It is placed in a small valley, through which winds and leaps down many a rocky fall, a clear, babbling, noisy rivulet, that affords excellent sport to the brethren of the angle.

Thither, accordingly, in the summer season occasionally resort the Waltons of the neighbourhood--young farmers, retired traders, with now and then a stray artist, or a roving student from one of the universities.

Hence the solitary hostelry of A----, being somewhat more frequented, is also more clean and comfortable than could reasonably be anticipated from the insignificance and remoteness of the village.
At a time in which my narrative opens, the village boasted a sociable, agreeable, careless, half-starved parson, who never failed to introduce himself to any of the anglers who, during the summer months, passed a day or two in the little valley.

The Rev.Mr.Caleb Price had been educated at the University of Cambridge, where he had contrived, in three years, to run through a little fortune of L3500.

It is true, that he acquired in return the art of making milkpunch, the science of pugilism, and the reputation of one of the best-natured, rattling, open-hearted companions whom you could desire by your side in a tandem to Newmarket, or in a row with the bargemen.