PREFACE. 



difcovered that any have been printed, unlefs we 

 adopt the theory advocated by Mr. Singer,* and 

 by a writer in the " Retrofpedlive Review," f that 

 the poem of 'Thealma and Clearchus^ which he 

 pubhflied in the laft year of his life, as a poft- 

 humous fragment of his relation John Chalkhill, 

 was really a juvenile work of his own. Some 

 plaufibility is lent to this notion by the fadl that 

 Walton fpeaks of the author with fo much re- 

 ticence and referve in his preface to the volume, 



figned at the end with the initials "J. C," has been attri- 

 buted to Walton's friend, John Chalkhill, vvhofe pofthumous 

 poem, Thealma and C/earchus, he publifhed in the laft year 

 of his life. The lines to Walton do not appear in the earlier 

 quarto edition of the book ilTued by the fame publifher in 

 1613, or in the later quarto of 1628. 



* Thealma and Clearchus : a Pajloral Romance^ by John 

 Chalkhill. Firjl Bublijhed by Ifaac Walton, 1683. A New 

 Edition. Revijed and Corrected (by S. W. Singer). Chifzvick : 

 1820. 



t Vol. iv. (1821), pp. 230-249. 



and 



