190 THE COMPLETE ANGLER, PART I, 



And rajse mj lo\v-pitch'd thoughts above 



Earth, or what poor mortals love : 



Thui, free from law-suits and the noise 

 Of prince's courts, I would rejoice : 



Or with my Bryan *, and a took 

 Loiter long days near Shawford-brookt : 

 There, sit by him ; and eat my meat : 

 There, see the sun both rise and et : 

 There bid good morning to next day: 

 There meditate my time away ; 

 And angle on; and beg to have 

 A quiet passage to a welcome grave. 



\Vhen I had ended this composure, I left this place ,* 

 and saw a brother-of-the-angle sit under that honey? 

 suckle hedge, one that will prove worth your acquaint- 

 ance ; I sat down by him : and, presently, we met 

 with an accidental piece of merriment ; which I will re- 

 late to you, for it rains still. 



On the other side of this very hedge, sat a gang of 

 gypsies ; and near to them, sat a gang of beggars. The 

 gypsies were, then, to divide all the money that had 

 been got that week, either by stealing linen or poultry, 

 or by fortune-telling, or legerdemain, or indeed, by 

 any other sleights and secrets belonging to their myste- 

 rious government. And the sum that was got that week, 

 proved to be but twenty and some odd shillings, The 

 odd money was agreed to be distributed amongst the 

 poor of their own corporation : and for the remaining 

 twenty shillings, that was to be divided unto four gen- 

 tlemen gypsies, according to their several degrees in 

 their commonwealth. 



And the first or chiefest gypsy was, by consent, to 

 have a third part of the twenty shillings ; which all 

 men know is 6s. 8d. 



The second was to have a fourth part of the 20s. 

 which all men know to be 5s. 



* A friend conjectures this to be the name of hw favourite dog. 

 f Shawford if a place in Staffordshire. Spelman's Villare 



