ENGLISH POETS ON FISHING. 651 



recently paying a piscatorial visit to Shardlow, on' the 

 Trent) pronounce the o in Dove like the o in "rove," but 

 here Cotton makes "Dove" rhyme with "love," as ordi- 

 narily sounded. 



Another of Cotton's angling pieces begins with the 

 stanza 



" Away to the brook, 



All your tackle outlook ; 

 Here's a day that is worth a year's wishing. 



See that all things be right, 



For 'tis a very spight 

 To want tools when a man goes a-fishing." 



And further on we are hurried 



" Away, then away, 



We lose sport by delay ; 

 But first leave our sorrows behind us ; 



If misfortune do come, 



We are all gone from home, 

 And a-fishing she never can find us." 



Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eton College, another 

 intimate friend of Walton, and an ardent angler, discoursed 

 well both in prose and poetry of his favourite pastime. 

 Walton quoted him in the " First Day " and elsewhere. 

 Here are two pretty stanzas : 



" This day dame Nature seem'd in love ; 

 The lusty sap began to move ; 

 Fresh juice did stir th' embracing vines ; 

 And birds had drawn their valentines. 



u 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." 



The " Friend " was probably Walton. 



Though hardly to be called poetry, the following lines of 



