THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 217 



I would be wise, but that I often see 



The fox suspected, whilst the ass goes free 



I would be fair, but see the fair and proud, 



Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud 



I would be poor, but know the humble grass 



Still trampled on by each unworthy ass, 



Rich, hated wise, suspected scorn'd, if poor 



Great, fear'd .fair, tempted high, still envied more: 

 I have wish'd all ; but now I wish_for neither, 

 Great, high, rich, wise, nor fair, poor I '11 be rather. 



Would the world now adopt me for her heir 



Would beauty's queen entitle me the fair 



Fame speak me fortune's minion could I " vie 



Angels " with India* with a speaking eye 



Command bare heads, bow'd knees, strike justice dumb, 



As well as blind and lame, or give a tongue 



To stones by epitaphs be called " great master," 



In the loose rhymes of every poetaster - 



Could I be more than any man that lives, 



Great, fair, rich, wise, all in superlatives, 



Yet I more freely would these gifts resign, 



Than ever Fortune would have made them mine, 



And hold one minute of this holy leisure 



Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure ! 



Welcome, pure thoughts ! welcome, ye silent groves ! 

 These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves ! 

 Now, the wing'd people of the sky shall sing 

 My cheerful anthems to the gladsome spring : 

 A prayer-book, now, shall be my looking-glass, 

 In which I will adore sweet virtue's face. 

 Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace cares, 

 No broken vows dwell here, nor pale-faced fears ; 

 Then here I '11 sit, and sigh my hot love's folly, 

 And learn t' affect a holy melancholy : 



And if contentment be a stranger, then, 



I '11 ne'er look for it, but in heaven again. 



Venator. Well, master, these verses be worthy to keep a 

 room in every man's memory. I thank you for them ; and I 

 thank you for your many instructions, which (God willing) I 

 will not forget. And as St Austin, in his Confessions, (book 



* An angel is a piece of coin, value ten shillings. The words to " vie 

 angels" are a metonomy, and signify to " compare wealth." In the old 

 ballad of The Beggar's Daughter of Uethnal Green, a competition of this 

 kind is introduced : a young knight, about to marry the beggar's daughter, 

 is dissuaded from so unequal a match by some gentlemen, his relations, 

 who urge the poverty of her father ; the beggar challenges them to " drop 

 angels" with him, and fairly empties the purses of them all. 



The neighbourhood of Bethnal Greeu is seldom without a public house 

 with a sign representing the Beggar, and the dissuaders of the match, 

 dropping gold ; the yourig woman, and the knight, her lover, standing 

 between them. 



