1 88 izAAK Walton's association with the river lea. 



and then indoors, where they had bread, cheese, ale, and a fire for 

 their ready money ; Bishop Morley, of Worcester, and subsequently 

 of Winchester, in whose house he wrote much of the " Life of 

 Richard Hooker," author of the " Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity," 

 1666 ; Dr. Morton, Bishop of Durham ; Dr. Fuller, author of " The 

 Church History" : Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, who addressed 

 him as "my worthy friend, Mr. Walton"; and Bishop King, of 

 Chichester, by whom he was addressed as " Honest Izaak." He 

 was slightly known to Ben Jonson, and alludes to Michael Drayton 

 as his " honest old friend." 



Thus it would seem that such part of his time as was not occu- 

 pied in business was passed in the society of men whose acquaint- 

 ance is sufficient proof of the esteem in which his talents were held. 



But it is rather with those of his companions who accompanied 

 him on his fishing excursions that we are just now chiefly concerned, 

 since it is through them that we are likely to get the best view of 

 him as an angler, and as a frequenter of the Lea and Thames. 



Foremost amongst these, he seems to have had great admiration 

 for Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eton, with whom he probably 

 became acquainted through Dr. Donne. 



" This man," says Walton, " with whom I often fished and con- 

 versed, was a dear lover and frequent practiser of the art of angling, 

 of which he would say it was an employment for his idle time, which 

 was then not idly spent." 



A\'illiam Basse, the composer, who at Walton's request wrote 

 the " Angler's Song," must have been himself an enthusiastic 

 fisherman, for he sang : 



" Of recreation there is none 

 So free as fishing is alone ; 

 All other pastimes do no less 

 Than mind and body both possess. 



My hand alone my work can do 



So I can fish and study too." 



Then there was his friend Thomas Barker, who lived in Henry 

 the Eighth's gifts, the next door to the Gate-house in Westminster, 

 and who wrote a little l)ook called "The Art of Angling," in 1651, 

 two years before " The Complete Angler " appeared. Walton 

 thought so well of this, that in his first edition (p. 108) he wrote : 



" I will tell you freely I find Mr. Thomas Barker a gentleman 

 that has spent much time and money in angling, and especially of 



