646 LITERATURE OF SEA AND RIVER FISHING. 



Then all his line he freely yeeldeth him, 

 Whilst furiously all up and downe doth swimme 

 Th' insnared Fish, here on the toppe doth scud, 

 There underneath the banckes, then in the mud ; 

 And with his franticke fits so scares the shole, 

 That each one takes his hyde or starting hole ; 

 By this the Pike cleane wearied, underneath 

 A Willow lyes, and pants (if Fishes breath), 

 Wherewith the Angler gently puls him to him ; 

 And least his hast might happen to undoe him 

 Layes downe his rod, then takes his line in hand, 

 And by degrees getting the Fish to land, 

 Walks to another Poole, at length is winner 

 Of such a dish as serves him for his dinner." 



We have already anticipated the Secrets of Angling, by 

 J. D., in Chapter III., for the reason there given ; and we will 

 now pass on to Phineas Fletcher a by no means poetical 

 name who published his Sicelides, a piscatory, in 1631, 

 and the Purple Island, " together with Piscatorie Eclogs," 

 in 1633. He is mentioned as "an excellent divine and an 

 excellent angler," by Walton, who also calls his Eclogues 

 " excellent " ; and Quarles speaks of him as " the Spenser 

 of this age." 



H. Vaughan, "the Silurist," also, in 1640, sings the 

 happiness of the contented angler : 



" On shady banks sometimes he lyes, 

 Sometimes the open current tyes, 

 Where with his line and feathered flye 

 He sports and takes the scaly fry." 



He also wrote some charming Latin verses on a salmon 

 which he caught himself, and sent to his friend Dr. 

 Powell. 



The song written by Dr. Donne in 1635, and quoted by 

 Walton, is worth reproducing : 



