CHAP. I.] THE FIRST DAY. 363 



see made good to you. But of that hereafter : and now, 

 sir, if I am not mistaken, I have half overcome you ; and 

 that I may wholly conquer that modesty of yours, I will 

 take upon me to be so familiar as to say, you must accept 

 my invitation ; which, that you may the more easily be 

 persuaded to do, I will tell you that my house stands upon 

 the margin of one of the finest rivers for trouts and 

 grayling in England : that I have lately built a little 

 fishing-house upon it, dedicated to anglers, over the door of 

 which, you will see the two first letters of my father 

 Walton's name and mine, twisted in cypher ; * that you 

 shall lie in the same bed he has sometimes been contented 

 with, 2 and have such country entertainment as my friends 

 sometimes accept ; and be as welcome, too, as the best 

 friend of them all. 



The Walton Chamber in Beresford Hall. 



Viat. No doubt, sir, but my Master Walton found good 

 reason to be satisfied with his entertainment in your house ; 

 for you, who are so friendly to a mere stranger, who deserves 

 so little, must needs be exceeding kind and free to him who 

 deserves so much. 



1 As in the title-page. WALTON. 



2 Mr. Bagster has, in his edition of Cotton, given an engraving of the 

 carved mantelpiece of a bedroom, "which," he observes, "maybe the 

 very room that Walton slept in ; many circumstances unite to lead to that 

 conclusion." 



