56 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 



The men, however, were widely different, both 

 by birth and in character, and the strange- 

 ness of the close friendship has been often 

 discussed/ 



Nevertheless in this case the " kettle and the 

 earthern pot " seemed to agree together, though 

 Cotton was "much mightier and richer" than 

 Walton, Cotton became Walton's adopted son, 

 and he refers to Walton as " the truest friend any 

 man ever had," and writes that "he gives me leave 

 to call him father, and I hope is not yet ashamed 

 to own me for his adopted son." In the beautiful 

 verses written in 1672 to Walton he is gratefully 

 mentioned as being "the best friend I now or 

 ever knew." He became "father and friend and 

 tutor all in one." Although Cotton's chief claim 

 to fame may be said to rest on his contribution to 

 The Complete Angler, still he was famous for his 

 translations from various French writers, and 

 especially as being the translator of the Essays of 

 Montaigne. He wrote a good deal of prose, 

 poems and verse, a few specimens of which appear 

 at the end of this book. 



In 1664 he published a burlesque poem entitled 

 Scarronides ; or, The First Book of Virgil Travestie, 



1 Moses Brown, it may be remarked, one of Walton's earliest 

 editors, published The Complete Angler, as "by the ingenious aud 

 celebrated Mr Isaac Walton, and Charles Cotton, Esq." This shows, I 

 think, that the title of Esquire was not considered as a proper descrip- 

 tion of a man of Walton's traditional position in life. 



