Introduction 



go a Angling ' ; and that sweet exhortation from i Thess. iv. 1 1 , 

 ' Study to be quiet.' 



" After the exquisite quietism of this farewell, it is distracting to 

 come precipitately upon the fine gentleman with the great wig and 

 the Frenchified airs." 



But I resent the arbitrary wedlock for Cotton, too. It has caused 

 him to be preached at for years by sententiously pious editors, who, 

 it is plain, feel him no fit company for Walton, and only tolerate 

 him at all because Walton's affection " pleads against oblivion for 

 his name." 



Dr. Bethune's sanctimonious horror on the matter is so delicious 

 that I cannot forbear quoting him : 



The friendship which our venerated Walton had for Cotton, besides 

 his being the author of the following amusing and excellent treatise, 

 will naturally lead the reader to desire a better knowledge of him ; but, 

 it must be confessed, that the duty thus laid upon the editor is by no 

 means so pleasant as he could wish. The character of the adopted son 

 differs so widely from that of his pure-minded father, as to make it a 

 mystery how even a common taste for angling could have made the 

 friend of Wotton bear with the habits of the younger man. Perhaps 

 the friendship Walton had for Cotton's father was affectionately entailed 

 upon the offspring ; perhaps similarity of political opinions may have 

 biased even the very sober judgment ; perhaps a charitable hope to do 

 the reckless wit good by a close association made the merciful heart 

 more tolerant ; no doubt the venerable presence restrained the tongue 

 from the licence of the pen which the burlesque poet made a second 

 nature ; but however it came about, an affectionate intercourse was 

 maintained between them, as the reader already knows, and will soon 

 know further. Let us hope that Walton's serious occupations and inter- 

 course with pious men of learning kept him happily away from com- 

 panions where loose writings would be named ; and that, ignorant of 

 Cotton's vicious folly, he judged him rather by the truly beautiful 

 sentiments breathed through the " Stanzes Irreguliers." 



One would like to hear " hearty, cheerful Mr. Cotton's " laughter 

 and remarks on this passage. 



The incongruity of the friendship is obvious, and we may be sure, 

 with Lowell, that " there must have been delicately understood and 

 mutually respectful conventions of silence in an intimacy between 



Ixxii 



