" I NEVER wander where the borderiug reeds 

 O'erlook the muddy stream, whose tangling weeds 

 Perplex the fisher ; I, nor choose to bear 

 The thievish nightly net, nor barbed spear; 

 Nor drain I ponds, the golden Carp to take, 

 Nor trowle for Pikes, dispeoplers of the lake. 

 Around the steel no tortured worm shall twine, 

 No blood of living insect stains my line ; 

 Ijet me, less cruel, cast the feathered hock, 

 "With pliant rod, athwart the pebbled brook, 

 Silent along the mazy margin stray. 

 And with the fur-wrought fly delude the prey." 

 Gay. 



