152 In Pursuit of the Trout 



town congregate for the first week of the 

 partridge - shooting season. But you can 

 scarcely call these regular awakenings ; it 

 is, on such occasions, only as though Trout- 

 bridge turned drowsily over in its bed and 

 almost instantly got ofF to its profound 

 slumber again. 



How long the place has been sleeping I 

 cannot say; perhaps since 1879, when the 

 agricultural interest was first hit so hard ; 

 perhaps since the borough was robbed of its 

 Parliamentary representation. Anyhow, in 

 my boyhood Troutbridge always seemed to 

 me, no matter what the season of the year, 

 to be an extraordinarily bright and busy spot. 

 It was the 'London' town of my youth. 



Troutbridge, whether awake or asleep, is a 

 charming angling resort. Within a hundred 

 miles or so of town, and with a railway 

 station, it is yet quite unspoilt by the gilt 

 touch of progress. No factory has sprung 

 up to mar with hideous chimney the quaint 

 old architectural beauty of the town, and the 

 shops, inns, dwelling-houses, and public build- 



