Introductory, ix 



many others were to be a discovery later 

 on. Who can forget the first coming 

 under the spell of the Wizard of the 

 North, or of Dickens, the Wizard of 

 the South ? To me, then, these were only 

 repellent by reason of their big battalions. 

 But away above them was this row of 

 little books. I could just read the titles 

 of some from the floor. I remember 

 Southey's "Nelson," White's " Selborne," 

 George Herbert's " Poems," Milton's 

 " Paradise Lost." These did not appeal 

 much to a schoolboy's idea of books ta 

 read. But suddenly I noticed in gold 

 letters the word ''Angler," and from the 

 top of a chair I saw the full title was 

 " Walton and Cotton's Complete Angler." 

 By George ! perhaps that's about fishing \ 

 I thought; and stepping from the chair 

 on to the smooth, rounded, mahogany 

 cover of the writing-desk which formed 

 the lower half of the book-case, I clutched 

 the little volume, and then came down 

 with a crash on the floor. It was some 

 little time before I felt equal to opening 



