Cf)e JFiriBft Dag* 



A CONFERENCE BETWIXT AN ANGLER, A FALCONER, 



AND A HUNTER, EACH COMMENDING 



HIS RECREATION. 



CHAPTER I. 



PISCATOR, VENATOR, AUCEPS.* 



^ "pISCATOR. You are well overtaken, Gentlemen ! A good 

 -L morning to you both ! I have stretched my legs up Tot- 

 tenham Hill to overtake you, hoping your business may occasion 



VARIATION. 



\Where not otherwise marked all the variations are in ^-^^ first edition, 1653, in 

 which, the dialogue is between two persons, namely, Piscator and Viator. ^ 



' Piscator. You are well overtaken. Sir; a good morning to you ; I have stretched 

 my legs up Totnam Hill to overtake you, hoping your business may occasion you towards 

 Ware, this fine pleasant fresh May-day in the morning. 



* There is so striking a resemblance between the commencement of the_/?rj^ edition 

 of "The Complete Angler," and the opening of "A Treatise of the Nature of God," 

 j2mo, 1599, that it is almost certain it was the model of Walton's work. The conver- 

 sation in that Treatise is between a " Gentleman " and a "Scholar," and commences 

 thus : — 



" Gent. Well overtaken. Sir I 



Scholar. You are welcome, Gentleman I 



Gent. No great gentleman, Sir ;^ but onp that wisheth well to all that mean well. I 

 pray you, how far do you travel this way ? 



Scholar. As far as York. 



Gent. I should be ^lad, if I might have your company thither. 



Scholar. And I, if my company might stand you in any stead ; but howsoever it be, 

 you may command it ; and, by vouchsafing me tfie benefit of your company, make me 

 much beholden to you," &c. 



Many other parts of the Treatise appear to have been Imiiated both by Walton and 

 Cotton. 



