ENGLISH POETS ON FISHING. 661 



Straight as above the surface of the flood 

 They wanton rise, or, urged by hunger, leap 

 Then fix, with gentle twitch, the barbed hook ; 

 Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank, 

 And to the shelving shore slow dragging some, 

 With various hand proportion'd to their force." 



And now let us compare his description of the death of 

 a big trout, " the monarch of the brook," with the death of 

 the salmon in the passage from Gay just above. After 

 recommending that little fish, if caught, should be replaced 

 in their native element, he proceeds : 



" But should you lure 



From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 

 Of pendant trees, the monarch of the brook, 

 Behoves you then to ply your finest art. 

 Long time he, following cautious, scans the fly, 

 And oft attempts to seize it ; but as oft 

 The dimpled water speaks his jealous fear. 

 At last, while haply o'er the shaded sun 

 Passes a cloud, he desperate takes the death 

 With sullen plunge : at once he darts along, 

 Deep struck, and runs out all the lengthen'd line, 

 Then seeks the farthest ooze, the sheltering weed, 

 The cavern'd bank, his old secure abode, 

 And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool, 

 Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand, 

 That feels him still, yet to his furious course 

 Gives way, you, now retiring, following now, 

 Across the stream, exhaust his idle rage, 

 Till, floating broad upon his breathless side 

 And to his fate abandoned, to the shore 

 You gaily drag your unresisting prize." 



Both passages may be compared with a similar one from 

 Oppian, describing the death of a large anthia, in Chapter I. 



But we must go back a little chronologically, and mention 

 Whitney's Genteel Recreation (i/oo), the rhymes of which 



