242 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



in a meek and thankful heart. Which Almighty God grant to 

 me and to my honest Scholar ; and so you are welcome to Tot- 

 tenham High-Cross. 



Yen. Well, Master, I thank you for all your good directions ; 

 but for none more than this last of thankfulness, which I hope I 

 shall never forget. And pray let us now rest ourselves in this 

 sweet shady arbor, which nature herself has woven with her own 

 fine fingers; it is such a contexture of woodbines, sweetbrier, 

 jessamine, and myrtle, and so interwoven, as will secure us both 

 from the sun's violent heat, and from the approaching shower ; 

 and, being sat down, I will requite a part of your courtesies with 

 a bottle of sack, milk, oranges, and sugar ; which all put together 

 make a drink like nectar, indeed too good for anybody but us 

 anglers. And so, Master, here is a full glass to you of that 

 liquor ; and when you have pledged me, 1 will repeat the verses 

 which I promised you : it is a copy printed amongst some of Sir 

 Henry Wotton's, and doubtless made either by him, or by a lover 

 of angling.* Come, Master, now drink a glass to me ; and then 



* Though Walton speaks doubtingly of Sir Henry Wotton's being the 

 author of this spirited poem, he found it among Sir Henry's papers, and 

 published it among the Beliquue Wotfoniana, 1G51 (p. 390, editions 1G72, 

 1GS6). Sir Egerton Brydges, however, ascribes them to Sir Walter Ra- 

 leigh ; yet without any other ])lausible reason than that they have the sig- 

 nature Ignoto in the Jieliquice. But, as Hannah observes (Poems by Sir 

 Henri/ Wotton, Sir Walter Raleigh, and others): "It is evident, that 

 Walton placed the piece among the doubtful poems when he edited Rel. 

 Wotton., because he had no positive proof that Wotton wrote it, but it is 

 equally evident that he knew of no other claimant, from the expressions 

 he used about it when he wrote the Angler. If he could not establish 

 Wotton's claim, of course we cannctt, but Wotton certainly ought to have 

 the benefit of his editor's hesitation on the subject." The internal evi- 

 dence is decidedly in favor of Wotton over Raleigh, especially the last 

 couplet, 



" Which we may every year 



Find when we come fishing here.** 



As we know that it was Wotton's custom to spend his vacations each year 

 at his Fishing-house; and tliere is nothing in Raleigh's life which warrants 

 a supposition that such was his annual practice, though we would gladly 

 reckon one that had such " a brave soul," among the fraternity of anglers. 

 On the other hand, the scenery described, " Downs," " Meads," " Rocks," 



