28 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



TO THE READERS 



OF 



MY MOST INGENIOUS FRIEND'S BOOK, "THE COMPLETE 



ANGLER." 



HE that both knew and writ the Lives of men, 

 Such as were once, but must not be again ; 

 Witness his matchless Donne and Wotton, by 

 Whose aid he could their speculations try : 

 He that conversed with angels such as were 

 Ouldsworth and Featley, each a shining star 

 Showing the way to Bedlam ; each a saint, 

 Compar'd to whom our zealots, now, but paint. 

 He that our pious and learn'd Morley knew, 

 And from him suck'd wit and devotion too. 

 He that from these such excellencies fetch'd, 

 That he could tell how high and far they reached ; 

 What learning this, what graces th' other had ; 

 And in what several dress each soul was clad. 

 Reader, this he, this fisherman comes forth, 

 And in these fisher's weeds would shroud his worth. 



Now his mute harp is on a willow hung, 

 With which, when finely touch'd and fitly strung, 

 He could friends' passions for these times allay, 

 Or chain his fellow-anglers from their prey. 

 But now the music of his pen is still, 

 And he sits by a brook watching a quill : 

 Where with a fixt eye, and a ready hand, 

 He studies first to hook, and then to land 

 Some trout, or pearch, or pike ; and having done, 

 Sits on a bank, and tells how this was won, 

 And that escap'd his hook, which with a wile 

 Did eat the bait, and fisherman beguile. 



