ZTbomas ZTofc Stofcfcart 499 



So, Master, may you sing against each other, you two 

 good old anglers, like Peter and Corydon, that sang in 

 your golden age." 



And yet I doubt whether sedate Master Izaak, mind- 

 ful only of the peaceful delights of bottom-fishing, could 

 quite enter into the spirit of the following breezy and 

 stirring song, which I quote as a fair representative 

 example of Stoddart's angling muse : 



THE TAKING OF THE SALMON 



A birr! a whirr! a salmon's on, 



A goodly fish ! a thumper ! 

 Bring up, bring up the ready gaff, 

 And if we land him we shall quaff 

 Another glorious bumper! 

 Hark ! 'tis the music of the reel, 



The strong, the quick, the steady ; 

 The line darts from the active wheel, 

 Have all things right and ready. 



A birr! a whirr! the salmon's out, 



Far on the rushing river; 

 Onward he holds with sudden leap, 

 Or plunges through the whirlpool deep, 

 A desperate endeavour ! 

 Hark to the music of the reel ! 



The fitful and the grating ; 

 It pants along the breathless wheel, 

 Now hurried now abating. 



in 



A birr! a whirr! the salmon's off! 



No, no, we still have got him ; 

 The wily fish is sullen grown, 

 And like a bright imbedded stone, 

 Lies gleaming at the bottom. 



