The Compleat ^Angler 



man was also a most dear lover, and a frequent practiser of the art of 

 angling ; of which he would say, " 'Twas an employment for his idle 

 time, which was then not idly spent : for angling was, after tedious 

 study, a rest to his mind, a cheerer of his spirits, a diverter of sadness, 

 a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, a procurer of 

 contentedness : and that it begat habits of peace and patience in 

 those that professed and practised it." Indeed, my friend, you will 

 find angling to be like the virtue of humility, which has a calmness 

 of spirit, and a world of other blessings attending upon it. 



Sir, this was the saying of that learned man, and I do easily 

 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 this description 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 river does at this time, by which it was then made, I shall 

 repeat it unto you : 



This day dame Nature seem'd in love ; 



The lusty sap began to move; 



Fresh juice did stir tk* embracing vines ; 



And birds had drawn 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 trembling quill ; 



Already were the eaves possessed 



With the swift pilgrim's daubed nest ; 



The groves already did rejoice 



In PhilomeFs triumphing voice, 



The showers were short, the weather mild. 



The morning fresh, the evening smiled. 



Joan takes her neat-rubbed pail, and now 

 She trips to milk the sand-red cow; 

 Where, for some sturdy foot-ball swain, 

 Joan strokes a syllahub or twain. 



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