MR. POOLEY 3 



dishes, the principal one consisting of the fish he is 

 about to catch, with Izaak Walton's instructions 

 for cooking them. The miller generally puts on a 

 somewhat distressing smile on this occasion, as the 

 said dish of fish is rather addressed to the imagina- 

 tion than otherwise food for the mind alone. 

 Behold him now, seated on a spot which has long 

 borne his name (Mr. Pooley's Seat). The story runs, 

 that he once caught a pike there of five pounds ; 

 but the truth is, that the said pike was actually only 

 two pounds, but he added a pound to its weight 

 every passing year, because he said that the fish 

 would have gained as much had he lived up to the 

 present day of reckoning. This was a mode of 

 calculation that some even of his most intimate 

 friends could not assent to, but he was always per- 

 emptory on the subject. His person now being 

 fairly disposed on the bank, with his short and comely 

 legs dangling over the weir, he becomes deeply 

 intent upon his neatly painted float. On this his 

 longing eyes are bent. He sees but askance the 

 swallows that flit by him, and the willow that droops 

 over the pool he sees only his float. By Jupiter, it 

 bobs ! now is the decisive moment. Prompt and 

 energetic, he gives a scientific jerk, and up comes 

 the light line obedient. Is there the semblance of a 

 fish at the end of it ? O no, certainly not. What 

 then made the float move ? Who can say ? Perhaps 

 it was only a delusion of the optics brought on by a 

 sanguine temperament, or a slight ruffle occasioned 

 by the zephyrs that kissed thy Cockney waters, O 

 gently slumbering Lea ! You were excited, Mr. 



