IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 59 



George Herbert's lines may well be applied to 

 him : — 



" O what a thing is man ! how far from power, 

 From settled peace and rest ! 

 He is some twenty several men at least 

 Each several hour." 



Yes ! at different times he appears as serious as a 

 judge and as jocular as a Merry Andrew ! 



Cotton was of a kindly nature, and, though 

 usually hard up, a generous giver. He enjoyed 

 " good compa.ny," with plenty of wine and 

 ale and tobacco, and delighted, to use his own 

 words, "to toss the can merrily round." His 

 language was also often not exactly "Parlia- 

 mentary." Possibly — 



" He erred, he sinned : and if there be 

 Who, from his hapless frailties free, 

 Bich in the poorer virtues, see 



His faults alone. 

 To such, O Lord of Charity, 



Be mercy shown." 1 



It is amusing to notice how many of his bio- 

 graphers repeat, one after another, his weak- 

 nesses, and on close examination show how little 

 original examination of the man and his writings 

 they have made, and nearly all state that Cotton 

 wrote because he was forced to write for money, 

 omitting all mention of what he says in his 



• William Watson. 



