SKETCH OF WALTON'S LIFE. THE fame of Petrarch rests upon his Sonnets, and not upon his larger Italian poems, or upon his elaborate Latin ones, on which he relied for immortality. The fame of Walton-and wide and perennius ære is that fame-rests upon his simply written "Complete Angler," and not by any means on works which very likely he more prized, viz., "The Lives of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert, and Sanderson," and poems that he wrote or edited. Why so? Because the "Complete Angler" is so written, that it not only comes home to the "hearths and bosoms" of all anglers, but nearly of all men. It is an angling pastoral, babbling of all things that "are in the heavens above, the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth." The immortal author of it was born at Stafford, in the month of August, 1593. We hear no more of him until he attained his 30th year, when he is found carrying on the business of a sempster, or man-milliner, in London. His first shop was a very small one, situate in the "Royal Burse," Cornhill; that is to say, the Royal Exchange. "Yet here," writes Sir John Hawkins, "did he carry on his trade till some time before the year 1624: when he dwelt on the north side of Fleet-street, in a house two doors west of the end of Chancery-lane, and abutting on a messuage known by the sign of the Harrow,' now the old timber-house at the south-west corner of Chancery-lane" (the house is now a goldsmith's, No. 128). Here he carried on the business of a linendraper, occupying only half a shop, the other half belonging to John Mason, a hosier. 6 66 Walton did not marry until he was about forty years of age, and then, in 1632, he removed to a house in Chancery-lane, then seven doors higher up than the corner house on the left hand, or western side. Here he re sumed his old trade as a sempster, or milliner. His wife was the sister of Dr. Kenn, Bishop of Bath and Wells, one of the seven bishops sent to the Tower in the reign of James II. She was a prudent and pious woman, largely accomplished, and in her society Walton enjoyed content and happiness. He left business and London, 1643-at the age of fifty -on a fair competency, and lived sometimes at Stafford, and elsewhere; but mostly in the families of eminent English clergymen, by whom he was much beloved. His favourite recreation whilst in London was angling, in which art he was considered the greatest proficient of his day. The rivers he frequented, were the Lea and New River, and occasionally, in all probability, the Thames. The first edition of his "Complete Angler" appeared in 1653, when he was in his sixtieth year, and its popularity was so great, that it ran through four editions in the space of twentythree years. Walton, in the year 1676, and in the eighty-third year of his age, was preparing a fifth, with additions, for the press; when Mr. Cotton wrote the second part of the work. It seems Mr. Cotton sub mitted the manuscript to Walton's perusal, who returned it with his approbation, and a few marginal strictures and in that year they came abroad together. Mr. Cotton's book had the title of the "Complete Angler. Part II. being Instructions how to angle for Trout or Grayling, in a clear Stream ;" and it has ever since been received as a Second Part of Walton's book. In the title-page is a cipher composed of the initial letters of both their names; which cipher, Mr. Cotton tells us, he had caused to be cut in stone, and set up over a fishing-house, that he had erected near his dwelling, on the bank of the lovely river Dove, which divides the counties of Stafford and Derby. Mr. Cotton's book is a judicious supplement to Walton's; for it must not be concealed, that Walton, though he was so expert a bottom-angler, knew but little of fly-fishing; and indeed he is so ingenuous as to confess, that the greater part of what he said on that subject was communicated to him by Mr. Thomas Barker,* and not the result of his own experience. And of Cotton it must be said, that living in a country where fly-fishing was, and is, almost the only practice, he had not only the means of acquiring, but actually possessed more skill in the art, as also in the method of making flies, than most men of his time. His book is, in fact, a continuation of Walton's, not only as it teaches at large that branch of the art of angling which Walton had but slightly treated on, but as it takes up Venator, Walton's piscatory disciple, just where his master had left him; and this connexion between the two parts will be clearly seen, when it is remarked, that the traveller whom Cotton invites to his home and so hospitably entertains, and also instructs in the art of fly-fishing-we say this traveller-and, Venator, the pupil of Walton, come out to be one and the same person. Not farther to anticipate what will be found in the Second Part, it shall here suffice to say, that there is great spirit in the dialogue; and that the same conversible, communicative temper appears in it, that so eminently distinguishes the piece it accompanies. In 1662, Walton lost his wife. She was buried in the cathedral church of Worcester, and her monumental inscription tells, that she was a woman of remarkable prudence, and of primitive piety; her great and general knowledge, with such true humility, and blest with such Christian meekness, as made her worthy of a more memorable monument.” She left offspring, a son, called after his father, Izaak, a daughter, named Anne, after herself. The son entered into holy orders, and became chaplain to Dr. Seth Ward, bishop of Sarum, by whose favour he attained to the dignity of a canon residentiary of that cathedral. He died at the age of sixty-nine, much respected, for his good temper, discretion, candour and sincerity, by all the clergy of the diocese. The daughter married Dr. W. Hawkins, prebendary of Winchester. In 1683, when he was ninety years old, Walton published, "Thealmar and Clearchus, a pastoral history, in smooth and easy verse, written long since by John Chalkhill, Esq.; an acquaintance and friend of Edmund Spencer." To this poem he wrote a preface, containing a very amiable *This gentleman published, in the year 1651, two years previously to the appearence of Walton's work, a book entitled "The Art of Angling," dedicated to Lord Montague. It was reprinted in 1653, and again in 1659, with the enlarged title of " Barker's Delight, or the Art of Angling." Though an earlier writer than Walton, the latter has been designated, “the common father of all anglers." 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, Whose well-spent life did last That which will ne'er be done, 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 and pious men. He also wrote a few copies of verses on minor passing events. 66 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, mens 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 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 * 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. 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 design; nor stoop to the arts of fraud or flattery, but disposed him to love and virtuous friendship, to the enjoyment of innocent delights and recreations, to the contemplation of the works of nature, and the ways of Providence, 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. 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 nations, 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, Iz. WA. |