254 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART II. 



by the way, I expect you should raise all the exceptions against 

 our country you can. 



VIAT. Nay, Sir, do not think me so ill-natured nor so un- 

 civil : I only made a little bold with it last night to divert you, 

 and was only in jest. 



Pise. You were then in as good earnest as I am now with 

 you : but had you been really angry at it, I could not blame 

 you ; for, to say the truth, it is not very taking at first sight. 

 But look you, Sir, now you are abroad, does not the sun shine 

 as bright here as in Essex, Middlesex, or Kent, or any of your 

 southern counties ? 



VIAT. 'T is a delicate morning indeed ! And I now think 

 this a marvellous pretty place. 



Pise. Whether you think so or no, you cannot oblige me 

 more than to say so; and those of my friends who know my 

 humor, and are so kind as to comply with it, usually flatter me 

 that way. But look you, Sir, now you are at the brink of the 

 hill, how do you like my river, the vale it winds through like a 

 snake, and the situation of my little fishing-house? 



VIAT. Trust me, 't is all very fine; and the house seems at 

 this distance a neat building. 



Pise. Good enough for that purpose. And here is a bowl- 

 ing-green too, close by it ; so, though I am myself no very good 

 bowler, I am not totally devoted to my own pleasure, but that 

 I have also some regard to other men's. And now, Sir, you 

 are come to the door ; pray walk in, and there we will sit and 

 talk, as long as you please. 



VIAT. Stay, what 's here over the door ? PISCATORIBUS SA- 

 CRUM ! * Why then I perceive I have some title here ; for I am 

 one of them, though one of the worst ; and here below it is the 

 cipher too you spoke of, and 't is prettily contrived. Has 



* There is, under this motto, the cipher mentioned in the title-page And 

 some part of the fishing-house has been described ; but the pleasantness of 

 the river, mountains, and meadows about it cannot, unless Sir Philip Sidney, 

 or Mr. Cotton's father, were again alive to do it. 



