THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 107 



Or on that bank, feel the west wind 

 Breathe health and plenty, please my mind 

 To see sweet dew-drops kiss these flowerSy 

 And then wash off by April showers: 



Here hear my Kenna sing a song. 



There see a blackbird feed her young. 



Or a leverock build her nest ; 

 Here give my weary spirits rest. 

 And raise my low-pitched thoughts above 

 Earth, or what poor mortals love : 



Thus free from law-suits, and the noise 



Of princes' courts, I would rejoice: 



Or with my Bryan and a book. 

 Loiter long days near Shawford -brook ;* 

 There sit by hi?n, and eat my meat. 

 There see the sun both rise and set ; 

 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. 



When I had ended this composurcj I left this place, and saw a 

 brother of the angle sit under that honeysuckle hedge, one that 

 will prove worth your acquaintance : I sat down by him, and 

 presently we met with an accidental piece of merriment, which 

 I will relate to you ; for it rains still. 



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

 near to them sat a gang of beggars. The gipsies were then to 

 divide all the money that had been got that week, either by steal- 

 ing linen or poultry, or by fortune-telling, or legerdemain, or 



from Select Musical Ayres and Dialogues, 1653, will be found in the 

 Appendix Fletcher, in his Poetical Miscellanies, heads his version of the 

 Psalm xlii., " which agrees with the tune of Like Hermit Poor ;'' but 

 that must have been Ferabosco's music. — Compiled by Am. Ed. 



* Shawford-brook is the name of that part of the river Sow, that runs 

 through the land which Walton bequeathed to the Corporation of Stafford 

 to find coals for the poor. The right of fishery attaches to the little es- 

 tate. Shawford, or Shallowford, is a liberty in the parish of St. Mary, 

 Stafford, though five miles distant from the town. Shawford-brook winds 

 beautifully through a narrow vale, and deserved Walton's commendation. — 

 Sir H. JVicholast Bryan was probably a favorite dog. flawkins 



