6o IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 



prefaces to his Burlesque upon Burlesque ; or, The 

 Scoffer Scoffed, and to The Complete Gamester. 



In his charming verses to Walton on his Life of 

 Donne^ written in 1672, he certainly shows his 

 appreciation of good men, and also that he him- 

 self at least with "mind," if not with "heart," 

 understood what religion meant. He desires to 

 be considered a worthy member of society, for he 

 says : " My father Walton will be seen twice in no 

 man's company he does not like, and likes none 

 but such as he believes to be very honest men, 

 which is one of the best arguments, or at least of 

 the best testimonies I have, that I either am, or 

 that he thinks me, one of those, seeing I have not 

 yet found him weary of me." 



He appears to have refrained from fishing on 

 a Sunday, for he writes of killing fish "winter 

 or summer, every day throughout the year, those 

 days always excepted, that upon a more serious 

 account ought always so to be." He may have 

 considered Sunday a day when all that is 

 noblest in a man should predominate ; and that 

 it is a day for wit, intellect, spirit, light and 

 God:— 



" His greatness, not his littleness, concerns mankind." 



Cotton was a Eoyalist to the backbone, and a 

 highly-accomplished man. He was a rider, and 

 as a native of a mountainous county could ride 



