iS8 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part r. 



have nothing from you, that seem to have both a good memory 

 and a cheerful spirit ? 



Venator. Yes, master, I will speak you a copy of verses that 

 were made by Doctor Donne, and made to show the world that he 

 could make soft and smooth verses, when he thought smoothness 

 worth his labour : ^ and I love them the better, because they 

 allude to Rivers, and Fish and Fishing. They be these : * — 



Come, live with me, and be my love, And if mine eyes have leave to see, 



And we will some new pleasures prove, I need not t|ieir light, having thee. 



Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, t ^ *i. r -.i. i* j 



With silken lines, and silver hooks. 1' j°"f I? ^''■^f^ "'•?i,^'!,*^n"S ^""f^^' j 



And cut their legs with shells and weeds, 



There will the river whisp'ring run, Or treacherously poor fish beset 



Warm'd by thy eyes more than the sun ; With strangling Snares or windowy net ; 



And there the enamel'd fish will stay.ff ti t.iji,jr t 



Begging themselves they .Bay betri;. ^i^^l^^^SttT^^^^S^T' 



When thou wilt swim in that live bath, Let curious traitors sleave silk flie.s, 



Each fish, which every channel hath. To Vitch poor wand' ring fishes* eyes.^ 



Most amorously to thee will swim, 17*1.4.1. j' * i, j •<. 



Gladder to catc'h thee,..han thou him. I^^ttu' ttse^f aft fh^n-e^ofn t?tT' 



If thou, to be so seen, beest loath That fish that is not catcht thereby, 



By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both ; Is wiser far, alas, than I.c 



PiSCATOR. Well remembered, honest scholar. I thank you 

 for these choice verses ; which I have heard formerly, but had 

 quite forgot, till they were recovered by your happy memory. 

 Well, being I have now rested myself a little, I will make you 

 some requital, by telling you some observations of the Eel ; for 

 it rains still : and because, as you say, our angles are as money 

 put to use, that thrives when we play, therefore we'll sit still, and 

 enjoy ourselves a little longer under this honeysuckle-hedge. 



PiSCATOR. It is agreed by most men, that the Eel is a most 

 dainty iish : ' the Romans have esteemed her the Helena of 

 their feasts ; and some the queen of palate- 

 the''"''Eel, ' and pleasure. But most men differ about their breed- 

 other Fish that ing ; some say they breed by generation, as other 

 fish do ; and others, that they breed, as some 

 worms do, of mud ; as rats and mice, and many other living 

 creatures, are bred in Egypt, by the sun's heat when it shines 



VARIATIONS. 



8 when he thought them fit and worth his labour. — ist edit. 



9 that the Eel is both a good and a most dainty fish. — ist edit. . 



* As has been observed in a former note, this song is an imitation of the one by Mar- 

 lowe, which the Milkmaid sung to Piscator and Venator on the Third Day. _ See page 

 70. It is printed among Donne's Poems, ed. 1635, p. 39, with the following varia- 

 tions ; — 



a And there th* innamour'd fish will stay. 



b Bewitch poor fishes wandering eyes. 



c Alas, is wiser far than I. 



