CHAPTER IV A DAY ON THE TEME THE OLD INN AT LEINTWARDINE DESCRIBED BY SIR HUMPHRY DAVY-THE RIVER TEEMING WITH GRAYLING-DRY FLY AS AGAINST WET FLY-THE DOWNTON CASTLE SCENERY DESCRIBED BY SIR H. DAVY-DR. JOHNSON'S OPINION ON ANGLING--dr. PALEY AN ANGLER "I was taken by a morsel, says the fish." GEORGE HERBERT, Jacula Prudentum. September, 1901. T is a pleasant surprise to me to find that I have, unknown to myself, been fishing on the banks of the Teme in the footsteps of Sir Humphry Davy, and to my shame be it said, for it is only recently that I have made myself acquainted with that delightful angling book, "Salmonia, or Days of Fly-Fishing, by an Angler." I know the old inn at Leintwardine very well, and I have in my possession a very pretty drawing of it on wood which was presented to me by Dr. Edward Hamilton (author of "The Riverside Naturalist," etc.) some years ago. I now, by his permission, give a reproduction of it. Dr. Edward Hamilton in his delightful book, "Fly-Fishing for Salmon, Trout, and Grayling," says: "No one can read Sir Humphry Davy's description of this fishing on the Teme without a longing desire to try his hand and visit such a valley and such a river." He adds that his "chief experience in this delightful sport has been on the Teme at Leintwardine, which I fished every September and October for sixteen years, and glorious sport it was." Here is what Sir Humphry Davy says of the inn: "SCENE―Leintwardine, near Ludlow. “ Halieus. You have reached your quarters. Here is your home—a rural, peaceable, and unassuming inn, with as worthy a host and hostess as may be found in this part of England. The river glides at the bottom of the garden, and there is no stream in England more productive of grayling.. |