33aafc Walton anfc Cbarles Cotton 5* 



honoured guest at Beresford is evident from the words 

 of Piscator in Cotton's supplement to "The Compleat 

 Angler " when he invites Venator to partake of his 

 hospitality : " And now, Sir, if I am not mistaken I 

 have half overcome you : and that I may wholly 

 conquer that modesty of yours I will take upon me 

 to be so familiar as to say, you must accept my 

 invitation, which that you may the more easily be 

 persuaded to do, I will tell you that my house stands 

 upon the margin of one of the finest rivers for trout 

 and grayling in England : that I have lately built a 

 little fishing house upon it, dedicated to anglers, over 

 the door of which you will see the two first letters 

 of my father Walton's name and mine twisted in 

 cypher : that you shall lie in the same bed he has 

 sometimes been contented with, and have such 

 country entertainment as my friends sometimes ac- 

 cept, and be as welcome too, as the best friend of 

 them all." 



That little fishing-house, of which a sketch is here 

 reproduced, is still standing, reverently preserved, a 

 monument to the friendship of the two most celebrated 

 of all the Fathers of Angling. 



How true a sportsman Charles Cotton was, may be 

 gathered from the following extract, which is only one 

 of many passages in his treatise on the " Art of Fly- 

 fishing" that show him in the same light. Piscator 

 is giving the novice Viator his first lesson in casting a 

 fly for trout : 



" Viator. There's one ! I have him. 



Piscator. And a precious catch you have of him : 



