AN ANGLER'S LINES. 



THE PIKE FROM THE DITCH. 



TN the valley of the Hertfordshire Colne is a 

 certain backwater. To the privileged it 

 is known as " The Ditch." A backwater small 

 and insignificant,, and, to the casual observer, 

 uninteresting, despite the sylvan beauty of a 

 stately park that, rising gently upward, watches 

 over its brief career. Its width, at most, does 

 not exceed 1 5ft., and in many places is con- 

 siderably less, while in depth it is anything 

 from 3 ft., to i^ ft., except one solitary hole 

 which can boast of 8 ft. or 10 ft. Nor in its 

 length is it imposing. From the old moat, half 

 hidden by a group of clustering trees, whence 

 it derives its being, to where it merges silently 

 with the canal, is barely a mile. If historical 

 records speak truth, this same moat surrounds 

 the spot whereon stood one of the palaces of 

 Cardinal Wolsey, and where that prelate fre- 

 quently entertained his royal benefactor Henry 

 VIII., who, after the Cardinal's downfall, took 



