54 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART i. 



sweetly from his pen as that river does at this time, by which it 

 was then made, I shall repeat it unto you : 9 



This day dame Nature l seem'd in love ; 

 The lusty sap began to move ; 

 Fresh 2 juice did stir th' embracing vines; 

 And birds had drawn their valentines. 



The jealous trout, that low did lie, 

 Rose at a well-dissembled fly ; 

 There stood my Friend, with patient skill, 

 Attending of his trembling quill. 



Already were the eves possest 

 With the swift pilgrim's daubed nest ; 

 The groves already did rejoice, 

 In Philomel's triumphing voice : 



The showers were short, the weather mild, 

 The morning fresh, the evening smil'd. 

 Joan takes her neat-rubb'd pail, and now, 

 She trips to milk the sand-red cow ; 



Where, for some sturdy football swain, 

 Joan strokes a syllabub or twain. 

 The fields and gardens were beset 

 With tulips, crocus, violet ; 



And now, though late, the modest rose 

 Did more than half a blush disclose. 

 Thus all looks 3 gay, and * full of cheer, 

 To welcome the new-livery'd year. 



These were the thoughts that then possessed the undisturbed 

 mind of Sir Henry Wotton. Will you hear the wish of another 

 Angler, and the commendation of his happy life, which he also 

 sings in verse : viz., Jo. Davors, Esq. ? * 



VARIATIONS. 



9 These verses occur in every edition of the Angler exactly as they are here printed, 

 but the following variations exist between them and the copy printed by Wotton in his 

 Religuite Wottonianee, p. 384, where they are entitled, " On a Bank as I sate a Fishing ; 

 a Description of the Spring." 



1 And now all Nature. 2 New. look'd. 



4 all. It can scarcely be doubted that the "Friend " alluded to was Izaak Walton. 



* John Davors, Esq., was the author of a poem entitled the Secrets of Angling, 

 teaching the choicest tools, baits, and seasons for the taking of any Fish in pond or 

 river, practised and familiarly opened in three books, by J. D., Esquire, I2mo, 1613, 

 augmented _ with many approved experiments, by W. Lauson, and reprinted in 1652. 

 Again reprinted from that edition by Triphook in 1811. The verses in the text have 

 been collated with the reprint, and the most important variations are shown in the notes. 

 The work was, however, entered on the books of the Stationers' Company as the pro- 

 duction of John Dennys, Esq. "1612, 23 Martij. Mr Roger Jackson entred for his 

 copie under thands of Mr Mason and Mr Warden Hooper, a booke called the Secrete of 

 Angling, teaching the choycest tooles, bates, and seasons for the taking of any Fish in 

 any pond or river, practised and opened in three bookes, by John Dennvs, Esquire." 

 It was dedicated to John Harboone, of Tackley in Oxfordshire, Esq., by "R- I.," who 

 states in the dedication that the author was dead. Fourteen lines " in due praise 

 of his praiseworthy skill and work," signed "Jo. Daves," are prefixed. 



