46 



Not Ancum's silver'd eel excelleth that of Trent ; 



Tho' the sweet-smelling smelt be more in Thames than me, 



The lamprey, and his lesse, in Severn general be ; 



The flounder smooth and flat, in other rivers caught, 



Perhaps in greater store, yet better are not thought : 



The dainty gudgeon, loche, the minnow, and the bleak, 



Since they but little are, I little need to speak 



Of them, nor doth it fit me much of those to reck, 



Which everywhere are found in every little beck ; 



Nor of the crayfish here, which creeps amongst my stones, 



From all the rest alone, whose shell is all his bones : 



For carp, the tench, and bream, my other stores among, 



To lakes and standing pools that chiefly do belong, 



Here scouring in my fords, feed in my waters clear, 



Are muddy fish, in ponds, to that which they are here." 



STAFFORDSHIRE. 



This is not an angling county. It has many 

 collections of still water, in which large pike, 

 bream, roach, perch, and eels, may be caught. 

 Its principal rivers are the Trent and the Tame. 

 The former takes rise in the north-west part of 

 this county, ten miles north of Newcastle-under- 

 line. At first it takes a circular turn towards 

 the south-east, bending to the south as far as 

 within ten miles of Tarn worth, where it receives 

 the Tame, flowing through that town. After- 

 wards the Trent flows north-east, towards Bur- 

 ton-upon-Trent, a little beyond which it is 

 increased by the waters of the Dove, which run 

 in a north-west direction. After this the Trent 



