INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xlvii 



to his memory, but with such " uncouth rhymes" 

 and " shapeless sculpture" as but coldly to invite either 

 delineation or transcription ; but in this respect we 

 still hope to see justice done him : certain we are that 

 this wonderful man is far from having " gathered all 

 his fame;" — the bare hint will be sufficient to 

 those that love " virtue and angling." * 



In the foregoing Will, as in every thing which 

 he wrote, will be found something characteristic 

 of the man; — the subjoined genuine little scrap, 

 exhibiting a fac-simile of his hand-writing, will be 

 new even to the Waltonian reader. 



* Soon after the appearance of my first edition, I received 

 the following from Michael Bland, Esq., F. R. S. — "The 

 Walton and Cotton Club, to which I am the Secretary, adopt- 

 ing the idea suggested in your Introductory Essay, have re- 

 solved to institute an immediate inquiry into the condition of 

 the insufficient monument to the memory of Honest Izaak 

 in Winchester Cathedral, with the view of taking some steps 

 towards the erection of a memorial more worthy of the Man, 

 and more honourable to those who delight in that recreation, 

 which he has so beautifully pourtrayed." Whatever may have 

 hitherto obstructed the above expressed intention, I still feel 

 perfectly satisfied that it will be yet carried into effect. One 

 gentleman, I was credibly informed, offered to put down two 

 hundred guineas to commence the work. But let a one 

 guinea subscription be set on foot and the lovers of Literature 

 and Angling will carry it in a summer's day ! The Dean of 

 Winchester, I understood, to have expressed himself delighted 

 that an honour so justly due, should be paid to him as the 

 " Historian of the Church." 



