240 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART I. 



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 prmy'r-book. now, shall b<3 my looking-glass, 

 In which 1 will adore sweet virtue's face. 

 Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace-ores, 

 No broken vows dwell here, nor pale-fac'd fers ; 

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

 And learn t'aflfecl an holy melancholy : 



And if contentment b a stranger then, 



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



Ven. 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 4. chap. 3.) commemorates the kind- 

 ness of his friend Verecundus, for lending him and his 

 companion a country-house ; because there they rested 

 and enjoyed themselves, free from the troubles of the 

 world: so, having had the like advantage, both by your 

 conversation and the art you have taught me, I ought 

 ever to do the like; for, indeed, your company and dis- 

 course have been so useful and pleasant, that, I may truly 

 say, I have only lived since I enjoyed them and turn'd 

 angler, and not before. Nevertheless, here I must part 

 with you ; here in this now sad place, where I was so 



(1) To the many short poems, abounding with fine moral sentiments, contained 

 in this book. I here add the following lines of Mr. Cow ley, translated from Mar. 

 tial, Lib. II. Epig. S3; which, far surpassing the original, exhibit a lovely 

 picture of contented mind ; and, for the manly spirit of independence that 

 breathe* in them, I have never yet seen equalled by any in our own language. 



Would you be free ? Tis yoor chief wish yoo say. 

 Come on I'll shew thee. friend, the certain way. 

 If to no feasts abroad thou lov'st to go, 

 Whilst bounteous God does bread at home bestow ; 

 If thou the goodness of thy cloaths dost prize 

 By thine own use, and not by others eye*; 

 If (only safe from weathers) thou caust dwell 

 In a small house, but a convenient shell ; 

 If thou, without a sigh, or golden wish, 

 Canst look upon thy beechcn bowl and dish ; 

 If in thy mind such power and greatness be, 

 The Persian king's a slave, eoropar'd with tbte. 



