42 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



believe that peace, and patience, and a calm content, did cohabit 

 in the cheerful heart of Sir Henry Wotton, because I know that 

 when he was beyond seventy years of age, he made ihis descrip- 

 tion of a part of the present pleasure that possessed him, as he 

 sat quietly in a summer's evening on a bank a fishing ; it is a 

 description of the spring, which, because it glided as soft and 

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

 was then made, 1 shall repeat it unto you. 



This day dame JVature seem'd in love: 



The lusty sap began to move ; 



Fresh juice did st^r th' embracing vines. 



And birds had draicn 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 trimbling quill. 



A/ready icere the eaves possest 



H'ith the swift pilgrim's daubed nest : 



The groves already did rejoice. 

 In PhilomeVs triumphing voice: 



The showers were short, the weather mild. 



The ynorning fresh, the evening smil'd. 

 Joan takes her neat ruhVd pail, and now 



She trips to milk the sand-red cow ; 



Where, for some sturdy foot-ball swain, 

 Joan strokes a syllabub or twain. 



The fields and gardens icere beset 



With tulips, crocus, viol ft ; 



And now, though late, the modest rose, 



Did more than half a blush disclcse. 



Thus all looks 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 

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

 sings in verse ? viz., Jo. Davors, Esq.j 



* Walton, doubtless, is the friend here spoken of. 



f John Dennys, not Jo. Davors. See my notice of his " Secrets of 

 An'^ling," Bib. Tref. As usual, Walton has, from a slip of memory, or 

 more probably from design, varied the lines, as he puts for " Trent and 



