22 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 



makyth him hungry; he hereth the melodyotis armony of 

 fowles; he seeth the yonge swannes, heerons, duckes, cotes, 

 and many other foules, wyth their brodes ; whyche me semyth 

 better than alle the noyse of houndys, the blastes of hornys, and 

 the cryes of foulis, that hunters, fawkeners, and foulers can 

 make. And if the angler take fysshe, surely then is there noo 

 man merier than he is in his spyryte." 



It is also probable that Walton might borrow from Barker's 

 " Art of Angling," first published in 1651, the idea of making 

 his work humorous and entertaining ; but how fine is the con- 

 trast between the chastised mirth of a gentleman, and that of 

 the mere droll ! for poor Mr. Barker aspires to nothing 

 higher. 



As for Walton's morality, it is almost entirely his own ; we 

 cannot help noticing one remarkable instance of his propriety 

 and delicacy of feeling ; he is conscious that, for some very 

 ardent minds, he may have made his descriptions too seductive, 

 and consequently he takes especial care to furnish a hint which 

 may serve for a corrective : it occurs near the commencement 

 of Chapter V., where Peter says: "I will promise you I will 

 sing another song in praise of angling to-morrow night, for we 

 will not part till then ; but fish to-morrow and sup together, 

 and the next day every man leave fishing, and fall to his busi- 

 ness !" 



This minute piece of admonition is rendered the more del- 

 icate from its timely utterance, being evidently meant to re- 

 mind us that we should fix the requisite limits to our pleasures, 

 even before their commencement. 



In resuming our purpose of pointing out the progressive 

 and still growing reputation of our author, it may be fairly 

 premised that what we now present is to be viewed as the grate- 

 ful feeling of posterity, in opposition to that contemporary 

 applause which might be supposed to flow from favor or affec- 

 tion. By far the greater part of those copies of verses, pre- 

 fixed, according to the custom of the time, to the earlier 



