CHAPTER II 

 THE GRAYLING 



'Very pleasant and jolly after mid- April.' 



Walton. 



IFEAE that angling in England has too many digressions 

 for me. When I walked down the slope from Albnrgh Hall 

 ■one fair day on my way to try a cast at the grayling in the Ure, 

 my host remarked, ' We are walking down an old Eoman road, 

 a.nd the ford the Eomans crossed is where yon can begin to 

 ■cast.' 



It may seem inconceivable, bnt I lost sight of the grayling 

 and the attractive river that flows near Eipon and Ponntains 

 Abbey through one of the most beautiful and interesting parts 

 of England. I can imagine nothing more attractive than this 

 little grayling river near where I followed it at Eipon, one of the 

 finest old cathedral towns in England, where the ' Wakeman's 

 iorn' is still heard at eight o'clock. I saw it gleaming through 

 the arbours of verdure with their autumnal tints — a kaleidoscope 

 of colour. I saw it ia the open, and I left it to follow down its 

 little tributary, the SkeU, on which I found one of the most charm- 

 ing of all ruins in England, or any land, the abbey church of 

 Eountains. 



I fear I forgot aU about grayhng as I wandered among the 

 splendid ruins, the real history of England, but I came to myself 

 a while later when I reached Studley Eoyal, the seat of the Mar- 

 quis of Eipon, and saw the Ure, or one of its branches, murmur- 

 ing along through a veritable paradise of woodland and lawns. 

 As I stood on the rich green banks, bands of trout, and here and 

 i8 



