4* 



I to the fable lent a list'ning ear, 

 And thus began ; when I both see and hear 

 The various arts of fishers, and survey 

 How they the fish deceitfully betray, 

 Eeflect I must with equal grief and truth ; 

 That the same arts deceive unwary youth, 

 The snares, of old for fish alone design'd, 

 Are now employ 'd to captivate mankindj 

 Man catches man, and by the bait betrays* 

 With proffer'd kindness, or, still cunning, lay* 

 Nets to entrap th' unwary, and embroils 

 Cities and towns to profit from the spoils. 

 For you, dear youths, soft pleasure lies in wait, 

 And hides her hook beneath a honey'd bait, 

 But all her treach'rous gifts will only gain 

 For a short joy a lasting load of pain. 

 Here when the bait allures the fish to taste 

 The transient pleasure of a sweet repast, 

 You see for this how dearly he must payj 

 Life is the purchase, and himself the prey. 

 Thus soft allurements serve to varnish o'er 

 The frauds of pleasure, unperceiv'd before ; 

 But if a youth is once inspir'd, he'll find 

 He cannot void the poison from his mindj 

 No more than could the fish when snar'd withdraw 

 The crooked steel from his tormented jawj 

 While lasting grief for short delights he gains, 

 Still rues his transient joys with ever-during pains, f 



* lt Think when thou seest the baite 



whereon is thy deiifie, 

 That hidden hookes are hard at hande 



to bane thee when thou bite." Turbervile. 



f- < Fyshe, hyghte pisces, and hathe that name of Pascendo, fedynge, 

 as Isodore sayth libro xii. ca. vi. Fyshe licketh the erthe and watry heroes, 

 &i 30 get they meete and nouryshynge. Also they benne called Reptilia, 



crepyng, 



