Not one there was of all that there appear'd

But touch'd the Fins and gently strok'd the Beard.
Here then a Boy, that stood upon the Strand,

Thus with a Tale amus'd the youthful Band:
BARBUS, whose Name was from his Beard deriv'd,
Had almost at an hundred Years arrived;
Infirm from Age, and weakly stooping low,
With Wrinkles marked, and rugged deep, his Brow;
His Mouth was wide, his Head hung feebly down,
His Teeth were lost, his Hands were bony grown;
Thick on his Chin a bunch of Hair remain'd,
And his weak steps a knotty Staff sustain'd.
Oft, in his youthful Days near Streams he stood,
And cast his Lines and Nets into the flood.
And as we find that Length of Years destroys
The Strength, but not the Love of former Joys,
He, tho' grown old, resorted to the Shore,
And haunted still the Streams he lov'd before;
Still was he pleas'd and eager to betray,
With Hooks conceal'd by Baits, the finny Prey *.
As once the old Man, on a River's side,
Aim'd at a Fish that near the Shore he spy'd;
His tottering Footsteps fail'd to keep their hold,
And headlong from the slipp'ry Bank he roll'd;
Now with the rapid Current he contends,
Large draughts of Water swallows, and extends
His feeble Arms, but, hoping most to gain
By pray'rs success, he vows but vows in vain.
His breathless Body, floating down the Brook,
Great JOVE beheld, and kind compassion took :

"The Angler's Sport is full of Patience, and if he lose his Hooke, he makes a faire Fishing.

"The Fish in the River is not afraid of drowning, and if he play with a Baite it will cost him his Life."

Wit's private wealth, stored with choise of Commodities to content the Minde, by N. BRETON. 1639.

"Live still," he cry'd, "but in the Stream remain," And dwell for ever with the finny Train;

Death was so near at hand, you need not grieve

For a short space a feeble Trunk to leave."
Now forth his Arms as leathern Fins extend,
And in a Tail his Feet contracted blend;
The form of Scales his tatter'd Garments wore;
His Back look'd dry and wither'd as before;
Still on his Chin a length of Beard remain'd,
His Teeth he lost, but harmless Gums retain'd,
These, in a Fish, the marks of Age are deem'd,
For Age alone the Mullets are esteem'd;
And length of Years, by which all other things
Decay, to these Increase of Honour brings.

I to the Fable lent a list'ning Ear,
And thus began; when I both see and hear
The various Arts of Fishers, and survey
How they the Fish deceitfully betray,
Reflect I must with equal Grief and Truth;
That the same Arts deceive unwary Youth,
The Snares, of old for Fish alone design'd,
Are now employ'd to captivate Mankind;
Man catches Man, and by the Bait betrays'
With proffer'd Kindness, or, still cunning, lays
Nets to entrap th' unwary, and embroils
Cities and Towns to profit from the Spoils.
For you, dear Youths, soft Pleasure lies in wait,
And hides her Hook beneath a honey'd Bait,
But all her treach'rous Gifts will only gain
For a short Joy a lasting load of Pain.
Here when the Bait allures the Fish to taste
The transient Pleasure of a sweet Repast,

"Think when thou seest the Baite

whereon is thy Delite,

That hidden Hookes are hard at hande

to bane thee when thou bite."

TURBERVILE.

You see for this how dearly he must pay;
Life is the Purchase, and himself the Prey.
Thus soft Allurements serve to varnish o'er
The Frauds of Pleasure, unperceiv'd before;
But if a Youth is once inspir'd, he'll find
He cannot void the Poison from his Mind;
No more than could the Fish when snar'd withdraw
The crooked Steel from his tormented Jaw;

While lasting Grief for short Delights he gains,

Still rues his transient Joys with ever-during Pains*.

:

*"Fyshe, hyghte pisces, and hathe that name of Pascendo, fedynge, as ISODORE sayth libro xii. ca. vi. Fyshe licketh the Erthe and watry Herbes, & so get they meet and nouryshynge. Also they benne called Reptilia, crepyng, bycause in swimmynge they seme as they did crepe for in swymming they crepe, though they synke downe to the bottom. Wherof speketh AMBROSE in Exameron, and saythe, that bitwene fyshe and water is great nighnes of kynred. For withoute water they may not long lyue; and they lyue not longe with onelye brethynge, withoute drawynge of water. And they haue a maner lyknes and kynd of crepyng, for, whyle a fyshe swymmeth, by shrynkyng and drawynge together of his body, he draweth and bathereth hym selfe in to les length, and anone stretcheth hym selfe agayne, and entendeth to passe forth in the water; and by that dyligence he putteth the water backewarde, and passeth itself forwarde. Therfore he vseth finnes in swymmynge, as a foule vseth fethers in fleenge. But all other wyse in swymmynge a Fyshe meueth his fynnes fro the hynder parte dounwarde, and as it were with armes, or ores, he clippeth the water, & holdeth it, and stretcheth hym selfe forwarde. But a Byrde meueth his fethers vpwarde, and gadereth thayre, and compelleth it to passe out backeward by large stretchynge of wyndes, and so by violente puttynge of ayre backeward the bodye meuith forwarde. And kyndes of fyshe ben dyuerse in many maner wyse. Some abyde only in the See and some in ryuers and pondes, and in other freshe waters, and some ben meane bytwene these two maner fyshes, and torne and come now to fresh water, and nowe to salte water to gette them meate. And fishe that come out of the salte water in to freshe haue lykynge in the freshenes therof, and ben fattid: and ayenwarde, and this fyshe nowe abydeth in the see & nowe in freshe water. And manye ryuer fyshes maye not taste saltnesse of the See, for if he catchyth salte water, he dieth sodaynely, and torneth vp the wombe, fleteeth aboue the water, & that is token of death in all manner of fyshe both of See and freshe water. And fyshe that is bredde in the See hath hard scales and thycke, bycause of drynes of the Salte water; and ryuer fyshe haue subtyll scales and neshe backe bones. Back bones in fyshes ben nedefull to restreyne the fleshe therof that is fletynge, for kynde neshenesse therof. And AUYCEN techeth to chese good fyshe by kynde of the place wherin they ben noryshed and fedde. And in li. ii. ca. vii. he sayth, that in this maner choys of fyshe is in place, in whiche hit dwelleth. For suche as

abyde in stonye places ben beste and swetest, and in freshe rennynge water, in whiche is no corrupcion, ne no slyme, ne worse, nor stondynge lakes, ne in welles, nor in small pyttes that renne not in riuers, in whom ben noo welles. And he saythe there, that some See fyshes ben good; for those that ben subtyll ben beste, and ben nourished in the depe See and no where elles. And fyshe that abyde in waters, that ben vnheled with blastes of wynde, that bloweth the water somtime fro them, are better than those that ben not so serued. And those that ben in waters that ben strongly meued and continually labored, benne better than those that ben in standynge water. And so See fyshe is better than Ryuer fyshe. And Ryuer fyshe better than Lake fishe, namely if they ben ferre fro the Ryuers and fro the See. For they that haue rest in theyr rotynnes & filthe, are not washed nother clensed by Ryuer that cometh therin, nor by See. And therfore suche fyshe is euyll sauoured, and soone roten. Also both See fyshe and Ryuer fyshe is better in the northe See, and in the East See, than in the South See, for by stronge blastes of wynde the water is moued and clensed and made subtyll. And therefore fishe of that water meueth more and trauayleth, and ben more clensid of their superfluitie." Anno M D XXX BertholomEVS de proprietatibos rerom. Londini in aedibos THOMAE BERTHELETI regü impressoris. Com privilegio a rege indulto. Folio.

From another POEM entitled 'The Secrets of ANGLING,' the following has been taken. The first Edition of this Work, was in 12mo. as appears from a Copy, which may be found of that Size in the BODLEIAN Library, dated 1613.

It seems to have been matter of Dispute, whether the Author was JOHN DAVORS, or JOHN DENNYS, Esq. The Entry at STATIONERS HALL, Feb. 28, 1612, is probably correct, in which it is ascribed to the latter. The name of J.D. is notwithstanding usually considered as JOHN DAVORS, and is so mentioned at length in the fifth Edition of "WALTON'S Complete Angler," 1676. The Verses,

however, at the back of the Title "In due praise of his praise of this praiseworthy skill and worke," seem to leave a doubt whether Jo. Da. may not mean the very Person by whose Signature they are followed.

"In Skils that all do seek, but few do find

Both gain and game; (like Sun and Moon do shine)
Then th' Art of Fishing thus is of that kind;

The Angler taketh both with hook and line,

And as with lines, both these he takes, this takes

With many a line, well made, both Ears & Hearts,
And by this Skill, the skil-lesse skil-full makes:
The Corpes wherof dissected so he parts,
Upon an humble Subject never lay,

More proud, yet plainer Lines, the plain to lead.
This plainer Art with Pleasure to survay.

To purchase it with profit by that DEED:
Who think this Skill's too low than for the high,
This Angler read, and they 'le be taine thereby.

Jo. DAVES."

The Dedication, signed R. I. which is in Prose, is "To the worthy, and my respected Friend, Mr. JOHN HARBONE of Tackley, in the County of Oxford, Esquire." After which is LAUSON'S Address to the Reader upon the short Comment by which many of the Stanzas are accompanied.

"The First Booke.

"Of Angling, and the Art thereof I sing,
What kind of Tooles it doth behove to have;
And with what pleasing Bait a man may bring

The Fish to bite within the wat'ry wave: