COMPLETE ANGLER. 



2S1 



But, seeing thou obdurate art, 



And wilt no pity to me sho\v,F 

 Because from thee I did depart, 



And left unpaid what I did owe, 

 I must content myself to take 

 What lot thou wilt with me partake. 

 P. 84. Commendation of ale. 



And, like one being in a trance, 



A multitude of ugly fiends 

 About this woeful prince did danccj 



No help he had of any friends ; 

 His body then they took away, 

 And no man knew his dying day. 



The following old ballad, which is 



printed in *'A ryght pithy, pleasaunt, and merie comedie : Intytuled 

 Gammer Gurtoii's Nedle" (London, 1575), by Bishop Still, was probably 

 well known to Walton : — 



I CANNOT eate but lytle meate, 



My siomacke is not good ; 

 But vure \ thinke that I can drynke 



With him that weares a hood. 

 Though I go bare take ye no care, 



I am nothinge a colde ; 

 I stuff my skyn so full within, 

 Of joly good ale and olde. 

 Backe and side go bare, go bare, 



Booth foote and hande go colde : 

 But belly, God sende thee good ale 

 inoughe. 

 Whether it be new or olde. 



I loue no rost, but a nut-browne toste, 



And a crab* laid in the fyre ; 

 A little breade shall do me stead, 



Much breade I do not desyre. 

 No frost nor snow, nor winde I trowe, 



Can hurte mee if I wolde, 

 I am so wrapt, and throwly lapt, 



Of joly good ale and olde. 

 Backe and side, &c. 



And Tyb my wyfe, that as her lyfe, 



Loueth well good ale to seeke,' 

 Full oft drynkes shee, tyll ye may see 



The teares run downe her cheeke : 

 Then doth she trowie to me the bowie, 



Euen as a mault-worm shuld ; 

 And sayth, sweete hart, I tooke my part 



Of this joly good ale and olde. 

 Backe and side, &c. 



Now let them drynke tyll they nod and 

 winke. 

 Even as good felowes shoulde dofe : 

 They shall not mysse to have the blisse, 



Good ale doth bringe men to. 

 And all poore scules that have scowred 

 boules 

 Or have them lustely trolde, 

 God saue the lyues of them and their 

 wyue'i, 

 Whether they be yonge or olde. 

 Backe and side, &c. 



P, %<^. The following are the songs mentioned by Walton as having 

 been composed by Mr William Basse : — 



THE HUNTER IN HIS CAREER. 



(From a Collection of Old Ballads, ed. 1725, vol. iii. p. 196.) 



Long ere the morn 



Expects the return 

 Of Apollo from th' Ocean Queen ; 



Before the creak 



Of the crow, and the break 

 Of the day in the welkin seen ; 



Mounted he'd hallow. 



And cheerfully follow, 

 To the chase with his bugle clear ; 



Echo doth he make, 



And the mountains shake, 

 With the thunder of his career. 



Now bonny Bay 



In his foine waxeth gray* 

 Dapp'e-grey waxeth bay in his blood ; 



White Lilly stops, 



With the scent in her chaps, 

 And Black Lady makes it good ; 

 ■ Poor silly Wat, 



In this wretched state, 

 Forgets these delights for to hear ; 



Nimbly she bounds 



From the cry of the hounds, 

 And the music of their career. 



Hills with the heat 



Of the gallopers sweat. 

 Reviving their frozen tops ; 



The dale's purple flowers, 



That drop from the showers, 

 That down from the rowels drops : 



Swains their repast 



And strangers their haste 

 Neglect, when the horns they do hear ; 



To see a fleet 



Pack of hounds in a sheet. 

 And the hunter in his career. 



Thus he careers 



Over heal hs, over meers, 

 Over deeps, over downs, over clay ; 



Till he hath won 



The noon from the morn, 

 And the evening from the day : 



His sport then he ends, 



And joyfully wends 

 Home again to his cottage, where 



Frankly he feasts 



Himself and his guests, 

 And carouses in his career. 



' Apple. 



