in its full glory, either at the rising or setting of it, he would
be so transported and amazed, and so admire the glory of it,
that he would not willingly turn his eyes from that first
ravishing object, to behold all the other various beauties
this world could present to him. And this, and many
other like blessings, we enjoy daily. And for most of
them, because they be so common, most men forget to pay
The FIFTH DAY 307
their praises : but let not us ; because it is a sacrifice so
pleasing to Him that made that sun and us, and still pro-
tects us, and gives us flowers, and showers, and stomachs,
and meat, and content, and leisure to go a-fishing.
Well, Scholar, I have almost tired myself, and, I fear,
more than almost tired you. But I now see Tottenham
High-Cross ; and our short walk thither shall put a period
to my too long discourse ; in which my meaning was, and
is, to plant that in your mind with which I labour to pos-
sess my own soul ; that is, a meek and thankful heart.
And to that end I have shewed you, that riches without
them, do not make any man happy. But let me tell you,
that riches with them remove many fears and cares. And
therefore my advice is, that you endeavour to be honestly
rich, or contentedly poor : but be sure that your riches be
justly got, or you spoil all. For it is well said by Caussin,^^
' He that loses his conscience has nothing left that is worth
keeping.' Therefore be sure you look to that. And, in
the next place, look to your health : and if you have it,
praise God, and value it next to a good conscience ; for
health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of;
a blessing that money cannot buy ; and therefore value it,
and be thankful for it. As for money, which may be said
to be the third blessing, neglect it not : but note, that
there is no necessity of being rich ; for I told you, there be
as many miseries beyond riches as on this side them : and if
you have a competence, enjoy it with a meek, cheerful,
thankful heart. I will tell you. Scholar, I have heard a
grave Divine say, that God has two dwellings; one in
heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart ; which
Almighty God grant to me, and to my honest Scholar.
And so you are welcome to Tottenham High-Cross.
3o8 The COMPLETE ANGLER
Venator. Well, Master, I thank you for all your good
directions ; but for none more than this last, of thankful-
ness, which I hope I shall never forget. And pray let 's
now rest ourselves in this sweet shady arbour, which nature
herself has woven with her own fine fingers ; 'tis such a
contexture of woodbines, sweetbriar, jasmine, and myrtle ;
and so interwoven, as will secure us both from the sun's
violent heat, and from the approaching shower. And being
set down, I will requite a part of your courtesies with a
bottle of sack, milk, oranges, and sugar, which, all put
together, make a drink like nectar ; indeed, too good for
any but us Anglers. And so. Master, here is a full glass to
you of that liquor : and when you have pledged me, I will
repeat the Verses which I promised you : it is a Copy
printed among some of Sir Henry Wotton's, and doubtless
made either by him, or by a lover of angling. Come,
Master, now drink a glass to me, and then I will pledge
you, and fall to my repetition ; it is a description of such
country recreations as I have enjoyed since I had the
happiness to fall into your company.
Quivering fears, heart-tearing cares.
Anxious sighs, untimely tears.
Fly, fly to courts.
Fly to fond worldlings' sports.
Where strain'd sardonic smiles are glosing still.
And Grief is forc'd to laugh against her will :
Where mirth 's but mummery.
And sorrows only real be.
Fly from our country pastimes, fly.
Sad troops of human misery.
Come, serene looks.
Clear as the crystal brooks.
f
n
Let 'j ncnv rest oursehes in this sweet shady arbour.
The FIFTH DAY 311
Or the pure azur'd heaven that smiles to see
The rich attendance of our poverty :
Peace and a secure mind,
Which all men seek, we only find.
Abused mortals ! did you know
Where joy, heart's-ease, and comforts grow.
You 'd scorn proud towers.
And seek them in these bowers j
Where winds, sometimes, our woods perhaps may shake,
But blust'ring care could never tempest make.
Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us.
Saving of fountains that glide by us.
Here 's no fantastick mask, nor dance.
But of our kids that frisk and prance j
Nor wars are seen
Unless upon the green
Two harmless lambs are butting one the other.
Which done, both bleating run, each to his mother j
And wounds are never found.
Save what the plough-share gives the ground.
Here are no false entrapping baits,
To hasten too, too hasty Fates,
Unless it be
The fond credulity
Of silly fish, which worldling like, still look
Upon the bait, but never on the hook j
Nor envy, unless among
The birds, for prize of their sweet song.
Go, let the diving negro seek
For gems, hid in some forlorn creek :
We all pearls scorn.
Save what the dewy mom
Congeals upon each little spire of grass.
Which careless shepherds beat down as they pass :
And gold ne'er here appears.
Save what the yellow Ceres bears.
312 The COMPLETE ANGLER
Blest silent groves, oh may ye be.
For ever, mirth's best nursery !
May pure contents
For ever pitch their tents
Upon these downs, these meads, these rocks, these mountains,
And peace still slumber by these purling fountains :
Which we may, every year.
Meet when we come a-fishing here.
PiscATOR. Trust me, Scholar, I thank you heartily for
these Verses : they be choicely good, and doubtless made
by a lover of angling. Come, now, drink a glass to me,
and I will requite you with another very good copy : it is
a farewell to the vanities of the world, and some say
written by Sir Harry Wotton, who I told you was an
excellent angler. But let them be writ by whom they
will, he that writ them had a brave soul, and must needs
be possest with happy thoughts at the time of their
composure.
Farewell, ye gilded follies, pleasing troubles j
Farewell, ye honoured rags, ye glorious bubbles j
Fame 's but a hollow echo j Gold, pure clay j
Honour the darling but of one short day ;
Beauty, th"" eye's idol, but a damask'd skin j
State, but a golden prison, to live in
And torture free-bom minds ; embroidered Trains,
Merely but pageants for proud swelling veins ;
And Blood allied to greatness is alone
Inherited, not purchased, nor our own.
Fame, Honour, Beauty, State, Train, Blood and Birth,
Are but the fading blossoms of the earth.
I would be great, but that the sun doth still
Level his rays against the rising hill :
I would be high, but see the proudest oak
Most subject to the rending thunder-stroke :
The FIFTH DAY 313
I would be rich, but see men, too unkind,
Dig in the bowels of the richest mind :
I would be wise, but that I often see
The fox suspected, whilst the ass goes free :
I would be fair, but see the fair and proud,
Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud :
I would be poor, but know the humble grass
Still trampled on by each unworthy ass :
Rich, hated ; wise, suspected -, scom'd, if poor ;
Great, fear'd j fair, tempted ; high, still envy'd more.
I have wish'd all j but now I wish for neither.
Great, high, rich, wise, nor fair : poor I ""ll be rather.
"Would the World now adopt me for her heir ;
Would beauty's Queen entitle me the fair j
Fame speak me fortune's minion ; could I * vie
Angels ' with India j with a speaking eye
Command bare heads, bow'd knees 5 strike justice dumb,
As well as blind and lame ; or give a tongue
To stones by epitaphs ; be call'd * great master '
In the loose rhymes of every poetaster ?
Could I be more than any man that lives.
Great, fair, rich, wise, all in superlatives j
Yet I more freely would these gifts resign.
Than ever fortune would have made them mine j
And hold one minute of this holy leisure
Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure.
Welcome, pure thoughts j welcome, ye silent groves j
These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves.
Now the wing'd people of the sky shall sing
My cheerful anthems to the gladsome spring :
A pray'r-book, now, shall be my looking-glass.
In which I will adore sweet virtue's face.
Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace-cares.
No broken vows dwell here, nor pale-fac'd fears ;
Then here I '11 sit, and sigh my hot love's folly.
And learn t' affect an holy melancholy :
And if contentment be a stranger then,
I '11 ne'er look for it, but in heaven, again.
314 The COMPLETE ANGLER
Venator. Well, Master, these verses be worthy to keep
a room in every man's memory, I thank you for them ;
and I thank you for your many instructions, which, God
wilHng, I will not forget. And as St. Austin, in his
Confessions^ commemorates the kindness of his friend
Verecundus, for lending him and his companion a country
house, because there they rested and enjoyed themselves,
free from the troubles of the world, so, having had the like
advantage, both by your conversation and the art you have
taught me, I ought ever to do the like ; for, indeed, your
company and discourse have been so useful and pleasant,
that, I may truly say, I have only lived since I enjoyed
them and turned angler, and not before. Nevertheless,
here I must part with you ; here in this now sad place,
where I was so happy as first to meet you : but I shall long
for the ninth of May ; for then I hope again to enjoy your
beloved company, at the appointed time and place. And
now I wish for some somniferous potion, that might force
me to sleep away the intermitted time, which will pass
away with me as tediously as it does with men in sorrow ;
nevertheless I will make it as short as I can, by my hopes
and wishes : and, my good Master, I will not forget the
doctrine which you told me Socrates taught his scholars,
that they should not think to be honoured so much for
being philosophers, as to honour philosophy by their virtuous
lives. You advised me to the like concerning Angling, and
I will endeavour to do so ; and to live like those many
worthy men, of which you made mention in the former
part of your discourse. This is my firm resolution. And
as a pious man advised his friend, that, to beget mortifica-
tion, he should frequent churches, and view monuments,
and charnel-houses, and then and there consider how many
The FIFTH DAY
315
dead bodies time had piled up at the gates of death, so
when I would beget content, and increase confidence in
the power, and wisdom, and providence of Almighty God,
I will walk the meadows, by some gliding stream, and there
contemplate the lilies that take no care, and those very
many other various little living creatures that are not only
created, but fed, man knows not how, by the goodness of
the God of Nature, and therefore trust in him. This is
my purpose ; and so, let everything that hath breath praise
the Lord : and let the blessing of St. Peter's Master be with
mine.
PiscATOR. And upon all that are lovers of virtue ; and
dare trust in his providence ; and be quiet ; and go a
Angling.
' Study to be quiet.'
NOTES
1 One John Offley proves the will of Agnes Walton, of the parish of
Madeley. (Nicolas.)
2 Walton had a ' cousin Roe,' to whom he gave a copy of his Li'ves.
3 Sadler, of Standon, in Herts. He was of the family of Sadler,
the English Ambassador to Scotland in the time of Henry viii. Scott
edited the Sadler Papers.
4 Sandys is the translator of Ovid. His Jra<vels were published in
1 615. He died in 1643.
5 < Fulimart ' = Scots ' foumart ' ; a polecat.
6 Dr. Wharton. Bom 1614, died 1673.
7 Virgil's tomb is at Naples, not Rome.
8 < Theobald's.' Twelve miles from London, near the road to Ware.
Sir William Cecil, in 1566, built this house. James i. and vi. died
there in 1625. The Prince of Orange gave the place to the Duke of
Portland in 1689.
9 * Dr. Casaubon.' This is Merle Casaubon, son of Isaac.
10 Tradescant. The third of a family of gardeners to the King.
11 Elias Ashmole was Windsor Herald. He founded the Ashmolean
at Oxford.
12 Gesner: bom at Zurich, 1516. Rondelet: bom at Montpelier,
1 507. Ausonius : Latin poet of fourth century a.d. Du Bartas : his
Di'vine Works and Weeks were popular (Paris, 1578, 4to).
13 ^lian. A writer under Hadrian. He is the first to mention
fishing with the artificial May-fly, in Illyria.
1* Mendez Pinto. Born about 15 10. He had countless adventures
as a voyager and captive. Walton read him in a translation by Henry
Cogan, London, 1633. Among Royal Anglers I find Prince Charles
(1752)? who spells 'hooks' * hocks,' in a note at Windsor Castle.
317
3i8 The COMPLETE ANGLER
15 Perkins and Whitaker were divines of the period. Powell wrote
a catechism, but not the familiar brief one.
16 Davors. The Secrets of Angling is entered (1612) as by John
Dennys, in the books of the Stationers' Company.
17 ' March, April, and May.' Salmon, of course, spawn in October —
December. The spring fish do not come up to spawn.
18 Mercator, Gerard, died 1594. He was a theologian and mathe-
matician.
19 'Albertus,' that is, Albertus Magnus, Bishop of Ratisbon. He
wrote De Secretis-^ died, with a repute for magic, in 1280.
20 ' The Milk-maid's Song ' is assigned to Marlowe in England's
Helicon, printed in 1 600, seven years after Marlowe's death.
21 Chalkhill. See Introduction for an account of this poet.
22 Aldrovandus. A philosopher of Bologna, died 1 640.
23 Lessius. Born 15545 died 1623. He was a professor in Louvain ;
a Jesuit divine.
24 «Dr. Boteler,' believed to be Dr. Butler, of Cambridge (1535-
1618).
25 < Shawford-brook.' This runs through Walton's lands in Stafford-
shire, bequeathed by him to the poor.
26 Gusman. By George Fidge, London, 1652. James Hind, a
Royalist butcher, who fought at Worcester, was the original * English
Gusman.'
27' < Frank Davison.' A son of Queen Elizabeth's luckless secretary,
on whom she tried to throw the odium of Queen Mary's murder.
28 Gaspar Peucerus. Born 1525, died 1602. A mathematician.
Walton might have turned to Herodotus, Pausanias, Petronius Arbiter,
and others for his were-wolves.
29 'Hakewill's Apology!" Hakewill was Rector of Exeter College,
Oxford 5 his book appeared in 1635.
30 * Salvian.' Hippolito Salviani wrote De Piscibus j died at Rome in
1572-
31 Michael Drayton. Born 1563, died 1631.
32 Dubravius. Janus Dubravius Scala, Bishop of Olmutz. His
works were published In 1559.
33 Cardanus. A famous physician and psychical researcher. Died at
Rome, 1576. The book cited is his De Subtilitate.
3* *A person of honour, Mr. Fr. Ru.' Believed to be a Francis
Rufford, of Sapy, who died about 1678.
NOTES
319
35 <What snigling is." Sniggling now means catching salmon by-
raking a large hook or triangle of hooks into the fish. It is a common
kind of poaching in Selkirkshire and the Border.
36 Sheldon, Warden of All Souls. At the Restoration, Archbishop
of Canterbury. He founded the Sheldonian at Oxford. Died 1677.
37 ' Shovel-board.' A game like Squalls, or Croquignole, played by
pushing a smooth coin to a point on a board j a parlour form of
curling.
38 Phlneas Fletcher. Author of T^he Purple Island, printed in 1633.
39 Caussin. Of Troyes in Champagne. Wrote The Holy Court.
Died 1651.
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