Petticoat Daffodil. _Narcissus Bulbocodium._
Dedicated to _St. Catherine_.
~March 10.~
_Forty Martyrs of St. Sebasti_, A. D. 320. _St. Droctovæus_, Abbot, A.
D. 580. _St. Mackessoge._
* * * * *
The 10th of March, 1702, is erroneously said to have been the day
whereon died sir Hugh Myddleton; a man renowned in English annals for
having abundantly supplied London with water, by conducting the New
River from Ware, in Hertfordshire, to the Clerkenwell suburb of the
metropolis.
[Illustration: ~The first View of the New River--from London.~]
This is seen immediately on coming within view of Sadler’s Wells, a
place of dramatic entertainment. After manifold windings and tunnellings
from its source, the New River passes beneath the arch in the engraving,
and forms a basin within a large walled enclosure, from whence diverging
main pipes convey the water to all parts of London. At the back of the
boy angling on the wall, is a public-house with tea-gardens and a
skittle-ground, “commonly called, or known by the name or sign of, the
sir Hugh Myddleton, or of the sir Hugh Myddleton’s head,” a portrait of
sir Hugh hangs in front of the house. To this stream, as the water
nearest London favourable to sport, anglers of inferior note repair:--
Here “gentle anglers,” and their rods withal,
Essaying, do the finny tribe inthrall.
Here boys their penny lines and bloodworms throw,
And scare, and catch, the “silly fish” below:
Backstickles bite, and biting, up they come,
And now a minnow, now a miller’s thumb.
Here too, experienced youths of better taste
And higher aim resort, who bait with paste,
Or push beneath a gentle’s shining skin
The barbed hook, and bury it within;
The more he writhes the better, if he die
Not one will touch him of the finny fry;
If in strong agony the sufferer live,
Then doth the “gentle angler” joy receive,
Down bobs the float, the angler wins the prize,
And now the gentle, now the gudgeon dies.
Concerning Sir Hugh Myddleton there will be occasion to speak again.