264 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



PART 



I 



have my honest master tell me some more secrets of fish 

 and fishing as we walk and fish towards London to-morrow. 

 But, master, first let me tell you that, that very hour which 

 ou were absent from me, I sat down under a willow-tree 

 y the w r ater-side, and considered what you had told me of 

 the owner of that pleasant meadow in which you then left 

 me : that he had a plentiful estate, and not a heart to think 

 so ; that he had at this time many law-suits depending, and 

 that they both damped his mirth, and took up so much of 

 his time and thoughts, that he himself had not leisure to 

 take the sweet content that I, who pretended no title to 

 them, took in his fields : ] for I could there sit quietly ; and, 

 looking on the water, see some fishes sport themselves in 

 the silver streams, others leaping at flies of several shapes 

 and colours ; looking on the hills, I could behold them 

 spotted with woods and groves ; looking down the meadows, 

 could see here a boy gathering lilies and lady-smocks, and 

 there a girl cropping culverkeyes and cowslips, all to make 

 garlands suitable to this present month of May. These, and 

 many other field-flowers, so perfumed the air, that I thought 

 that very meadow like that field in Sicily, of which Diodorus 

 speaks, where the perfumes arising from the place make all 

 dogs that hunt in it to fall off, and to lose their hottest 

 scent. I say, as I thus sat, joying in my own happy con- 

 dition, and pitying this poor rich man that owned this and 

 many other pleasant groves and meadows about me, I did 

 thankfully remember what my Saviour said, that the " Meek 

 possess the earth ; " or rather, they enjoy what the other 

 possess and enjoy not : for anglers, and meek, quiet- spirited 

 men are free from those high, those restless thoughts, which 

 corrode the sweets of life ; and they, and they only, can say 

 as the poet has happily expressed it 



1 There is so much fine and useful morality included in this sentiment, 

 that to let it pass would be inexcusable in one who pretends to illustrate 

 the author's meaning, or display his excellencies. The precept which he, 

 evidently, meant to inculcate, is that some of the greatest pleasures human 

 nature is capable of, lie open, and in common, to the poor as well as the 

 rich. It is not necessary, that a man should have the fee-simple of all the 

 land, in prospect from Windsor terrace, or Eichmond hill, to enjoy the 

 beauty of those two delightful situations ; nor can we imngine that no one, 

 but lord Burlington, was ever delighted in the view of his most elegant 

 villa at Chiswick. H. 



