A DAY'S ANGLING IN FRANCE 



VERY early in the year 1821, I was in France, 

 and was obliged to return before the season was 

 advanced ; I arrived at Montreuil in the middle 

 of March ; and, having heard that there was a 

 pretty little river near that place, I determined 

 to explore it. 



Montreuil is a very strongly fortified town, 

 situated upon a lofty hill in the midst of a 

 plain, about twenty miles from Boulogne, and 

 a dozen miles from the sea. The low grounds 

 and marshes surrounding the place can, by 

 opening the sluices at the spring-tides, be all 

 laid under water. 



Owing to the flatness of the land, many 

 ditches are formed, which are, as is usual in 

 such situations, both drains and fences. There 

 had been many wet days in succession these 

 dykes were all streams, and many of them 

 rather considerable ones. 



Passing the barriers, I made my exit from 

 the town by a drawbridge over the river Canche, 

 which fills the ditches of the fortress. I came 

 soon after to several of the drains which I have 

 mentioned, and was quite at a loss to know 

 which was the little river Etrelles. Seeing a 

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