tCbe jfatbers of Snoltno 23 



sound a judgment, both concerning men and thin 

 had made this northern tour instead of Franck ; and 

 had detailed in the beautiful simplicity of his Arcadian 

 language, his observations on the scenery and manners 

 of Scotland. Yet we must do our author the justice 

 to state that he is as much superior to the excellent 

 patriarch Izaak Walton in the mystery of fly-fishing, 

 as inferior to him in taste, feeling, and common sense. 

 Franck's contests with salmon are painted to the life, 

 and his directions to the angler are generally given 

 with great judgment. Walton's practice was entirely 

 confined to bait-fishing, and even Cotton, his disciple 

 and follower, though accustomed to fish trout in the 

 Dove, with artificial fly, would have been puzzled by a 

 fish (for so the salmon is called, par excellence, in most 

 parts of Scotland) of twenty pounds weight ; both being 

 alike strangers to that noble branch of the art, which 

 excels all other uses of the angling-rod, as much as 

 fox-hunting excels hare-hunting." 



Now, I think that Sir Walter is too hard upon 

 Richard Franck in his criticism of the Roundhead 

 Captain's style, which is nowhere very much worse than 

 the worst parts of" The Compleat Angler " for example, 

 the discourse of " Auceps " and " Venator " in the " First 

 Day." And I cannot echo the wish that Walton had 

 made the northern tour instead of Franck. The ex- 

 cellent Izaak would have been as little at home in 

 " Caledonia stern and wild " as Charles Lamb. What 

 possible delight could the mild, contemplative London 

 tradesman have found in the rush and roar of impetuous 

 salmon-streams, or the gloom and grandeur of Highland 



