And by yon fading sapless tree,
'Bout which the ivy twin'd you see,
His fate's foretold, who fondly places
His bliss in woman's soft embraces.
All pleasures, but the angler's, bring
I' the tail repentance, like a sting.
Then on these banks let me sit down,
Free from the toilsome sword and gown;
And pity those that do affect
To conquer nations and protect.
My reed affords such true content,
Delights so sweet and innocent,
As seldom fall unto the lot
Of sceptres, though they're justly got.
OF MY MOST INGENUOUS FRIEND'S BOOK,
He that both knew and writ the Lives of men,
Such as were once, but must not be again;
Witness his matchless Donne and Wotton, by
Whose aid he could their speculations try :
He that convers'd with angels, such as were
Ouldsworth' and Featly, 2 each a shining star
Shewing the way to Bethlem; each a saint,
Compar❜d to whom our zealots, now, but paint.
He that our pious and learn'd Morley3 knew,
And from him suck'd wit and devotion too.
(1) Dr. Richard Holdsworth. See an account of him in the Fasti Oxon. 207; and in Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors.
(2) Dr. Daniel Featly, for whom see Athen. Oxon. 603.
(3) Dr. George Morley, bishop of Winchester.
He that from these such excellencies fetch'd,
That He could tell how high and far they reach'd;
What learning this, what graces th' other had;
And in what several dress each soul was clad.
Reader, this He, this fisherman, comes forth,
And in these fisher's weeds would shroud his worth.
Now his mute harp is on a willow hung,
With which, when finely touch'd, and fitly strung,
He could friends' passions for these times allay,
Or chain his fellow anglers from their prey.
But now the music of his pen is still,
And he sits by a brook watching a quill:
Where with a fixt eye, and a ready hand,
He studies first to hook, and then to land
Some Trout, or Pearch, or Pike; and having done,
Sits on a bank, and tells how this was won,
And that escap'd his hook, which with a wile
Did eat the bait, and fisherman beguile.
Thus whilst some vex they from their lands are thrown,
He joys to think the waters are his own;
And like the Dutch, he gladly can agree
To live at peace now, and have fishing free.
April 3, 1650.
MY DEAR BROTHER, MR. IZ. WALTON,
THIS book is so like you, and you like it, For harmless mirth, expression, art, and wit, That I protest, ingenuously 'tis true,
I love this mirth, art, wit, the book, and you.
CLARISSIMO AMICISSIMOQUE FRATRI,
ARTIS PISCATORIE PERITISSIMO.
UNICUS est medicus reliquorum piscis, et istis,
Fas quibus est medicum tangere, certa salus.
Hic typus est salvatoris mirandus JESU,
*Litera mysterium quælibet hujus habet.
Hunc cupio, hunc capias, (bone frater arundinis,) xv:
+ Solveret hic pro me debita, teque Deo.
Piscis is est, et piscator, mihi credito, qualem
Vel piscatorem piscis amare velit.
VIRUM OPTIMUM ET PISCATOREM PERITISSIMUM,
MAGISTER artis docte piscatoriæ,
Waltone, salve! magne dux arundinis,
Seu tu reducta valle solus ambulas,
Præterfluentes interim observans aquas.
Seu fortè puri stans in amnis margine,
Sive in tenaci gramine & ripâ sedens,
Fallis peritâ squameum pecus manu;
O te beatum! qui procul negotiis,
Forique & urbis pulvere & strepitu carens,
Extraque turbam, ad lenè manantes aquas
Vagos honestâ fraude pisces decipis.
Dum cætera ergo penè gens mortalium
Aut retia invicem sibi & technas struunt,
Donis, ut hamo, aut divites captant senes;
Gregi natantum tu interim nectis dolos,
Voracem inescas advenam hamo lucium,
Avidamvè percam parvulo alburno capis,
Aut verme ruffo, musculâ aut truttam levi,
Cautumvè cyprinum, & ferè indocilem capi
Calamoque linoque, ars et hunc superat tua;
Medicamvè tincam, gobium aut escâ trahis,
Gratum palato gobium, parvum licèt;
Prædamvè, non æque salubrem barbulum,
Etsi ampliorem, et mystace insignem gravi.
Hæ sunt tibi artes, dum annus & tempus sinunt,
Et nulla transit absque lineâ dies.
Nec sola praxis, sed theoria & tibi
Nota artis hujus; unde tu simul bonus
Piscator, idem & scriptor; & calami potens
Utriusque necdum & ictus, & tamen sapis.
Ut hamiotam nempe tironem instruas !
Stylo eleganti scribis en Halieutica
Oppianus alter, artis & methodum tuæ, &
Præcepta promis ritè piscatoria,
Varias & escas piscium, indolem, & genus.
Nec tradere artem sat putas piscariam;
(Virtutis est hæc & tamen quædam schola
Patientiamque & temperantiam docet ;)
Documenta quin majora das, & regulas
Sublimioris artis, & perennia
Monimenta morum, vitæ & exempla optima;
Dum tu profundum scribis Hookerum, & pium
Donnum ac disertum; sanctum & Herbertum, sacrum
Vatem; hos videmus nam penicillo tuo
Graphicè, et peritâ, Isaace, depictos manu.
Post fata factos hosce per te Virbios.1
O quæ voluptas est legere in scriptis tuis!
Sic tu libris nos, lineis pisces capis,
Musisque litterisque dum incumbis, licet
Intentus hamo, interque piscandum studes.
(1) " Virbius, quasi bis vir,” is an epithet applied to Hippolytus, because he was by Diana restored to life after his death. Vide Ovidii Met lib. xv. v. 536, & seq. Hoffmanni Lexicon Universale, art. VIRBIUS. In this place it is meant to express, that by Walton's skill in biography, those persons whose lives he has written, are so accurately represented, as that, even after their deaths, they are again, as it were, brought to life.
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