THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 95- 



2$c Angler's 



I in these flowery ineads would be : 

 These crystal streams should solace me ; 

 To whose harmonious bubbling noise 

 I with my angle would rejoice, 



Sit here, and see the turtle dove 



Court his chaste mate to acts of love : 



Or, on that bank, feel the west wind 

 Breathe health and plenty : please ray mind, 

 To see sweet dewtlrops kiss these flowers, 

 And then wash'd off by April showers ; 



Here, hear my Kenna* sing a song ; a [ a "Like Hermit Poor. 1 ']; 



There, see a blackbird feed her young, 



Or a leverock build her nest : 

 Here, give my weary spirits rest, 

 And raise my low-pitch' d thoughts above 

 Earth, or what poor mortals love : 



Thus, free from lawsuits and the noise 



Of princes' courts, I would rejoice ; 



Or, with my Bryanf and a book, 

 Loiter long days near Shawford brook ;J 

 There sit by him, and eat my meat ; 

 There see the sun both rise and set ; 

 There bid good morning to next day ; 

 There meditate my time away ; 



And angle on, and beg to have 



A quiet passage to a welcome grave. 



^ 



beautiful stanzas are of his writing. That he had in his mind a vein of poetry 

 is noted in our life of him ; to which let me add, that the name of his supposed 

 mistress, " Kenna," seems clearly to be formed from the maiden-name of his 

 wife, which was Ken. H. 



* We see, by the author's reference to the margin, that he wishes to hear 

 Kenna, his mistress, sing the song, " Like Hermit Poor." This song was set to 

 music by Nich. Laneare, an eminent master of Walton's time. 



There is no doubt that this song was (and probably with Mrs. Walton) a 

 favourite one ; for, some years after the Restoration, the three first words of it 

 were become a phrase. The affected writer of the " Life of the Lord Keeper 

 Guildford," page 212 of that book, speaking of Sir Job Charleton, then chief- 

 justice of Chester, says, he wanted to speak with the king ; and went to White- 

 hall ; where, returning from his walk in St. James's-park, he must pass ; and 

 there he sat him down " like hermit poor." H. 



f A friend conjectures this to be the name of his favourite dog. H. 



t Shawford -brook, part of the river Sow, running through the very land 

 which Walton bequeathed in his will to the corporation of Stafford to find coals 

 for the poor; the right of fishery in which attaches to this little estate. The 

 house, described by Walton in his will , is now divided . The brook is a beautiful 

 winding stream, and the situation such as would be likely to create admiration 

 in a mind like Walton's. H. 



