xxii The Complete Angler 



of innocent Truth and undissembled Honesty, as is 

 like to leave in him (if he be a good-natured reader) 

 more sympathising and virtuous impressions, than 

 ten times so much time spent in impertinent, crit- 

 ical, and needless disputes about religion ". Walton 

 relied on authority ; on " a plain, unperplexed cate- 

 chism ". In an age of the strangest and most dis- 

 sident theological speculations, an age of Quakers, 

 Anabaptists, Antinomians, Fifth Monarchy Men, 

 Covenanters, Independents, Gibbites, Presbyterians, 

 and what not, Walton was true to the authority of 

 the Church of England, with no prejudice against 

 the ancient Catholic faith. As Gesner was his 

 authority for pickerel weed begetting pike, so the 

 Anglican bishops were security for Walton's creed. 

 To him, if we may say so, it was easy to be 

 saved, while Bunyan, a greater humorist, could be 

 saved only in following a path that skirted madness, 

 and "as by fire". To Bunyan, Walton would have 

 seemed a figure like his own Ignorance ; a pilgrim 

 who never stuck in the Slough of Despond, nor 

 met Apollyon in the Valley of the Shadow, nor 

 was captive in Doubting Castle, nor stoned in 

 Vanity Fair. And of Bunyan, Walton would have 

 said that he was among those Nonconformists who 

 "might be sincere, well-meaning men, whose indis- 

 creet zeal might be so like charity, as thereby to 

 cover a multitude of errors". To Walton there 

 seemed spiritual solace in remembering " that we 

 have comforted and been helpful to a dejected or 

 distressed family 1 '. Bunyan would have regarded 

 this belief as a heresy, and (theoretically) charitable 

 deeds "as filthy rags". Differently constituted, 

 these excellent men accepted religion in different 

 ways. Christian bows beneath a burden of sin; 

 Piscator beneath a basket of trout. Let us be 

 grateful for the diversities of human nature, and the 



