NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 71 



Bacon's * Sylva,' TopselPs * Historie of Four-footed Beastes,' 

 Sylvester's translation of ' Du Bartas,' Drayton's * Polyolbion,' 

 Gerard's * Herbal,' Montaigne's * Essays,' and Dr. Hakewill's 



* Apology or Declaration of the Power and Providence of God in 

 the Government of the World,' were amongst his favourite 

 authors ; and from these and others he borrowed and para- 

 phrased as occasion suggested, sometimes with acknowledgment, 

 sometimes without. His want of knowledge as a naturalist often 

 led to his quoting fable as fact, and to his confounding the habits 

 of one animal with those of another of quite a different species. 

 At the same time his knowledge of zoology and botany must be 

 gauged, not by our standards of the present day, but by the state 

 of knowledge on those subjects put in evidence by the authors 

 from whom he quoted. 



To give Izaak Walton his due in this respect, to show the 

 extent of his acquirements as a naturalist, and to point out some 

 of the errors into which he has fallen, may be said to constitute 

 the raison d'etre of the present edition, which marks the tercen- 

 tenary anniversary of the author's death and the centenary of the 

 publishing house of Bagster. It may be observed that so long 

 ago as J 808, Mr. Samuel Bagster published- an edition of the 



* Complete Angler,' which was edited by Sir John Hawkins and 

 was so well received that several issues of it appeared, both in 

 quarto and octavo. The notes to that edition, though sometimes 

 very discursive, and even irrelevant, are in other passages very 

 much to the point and worth quoting at the present day, as the 

 reader of the new edition will find. The same publisher, many 

 years ago, commissioned Hayter to visit Salisbury for the 

 purpose of copying the excellent portrait of Walton by Housman, 

 which forms the frontispiece to the first volume of the present 

 edition. He also accompanied John Linnell to Ashbourn, in 

 Derbyshire, to copy the portrait of Charles Cotton by Sir Peter 

 Lely, which forms the frontispiece to the second volume of this 

 work, Linnell availing hin\se}f of the opportunity to sketch some 

 of the charming scenery amidst which Izaak Walton and his 

 friend Charles Cotton were in the habit of fishing together. From 

 these sketches Mr. Percy Thomas has produced some beautiful 

 etchings which, printed on Japanese vellum, form most appro- 

 priate illustrations to the volumes before us. It may be a matter 

 of opinion amongst art critics whether it was worth while to 



