246 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



Piscator. Let those be the subjects then. But we are now 

 come to the Talbot what will you drink, sir ale or wine? 



Viator. Nay, I am for the country liquor, Derbyshire ale, if 

 you please ; for a man should not, methinks, come from London 

 to drink wine in the Peak. 



Piscator. You are in the right : and yet, let me tell you, you 

 may drink worse French wine in many taverns in London than 

 they have sometimes at this house. What, ho! bring us a 



flagon of your best ale And now, sir, my service to you : a 



good health to the honest gentleman you know of, and you are 

 welcome into the Peak. 



Viator. I thank you, sir, and present you my service again, 

 and to all the honest brothers of the angle. 



Piscator. I '11 pledge you, sir : so, there 's for your ale, and 

 farewell. Come, sir, let us be going, for the sun grows low, 

 and I would have you look about you as you ride ; for you will 

 see an odd country, and sights that will seem strange to you. 



CHAPTER II. 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS IN DERBYSHIRE. VIATOR 

 LODGES AT PISCATOR'3 HOUSE. 



Piscator, jun. So, sir, now we have got to the top of the hill 

 out of town, look about you, and tell me how you like the 

 country. 



Viator. Bless me ! what mountains are here ! are we not in 

 Wales?* 



Piscator. No, but in almost as mountainous a country : and 

 yet these hills, though high, bleak, and craggy, breed and feed 

 good beef and mutton above ground, and afford good store of 

 lead within. 



Viator. They had need of all those commodities to make 

 amends for the ill landscape : but I hope our way does not lie 

 over any of these, far I dread a precipice. 



Piscator. 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. 



Viator. I hope, though, that a foreigner is privileged to use 

 his own discretion, and that I may have the liberty to intrust 

 my neck to the fidelity of my own feet, rather than to those of 

 my horse, for I have no more at home. 



* It is very well for an Essex man to take for mountains, hills not 

 much higher than the Calton Hill at Edinburgh, or Shooter's Hill at 

 Woolwich. J. R. 



