They claim to be 'of royal descent'. [=they say that their ancestors were kings, queens, etc.]
The only path that goes down to the river is a rather steep 'descent', so be careful.
The book describes his 'descent' into a deep depression after the death of his wife.
(..) Did Marconi sleep before he turned on the radio? Did Beethoven sleep before he wrote the th? Did Bernoulli sleep before he found the curves of quickest descent? Rosie, I love this boy. Peter, tell us about yourself. Do you have a girlfriend? Well... I don't really know. (..)2004 Spider-Man 2