114 



IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 



while the comparative lull in this kind of litera- 

 ture, which had followed upon the Eestoration, 

 may perhaps have contributed to the interest 

 which this tractate excited."^ 



It is supposed to have been written by Herbert 

 Croft, Bishop of Hereford. The chief object of 

 the pamphlet was to suggest a scheme for includ- 

 ing the nonconformists within the Established 

 Church.' Dr Francis Turner, Master of St John's 

 College, Cambridge (who became successively 

 Bishop of Rochester and Ely, dying in 1700), wrote 

 in 1676 a reply entitled Animadversions on a 

 Pamphlet entitled The Naked T^-ath, adopting the 

 view that learning and culture were absolutely 

 essential for the clergy. Among other writers on 

 the subject were Bishop Burnet and Andrew 

 Marvell, the latter advising the bishops to correct 

 many abuses that had sprung up, and insisting that 

 a good life is a clergyman's " best syllogism and the 

 quaintest oratory." 



"At this critical period," says Dr Zouch, 

 " Walton expressed his soHcitude for the real 

 welfare of his country, not with a view to 

 embarrass himself in disputation — for his nature 



1 See College Histories : St John's, Cambridge. 



2 Edward Stillingfleet (Bishop of Worcester) had in 1662 repub- 

 lished The Irenicnm suggesting that the form of Church Government 

 ■was of little consequence ; Dr Croft must have read it, and also 

 probably Henrv More's Mystery of Godliness published in 1660 and 

 republished in' 1662. It deals with Church matters in these days 

 regarded as indifferent by many. 



