350 NOTES ON MSH AND FISHING. 



NOTE XX. 



THAMES ANGLING. 



' In that blest moment from his oozy bed 

 Old Father Thames advanced his reverend head- 



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Around his throne the sea-bom brothers stood, 

 Who swell with tributary urns his flood; 

 First the famed authors of his ancient name, 

 The winding Isis and the fruitful Thame.'' 



Pope. 



" But health and labour's willing train 

 Crowns all Thy banks with waving grain, 

 With beauty decks thy sylvan shades, 

 With livelier green invests thy glades ; 

 And grace, and bloom, and plenty pours 

 O'er thy sweet meads and willowy shores, 

 The fields where herds unnumber'd rove, 

 The lawrell'd path, the beechen grove, 

 The oak, in lonely grandeur free, 

 Lord of the forest and the sea; 

 The spreading plain, the cultured hill, 

 The tranquil cot, the restless mill, 

 The lonely hamlet, calm and still ; 

 The village spire, the busy town, 

 The shelving bank, the rising down; 

 The fisher 's punt, the peasant's home, 

 TJie woodland seat, the regal dome, — 

 In quick succession rise to charm 

 The mind with virtuous feelings warm ; 



