CHARACTER OF WALTON. 8? 



But, as has been remarked, it would appear, 

 that the " gentle art of Angling " was only a se- 

 condary consideration with Walton, or rather a 

 vehicle to introduce his beautiful descriptions of 

 the country, and to prove that pure religion pro- 

 ceeds from a meek, cheerful, and thankful spirit. 

 Indeed, the charm of his book consists in his taste 

 for the innocent pleasures of rural life, and in his 

 fervent and unaffected piety. The contemplation 

 of the works of creation not only afforded to 

 Walton, as it must to every good man, the cer- 

 tainty of a benevolent and superintending Provi- 

 dence, but it furnished him with an endless theme 

 for praise and admiration. 



We find such men as Dr. Johnson, Lord Hailes, 

 Dr. Home and others, anxious for the preservation 

 and elucidation of Walton's " Lives," and recom- 

 mending the perusal of his " Complete Angler/' Sir 

 Walter Scott called him the " good old man/' and 

 stated that fs he had so true an eye for nature, so 

 simple a taste for her most innocent pleasures, and, 

 withal, so sound a judgment both concerning men 

 and things, that he regretted that it had not fallen 

 upon him to detail, in the beautiful simplicity of his 

 Arcadian language, his observations on the scenery 

 and manners of Scotland." 



Perhaps, however, the greatest compliment paid 

 to the biographical labours of Izaak Walton, is to 



