66 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 



to Venables, " of any general that had left his 

 army, and not commanded back ? " Cromwell had 

 made up his mind not to set Penn and Venables 

 at liberty till they had formally acknowledged 

 their offences. Penn did this soon. Venables 

 held out longer, but also did so. Cromwell could 

 never be persuaded to trust either of them again. 

 "For Penn there was little to be said, as his 

 presence was manifestly required at the head of 

 the fleet remaining in the West Indies. Venables, 

 on the other hand, was guilty at the most of 

 saving his own life at a time when hundreds of 

 his officers and men were perishing. It was out 

 of the question that he could have lived long 

 enough to render efficient service in Jamaica " (see 

 The History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, 

 by G. S. R. Gardiner, Vol. III., Longmans & 

 Co.). Venables became very bitter against 

 Cromwell, and became a Royalist, though remain- 

 ing to the end of his life an Independent. In 

 1660 he was made Governor of Chester, and in 

 1662 he published The Experienced Angler, of 

 which mention has been made in Chapter IV. 

 In his prefatory address he remarks on the under- 

 valued subject of angling that nothing passes for 

 "noble or delightful which is not costly; as though 

 men could not gratify their senses, but with the 

 consumption of their fortunes." How these 

 words agree with Wordsworth's — 



