92 GOOD FATHER WALTON, 



Them all, in hopes some happiness to see 

 In what they are not, but they wish to be. 



We will not search for what we may not find, 



But dearly bind 

 Our hearts, friend Izaak, in a tighter knot ; 



And, this our lot, 



Here long to live together in repose, 

 'Till death for us the peaceful scene shall close. 



It is impossible to stroll along the meadows 

 on the banks of the Thames, or to visit the 

 classic play-fields of Eton, with Windsor Castle 

 towering on the opposite bank, without think- 

 ing of Walton and his friend. The same river 

 still . ripples along the banks the same noble 

 elms grace the meadows there is the College 

 the fine and interesting Chapel, and a thou- 

 sand other things to remind us of the days of 

 Sir Henry Wotton, and " our good father, Izaac 

 Walton." There are spots, which anglers espe- 

 cially will delight in, and which every lover of fine 

 and noble scenery will look at with admiration. 



It is a curious fact, that Walton had attained 

 his sixtieth year before he published his " Com- 

 plete Angler, " although it is written with all 

 the freshness and vivacity of youth. Sir Harris 

 Nicolas* has well remarked that, " whether con- 

 sidered as a treatise upon the Art of Angling, or 

 as a beautiful pastoral, abounding in exquisite 



* See Mr. Pickering's beautiful edition of Walton's Angler. 



