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THE RIVERS AND STREAMS
OF ENGLAND




AGENTS


AMERICA          THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
                   64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

AUSTRALASIA      THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
                   205 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE

CANADA           THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
                   ST. MARTIN'S HOUSE, 70 BOND STREET, TORONTO

INDIA            MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
                   MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
                   309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA

[Illustration]

[Illustration: THE DERWENT, HIGH TOR, MATLOCK, DERBYSHIRE]




THE
RIVERS & STREAMS
OF ENGLAND

PAINTED BY
SUTTON PALMER

DESCRIBED BY
A. G. BRADLEY

[Illustration: colophon]
PUBLISHED BY 4 SOHO SQUARE

ADAM AND CHARLES LONDON, W

BLACK MCMIX




PREFACE


Though this is not a book on angling, a life-long attachment to the
fly-rod on the part of the author, and to the delightful scenes into
which such predilections notoriously lead one, makes it at once more
difficult and more easy to write than if one were approaching the
subject as a stranger to the atmosphere, and merely to "write round" the
pictures Mr. Palmer has so admirably painted. But in my case it is by no
means only this. A predilection for British landscape in general, and
all that thereby hangs, has stimulated a far wider acquaintance with it
than any mere angling rambles could achieve, and resulted in the
publication of several books concerned with such things, and covering
more or less about twenty counties. I feel this explanation is
desirable, lest the note of intimacy with many far-sundered streams, in
allusion and otherwise, that must occur in these pages may be suspect.
The more so, as from the fascination of the Cook's ticket or what not,
comparatively few of my countrymen have any considerable knowledge of
their own land. The Rhine is certainly better known than the Wye, and
the Danube probably than the Severn.

But these very experiences made the first proposal to write a book,
other than a mere encyclopaedia, within a brief space on such a big
subject, seem almost hopeless. Rivers and streams from every direction,
by scores, came surging out upon the memory at the very thought of it,
in quite distracting fashion. It was finally agreed, however, that the
literary part of the book should take shape in a series of essays or
chapters dealing with the rivers mainly in separate groups or
water-sheds, leaving the proportions to my discretion. Capricious in a
measure this was bound to be. Selection was inevitable. It is not of
supreme importance. _Caeteris paribus_, and without diverging more than
necessary from the skilful illustrator, I have dealt more freely with
the rivers I know best, and also with those I hold to be more worthy of
notice. There are, of course, omissions, this book being neither a guide
nor an encyclopaedia, but rather a collection of descriptive essays and
of water-colour sketches covering, though necessarily in brief, most of
the groups. In this particular subject there is happily no need for
author and illustrator to keep close company in detail. What inspires
the pen, and in actual survey stirs the blood, is often unpaintable.
What makes a delightful picture, on the other hand, tells sometimes but
a dull tale in print. I have had to leave to the artist's capable brush,
owing to the necessary limitations of the letterpress, several subjects;
a matter, however, which seems to me as quite immaterial to the general
purport of the book, as it is unavoidable. But otherwise I think we run
reasonably together. At first sight the omission of the Thames in
description may seem outrageous. A moment's reflection, however, will, I
am sure, conduce to a saner view. Illustration is wholly another matter;
but to attempt ten or fifteen pages on that great and familiar river,
dealt with, too, in bulk and brief by innumerable pens, that could serve
any purpose or gratify any reader, seems to me a fatuous undertaking.
The Severn, on the other hand, as great, almost as important as the
Thames, and still more beautiful, is by comparison an absolutely unknown
river, and we have given it the first place.

A. G. B.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER I

                                                                    PAGE

THE SEVERN                                                             1

CHAPTER II

THE WYE                                                               39

CHAPTER III

THE CHALK STREAMS                                                     64

CHAPTER IV

