The angler
will soon turn from it with satiety, and seek a better consolation
for the winter of his discontent in the entertainment of fishing in
books.
Angling is the only sport that boasts the honour of having given a
classic to literature.
Izaak Walton's success with THE COMPLEAT ANGLER was a fine
illustration of fisherman's luck. He set out, with some aid from an
adept in fly-fishing and cookery, named Thomas Barker, to produce a
little "discourse of fish and fishing" which should serve as a
useful manual for quiet persons inclined to follow the contemplative
man's recreation. He came home with a book which has made his name
beloved by ten generations of gentle readers, and given him a secure
place in the Pantheon of letters,--not a haughty eminence, but a
modest niche, all his own, and ever adorned with grateful offerings
of fresh flowers.
This was great luck. But it was well-deserved, and therefore it has
not been grudged or envied.
Walton was a man so peaceful and contented, so friendly in his
disposition, and so innocent in all his goings, that only three
other writers, so far as I know, have ever spoken ill of him.
One was that sour-complexioned Cromwellian trooper, Richard Franck,
who wrote in 1658 an envious book entitled NORTHERN MEMOIRS,
CALCULATED FOR THE MERIDIAN OF SCOTLAND, ETC.
Pages:
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125