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you another dish of fish one of these days; and then beg another song of you. Come, scholar! let Maudlin alone: do not you offer to spoil her voice. Look! yonder comes mine hostess, to How now! is my brother Peter come?

call us to supper. HOSTESS.

and

Yes, and a friend with him. They are both glad to hear that you are in these parts, and long to see you; long to be at supper, for they be very hungry.

CHAP. V. On the Trout.

PISCATOR. WELL met, brother Peter! I heard you and a friend would lodge here to-night; and that hath made3 me to bring my friend to lodge here too. My friend is one that would fain be a brother of the angle: he hath been an angler but this day; and I have taught him how to catch a Chub, by dapping with a grasshopper; and the Chub he caught was a lusty one of nineteen inches long. But pray, brother Peter, who is your companion?

4

PETER. Brother Piscator, my friend is an honest countryman, and his name is Coridon; 5 and he is a downright witty companion, that met me here purposely to be pleasant and eat a Trout; and I have not yet wetted my line since we met together: but I hope to fit him with a Trout for his breakfast; for I'll be early up.

PISCATOR.

Nay, brother, you shall not stay so long; for look you! here is a Trout will fill six reasonable bellies.

6

Come, hostess, dress it presently; and get us what other meat the house will afford; and give us some of your best barley-wine, the good liquor that our honest' forefathers did use to drink of; the drink which preserved their health, and made them live so long, and to do so many good deeds.

PETER. On my word, this Trout is perfect in season.

Come,

I thank you, and here is a hearty draught to you, and to all the brothers of the angle wheresoever they be, and to my young brother's good fortune to-morrow. I will furnish him with a rod, if you will furnish him with the rest of the tackling: we will set

VARIATIONS.

2 long to see you, and are hungry, and long to be at supper.-
-Till 5th edit.

3 hath made me and my friend cast to lodge here too.-Till 5th edit.

4 grasshopper; and he hath caught a lusty one of nineteen inches long. But I pray, brother, who is it that is your companion?-Till 5th edit.

Coridon, a most downright, witty, and merry companion, that met me here purposely to eat a Trout and to be pleasant, and I have not yet wet my line since I came from home but I will fit him to-morrow with a Trout for his breakfast, if the weather be anything like.

Piscator. Nay, brother, you shall not delay him so long, for look you, here is a Trout.-Till 5th edit.

6 Come, hostess, dress it presently, and get us what other meat the house will afford, and give us some good ale, and let's be merry.-rst edit.

7 that our good honest forefathers used to drink of, which preserved, &c.-Till 5th edit.

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him up, and make him a fisher. And I will tell him one thing for his encouragement, that his fortune hath made him happy to be scholar to such a master; a master that knows as much, both of the nature and breeding of fish, as any man; and can also tell him as well how to catch and cook them, from the Minnow to the Salmon, as any that I ever met withal.

PISCATOR. Trust me, brother Peter, I find my scholar to be so suitable to my own humour, which is to be free and pleasant and civilly merry, that my resolution is to hide nothing that I know from him. Believe me, scholar, this is my resolution; and so here's to you a hearty draught, and to all that love us and the honest art of Angling.

VENATOR. Trust me, good master, you shall not sow your seed in barren ground; for I hope to return you an increase answerable to your hopes: but, however, you shall find me obedient, and thankful, and serviceable to my best ability.

PISCATOR. 'Tis enough, honest scholar! come, let's to supper. Come, my friend Coridon, this Trout looks lovely; it was twentytwo inches when it was taken; and the belly of it looked, some part of it, as yellow as a marigold, and part of it as white as a lily; and yet, methinks, it looks better in this good sauce. CORIDON. Indeed, honest friend, it looks well, and tastes well I thank you for it, and so doth my friend Peter, or else he is to blame.

PETER. Yes, and so I do; we all thank you: and when we have supped, I will get my friend Coridon to sing you a song for requital.

CORIDON. I will sing a song, if anybody will sing another : else, to be plain with you, I will sing none. I am none of those that sing for meat, but for company: I say,

"Tis merry in hall.
When men sing all."*

PISCATOR. I'll promise you I'll sing a song that was lately made, at my request, by Mr William Basse; one that hath made the choice songs of the "Hunter in his career," and of "Tom of Bedlam," + and many others of note; and this, that I will sing, is in praise of Angling.

* A parody on the adage,

i.e., when all are eating.-H.

"It's merry in hall,

When beards wag all."

This song, beginning "Forth from my sad and darksome cell," with the music to it, set by Hen. Lawes, is printed in a book entitled Playford's Antidote against Melancholy,

CORIDON. man's life.

PETER.

And then mine shall be the praise of a CountryWhat will the rest sing of?

I will promise you, I will sing another song in praise of Angling to-morrow night; for we will not part till then; but fish to-morrow, and sup together and the next day every man leave fishing, and fall to his business.

:

8

VENATOR. 'Tis a match; and I will provide you a song or a catch against then, too, which shall give some addition of mirth to the company; for we will be civil and as merry as beggars. PISCATOR. 'Tis a match, my masters. Let's e'en say grace, and turn to the fire, drink the other cup to whet our whistles, and so sing away all sad thoughts. Come on, my masters, who begins? I think it is best to draw cuts, and avoid contention.

PETER. It is a match. Look, the shortest cut falls to Coridon. CORIDON. Well, then, I will begin, for I hate contention.

Coridon's Song.

Oh the sweet contentment
The countryman doth find!
Heigh trolollie lollie loe,
Heigh trolollie lee.
That quiet contemplation
Possesseth all my mind:

Then care away,

And wend along with me.

For Courts are full of flattery,
As hath too oft been tried;

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c.
The city full of wantonness,
And both are full of pride:
Then care away, &c.

But oh, the honest countryman
Speaks truly from his heart,

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c.

His pride is in his tillage,
His horses, and his cart:
Then care away, &c.

Our clothing is good sheep-skins,
Grey russet for our wives;

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c.
'Tis warmth and not gay clothing
That doth prolong our lives:
Then care away, &c.

The ploughman, tho' he labour hard,
Yet on the holyday,

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c.

No emperor so merrily
Does pass his time away:
Then care away, &c.

To recompense our tillage,
The heavens afford us showers;

Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c.
And for our sweet refreshments
The earth affords us bowers:
Then care away, &c.

VARIATION.] 8 for we will be merry.-Till 5th edit.

8vo, 1669; and in Choice Ayres, Songs, and Dialogues, to sing to the Theorbo, Lute, and Bass Viol, folio, 1675: also in Dr Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 357; but in the latter with a mistake, in the last line of the third stanza, of the word Pentarchye for Pentateuch.-H.

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