66 LITER A TURE OF SEA AND RIVER FISHING. 



editions is the division of Walton's dialogues into " Five 

 Days," which thus bring out the dramatic character of the 

 work. In Walton's first edition, though it is divided by 

 the author into thirteen chapters, the dialogue evidently 

 occupies five separate days, and " spaces " in the printing 

 show where the conversation ends on each night. Major's 

 fourth edition was published in 1844, and of it Mr. West- 

 wood, in his Chronicle, says that " it approaches more nearly 

 to our ideal of an edition consistent in all its parts than any 

 of its predecessors or successors." The Rev. Dr. Bethune, 

 an American, speaking of the illustrations in it, says, " Art 

 could scarcely go further, and no more elegant volume 

 could find a place in a library." Dr. Bethune is no mean 

 judge, for he also has entered the lists as an editor of 

 Walton, and is one of the most ardent admirers of the 

 Complete Angler beyond the great ocean. His first edition 

 was published in New York in 1847, and contains almost 

 all one would seek to know about Walton and his work, 

 and much interesting matter of all kinds, including papers 

 on American fishing, and a very extensive catalogue of 

 works on angling. It is well worthy of the commendation 

 awarded to it by Mr. Westwood, when he says that 

 " nowhere else do we find united so complete a body of 

 angling-book statistics, and so large an accumulation of 

 collateral data." Dr. Bethune's second edition appeared 

 in 1880, with some additions and corrections. No angler's 

 library should be without a Bethune. The editions by 

 "Ephemera" (Edward Fitzgibbon) are well known; the 

 first appeared in 1853, and the last in 1878. Christopher 

 Davies, whose admirable work on the East Anglian broads 

 and rivers has just been published, is among the recent 

 editors of Walton, his volume being dated 1878. The 

 very last Complete Angler, published only two or three 



