DOVE DALE REVISITED 2p 



James Thorne quotes from some old British 

 geography book an account of a visit to this 

 sanctum sanctorum ; the house was described as 

 " being in ruins, the roof decayed, the inscrip- 

 tion illegible, the table broken, and instead of 

 being 'all exceeding neat,' all overgrown with 

 dank moss and weeds ; while, to crown all, the 

 only access was through a broken window." 



When Thorne himself visited it he found it 

 " as perfect and as neat as when ' Viator ' 

 stepped into it." It was rebuilt early in the 

 nineteenth century. 



With regard to the Fishing House it may be 

 a surprise to some to learn that, so far as I can 

 discover, Izaak Walton never saw it as is partly 

 shown in the following conversation between 

 "Piscator " and " Viator " ("Piscator " is Charles 

 Cotton). 



"Pise. I will tell you that my house stands 

 upon the margin of one of the finest rivers for 

 Trouts and Grayling in England; that I have 

 lately built a little Fishing House upon it, dedi- 

 cated to anglers : over the door of which you 

 will see the two first letters of my Father Wal- 

 ton's name and mine twisted in cypher; that 

 you shall lye in the same bed he has sometimes 

 been contented with. 



