to meet me there at the Thatcht House, 

 about nine of the clock this morning ; and that made me so 

 early up, and indeed, to walk so fast. 



Pise. Sir, I know the Thatcht House very well : I often make 

 it my resting place, and taste a cup of Ale there, for which liquor 

 that place is very remarkable ; and to that house I shall by your 

 favour accompany you, and either abate of my pace, or mend it, 



* The Thatched-house was seventeen miles from London on the Ware 

 road. — Moses Browne. 



t Theobald's (anciently Thebaudes), in the parish of Cheshunt, Hart- 

 ford, about twelve miles from London, built for Cecil, Lord Burghley^ 

 1576. Elizabeth often visited it, and was sumptuously entertained. Ce- 

 cil's son, the Earl of Salisbury, received James L here, on his way to 

 London. James liked it so well, that he gave the palace at Hatfield for it, 

 and made it his favorite residence. He died there. It was there Charles L 

 received the petition of pnrliament in 1042. The greater part of it was 

 torn down by order of parliament. In 1660, Charles II. bestowed it upon 

 Monck, Duke of Albemarle, and, it having reverted to the crown, William 

 in. gave it to Bentinck, Duke of Portland. It now belongs to Sir William 

 Prescott. The former house was very magnificent. (Gent. Mag., Sept., 

 1835. Clutterbuck's, Hertford, vol. ii., 87-95.) Theobald's is not named 

 in the first edition of Walton. — Am. Ed., from Sir H. JVicho/as and other 

 authorities. 



