104 THE COMPLETE AKGLEK. PART I. 



venting or contriving plots, then we sit on cowslip-banks, 

 hear the birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much 

 quietness as these silent silver streams, which we now see 

 glide so quietly by us. Indeed, my good scholar, we may 

 say of angling, as Dr. Boteler 1 said of strawberries, 

 " Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but 

 doubtless God never did ;" and so, (if I might be judge,) 

 " God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent re- 

 creation than angling." 



I'll tell you, scholar ; when I sat last on this primrose- 

 bank, and looked down these meadows, I thought of 

 them as Charles the emperor did of the city of Florence : 

 " that they were too pleasant to be looked on, but only 

 on holy-days." As I then sat on this very grass, I turned 

 my present thoughts into verse : 'twas a TPi'sA, which I'll 

 repeat to you.* 



THE ANGLER'S WISH. 



I in these flower j meads would be : 

 These crystal streams should solace me ; 

 To whose harmonious bubbling noise 

 I with my angle wonld rejoice : 

 Sit here, and see the turtle-dove 

 Court his chaste mate to acts of lore : 



Or, on that bank, feel the west wind 

 Breathe health and plenty: please my mind, 

 To see sweet dew-drops kiss these flowers. 

 And then washed off by April showers : 

 Like Her- Here, hear my Kenna sing* a sons* ; 



mit poor. There, sec a blackbird feed her youog, 



(1) The person here mentioned I take to be Dr. William Butler, an eminent 

 physiciau or our author's time, styled by Fuller, in his Worthies, Suffolk, 67, 

 the Aesculapius of the age: he invented a medical drink, called " Dr. Butler's 

 Ale," which, if not now, was a very few years ago sold at certain houses in 

 London, that had his head for a sign. One of these was in Ivy-lane, aud ano- 

 ther in an alley leading from Coleman-slreet to Basinghall- street. He was a 

 great humourist; a circumstance in his character which, joined to his reputa- 

 tion for skill in his profession, might contribute to render him popular. 



(2) We have here little less thau Walton's own word for it, that the follow- 

 ing beautiful Stanzas are of his writing. That he had in his mind a vein of 

 poetry, is noted in our Life, of him; to which let me add, that the name of his 

 supposed mistress, " Kenna," seems clearly to be formed from the maiden- 

 name of his wife, which was KEN. 



(3) We see, by the Author's reference to the margin, that he wishes to hear 

 Kenoa, his mistress, sing the song " Like Hermit poor." This soni, was set 



