LIFE OF WALTON. 



IS 



which his long practice and experience enabled him, 

 perhaps the best of any man of his time, to give, in the 

 year 1653, published, in a very elegant manner, his, 

 Complete Angler, or Contemplative Man's Recreation, 

 in small Duodecimo, adorned with exquisite cuts 

 of most of the fish mentioned in it. The artist who 

 engraved them, has been so modest as to conceal his 

 name: but there is great reason to suppose, they are 

 the work of Lombart, who is mentioned in the 

 Sculptura of Mr. Evelyn ; and also that the plates 

 were of steel. 



And let no man imagine, that a work on such a 

 subject must necessarily be unentertaining, or trifling, 

 or even uninstructive ; for the contrary will most evi- 

 dently appear, from a perusal of this excellent piece, 

 which whether we consider the elegant simplicity of 

 the style, the ease and unaffected humour of the dialogue, 

 ttye lovely scenes which it delineates, the enchanting 

 pastoral poetry which it contains, or the fine morality 

 it so sweetly inculcates has hardly its fellow in any of 

 the modern languages. 



The truth is, that there are few subjects so barren as 

 not to afford matter of delight, and even of instruction, 

 if ingeniously treated : Montaigne has written an essay 

 on Coaches, and another on Thumbs ; and our own na- 

 tion has produced many men, who, from a peculiar 

 felicity in their turn of thinking, and manner of writ- 

 ing, have adorned, and even dignified, themes the 

 most dry and unpromising. Many would think that 

 time ill employed, which was spent in composing a 

 treatise on the art of shooting in the long bow ; and 

 how few lovers of horticulture would expect entertain- 

 ment from a discourse of Sallads! and yet the Toxophi- 

 lus of Roger Ascham, and the Acetaria of Mr. Evelyn, 

 have been admired and commended by the best judges 

 of literature. 



But, that the reader may determine for himself, how 

 much our author has contributed to the improvement 

 of piscatory science, and how far his work may be said 



