40 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART i. 



angling and temperance were great causes of these blessings, 

 and I wish trie-like to all that imitate him, and love the memory 

 of so good a man. 



My next and last example sin 11 ho. that nnH^r-vaJ'ipr o f 

 money r the late provosl of Ftnn Collegg^ir Henry^Votton a 

 man with whom I have often fighed_and convel3ted T a man 

 whose foreign employments in the service of this nation, and 

 wnose experience, learning, wit, and cheerfulness, made his 

 company to be esteemed one of the delights of mankind: this 

 man, whose very approbation of angling were sufficient to 

 convince any modest censurer of it, this man was also a most 

 dear lover, and a frequent practiser of the art of angling; of 

 which he would say, "'Twas an employment for his idle time, 

 which was then not idly spent:" for angling was, "after tedious 

 study, a rest to his mind, a cheerer of his spirits, a diverter of 

 sadness, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, 

 a procurer of contentedness:" and "that it begat habits of 

 peace and patience in those that professed and practised it." 



Indeed, rmTlnrnrlj ynn will find nr>|r|{nfr to frfi hlrp tTTp yirfnp of 



Juimility, which has a calmness Qf spirit) and R wnrlH o f other 

 blessings attending upon it. Sir, this was the saying of that 

 learned man! 



And I do easily believe, that peace and patience, and a calm 

 content, did cohabit in the cheerful heart of Sir Henry Wotton ; 

 because I know^tliat^vvhen he was beyond seventy^ years of age, 

 he made this description of a part ofthe_ present pleasure that 

 possessed him, as he sat quietly in a summer's evening^ on 

 a bank a-fishing. It is a description of the spring; which 

 because it glided as soft and sweetly from his pen, as that river 

 does at this time, by which it was then made, I shall repeat it 

 unto you: 



<: This day dame Nature seem'd in love; 



Tiie lusty sap began to move ; 

 ^ Fresh juice did stir th' embracing vines; 

 \A J* And birds had drawn their valentines 



U \]^ (f The J ealous trout, that low did lie, 



Rose at a well-dissembled fly ; 



