THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 77 



And on the world and my Creator think : 



Whilst some men strive ill-gotten goods t' embrace, 

 And others spend their time in base excess 

 Of wine, or, worse, in war and wantonness. 



"Let them that list, these pastimes still pursue, 

 And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill, 



So I the fields and meadows green may view, 

 And daily by fresh rivers walk at will, 



Among the daisies and the violets blue, 

 Red hyacinth, and yellow daffodil, 



Purple narcissus like the morning rays, 



Pale gander-grass, and azure culver-keyes. 



" I count it higher pleasure to behold 



The stately compass of the lofty sky, 

 And in the midst thereof, like burning gold, 



The flaming chariot of the world's great eye ; 

 The watery clouds, that in the air up-rolled 



With sundry kinds of painted colors fly; 

 And fair Aurora, lifting up her head, 

 Still blushing, rise from old Tithonus' bed; 



" The hills and mountains raised from the plains, 

 The plains extended, level with the ground, 



The grounds, divided into sundry veins, 



The veins, enclosed with rivers running round : 



These rivers making way through Nature's chains 

 With headlong course into the sea profound ; 



The raging sea, beneath the valleys low, 



Where lakes and rills and rivulets do flow; 



"The lofty woods, the forests wide and long, 



Adorned with leaves, and branches fresh and green, 

 In whose cool bowers the birds with many a song 

 Do welcome with their quire the summer's Queen ; 



