COMMENDATORY VERSES. II 



Scorns his dull element, and springs 

 I' the air, as if his fins were wings. 



"Pis here that pleasures sweet and high 

 Prostrate to our embraces lie : 

 Such as to body, soul, or fame, 1 

 Create no sickness, sin, or shame : 

 Roses, not fenc'd with pricks, grow here, 

 No sting to the honey-bag is near : 

 But, what's perhaps their prejudice, 

 They difficulty want and price. 



An obvious rod, a twist of hair, 

 With 2 hook hid in an a insect, are 

 Engines of sport, 4 would fit 5 the wish 

 Of th' Epicure, and 6 fill his dish. 



In this clear stream let fall a grub ; 

 And, straight, take up a Dace or Chub. 

 I' the mud, your worm provokes a snig,* 

 "Which being fast, if it prove big,f 

 The Gotham folly will be found 

 Discreet, ere ta'en she 7 must be drown'd. 

 The Tench, physician of the brook, 

 In yon 8 dead hole expects your hook ; 

 Which having first your pastime been, 

 Serves then 9 for meat or medicine. 1 

 Ambush'd behind that root doth stay 

 A Pike, to catch, and be a prey. 

 The treacherous quill in this slow stream s 

 Betrays the hunger of a Bream. 2 

 And at 3 that nimble ford, no doubt, 

 Your false fly cheats a speckled 4 Trout. 



VARIATIONS. 



1 name. zd edit. 2 And. Ibid. 8 some. Ibid. 



* Emblems of skill. Ibid. 5 feed. Ibid. or. Ibid. 



7 it. //W. 8 that. Ibiii. 9 next. Ibid. 



1 The following lines here occur in the zd edition, but are omitted in all tho 

 others : 



" And there the cunning Carp you may 

 Beguile with paste ; if you'll but stay, 

 And watch in time, you'll have your wish, 

 For paste and patience catch this fish." 



2 These two lines are omitted in the zd edit. 3 i n ._ 2 rf e dit. 



* dappled. Ibid. 



* Snig, a term more generally applied to the small nine-eyed eel, commonly found 

 about the apron of an old weir, or in shallow parts of the river Lee, and forms the 

 amusement of sniggling to youthful Anglers. Eu. H. 



t " If it prove big" alludes to one of the stories told of the Wise Men of Gotham, a 

 facetious penny history much in circulation in the time of Walton. It is there related 

 that the men of Gotham, upon a Good Friday, after due consultation, collected all their 

 white herrings, red herrings, sprats, and salt fish, and cast the whole into a pond, in 

 order to secure a sufficient store of fi>h for the next Lent. In due time upon dragging 

 the pond, there was found only a very large eel, and it being suspected the same must, 

 by the size, have devoured the intended stock, it was concluded that such a voracious 

 monster ought to be destroyed, and, as a death-warrant, it was determined that it should 

 be put in another pond, in order that it might be drowned. Eu. H. 



