DOWN THE BECK 27 



the hook to the fishes' mouth." Without the 

 abundance of trout, which, according to Audubon, 

 characterised the river Sehigh in North America, 

 where he " was made weary with pulling up the 

 sparkling fish allured by the struggles of the common 

 grasshopper," the Beck possesses — what is more 

 grateful to the true angler — a fair amount of fish, 

 which it requires considerable skill to hook. The 

 local name, " beck," shows that it runs through a 

 country which was overrun by the Northmen, and 

 its character is not dissimilar to theirs. It has 

 none of the abrupt headlong manner of a pure 

 Keltic brook, overcoming all obstacles by sheer 

 persistent force, as seen in Wales, in the High- 

 lands, and in North Devon. Nor does it wind 

 along in slow, deep volume, like a Teutonic brook, 

 or the offshoot of a Dutch canal, bereft indeed of 

 all the lighter graces which adorn a beautiful 

 stream, but irresistible withal, and beneficent. It 

 rather unites the two characters, meandering with 

 crystal eddies and murmurous flow, 



" Kissing the gentle sedges as it glides," 



now circumventing a hillock that could not well be 

 sapped, and now, as befits the length of its course, 

 flowing silently, with full streams, through a croft 

 knee-deep in daisies and meadowsweet ; lovingly 

 cutting its sinuous S's through the sward, as Izaak 



