248 James Russell Lowell. 



knew, such as Carey, Brome, and Ben 

 Jonson : 



" But these less reputable intimates he 

 made welcome in a back-parlour of his 

 mind, away from the street and with the 

 curtains drawn, as if he would fain hide 

 them even from himself." 



Again : " Those must have been delight- 

 ful evenings which the two friends [Walton 

 and Cotton] spent together after the day's 

 fishing. Well into the night they must 

 have lingered with much excellent dis- 

 course of books and men, now serious, 

 now playful much personal anecdote and 

 reminiscence. Perhaps it was as well that 

 Dr. Morley should be at Winchester with 

 all respect be it said, and not forgetting 

 that Walton has told us he ' loved such 

 mirth as did not make friends ashamed to 

 look upon one another next morning. ' ' 



Again, I can see nothing to make it an 

 indication of a " lower love " that Walton 

 "takes care to tell us that a certain artificial 

 fly " (minnow it was) " was made by a hand- 

 some woman and with a fine hand." 



Of Walton's style the critic says : 

 " Walton, at any rate, in course of time, 

 attained, at least in prose, to something 

 which, if it may not be called style, was 

 a very charming way of writing, all the 

 more so that he has an innocent air of 



