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 instance of his propriety and delicacy of feeling: 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 Chap. 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!"

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This minute piece of admonition, is rendered the more delicate from it's 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 favour 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 "well spring 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, shews 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. Isaak 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 mutual suffrage and commendation."

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

d

"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 humour 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 it's fellow in any of the modern languages."

From Walton's latest and most copious biographer, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Zouch, an equally honourable 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 professes to teach, we discover a copious vein of innocent pleasantry and good-humour. 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."

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 it's own peculiar value, in pointing out our author's claims upon the present and succeeding 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 coat, perplexed with half a hundred pockets; a pair of stout shoes, and leathern gaiters; basket slung

on one side for fish; a patent rod; a landing-net; and a score of other inconveniences, only to be found in the true Angler's armoury. Thus harnessed for the field, he was as great a matter of stare and wonderment among the country folk, who had never seen a regular Angler, as was the steel-clad hero of La Mancha, among the goatherds of Sierra Morena.

"Our first essay was along a mountain brook among the highlands of the Hudson; a most unfortunate place for the execution of those piscatory tactics, which had been invented along the velvet margins of quiet English rivulets."

"For my part, I was always a bungler at all kinds of sport that required either patience or adroitness, and had not angled above half an hour, before I had completely satified the sentiment' and convinced myself of the truth of Izaak Walton's opinion, that angling is something like poetry—a man must be born to it.' I hooked myself instead of the fish; tangled my line in every tree; lost my bait; broke my rod; until I gave up the attempt in despair, and passed the day under the trees, reading old Izaak; satisfied that it was his fascinating vein of honest simplicity and rural feeling that had bewitched me, and not the passion for angling."

"But above all, I recollect the 'good honest, wholesome, hungry' repast, which we made under a beech tree, just by a spring of pure sweet water