BIBLIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. xlv 



carefully lacquered so as to show nothing that glitters, for 

 the fish will see the rod, and him that holds it, when he 

 cannot see them. 



The only other book which preceded Walton is : " The 

 Art of Angling, wherein are discovered many rare secrets, 

 very necessary to he known by all that delight in that 

 recreation. ^Vritten by Thomas Barker, an ancient 

 Practitioner of the said Art. London : Printed by R. H., 

 and are to be sold by Oliver Fletcher, near the Seven- 

 Stars, at the West end of St. Paul's. Anno Dom., 1651," 

 duo. (Reprinted by Burns for Gordon, London: 1820.) An- 

 other edition in 4to., Lond,, 1653, without the author's 

 name, subjoined to the " Countryman's Recreations,^'' 4to., 

 Lond. (Reprinted in large 8vo., by Inchbold and 

 Gawtress, Lond.) He published it, somewhat altered 

 and improved in 1657 (with only a new title-page as a 

 second edition two years later) under the title: "Barker's 

 Delight ; or the Art of Angling, wherein are discovered,'^ 

 ^c, " both for the catching of the Fish and the dressing 

 thereof. The Second Edition much enlarged. By Thomas 

 Barker," &c., as before. "Eccles. 3, i., ii. : 'There is a 

 time and season to every purpose under heaven. Every- 

 thing is beautiful in his time.' London : Printed by 

 G. S., for Richard Marriott, and are to be sold at 

 his shop in St. Dunstan's Church-Yard, Fleet Street.'' 

 (Reprinted by Burns, 1820.) All we know of Barker 

 is from his own preface ; from which we learn that he 

 was a native of Bracemeale, Salop, and had practised 

 angling for three-score years. Walton calls him a gentle- 

 man ; but he seems to have been a master-cook, for he says 

 he "learned cooking for forty years; having been admitted 

 into most of the Ambassadors' kitchens, and do wait 

 on them till (1657) at the Lord Protector's charge, and 

 am paid duly for it." In the latter part of his life he 

 resided in Henry the Seventh's gifts (an alms-house), the 

 next door to the Gate-house in Westminster. His style is 



