described by Sir WALTER RALEIGII. [History of the World.] IN THIS ALSO is the little World of Man compared and made more like the Universal. . . in that the four Complexions resemble the four Elements; and the seven Ages of man, the seven Planets. Whereof our Infancy is compared to the Moon; in which we seem only to live and grow, as plants. The second Age, to Mercury; wherein we are taught and instructed. Our third Age, to Venus; the days of Love, Desire and Vanity. The fourth, to the Sun; the strong, flourishing and beautiful Age of man's life. The fifth, to Mars; in which we seek honour and victory, and in which our thoughts travel to ambitious ends. The sixth Age is ascribed to Jupiter; in which we begin to take account of our times, judge of ourselves, and grow to the perfection of our understanding. The last and seventh, to Saturn; wherein our days are sad and overcast and in which we find by dear and lamentable experience, and by the loss which can never be repaired; that, of all our vain passions and affections past, the sorrow only abideth. Our attendants are Sicknesses and Variable Infirmities and by how much the more we are accompanied with plenty, by so much the more greedily is our end desired. Whom, when Time hath made unsociable to others; we become a burden to ourselves: being of no other use than to hold the riches we have from our successors. In this time it is, when we, for the most part (and never before) prepare for our Eternal Habitation; which we pass on unto with many sighs, groans and sad thoughts: and in the end (by the workmanship of DEATH) finish the sorrowful business of a wretched life. Towards which we always travel, both sleeping and waking. Neither have those beloved companions of Honour and Riches any power at all to hold us any one day by the glorious promise of entertainments: but by what crooked path soever we walk; the same leadeth on directly to the House of DEATH, whose doors lie open at all hours, and to all persons. J. D. Esquire. The Secrets of Angling. With the exception of J. D.'s verses, who is the laureate of the craft, angling, as practised in England, sadly wants a sacred bard. Why does no fisherman hamis et reti potens, as familiar with all the finny tribes as was GLAUCUS of old after tasting grass, cut himself a reed from the margin of his loved trout stream, and pipe a strain worthy of the subject?—Quarterly Review, Oct. 1875, p. 358. UR attention was drawn to this tract by the charming article on the literature and mysteries of Trout and Trout Fishing, from which we have made the above quotation. The original edition of 1613 is of extraordinary rarity. Only two copies are known. One of these is in the Bodleian; the other in the superb collection of Mr. HENRY HUTH, who kindly lent it for the present reproduction. In addition to the original impression, we have given at pages 191-198 all the additional Note and Comment which WILLIAM LAUSON added to the second impression of 1653. ISAAK WALTON quotes from this poetical work in his Compleat Angler first published in 1653, assigning by a marginal note, the authorship to J. DA.; but the following entry in the Stationers Registers definitely fixes the name of the Writer, who was apparently a Somersetshire man. Master ROGER Entred for his copie vnder the hands of JACKSON. Master MASON and Warden HOOPER A booke called The secretes of Angling teaching the Choysest tools bates and seasons for the taking of any fish in pond or River practised and opened in three bookes by JOHN DENNYS Esquier ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... vjd. As it appears from the Publisher's Epistle at p. 143 that the work appeared posthumously, the date of its composition can but approximately be fixed as "Before 1613." We think that to not a few Anglers, the poem will prove a very pleasant surprise; and we imagine that this is the second printed book in our Literature specially devoted to stream fishing with the rod; JULIANA BARNES' treatise of Fysshynge with an angle at the end of the 1496 edition of her book of The manere of hawkynge and huntynge &c., being the first. Though the tract has several times been reprinted; lastly in 1811: we feel sure we are but expressing the feeling of all Anglers in thanking Mr. HUTH for his generous assistance in making it now perpetually accessible to all lovers of the gentle craft. Secrets of Angling: TEACHING, The choicest Tools, Baits and Seasons, for the taking of any Fish in Pond or River: practised and familiarly opened in three Books. Printed at London, for Reger Jackson, and are to be sold at his shop near Fleet Street conduit, 1613. TO THE WORTHY, AND MY MUCH RESPECTED FRIEND, Master JOHN HARBORNE of Tackley in the County of Oxford, Esquire. WORTHY SIR, HIS POEM being sent unto me to be printed after the death of the author; who intended to have done it in his life; but was prevented by death: I could not among my good friends, bethink me of any one to whom I might more fitly dedicate it—as well for the nature of the subject in which you delight, as to express my love-than to yourself. I find it not only savouring of Art and Honesty, two things now strangers unto many authors, but also both pleasant and profitable; and being loth to see a thing of such value lie hidden in obscurity, whilst matters of no moment pester the stalls of every stationer, I therefore make bold to publish it for the benefit and delight of all, trusting that I shall neither thereby disparage the author, nor dislike them. I need not, I think, apologize for either the use of the subject or for that it is reduced into the nature of a poem : for as touching the last, in that it is in verse, some count it by so much the |