COMMENDATORY VERSES. ii 



Scorns his dull element, and springs 

 I' the air, as if his fins were wings. 



'Tis here that pleasures sweet and high 

 Prostrate to our embraces lie : 

 Such as to body, soul, or fame,^ 

 Create no sickness, sin, or shame : 

 Roses, not fenc'd with pricks, grow here. 

 No sting to the honey-bag is near : 

 But, what's perhaps their prejudice, 

 They difficulty want and price. 



An obvious rod, a twist of hair, 

 With ^ hook hid in an " insect, are 

 Engines of sport,* would fit ° the wish 

 Of th' Epicure, and* fill his dish. 



In this clear stream let fall a grub ; 

 And, straight, take up a Dace or Chub. 

 1' the mud, your worm provokes a snig,* 

 Which being fast, if it prove big,t 

 The Gotham folly will be found 

 Discreet, ere ta'en she ' must be drown'd. 

 The Tench, physician of the brook. 

 In yon ' dead hole expects your hook ; 

 Which having first your pastime been, 

 Serves then* for meat or medicine.' 

 Ambush'd behind that root doth stay 

 A Pike, to catch, and be a prey. 

 The treacherous quill in this slow stream ^ 

 Betrays the hunger of a Bream.^ 

 And at " that nimble ford, no doubt. 

 Your false fly cheats a speckled * Trout. 



VARIATIONS. 



* name. — zdedit, ^ And. — Ibid. 3 some. — Ibid. 



* Emblems of skill.— /iiW. 5 hei.—Ibia. » ax.— Hid. 



7 \t.—Ibid. 8 that.— /Wrf. 9 next.—Jbid. 



1 The following lines here occur in the zd edition, but are omitted in all the 

 others : — 



" And there the cunning Carp you may 

 Beguile with paste; if you'll but stay, 

 ^ And watch in time, you'll have your wish. 



For paste and patience'catch this fish." 



2 These two lines are omitted in the sd edit. 3 in. — ^d edit. 



* dappled. — Ibid. 



* Snig, a term more generally applied to the small nine-eyed eel, commonly found 

 about the apron of an old weir, or in shallow parts of the river Lee, and forms the 

 amusement of sniggling to youthful Anglers. — Eu. H. 



+ " If it prove big"" alludes to one of the stories told of the Wise Men of Gotham, a 

 facetious penny history much in circulation in the time of Walton. It is there related 

 that the men of Gotham, upon a Good Friday, after due consultation, collected all their 

 white herrings, red herrings, sprats, and salt fish, and cast the whole into a pond, in 

 order to secure a sufficient store of fish for the next Lent. In due time upon dragging 

 the pond, there was found only a very large eel, and it being suspected the same must, 

 by the size, have devoured the intended stock, it was concluded that such a voracious 

 monster ought to be destroyed, and, as a death-warrant, it was determined that it should 

 be put in another pond, in order that it might be drowned. — Eu. H. 



