NOTES. 393 



" vations of the nature of the Otter, and also some observa- 

 " tions of the Chub or Cheven, with directions how and with 

 " what baits to fish for him." 



Page 51 . Make conscience of the Lairs of the Nation. 



This passage, which from " Is not mine Host a witty man ?" 

 p. 51, down to " to speak truly," p. 53, is wanting in the First 

 Edition ; — alludes to a Statute made in the 5th of Eliz., which 

 enacts that any person eating flesh upon the usual Fish-days 

 shall forfeit 31. for every offence, or undergo three months im- 

 prisonment without bail. This Act, in all its branches, views, 

 and amendments, is fully considered in a Tract published by 

 John Erswicke, Gent., in 1642, 4to. entitled "A briefe note of 

 " the benefits that grow to this Realme by the obseruation of 

 " Fish-daies with a reason and cause wherefore the Law in that 

 " behalfemade is ordained." The Statutes mentioned on p. 52, 

 with many amendments, may be seen in "The Second Part of 

 " the Institutes of the Lawes of England," by Sir Edw. Coke, 

 Lond. 1642, fol. p. 477. In most of the former editions of 

 The Complete Angler, there is a misprint of Richard III. for 

 Richard II. 



Page 64. You shall read in Seneca. 



Those particulars were taken from Dr. Hakewill's Apology, 

 No. 21 in the preceding list, and book iv. sect. 6, p. 433 of that 

 volume. The translation of Seneca by Dr. Thomas Lodge, 

 printed in 1620, fol. was however most probably known to 

 Walton. 



Page 66. His name is of a German origin. 



Minsheu shows it to be rather from the Low-Dutch Trort, 

 derived probably of the corrupt Latin Truta. 



Page 67. Mercator says, etc. 



Gerard Mercator was born in 1512, at Ruremonde in Flan- 

 ders, and was a man of such intense application to mathema- 

 tical studies, that he neglected the refreshments of nature. He 

 engraved and coloured with his own hand the maps to his 

 geographical writings. He wrote several books of Theology; 

 and died at Duisburg in 1594. Hawkins. 



Page 68. Sir George Hastings. 



The party referred to by Walton has been usually supposed 

 to be the Hon. Henry Hastings, of Woodlands, near Cran- 

 borne in Dorsetshire, who died October 5th, 1650, at the age 

 of 99. His character was written with great humour and abi- 

 lity by Lord Shaftesbury, and was inscribed under his portrait 

 at Winbourne St. Giles; it may be also found printed in the 

 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxiv. p. 160, and in Hutehins's 

 History of Dorset, Edit. 1803, vol. ii. p. 510, with other parti- 

 culars. It is, however, more probable that the person to whom 

 Walton alludes was either Sir George Hastings, the son of 



