LIFE OF WALTOrf. 21 



Christian charity both to opinions and men ; to epis- 

 copacy, to the doctrines, discipline, and the liturgy of 

 the established church; and to those divines and others 

 that favoured the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of 

 this country, the subversion whereof, it was his mis- 

 fortune, both to see and feel. Seeing, therefore, that 

 amidst the publick calamities, and in a state of exile from 

 that city, where the earliest and dearest of his connec- 

 tions had been formed, he was thus capable of enjoying 

 himself in the manner he appears to have done; patient- 

 ly submitting to those evils, which he could not prevent, 

 we must pronounce him to have been an illustrious ex- 

 emplar of the private and social virtues, and upon the 

 whole a wise and good man. 



To these remarks, respecting the moral qualities of 

 Walton, I add, that his mental endowments were so con- 

 siderable as to merit notice ; it is true, that his stock 

 of learning, properly so called, was not great ; yet were 

 his attainments in literature far beyond what could be 

 expected from a man bred to trade, and not to a learned 

 profession ; for let it be remembered, that besides being 

 well versed in the study of the holy scriptures, and the 

 writings of the most eminent divines of his time he ap- 

 pears to have been well acquainted with history, eccle- 

 siastical, civil and natural, to have acquired a very cor- 

 rect judgment in poetry: and by phrases of his own 

 combination and invention, to have formed a style so 

 natural, intelligible, and elegant, as to have had more 

 admirers than successful imitators. 



And although, in the prosecution of his design to teach 

 the contemplative man the art of angling, there is a 

 plainness and simplicity of discourse, that indicates little 

 more than bare instruction, yet is there intermingled 

 with it wit and gentle reprehension : and we may, in 

 some instances, discover, that though he professes him- 

 self no friend to scoffing, he knew very well how to deal 

 with scoffers , and to defend his art, as we see he does, 

 against such as attempted to degrade it; and particularly 

 against those two persons in the dialogue, Auceps and 

 Venator who affected to fear a long and watery dis- 

 course in defence of his art the former of whom he puts 



B 3 



