BIBLIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. xlix 



fitted out a fleet for the conquest of Hispaniola, Venables 

 and Admiral Penn were invested with the chief command 

 of the armament. On their return from that disastrous 

 expedition, both Venables and Penn were imprisoned, with 

 the general approbation of the public. The time of his 

 liberation is unknown. (Biographical Memoir prefixed 

 to Gordon's reprint of Venables's Angler, 1827.) It would 

 seem that the brave, once most successful, but in the end 

 unfortunate, soldier, found consolation in angling and 

 writing upon his quiet pleasures. It is impossible to 

 read his book without being convinced that, whatever may 

 have been his troubles, he was a wise and piously disposed 

 man. His book dates seven years from the time that we 

 know he was in the Tower. It was embellished with 

 neat prints of various fish. He does not appear to have 

 seen Walton's book, which is not surprising, when we 

 consider the troublous times and his own particular 

 troubles. Walton sent him a commendatory letter on his 

 book before its publication,* which we transcribe, not only 

 because it is highly characteristic of our favorite author, 

 but also because it shows the zealous Hiijh-Churchman 

 forgetting his prejudices against the Parliamentarian in the 

 kindly fraternity of our gentle art : 



" TO HIS JJ^TGEJSriOUS FRIEXD, THE AUTHOR, OJ\r HIS 



" ' ANGLING IMPROVED.' 



" Honoured Sir, 



" Though I never, to my knowledge, had the happiness to 

 see your face, yet accidentally coming to a view of this discourse before 

 it went to the press : I hold myself obliged in point of gratitude for the 

 great advantage I received thereby, to tender you my particular ac- 

 knowledgments ; especially, having been, for thirty years past, not only 

 a lover but a practiser of that in7iocent recreation, wherein, by your 

 judicious precepts, I find myself fitted for a higher form ; which expres- 



* Marriott, the publisher of Walton, was the publisher of Venables, and 

 he used the same plates for both books. It was in his hands, probably, 

 that Walton came to see " The E.xperienced Angler." 



C 



