INTRODUCTORY 9 



Walton took a wide view of the pleasures of 

 angling ; he was of too sensitive a nature to 

 neglect what was to be seen and heard around 

 him, and the object of Piscator is at least as 

 much to teach his scholar to enjoy the spirit 

 of places, times and seasons, as to catch fish. 

 None the less is Walton careful of instructions 

 in the art of angling, in writing which he had 

 at any rate the advantage of believing that what 

 he had to teach was new, and he enters into 

 details of baits and tackles and methods, with 

 a zest and confident interest which are hardly 

 possible now. There is an impression of fresh- 

 ness and leisure which never leaves us as we 

 read. The delight of days spent by the river 

 is described as if Walton felt himself to be the 

 teller of good tidings, in which whosoever wished 

 might share. There is a detachment of mind 

 about him, a sense of freedom and length of days, 

 to which it is less easy to attain in these times 

 of trains, letters, telegrams and incessant news. 

 There were years in Walton's life of civil war, 

 of great disturbance, public misfortune and ex- 

 citement, but it was at any rate more possible 

 in that age to have long intervals undisturbed 



