46 Ifcings of tbe 1Rofc, TCtfle, anO 6un 



man of fashion, wont to flaunt his suits of cloth 

 and silver among the gayest, had spent all his patri- 

 mony in useless attempts to serve his sovereign, and 

 was wandering, poor and in rags, from one obscure 

 beggars' lodging-house to another, it was Charles Cotton 

 that once more came to his help. Every Monday 

 morning George Petty, haberdasher in Fleet Street, 

 carried twenty shillings from Charles Cotton to the 

 broken-down poet as he lay slowly dying in Gun- 

 powder Alley. Twenty shillings was a large sum in 

 those days, and shillings were none too plentiful with 

 Charles Cotton then or at any time of his life. 



Cotton was born at Beresford, in Staffordshire, on 

 April 28th, 1630, and was therefore thirty-seven years 

 junior to Izaak Walton, who had been an intimate 

 friend of his father. The elder Charles Cotton was 

 a gentleman of good Hampshire family, connected 

 with the Earls of Chesterfield and Harrington, and was, 

 moreover, a man of brilliant abilities, to which Clarendon 

 has borne eloquent testimony in his " History of the 

 Rebellion." He inherited a considerable fortune, which 

 he increased by his marriage with Olive, daughter of 

 Sir John Stanhope, of Elvaston, who brought him estates 

 in Derbyshire and Staffordshire. Charles the younger 

 was the only child, and he was allowed to do pretty 

 much as he pleased. It is probable that he went up 

 to Cambridge, though he took no degree there. It is 

 certain that he travelled for some time in France and 

 Italy. But he never seems to have contemplated 

 entering any profession. To dabble in literature and 

 pursue his beloved art of fly-fishing in the Dove were 



