1/4 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



angler; for when the lawyer is swallowed up with business, 

 and the statesman is preventing or contriving plots, then we 

 sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds sing, and possess our- 

 selves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams, 

 which we now see glide so quietly by us. Indeed, my good 

 scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler 6 said of straw- 

 berries, " Doubtless God could have made a better berry, 

 but doubtless God never did ; " and so, if I might be judge, 

 v God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recrea- 

 tion than angling." 



I '11 tell you, scholar, when I sat last on this primrose 

 bank, and looked down these meadows, I thought of them, 

 as Charles the Emperor did of the city of Florence, " that 

 they were too pleasant to be looked on, but only on holi- 

 days." As I then sat on this very grass, I turned my pre- 

 sent thoughts into verse : 'twas a wish, which I '11 repeat to 



you. 



THE ANGLER'S WISH. 



I in these flowery meads 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 my mind, 

 To see sweet dewdrops kiss these flowers, 

 And then wash'd off by April showers ; 



Here, hear my Kenna sing a song ; 



There, see a blackbird feed her young, 



Or a leverock build her nest ; 

 Here, give my weary spirits rest, 



