own
account sixty stone of fish from the very spot where the proprietors or
strangers had great difficulty in catching two or three stone or the
half-dozen fish, or the poachers would go and catch a yet greater
quantity. He added that gentry did not understand how to catch fish, and
that to attempt to preserve was nonsense. I told him that if the river
was flung open everybody would fish; he said that I was much mistaken,
that hundreds who were now poachers, would then keep at home, mind their
proper trades, and never use line or spear; that folks always longed to
do what they were forbidden, and that Shimei would never have crossed the
brook provided he had not been told he should be hanged if he did. That
he himself had permission to fish in the river whenever he pleased, but
never availed himself of it, though in his young time, when he had no
leave, he had been an arrant poacher.

The manners and way of speaking of this old personage put me very much in
mind of those of Morgan, described by Smollett in his immortal novel of
"Roderick Random." I had more discourse with him: I asked him in what
line of business he was, he told me that he sold coals. From his
complexion, and the hue of his shirt, I had already concluded that he was
in some grimy trade. I then inquired of what religion he was, and
received for answer that he was a Baptist. I thought that both himself
and part of his apparel would look all the better for a good immersion.
We talked of the war then raging--he said it was between the false
prophet and the Dragon. I asked him who the Dragon was--he said the
Turk. I told him that the Pope was far worse than either the Turk or the
Russian, that his religion was the vilest idolatry, and that he would let
no one alone. That it was the Pope who drove his fellow religionists the
Anabaptists out of the Netherlands. He asked me how long ago that was.
Between two and three hundred years I replied. He asked me the meaning
of the word Anabaptist; I told him; whereupon he expressed great
admiration for my understanding, and said that he hoped he should see me
again.

I inquired of him to what place the bridge led; he told me that if I
passed over it, and ascended a high bank beyond, I should find myself on
the road from Llangollen to Corwen and that if I wanted to go to
Llangollen I must turn to the left. I thanked him, and passing over the
bridge, and ascending the bank, found myself upon a broad road.