DOVEDALE. 205 



" Cheerful, sage, and mild, 



Walton's discourse was like the honey balm, 

 Distilled along these waters wild. 



Smit with the love of angling he beguiled, 

 With his adopted son the hours away , 



Whilst Cotton owned the fondness of a child 

 For him, in whose glad company to stay, 

 Had made the whole year pass like one sweet month of May." 



Yes, the structure and general appurtenances are 

 still the same ; time has dealt most kindly with the 

 erection ; over the portal the immortal inscription, 

 " Piscatoribus Sacrum," remains still unobliterated ; 

 every disciple of the rod may with veneration read 



" His title clear to enter here." 



The Dove is noted for its blue transparency, hence 

 the name. Centuries since other waters were polluted 

 in comparison with the crystal stream of the Dove. 

 The renowned Cotton, the Minstrel of the Vale, thus 

 sweetly sings 



" Such streams Rome's Yellow Tiber cannot show ; 

 The Herian Tagus, or Ligurian Po, 

 The Maese, the Danube, and the Rhine, 

 Are puddle-water all compared to thine ; 

 And Loire's pure streams yet too polluted are 

 With thine much purer to compare ; 

 The rapid Garonne and the winding Seine, 



Are both too mean, 



Beloved Dove, with thee 



To vie priority ; 



Tame and Isis, when conjoined submit, 



And lay their trophies at thy silver feet." 



About Beresford, the scenery through which the 

 stream flows resembles much that of Dove-dale ; 

 Beresford-dale being a sort of miniature representa- 



