ANIMALS OF TO-DAY 131 



of sadness, a procurer of contentedness," as said 

 Sir Henry Wotton. 



But now, alas ! I am beginning to realize that 

 these are but " the phantoms of hope, 3 ' never to 

 be realized ; and yet, in one sense, I may regard 

 myself as a mere youth when I compare my age 

 with that of "the good old man," Dr. Nowell, once 

 Dean of St. Paul's, who attained the age of ninety- 

 five. " His age neither impaired his hearing, nor 

 dimmed his eyes, nor weakened his memory, nor 

 made any of the faculties of his mind weak and 

 useless." Now, this good old man, says Walton, 

 " spent a tenth part of his time in angling, and it 

 is said that angling and temperance were great 

 causes of these blessings." 



Izaak Walton says of that "undervaluer of 

 money," Sir Henry Wotton, that when he was 

 beyond seventy years he made this description of 

 a part of the pleasure which possessed him, as 

 he sat quietly on a summer's evening on a bank 

 a-fishing, from which I quote the two first verses, 

 although I know that they are familiar to all 

 anglers 



" This day Dame Nature seemed to love : 

 The lusty sap began to move ; 

 Fresh juice did stir th' embracing vines, 

 And birds had drawn their valentines. 



" The jealous trout that low did lie, 

 Rose at the well-dissembled fly ; 

 There stood my friend with patient skill, 

 Attending of his trembling quill." 



