C i J 



THE 



LIFE 



OF 



MR. ISAAC WALTON, 



THE excellent Lord Vernlam has noted it, as one 

 of the great deficiences of biographical history, that 

 it is, for the most part, confined to the actions of kings, 

 princes, and great personages, who are necessarily few ; 

 while the memory of less conspicuous, though good, 

 men, has been no better preserved, than by vague 

 reports, and barren elogies *. 



It is not therefore to be wondered at, if little care 

 lias been taken to perpetuate the remembrance of 

 the Person who is the subject of the present inquiry ; 

 and, indeed, there are many circumstances that seem 



* De vitis cogitantem subit quaedam admiratio, tempora ista nostra 

 baud nosse bona sua; cum tarn rara fit commemoratio et conscriptio 

 vitarum, eorum, qui nostro seculo claruerunt. Etsi enim reges, et 

 qui absolutum principatum obtineant, pauci esse possint ; principes 

 etiam in republica libera (tot rebuspublicis in monarchiam conversis) 

 haud multi ; utcunque tamen non defuerunt viri egregii (licet sub 

 regibus) qui meliora merentur, quam incertam et vagam memoriae suas 

 famam aut elagia ajrida et jejuna. 



De Augmentit Sientiarum % lib. II. cap. 7 



a 4 



