ioo The Complete Angler 



venting or contriving plots, then we sit on cowslip- 

 banks, hear the birds sing, and possess ourselves in 

 as much quietness as these silent silver streams,, 

 which we now see glide so quietly by us. Indeed, 

 my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. 

 Boteler said of strawberries, " Doubtless God could 

 have made a better berry, but doubtless God never 

 did " ; and so, if I might be judge, God never did 

 make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than 

 angling. 



I'll tell you, scholar ; when I sat last on this 

 primrose-bank, and looked down these meadows, I 

 thought of them as Charles the emperor did of the 

 city of Florence : " That they were too pleasant to 

 be looked on, but only on holy-days ". As I then 

 sat on this very grass, I turned my present thoughts 

 into verse : 'twas a Wish, which I'll repeat to you : 



THE ANGLER'S WISH. 



I in these flowery meads would be : 

 These crystal streams should solace me ; 

 To whose harmonious bubbling noise 

 I with my Angle would rejoice : 

 Sit here, and see the turtle-dove 

 Court his chaste mate to acts of love : 



Or, on that bank, feel the west wind 

 Breathe health and plenty : please my mind, 

 To see sweet dew-drops kiss these flowers, 

 And then washed off by April showers : 

 Here, hear my Kenna sing l a song ; 

 There, see a blackbird feed her young, 



Or a leverock build her nest : 

 Here, give my weary spirits rest, 

 And raise my low-pitch'd thoughts above 

 Earth, or what poor mortals love : 

 Thus, free irom law-suits and the noise 

 Of princes' courts, I would rejoice: 



1 Like Hermit Poor. 



