CHAP. II. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 281 



miles from its source, you will find it one of the purest 

 crystalline streams you have seen. 1 



Viat. Does Trent spring in these parts ? 



Pise. Yes, in these parts; not in this county, but some- 

 where towards the upper end of Staffordshire, I think not 

 far from- a place called Trentham ; and thence runs down, 

 not far from Stafford, to Wolsly-bridge, and washing the 

 skirts and purlieus of the forest of Needwood, runs down 

 to Burton in the same county ; thence it comes into this, 

 where we now are, and running by Swarkston and Dun- 

 nington, receives Derwent at Wildon ; and, so, to Not- 

 tingham ; thence, to Newark ; and, by Gainsborough, to 

 Kingston upon Hull, where it takes the name of Humber, 

 and thence falls into the sea ; but that the Map will best 

 inform you. 



Viat. Know you whence this river Trent derives its 

 name? 



Pise. No, indeed ; and yet I have heard it often dis- 

 coursed upon : when some have given its denomination 

 from the fore-named Trentham, though that seems rather 

 a derivative from it; others have said it is so called from 

 thirty rivers that fall into it, and there lose their names ; 

 which cannot be, neither, because it carries that name 

 from its very fountain, before any other rivers fall into it: 

 others derive it from thirty several sorts of fish that breed 

 there ; and that is the most likely derivation : but be it 

 how it will, it is doubtless one of the finest rivers in the 



(1) Between Beresford Hall and Ashbourn lies Dove Dale, whose crested 

 cliffs ami swift toireuts aie again noticed by Mr. Cotton in his Wondert nf the. 

 Peak. Through this singularly deep valley the Dove runs for about two miles, 

 changing its course, its motion, ami its appearance perpetually ; never less than 

 ten, ami rarely so many as twenty yards in width; making a couti.'aod noise 

 by rolling over or falling among loose stones. The rocks which form its sides, 

 are hewed up in enormous piles, sometimes connected with each other and 

 sometime* detached ; some perforated in natural cavities, others adorned with 

 i..u., : ,- ; with lure and turn- i tall rock, having nothing to relieve tU- bareness 

 of .its appearance but a niounUin-ash flourishing at the top. The grandeur of 

 its scenery is probably unrivalled in England. 



