312 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



for this place ; but if this Discourse which follows shall come 

 to a second impression, which is possible, for slight books have 

 been in this age observed to have that fortune, I shall then, for 

 thy sake, be glad to correct what is faulty, or, by a conference 

 with any, to explain or enlarge what is defective ; but for this 

 time I have neither a willingness nor leisure to say more, than 

 wish thee a rainy evening to read this book in, and that the 

 east wind may never blow when thou goest a-fishing. Fare- 

 well. Iz. WA." He faithfully fulfilled this promise, for the 

 Second Edition has eight entirely new chapters, and above an 

 hundred pages more than the First ; and the Fifth contains 

 twenty pages more than the Fourth.* 



It is from these variations, the most important of which will 

 be found carefully preserved in the following Notes, that a con- 

 ception may be formed of the editions used by Walton of the 

 authors whom he cites ; and it is from a careful collation of 

 these earlier impressions, that some illustrations of the text have 

 been recovered, from marginal notes which were afterwards 

 omitted. Nor from the author only have such illustrations 

 been compiled, but the Editions of the Complete Angler by 

 the Reverend Moses Browne, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Henry 

 Ellis, and the elaborate and beautiful impression edited by Sir 

 N. Harris Nicolas, published eight years since by Mr. Picker- 

 ing, have been also consulted ; and the collection formed into 

 a brief but comprehensive abstract of all. Brief indeed, the 

 plan of the present volume required it to be, although it would 

 in most instances have been truly interesting to have given the 

 very words of the ancient and erudite authorities themselves ; 

 but these extracts extend occasionally to many pages, and are 

 to be found in the impressions referred to. The reader has 



* As these various Editions are referred to in the succeeding Notes by the 

 number of the impression only, a list of them in the order of publication is 

 here given. First, 1653 ; Second, 1655 ; Third, 1664 ; Fourth, 1668 ; Fifth, 

 1676. Of all these impressions, copies are in the possession of W. J. BRO- 

 DERIP, ESQ., with the most liberal use of which, beside other assistance, the 

 Editor has been favored for the improvement of this work. 



