Ixxviii BIBLIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 



edition of the Angler, it appeared as " the only correct 

 and complete edition," and the reader was informed that 

 " cuts were now added of the principal scenes, designed 

 by Mr. Wale, and engraved by Ryland, in which the cha- 

 racters are dressed in the habits of the times, which cuts 

 the readers may be assured cost in designing and engrav- 

 ing upwards of one hundred pounds." Browne, in a rival 

 advertisement, set forth his emendation of the poetry, de- 

 claring the boasted plates (with some truth) copied from 

 the designs to his, and the life of Walton in chief part 

 borrowed from the one printed by him. (Pickering's Ellis, 

 and others.) That Browne deserved rebuke for tampering 

 with Walton's text, is true ; and the idea that Hawkins's Life 

 was in chief part borrowed from his meagre sketch is pre- 

 posterous; but the cool, contemptuous, utter silence of Haw- 

 kins respecting Browne's editions, when it is very evident 

 that he had read and appropriated some of their matter, was 

 sufficiently provoking. It is true, also, that Wale did copy 

 the fish from those in the original edition, nor can w^e 

 compare the engravings of the principal scenes together, 

 without seeing that Browne's designer gave the hints upon 

 which the other improved. It is remarkable, also, that the 

 scenes illustrated in Browne, with the exception of the 

 otter hunt and the very absurd frontispiece, have been 

 among those illustrated in every illustrated edition since, 

 so that sound judgment was shown in the selection. 



Hawkins, or, as he is first introduced to us, John Haw- 

 kins, Esqr., was born in 1719, and bred an attorney, in 

 which profession he acquired some credit. He was an 

 acquaintance of Dr. Johnson's, whose life he wrote, in a 

 very slovenly, inaccurate, and catch-penny manner. His 

 edition of the Com})lete Angler, in 1700, was his first 

 literary performance, excepting some contributions to pe- 

 riodicals. He afterwards became a sort of Gervase 

 Markham, a compiling author on various popular subjects ; 

 but his History of Music, in five volumes 4to., though not 



