Cotton and Walton. 153 



almost forgotten, and whose writings are 

 known only to the student. 



Cotton appears to have asked Walton 

 if he should supplement The Compleat 

 Angler by some " particular directions " 

 how to angle for a trout or grayling in a 

 clear stream, to which Walton agreed. 

 Nothing could be more modest than 

 Cotton's letter accompanying his MS., or 

 more kind and appreciative than Walton's 

 reply ; and although Cotton's work lacks 

 much of that peculiar charm which, as 

 Doctor Zouch says, will always endear 

 Walton's book even to those who care 

 nothing about angling, it cannot be 

 denied that it is a very worthy addition 

 to, and completion of, The Compleat 

 Angler. Cotton was an accomplished 

 angler in the highest branches of the 

 art; his instructions are so clear and 

 practical that it is quite certain he wrote 

 from personal experience, and in this 

 respect his work is more original than 

 some of the practical parts of Walton's. 

 Indeed, it may be said, that, while Walton 

 is the father of general anglers, Cotton 

 is the apostle of the trout and grayling 

 fisherman, and many of his instructions 

 have been but little improved upon, even 

 to the present day. In one place he 

 advises the use even in February, in case 



