EXPERIENCES & REMINISCENCES. 85 



their nocturnal repose) was soon in the arms of that estimable 

 lady or gentleman known as Somnus what schoolboy is there 

 who does not know the lines from Horace ? 



Somnus agrestium 



Lenis virorum non humiles domos 



Fastidit, umbrosamque ripam. 



Which being freely rendered is 



Sleep knows no pride, 



It scorns not cots of village hinds, 



Nor shadow-trembling river side. 



Mr. Hopper must have given that alarum the stomach-ache 

 when winding it up that night, for punctually at 3-45 a.m. it 

 went off with an explosion like the siren fixed at Hewitt's Brewery. 

 Mr. Hopper was out of bed in an instant, but not so Witch- 

 dorter he was enjoying "a mortal good sleep," so Mr. 

 Hopper let him have ten minutes more before finally ejecting 

 him from his four-poster. The morning was a grand one, and no 

 time was wasted in getting to the river side and pulling down to 

 Dunham. The " Land o' Cakes " hole looked very tempting in the 

 early morning light, but the previous evening's determination to 

 fish it in the evening was adhered to, so it was somewhat 

 reluctantly left behind and the turn for Dunham Dubbs 

 reached. Bream were seen to be "priming" in a nice length 

 of water opposite the turnpost, so the boat was brought up, and 

 about 1 6 feet of water being found it was determined to give 

 this new water a trial. Some worms were soon put in for 

 ground bait and then two floats were quickly wending their 

 way down stream. Down went Witchdorter's float in a most 

 extraordinary manner very unlike the bite of a bream and 

 he was fast in a fish, which for a minute or so took him here, 

 there, and everywhere, but Witchdorter's stout rod quickly told 

 him that resistance was useless, and Mr. Hopper had the 

 pleasure of placing the net under a handsome perch of just 

 upon lib. in weight. It was then Mr. Hopper's turn a carp 

 bream, not a large one certainly, but of sufficiently takeable a 

 size to go into Charlie Cobb's supper pot, then a good eel or 

 two, a flounder or two, a dace, and an odd bream or two more, 

 and then they stopped biting, so after persevering a little 

 ' longer it was decided to drop the boat down to the " Dubbs," 



