192 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART 11. 



amends for the ill landskip ; but I hope our way does not lie 

 ove^ri^_orthese,jorl dreajjyprecipice. 



PlSC. Believe me, but it does, and down one, especially, that 

 will appear a little terrible to a stranger: though the way is 

 passable enough, and so passable, that we who are natives 'of 

 these mountains, and acquainted with them, disdain to alight. 



"VTAT. I hope, though, that a foreigner is privileged to use his 

 own discretion, and that I may have the liberty to entrust my 

 n^c^la-th^-fidelity-Qf myjjwrTreet, rather than to JjigseT of mv 

 horse, for I have no more at home. 



TiSC. 'Twjsjre Jtardjsise^ But in the meantime, I think 'twere 

 best, while this way is pretty even, to mend our pace, that we 

 may be past that hill I speak of; to the end your apprehension 

 may not be doubled, for want of light to discern the easiness of 

 the descent. 



VlAT. I am willing to put forward as fast as my beast will 

 give me leave, though I fear nothing in your company. But 

 what pretty river is this we are going into ? 



PlSC. Wh^jhis, sir, is called Bently-brook, and is full of very 

 good trout and grayling ; but so encumbered with wood in 

 as sroublesome to an anler. 



VlAT. Here are the prettiest rivers, and the most of them in 

 this country that ever I saw; do you know how many you have 

 in the country ? 



PlSC. I know them all ; and they were not hard to reckon, 

 were it worth the trouble, but the most considerable of them I 

 will presently name you. And to begin where we now are, for 

 you must know we are now upon the very skiits of Derbyshire; 

 we have first the river Dove, that we shall come to by-ancl-by, 

 which divides the two counties of Derby and Stafford for many 

 miles together; and is so called from the swiftness of its cur- 

 rentTancTtrTat swiftness occasioned by the declivity of its course, 

 and by being so straitened in that course betwixt the rocks; 

 by which, and those very high ones, it is, hereabout, for four or 

 five miles, confined into a very narrow stream ; a river that 

 from a contemptible fountain, which I can cover with my hat, by 

 the confluence of other rivers, rivulets, brooks, and rills, is swelled 



