IZAAK WALTON AT DROXFORD 159 



let us be thankful. What would a blind man give to 

 see the pleasant rivers and meadows and flowers that 

 we have met with since we met together ; and this, 

 and many other like blessings we enjoy daily." 



And The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative 

 Man^s Recreation is a mirror of Izaak Walton's life. 

 " It is a picture," as he says to the reader, " of my 

 own disposition." And it was doubtless this spirit of 

 " gladsome piety," this love of " innocent, harmless 

 mirth," coupled with a deep vein of "seriousness at 

 seasonable times," this power of detachment from the 

 noisy movements of the world, this delight in the 

 beauties of nature, this quality of " meekness," that 

 enabled him to " possess the earth," which endeared 

 the "honest fisherman" to the hearts of so many dis- 

 tinguished men. Walton, it has been well said, had 

 a genius for friendship. Although of comparatively 

 humble birth and occupation, he was on terms of the 

 closest intimacy with many of the most learned men 

 of his day. His circle of friends included such men as 

 Archbishops Ussher and Sheldon, as Bishops Morley 

 of Winchester, Ward of Sarum, King of Chichester, 

 and Sanderson of Lincoln ; as Sir Henry Wotton, 

 Provost of Eton, Dr. Donne, the famous Dean of St. 

 Paul's, Fuller the historian, the " ever memorable " 

 Hales, Dr. Hammond, and William Chillingworth. 



It is therefore all the more disappointing that a man 

 of so many and distinguished friendships, who himself 

 recorded with considerable detail the lives of no fewer 

 than five of his contemporaries, should have left so 

 little record of his own career. The details of Walton's 

 life, especially of certain periods of it, are exceedingly 

 meagre. Though he lived " full ninety years and past," 

 the story of the greater portion of his life is an almost 



