THE FISHING-HOUSE OF SIR HENRY 

 WOTTON. 



The following description of the spot where Sir Henry Wotton and Izaak 

 Walton used to angle, by that excellent troUer and amiable disciple of 

 Walton, Edward Jesse, of Hampton Court, Esq. , author of " Gleanings 

 in Natural History " and "An Angler's Rambles," forms an appropriate 

 illustration in the preceding Memoir. 



The life, conversation, and pursuits of the revered Izaak Walton, 

 the purity of his moral character, and his tender sentiments of 

 benevolence, peculiarly fitted him to be the friend and companion 

 of the learned, witty, and cheerful Sir Henry Wotton, " one of the 

 delights of mankind." We accordingly find that they "often 

 fished and conversed " together, both of them being " most dear 

 lovers and frequent practisers of the art of angling." 



It is well known that when Sir Henry became Provost of 

 Eton College, Master Izaak Walton frequently went to see him, 

 giving him " his own ever-welcome company at the time of the 

 Fly and the Cork." A spot is still pointed out, about half a mile 

 from the venerable college of Eton, where these loving friends 

 and companions pursued their innocent pleasures of the angle. 

 Here we can fancy them seated quietly in a summer's even- 

 ing " on a bank a-fishing," while the beauteous Thames glided 

 calmly, and softly, and sweetly by them. Here also Sir Henry 

 might have composed his pretty description of the spring, begin- 

 ning 



"This day Dame Nature seem'd in love" — 



and in which he apostrophised his companion " our honest 

 father : "— 



'* There stood my friend with patient skill. 

 Attending to his trembling quill." 



The whole scenery of the spot in question appears suited to a 

 lover of angUng. A little green lawn slopes gently down to the 



