A DAY ON THE LEA III 



his angling doings. It was under a honeysuckle 

 hedge on the banks of the Lea that he talked 

 to his scholar of the pleasures he had there 

 found. 



"Look, under that broad beach-tree, I sat down 

 when I was last this way a-fishing and the birds 

 in the adjoining grove seemed to have a friendly 

 contention with an echo, whose dead voice 

 seemed to live in a hollow tree, near to the 

 brow of that primrose hill : there I sat viewing 

 the silver streams glide silently towards their 

 centre, the tempestuous sea; yet sometimes 

 opposed by rugged roots and pebble stones, 

 which broke their waves and turned them into 

 foam ; and sometimes I beguiled time by view- 

 ing the harmless lambs, some leaping securely 

 in the cool shade, whilst others sported them- 

 selves in the cheerful sun ; and saw others 

 craving comfort from the swollen udders of 

 their bleating dams. As I thus sat these and 

 other sights had so fully possessed my soul with 

 content, that I thought, as the poet has happily 

 expressed it 



I was for that time lifted above earth, 

 And possess'd joys not promised in my birth.' " 



Presently we come to Hoddesdon, where was 

 the " Thatch t- House," where "Venator" pro- 

 posed to " drink his morning draft." " A cottage 

 at the northern extremity of the town is pointed 



