Izaak Walton 



viding suitable calm and quiet in the prep- 

 aration of his " discourse," but afforded the 

 very best opportunities for the practise of 

 the art on which he now began to descant. 

 Within a limit of twenty-five or thirty 

 miles of Stafford, he had the choice of at 

 least half a dozen first-rate streams in 

 which to practise. There were, for in- 

 stance, the Soar, the Tame, the Sow, the 

 Idle, the Derwent, and last, but not least, 

 the ever-glorious Dove. It was, indeed, a 

 fortunate matter for posterity that the buy- 

 ing and selling of his linen stuffs on Corn- 

 hill did not by one jot abate Walton's 

 youthful enthusiasm nurtured amid such 

 opportunities. 



But when or where The Complete An- 

 gler was actually conceived, planned, and 

 written, can only be surmised. Possi- 

 bly the work had been taking shape in 

 his fancy for many years, to be saved for 

 his leisure on the small estate which he 

 bought near Stafford on his retirement in 

 1643, where we are told "his compan- 

 ions were some friends, a book, a cheerful 

 heart, and an innocent conscience." What 

 a change from London to a man of his 

 temperament ! That city he declared, 

 after he left it, however, to be " a place 

 dangerous for honest men;" and no doubt 

 276 



