BEST'S ART OF ANGLING. 



1. 



The flood's Queen, Thames, for ships and swans is 

 crown'd, 



And stately Severn for her shore is prais'd ; 

 The chrystal Trent for fords and fish renown'd, 



And Avon's fame to Albion's cliffs is rais'd : 



Carlegion Chester vaunts her holy Dee : 

 York many wonders of her Ouse can tell: 



The Peak her Dove, whose banks so fertile be, 

 And Kent will say, her Medway doth excel, 



3. 



Cots wold commands her Isis to the Tame : 



Our northern borders boasts of Tweed's fair floods 



Our western parts extol their Willy's fame, 

 And the old Lea brags of the Danish blood. 



But let me return to the Thames, of which, 

 and the rivers that fall into it, I shall treat some- 

 what particularly, as they are more the seat for 

 the diversion of angling than any others. The 

 higher an angler goes up the Thames, if within 

 about forty miles, the more sport, and the grea- 

 ter variety of fish he will meet with ; but as few- 

 Londoners go far from home, I shall mention 

 the best places for Thames angling from London 

 Bridge to Chelsea. 



But before I proceed any farther on this sub-" 

 ject, it will be necessary to lay down some rules 

 which the angler must attend to. 



If the air is cold, and raw, the wind high, the 

 water rough, or if the weather is wet, it is totally- 

 useless to angle in the Thames. 



But when the sky is serene, the air temperate, 

 and the water smooth, success will attend you. 



