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without him; and in the meantime shall acquaint him how much you have made of me for his sake, and I hope he loves me well enough to thank you for it.

PISCATOR. I shall be glad, Sir, of your good company at the time you speak of, and shall be loath to part with you now; but when you tell me you must go, I will then wait upon you more miles on your way than I have tempted you out of it, and heartily wish you a good journey.

FINIS.

To my

SIR,

my

most Honoured Friend, Charles Cotton, Esq;

You now see I have returned you your very pleasant and useful Discourse of the Art of Flyfishing, printed just as 'twas sent me; for I have been so obedient to your desires, as to endure all the praises you have ventured to fix upon me in it. And when I have thanked you for them, as the effects of an undissembled love, then, let me tell you, Sir, that I will really endeavour to live up to the character you have given of me, if there were no other reason, yet for this alone, that you, that love me so well, and always think what you speak, may not, for my sake, suffer by a mistake in your judgement.

And, Sir, I have ventured to fill a part of your margin, by way of paraphrase, for the reader's clearer understanding the situation both of your Fishing-house, and the pleasantness of that you dwell in. And I have ventured also to give him a Copy of Verses that you were pleased to send me, now some years past, in which he may see a good picture of both; and so much of your own mind too, as will make any reader that is blessed with a generous soul, to love you the better. I confess, that for doing this you may justly judge me too bold: if you do, I will say so too; and so far commute for

my offence that, though I be more than a hundred miles from you, and in the eighty-third year of my age, yet I will forget both, and next month begin a pilgrimage to beg your pardon; for I would die in your favour, and till then will live,

SIR,

Your most affectionate
Father and Friend,
IZAAK WALTON.

LONDON,

April 29, 1676.

THE

RETIREMENT.

Stanzes Irreguliers

то

Mr. IZAAK WALTON.

I

FAREWELL, thou busy world, and may
We never meet again;

Here I can eat, and sleep, and pray,
And do more good in one short day
Than he who his whole age out-wears
Upon the most conspicuous theatres,
Where nought, but vanity and vice appears.

II

Good God! how sweet are all things here!
How beautiful the fields appear!

How cleanly do we feed and lie!
Lord! what good hours do we keep !
How quietly we sleep!

What peace! what unanimity!

How innocent from the lewd fashion Is all our business, all our recreation!

III

Oh, how happy here's our leisure !
Oh, how innocent our pleasure!
Oh, ye valleys, Oh, ye mountains!
Oh, ye groves and crystal fountains,
How I love at liberty,

By turns, to come and visit ye!

IV

Dear solitude, the soul's best friend,

That man acquainted with himself dost make
And all his Maker's wonders to intend:
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.

V

How calm and quiet a delight

Is it alone

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 !

VI

Oh my beloved nymph! fair Dove;
Princess of rivers, how I love

Upon thy flow'ry banks to lie,

And view thy silver stream,

When gilded by a summer's beam,
And in it all thy wanton fry
Playing at liberty,

And with my angle upon them
The all of treachery

I ever learnt, industriously to try.

VII

Such streams Rome's yellow Tiber cannot show, The Iberian Tagus, or Ligurian Po;

The Mause, the Danube, and the Rhine Are puddle-water all, compar'd with thine; And Loire's pure streams yet too polluted are With thine, much purer to compare ;

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