JET. 4.] LIFE OF IZAAK WALTON. xix 



esting nature, as it is intimately connected with those literary 

 pursuits, to which he is indebted for the regard of posterity. In 

 1619 a small poem was published, entitled "The Love of Amos 

 and Laura, written by S. P." which was dedicated to Walton in 

 the following verses : 



"TO MY APPROVED AND MUCH-RESPECTED FRIEND, 12. WA. 



To thee, thou more than thrice beloved friend, 



I too unworthy of so great a bliss ; 

 These harsh-tuned lines I here to thee commend, 



Thou being cause it is now as it is : 

 For hadst thou held thy tongue, by silence might 

 These have been buried in oblivious night. 



If they were pleasing, I would call them thine, 



And disavow my title to the verse : 

 But being bad, 'I needs must call them mine. 



No ill thing can be clothed in thy verse. 

 Accept them then, and where I have offended, 

 Rase thou it out, and let it be amended. S. P." 6 



It is evident that Walton either suggested various improvements 

 in, or had written part of the poem, whilst two of the lines prove 

 that it was printed at his recommendation. The poem was first 

 published in 1613, six years before, together with three others; 

 but in the only known copy of that edition," which is unfortunately 

 imperfect, the verses to Walton do not occur ; and it is doubtful 

 whether they were omitted, or have been abstracted from that 

 particular copy. As there is no variation (excepting of a single 

 word) between the two editions, the alterations, which the author 

 so gratefully acknowledges, must have been made in the original 

 manuscript ; and as Walton was only twenty years of age in 

 1613, the love of literature, which never deserted him, must have 

 commenced at a very early period of his life. Much light would 

 perhaps be thrown upon this part of Walton's career, if "his 

 more than thrice beloved friend," S. P., could be identified ; but 

 the attempt to discover him has not been successful, though some 

 circumstances render it likely that the initials were those of Samuel 

 Purchas, the author of " The Pilgrimage," who is known to have 



6 Attention was first drawn to this poem by J. Payne Collier, Esq., in the Poetical 

 Decameron, vol. ii. p. in. A copy of "The Love of Amos and Laura," i8mo ed. 1619, 

 will be found in the British Museum. It was again printed in 410 in 1628. See Note 7. 



7 In the library of Benjamin Heywood Bright, Esq. The title is "Alcilia. Pliilo- 

 parthens louing folly, whereunto js added Pigmalions Image : with the Loue of Amos 

 and Lavra and also Epigrammes by Sir J. H. and others, never before imprinted. 

 London for Richard Hawkins dwelling in Chancery Lane near Sarjeants Inn, 1613." 410. 

 At the end of Alcilia [edit. 1619] are the initials, J. C. [John Chalkhill?] Pigmalion's 

 Ima^e is by John Marston, and the Epigrams by Sir John Harington. Amos and 

 Laura in this copy is without the dedication, and is imperfect at the end. 



