346 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



an interesting counterpart. The visit which it details was made by a party 

 composed of several eminent characters equally distinguished in Science 

 and the Fine Arts. 



" It was in the month of April, 1811, that I visited the celebrated Fish- 

 ing-House of Cotton and Walton. I left Ashbourne about nine o'clock in 

 the morning, accompanied by several Brothers of the Angle : we took the 

 Buxton road for about six miles, and, turning through a gate to the left, 

 soon descended into the valley of the Dove, and continued along the 

 banks of the river about three miles farther, when we arrived at Beresford 

 Hall. The Fishing-House is situated on a small peninsula, round which 

 the river flows, and was then nearly enveloped with trees. It has been a 

 small, neat stone building, covered with stone slates, or tiles, but is now 

 going fast to decay : the stone steps by which you entered the door are 

 nearly destroyed. It is of a quadrangular form, having a door and two 

 windows in the front, and one larger window on each of the other three 

 sides. The door was secured on the outside by a strong staple ; but the 

 bars and casements of the windows being gone, an easy entrance was ob- 

 tained. The marble floor, as described by White in 1784, had been re- 

 moved : only one of the pedestals upon which the table was formerly 

 placed was standing, and that much deteriorated. On the left side was 

 the fireplace, the mantle-piece and sides of which were in a good state. 

 The chimney and recess for the stove were so exactly on the Rumford 

 plan, that one might have supposed he had lived in the time when it was 

 erected. On the right-hand side of the room is an angular excavation or 

 small cellar, over which the cupboard, or beaufet, formerly stood. The 

 wainscoat of the room is wanting, the ceiling is broken, and part of the 

 stone-tiling admits both light and water. Upon examining the small cellar, 

 we found the other pedestal which supported the marble table, and against 

 the door on the inside, three large fragments of the table itself, which were 

 of the Black Dove-Dale Marble, bevelled on the edges, and had been well 

 polished. The inscription over the door, and the cipher of Walton and 

 Cotton in the key-stone, were very legible." 



Page 270. As Damxtas says by his man Dorus. 



See Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, No. 40 in the foregoing list, lib. I. p. 

 70, of that volume. Browne. 



Page 271. He was a lovely fish, and turned up a side like a salmon. 



There is but little doubt that the author of Guy Mannering had these 

 words in his mind, when he wrote the description of the Salmon-hunt near 

 Charlies-hope ; since he makes one of the characters say, " Come here, 

 Sir ! Come here, Sir ! look at this ane ! look at this ane ! he turns up * 

 side like a Sow." Edit Edinb. 1815, vol. ii. chap. v. p. 65. 



