12 THE IDYL OF THE SPLIT-BAMBOO 



cheerer of his spirits, a diverter of sadness, a calmer 

 of unquiet thoughts, a Moderator of passions, a 

 procurer of contentedness, and that it begat habits 

 of peace and patience in those that profest and 

 practic'd it.' 



" Sir, this was the saying of that Learned man; 

 and I do easily believe that peace, and patience, and 

 a calm content did cohabit in the cheerful heart of 

 Sir Henry Wotton, because I know that when he was 

 beyond seventy years of age, he made this descrip- 

 tion of a part of the present pleasure that possest 

 him, as he sat quietly in a Summer's evening on a 

 bank a fishing; it is a description of the Spring, 

 which because it glided as soft and sweetly from his 

 pen, as that River does now by which it was then 

 made, I shall repeat it unto you: 



"This day dame Nature seem'd in love; 



The lustie sap began to move; 



Fresh juice did stir th' imbracing Vines, 



And birds had drawn their Valentines, 



The jealous Trout, that low did lye, 



Rose at a well dissembled flie ; 



There stood my friend with patient skill, 



Attending of his trembling quil. 



Already were the eaves possest 



With the swift Pilgrim's dawbed nest: 



The Groves already did rejoice, 



In Philomel's triumphing voice: 



The showers were short, the weather mild, 



The morning fresh, the evening smil'd. 



Joan takes her neat rub'd pail, and now 



She trips to milk the sand-red Cow; 



Where, for some sturdy foot-ball Swain, 



Joan strokes a Sillibub or twaine; 



