32 DOVE DALE REVISITED 



There is no evidence in either volume to show 

 that Walton ever did perform this pilgrimage. 

 One of the marginal notes that Walton mentions 

 is about the Fishing House : " There is under 

 this Motto, the Cifer mentioned in the Title- 

 page, and some part of the Fishing House has 

 been described, but, the pleasantness of the 

 river, Mountains and Meadows about it, cannot ; 

 unless Sir Philip Sidney, or Mr. Cotton's father 

 were again alive to do it." 



In that delightful book, " The River Dove," l 

 published by William Pickering, 1847, the author 

 seems to have been impressed with the idea that 

 Walton and Cotton had been together in this 

 house, and he gives the following fanciful de- 

 scription of the interior of the house (as sup- 

 posed to have been seen by them in Cotton's 

 lifetime). 



" Host. Gentlemen, the door is open ! 

 "Angler. This is marvellously contrived; 

 what a delight for fishers ! all the wainscoting 



1 "The River Dove, with some Quiet Thoughts on 

 the Happy Practice of Angling." The Note to the 

 Reader is signed J. L. A. These are the initials of 

 Mr. John Lavecount Anderson. He afterwards published 

 a series of views of the river Dove and Beresford Hall, 

 1866. 



