xvi THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF 



on iho Staffordshire bank, the windings of the river form a small 

 peninsula, on which stands the far-famed fishing-house." It is 

 built of stone, with an ornamental doorway supported by pilas- 

 ters, a window on each side of the door, and a window on each 

 side of the building. The windows were, it would seem, of 

 stained glass. It was surmounted by a sun dial, above which 

 were a ball and a wind vane, springing from the apex where the 

 four sides of the roof come together, and a thin grove of trees 

 overshadow it. Mr. White, of Crickhowell (whose authority in 

 all angling matters is well known to the studious amateur), when 

 (as we may suppose) fishing the Dove, about 1783, went to see 

 it, and furnished Sir John Hawkins with this description of the 

 interior: " The room inside is a cube of fifteen feet; paved with 

 black and white marble ; and in the middle there stood a square 

 black marble table supported by stone pillars. The room was 

 wainscotted with curious mouldings, that divided the pannels up 

 to the ceiling. In the larger pannels were represented, in paint- 

 ing, some of the most pleasant of the adjacent scenes, with persons 

 fishing ; and in the smaller, the various sorts of tackle and im- 

 plements used in angling. In the further corner on the left, was 

 a fire-place with a chimney ; on the right a large buffet, with 

 folding doors, whereon were the portraits of Mr. Cotton, with 

 a boy-servant, and Walton in the dress of the time. Underneath 

 was a cupboard, on the door whereof the figures of a trout and 

 grayling were well portrayed." Mr. Bagster, who saw it on 

 Sept. 5, 1814, found it in a ruinous condition, and adds, "that 

 the fire-place had, at each corner, the initials of C. C. I. W., be- 

 ing under those on the left, and W. A. those on the right." Mr. 

 Pickering, who visited Beresford in 1825, found it still more 

 dilapidated ; and since then it has suffered greatly from the hands 

 of human spoilers as well as time. 



Over the arched door-way, on the outside, there is the Inscrip- 

 tion PiscATORiBus Sacrum ; and on the keystone the cypher of 

 Cotton and Walton. 



The reader will not be displeased with this minute account of 

 a building, to which so many feet would gladly make a pilgrim- 

 age. 



