2 SO "An Immortality of Affection" 



. . . They have this in common, that those 

 who love them find themselves growing 

 more and more to love the authors of 

 them too. Theirs is an immortality of 

 affection, perhaps the most desirable, as 

 it is the rarest, of all. . . . Both these 

 books are pre-eminently cheerful books, 

 and have the invaluable secret of distilling 

 sunshine out of leaden skies. ... If I 

 must seek a word that more than any 

 other explains the pleasure which Walton's 

 way of writing gives us, I should say it 

 was its innocency. It refreshes like the 

 society of children." 



I ought not to omit mention of the 

 edition of Walton published at threepence 

 in Cassell's " National Library," especially 

 as the editor, Professor Henry Morley, 

 LL.D., says, " There was but one Izaak 

 Walton ; and his book has an undying 

 charm." 



And here I must conclude this rambling 

 little excursion among some old angling 

 writers. I have cast my fly among their 

 pages and the pages of those who have 

 written of them ; and if my work has any 

 value, it will be in the variety and interest 

 of the extracts given. It is, as I said when 

 commencing it, written, not for those who 

 know Walton's writings, but in the hope 

 that it may induce some who do not to 



