8 FLY FISHING 



long. There is no definition of style which is 

 satisfactory, or which tells how it may be ac- 

 quired, for when a man has it, what he has is 

 his own and no other's : without him that 

 particular style would never have been, and no 

 one else can produce the same effect by imitat- 

 ing it. It must therefore in some way be the 

 result of the man's personality; and the charm 

 of Walton's " Complete Angler " is at any rate 

 partly due to the simplicity and purity of nature, 

 which find expression in his book. There is a 

 quiet and benign light in his writing, which 

 draws us to it, and makes us choose to linger 

 over it. It must not, however, be forgotten 

 that Walton wrote other books not about 

 angling : these, too, are of literary excellence, 

 and we still have to account for the fact, that 

 it is by the "Complete Angler" that Walton 

 is best remembered. It may be that the others 

 would not have been forgotten; but unless he 

 had written the " Complete Angler," Walton 

 would never have been as well known as he is. 

 It is his best book, and I like to think that it 

 is so, because the happiness of the subject was 

 specially suited to his kind and quiet spirit. 



