THE RIVER LEA, 117 



gentle steady swim, free from weeds, seldom 

 less than ten feet deep, with a clear level 

 bottom, plentifully stored with heavy Chub,* 

 Roach, Perch, Jack, Pike, &c. and entirely 

 removed from the barge path* 



HODDESDEN 



is a cheerful, clean, healthy town, seventeen 

 miles from London, and most pleasantly situ- 

 ated for commanding views, and good inns, 

 of any other between Ware and London. 

 Here numbers of stage coaches stop, almost 

 every hour of the day or night : many anglers 

 who visit these parts put up at Hoddesden, 

 and go to Shepherd's at the Rye-house, or 

 other parts of the river Lea, fish during the 

 day, and return in the evening to their re- 

 spective inns. If the angler should meet with 



* In this water a friend of mine killed a Chub, in the 

 month of February, weighing four pounds and a half, with a 

 single hair line, and No. 12 hook, baited with one gentle, 

 and landed his fish without the assistance of a net. 



