112 ANGLING. 



Bays, gulfs, and ocean's Indian width, shall be, 

 Till the world perishes, a field for thee ! 



While musing here I sit in shadow cool, 



And watch these mute companions in the pool, 



Among reflected boughs of leafy trees, 



By glimpses caught disporting at their ease 



Enlivened, braced, by hardy luxuries, 



I ask what warrant fixed them (like a spell 



Of witchcraft, fixed them) in the crystal cell ; 



To wheel, with languid motion, round and round 



Beautiful, yet in mournful durance bound. 



Their peace, perhaps, our lightest footfall marred, 



On their quick sense our sweetest music jarred ; 



And whither could they dart, if seized with fear ? 



No sheltering stone, no tangled root was near. 



When fire or taper ceased to cheer the room, 



They wore away the night in starless gloom ; 



And when the sun first dawned upon the streams, 



How* aint their portion of his vital beams ! 



Thus, and unable to complain, they fared, 



While not one joy of ours by them was shared.* 



THE BARBEL.-f" 



This fish is frequent in the warm and temperate 

 parts of Europe, and abounds in the Rhine and Elbe. 

 It is unknown in Scotland, but occurs in the Thames, 

 and the river Lea in Essex. The former river, in the 

 neighbourhood of London, from Putney upwards, 

 produces quantities of large barbel, but, according 

 to Mr. Yarrell, they are held in little estimation 

 except for sport. They frequent the weedy por- 

 tions of the river during summer, but seek the 

 deeper water when the weeds decay ; they then 

 also shelter themselves near piles, locks, and bridges, 

 till the ensuing spring, They are so numerous 



* Farrow Revisited, and other poems, p. 148. 



f Barbus vulyaris, Flem. and Cuv. Cyprimis barlus, Linn. 



