94. THROUGH GLADE AND MEAD. 
Bryant, nor is the reading of them considered a necessary 
part of a liberal education, yet some of them have lived 
long enough, and with a sufficient fame, to be entitled 
to the rank of classics. 
As there were many brave men before Agamem- 
non, and many poets before Homer, so there were many 
anglers before gentle Izaak Walton, who loved to sit 
quietly, in a‘summer’s evening, on a bank a-fishing, and 
who, in thought, if not in word, uttered the prayer of 
Jo. Davors, Esq.: 
“Tet me live harmlessly, and near the brink 
Of Trent or Avon have a dwelling-place, 
Where I may see my quill or cork down sink 
With eager bite of perch, or bleak, or dace ; 
And on the world and my Creator think ; 
Whilst some men strive ill-gotten goods t’ embrace 
And others spend their time in base excess 
Of wine, or worse, in war and wantonness. 
Let them that list, these pastimes still pursue, 
And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill ; 
So I the fields and meadows green may view, 
And daily by fresh rivers walk at will, 
Among the daisies and the violets blue, 
Red hyacinth and yellow daffodil, 
Purple narcissus like the morning rays, 
Pale gander-grass and azure culver-keys.” 
