32 ANIMALS OF TO-DAY 



And surely it was angling and temperance com- 

 bined that prolonged the days of Izaak Walton 

 himself to the age of ninety, notwithstanding the 

 troublous times in which he lived. 



Charles Lamb, who himself greatly preferred 

 " the pavements of the motley Strand to mountains 

 and romantic dales, and all that fantastic stuff," 

 bore most interesting testimony to the charm of 

 Walton. I unexpectedly came across the following 

 lines in Keble's Christian Year^ a little volume, by 

 the way, perhaps not very familiar to anglers in 

 general, but well suited for the side-pocket when 

 they go a-fishing 



"Oh, who shall tell how calm and sweet, 

 Meek Walton ! seems thy green retreat, 

 When wearied with the tale thy times disclose, 

 The eye first finds thee out in thy secure repose." 



With these great exemplars before me I will not 

 all hope abandon of yet finding " a green retreat " 

 before the final retreat under the green sod. 



" We are such stuff as dreams are made of, 

 And our little life is rounded by a sleep." 



I think it was from a feeling akin to envy which 

 arose within me on reading a book entitled, 

 ANIMALS OF TO-DAY : THEIR LIFE AND CON- 

 VERSATION. By C. J. CORNISH, so full of country 

 life, that led me into so long a digression about my 

 own pent-up existence in a great city, and to 

 " babble o' green fields " beyond my reach. I have 

 read it with much pleasure, and have found in it 



