THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 125 



over wears, or hedges, or stops in the water, even to a height 

 beyond common belief. Gesner speaks of such places as are 

 known to be above eight feet high above water. And our Cam- 

 den mentions in his Britannia the like wonder to be in Pembroke- 

 shire, where the river Tivy falls into the sea ; and that the fall is 

 so downright, and so high, that the people stand and wonder at the 

 strength and sleight by which they see the salmon use to get out 

 of the sea into the said river ; and the manner and height of the 

 place is so notable, that it is known far by the name of the 

 salmon-leap : concerning which, take this also out of Michael 

 Drayton, my honest old friend, as he tells it you in his Poly- 

 olbion.* 



And when the salmon seeks a fresher stream to find. 

 Which hither from the sea comes yearly by his kind ; 

 As he towards season grows, and stems the wat'ry tract 

 Where Tivy, falling down, makes a high cataract, 

 Forc'd by the rising rocks that there her course oppose, 

 As though within her bounds they meant her to inclose ; 

 Here, when the laboring fish does at the foot arrive. 

 And finds that by his strength he does but vainly strive ; 

 His tail takes in his mouth, and bending like a bow 

 Thafs too full compass drawn, aloft himself doth throWf 

 Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand, 

 That bended end to end, and started from man's hand. 

 Far off itself doth cast ; so does the salmon vault : 

 And if at first he fail, his second summersault 

 He instantly essays ; and from his nimble ring. 

 Still yerking, never leaves until himself he fling 

 Above the opposing stream. 



* Michael Drayton, a highly esteemed poet of the Elizabethan age, who 

 from very early youth showed a strong tendency to learning and poetry ; 

 and published his principal pieces before he was thirty years old. His 

 first work had the title, " Idea : The Shepherd's Garland, fashioned in 

 nine Eclogues," being a collection of pastorals. He addressed a fulsome 

 piece of flattery, as a congratulatory poem, to James L, on his succession, 

 from which he does not appear to have reaped much profit. His greatest 

 work, his Poly-olbion, a poem in lines of twelve feet, first in eighteen 

 books, 1G12, and in thirty books, 1G2-2, is a topographical description of 

 England and Wales, and had the advantage of being illustrated with notes 

 by the celebrated Selden, then " the great dictator of learning to the Eng- 

 lish nation." The Poly-olbion, both text and notes, is invaluable to the 

 student of English antiquities, from its general accuracy and abundance of 



