ENGLISH POETS ON FISHING. 141 



land, &c., in 1834, under the title of "The Angler's Invita- 

 tion :"— 



" The wild bull his covert in Chillingham wood 



Has left, and now browses the daisy-strew'd plain ; 

 The May-fly and swallow are skimming the flood, 



And sweet in the hedge blooms the hawthorn again ; 

 The young lambs are skipping on Chcviofs broad mountain, 



The heather springs green upon Whiistm-bank side ; 

 The streams are as clear as the lime-stone rock fountain. 



And sweet is the palm-blossom's scent where they glide. 



Oh, leave for awhile the dull smoke of the city ; 



Sons of gain, quit your desks, and your ledgers lay by, 

 Seek health in the fields while each bird sings its ditty, 



And breathe the pure air underneath the broad sky ; 

 Sons of pleasure, come view the sweet primroses springing, 



Leave the scene where the light figurant^ whirls round ; 

 Come, list to the lark in the blue ether singing, 



Come, see how the deer in the green forest bound. 



The glad trout is roaming in every clear stream, 



And the grilse and the salmon now drink the May flood ; 

 Then, anglers, be up with the sun's early beam, 



Let your flies be in trim and your tackle be good ; 

 In Till there's good store of fat trouts to be won, — 



Let your skill load your creels as you wander along, — 

 And at night, as you tell of the feats you have done. 



Cheer your talk with a cup of good wine and a song." 



While among the angling poets of the north, who seem 

 to have been among the most enthusiastic of their tribe, 

 we may here mention, though a little out of chronological 

 order, the CJiaplets from Croquet-side, by Joseph Crawhall, 

 published in 1873. The following quaintly dainty little 

 bit would almost make worm-fishing allowable in the 

 crystal streams flowing from Parnassus itself: — 



" The flee's been sung in mony a strain. 

 The mennum owre an' owre again 



