COMPLETE ANGLER. 289 



Is mjx'd the trembling stream, or where it From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled 



boil: 



roots 



Around the stone, or from the hollow'd Of "pendent trees, the monarch of the brook. 



bank _ Behoves you then to ply your finest art. 



Reverted plays in undulating ilow, Long time he, following cautious, scans the 

 There throw nice-judging the delusive fly : ily ; 



And as you lead it round in artful curve, And oft attempts to seize it, but as oft 



With eye attentive mark the springing game. The dimpled water speaks his jealous fear. 



Straight as above the surface of the flood At last, whi e liaply o'er the shaded sun 



They wanton rise, or urged by hunger leap. Passes a cloud, he de.sperate takes the 

 Then fix with gentle twitch the barbed death, 



hook: _ With sullen plunge. At once he darts along, 



Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank. Deep struck, and runs out all the length- 

 And to the shelving shore slow dragging en'd line ; 



some, Then seeks the farthest ooze, the sheltering 

 With various hand proportion'd to their weed, 



force. The cavern'd bank, his old secure abode ; 



If yet too young, and easily deceived. And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool, 



A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand 



rod_: _ That feels him still, yet to his furious course 



Him, piteous of his youth and the short Gives way, you now retiring, following now 



space Across the stream, exhaust his idle rage : 



He has enjoy'd the vital light of Heaven, Till floating broad upon his breathless side, 



Snft disengage, and back into the stream And to his fate abandon'd, to the shore 



The speckled captive throw. But should Vou gaily drag your unresisting prize. 



you lure Sprittg. 



Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy makes the following observations 

 upon Angling : — 



" Fishing is a kind of hunting by water, be it by nets, weeles, boats, 

 angling, or otherwise, and yields all out as much pleasure to some men, as 

 dogs, hawkes. When they draw their fish upon the bank, saith Nic. 

 Henselius, Silesiographia, cap. 3, speaking of that extraordinary delight his 

 countrymen took in fishing and making of pooles. James Dubravius, that 

 Moravian, in his book De Piscibus, telleth, how travelling by the highways 

 side in Silesia, he found a nobleman booted up to the groins, and wading 

 himself, pulling the nets, and labouring as much as any fisherman of them 

 all ; and when some belike objected to him the baseness of his office, he 

 excused himself, that if other men might hunt hares, why should not he 

 hunt carps ? Many gentlemen in like sort with us, will wade up to the 

 arm-holes upon such occasions, and voluntarily undertake that to satisfy 

 their pleasure, which a poor man of a good stipend would scarce be hired 

 to undergo. — But he that shall but consider the variety of baits, and pretty 

 devices which our anglers have invented, peculiar lines, false flies, several 

 sleights, &c. , will say that it deserves as much commendation, requires as 

 much study, and perspicacy as the rest, and much to be preferred before 

 many of them. — But this is still and quiet ; and if so be the angler catch 

 no fish, yet he hath a wholesome walk to the brook's side, pleasant shade 

 by the sweet silver streams, he hath fresh air, and sweet smells of fine fresh 

 meadow flowers, he hears the melodious harmony of birds, he sees the 

 swans, herons, ducks, water-hens, cootes, &c., and many other fowl, with 

 their brood, which he thinketh better than the noise of hounds or blast of 

 horns, and all the sport that they can make." — Part 2, sec. 2, m. 4, edit. 

 Oxf. 1 62 1. 



For the reasons stated in the following extract from the advertisement 

 prefixed to a reprint of the "Treatyse of Fysshyng wyth an Angle," 

 ascribed to Juliana Berners, in 1827, it is desirable that the most striking 

 passages of that treatise should be inserted among these notes : — 



T 



