:; I NEVER wander where the bordering reeds 

 O'erlook the muddy stream, whose tangling weeds 

 Perplex the fisher ; I, nor choose to bear 

 The thievish nightly net, nor barbed spear ; 

 Nor drain I ponds, the golden Carp to take, 

 Nor trowle for Pikes, dispeoplers of the lake. 

 Around the steel no tortured worm shall twine, 

 No blood of living insect stains my Hue ; 

 Let me, less cruel, cast the feathered hook. 

 With pliant rod, athwart the pebbled brook, 

 Silent along the mazy margin stray, 

 And with the fur-wrought fly delude the prey.*' 

 GAT. 



