since by John Chalkhill, Esq.; an acquaintance and friend of Edmund Spencer." To this poem he wrote a preface, containing a very amiable character of the author. He lived but a very little time after the publication of this poem, for, as Wood says, he ended his days on the fifteenth day of December, 1683, in the great frost, at Winchester, in the house of the above-named Dr. William Hawkins. He was buried in the Cathedral, and in a chapel in the fourth aisle, called Prior Silksteed's chapel: on a large black flat marble stone is this inscription to his memory, the poetry whereof has very little to recommend it.

HERE RESTETH THE BODY OF

MR. ISAAC WALTON,

WHO DYED THE 15TH OF DECEMBER, 1683.

Alas! he's gone before,
Gone to return no more;
Our panting breasts aspire
After their agéd sire,

Whose well-spent life did last
Full ninety years and past:
But now he hath begun

That which will ne'er be done,
Crown'd with eternal bliss,

We wish our souls with his.

Votis modestis sic flerunt liberi.

Between Walton's retirement from business and his death, he wrote the lives of Dr. Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert, and Dr. Sanderson, bishop of Lincoln, all learned aud pious men. He also wrote a few copies of verses on minor passing events.

mens

Upon a retrospect of the foregoing particulars, and a view of some others mentioned in a subsequent letter and in his Will, it will appear that Walton possessed that essential ingredient in human felicity, sana in corpore sano"; for in his eighty-third year he professes a resolution to begin a pilgrimage of more than a hundred miles, into a country the most difficult and hazardous that can be conceived for an aged man to travel in, to visit his friend Cotton, and doubtless to enjoy his favourite diversion of angling in the delightful streams of the Dove,-and on the ninetieth anniversary of his birthday, he, by his Will, declares himself to be of perfect memory.

As to his worldly circumstances-notwithstanding the adverse accident of his being obliged, by the troubles of the times, to quit London, and his occupation-they appear to have been commensurate, as well with the wishes as the wants of any but a covetous and intemperate man; in his relations and connexions, such a concurrence of circumstances is visible, as it would be almost presumption to pray for.

For-not to mention the patronage of those many prelates and digni

* A remarkably cheap illustrated edition (price one Shilling) of them forms the second number of " The Universal Library," publishing this (1853) year, by Ingram, Cooke, and Co.

taries of the church, men of piety and learning, with whom he lived in a
close intimacy and friendship; or, the many ingenious and worthy persons
with whom he corresponded and conversed; or, the esteem and respect
testified by printed letters and eulogiums, which his writings had procured
him; to be matched with a woman of an exalted understanding, and a
mild and humble temper, to have children of good inclinations and sweet
and amiable dispositions, and to see them well settled, is not the lot of
every man, who, preferring a social to a solitary life, chooses to become
the head of a family.

But blessings like these are comparatively light, when weighed against
those of a mind stored like his with a great variety of useful knowledge,
and a temper that could harbour no malevolent thought or insidious de-
sign; nor stoop to the arts of fraud or flattery, but disposed him to love
and virtuous friendship, to the enjoyment of innocent delights and recrea-
tions, to the contemplation of the works of nature, and the ways of pro-
vidence, and to the still sublimer pleasures of rational piety.

If, possessing all these benefits and advantages, external and internal,
together with a mental constitution, so happily attempered, as to have
been to him a perpetual fountain of cheerfulness, we can entertain a
doubt that Walton was one of the happiest of men, we estimate them at
a rate too low, and show ourselves ignorant of the nature of that felicity,
to which it is possible, even in this life, for virtuous and good men with
the blessing of God to arrive.

The foregoing biographical sketch is condensed from the life of Walton
prefixed to an edition of his " Complete Angler" published in 1797 by
Sir J. Hawkins, who in a remote degree (Anne Walton's only daughter
married a Hawkins) was by affinity descended from the common ancestor,
figuratively, of all anglers.

FISH and FISHING,
Not unworthy the perufal of moft Anglers.

Simon Peter faid, go a fifhing: and they faid, We
alfo wil go with thee. John 21.3.

London, Printed by T. Maxey for RICH. MARRIOT, in
S. Dunstans Church-yard Fleetftreet, 1653.

[Fac-simile of Title-page of the original Edition.]

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.

TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL

JOHN OFFLEY, Esq.,

OF MADELEY MANOR, IN THE COUNTY OF STAFFORD.

MY MOST HONOURED FRIEND,

Sir, I have made so ill use of your former favours, as by them to be encouraged to entreat, that they may be enlarged to the patronage and protection of this book: and I have put on a modest confidence, that, I.shall not be denied, because it is a discourse of fish and fishing, which you know so well, and both love and practise so

much.

You are assured, though there be ignorant men of another belief, that angling is an art and you know that art better than others; and that this truth is demonstrated by the fruits of that pleasant labour which you enjoy, when you purpose to give rest to your mind, and divest yourself of your more serious business, and (which is often) dedicate a day or two to this recreation.

At which time, if common Anglers should attend you, and be eye-witnesses of the success, not of your fortune but your skill, it would doubtless beget in them an emulation to be like you, and that emulation might beget an industrious diligence to be so; but I know it is not attainable by common capacities. And there be now many men of great wisdom, learning, and experience, which love and practise this art, that know I speak the truth.

Sir, this pleasant curiosity of fish and fishing, of which you are so great a master, has been thought worthy the pens and practices of divers in other natious, that have been reputed men of great learning and wisdom; and amongst those of this nation, I remember Sir Henry Wotton (a dear lover of this art) has told me, that his intentions were to write a discourse of the art, and in praise of angling; and doubtless he had done so, if death had not prevented him; the remembrance of which hath often made me sorry; for if he had lived to do it, then the unlearned angler had seen some better treatise of this art, a treatise that might have proved worthy his perusal, which, though some have undertaken, I could never yet see in English.

But mine may be thought as weak, and as unworthy of common view; and I do here freely confess, that I should rather excuse myself, than censure others, my own discourse being liable to so many exceptions; against which you, sir, might make this one, that it can contribute nothing to your knowledge. And lest a longer epistle may diminish your pleasure, I shall make this no longer than to add this following truth, that I am really,

Sir,

Your most affectionate friend,
And most humble servant,

Iz. WA.