25 



lowed the Treatyfe ; and, although he has 

 much enlarged upon it, and introduced his 

 remarks in a dialogue, there is so great a 

 fimilarity between them as to juftify the 

 opinion, that if the original idea of his 

 work was not derived from this tract, he 

 was indebted to it in an eminent degree. 



In piety and virtue in the inculcation 

 of morality in an ardent love for their 

 art, and ftill more, in that placid and 

 Chriftian fpirit, for which the amiable Wal- 

 ton was fo confpicuous, the early writer 

 was fcarcely inferior to his more celebrat- 

 ed fucceffor. Nor ought the fuggeftion to 

 offend the admirers of the latter, that 

 judging from their writings upon the fame 

 fubject, and making a proper allowance 

 for the different ftate of manners in the fif- 

 teenth and feventeenth centuries, it would 

 be difficult to find two more kindred fpirits 



