LIFE OF WALTON. Xlll 



work of Lombart, who is mentioned in the Sculptura of Mr. Evelyn j 

 and also that the plates were of steel. 



And let no man imagine, that a work on such a subject must ne- 

 cessarily be unentertaining, or trifling, or even uninstructive ; for the 

 contrary will most evidently appear, from a perusal of this excellent 

 piece, which whether we consider the elegant simplicity of the 

 style, the ease and unaffected humour of the dialogue, the lovely 

 scenes which it delineates, the enchanting pastoral poetry which it 

 contains, or the fine morality it so sweetly inculcates has hardly its 

 fellow in any of the modern languages. 



The truth is, that there are few subjects so barren as not to afford 

 matter of delight, and even of instruction, if ingeniously treated: 

 Montaigne has written an essay on Coaches, and another on Thumbs , 

 and our own nation has produced many men, who, from a peculiar 

 felicity in their turn of thinking, and manner of writing, have adorned, 

 and even dignified, themes the most dry and unpromising. Many 

 would think that time ill employed, which was spent in composing a 

 treatise on the art of shooting in the long bow ; and how few lovers 

 of horticulture would expect entertainment from a discourse of 

 Sallads ! and yet the Toxophilus of Roger Ascham, and the Acetaria 

 of Mr. Evelyn, have been admired and commended by the best judges 

 of literature. 



But that the reader may determine for himself, how much our 

 author has contributed to the improvement of piscatory science, and 

 how far his work may be said to be an original, it will be necessary 

 for him to take a view of the state of angling at the time when he 

 \\roif ; and that he may be the better able to do this, he will consider, 

 that, till the time of the Reformation, although the clergy, as well 

 regular as secular on account of their leisure, and because tlu> 

 canon law forbad them the use of the sanguinary recreations of 

 hunting, hawking, and fowling were the great proficients in angling, 

 yet none of its precepts were committed to writing ; and that, from 

 tlu- time of the introduction of printing into this kingdom, to that of 

 the lirst publication of Walton's book, in 1653, an interval of more 

 than one hundred and fifty years, only five books on this subject had 

 been given to the world : of the four latest, some mention is made in 

 the margin ; but the first of that number, as well on account of its 



(1) " A Booke of fishing with hooke and line, and of all other instruments 

 thereunto belonging. Another of sundrie engines and traps to lake pole- 

 cats, buzzards, rats, mice, and all other kinds of vermineand beasts what- 

 soever, most profitable for all warriners, and such as delight in this kind 

 of sport and pastime, made by L. M. 4to. London, 1590, 1506, 1000. 



It appears by a variety of evidence, that the person meant by these 

 initials was one Leonard Mascall, an author who wrote on planting and 

 grafting, and also on cattle. Vide infra, Chap. IX. 



Approved Experiments touching ffcft and Fruit, to be regarded by the 

 Lovers of Angling, by Mr. John Taverner, in Quarto, 1600. 



The Secrets of Angling, a poem, in three books, by J. D. Esq. Octavo, 

 1613. Mention is made of this book, in a note on a passage in the ensuing 

 dialogues: and there is reason to think, that it is the foundation of a 

 treatise, intitled, The whole Art of jingling, published in Quarto, 1056, hy 

 the well-known Gervase Markham, as part of his Cotmtry Contentments, 

 or Husbandman's Recreations, since he confesses, that the substance ot 



