LARGE POND AT CLEVELAND HALL. . 77 



It is now time to give my readers an account 

 of the sport we met with in the large pond of 

 Cleveland Hall. I have already said that it was 

 just such a day as a troller would wish for, the 

 wind being soft and balmy, and producing that 

 curl on the water which he delights to see. The 

 walk along the bank at the head of the pond 

 was about a quarter of mile in length, and was 

 of turf kept in the neatest order. Over this walk, 

 branches of beech, oak, and various evergreens, 

 made a delightful shade. Nothing could be more 

 graceful and beautiful than the variety of foliage 

 at this season of the year. In addition to this, 

 we observed a succession of sun-beams irradiate 

 the horizon, and every now and then the sun burst 

 forth in all its splendour, and was soon again 

 enveloped in his purple robes. About the middle 

 of the walk, the water from the pond made its way 

 over a cascade of rough stones (across which a 

 small bridge had been placed) into the valley below 

 us, which was covered by an underwood of hollies, 

 laurels, and box-wood, shrubs which I should wish 

 to see more frequently introduced into our modern 

 plantations. The walk I have described was con- 

 tinued round the right side of the pond, and no 

 bush or rush appeared to interrupt the sport, of 

 the troller between it and the water, which rippled 

 gently along the sparkling gravel of its banks. 



Immediately before us, the rising ground of the 



