THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 215 



drink like nectar ; indeed, too good for any body but us anglers. 

 And so, master, here is a full glass to you of that liquor ; and, 

 when you have pledged me, I will repeat the verses which I 

 promised you : it is a copy printed amongst some of Sir Henry 

 "VVotton's, and doubtless made either by him or by a lover of 

 angling. Come, master, now drink a glass to me, and then I 

 will pledge you, and fall to my repetition ; it is a description 

 of such country recreations as I have enjoyed since I had the 

 happines-s to fall into your company. 



Quivering fears, heart-tearing cares, 

 Anxious sighs, untimely tears, 



Fly, fly to courts, 



Fly to fond worldlings' sports, 

 Where strain'd Sardonic smiles* are glosing still, 

 And grief is forced to laugh against her will 



Where mirth's but mummery, 



And sorrows only real be. 



Fly from our country pastimes, fly, 

 Sad troops of human misery. 



Come, serene looks, 



Clear as the crystal brooks, 

 Or the pure azured heaven that smiles to see 

 The rich attendance on our poverty j 



Peace and a secure mind, 



Which all men seek, we only find. 



Abused mortals ! did you know 



Where joy, heart's ease, and comforts grow, 



You 'd scorn proud towers, 



And seek them in these bowers ; 



Where winds, sometimes, our woods perhaps may shake, 

 But blustering care could never tempest make, 



Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us, 



Saving of fountains that glide by us. 



Here 's no fantastic mask nor dance, 

 But of our kids that frisk and prance ; 



Nor wars are seen, 



Unless upon the green 



Two harmless lambs are butting one the other, 

 Which done, both bleating run, eaeh to his mother ; 



And wounds are never found, 



Save what the ploughshare gives the ground. 



Here are no entrapping baits, 

 To hasten too, too hasty fates, 



Unless it be 



The fond credulity 



* Feigned, or forced smiles, from the word Sardqn, the name of an herb, 

 resembling smallage, and growing in Sardinia, which being eaten by men, 

 contracts the muscles, and excites laughter, even to death. Vide Erasmi 

 Adagiu tit. fiisut. 



