Anderdon, John Lavicount
"The river Dove, with some quiet thoughts on the happy practice of angling" by John Lavicount Anderdon is a pastoral angling travelogue in dialogue form written in the mid-19th century. It celebrates the River Dove and the contemplative pleasures of fishing, weaving topographical description with gentle religious reflection and tributes to Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton. The conversations of an Angler and a Painter lead readers through Derbyshire and Staffordshire, savoring scenery, poetry, and the sociable rituals of inns and riversides.The opening of this work follows an Angler who meets a Painter in Derby; after a hearty breakfast they walk toward Ashbourne and the Dove, talking of Walton, Cotton, the virtues of patience in angling, and cheerful morning devotions. They pass Brailsford and Spittle Hill, pause for sketches, praise local brooks and Tissington’s flowered wells, and admire Thorpe Cloud before a steep descent to Mill Dale and the narrow “wheelbarrow” bridge. There the Angler lands two trout, and the companions continue to Alstonfield’s King’s Head, where the host, Herbert Marsh, serves trout and ale and recounts Cotton’s generous character, his famed fishing-house at Beresford, and acquaintances like Colonel Lovelace and the architect Lancelot Rolston. The scene closes with fireside talk of books, portraits, and pastoral verse, setting a tone of friendship, hospitality, and quiet, devout recreation. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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