LIFE OF WALTON. 



an illustrious exemplar of the private and social virtues, and upon the 

 whole a vise and good man. 



To these remarks, respecting the moral qualities of Walton, I add, 

 that his mental endowments were so considerable as to merit notice ; 

 it is true, that his stock of learning, properly so called, was not great; 

 yet were his attainments in literature far beyond what could be ex- 

 pected from a man bred to trade, and not to a learned profession ; 

 for let it be remembered, that besides being well versed in the study 

 of the holy scriptures, and the irrithifjs of the most eminent ilit hies of 

 his time he appears to have been well acquainted with history, ec- 

 clesiastical, civil, and natural ; to have acquired a very correct judg- 

 ment in poetry ; and by phrases of his own combination and invention, 

 to have formed a style so natural, intelligible, and elegant, as to have 

 had more admirers than successful imitators. 



And although in the prosecution of his design to teach the con- 

 templative man the art of angling, there is a plainness and simplicity 

 of discourse, that indicates little more than bare instruction, yet is 

 there intermingled with it wit and gentle reprehension ; and we may 

 in some instances discover, that though he professes himself no 

 friend to scoffing, he knew very well how to deal with scoffers, and to 

 defend his art, as we see he does, against such as attempted to degrade 

 it; and particularly against those two persons in the dialogue, 

 Auceps and Venator, who affected to fear a long and watery discourse 

 in defence of his art the former of whom he puts to silence, and 

 the other he converts and takes for his pupil. 



What reception in general the book met with, may be naturally 

 inferred from the dates of the subsequent editions thereof; the second 

 came abroad in 1655, the third in 1664, the fourth in 1668, and the 

 fifth and last in 1676. It is pleasing to trace the several variations 

 which the author from time to time made in these subsequent editions, 

 as well by adding new facts and discoveries, as by enlarging on the 

 more entertaining parts of the dialogue : And so far did he indulge 

 himself in this method of improvement, that, besides that in the se- 

 cond edition he has introduced a new interlocutor, to wit, Auceps, a 

 falconer, and by that addition gives a new form to the dialogue ; he 

 from thence 'takes occasion to urge a variety of reasons in favour of 

 his art, and to assert its preference as well to hawking as hunting. 

 The third and fourth editions of his book have several entire new 

 chapters ; and the fifth, the last of the editions published in his life- 

 time, contains no less than eight chapters more than the first, and 

 twenty pages more than the fourth. 



Not having the advantage of a learned education, it may seem un- 

 accountable that Walton so frequently cites authors that have written 

 only in Latin, as Gesner, Cardan, Aldrovandus, Kondeletius, and even 

 Albertus Magnus; but here it maybe observed, that the voluminous 

 history of animals, of which the first of these was author, is in efjfect 

 translated into English by Mr. Edward Topsel, a learned divine; 

 chaplain, as it seems in the church of St. Botolph, Aldersgate to 

 Dr. N He. dean of Westminster. The translation was published in 

 1658, and containing in it numberless particulars concerning frogs, 

 serpents, caterpillars, and other animals, though not of fish, extracted 

 from the other writers above-named, and others with their names to 



