1 86 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



or extemporary prayer is most agreeable to the sense of Scripture. 

 In favour of the former I have heard it asserted by a very eloquent 

 person, and one of the ablest writers both in prose and verse now 

 living, that he never, without premeditation, could address his 

 Maker in terms suited to his conceptions ; and that of all written 

 composition, he had found that of prayer to be the most difficult. 

 Of the same opinion is a very eminent prelate of this day, who 

 (being himself an excellent judge of literature), in a conversation 

 on the subject declared it to me; at the same time saying that, 

 excepting those in the liturgy, he looked on the prayers of Dr. 

 Jeremy Taylor, that occur in the course of his work, as by far the 

 most eloquent and energetic of any in our language. H. 



e The person here mentioned I take to be Dr. William Butler, 

 an eminent physician of our author's time, styled by Fuller in his 

 "Worthies" (Suffolk, p. 67), the ^Esculapius of the age. He in- 

 vented a medical drink called " Dr. Butler's Ale," which was a few 

 years ago sold at certain houses in London, that had his head for 

 a sign. One of these was in Ivy Lane, and another in an alley 

 leading from Coleman Street to Basinghall Street. He was a great 

 humourist, a circumstance in his character which, joined to his- 

 reputation for skill in his profession, might contribute to render him 

 popular. H. 



f Alluding to a work that appeared a few years before, entitled 

 " The English Gusman ; or, the History of that unparalleled Thief, 

 James Hind." 



g The comedy of the " Royal Merchant, or Beggar's Bush," was 

 written by Beaumont and Fletcher, and not by Ben Jonson. H. 



