Command bare heads, bow'd knees, strike justice dumb,
As well as blind and lame; or give a tongue
To stones by epitaphs; be called great master
In the loose rhymes of every poetaster:
Could I be more than any man that lives,
Great, fair, rich, wise, all in superlatives:
Yet I more freely would these gifts resign,
Than ever fortune would have made them mine;
And hold one minute of this holy leisure,
Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure.

Welcome, pure thoughts; welcome, ye silent groves;
These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves:
Now the wing'd people of the sky shall sing
My cheerful anthems to the gladsome Spring:
A Pray'r-book now, shall be my looking-glass,
In which I will adore sweet virtue's face.
Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace-cares,
No broken vows dwell here, nor pale-fac'd fears:
Then here I'll sit, and sigh my hot love's folly,
And learn t' affect an holy melancholy:

And if contentment be a stranger, then
I'll ne'er look for it, but in heaven again.

VEN. Well, Master, these verses be worthy to keep a room in every man's memory. I thank you for them; and I thank you for your many instructions, which, God willing, I will not forget: and as St. Austin, in his Confessions, book 4, chap. 3, commemorates the kindness of his friend Verecundus, for lending him and his companion a country-house, because there they rested and enjoyed themselves

lenges them " to drop Angels" with him; empties the purses of them all, and shows a hundred pounds to boot :-

"Though shee be not deck'd in velvet and in pearle,
Yett I will dropp Angels with you for my girle.”

Angels were ordinarily used as "touch pieces" (i.e. given by the king when touching for the evil); and Mr. Akerman observes, that few of this coin are now extant not disfigured by a hole bored through it, for the convenience of being worn round the neck of the afflicted.-Numism. Man. Charles Cotton has employed the term, "To vie priority," in his Stanzas Irregular, to Izaak Walton,-page 315.

free from the troubles of the world; so, having had the like advantage, both by your conversation and the Art you have taught me, I ought ever to do the like: for indeed, your company and discourse have been so useful and pleasant, that I may truly say, I have only lived since I enjoyed them and turned Angler, and not before. Nevertheless, here I must part with you, here in this now sad place, where I was so happy as first to meet you: but I shall long for the ninth of May, for then I hope again to enjoy your beloved company at the appointed time and place. And now I wish for some somniferous potion, that might force me to sleep away the intermitted time, which will pass away with me as tediously, as it does with men in sorrow; nevertheless I will make it as short as I can by my hopes and wishes. And, my good Master, I will not forget the doctrine which you told me Socrates taught his Scholars, that they should not think to be honoured so much for being Philosophers, as to honour philosophy by their virtuous lives. You advised me to the like concerning Angling, and I will endeavour to do so, and to live like those many worthy men, of which you made mention in the former part of your discourse. This is my firm resolution; and as a pious man advised his friend, that to beget mortification he should frequent churches, and view monuments and charnel-houses, and then and there consider how many dead bones time had piled up at the gates of death: so when I would beget content, and increase confidence in the power, and wisdom, and Providence of Almighty God, I will walk the meadows by some gliding stream,

and there contemplate the lilies that take no care, and those very many other various little living creatures that are not only created, but fed, man knows not how, by the goodness of the God of Nature, and therefore trust in Him. This is my purpose; and so, "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord:" and let the blessing of St. Peter's Master be with mine.

PISC. And upon all that are lovers of virtue; and dare trust in his Providence, and be quiet, and go a-Angling.

"STUDY TO BE QUIET."-1 Thes. iv. 11.

Charles Cotton

From a Painting by Sir Peter Loly.

LONDON