LIFE OF COTTON. 355 



of Piscalor, and a Traveller, the very person distin- 

 guished in the First Part by the name of Venator, and 

 whom Walton of an HUNTER had made an ANGLER * : 

 in which besides the instructions there given, and the 

 beautiful scenery of a wild and romantic country there* 

 in displayed the urbanity, courtesy, and hospitality 

 of a well-bred country gentleman, are represented to 

 great advantage. 



This book MIGHT be thought to contain a delineation 

 of the author's character; and, dispose the reader to 

 think that he was delighted with his situation, content 

 with his fortunes, and in short one of the happiest of 

 men : But his next publication speaks a very different 

 language : for living in a country that abound?, 

 above all others in this kingdom, in rocks caverns and 

 subterraneous passages: objects that, to some minds, 

 afford more delight than stately woods and fer- 

 tile plains, rich inclosures, and other, the milder, 

 beauties of rural nature he seems to have been 

 prompted, by no other than a SULLEN CURIOSITY, 

 to explore the secrets of that nether world ; and, sur- 

 veying it rather with wonder than philosophical de- 

 light, to have given way, to his disgust, in a de- 

 scription, of the dreary and terrific scenes around and 

 beneath him, in a poem (written, as it is said, in 

 emulation of Hobbes's De mirabilihus Pecci) entitled 

 The wonders of the Peak. This he, first, published 

 in 1681 ; and, afterwards, witli a new edition of the 

 Virgil travestie and the Burlesque of Lit dan. 



The only praise of this poem, is the truth of the 

 representations therein contained ; for it is a mean 

 composition, inharmonious in the versification, and 

 abounding in expletives. Of the spirit in whir.h it is 

 written, a judgment may be formed from the following 

 lines, part of the exordium : 



Durst I expostulate with Providence, 

 I then should ask : Wherein the innocence 



* Vide Part II. Chap. I. p. S8r 



