INTRODUCTION. XIX 



completion of his task, Walton was persuaded to 

 go on with it ; and the " Life " was accordingly fin- 

 ished to the great satisfaction of Donne's friends 

 and published with a collection of the Doctor's 

 sermons in 1640. 



Walton's turn for biography having thus happily 

 discovered itself, he found no lack of employment 

 for the future. His remaining lives comprise Wot- 

 ton (1651), Richard Hooker (1665), George Herbert 

 (1670), and Bishop Sanderson (1678). 



" The Complete Angler " appeared in 1653, though 

 it is probable it was begun some years before that. 

 Owing to the engaging nature of subject and treat- 

 ment, the work met with great success, reaching five 

 editions in the author's lifetime, the second in 1655, 

 the third in 1664, the fourth in 1668, and the fifth in 

 1676. To the fifth edition was added a Second Part, 

 written at Walton's request by his friend Cotton, and 

 described as being " Instructions how to angle for a 

 trout or grayling in a clear stream." It is really a 

 treatise on fly-fishing, a branch in which Cotton was 

 proficient and of which Walton knew very little, and 

 it was intended by Walton to supplement the tech- 

 nical deficiency of his own work. Cotton's part is 

 in form a continuation of "The Angler;" the dia- 

 logue is retained, some of the former characters re- 

 appear, and there is an evident effort throughout to 

 catch the tone of the original: but the charm is 

 gone ; it is Walton, in short, minus what is pecu- 

 liarly Walton, salt without its savor. 



Walton's last literary task was the editing, and in 

 a measure the re-writing, of " Thealma and Clear- 

 chus," a "pastoral history" written by a certain 



