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 wishèd end.
Season and Time not to Angle.
First, 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 ÆOLUS lets go *[24. p. 196] 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.
- <poem>
