those divines and others that favoured the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of this country,—the subversion whereof it was his misfortune both to see and feel. Seeing, therefore, that amidst the public calamities, and in a state of exile from that city where the earliest and dearest of his connexions had been formed, he was thus capable of enjoying himself in the manner he appears to have done, patiently submitting to those evils which he could not prevent, we must pronounce him to have been an illustrious exemplar of the private and social virtues, and upon the whole a wise and good man.

To these remarks, respecting the moral qualities of Walton, I add, that his mental endowments were so considerable as to merit notice: it is true, that his stock of learning, properly so called, was not great; yet were his attainments in literature far beyond what could be expected from a man bred to trade, and not to a learned profession; for let it be remembered, that-besides being well versed in the study of the holy Scriptures, and the writings of the most eminent divines of his time-he appears to have been well acquainted with history, ecclesiastical, civil, and natural; to have acquired a very correct judgment in poetry ; and by phrases of his own combination and invention, to have formed a style so natural, intelligible, and elegant, as to have had more admirers than successful imitators.

And although, in the prosecution of his design to teach the contemplative man the art of angling, there is a plainness and simplicity of discourse that indicates little more than bare instruction,-yet is there intermingled with it wit and gentle reprehension; and we may in some instances discover, that though he professes himself no friend to scoffing, he knew very well how to deal with scoffers, and to defend his art, as we see he does, against such as attempted to degrade it; and particularly against those two persons in the dialogue, Auceps and Venator, who affected to fear a long and watery discourse in defence of his art

the former of whom he puts to silence, and the other he converts and takes for his pupil.

What reception in general the book met with, may be naturally inferred from the dates of the subsequent editions thereof; the second came abroad in 1655, the third in 1664, the fourth in 1668, and the fifth and last in 1676. It is pleasing to trace the several variations which the author from time to time made in these subsequent editions, as well by adding new facts and discoveries, as by enlarging on the more entertaining parts of the dialogue: And so far did he indulge himself in this method of improvement, that, besides that in the second edition he has introduced a new interlocutor, to wit, Auceps, a falconer, and by that addition gives a new form to the dialogue; he from thence takes occasion to urge a variety of reasons in favour of his art, and to assert its preference as well to hawking as hunting. The third and fourth editions of his book have several entire new chapters; and the fifth, the last of the editions published in his life-time, contains no less than eight chapters more than the first, and twenty pages more than the fourth.

it

Not having the advantage of a learned education, it may seem unaccountable that Walton so frequently cites authors that have written only in Latin, as Gesner, Cardan, Aldrovandus, Rondeletius, and even Albertus Magnus; but here may be observed, that, the voluminous history of animals, of which the first of these was author, is in effect translated into English by Mr. Edward Topsel, a learned divine; chaplain, as it seems-in the church of St. Botolph, Aldersgate-to Dr. Neile, dean of Westminster. The translation was published in 1658, and-containing in it numberless particulars concerning frogs, serpents, caterpillars, and other animals, though not of fish, extracted from the other writers above named, and others with their names to the respective facts-it furnished Walton with a great variety of intelligence, of which in the later editions of

his book he has carefully availed himself: it was therefore through the medium of this translation alone, that he was enabled to cite the other authors mentioned above; vouching the authority of the original writers, in like manner as he elsewhere does Sir Francis Bacon, whenever occasion occurs to mention his Natural History, or any other of his works. Pliny was translated to his hand by Dr. Philemon Holland, as were also Janus Dubravius De Piscinis et Piscium Natura, and Lebault's Maison Rustique, so often referred to by him in the course of his work.

Nor did the reputation of the Complete Angler subsist only in the opinions of those for whose use it was more peculiarly calculated; but even the learned, either from the known character of the author, or those internal evidences of judgment and veracity contained in it, considered it as a work of merit, and for various purposes referred to its authority: Doctor Thomas Fuller in his Worthies, whenever he has occasion to speak of fish, uses his very words. Doctor Plot, in his History of Staffordshire, has, on the authority of our author, related two of the instances of the voracity of the Pike, mentioned part i., chap. 8.; and confirmed them by two other signal ones, that had then lately fallen out in that county.

These are testimonies in favour of Walton's authority in matters respecting fish and fishing. And it will hardly be thought a diminution of that of Fuller, to say, that he was acquainted with, and a friend of the person whom he thus implicitly commends: a fact which the following relation of a conference between them sufficiently proves.

Fuller, as we all know, wrote a Church History, which, soon after its publication, having read, Walton applied to the author for some information touching Hooker, whose life he was then about to write. Upon this occasion Fuller, knowing how intimate Walton was with several of the bishops and ancient clergy, asked his opinion of it, and what reception it met with among his friends? Walton

answered, that "he thought it would be acceptable to all tempers, because there were shades in it for the warm, and sunshine for those of a cold constitution: that with youthful readers, the facetious parts would be profitable to make the serious more palatable, while some reverend old readers might fancy themselves, in his History of the Church, as in a flower garden, or one full of evergreens." "And why not," said Fuller, "the Church History so decked, as well as the Church itself at a most holy season, or the Tabernacle of old at the feast of boughs ?"—" That was but for a season," said Walton: "in your feast of boughs, they may conceive, we are so overshadowed throughout, that the parson is more seen than his congregation,-and this, sometimes, invisible to its own acquaintance, who may wander in the search till they are lost in the labyrinth." "Oh," said Fuller, "the very children of our Israel may find their way out of this wilderness.”—“True,” replied Walton, "as, indeed, they have here such a Moses to conduct them."*

To pursue the subject of the biographical writingsabout two years after the Restoration, Walton wrote the Life of Mr. Richard Hooker, author of the Ecclesiastical Polity. He was enjoined to undertake this work by his friend Doctor Gilbert Sheldon,† afterwards archbishop of Canterbury; who, by the way, was an angler. Bishop King, in a letter to the author, says of this Life: "I have often seen Mr. Hooker with my father, who was after bishop of London; from whom, and others at that time, I have heard most of the material passages which you relate in

* From a manuscript Collection of diverting Sayings, Stories, Characters, &c., in verse and prose, made about the year 1686, by Charles Cotton, Esq., some time in the library of the Earl of Halifax. Vide Biographia Britannica, 2061, note P. in margine.

The editors of the above work have styled this colloquy a witty confabulation, but it seems remarkable for nothing but its singularity, which consists in the starting of a metaphor, and hunting it down.

Walton's Epistle to the reader of the Lives, in 8vo., 1670.
Before the Lives.

the history of his life." Sir William Dugdale, speaking of the three posthumous books of the Ecclesiastical Polity, refers the reader "to that seasonable historical discourse lately compiled and published, with great judgment and integrity, by that much deserving person, Mr. Isaac Walton.”* In this Life we are told, that Hooker, while he was at college, made a visit to the famous Doctor Jewel, then bishop of Salisbury, his good friend and patron: An account of the bishop's reception of him, and behaviour at his departure-as it contains a lively picture of his simplicity and goodness, and of the plain manners of those times-is given in the note.†

The Life of Mr. George Herbert, as it stands the fourth and last in the volume wherein that and the three former are collected, seems to have been written the next after Hooker's it was first published in duodecimo, 1670. Walton professes himself to have been a stranger as to the person of Herbert; ‡ and though he assures us his life of * Short View of the late Troubles in England, folio, 1681, p. 39.

"As soon as he was perfectly recovered from this sickness, he took a journey from Oxford to Exeter, to satisfy and see his good mother; being accompanied with a countryman and companion of his own college, and both on foot; which was, then, either more in fashion-or want of money, or their humility made it so: but on foot they went, and took Salisbury in their way, purposely to see the good bishop, who made Mr. Hooker and his companion dine with him at his own table; which Mr. Hooker boasted of with much joy and gratitude, when he saw his mother and friends. And at the bishop's parting with him, the bishop gave him good counsel, and his benediction, but forgot to give him money, which, when the bishop had considered, he sent a servant in all haste to call Richard back to him: and at Richard's return, the bishop said to him; Richard! I sent for you back to lend you a horse, which hath carried me many a mile, and, I thank God, with much ease; and presently delivered into his hands a walking staff, with which he professed he had travelled through many parts of Germany; and he said, Richard! I do not give, but lend you my horse; be sure you be honest, and bring my horse back to me at your return this way to Oxford. And I do now give you ten groats, to bear your charges to Exeter; and here is ten groats more, which I charge you to deliver to your mother; and tell her, I send her a bishop's benediction with it, and beg the continuance of her prayers for me. And if you bring my horse back to me, I will give you ten groats more to carry you on foot to the college; and so God bless you, good Richard!"-Life of Hooker, in the Collection of Lives, edit. 1670.

Introduction to Herbert's Life.