IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 13 



since Wotton called him friend, and he might 

 have known Richard Baxter, but we never 

 read that he even came into contact with either 

 of them. The Complete Angler and The Pilgrim's 

 Progress are two of the most popular books ever 

 published in the English language, yet Bunyan, 

 though an angler himself, would have been quite 

 an impossible companion for Walton, since his 

 views on the Book of Common Prayer would 

 alone have hindered, we may feel sure, their 

 friendship. 



Bunyan's view of prayer was that it should be, to 

 use a phrase of Bishop Sanderson's, " open prayer;" 

 in other words, that prayer should be extemporary, 

 not preconceived. Judge Keeling cautioned 

 Bunyan thus: "Take heed of speaking irrever- 

 ently of the Book of Common Prayer, for if 

 you do, you will bring great damage upon your- 

 self" It is to be hoped few nonconformists will 

 be found in this age to say with Dr Horton, that 

 the Book of Common Prayer is a book of "un- 

 answered prayers."^ 



Walton's views of the book may be gathered 

 from the following verses, written by his friend, 

 Christopher Harvie, which he quotes in The Com- 

 plete Angler, but I observe it is not to be found in 

 the first edition : — 



^ See the Bissolution of Dissent, by Robert F, Horton, D.D. 

 (London : Arthur H. Stock well, 1902). 



