Ix LIFE OF IZAAK WALTON. [1655, 



good for anybody but us Anglers ; and so, master, here is a full 

 glass to you of that liquor, and when you have pledged me, I will 

 repeat some verses which I have promised you," and which were 

 printed among Sir Henry Wotton's poems. A doubt seems to-be 

 expressed as to the authorship of these verses, as Venator observes 

 that they were " doubtless made either by Wotton or by a lover of 

 Angling," which remark is repeated by Piscator, who in return 

 repeats a poem written " some say by Dr Donne," called a " Fare- 

 well to the Vanities of the World." The Master and Scholar then 

 take leave of each other with mutual expressions of esteem, and 

 promise to fulfil their engagement of meeting again four days 

 afterwards, at Charles Brandon's, in Golden Lane. 



There cannot possibly be a doubt that Walton meant to 

 identify himself with Piscator ; for not only does that person 

 express his feelings and opinions, but he adopts his personal 

 acquaintances, and alludes to many circumstances in his own 

 life. To some extent, therefore, Piscator's remarks, and the 

 allusions which Venator and the other interlocutors make to 

 Piscator's disposition and acquirements, may be considered as 

 autobiographical sketches, which are of great value as illustrations 

 of Walton's feelings, disposition, and character. It is also pro- 

 bable that "Venator," "brother Peter," "the Scholar," and 

 " Coridon," had an actual identity in the persons of some of his 

 piscatory friends ; but it is impossible to state whom they repre- 

 sented. " Brother Peter" may have been either Nat. or R. Roe, 

 who, he says, generally accompanied him a-fishing ; and the 

 residence of Venator is stated to have been near Golden Lane, 

 which is not far from Clerkenwell. The sentiments and language 

 attributed to them, are, however, so similar to those of Piscator, 

 that it is, in fact, he alone who speaks throughout the whole 

 dialogue ; and it is, consequently, impossible to trace any of the 

 others by those allusions to circumstances and individuals which 

 so completely identify Piscator with Walton. 



With one exception, Walton's treatise appears to have given 

 universal satisfaction to his contemporaries. The hostile critic 

 was Robert Franck, who wrote a curious work, entitled " Northern 

 Memoirs ; calculated for the meridian of Scotland, wherein most 

 or all of the cities, citadels, sea-ports, castles, forts, fortresses, 

 rivers, and rivulets, are compendiously described " in a dialogue 

 between Theophilus and Arnoldus. Though written in 1658, 

 the book was not pubUshed until 1694, and a new edition of it 

 appeared in 182 1, with a preface by Sir Walter Scott. Franck 



