54 LIFE OF TfALTOW. 



ter* and in his Will, it will appear that Walton 

 possessed that essential ingredient in human felicity, 

 mens sana in corpore sano ; for in his eighty-third 

 year he professes a resolution to begin a pilgrimage of 

 more than a hundred miles into a country the most dif- 

 ficult and hazardous that can be conceived for an aged 

 man to travel in 5 to visit his friend Cottorit, and doubt- 



* See his Letter to Charles Cotton, Esq. ; prefixed to the second part. 



f To this journey he seems to have been invited by Mr. Cotton, in the 

 following beautiful Stanzas, printed with other of his Poem in 1689, 8vo. 

 and addressed to his dear and most worthy friend Mr. Isaac Walton. 



Whilst in this cold and blust'ring clime, 



Where bleak winds howl and tempests roar, 



We pass away the roughest time 

 Has been of many years before. 



Whilst from the most tempestuous nooks 



The chillest blasts our peace invade, 

 And by great rains our smallest brooks 



Are almost navigable made ; 



Whilst all the ills, are so improv'd, 



Of this dead quarter of the year, 

 That even you, so much belov'd, 



We would not now wish with us here : 



In this estate, I say, it is 



Some comfort to us to suppose, 

 That, in a better clime than this, 



You, our dear friend, have more repose j 



And some delight to me the while, 



Though nature now does weep in rain, 

 To think that I have seen her smile, 

 And haply may I do again. 



If the all-ruling Power please 



We live to see another May, 

 We'll recompense an age of these 



Foul days in one fine fishing day. 



We then shall have a day or two, 



Perhaps a week, wherein to try 

 What the best master's hand can do 



With the most deadly killing flie : 



A day, with not too bright a beam, 



A warm, but not a scorching sun, 

 A southern gale to curl the stream, 



And, master, half our work is done* 



