which he had been some time preparing (his preface is dated March, 1749), as he says: "At the Instigation of an ingenious and learned Friend, whose Judgment of Men and of Books is sufficiently established by his own writings in the Opinion of the World, Mr. Samuel Johnson, Author of the Folio Dictionary of the English Language, who may probably on another Occasion oblige the Publick with the Life of Mr. Walton." (This last clause was omitted. in Browne's second edition, and the one before it substituted, no doubt at Dr. Johnson's request.)

Browne was originally a pen cutter, but early devoted himself to literary pursuits. At twenty years of age he produced two dramatic pieces, one a tragedy, the other a comedy, and was one of the chief poetical supporters of the Gentleman's Magazine: in 1729, when only twentyfive, he published, without his name, nine piscatory Eclogues, with the title of Angling Sports, which he edited again in 1730, and in an extended form in 1772. His preface is an elaborate defence of Pastorals, especially the Piscatory, against the strictures of Rapin and others. If he had not told us of his early fondness for Walton's Angler (which he calls "the elaborate apology," &c.), we could have detected it in the Eclogues, many passages of which were suggested by our author's book. The poetry deserves no higher epithet than pleasing, though the reading he shows does him no little credit. He seems to have been always of a religious turn, and his publication of contemplations in verse entitled "Sunday Thoughts," led to the advice of his friends that he should obtain orders. 1753 (three years after his first edition of Walton) he was ordained, and presented with the living of Olney, Buckinghamshire (John Newton's parish), and afterwards with that of Sutton, and in 1763 he was elected Chaplain of Morden College, from which he dates his preface to the third edition of his Eclogues. Besides the books named, he published Sermons, showing himself an orthodox

In

divine, some other Poems, and a translation of Zimmerman's work on the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ. He died at the age of eighty-another instance of anglers' longevity.

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We cannot say much in favor of his editorial execution, though it is impossible not to be prepossessed in favor of one who devotes himself to such a work so much con amore. He was, notwithstanding, guilty of such bad taste as to apply his pruning knife to our author's sentences, though he excuses himself as having meddled only with some inaccuracies and redundancies." The omitted passages he was obliged to restore in his third edition, "except a few that were objected to for their absurdity, and were not Mr. Walton's, but quotations from Pliny, Dubravius, and other credulous Writers, as his easy goodNature, at that yielding Age of eighty-three, made him submit to the letting be injudiciously inserted, in condescension to some of his friends." This is the best apology I have seen for that unfortunate passage about

monsters.

His second edition, in 1759, he announces on the title as very much amended and improved, and his third, in 1772, has twenty pages additional matter, with "several very useful notes and directions," and "the Songs, that are Simple and Natural, wrote with Humor and Character, he had endeavored to make still more Agreeable, by indulging himself in an Inclination he found of setting each of them to Music, as they now for the first Time appear, and are his only public, and perhaps his last, attempt in this way." These editions are illustrated with rather rude engravings of the fish, copied from the plates of Walton, and of the several more striking scenes in the book; as, the meeting in the beginning, the otter chase, the milkmaid singing, a fancy sketch of Cotton's fishing-house, and of Walton and Cotton fishing near the Peak.

In 1760, John Hawkins, having been preparing his first

edition of the Angler, it appeared as "the only correct and complete edition," and the reader was informed that "cuts were now added of the principal scenes, designed by Mr. Wale, and engraved by Ryland, in which the characters are dressed in the habits of the times, which cuts the readers may be assured cost in designing and engraving upwards of one hundred pounds." Browne, in a rival advertisement, set forth his emendation of the poetry, declaring the boasted plates (with some truth) copied from the designs to his, and the life of Walton in chief part borrowed from the one printed by him. (Pickering's Ellis, and others.) That Browne deserved rebuke for tampering with Walton's text, is true; and the idea that Hawkins's Life was in chief part borrowed from his meagre sketch is preposterous; but the cool, contemptuous, utter silence of Hawkins respecting Browne's editions, when it is very evident that he had read and appropriated some of their matter, was sufficiently provoking. It is true, also, that Wale did copy the fish from those in the original edition, nor can we compare the engravings of the principal scenes together, without seeing that Browne's designer gave the hints upon which the other improved. It is remarkable, also, that the scenes illustrated in Browne, with the exception of the otter hunt and the very absurd frontispiece, have been among those illustrated in every illustrated edition since, so that sound judgment was shown in the selection.

His

Hawkins, or, as he is first introduced to us, John Hawkins, Esqr., was born in 1719, and bred an attorney, in which profession he acquired some credit. He was an acquaintance of Dr. Johnson's, whose life he wrote, in a very slovenly, inaccurate, and catch-penny manner. edition of the Complete Angler, in 1760, was his first literary performance, excepting some contributions to periodicals. He afterwards became a sort of Gervase Markham, a compiling author on various popular subjects; but his History of Music, in five volumes 4to., though not

infallibly accurate, any more than his other writings, is really very valuable for the anecdotes and curious particulars which it has preserved. He was made Justice of Peace for Middlesex in 1765, and in 1772 knighted for his dispersion of a mob in Moorfields. He died in 1789. His first edition was dedicated to Edward Popham, Esqr., of Littlecot, Wilts., and declares that his "only motives for the work were a desire to perpetuate the memory of a meek, benevolent, pious man, and to contribute something to the improvement of an art of which he professed himself a lover." He prefixed to it a rather elaborate, though not very accurate, Life of Walton, which has been the basis of all the biographical memoirs since, and the source of the popular information on the subject. He subjoined to the text many Notes, Historical, Critical, and Explanatory." He also caused to be added three plates, of fishing-tackle, flies, &c., with a portrait of Cotton, prefixed to a Sketch of his Life and Writings, furnished to the edition by another hand, and a view of the fishing-house, "as it stands in a kind of peninsula, with a delicate clear river about it." As we shall have frequent occasion for reference to his commentaries, little need be said here of their character. In general, his contributions to our Waltonian knowledge are valuable, but much as we owe him, we cannot help regretting that one who did so well, did no better. It has been several times remarked that he is by no means accurate; his notes are not always in good taste; he has overlooked many passages which need illustration; and he lacks, notwithstanding his professions, a proper veneration for his author; nor would we suppose him to have been a practical brother of the angle, if he had not declared himself one, for he has not the true enthusiasm. Still, he has deservedly linked his name to Walton's immortality.

The plates, which are numerous, better engraved by the skilful but unfortunate Ryland* than designed by Wale, were used in all the subsequent editions until that edited by his son, John Sidney Hawkins, in 1797, when all, except those of the fishing-tackle, were

worn out.

His subsequent editions were, like the first, in 8vo. : 1766: 1775 (by now Sir John Hawkins): 1784 (in which "he was tempted to a revision, a correction of some mistakes, and the insertion of sundry such facts as he flattered himself would greatly improve it ;" besides amplifying the notes, he made additions to the Life of Walton, and also thought proper to give an account of Mr. Cotton, chiefly extracted from his own writings, less diffuse and desultory, but containing a greater number of interesting facts, and

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Some account of Ryland may not be uninteresting: He was the son of a copper-plate printer, learned engraving under Ravenet, and studied afterwards, with much profit, in France and Italy. His copper-plates yielded impressions having the softness of chalk-drawings, and he was appointed engraver to the King with a pension of £300 per annum. A partnership with a print-seller named Bryer, in Cornhill, brought him to bankruptcy, and in an evil hour he forged on the East India Company an acceptance for £7114. A reward of £300 was offered for him by the Company on April 2d, 1783, and on the 16th he was taken in the garret of a house at Stepney, occupied by a cobbler and his wife, having been discovered by his name written in his shoe, over which he had pasted a bit of paper when he gave the shoe to be mended. The cobbler's wife, having secured the reward, returned with two justices, and Ryland, seeing the carriage stop, instantly cut his throat so desperately, that on the 24th his recovery seemed impossible. He made a discovery of two of his three accomplices, and was afterwards executed. He is described in the advertisements as "about fifty years of age, about five feet nine inches high, wearing a wig with a club or cue, and his own hair turned over in front; a black complexion, a thin face, with strong lines; his common countenance very grave, but whilst he speaks rather smiling, and shows his teeth, and has great affability of manner."

The above account is compiled from various sources, but principally a scrap cut from the "Political Magazine" of the above year, and kindly furnished me by Edward D. Ingraham, Esqr., of Philadelphia, an accomplished bibliophile and lover of Walton