Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine, No blood of living insect stain my line; Let me, less cruel, cast the feather'd hook, With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook, Silent along the mazy margin stray, And with the fur-wrought fly delude the prey.
John Gay (1770). “The works of Mr. John Gay: In four volumes. To which is added an account of the life and writings of the author ...”, p.27
