ANCIENT ANGLING AUTHORS 205 



For ever flourish ; and thy vales look gay 



With painted meadows, and the golden grain ! 



Oft, with thy blooming song when life was new, 



Sportive and petulant, and charm'd with toys, 



In thy transparent eddies have I laved : 



Oft tried with patient steps thy fairy banks, 



With the well-imitated fly to hook 



The eager trout, and with the slender line 



And yielding rod sollicite to the shore 



The struggling panting prey ; while vernal clouds 



And tepid gales obscur'd the ruffled pool, 



And from the deeps call'd forth the wanton swarms. 



