FISHES. 51 



hear the twittering of the water-birds, who, 

 alarmed at your approach, rapidly hide them- 

 selves beneath the flowers and leaves of the water- 

 lily ; and, as the season advances, to find all 

 these objects changed for others of the same kind, 

 but better and brighter, till the Swallow and the 

 Trout contend, as it w^ere, for the gaudy May -fly, 

 and til], in pursuing your amusement in the calm 

 and balmy evening, you are serenaded by the 

 songs of the cheerful Thrush and melodious 

 Nightingale, performing the offices of paternal 

 love, in thickets ornamented with the rose and 

 woodbine."* 



THE ANGLER'S SONG. 



Merry in the greenwood is the note of horn and hound. 



And dull must be the heart of him that leaps not to their sound ; 



Merry from the stubble whirrs the partridge on her wing, 



And blithely doth the hare from her shady cover spring : 



But merrier than horn or hound, or stubble's rapid pride. 



Is the sport, that Ave court, by the gentle river side. 



Our art can tell the insect tribe that every month doth bring. 



And with a curious wile we know to mock its gauzy wing ; [leap, 



We know what breeze will bid the Trout through the curling waters 



And Ave can surely Avin him from shalloAV or from deep ; 



For every cunning fish can Ave a cunning bait provide, 



In the sport, that Ave court, by the gentle river side. 



Where may aa'c find the music like the music of the stream ? 

 What diamond like the glances of its eA'er-changing gleam ? 

 What couch so soft as mossy banks, where through the noontide hours 

 Our dreamy heads are pilloAved on a hundred simple flowers ? 

 While through the crystal stream beneath Ave mark the fishes glide, 

 To the sport, that Ave court, by the gentle river side. 



For us the lark Avith upland voice the early sun doth greet ; 



And the nightiugale from shadowy boughs her vesper h3Tnn repeat ; 



For us the pattering shoAver on the meadoAv doth descend ; 



And for us the flitting clouds with the sudden sunbeams blend : 



All beaut}', joy, and harmony, from morn to eventide. 



Bless the sport, that Ave court, by the gentle river' side.f 



* Salmonia, p. 8. f NeAV Sporting Mag. v. 20. 



