178 ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 



follow the wrong Game, you then as soon as you can 

 may call them back to their possibly, you shall get sight of 

 default, obliging them to cast the Deere, and take what 

 about till they have undertaken especiall notts or markes you 

 the first Game. can from him so that as much 



as possible, you may know 

 him from any other Deere, 

 then at every default, as soone 

 as the hounds are in cry 

 againe, you shall make into 

 the hunted Deere and viewe 

 him, and if you find it to be a 

 fresh Deere, you shall rate the 

 Dogs and bring them back to 

 the default, and there make 

 them cast about againe, until 

 they have undertaken the first 

 hunted Deere. 



During the early part of the eighteenth century 

 various poems were published treating more or less 

 of the art of angling : from amongst these I have 

 selected the following extracts from Rural Sports. 

 A Poem inscribed to Mr Pope. By Mr Gay. 

 Agrestem tenui Musatn meditabor Avena. Virg. . . . 

 London, 1713. This poem commences: 



You, who the Sweets of Rural Life have known, 

 Despise th' ungrateful Hurry of the Town ; 

 'Midst Windsor Groves your easie Hours employ, 

 And, undisturb'd your self and Muse enjoy. 



Now did the Spring her Native Sweets diffuse, 

 And feed the chearful Plains with wholesome Dews ; 

 A kindly Warmth th' approaching Sun bestows 

 And o'er the year a verdant Mantle throws ; 

 The jocund Fields their gaudiest Liv'ry wear, 

 And breathe fresh Odours through the wanton Air ; 



