46 NOTES ON PISH AND FISHTNG. 



trees and honeysuckle hedges where the old man and his 

 friends walked and took sweet counsel together, admiring 

 the wondrous and beautiful works of nature., and silently 

 worshipping their Creator. Well has it been said that 

 " Walton long ago made angling a medium for inculcating 

 the most fervent piety and the purest morality ; " and no 

 one who has read his Complete Angler, his Lives of English 

 Divines, and the memoirs of his life which have been 

 handed down to us, especially that by Sir Harris Nicolas, 

 can fail to see in him a man whom sweetness of nature, 

 simplicity of manners, sound understanding, unswerving 

 honesty, and religious integrity, combined with content- 

 ment and peace of mind, raised to a high standard of per- 

 fection in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. 

 I am glad to hear that considerable progress has been 

 made (though not so great as ought to have been the case) 

 in raising subscriptions for erecting, in the parish church 

 of Stafford, a stained glass window and marble bust to the 

 memory of Izaac Walton. He was born in that town in 

 1593, and baptized in St. Mary's Church; and the poor of 

 Stafford to this day receive benefit from his charitable 

 bequests. A flat stone, with the inscription, I believe, 

 almost obliterated, marks his resting-place in Winchester 

 Cathedral ; and all who reverence his memory would do 

 well both to see this restored and join in raising the 

 memorial at Stafford. Mr. John Shallcross, the ex-mayor, 

 would, I am sure, be happy to receive subscriptions from 

 the scattered " brethren of the angle" and all admirers of 

 this good old man. I do hope that in this matter we shall 

 not have to exclaim, — 



" Shame upon the rich-left heirs 

 Who let their fathers be without a monument." 



