CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 139 



swallowed up with business, and the statesman is pre- 

 venting or contriving plots, we sit on cowslip banks, hear 

 the birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness 

 as the silver streams which we see glide by us. 



Art. I shall have the disorder badly, sir, I see I have 

 taken the infection already. 



Iza. I do rejoice thereat. Doubt not but that angling 

 is an art, and an art worth your learning nay, the 

 question is rather whether you be capable of learning it. 



Izaak's ward, Anne Evelyn, and Arthur, get upon a 

 fair footing; and before the curtain drops, the angler 

 delivers the following address. 



Iza. Never heed what he says, boy. Ee not diverted 



j ' j 



from the course of just and honest ambition. One day, 

 perhaps, you will be Lord Mayor but I fear, I cannot 

 reasonably ask my ward to wait till then. Let those who 

 have gained their ends, learn to be thankful those less 

 fortunate learn to bear their disappointment let yonder 

 gipsy get a plaster for his head, and learn to keep it out of 

 mischief for the future ; and now will I plant myself by 

 the stream of public opinion, and angle for your applause. 

 Let me but catch that, and ere I get behind the curtain 

 for the night, I will bestow upon you in exchange an old 

 angler's blessing. That every earthly happiness may 

 attend you, and, above all things, that the east wind may 

 never blow when you go a fishing, is the sincere wish 

 of the public's affectionate father and friend, IZAAK 

 WALTON. 



