EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 



"The World's Classics," published by Mr. 

 Henry Frowde. The volume was Leigh Hunt's 

 Essays and Sketches. The essay to which I 

 would ask my readers' attention for a moment 

 is the one on " Izaak Walton." I was de- 

 lighted to find in the opening paragraph this 

 sentence ; 



" The anglers are a race of men who puzzle 

 us. We do not mean for their patience, which 

 is laudable ; nor for the infinite non-success of 

 some of them, which is desirable. Neither do 

 we agree with the good joke attributed to Swift, 

 that angling is always to be considered as a stick 

 and a string, with a fly at one end, a fool at the 

 other." 



I never saw this libel on anglers attributed to 

 Swift before, but that is because I had never 

 before read Leigh Hunt's essay. I am glad to 

 find it is so attributed, rather than to Dr. Samuel 

 Johnson, who has hitherto, in the minds of 

 many writers and readers, borne the stigma of 

 it. It has been proved before in the Fishing 

 Gazette that Dr. Johnson could not have been 

 the author of it, because he was a friend to all 

 anglers, and a special admirer of good old Izaak 

 Walton. The sting of the joke is quite in the 



