260 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i. 



Welcome, pure thoughts ! Welcome ye silent groves ! 

 These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves. 

 Now the uring'd people of the sky shall sing 

 My cheerful anthems to the gladsome spring : 

 A pray'r-boo/c now, shall be my looking-glass, 

 In which I will adore sweet virtue's face. 

 Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace-cares, 

 No broken vows dwell here, nor pale-fac'd fears : 

 Then here I'll sit, and sigh my hot love's folly, 

 And learn t' affect an holy melancholy : 



And, if Contentment be a stranger, — then 

 I'll ne'er look for it, but in heaven again. 



Yen. Well, Master, these verses be worthy to 

 keep a room in every man's memory. I thank you 

 for them ; and I thank you for your many instruc- 

 tions, which, God willing, I will not forget. And as 

 St. Austin in his Confessions, book iv. chap. 3, com- 

 memorates the kindness of his friend Verecundus, 

 for lending him and his companion a country-house, 

 because there they rested and enjoyed themselves 

 free from the troubles of the world ; so, having had 

 the like advantage, both by your conversation and 

 the Art you have taught me, I ought ever to do the 

 like : for indeed, your company and discourse have 

 been so useful and pleasant, that I may truly say, I 

 have only lived since I enjoyed them and turned 

 Angler, and not before. Nevertheless, here I must 

 part with you, here in this now sad place, where I 

 was so happy as first to meet you : but I shall long 



