And as a ship in safe and quiet road
Under some hill or harbour doth abide,
With all her freight, her tackling and her load,
Attending still the wind and wished tide;
Which when it serves, no longer makes abode,
But forth into the wat'ry deep doth slide,
And through the waves divides her fairest way
Unto the place where she intends to stay.
So must the Angler be provided still
Of divers tools and sundry baits in store,
And all things else pertaining to his skill
Which he shall get and lay up long before;
That when the weather frameth to his will
He may be well appointed evermore
To take fit time when it is offered ever:
For time in one estate abideth never.
The Qualities of an Angler.
UT ERE I further go, it shall behove
To show what gifts and qualities of mind
Belong to him that doth the pastime love;
And what the virtues are of every kind
Without the which it were in vain to prove
Or to expect the pleasure he should find:
No more than he that having store of meat
Hath lost all lust and appetite to eat.
For what avails to brook or lake to go,
With handsome rods and hooks of divers sort,
Well-twisted lines, and many trinkets moe
To find the fish within their wat'ry fort:
If that the mind be not contented so
But wants those gifts, that should the rest support.
And make his pleasure to his thoughts agree.
With these therefore he must enduèd be.
The first is Faith, not wavering and unstable;
But such as had that holy patriarch old,
That to the Highest was so acceptable
As his increase and offspring manifold,
Exceeded far the stars innumerable :
So must he still a firm persuasion hold,
That where as waters, brooks and lakes are found, There store of fish without all doubt abound.
For Nature, that hath made no empty thing,
But all her works doth well and wisely frame;
Hath filled each brook, each river, lake and spring
With creatures, apt to live amidst the same;
Even as the earth, the air and seas do bring
Forth beasts and birds of sundry sort and name,
And given them shape, ability and sense
To live and dwell therein without offence.
The second gift and quality is Hope,
The anchor hold of every hard desire;
That having of the day so large a scope
He shall in time to wishèd hap aspire,
And ere the sun hath left the heav'nly cope
Obtain the sport and game he doth desire;
And that the fish, though sometimes slow to bite,
Will recompense delay with more delight.
The third is Love and liking to the game,
And to his friend and neighbour dwelling by;
For greedy pleasure not to spoil the same,
Nor of his fish some portion to deny
To any that are sickly, weak or lame;
But rather with his line and angle try
In pond or brook, to do what in him lies
To take such store for them as may suffice.
Then followeth Patience, that the furious flame
Of Choler cools, and Passion puts to flight;
As doth a skilful rider break and tame
The courser wild, and teach him tread aright:
So patience doth the mind dispose and frame
To take mishaps in worth and count them light;
As loss of fish, line, hook or lead, or all,
Or other chance that often may befall.
The fifth good gift is low Humility;
As when a lion coucheth for his prey,
So must he stoop or kneel upon his knee
To save his line or put the weeds away;
Or lie along sometimes if need there be
For any let or chance that happen may:
And not to scorn to take a little pain
To serve his turn, his pleasure to obtain.
The sixth is painful Strength and Courage good, The greatest to encounter in the brook,
If that he happen in his angry mood
To snatch your bait and bear away your hook.
With wary skill to rule him in the flood.
Until more quiet, tame and mild he look :
And all adventures constantly to bear,
That may betide, without mistrust or fear.
Next unto this is Liberality,
Feeding them oft with full and plenteous hand.
Of all the rest a needful quality
To draw them near the place where you will stand
Like to the ancient hospitality,
That sometime dwelt in Albion's fertile land;
But now is sent away into exile
Beyond the bounds of Isabella's isle.
The eighth is Knowledge, how to find the way.
To make them bite when they are dull and slow;
And what doth let the same and breeds delay;
And every like impediment to know,
That keeps them from their food and wonted prey
Within the stream or standing waters low;
And with Experience skilfully to prove,
All other faults to mend or to remove.
The ninth is Placability of mind,
Contented with a reasonable dish;
Yea though sometimes no sport at all he find
Or that the weather prove not to his wish.
The tenth is Thanks to that GOD, of each kind,
To net and bait, doth send both fowl and fish;
And still reserve enough in secret store
To please the rich and to relieve the poor.
Th'eleventh good gift and hardest to endure,
Is Fasting long from all superfluous fare;
Unto the which he must himself inure
By exercise and use of diet spare :
And with the liquor of the waters pure
Acquaint himself if he cannot forbear;
And never on his greedy belly think,
From rising sun until alow he sink.
The twelfth and last of all is Memory,
Remembering well before he setteth out,
Each needful thing that he must occupy;
And not to stand of any want in doubt
Or leave something behind forgetfully:
When he hath walked the fields and brooks about,
It were a grief back to return again,
For things forgot that should his sport maintain.
Here then you see what kind of qualities
An Angler should enduèd be withal;
Besides his skill and other properties
To serve his turn, as to his lot doth fall:
But now what season for this exercise
The fittest is, and which doth serve but small:
My Muse! vouchsafe some little aid to lend
To bring this also to the wished end.
Season and Time not to Angle.
|IRST, IF the weather be too dry and hot,
And scalds with scorching heat the lowly plain;
As if that youthful PHAETON had got
The guiding of his father's car again;
Or that it seemed APOLLO had forgot
His light-foot steeds to rule with steadfast rain:
It is not good with any line or hook,
To angle then in river, pond or brook.
Or when cold BOREAS with his frosty beard,
Looks out from underneath the "lesser bear;"
And makes the weary traveller afeard
To see the valleys covered everywhere
With ice and snow, that late so green appeared:
The waters stand as if of steel they were ;
And hoary frosts do hang on every bough,
Where freshest leaves of summer late did grow.
So neither if Don EOLUS lets go
His blust'ring winds out of the hollow deep;
Where he their strife and struggling to and fro,
With triple fork doth still in order keep:
They rushing forth do rage with tempests so
As if they would the world together sweep;
And ruffling so with sturdy blasts they blow,
That tree and house sometimes they overthrow.
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