1496, in small Folio; the book consists of a treatise on Hawking, another on Hunting, which is all in verse; a book wherein is determined the Lygnage of Cote Armures, the above-mentioned treatise of Fishing, and the method of Blasynge of Armes."

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The work is now of the most extreme rarity, yet it was doubtless well known to Walton, some of whose descriptions may be considered as paraphrastic of the following beautiful passage, setting forth those incidental pleasures of the angler which exist quite independently of his taking fish, he having, "Atte the leest his holsom walke, and mery at his ease, a swete ayre of the swete savoure of the meede floures that makyth him hungry; he hereth the melodyous armony of fowles; he seeth the yonge swannes, heerons, duckes, cotes, and many other foules, wyth their brodes; whyche me semyth better than alle the noyse of houndys, the blastes of hornys, and the cryes of foulis, that hunters, fawkeners, and foulers can make. And if the angler take fysshe, surely then is there noo man merier than he is in his spyryte."

It is also probable that Walton might borrow from Barker's "Art of Angling," first published in 1651, the idea of making his work humorous and entertaining; but how fine is the contrast between the chastised mirth of a gentleman, and that of the mere droll! for poor Mr. Barker aspires to nothing higher.

As for Walton's morality, it is almost entirely his own; we cannot help noticing one remarkable in

stance of his propriety and delicacy of fecling; he is conscious that, for some very ardent minds, he may have made his descriptions too seductive, and consequently he takes especial care to furnish a hint which may serve for a corrective: it occurs near the commencement of Chapter V., where Peter says: "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!"

This minute piece of admonition is rendered the more delicate from its timely utterance, being evidently meant to remind us that we should fix the requisite limits to our pleasures, even before their

commencement.

In resuming our purpose of pointing out the progressive and still growing reputation of our author, it may be fairly premised that what we now present is to be viewed as the grateful feeling of posterity, in opposition to that contemporary applause which might be supposed to flow from favor or affection. By far the greater part of those copies of verses, prefixed, according to the custom of the time, to the earlier editions, by friends of the author, might be deemed liable to this exception; besides that they, in general, partake too much of metaphysical conceit to continue their attendance on an author whose mind was as unsophisticated as his language was beautiful:- truly, indeed, may it be termed the "wellspring of English, pure and undefiled."

The Reverend Moses Browne is the first writer whose remarks are applicable to our present view of the subject; he revived the "Complete Angler" after it had lain dormant for upwards of eighty years. and this task, be it never forgotten, was performed at the instigation of Dr. Samuel Johnson! Mr. Browne, in his Preface, shows a laudable anxiety that the work should be known as a literary production, and not as a mere book of fishing; these are his words:-"Mr. Izaak Walton's Complete Angler, which (with the second part by Mr. Cotton, of equal scarcity and value, I have the satisfaction of restoring in the present manner to the public) has been always had in the greatest reputation, by such as are acquainted with books, and have any discerning in works of merit and nature. Not only the lovers of this art, but all others, who have no inclinations in the least to the diversion of angling that it treats of, have joined in giving it their mu tual suffrage and commendation."

In the year 1760 appeared the first of those edit.ons edited by Sir John Hawkins; from whose Life of Walton prefixed, we extract the following encomium.

On the appearance of my first edition, in 1823, Mr. D'Israeli (who somewhere speaks of the "Doric sweetness of Izaak Walton ") observed to me, "One often sees a pretty book which is interesting to a particular class; but you have hit on a work that pleases everybody!” And Mr. Alexander Chalmers was pleased to say, that I had given quite a new tone to the subject, and had "Waltonized the land." For my own part, I can only say, that I had long been asking myself, in the language of Abraham Cowley, "What shall I do to be forever known?" and my good genius whispered, "Give your days and nights to emblazon the worth of Izaak Walton."

"And let no man imagine, that a work on such a subject must, necessarily, be unentertaining, or trifling, or even uninstructive; for the contrary will most evidently appear from a perusal of this excellent piece, which, whether we consider the elegant simplicity of the style, the ease and unaffected humor of the dialogue, the lovely scenes which it delineates, the enchanting pastoral poetry which it contains, or the fine morality it so sweetly inculcates, has hardly its fellow in any of the modern languages."

From Walton's latest and most copious biographer, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Zouch, an equally honorable testimony is selected.

"In this volume of the Complete Angler, which will be always read with avidity, even by those who entertain no strong relish for the art which it pro fesses to teach, we discover a copious vein of innocent pleasantry and good-humor. The dialogue is diversified with all the characteristic beauties of colloquial composition. The songs and little poems which are occasionally inserted will abundantly gratify the reader who has a taste for the charms of pastoral poetry. And above all, those lovely lessons of religious and moral instruction, which are so repeatedly inculcated throughout the whole work, will ever recommend this exquisitely pleasing performance."

* Sir Harris Nicolas's elaborate and circumstantial Life of our author-so far as it was possible for the most industrious and skilful research to make it so — has appeared since the above was written. Sir Harris has here continued for Walton all that has been done in the way of literary and personal illustration for Shakespeare himself!

Yet the enthusiastic admirer of Walton will be still more delighted with the wonder-working effects of his book, as set forth by that deservedly popular writer, Mr. Washington Irving; whose applause, being that of a man of acknowledged taste and brilliant fancy, bespeaks its own peculiar value in pointing out our author's claims upon the present and succceding ages.

From "The Sketch Book" of this gentleman, published under the assumed name of Geoffrey Crayon, we extract the following.

"It is said that many an unlucky urchin is induced to run away from his family, and betake himself to a seafaring life, from reading the history of Robinson Crusoe; and I suspect that, in like manner, many of those worthy gentlemen, who are given to haunt the sides of pastoral streams with angle-rods in hand, may trace the origin of their passion to the seductive pages of honest Izaak Walton. I recollect studying his 'Complete Angler' several years since, in company with a knot of friends in America, and moreover that we were all completely bitten with the angling mania. It was early in the year; but as soon as the weather was auspicious, and that the spring began to melt into the verge of summer, we took rod in hand and sallied into the country, as stark mad as was ever Don Quixote from reading books of chivalry.

"One of our party had equalled the Don in the fulness of his equipments, being attired cap-a-pie for the enterprise. He wore a broad-skirted fustian