58 NOTES ON PISH AND FISHING. 



wood-cut representing two men, one treading on a serpent, 

 and with a sphere at the end of his line, while over his 

 rod, on a label, is the inscription, — 



" Hold, hooke and line, 

 Then all is mine ;" 



the other with a fish on his hook, and the following 



label : — 



" Well fayre the pleasure 

 That brings such treasure." 



There have from time to time been long discussions as to 

 who I. D. was. Isaac Walton, in his " First Day," quotes 

 six stanzas of the poem, and in his 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th 

 editions ascribes it to " Jo. Da." In his 5th edition, how- 

 ever, he calls the author "Jo. Davors, Esq." Eobert 

 Howlett, in his Angler's Sure Guide (1706), attributes it 

 to Dr. Donne, while several poets of the name of " Davies" 

 have had the credit of it also. The question, however, has 

 been set at rest by the discovery that in 1612 the book 

 was "entered at Stationers' Hall" as "by John Dennys, 

 Esquire," this gentleman being a younger son of Sir 

 Walter Dennys of Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, in the 

 church of which parish the angler poet lies buried. The 

 mistake as to the authorship may probably have arisen 

 in some way from the circumstance that to the poem are 

 prefixed some commendatory lines, signed " Jo. Daves." 



The poem itself is certainly of a high class, containing 

 much point, elevation of thought, and sweetness, and 

 subtlety of rhythm, as well of subtlety of diction in 

 handling what in itself may be considered a prosaic sub- 

 ject, when mere instructions in the art of angling are 

 being attempted in verse. The quotation introduced by 

 Walton begins with the well-known couplet, — 



