dxxxvi LIFE OF 



in fly-fishing, making flies, and otlier arcana of the art ; and they 

 separate. Viator having first assured him, that if he lives until the 

 following May twelvemonth, he will pay him another visit, "either 

 with my master Walton or without him ; and in the meantime 

 shall acquaint him how much you have made of me for his sake ; 

 and I hope he loves me well enough to thank you for it." 



This allusion to fly-fishing affords an opportunity of printing, 

 for the first time, a very interesting letter,^ from Henry Vernon, 

 Esq., of Congerton, in Cheshire, dated in June 1637, apparentiy 

 to Sir Edward Vernon, of Sudbury, the immediate ancestor of the 

 present Lord Vernon, which cannot fail to please all true brothers 

 of the Angle, as it is written in the spirit which animated the great 

 patriarch of their art, with whom it is probable that the writer was 

 acquainted. 



" Good Uncle and Fellow-Fjsher, — My kind and true respects re- 

 membred unto you, &c. I have gott see many sonnes that I have troubled 

 most of my old friends in Com : Cest : to bee godfathers, whereby I am 

 enforced to flie to that port where I first arrived. Your readinesse in 

 doeing mee the favour to bee a godfather to my child I doubt not of, yett 

 I earnestly desier it ; and I entreate you to remember to bringe your tack- 

 ling for two penie trouts (for better wee have none) and your furniture for 

 fishing, to bee joviall with mee a weeke at the least who soever comes 

 and goes. For your entertainement you shall have what you can catch, 

 and if you will stay I will goe with you to Sudburie, then I will tire 

 Dove bridge and devoure all the fish in Eaton foards, in which having 

 cooled our selves, the houndes will call us to the hills where wee will use 

 a contrarie violence, and moderate our courses in mingling extremities. 

 Thus having passed the day the time growes short, yett when you come 

 to Congerton which must bee before Thursday, you may there find readie 

 at commaund your loving kinsman and true Graylinge hunter, 



" Hen. Vernon. 



" My wife remembers her kind respects imto you. 



"Congerton, yiinez^, 1637." 



In 1 68 1 Cotton published " The Wonders of the Peak," a poem 

 descriptive of Chatsworth, and of the wild and dreary scenery 

 in the vicinity of the Peak, in Derbyshire. He is said to have 

 written this piece, which in his dedication of it to the Countess 

 of Devonshire he calls an " Essay," in imitation of Hobbes' " De 

 Mirabilibus Pecci." Though the merits of the poem are not strik- 

 ing, it was reprinted in 1683 ; a fourth edition appeared in 1699; 

 and it was included in the collection of his works in 17 15. The 



9 The original is preserved among the valuable family papers of Lord Vernon, who has 

 obligingly contributed it to this work. • 



