XXIV INTRODUCTION. 



older prose writers. Walton's vogue is doubtless 

 largely due to the great men who have rung his 

 praises; for his distinctive note in authorship, es- 

 pecially where it is most winning, is not of the re- 

 sonant pitch that readily strikes the popular ear. 

 Walter Scott, Dr. Johnson, Hallam, Lowell, Sheridan, 

 Irving, have praised him; and Charles Lamb said, 

 among other pleasant things, of " The Angler," that it 

 " would sweeten a man's temper at any time to read 

 it, and Christianize every discordant passion." The 

 key in which Lamb's encomium is pitched, and the 

 indulgent, half-petting tone so often assumed toward 

 Walton is no bad clew to his genre as a writer. One 

 would scarcely venture on patronizing or petting the 

 authors, say, of the " Novum Organum " and the 

 " Principia." Walton's fame rests on no imposing 

 achievement of intellectual power or sustained eleva- 

 tion of style and sentiment. His merits are of the 

 kindlier sort that grace the reverend names of Gold- 

 smith, Steele, Montaigne, of Samuel Pepys, even, 

 with whose cheerful garrulity he has much in com- 

 mon. The pleasure " The Angler " gives us is akin 

 to that we take in the artless prattle of children ; and 

 no corrupt nature, we think, ever found pleasure in 

 either. Frankness, innocence, the naive display of 

 an engaging personality, a piety free from the twang 

 of the conventicle, these, mainly, are the saving 

 qualities, the myrrh and frankincense that have kept 

 this modest pastoral fresh and fragrant while so many 

 pompous folios have been forgotten. Frankness 

 is perhaps the virtue that lies at the root and feeds 

 the blossom of Walton's charm ; and certainly the 

 Muses have few gifts of which they are more chary. 



