The diary of the Reverend Francis Kilvert has been hailed as one of the most interesting and entertaining ever written. It is a quiet, ambulatory work, bland at times, sentimental. On Monday May 21st, 1872, he sits at his bedroom window "with the window open towards Jerusalem in the early beautiful May morning, the nightingale was singing and a cuckoo was calling, a cushat was cooing, and a turtle dove was trilling." It is all set in the county of Wiltshire and along the Welsh border. Sometimes, you might think, there is a touch of devilment behind the smooth observation and commentary. There is an apparently simple descriptive talent at work, as in this account of a salmon being caught. But is there a non sequitur or an oblique dig in the tail of the story?
"Monday, 4 July, 1872: We came to a bank above the Wye where a group of men were standing, looking across the river. A man was standing near the further shore up to his knees in water, salmon fishing. A gentleman was on the bank close by, watching him. We stopped to look and the men told us that that the man fishing was the keeper of Mr Bulten of Llangoed, and the gentleman watching him was Mr Bulten himself. The keeper had been fishing about 10 minutes when we saw the top of the long rod suddenly bend and at the same time heard the sharp clicking of the reel as the line flew out. A salmon was hooked and as the keeper drew him in, we saw the fish leap shining in the air, plunge heavily, and lash the water fiercely with his tail . . . At last he was near the bank. The keeper gave his master the rod, waded back into the river and seized the salmon by the tail. Then the great fish burst away from him, but was seized again immediately and brought to land . . .
"The men around us said he was not less than 25 pounds. Mr Bulten knocked him on the head with great gusto and then proceeded to weigh him with a pocket steelyard. We were in the very lap of luck to arrive at that time for Jones had never seen a salmon killed, and particularly asked to witness a catching of one. The salmon was splendidly played and landed within 10 minutes from the time he was hooked.
"Alluding to Mr Bulten, who was at the moment vigorously knocking the salmon on the head across the river, one of the men said, addressing Pope [a curate]: `I don't know whether I ought to speak of it to you, Sir. You'll excuse my mentioning it, but that old gentleman has had five wives." Y