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IV.

Dear Solitude, the soul's best friend,

That man acquainted with himself dost make, And, all his Maker's wonders to entend,

With thee I here converse at will,

And would be glad to do so still,

For, it is thou alone, that keep'st the soul awake.

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To read, and meditate, and write;

By none offended, and offending none?

To walk, ride, sit, or sleep at one's own ease!
And, pleasing a man's self, none other to displease.

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VIII.

Oh, my beloved rocks! that rise

To awe the earth and brave the skies :

From some aspiring mountain's, crown,
How dearly do I love,

Giddy with pleasure, to look down,

And from the vales, to view the noble heights above! Oh, my beloved caves! from Dog-star's heat,

And all anxieties, my safe retreat;

What safety, privacy, what true delight,

In th' artificial night,

Your gloomy entrails make,

Have I taken, do I take !

How oft when grief has made me fly

To hide me from society,

Ev'n of my dearest friends, have I

In your recesses' friendly shade,

All my sorrows open laid,

And my most secret woes, entrusted to your privacy !

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CONFEERNCE BETWEEN A COUNTRY GENTLEMAN PROFICIENT IN FLY-FISHING, AND A TRAVELLER WHO BECOMES HIS PUPIL.1

you,

PISCATOR JUNIOR, AND VIATOR.

Pisc.

OU are happily overtaken, sir: may a man be so bold as to enquire how you travel this way ?

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far

Viat. Yes, sure, sir, very freely; though it be a question I cannot very well resolve you, as not knowing myself how far it is to Ashbourn, where I intend to-night to take up inn.

my

Pisc. Why then, sir, seeing I perceive you to be a stranger in these parts, I shall take upon me to inform that from the town you last came through, called Brels

1 The contents to the chapters of this Second Part were first added by the editor of the seventh edition (Bagster, 1808), who also supplied the

ford,' it is five miles; and you are not yet above half a mile on this side.

Viat. So much! I was told it was but ten miles from Derby; and, methinks, I have rode almost so far already. Pisc. O, sir, find no fault with large measure of good land; which Derbyshire abounds in, as much as most counties of England.

Viat. It may be so; and good land, I confess, affords a pleasant prospect: but, by your good leave, sir, large measure of foul way is not altogether so acceptable.

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Pisc. True, sir; but the foul way serves to justify the fertility of the soil, according to the proverb, "There is good land where there is foul way: and is of good use to inform you of the riches of the country you are come into, and of its continual travel and traffic to the countrytown you came from: which is also very observable by the fulness of its road, and the loaden horses you meet everywhere upon the way.

Viat. Well, sir, I will be content to think as well of your country as you would desire. And I shall have a good deal of reason both to think and to speak very well of you, if I may obtain the happiness of your company to the forementioned place; provided your affairs lead you that way, and that they will permit you to slack your pace, out of complacency to a traveller utterly a stranger in these parts, and who am still to wander further out of my own knowledge.

Pisc. Sir, you invite me to my own advantage, and I am ready to attend you; my way lying through that town; but my business, that is, my home, some miles beyond it; however, I shall have time enough to lodge you in your quarters, and afterwards to perform my own journey. In the mean time, may I be so bold as to enquire the end of your journey?

word Junior after Piscator, the first time that designation of Cotton occurs in each of the following chapters. The time at which these dialogues are supposed to take place is the beginning of March.

1 Brelsford or Brailsford, a township in the hundred of Appletree, in Derbyshire, situated about six miles N.W. of Ashbourn, and thirteen miles from Derby. Brailsford-brook was once celebrated for its trout, but is in no great reputation now.-ED.

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