Where in a brook
With a hook,
Or a lake,

Fish we take;

There we sit,

For a bit,

Till we fish entangle.

We have gentles in a horn,

We have paste and worms too;
We can watch both night and morn
Suffer rain and storms too.

None do here

Use to swear,

Oaths do fray

Fish away;
We sit still,

And watch our quill;
Fishers must not wrangle.

If the sun's excessive heat
Make our bodies swelter,
To an osier-hedge we get
For a friendly shelter;

Where in a dike
Pearch or pike,
Roach or dace,

We do chase,
Bleak or gudgeon
Without grudging ;

We are still contented.

Or we sometimes pass an hour Under a green willow

That defends us from a shower, Making earth our pillow;

Where we may

Think and pray,

Before death

Stops our breath:

Other joys

Are but toys,

And to be lamented.

XXI

AN OLD CATCH

Man's life is but vain;

For 'tis subject to pain,

And sorrow, and short as a bubble: 'Tis a hodge-podge of business, And money, and care;

And care, and money, and trouble.

But we'll take no care
When the weather proves fair;
Nor will we vex now tho' it rain;
We'll banish all sorrow,
And sing till to-morrow,

And angle and angle again.

"The Complete Angler" and "Select Ayres and Dialogues to the TherboLute and Basse Viol. By John Wilson and Charles Coleman, Henry Lawes, and others. London, 1659."