REFLECTIONS. 32? 



which so many of my acquaintances have 

 suffered, I owe it rather to the constant em- 

 ployment of a laborious profession, and to 

 the exertions called for by the hopes, wants, 

 and wishes of a rising family, than to any 

 merits of my own, either moral or constitu- 

 tional. For my health, I may thank my 

 ancestors, after my God, and I have not 

 squandered what was so bountifully given; 

 and though I do not expect, like our arch- 

 patriarch, Walton, to number ninety years 

 and upwards, yet, I hope, as long as I can 

 enjoy in a vernal day the warmth and light 

 of the sunbeams, still to haunt the streams 

 following the example of our late venerable 

 friend, the President of the Royal Academy*, 

 in company with whom, when he was an 

 octogenarian, I have thrown the fly, caught 

 trout, and enjoyed a delightful day of angling 

 and social amusement, in the shady green 

 meadows by the bright clear streams of the 

 Wandle. 



* Benjamin West. 



