Izaak Walton 



erature was long ago recognized as clear 

 and undisputable. Lord Byron, it is true, 

 sought in his own cavalier fashion to oust 

 the kindly old man from this dignity, and 

 viciously wrote of him that 



"The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, in his gullet 

 Should have a hook and a small trout to pull it!" 



Even the redoubtable "great Cham" took 

 the pains to grunt a dissent to the claims 

 of " the gentle art," as being adapted for 

 only " simple " - i. e., stupid folks. 

 Dr. Johnson's bark was, however, often 

 more to be feared than his bite ; and one 

 edition at least of The Complete Angler 

 that published in 1750 --was due to his 

 sympathy with the book. 



But what have the Byrons and John- 

 sons et hoc genus omne to do in an apprecia- 

 tion of this kind ? Both were inherently 

 deficient in more than one important 

 quality necessary to make a true angler ; 

 and so they discredited a pastime for 

 which the one man had no patience, and 

 the other not over-much of that true 

 Waltonian gentleness that ever shrinks 

 from the jostle of Fleet Street. Unques- 

 tionably, " Old Izaak," as his followers 

 delight to call him, has won the regard 

 and reverence of many generations of an- 

 288 



