ADVERTISEMENT TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



The reader is here presented with the first American edition of 

 Izaak Walton's Complete Angler, which, from the bare title, 

 might be thought only a sporting book, but will be recognised by 

 every student of English literature as one of the most precious 

 gems in the language. Written by a simple but strong-minded 

 man, eminent for his meek piety and unaffected love of God and 

 his works, a companion of the learned and the good, in the lei- 

 sure of a life devoted to the record and practice of Christian 

 virtues, it is full of persuasions to contemplative enjoyment, 

 pious trust, and benevolent action, expressed with such natural 

 eloquence, that it has found a most hearty welcome to the table 

 of the scholar, the moralist, and the divine. Very few works 

 have passed through so many editions in England, where it has 

 been illustrated with much care and elegance by several edi- 

 tors ; and the memory of no English author has been more affec- 

 tionately revered than that of honest father Walton. 



The American Editor has made a pleasant recreation of pre- 

 paring the work anew for the American public, with all the 

 additional literary information which a long acquaintance with 

 his author and an extensive library enabled him to gather, the 

 references, with few exceptions, having been verified by his own 

 search. Various hands have contributed such piscatorial lore 

 as, it was thought, might not be unwelcome to those who joined 

 with their admiration of Walton's character and writings a love 

 of his favorite amusement : but for the literary annotations the 

 editor is alone responsible to the reader, whr^ can scarcely be a 

 severe critic upon one whose only aim was to give him pleasure 

 not unmixed with profit. 



July, 1847. 



