3/2 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



city prisons, he inscribed on the wall of his apartment 

 therein these affecting lines : 



A prison is a place of care, 

 Wherein no one can thrive ; 

 A touchstone sure to try a friend, 

 A grave for men alive. 



And to aggravate these his afflictions, he had a wife, whom 

 he appears to have tenderly loved, and of whom, in an ironi- 

 cal poem, entitled " The Joys of Marriage," he speaks thus 

 handsomely : 



Yet with me 't is out of season 



To complain thus without reason, 



Since the best and sweetest fair 



Is allotted to my share. 



But alas ! I love her so, 



That my love creates my woe ; 



For if she be out of humour, 



Straight displeased I do presume her, 



And would give the world to know 



What it is offends her so ; 



Or if she be discontented, 



Lord, how am I then tormented ! 



And am ready to persuade her, 



That I have unhappy made her ; 



But if sick, then I am dying, 



Meat and med'cine both defying. 



This lady, the delight of his heart and the partner of his 

 sorrows, he had the misfortune to lose, but at what period 

 of his life is not certain. 



We might flatter ourselves that his sun set brighter than 

 it rose, for his second marriage, which was with the Countes 

 Dowager of Ardglas, who possessed a jointure of fifteei 

 hundred a year, and survived him, might suggest a ho] 



