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PROFESSOR C.A. KOFJIffl

<Uto

THE CHRONICLE OF THE
< COMPLEAT ANGLER.'

" Magifter artis do£te Pifcatorias,
Waltone falve ! . . . fimul bonus
Pifcator, idem et Scriptor, et calami potens.
Utriufque necdum et i<5lus et tamen fapis."

Jaco.Dup., D.D.

:

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THE CHRONICLE OF

Clje * Compleat Singlet*

OF IZAAK WALTON AND

CHARLES COTTON.

BEING A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF ITS VARIOUS

PHASES AND MUTATIONS.

BY THOMAS WESTWOOD.

LONDON:

WILLIS AND SOTHERAN, 136, STRAND.

1864.

c

PRCFEc.i C.A. XOFOID

TO JOSEPH CRAWHALL, ESQ^
'(Eljig llolume

IS DEDICATED IN REMEMBRANCE OF MUCH CORDIAL AND

FRIENDLY CO-OPERATION IN THE FIELD

OF BIBLIOGRAPHICAL

RESEARCH.

M212013

Preface.

ILL the bibliopolift forgive me, if, partly
with a view to readers not abfolutely
of his clafs, and partly for my own
perfonal fatisfaction,I have introduced
into this catalogue raifonne of the
editions of the ' Compleat Angler,' certain digreflions,
which, on ftrict bibliographical grounds, maybe deemed
irrelevant. The fact is, that the work in queftion
lends itfelf, lefs than moft, to a mere technical and
matter-of-fact recapitulation. It is erlentially a book
to be loved, and to be difcourfed of lovingly. The
companion of our boyhood, the delight of our maturer
years, England's one perfect Paftoral — it is difficult,
in fumming up its revivals, and telling the tale of its
fucceffes, not to be tempted, occafionally, out of the
dufty highway of lift-making, into thofe finuous mea-
dow-paths of goffip and garrulity, that feem fo much
more germane to the matter.

Vlll

Preface.

There are few lovers of old books, befides — nay, few-
readers of any kind, in whom the * Compleat Angler'
does not, I am fain to believe, excite fome pleafant
reminifcence, or touch the chord of fome tender
afTociation.

It is fo with me, at leaft. My firft knowledge of
the book connects itfelf with an early and happy epoch
of my life, and with the memory of a great and good
friend, long fince gathered to his reft. I allude to
Charles Lamb, at the feet of which Gamaliel, in the
days of his Enfield fojourning, it was my frequent
privilege to fit, a boyifh but reverent difciple, and to
drink in, with infatiate ears, the infpired talk of fuch
a conclave of gomps as has never, perhaps, been col-
lected under one roof, fince Shakefpeare, and Ben
Jonfon, and Beaumont, and other demi-gods of that
heroic day, made the rafters of the Mermaid ring with
their divine wit and merriment.

Alas ! that of that genial Enfield circle of choice
fpirits, not one mould be left ! Coleridge, Wilfon,
Wordfworth, Hazlitt, Barry Cornwall, Hunt, Hood —
in the very enumeration of their names, I feel as if
fomething of myfelf had died out with each — fome
warmth of life grown chill — fome funfhine of the foul
faded for ever !

Preface.

IX

" All, all are gone, the old familiar faces !"

But to revert to Walton. In the ragged regiment
of Lamb's book-tatterdemalions (a regiment I was per-
mitted to manoeuvre at will, though not much taller
at the time than its talleft folio), was an early copy of
the ' Compleat Angler,' 1 I believe (for thofe were not
bibliomaniacal days,) Hawkins' edition of 1760. This
was my chief treafure, my pearl of price ; and, perched
on the forked branch of an ancient apple-tree, in the
little overgrown orchard, and at an elevation from which
I could almoft catch a glimpfe of the marfhy levels of
the Lea itfelf, it was my delight to fally forth with Pif-
cator, on that perennial" May morning, to dib with him

1 In a letter to Coleridge, dated 28th (Del., 1796, Lamb fays:
" Among all your quaint readings, did you ever light upon Walton's
Complete Angler ? I afked you the queftion once before ; it breathes
the very fpirit of innocence, purity, and fimplicity of heart ; there
are many choice old verfes interfperfed in it ; it would fweeten a man's
temper at any time to read it ; it would Chriftianize every difcordant
angry paffion : pray make yourfelf acquainted with it."

2 Speaking of the perennialnefs of great writers' conceptions, and
referring more particularly to Chaucer, Mrs. Browning fays finely :
" He knew the fecret of nature and art — that truth is beauty, — and
faying, " I will make A Wife of Bath, as well as Emilie, and you
fhall remember her as long," we do remember her as long. And he
fent us a train of pilgrims, each with a diftincl: individuality apart
from the pilgrimage, all the way from Southwark and the Tabard Inn

Preface.

for " logger-headed chub," to liften to his difcourfe, to
learn his fongs by heart, to flore up his precepts, and
to fteep my boyifh mind in the picl:urefque darknefs
of his manifold fuperftitions.1

Though no angler himfelf, Lamb was a lover of
angling books, and I well remember his relating to me,
as he paced to and fro, a quaint, fcholaftic figure, under
the apple-tree aforefaid, how he had pounced upon his
early copy, in fome ramfhackled repofitory of marine
ftores, and how grievous had been his difappointment
in finding that its unlikely-looking owner knew as
much of its mercantile value as himfelf.

This is my affociation, dear Reader ; doubtlefs you
can pair it off with one, perhaps many, of your own.

And, having thus attempted to juftify my difcurfive-
nefs, by force of fentiment, if on no better grounds, I

to Canterbury and Becket's fhrine : and their laughter comes never
to an end, and their talk goes on with the ftars, and all the railroads
which may interfecl: the fpoilt earth for ever, cannot hum the " tramp,
tramp," of their horfes' feet." — The Greek Chrijilan Poets and the
Englijh Poets, p. 112.

1 Lamb alfo pofTefTed a copy of one of Bagfter's reprints, much
efteemed by him on account of its plates, fome clever copies of which,
by his adopted daughter, Emma Ifola, (the " Ifola Bella whom the
poets love," of Barry Cornwall's fonnet), ornamented the walls of
his fittine-room.

Preface.

XI

will venture to make a few clofing obfervations on
angling books in general.

The popular acceptation of what would feem to be
a fpecial and profeflional clafs of literature, is, of courfe,
accountable for only by the character of the works
compofing it, and the flerling merits of many of their
writers. The fport, let its maligners fay what they
will, is eminently conducive to contemplation. While
the huntfman gallops acrofs country, heedlefs of every-
thing fave his horfe's pace, and his hounds' fcent, the
angler follows the meanders of fome woodland brook,

" Counting the dewy pebbles, loft in thought."

His foul opens to all the influences of Nature, and he
becomes aware (if he is not the worft of Cockneys), that
under her high trees, and by her finging ftreams, me is
evermore bufy " inditing of many a lovely poem — her
' Flower and Leaf,' on this lide — her ' Cuckoo and
the Nightingale,' on that — her * Paradife of Dainty
Devices,' in and out among the vallies — her ' Poly-
olbion,' away acrofs the hills — her ' Britannia's Paf-
torals,' on the home meadows — her fonnets of tufted
primrofes — her lyrical outgufhings of May blorToming
— her epical and didactical folemnities of light and
fhadow."

All thefe, while his creel is filling, or when he retreats

Xll

Preface.

at noontide to the " dufky boikage of the wood," the
angler gathers in unconfcioufly, and ftores up in his
heart of hearts, and out of thefe, and fuch as thefe, are
his books made. Hence their many-fidednefs and
power of adaptation to various taftes, fo that, while
the hunting or hawking treatife is ufually but a mere
omnium gatherum of recipe and formula, the book of
nfhing acknowledges no fuch ring-fence, anddifcourfmg
of baits and tackle on one page, on the next it dimes
you up a favoury mefs of philofophy or fcience, poetry
or theology, as the cafe may be.

For a high and pure code of fporting morals, for
inftance, revert to that ancienteft tome of all,1 the
"Treatyfe of Fysfhynge wyth an Angle," in the brown
old * Book of St. Albans.' For poetry of great mark and
likelihood, unclafp that precious and rare volume (one
of the rareft, fays Beloe, in Englifh literature), the
" Secrets of Angling," by J. D[ennys], Lord of the
Manor of Owlbury-fur-montem. Or, if you are a
ftickler for recent rhymes, croon to yourfelf as you
wend ftreamward, while the lark winnows its way
through filvery mift, and

" From leaf to leaf the foul o' the wind
Seems Aiding with the dew — "

1 In a pifcatorial fenfe.

Preface.

Xlll

one or other of the " Newcaftle Fifhers' Garlands,"1
a feries of lyrics lefs known than they deferve, and
which contain fome as racy and lilting ftanzas as any
in our tongue.

1 The collection of Garlands referred to have, as poems, a claim
on our critical recognition, apart from their mere angling fignifi-
cance. They are hearty, genial, vigorous compofitions, of a ftri£Hy
local growth, and replete with local colouring and imagery — veritable
north-country lyrics, both in fentiment and accentuation.

Though monotonous in fubje£t, they are very various in treatment,
and many are the chords ftruck in them between the extremes of the
humorous and pathetic, As metrical eflays, alfo, they have great
merit ; mufical and harmonious in their cadences, when fofter themes
are touched, in ftronger moods there is a rough blufter in their
rhythm, as of a Northumbrian wind that has battled with crags and
fears. Coquet is not more changeful than they. They ripple
athwart the mallows, purl and prattle amongft the pebbles, grow
fteady and mafterful in the deep pools, and rufh, headlong, down the
currents. " They are Coquet all over," fays Doubleday, one of their
writers — adding, too modeftly, that it is their chief merit. The love
of Coquet is, in facl:, the motive fpring of moft of thefe poems, cer-
tainly of all the beft of them, and even a ftranger, who has never fet
eyes on that beautiful ftream, is made to feel, through their ftanzas,
fomething of the witchery it exercifes on thofe who haunt its banks.

That the habit of thefe annual lyrics mould have fallen into defue-
tude from the year 1845 to tne prefent time (when a new and im-
proved edition, with continuations, is about to appear), muft be matter
of regret to every lover of the gentle craft and of the joyous fcience.
It died out with the little knot of cheerful, enthufiaftic, genial-minded
men, its originators, men who fang the praifes of Coquet as by fimple
vocation, and whofe hearts pulfed to the pulfing of their favourite

XIV

Preface.

For theology, on the other hand, have we not, inter
alia, the work under review ; and for fcience, Davy and
his " Salmonia ;" and Yarrell, angler and naturalift in
one ; and our lateft " angler-naturalift," Cholmondeley
Pennell : to fay nothing of the ancients — Aldrovandus
of Bologna, and Roman Salviani, and Swifs Gefner, in
whofe ichthyological folios, a frequent chapter, " capiendi
ratio" finds quaint infertion.

And if this be not enough, travels by fea and land,
adventures, perils, "hair-breadth 'fcapes" — you may
find them all within the range of the angler's book-
fhelf, fo that we ceafe to wonder at the fact, that,
in almoft every large and miscellaneous library (even
where the owners are not profeiTed Pifcatorians), a
nucleus of angling-books forms an important and
efteemed feature.

Much more might be faid on this topic, and indeed

ftream, till death fevered the union. Peace be to their memory! and
honour, and the love of all true anglers ! Coquet may be a brave
ftream, but they have enhanced its bravery; about all its turns and
windings, along its fheep-dotted haughs, amongft its rocks and
boulders, wherever the trout dimples the eddies, and the midge and
the " red-heckle " fall like thiftle-down on its pools, (hall linger,
henceforth and for ever, the memory of their Garlands, lending a
human charm and a new glory, neither " of wood nor water born,"
to the miracle of its fairnefs.

Preface.

the hiftory of angling literature, which has yet to be
written, would be neither an unprofitable nor un-
tempting tafk, beckoning the ftudent, as it does, away
from the more beaten path of letters, and pointing to
fequeftered nooks, of the frefhnefs and quaintnefs of
which the uninitiated are little aware. Let us hope
that at no diftant epoch, fome capable and perfevering
pioneer may undertake that pilgrimage, and fummon
us to tell our beads at fhrines that have been too long
forfaken.

It only remains for me to add, that I truft my little
work may prove an ufeful manual to the Waltonian
collector, to whofe indulgence I appeal, as a fhield for
its fhortcomings.

T. W.

May-day, 1864.

XV

THE

Chronicle of the c Compleat Angler9
of Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton.

IP^'HE apparition of the f Compleat Angler,'
in the year of grace and revolution, 1653,
formed an antithefis in itfelf, to which the
almoft immediate fale of the entire edition
gaveincreafed point and emphafis. Cory don
piping, you might fay, tenui avend, amongft
the horfe-hoofs and athwart the lances . . . the moft peaceful of
Paftorals ufhered into and accepted by the world at the

1 "The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation. Being
a Difcourfe of Fifh and Fifhing, not unworthy the perufal of moft Anglers.

" Simon Peter /aid, I go a fifhing ; and they f aid, We alfo zvil go with
thee. John 21,3.

" London, Printed by T. Maxey for Rich. Marriot, in S. Dunftans
Churchyard Fleetftreet. 1653."

The above title, as our readers are aware, confifts of an engraved fcroll,
with dolphins above and below, and clufters of fifh pendant on either fide.

In the centre of the fcroll is inferted, •' The Compleat Angler or the Con-
templative Man's Recreation."

The reft of the title, coming under the fcroll, is printed.

Firft Edition,
1653. '

The Chronicle of

ftormieft and moft turbulent of times ! Quiet-hearted men
there rauft ftill have been in England, vvhofe feet never ceafed
to brum the dew from meadow and river bank — who, while
houfe was divided againft houfe, and hand raifed againft hand,
ftill fought their paftime and philofophy in their accuftomed
haunts, and feated under honeyfuckle hedges in the heat of the
day, fcanned the pages of the " Contemplative Man's Recrea-
tion," while the river rippled and the throttle piped, or
fummed up their fport at nightfall, in wayfide hoftels, fuch as
the father of the craft was wont to eulogife, with a buckfome
hoftefs to bid them welcome, " lavender in the windows," and
" twenty ballads ftuck againft the wall" ... A pleafant fide
picture enough, if contracted with the difcord and defolation
going on elfewhere — with the hurtling (almoft within earfhot,
perchance,) of hoftile fquadron with fquadron — the Cf thunder
of the captains and the ftiouting," and the " garments rolled in
blood."

It was about the merry month of May, the angler's month,
par excellence, that this book, the various phafes and meta-
morphofes of which we have undertaken to chronicle, was
advertifed in the broad-meets of the day as Cf newly extant, at
eighteen-pence price."1

And we may picture to ourfelves, if we will, the fober-

1 In the " Perfect Diurnall"(Lond. 4to. p. 2716), it was thus announced,
from Monday, May 9th, to Monday, May 16th, 1653 : —

" The Compleat Angler or the Contemplative Man's Recreation, being a
Difcourfe of Fifh and Fifhing, not unworthy the perufal of moft Anglers, of
1 8 pence price. Written by Iz. Wa. Alfo the known Play of the Spanifh

the c Compleat Angler.5

coated fraternity of the angle wending, one by one, through
the crowd of four-faced Puritans, up the great thoroughfare of
Fleet Street, to purchafe at Matter Richard Marriot's the new
treatife on a fport that had found few chroniclers1 hitherto,
but which was deftined to date its royalty from that very epoch
and that very publication.

Gipfee, never till now publifhed. Both printed for Richard Marriot, to be
fold at his fhop in St. Dunftans Church-yard, Fleet Street."

In the " Mercurius Politicus'' (Lond. 4to. p. 24.70), from Thurfday, May
12th, to Thurfday, May 19th, 1653 : — " There is newly extant a Book of
18^. price, called the Compleat Angler," &c. &c.

1 Not fo kw, however, as is Hated by Hawkins, who, in his hi-fi reprints,
limits the number of antecedent angling works to four, and eventually to five,
viz., " The Treatyfe of Fyfsfhynge wyth an Angle," forming part of the Book
of St. Albans, 1496. Leonard Mafcall's " Booke of filhing with Hooke and
Line," 1590. Taverner's " Certaine Experiments concerning Fifh and
Frvite," 1600. Dennys' " Secrets of Angling," 1613, and Barker's "Art
of Angling," 165 I.

To thefe may be added Gryndall's " Hawking, Hunting, Fouling and
Filhing, with the true Meafures of Blowing," 1596. Dubravius's " Neue
Booke of good Hufbandry," 1599. "La Maifon Ruftique," 1600. The
" Briefe Treatife of Fifhing, with the Art of Angling," included in the
"Jewell for Gentrie," 1614, and Markham's "Young Sportfman's Inftrudtor,"
circa 1652.

But it muft be borne in mind that of the above, the tracts, both of Mafcall
and Gryndall, and the " Briefe Treatife of Fifhing," are but re-iffues, with
variations, of portions of the Book of St. Albans, and that Taverner and
Dubravius limit their inflruftions to the treatment of fifh in ponds.

That there may have been other treatifes on the fport, fince loft to the
world, feems probable from the fafl that Walton, in his letter to Venables,
given in the " Experienc'd Angler" (1662), fpeaks of having " read and prac-
tifed by many books of this kind before made public;" and in the 'Compleat
Angler' (Chap, xii., p. 228, firft edition), quotes what he calls " an old Rhime

The Chronicle of

A fmall fquare duodecimo, clad in a modeft overcoat of
brown calf — fuch were the form and fafhion of the book as it
firft appeared. Not a noticeable book, amongft others, by
any means, and yet fuperior to moft of its clafs in point of
adornment, by virtue of thofe plates of fifh, which the author
thought it juft to endorfe with his approval,1 and which are,
indeed, very daintily and delicately handled.

There is no name attached to thefe engravings, but they are
afcribed, with a great mow of probability, to the noted French
engraver, Pierre Lombart, at that time refident in this country,
and whofe talent was moftly devoted to book illustration. Sir
Harris Nicolas, though giving the preference to Lombart,
fuggefts, at the fame time, as poffible candidates for the
honour, Faithorne or Vaughan.2

The belief, current formerly, that they were wrought on

out of an old Fifh Book," on the origin of which no light has hitherto been
thrown.

John Hockenhull, on the other hand, in his " Pleafant Hexameter Verfes
in Praife of Mr. Barker's Book of Angling," afks, —

" Markham, Ward, Lawfon, dare you with Barker now compare?"

Can any modern CEdipus inform us who was Ward, and what his right to be
affociated with Markham and Lavvfon?

> " And let me adde this, that he that likes not thedifcourfe mould like the
pictures of the Trout and other fifh, which I may commend, becaufe they con-
cern not myfelf." — " To the Reader of this Difcourfe." Firft Edition.

2 For biographical and other particulars refpefting thefe artifts, fee Bryan's
" Dictionary of Painters and Engravers," Bohn, 1858.

Some mention of Lombart occurs alfo in Evelyn's " Sculptura, or the
Hiftory and Art of Chalcography and Engraving in Copper," 1662.

the ' Compleat Angler.'

plates of filver, feems negatived by the fact of their having
ferved for no lefs than five editions of ' The Compleat Angler,'
and the fame number of Venables' ( Experienc'd Angler,' an
amount of durability of which filver plates would hardly have
been capable.

Sir John Hawkins, on the contrary, in his fourth edition
(1784), fays, cc there is great reafon to fuppofe that the plates
were of fleet."1

The fifh illuftrated in this edition are the trout, pike, carp,
tench, perch and barbel. The work confifts of thirteen chap-
ters, extending to 246 pages,2 and the interlocutors are but
two, Pifcator and Venator.

Copies of this edition, though rare at the prefent time, feem
to have been ftill more fo, as far as available purpofes went,
at the period of Hawkins' firft re-iffues, for that Editor not
only confeffes that he had never met with the fecond edition,3
but leaves it to be inferred that the firft and third had equally
efcaped his refearch. Thus he aflerts erroneoufly, that fC the
c Compleat Angler' came into the world attended by laudatory
verjes by fever al writers of that day" and fixes the date of the
third edition at "about 1660."

The genus angling-book collector exifted, in fact, at the

1 " Life of Mr. Izaak Walton," p. xiii.

2 Sigs. A 2 to R 3 in eights ; 14 preliminary pages, confining of Dedication,
Addrefs to the Reader, and Table of Contents.

3 "Life of Mr. Izaak Walton," p. xxviii. 1760. In the edition of
1784 the avowal in queftion is fupprefTed ; but there is no internal evidence
that he had been more fuccefsful in his fearch at that period.

The Chronicle of

epoch in queftion only in embryo, and not a few copies, we
may fuppofe, were lying perdu on high fhelves and in out-
of-the-way corners, unappreciated, if not altogether forgotten.
PafTing out of fafhion, the book had alfo palled out of fight ;
but the divining-rod of bookfeller and bibliopolift was foon to
do its work,1 and whatever copies {till exift have been tranf-

1 " It is a curious phenomenon in the old book trade," fays Mr. Burton, in
his amufing volume, " The Book-Hunter," " that rarities do not always remain
rare ; volumes feeming to multiply through fome cryptogamic procefs, when we
know perfectly that no additional copies are printed and thrown ofF. The fadT: is
that the rumour of fcarcity and value and of a hunt after them, draws them from
their hiding-places. If we may judge from the efteem in which they were once
held, the Elzevirs muft have been great rarities in this country, but they are
now plentiful enough — the heavy prices in the Britilh market having no doubt
fucked them out of dingy repofitories in Germany and Holland, fo that even
in this department of commerce the law of fupply and demand is not entirely
abrogated. He who dames at all the books called rare, or even very rare, by
Clement and his brethren, will be apt to fuffer the keen difappointment of
finding that there are many who participate with him in the poffeffion of the
fame treafures. In fad, let a book but make its appearance in that author's
" Bibliotheque Curieufe, Hiftorique et Critique, ou Catalogue Raifonne de
Livres difficiles a trouver," or in GraefTe's " Trefor de Livres Rares et Pre-
cieux," — let it be mentioned as a rarity in Ebert's " Allegemeines Biblio-
graphifches Lexicon," or in Debure, Ofmond, or the " Repertorium Biblio-
graphicum," — fuch proclamation is immediate notice to many fortunate
poflefTors who were no more aware of the value of their dingy-looking volumes,
than Monfieur Jourdain knew himfelf to be in the habitual daily practice of
talking profe." — P. 21 1.

That copies of the early editions of the ' Compleat Angler' have been
multiplied within the lalt thirty years, by fome fuch agency as that fuggefted
in the above extract, is all but certain. They have not ceafed, however, to
belong to the category of rare books, a fadr. for which their fize and the familiar
ufes to which the work has been applied, account in a great degree. Employed

the c Compleat Angler.'

ferred, fince then, to known hands, and promoted from duft
and oblivion to a diftinguimed place among the crown-jewels
of their poflefibrs.

Their value has, of courfe, rifen accordingly, and fine and
perfect copies of this edition are eftimated by Dr. Bethune
(the editor of the American reprint) at twelve guineas and
upwards ; an appreciation, which the ftatiftics of fale-cata-
logues do more than corroborate.1

Learned commentators have cudgelled their brains per-
feveringly to difcover out of what mine the author of this
favourite work dug his ore. One of them fuggefts a certain
<c Treatife on the Nature of God," attributed to Bifhop Mor-
ton, and publimed in 1599. Another points to Herefbach's
<c Foure Bookes of Hufbandry," tranflated from the Latin by

as the angler's pocket companion, many copies have no doubt fuccumbed to
the procefs of continual wear and tear, while others may have periflied by
mifchance, dropped, unconfcioufly, by Pifcator, in the high grafs by the river
fide, or carelefsly left behind on the moffy bank where he had indulged in his
afternoon's fiefta.

1 Thefe ftatiftics are as follows : — Haworth, 892, 10/. 15/. Milner, 151,
15/. Higgs, 34, 11/. Pickering, firft fale, 301, 11/. iij-. Naflau, pf. ii.
905, 3/. 10/. Bindley, pt. iv. 884, 61. Jadis, prefentation copy, ruffia,
13/. 13/. Utterfon, 11/. 15/. Gardner, 2326, mounted with guards and
fome words mended, 10/. ijs. 6d. A fac-fimile copy in manufcript, beauti-
fully tranfcribed in imitation of the original, with the old plates inlaid, and
with the Rev. Mr. Cotton's note on the fly-leaf, (" This copy of Izaak
Walton's ' Compleat Angler' is true, accurate and faithful, ad verbum verba,
ufque ad macu/am"), was fold, at the difperfion of that gentleman's collection,
for 4/. j\j.

There is an error in the paging of fome of the copies of this edition.

8

The Chronicle of

Barnaby Googe in 1577.1 And a third fuggefts Plutarch's
dialogue on the problem, Cf Whether water or land Animals
are moft crafty," as Englifhed by Dr. Philemon Holland in
1602.

In our opinion the real mine was Izaak's fertile wits, and the
pure gold he gives us, his own gold and nobody elfe's.

It had been the fafhion, both in claffical and mediaeval times,
to adopt the colloquial form in paftorals, and frequently to make
the compofition turn on a difcuffion between the various inter-
locutors as to the relative merits of the vocation of each.
This fafhion and frame-work Walton adopted, but wrought
out his fubjecl: in a manner eflentially original, and which it
is impoffible to identify, beyond a few mere fuperficial features,
with the productions of any of his forerunners or contem-
poraries.

To give an analyfis of a book which every reader is fure to
poffefs in extenfo, would be a work of fupererogation ; and

1 Why not rather to the fame author's " De Venatione, Avcvpio atqve
Pifcatione" (appended to the Latin verfion of the ' Hu/bandry'), with which
the 'Compleat Angler' has a far more intimate analogy. The treatife in
queftion is in the dialogue form, and the interlocutors (five in number) have
names fignificant of their feveral vocations. Accordingly Pbilotberus eulogifes
the fport of hunting. Lagus defcants on the paftime of hunting the hare, the
fox, the badger, and the flag. Elaphorrhous paffes in review the chafe of the
deer, the wild bear, the wolf, the boar, &c. Ornitheuta treats of the fport of
fowling, and Halieus defcribes the different modes of fifhing, and varieties of fifh.
The identity of frame-work is felf-evident, but I am not aware that this Latin
tratt has ever been Englilhed. A loofe and garbled tranflation of it may be
found in Liger's " Theatre d'Agriculture," 4to. 1 7 13.

the c Compleat Angler.'

an appreciation of it at this prefent hour of the clock, feems
equally uncalled for. It is enough, that fifty- three editions or
reprints have, up to this date, ifTued from the prefs, and that
there are few libraries in the land in which, in one fhape or
other, it does not hold a foremoft and an honoured place.

The fuccefs of Walton's firft eflay in angling literature feems
to have ftimulated him to increafed effort in preparing the
fecond edition for the prefs. He all but re-wrote the work, in
fad, adding more than one-third (109 pages) to its original
bulk, and introducing many improvements. The interlocutors
are three in this edition, Pifcator, Venator (who takes the place
of Viator), and Auceps. The work is extended to twenty-one
chapters, and 3$$ pages,2 the type, however, being larger.
Some very flight variations occur in the Dedication, but feveral
paffages were added to the Addrefs to the Reader, wherein
Walton fays, " that in this fecond impreflion there are many
enlargements, gathered both by my own obfervation and the
communication of my friends."

To the plates of fifh are added the bream, the eel, the loach,
and the bull-head; and the commendatory verfes3 appear in
this edition for the firft time.

Seconi Edition,
1655.'

1 " The Compleat Angler or the Contemplative Man's Recreation. Being
a Difcourfe of Rivers, and Fifh-Ponds, and Fifh, and Fifhing. Not unworthy
the perufal of moft Anglers. The fecond Edition, much enlarged.

"John 21, 3., Simon Peter faith, &e.
" London, printed by T. M. for Rich. Marriot, and are to be fold at his
Shop in St. Dunjlans Church-yard, Fleet ftreet. 1655."

2 Sigs. A 2 to Q_io, in twelves; 25 preliminary pages, and 1 blank.

3 By feven different eulogifts.

IO

The Chronicle of

Third Edition,
1661.2

Mr. Bindley, the eminent book- collector, was of opinion
that perfect copies of the fecond edition are rarer even than the
firft, and we believe he was right. The book, neverthelefs,
does not command the fame high prices.1

The third edition was ifTued in 1 66 1 . Some copies are dated
1664, but are of the fame impreflion, no other variation
being difcoverable. Strangely enough, however, moft com-
mentators, from Sir John Hawkins downwards, and moft
compilers of Angling-book Lifts (Ellis, Pickering, and others),
aflbciate the bulk of the edition with 1664.

Although the work is ftated, in the title page, to be cc much

1 Haworth, 895, 3/. l$s. Milner, 152, 61. l$s. Higgs, 36 and 37,
3/. 1 5/. and 3/. gs. Cotton, 160 and 161, 3/. 6s. and 4/. 6s. Valentine,
229, 5/. 5/. Pickering, firft fale, morocco, 303, 7/. 10/. (Seven copies were
difpofed of at Pickering's fecond fale, but of thefe five were imperfect.) NafTau,
pt. ii., 906, 2/. 2s. Bindley, pt. iii. 1933, 2/. 10s. Towneley, pt. i., 804,
2/. 15/. Jadis, morocco, 61. ^os. Heber, pt. viii., title inlaid, 3/. Utterfon,
morocco, 61. 12s. 6d. Gardner, 2327, 2/. \js.

2 " The Compleat Angler or the Contemplative Man's Recreation. Being
a Difcourfe of Rivers, Fifh-ponds, Fifh and Fifhing. To which is added The
Laws of Angling : with a new Table of the Particulars in this Book. The
third Edition, much enlarged.

'* London, Printed by J. G. for Rich. Marriot, at his fhop in St. Dunjlans
Church-yard, Fleet-ftreet, 1661."

Sigs. A 2 to S 8, in eights. 14 preliminary pages ; body of the work 255
pages, and I blank. Laws of Angling and Table (8 leaves) unpaged.

Haworth, 897, 1/. Milner, 153, 4/. js. Higgs, 38 and 39, 3/. 15/. and
2/. \zs. Valentine, 230 and 231, 2/. 6s. and 2/. gs. Walfh, 89, 3/. \6s.
Pickering, firft fale, 304 and 305, 4/. and 3/. $s. Taylieure, 233, 2/. 6s.
Haflewood, 1 498 and 1499, 3/. 16/. and 2/. y. 6d. Jadis, 4/. y. Skegg,
3/. 6s. Utterfon, 3/. 13/. 6d. Gardner, 2/. \%s. Blifs, 3/.

the ' Compleat Angler.

1 1

enlarged," this muft apply rather to a comparifon with the
firft. edition, as the changes in the body of the work are but
few and unimportant, with reference to the fecond. In the
Dedication a few phrafes are altered, the Addrefs to the
Reader is rehandled, a new Table of Contents is given, Alex.
Brome's Commendatory Verfes are omitted, and the chapter
on the Laws of Angling (as indicated in the title) appears for
the firft time.

In the fourth edition, publifhed in 1668, we have a mere
paginary reprint of its immediate forerunner, with the ex-
ception of the {C errata," which are here corrected.

It was followed, in 1676, by the fifth, which fometimes
bears the title of Cf The Univerfal Angler," when confirming of

Fourth Edition,
1668. '

Fifth Edition,
1676.2

1 The former part of the title the fame as the preceding.

" The fourth Edition, much correcled and enlarged. London, Printed for
R. Harriot, and are to be fold by Charles Harper, at his Shop, the next door
to the Crozvn, near Sergeants-Inn, in Chancery-Lane, 1668."

Haworth, 899, il. 19/. Milner, 154, 2/. 15/. Higgs, 41, 3/. is.
Cotton, 163, 3/. 17/. Valentine, 232, 3/. 3/. Pickering, firft fale, 306,
4/. Bindley, pt. iii., 1934, 15-f. Taylieure, 234, \l. 5/. Haflewood, 1500
and 1 501, 3/. is. and \l. 12s. White Knights, 4361, \l. zs. Jadis, 4/.

2 We give the titles and collation of the collective work : —

To the engraved title is added, " The firft part,'' and underneath (printed)
"Parti. Being a Difcourfe," &c. " Written by Izaak Walton. The Fifth
Edition, much correcled and enlarged. London, Printed for Richard Marriott,
1676."

After which comes the collective printed title : " The Univerfal Angler,
Made fo, by Three Books of Fifhing. The Firft Written by Mr. Izaak
Walton ; The Second By Charles Cotton, Efq ; The Third By Col. Robert
Venables. All which may be bound together, or fold each of them feverally.

I 2

The Chronicle of

Walton, Cotton, and Venables in conjunction. Twenty pages
were added to the work in this edition, and further improve-
ments introduced.

The union of Walton and Cotton has been perpetuated in

London, Printed for Richard Marriott, and fold by moft Bookfellcrs.
mdclxxvi." On the next page is a half-title : " Part I. Being a Difcourfe of
Rivers, Fi(h-ponds, Fifh and Fifhing. Written by Izaak Walton. The Fifth
Edition, much correcled and enlarged. London, Printed for R. Marriot, and
are to be fold by Charles Harper at his Shop, the next door to the Crown
near Sergeants Inn in Chancery Lane, i6j6." 22 preliminary pages, of
which I blank; body of the work 275 pages. Laws of Angling and Table, 5
leaves. Sigs. A 2 to V 3, in eights.

Title to Second Part : " The Compleat Angler. Being Inftructions how
to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a clear ftream. Part II. (Underneath,
engraved, the interlaced cypher of Walton and Cotton.)

" Qui mihi non credit faciat licet ipse periclum :
Et fuerit fcriptis asquior ille meis.

London, Printed for Richard Marriott, and Henry Brome, in St. Pauls Church-
yard, m.dclxxvi." 4 preliminary pages; body of the work 112 pages.
A 3 to H 8, in eights.

To Venables' Treatife is alfo prefixed an engraved title : ic The Experienc'd
Angler, or, Angling Improved." In a fcroll furrounded with tackle, a pike, &c.
Underneath, "Sold by Rich. Marriott."

Printed title: "The Experienc'd Angler: or, Angling Improv'd. Being
a General Difcourfe of Angling. Imparting the Apteft ways and Choiceft
Experiments for the taking of moil: forts of Fifh in Pond or River. By Col.
Robert Venables. The Fourth Edition, much Enlarged. London, Printed for
Richard Marriot, \6j6. 12 preliminary pages ; body of the work 96 pages,
not including Index, 6 pages. Sigs. from A 3 to H 3, in eights.

Haworth, 906, 2/. 6s. Milner, 156, 2/. 16s. Higgs, 43, 3/. y. Valen-
tine, 233, 2/. 8^. Pickering, firft fale, 307, 4/. 8/. Lynch Cotton, 122,2/.
Prince, 3/. 6s., and with Walton's autograph, 35/. White Knights, ll. 6s.

the c Compleat Angler.'

13

all fubfequent reprints, but Venables' treatife, which, though
meritorious, belongs to another order of compofition, has fince
been excluded.

The illuftrations in the latter were, as before obferved,
duplicates of thofe given with the c Compleat Angler.'

Here the feries of editions publifhed during the life-time of
the author comes to a clofe. Seven years later, and the old man
laid down his pen, as he had already laid afide his rod, for
ever ; and, full of years, and of fuch honours as befitted his
meeknefs and his piety, was gathered to his reft.1 And long
and dreary was the interregnum that followed, and barren as
" from Dan to Beerfheba," — fomething of the grave's filence
and oblivion feeming to have fallen both on Walton's memory
and on his work.

He had fet up a high ftandard in angling literature, but it
found neither rivals nor imitators. During the feventy-four
years that elapfed between the date of the fifth edition and
that of the firft revival, only five names of any note are met
with in this field, Chetham, Franck, Howlett, Bowlker and
Brookes. Of thefe, four were mere makers of manuals, more
or lefs praifeworthy, and the fifth (Franck) (lands out in ludi-

Bindley, 2176, with Walton's autograph, 2/. 14/. Towneley, 4/. 8/. Han-
rott, 1/. ~js. Utterfon, 2/. \os. The firft, fecond, third, and fifth editions,
fold at the difperfion of Cotton's collection, 156, for 53/., and the firft five at
Prince's fale, 129, for 50/. 10/. The fame at Harwood's fale, in 6 vols,
(the fixth being Walton and Cotton, 1676, without Venables), for 42/.
afterwards refold — FergufTon, 44/.

1 Alas! that no friendly and reverential veto interpofed to cancel the
doggrel graven on his tomb!

14

The Chronicle of

crous relief, felf-pilloried by his own ponderous pompofity of
ftyle and arrogance of judgment.1

Was it through the decline of faith, and the waning of the

1 " Richard Franck, Philanthropies, " he ftyles himfelf. He was author of
" Northern Memoirs, calculated for the Meridian of Scotland'' (1694), in
which he eilimates Walton thus : —

" Arnoldus. Ifaac Walton fluffs his book with morals from Dubravius
and others, not giving us one precedent of his own practical experiments,
except otherwife, when he prefers the trencher before the trolling-rod ; who
lays the ftrefs of his arguments on other men's obfervations, wherewith he
fluffs his undigefted octavo ; fo brings himfelf under the Angler's cenfure, and
the common calamity of the plagiary, to be pitied (poor man !) for his lofs of
time in fcribbling and tranfcribing other men's notions. Thefe are the
drones that rob the hive, yet flatter the bees they bring them honey.

" Theophilus. I remember the book, but you inculcate his errata ; how-
ever, it may pafs mufter among common muddlers.

M Arnoldus. No truly, I think not."

Curt and conclufive, of a furety ! So by no ftrefs of courtefy, may this
defpifed and muddling abortion of poor Ifaac's be permitted to pafs mufter!
And thereupon, one falls to thinking of the very many editions through which
the condemned work has, after all, contrived to pafs. How it has been illuf-
trated by great artifts, annotated by learned profeffors, been loved by readers of
all claffes, in all times, and treafured up as one of the moft precious literary heir-
looms of the age that produced it, while the pretentious ' Northern Memoirs'
can now hardly be had for love or money, and are ticketed ' very fcarce' in the
catalogues of antiquarian bookfellers. Curt and conclufive too, if thou couldft
but have forefeen it, Mafter Richard Franck, Pbilanthropus !

That there are fome good points, however, about ' Northern Memoirs,'
cannot be denied. Its author was no cockney angler. He had gone further
afield than paftoral Thames, or fuburban Lea ; he had thrown his fly on the
waters of the great lakes, and had done battle with fahno ferox in his faftneffes.
But his book, on the whole, is as heavy and indigeftible a lump of turgid
rhetoric as ever encumbered the angler's book-fhelf, or perhaps any book-fhelf
whatfoever, if the truth be told.

the ' Compleat Angler.'

15

old fuperftition that, during this intermediate period, the
angler and his lore were alike dethroned from their high places ?
Pifcator, in the good old times, trod (in a figure) the dais,
and wore cloth of gold, as a follower of the cf Pleafure of
Princes." He ftood apart from the profanum vulgus, by virtue
alike of his grave and dignified demeanour, and of the cloud
of fpirituality and recondite erudition with which he furrounded
his art. He was fin generis. Pifcator nafcitur, non fit, was his
cool afTumption, even ParnafTus' hill not feeming too lofty to
ferve him for a parallel.

In his decadence, on the contrary, all was changed. Cloth
of frieze became the fafhion of his raiment, and his pofition
the common every day-level (or perhaps a degree lower), with
the implied obligation of giving the wall to any hunting or
hawking paffer-by. And having defcended from his pedeftal,
the oi polloi, as ufual, began to pelt him, with their jeers, and
even a f&w3 indeed, who were not of the oi polloi, and mould
have known better, ftuck their burrs on him ; and his literature,
as we have juft faid, was dethroned with him, and loft, alto-
gether, its ancient tone and ftandard.

An angling writer (to eftablifh a comparifon) of this latter
period, was apt to enter on the fubject with a penny whittle
prelude of apology and deprecation. Smarting, it may be,
from the fling of the Johnfonian definition of his fport, he
wafted much mean and servile pleading to prove the injuftice
of the infinuation. He crept through his treatife on all fours,
as it were, and backed out of it at the clofe, ungracioufly and
difgracefully — fhrinking, often enough, from affixing his fign-

i6

The Chronicle of

manual to his work, through a latent dread (not altogether
unfounded), of being identified with the lexicographer's
memorable c fool.'

The antique fcribe's exordium, on the contrary, was in fome
fuch organ-note as this.

cc Since Pleafure is a rapture, or power in this laft age,
ftolne into the hearts of men, and there lodged up with fuch a
carefull guard and attendance, that nothing is more fupreame,
or ruleth with greater ftrength in their affections, and fince all
are now become the fonnes of Pleafure and every good is
meafured by the delight it produceth : what worke unto man
can be more thankefull than the difcourfe of that pleafure
which is moft comely, moft honeft, and giveth the moft liberty
to Divine meditation, and that, without all queftion, is the
Art of Angling, which, having ever beene moft hurtlefsly
neceffary, hath been the fport or recreation of God's Saints, of
moft holy Fathers, and of many worthy and reverend Devines,
both dead and at this time breathing. For the ufe thereof
(in its own true and unabufed nature) carryeth in it neyther
covetoufnefs, deceipt, nor anger, the three maine fpirits which
ever (in fome ill meafure) rule in all other paftimes ; neyther
are they alone predominant, without the attendance of their
feverall handmaids, as Theft, Blafphemy, or Bloudfhed ; for in
Dice-play, Cards, Bowles, or any fport where money is the
goale to which mens minds are directed, what can man's avarice
there be accounted other than a familiar robbery, each feeking
by deceipt to couzen and fpoyle other of that blifle of means
which God had beftowed to fupport them and their families ? . . .

the ' Compleat Angler.'

17

But in this Art of Angling there is no fuch evill, no fuch finneful
violence, for the greateft thing it coveteth is, for much labour,
a little Fifh, hardly fo much as will fuffice nature in a reason-
able ftomacke : for the Angler muft intice, not command his
reward . . . mewing unto all men that will undergoe any delight
therein that it was firft invented, taught, and mail forever bee
maintained by Patience only. And yet I may not fay only
Patience, for her other three Sifters have likewife a commanding
powrer in this exercife, for Jujiice directeth and appointeth out
thofe places where men may, with liberty, ufe their fport and
neyther doe iniury to their neighbours, nor incur the cenfure of
incivility. Temperance layeth downe the meafure of the action
and moderateth defire in fuch good proportion that no excefTe
is found in the overflow of their affections. Laftly Fortitude
inableth the minde to undergoe the travell and exchange of
weathers with a healthfull eafe, and not to difpaire with a little
expenfe of time, but to perfevere with a conftant imagination
in the end to obtaine both pleafure and fatisfaction . . . And thus
you fee this Art is good, as having no coherence of evill ; worthy
of ufe, inafmuch as it is mixed with a delightfull profit : and
moft auncient as being the recreation of the firft Patriarks."1

Meafure, if you can, the interval which feparatesthe pitiful
puerility, characteriftic of our angling lore in its intermediate
period, and the above folemn laudation, wherein the praife of
the art may be faid to culminate, aflbciated, as it is, with all

1 " The Pleafvres of Princes, or Good mens Recreations.
1635. Chap. 1.

Small 4to.,

i8

The Chronicle of

Mofes Browne's
Firft Edition,
1750.'

things that are ct lovely and of good report," named in a breath
with the great, the wife, and the reverend, and for an audacious
and half profane apotheofis, caught up, as it were, in a glory,
with the Saints of God ! To meafure the interval between
thefeJ:wo, is, alas ! to fathom alfo the depth of the fall.

But literary taftes, antecedently to this period, had under-
gone fignal changes in a general fenfe, and not in the angling
department folely. Artifice had too often been allowed to
take the place of art, and " gilding refined gold" and fC painting
the lily," hadceafed to be the herefies they were once efteemed.
To be fimple and natural was a rule difufed, in fact, whether
in literature, or in life ; nature had exchanged rofes for rouge,
and fimplicity had acquired a penchant for powder and
patches.

And at the acme of all this came Mofes Browne (formerly

1 " The Compleat Angler : Or, Contemplative Man's Recreation. In
Two Parts. Containing, I. A large and particular Account of Rivers, Fifh-
ponds, Fifh, and Fifhing : Written by the ingenious and celebrated Mr. Ifaac
Walton. II. The belt, and fulleft inftruftions how to angle for a Trout and
Grayling in a clear Stream. By Charles Cotton, Efq. ; and published by
Mr. Walton. Comprifing all that has been accounted Valuable, Inftru&ive,
or Curious, that has ever appeared on this Subject. Interfperfed with a
Variety of practical Experiments ; learned Obfervations ; beautiful Defcrip-
tions ; philofophical, moral, and religious Reflections ; Pieces of innocent
Mirth and Humour ; poetical Compofitions, &c, fo as to render it entertain-
ing to Readers of every Tafte and Character whatfoever : with Exact Repre-
fentations of all the Fifh, and the Addition of feveral Copper Plates, defigned
as an Embellifhment to the work. Carefully and correctly publifhed, from
the belt editions, with a number of occafional Notes. By Mofes Browne,
Author of Pifcatory Eclogues. To which are added, The Laws of Angling ;

the ' Compleat Angler.

19

pen-cutter, afterwards ordained prieft, and the right man at the
right time, in his own eftimation . . .), bent on endowing the
world with a new edition of the f Compleat Angler' enhanced
with fome finifhing touches of his own. And by dint of oil
and emery, elbow-greafe and felf-fufficiency, a new edition
was produced in fuch an advanced ftate of French polifh, as
was confidered creditable alike to the parts and patience of the
manipulator. Old Izaak's <c inaccuracies" and " redundancies"
were pruned away with an unfparing hand, and his " abfurd-
ities" fuppreffed altogether. His "rough places," not to
fpeak it profanely, were "made fmooth," and his " high places"
brought, perhaps, a little low, by the fame procefs. We
acknowledge our obligations to Mofes Browne for his revival
of a book that had too long fallen into defuetude, but we
mutter, anathema maranatha I in a mild fenfe, neverthelefs,
over fuch priggifh impertinence.

and an Appendix, fhewing at one View, the moil proper Rivers, particular
Haunts, Baits; their Seafons, and Hours in the Day of Biting; General
Directions in Praclice, for every kind of Fijh that is to be angled for; alpha-
betically difpofed, in a Method peculiarly ufeful, and never yet attempted.
With fhort Rules concerning the Tackle, Baits, the feveral ways of Fijhing,
and Weather proper for Angling.

London : Printed and Sold by Henry Kent, at the Printing-office in Finch
Lane, near the Royal Exchange, mdccl."

16 pages preliminary; 320 pages including Index. Frontifpiece and five
feparate illuflrations befides cuts of fifh.

Haworth, 908, I is. Haflewood, additional illuflrations, 2/. 2/. Valen-
tine, 235, zs. 6d. Cotton, 165, \l. Taylieure, 235, 3/. 6d. Edwards,
6s. 6d. Milner, 157, 7/. Stace, 83, zs. 6d. Bindley, 6s. with Bowlker.
Higgs, 19, 1/. 3/. Pickering, 308, 4J. and 6s. White Knights, 9/.

20

The Chronicle of

Mofes Browne's firft edition appeared, as has been fhown,
in 1750. It was fmall octavo in fize, and its general appear-
ance indicated but little typographical progrefs during the
hundred years that feparated it from its firft. prototype. The
woodcuts of fifh are efpecially coarfe and inferior to the corres-
ponding plates in the edition of 1653, and the praife to be
awarded to the more ambitious fcenic illustrations, muft be
reftricted to the choice of Subject, — a choice that has been
ratified and accepted as a rule by all after-ill uftrators, up to
the prefent time.

The work is alfo adorned with a frontifpiece, in the fore-
ground of which a languid-looking fine gentleman, in a cocked-
hat .and bob-wig, with a fifh between his fingers, and a
couple of rods, or rather pokers, lying at his feet, is feen feated,
Jub tegmine fagiy by the fide of a ftream, in a penfive pofhure,
while, in the middle diftance, fits juft fuch another fine gentle-
man, with juft fuch another bob-wig and poker, his back
turned to the fpectator, and his legs, apparently, dangling
in the water. Thefe two love-lorn Adonifes reprefent, we
prefume, the ideal angler of the day, as he appeared in his
court coftume, in the fuburban purlieus of Putney or Iflington,
more engrafted with his ruffles than his fport, and in the habit
of inditing a fonnet to his " Miftrefs' eyebrow," when the
bleak left off biting.

Browne's edition was preluded by an " Editor's Preface,"
in which he certainly evinces much enthufiafm for his author.
But how little he was acquainted with the incidents of Walton's
life, and how very gradually, in this refpect, he flounders out

the c Compleat Angler.9

21

of error into truth, may be judged by the fact that, while
adverting to Cotton's contribution of the fecond part, he ftates
that he (Cotton) married Walton's daughter; an error
which he repeats, nine years after, in his fecond edition, and
only corrects in the third (1772), when he opens his eyes at
laft (thanks to Hawkins' Memoir), to the adoptive character
of the relationfhip. This blunder is now pointed out, we
believe, for the firft time.

The (C Appendix" and " Short Rules," fupplied by Browne,
were ufeful additions to the original work.

Browne's fecond reprint appeared in 1759, a'^ but coming
into direct: collision with Hawkins' firft edition, publifhed in
the following year, and giving rife, as it was, to certain heart-
burnings and jealoufies on both fides. He announces it, in
the title-page, as " very much amended and improved."

One of the improvements (not an infelicitous idea) was the
enclofing " within particular marks, the parts which treat
merely of Directions for the Sport, that they may be pafTed
over, and nothing but the entertaining parts of the Book pre-
fent themfelves for thofe to whom thofe other might appear

Mofes Browne's
Second Edition,
1759.'

1 There are fome unimportant modifications in the title, to which the
original quotation from St. John is reftored.

Twenty-four pages preliminary ; 348 pages, including Index.

Higgs, 44, 1/. u. Cotton, 166, 10s., and with an autograph of Mofes
Browne, 1/. 4;. Taylieure, 237, 5/. Donovan, 902, 3/. Milner, 158,
js. 6d. Stacc, 84, 3;. 6 J. Lowndes, 714, 4;. Walfli, 74, 2s. 6d.
Haflewood, 10/. 6d. Pickering, firft fale, 6s. White Knights, 1/. 3/.
Bindley, \l. 17s. Skettell, 2/. Stanley, 3/. 5/. Towneley, 3/. 1 5 j. Straw-
berry Hill, 3/. Utterfon, 1/. 5/. Crawford, 1/. 19/.

22

The Chronicle of

Hawkins' Firft
Edition, 1760. '

dull and unpleafant ; at the fame time that it will anfwer the
double purpofe that fuch who want more immediately to
perufe the aforefaid Directions, &c., may find them more
readily by thefe marks and follow them (as in a chain) through
the feveral pages."

The above is extracted from the " Editor's Preface,'' which,
for this edition, had been re-written, giving a few more details
of Walton's career, but perpetuating, as we have already mown,
the old error touching his relationfhip with Cotton.

Some new engravings (three in number) are alfo added to
this reprint, from the fame hand, that of H. Burgh.

Browne's fpurious revival was now to be fucceeded and fuper-

1 " The Complete Angler : Or, Contemplative Man's Recreation. Being
a Difcourfe on Rivers, Fifh-Ponds, Fifh, and Fiming. In Two Parts. The
Firft written by Mr. Izaak Walton, The Second by Charles Cotton, Efq. ;
To which are now prefixed, The Lives of the Authors. Illuftrated with
Cuts of the feveral Kinds of River-Fifh, and of the Implements ufed in Angling,
Views of the principal Scenes defcribed in the Book. And Notes Hiftorical,
Critical, and Explanatory.

London : Printed only for Thomas Hope, at the Bible and Anchor, oppo-
fite the North-gate of the Royal Exchange, Tbreadneedle Streets and fold by
him and Sackville Parker, at Oxfords Richard Matthews, at Cambridge, and
Samuel Trimmer, at Derby. 1760."

Firft Part, 78 pages preliminary ; 304 pages. Second Part, 58 pages pre-
liminary; 136 pages, including Index. Frontifpiece, and 12 feparate Illuf-
trations, including 3 plates of tackle ; alfo engravings of fifh.

Haworth, 912, 2/. Ms. Higgs, 46, 1/. 15/. Valentine, 237, 1/. 4;.
Cotton, 168, 1/. 7/. Strawberry Hill, in old red morocco, 15/. Taylieure,
238, 17s. Milner, 159, 2/. 14/. Haflewood, 3/. 3/. Walfh, 71, 12s.
Bindley, \l. ijs. White Knights, 1/. 3/. Skettell, 2/. Stanley, 3/. 5/.
Tovvneley, 3/. 15/. Utterfon, 1/. 5/. Crawford, 1/. 10/.

the * Compleat Angler.1

23

feded by another and more permanent one, that of Mr. John
Hawkins, in 1760, and the announcement of which in the
prints of the day gave rife, as we have juft faid, to fundry
fkirmifhes and paffages of arms between the rival editors.

We hardly know whether the triumph of the ' Compleat
Angler,' on its firft advent, in the thick of the great Roundhead
and Cavalier druggie, was an incident more paradoxical in its
kind, than the re-eftablifhment of the paftoral as an Englifh
claffic in

" The tea-cup times of hood and hoop,
And when the patch was worn."

Perhaps we may infer from the fact, that the tide of affectation
and falfe graces in literature was already beginning to ebb, and
that the public tafte was returning to a founder and faner clafs
of appreciations.

At all events, in this new edition, the original text was
reftored to its primitive purity ; the pruning- knife was laid
afide ; all poetical tinkering repudiated, and old Izaak's " re-
dundancies," " fuperfluities," and " abfurdities," brought back
to light, and left to ftand or fall on their own merits or demerits.

It was a gage thrown down to Vandalifm, whereat Van-
dalifm, in guife of Mofes Browne, was no doubt mightily
aftonifhed.

Browne's recriminations, and the charges he brings againft
Hawkins of plagiarifm and appropriation, feem to us quite
unfounded. That Wale, in Hawkins' reprint, adopted the
fame feries of fubjeds for his illuftrations as Browne's defigner,
is a fad, but thefe fubjeds rather forced themfelves on the

24

The Chronicle of

choice of the artift, than were fought for by him, and were
certainly the mod: falient, for artiftic purpofes, the work con-
tained. This interpretation has been confirmed, in recent
times, by the example of Stothard and Abfolon, both artifts of
unqueftionable originality, but who have worked in precifely
the fame grooves as their predeceflbrs. Apart from this, the
treatment of the fubjects by Wale was altogether diflimilar ;
he avoided the anachronifms into which the former defigner
had fallen, and with the exception of the allegorical frontifpiece,
which, like moft allegories, was mere <c leather and prunella,"
his feries of drawings afluredly bore away the bell from thofe
of his competitor.

As to Browne's afieveration that Hawkins' life of Walton
was merely borrowed from his own, the charge is fimply
abfurd. Browne wrote no life of Walton worthy of that
name. He merely fwept together fome loofe litter, in the
courfe of his editing, but took no pains either to fift or to
enlarge it as the years went by.

Hawkins was the firft biographer of Walton in any tangible
fenfe, and it is on his foundation that after workers in the
fame field have built up the fabric to fuller and more com-
plete dimenfions. That his memoir is meagre, infufficient,
fometimes inexact, is true, but to judge juftly of it, we muft
judge leniently, remembering how many and great were the
difficulties that befet the tafik and baffled the feeker. How ePCen-
tially private, tranquil and unobtrufive, for inftance, Walton's
career was, from firft to laft ; how, though aflbciated with
fome of the greateft and wifeft of his time, he took no rank

the c Compleat Angler.5

25

with them in public places, under the eyes of men, but fought
them out in their retirement, fitting meekly at their feet, in
their fhadow . . . meekly, not fervilely ; how, at a compara-
tively early age, he withdrew to his country retreat, hiding
himfelf ftill more effectually in the feclufion of his ftudy, and
in thofe paftoral purfuits which were his chief delight ; and
how, finally, he lived, for the moft part, at a period of great
political ferment and convulfion, and in the midft of fuch
doing and undoing as is apt to fweep away the traces of fecon-
dary events, and of the routine of ordinary existences.

Writing biography under fuch circum fiances, is like de-
ciphering the characters on a tomb, that the rains of centuries
have channelled, and that mofs and lichen have overgrown.
A word here, a line there, may be made out, but the mod
patient effort, the moft unfailing fagacity, are required to pro-
duce a continuous and perfect tranfcript of the whole.

The life of Walton, as we poffefs it now, is, in fact, a mofaic
by many hands ; but to Hawkins accrues the merit of having
been the earlieft worker in the quarry, if not the moft con-
fummate and fuccefsful one.

His edition of 1760 was in demy octavo, and of a goodly
afpect, printed on fine paper, and with bold, legible type.
Of the figures in the plates, it was ftated in a note, that they
were <c dreffed in the habit of the time," and the plates them-
felves were declared in an advertifement to have cc coft upwards
of a hundred pounds."

The work was alfo announced as being <f the only correct
and complete edition."

26

The Chronicle of

Hawkins' Se-
cond Edition,
1766.'

Mofes Browne's
Third Edition,
1772.

The biography of Walton extends to fifty- fix pages, and
that of Cotton, by W. 0[ldys], to forty-eight. The annota-
tion is copious, and has been, for the moil part, retained in
fubfequent reprints.

Hawkins' fecond edition, in 1766, was but a paginary
reprint of the firfr., and requires, therefore, no fpecial defcrip-
tion here.

In proof that Browne's verfion had not fallen into abfolute
disfavour, a third and laft edition was produced in 1772,
" greatly improved in a number of places above any of the
preceding ones, by the addition of twenty pages and of feveral
ufeful notes of Directions for the Sport. The Songs," he
adds, " that are fimple and natural, wrote with humour
and character, I have endeavoured to make ftill more agreeable
by indulging myfelf in an inclination I found of fetting each
to mufic, as they now for the firfr. time appear, and are my

1 " London : Printed for J. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown, in St. PauPs
Cburcb-yard ,• T. Caflon, in Stationers Court j and R. Withy, in Combill.

MDCCLXVI."

Milner, finely bound, 160, 5/. 15/. 6d. Higgs, 48, \l. $s. Valentine,
238, Ss. 6d. Pickering, 309, 1/. is. Haflewood, additional illuftrations,
1/. \\s. 6d. Walfh, 73, 1/. 13/. White Knights, 4364, 18/. Bindley,
pt. iii., 1936, 9-r.

2 " The Eighth Edition, with the Addition of all the Songs fet to Mufic.
London : Printed and Sold by Richard and Henry Caufton (Succefiors to the
late Mr. Henry Kent), at the Printing Office, No. 21, Fincb-Lane, near the
Royal Exchange, mdcclxxii."

24 pages preliminary; 372 pages, including Index.

Haworth, 909, 6s. ; and 911, 13s. Valentine, 236, 5/. 6d. Higgs, 45,
2.1. y. Bindley, gs. White Knights, 15/. Edwards, 6s. 6d.

the c Compleat Angler.5

27

only public and perhaps my laft attempt in which I mall aim
to pleafe myfelf or others in this way."

There is no life-belt like vanity in literary aquatics, and
armed with this accoutrement, Browne ftrikes out, perfiftently,
in a fea that had grown over rough for him, and appeals, as
before, to the public for fupport and commendation, on the
primitive and offenfive ground of his tinkering and tampering.
" I mail be pleafed," he fays, tf to have the clofeft comparifon
made between us, with the acutefr. eye of the candid and
judicious, efpecially the Poetical Partsy that coft me much
labour, and indeed (the italics are ours) of neceffity required
my indifpenfable help."

That the public did not refpond very cordially to this
pathetic and pofitive appeal, may be inferred from the fact,
that our irreverent editor's Walton-done-Browne feems to
have funk like a ftone, foon after this, into the depths of
Lethe, to be fimed up therefrom no more.

But while we are fevere on the editor, let us be juft to the
man. Browne was a parvenu it is true, but a parvenu in the
moft honeft and honourable fenfe. From a very low rank in
life, he made his way upward, by dint of energy and talent,
and through much penury, neglect, and viciflitude, to the
dignified pofition of Vicar of Olney, and afterwards Chaplain
of Morden College, in Kent. In the record of his chequered
career, no noticeable blot is to be difcovered, and that he was
infected with the prevailing literary foibles of the time, is
by no means to be vifited on him alone.

Even on Waltonian ground, it is well to accord him what

28

The Chronicle of

Hawkins'
Third Edition,
1775.1

Hawkins'

Fourth Edition,
1784.2

praife we may. That Hawkins was the reviver, de fatto, of
the c Compleat Angler,' is undeniable ; but how far he was
stimulated thereto by Browne's fham revival, is a queftion we
will leave open to the latter's advantage, if advantage there be.
That Browne was really fond of the work he maltreated, is
evident from his affectionate praife of it ; and it is poiTible that
out of that very fondnefs fprang the errors of judgment that
have drawn down on him the Strictures of Walton's more
refpectful admirers. Requiefcat in pace ! then, let us fay, in
farewell.

Hawkins' third edition was again a paginary reprint, and in
the fame form. Copies of this ifTue, as of the firft, are fcarce.

The fourth edition was publifhed in 1784, " with large
additions." In the editor's (now Sir John Hawkins) adver-
tifement, he States that he had revifed the work, and inferted

1 " The Third Edition. London: Printed for John and Francis Rivington,
(No. 62) at the Bible and Crown, in St. PauPs Churchyards and T. Caflon,
in Stationers Court, mdcclxxv."

Stace, 85, 3/. 6d. Taylieure, 239, 3/. Valentine, 239, y. Cotton,
169, 15.C Haflewood, 8s. 6d. Bindley, gs. Lowndes, 5/. 6d.

2 " The Complete Angler, or Contemplative Man's Recreation; Being a
Difcourfe on Rivers, Fifh-Ponds, Fifh, and Fifhing : in Two Parts; The
Firft written by Mr. Ifaac Walton, the Second by Charles Cotton, Efq ;
with the Lives of the Authors, and Notes Hiftorical, Critical, and Explanatory.
By Sir John Hawkins, Knt. The Fourth Edition, with large Additions.
London, Printed for John, Francis, and Charles Rivington, (No. 62), at the
Bible and Crown, St. Paul's Churchyard, mdcclxxxiv."

Part 1. 82 pages preliminary; 268 pages. Part 11. 34 pages preliminary;
122 pages, including Index.

Lowndes, 719, 3/. Haworth, 913, ys. 6d. Stanley, 1 1/. Blifs, 31. 6d.

the c Compleat Angler.'

29

" fundry fuch facts, difcoveries, notices, authorities and obfer-
vations, as he flattered himfelf would greatly tend to improve
it." He then goes on to explain that he had enlarged the
Life of Walton, and fubftituted a <f new account of Mr.
Cotton, extracted, chiefly from his own writings, lefs diffufe
and defultory than that which accompanied the former edition."

The rejected memoir, as we have already intimated, was
the work of Oldys, whofe initials are appended to it, and who
died the year after its publication. The new biography was
by Hawkins himfelf.

Modern commentators have been flow to acknowledge the
value of Hawkins' editorial fervices. They pooh-pooh his
Pifcatorfhip, carp and cavil at his fcience, and put on double
fpectacles to difcover his enthufiafm — and fail. That he
had weak points, and that thefe were of them, we do not
deny ; but as a pioneer, in his department, he has, we repeat,
a claim on our regard and recognition, which it would be un-
gracious to repudiate.

Five years, however, after the date of this fourth edition, the
c Compleat Angler' was orphaned of both its editors. Mofes
Browne departed hence in 1787, at the ripe age of eighty-four;
and in 1789 Hawkins alfo, though a much younger man,
refted from his labours.

That there was no caufe for defpondency on this ground,
we know ; and looking from that epoch, down the long vifta
of the coming years, we fee editors, many and able — editors, and
ftill editors, in ever increasing numbers, flocking to the refcue.
What, if in a perverfe mood, we were to ftart a herefy and

3°

The Chronicle of

wifh the proceffion had been lefs multitudinous ; not that there
had been fewer reprints, but fewer editors, — What, if we
fuggefted that fomething lefs of heavy learning and abftrufe
refearch would have been a more merciful difpenfation — that
the Pelion of Erudition, piled on the OfTa of Science, is an
overwhelming accompaniment under the circumftances ! What
— to throw afide all refervation — if we were to opine that
Walton's pretty paftoral had been hardly dealt with, and that it
may be neither good tafte nor found judgment to flood the ob-
fcurity of our antique literature with the gariih noonday of the
nineteenth century — to bring the two into collifion — the flamed
oriel, on the one hand, with its beautiful dapplings of many
coloured luftre, and the broad, white cafement on the other,
dazzling, without fleck or flaw ! What, again — but our herefy
may be running away with us, it is better we fhould draw rein.
We have not averred thefe things — we have merely dropped
them, with a fperadventure'... have our readers anything to fay?
One avowal we will make, however, c out and out.' Modern
critics there are, who have indulged in many thin-lipped fneers
at old Izaak's fuperftition and fond credulity. Againft this
we put in our proteft, lined and underlined. Walton was
effentially a man of his time, walking by the lights of his time ;
we have no right to exact from him the wide-awake knowing-
nefs and fcepticifm of later days. Superftition, befides, (truck
its roots deep in the organization of the angler of that period ; it
was lord and mafterover him, in fact. It made choice of the
time when he fhould fifh, and of the path he fhould take. It
had fomething to fay of the ordering of his apparel, and much

the ' Compleat Angler.'

31

of the appliances of his tackle ; it crept into his bait-box ; it
was kneaded up with his pafte ; it even twifted itfelf into the
links of his line, and made marvellous havoc of the fim he
took. It was parcel grotefque, parcel ghaftly. It tampered
with mummy's duft, and dead men's fat ; it dabbled in myftical
oils and occult chemiftry ; it was aftrological, necromantical,
diabolical ; it was anything and everything, in fhort, fave
fimple and matter-of-fact and fenfible.

But it muft be acknowledged, as an offset againft this, that
certain of the old-world writers on the fport were little fhort
of heroical in their fafhion of building up to his complete
ftature, their ideal Angler.

Something in this way the ftruflure rofe.

He muft have fimple-mindednefs — (that was the raw mate-
rial, and indifpenfable enough, Heaven knows !) He muft be a
general fcholar, fkilled in all the liberal fciences ; and a gram-
marian, to know how to difcourfe fitly of his art. He muft
have fweetnefs of fpeech " to intice other to fhare his delight;"
and "ftrength of arguments to maintaine and defend his profef-
fion." Knowledge, too, of the fun, moon, and ftars, he mould
pofTefs. He mould be well verfed in geography and praclifed
in navigation. He mould alfo be an adept in mufic that
<f whenfoever eyther melancholy, heavinefTe of thought, or
the perturbation of his own fancies, ftirreth up fadneffe in
him, he may remove the fame with fome godly Hymne or
Antheme."

In addition to all this, he muft be well grounded in faith,
patience, moderation and charity. He muft be very humble,

32

The Chronicle of

and, at the fame time, ftrong and valiant, fo as <{ neyther to be
amazed with ftormes nor affrighted with Thunder." He muft
be generous, " not working for his owne belly, as if it could
never be fatifsfied," and of " a thankefull nature, praifing the
Author of all goodneffe." And to wind up, he muft be of a
perfect memory, and of a ftrong conftitution of body, " able
to endure much fafting, and not of a gnawing ftomacke."1

In a word, this confummate angler muft be able to fquare
the entire circle of the fciences, combine the various perfections
of the philofopher, the ftoic, and the Chriftian, and be an
tc admirable Crichton" to boot, in general accomplishments !
No wonder fuch men, or any faint approach to fuch, were
ftyled £ gentlemen anglers,' and one may picture their dignified
gait, and the grave, fcholaftic penfivenefs of their countenances,
as they paced, angle in hand, the fhaven lawns of Thames, or
traced the meanderings of claflic Dove, finding in the paufes
of their fport,

" Books in the running brooks,
Sermons in ftones, and good in everything."

Thefe, furely, were not the men to apologife for the practife of
their art, as we have fhown to have been done by certain of
their degenerate defcendants. Johnfonian jokes, Byronian
iarcafms, or the jeers of the critics aforefaid, would have
bounded off them like hailftones from a flate roof. No
vulnerable heel had they for fuch puny fhafts to gall. To

1 " The Pleafvres of Princes, or Good mens Recreations." 1 63 5. Chap. 3.
"Of the Anglers apparrell, and inward quallities," p. 15.

the c Compleat Angler.5

33

them angling was as much a matter of praying as of playing,
for was there not an entire feries of pious ejaculations for the
devout angler's fpecial ufe and benefit ? Ejaculation the firft,
when he crofied his threfhold in the morning twilight ; ejacu-
lation the fecond, when he firft dipped line in water ; ejacu-
lation the third, when the fifh took the bait, and ejaculation
the fourth, when he was fairly landed. Apologife, forfooth !
not they. The paftime was ars nobilis to them, in the broaden:
fenfe. They magnified their vocation, feeking to raife it above
all other fports, by ftrefs of much fubtlety of argument and
confiderable fcope of fancy, almofr. putting the fhoes off their
feet the while, as if it were, in fome fort, holy ground.

And time and the world have dealt gently with thefe men,
and with their works, keeping the memory of the former green,
and floring up the latter in lavender, as Izaak's hoftefs ftored
her meets. In fpite of new lights and wide-awake know-
ledge, we cling to the old books ftill, loving them for their
naivete, their fingle-heartednefs, and that unfading frefhnefs
of country life which hangs perfiftently about them, and which
even now brings back to our ear the leaves' ripple and the
river's murmur, as we thread their lines and turn their pages.

Whereupon, re-ifTuing out of that Egyptian darknefs, into
the full modern daylight once more, do we bring back with
us on our lips a fmile or a fneer ? Not the latter, furely, O
worfhipful critics — there is no need. We are wifer, it is true,
than our forefathers, more fcientific, lefs credulous, but that
we are better men, or even very much better Anglers (which
is one of the chief points in queftion), is not proven.

34

The Chronicle of

Hawkins' Fifth
and Sixth Edi-
tions, 17921 and
1797.2

Recovering from this digreflion, we find Mr. John Sidney
Hawkins {landing in his father's lhoes, and prefenting us, in
1792 and 1797, with two further editions of our favourite
book. In the former he calls attention to certain Cf corrections
and additions of the laft editor found in the margin of his copy
of the fourth edition, which, though not many, have been all
made ufe of on this occafion, from a wifh that the book might
receive the advantage of his laft corrections. I have in no
other refpect," he adds, fC varied from the laft of the former
editions, excepting when it was warranted by fome memoranda
of my father's, being wholly unacquainted with the fubject."

The plates in this reprint are reduced in number, the
remainder being worn out; but the book, we are told, is
" printed with a better type, and on better paper, than could
otherwife have been afforded."

Thefe latter improvements appeal, we are bound to confefs,
more to our faith than our fight.

1 " The Fifth Edition, with Additions. London, Printed for F. and C.
Rivington, G. G. J. and J. Robinfon, W. Goldfmith, J. and J. Taylor, R.
Faulder, Scatcherd and Whitaker, and E. Jefferey. mdccxcii."

Part 1. 82 pages preliminary ; 268 pages. Part 11. 34 pages preliminary ;
122 pages, including Index.

Haworth, 914, 6s. and 1/. Valentine, 240, is. Cotton, 170, 5/.
Taylieure, 24, is. 6d. Stace, 86, \s. Lowndes, 721, 3/. and ^s. 6d.
Bindley, 1/. 8s., large paper.

2 " The Sixth Edition, with Additions. London : Printed for F. and C.
Rivington, G. G. and J. Robinfon, J. and J. Taylor, R. Faulder, W. Bent,
J. Scatcherd, E. Jefferey, and T. N. Longman. 1797."

Valentine, 241, y. Haworth, 915, 5/. Haflewood, 8s. 6d. Bindley,
15;., fine paper. Only fifty copies of the latter printed.

the ' Compleat Angler.'

35

The edition of 1797 is again a paginary reprint, the en-
gravings (with the exception of the tackle plates) being now
fupprefled altogether. The renewed afTurance of better type
and paper becomes, this time, a fib of the firft magnitude. Very
fhabby and feedy fpecimens, in fact, are thefe laft of the direct
Hawkins feries, which they clofe unworthily. The circum-
stance of Mr. John Sidney being " wholly unacquainted with
the fubject," and therefore as wholly devoid of zeal and
enthufiafm, accounts, we fuppofe, in fome degree, for their
threadbare and declining condition.

But the age is declining alfo, and a new era is about to
dawn. Prefently, we crofs the threfhold of the nineteenth
century, and have prefentiments of better and grander things.

The better come firft, in the fhape of a handfome octavo

Bagfter's Firft
Edition, 1808. '

1 The title the .fame as in the edition of 1784. " London: Printed for
Samuel Bagfter, in the Strand. 1808."

512 pages. Frontifpiece and 14 plates; 17 plates of fifli.

In the half-title is a woodcut vignette (an angler), and under it, " The
Complete Angler. The Seventh Edition. With Improvements and Additions,
both of Matter and Plates."

Haflewood, in the " Cenfura Literaria," fpeaks of this edition as having
been difclaimed by Mr. J. S. Hawkins, and refers to the " Gent. Mag.,"
January 7, 1809, p. 6.

Valentine, 242, 4to., \l. 6s, Higgs, 49, with extra illuftrations, 6$l.
Lowndes, 722, 8/. 6d. Taylieure, 243, 4/. 6d. Haworth, 916, 1/. Hafle-
wood, 4to., with MSS. and additional illuftrations, 5/. js. 6d. Bindley,
1/. 8/., large paper. Prince, 7/., 4to., with extra illuftrations. Drury, 19;.
Brockett, 1/. 10s. Stowe, 1/. \s., large paper. Utterfon, 2/. 5/. extra illuf-
trations. Strettell, 7/. zs. 6J., 4to., with proofs of the illuftrations of the edition
of 181 5 inferred. Baker, 4/. \s., with duplicate fet of plates.

36

The Chronicle of

reprint, by Bagfter in 1808. This is the " talleft" edition we
have feen hitherto, overtopping, as it does, by a whole head
and moulders, its little duodecimo anceftor of 1653. But
the pigmy, as our readers are aware, was deftined to become
gigantic in its later growth.

Bagfter's prefent verfion was alfo printed in royal octavo
and quarto,1 and was, in all its forms, of a very comely prefence.
It is Hawkins redivivus as regards the notes and biographies,
but the new editor (Bagfter himfelf, we believe,) revifed and
made fome additions to the former. The engravings are ftill
thofe of Ryland from Wale, but executed afrefh from the origi-
nal drawings, by Audinet, and in a very creditable ftyle. The
plates of fifh are finely finifhed, and faithful, and are the beft
aflbciated, hitherto, with the work. Dr. Bethune, indeed, doubts
whether they have fince been furpafted ; but this is an injuftice
both to the feries that illuftrated the following edition, and to
the very fine fet by Infkipp in Pickering's edition of 1836.

Portraits of Walton, Cotton, and Hawkins, as well as of
Sanderfon, Hooker, Wotton, Herbert, and Donne, were given
in this re-iffue, for the firft time.

Much enthufiafm has been lavifhed on Bagfter's firft edition.
Mr. Symonds Higgs' quarto copy was illuftrated with above
two hundred and feventy prints and drawings, confifting of
copies of rare portraits, proof impreftions of plates of fifh,
topographical prints, monuments, &c. It was bound for him
by Gofden, as we learn from a note in Higgs' fale-catalogue,

1 The quarto copies were publifhed at five guineas, and are now very rare,
great part of the flock having perifhed in the fire at Bagfter's warehoufe.

the c Compleat Angler.'

37

at five guineas price ; the bands of the book being made of
wood from the door of Cotton's fifhing-houfe, taken off by Mr.
Higgs near the lock, where he was fure old Izaak muft have
touched it. It fold for 6^1. at the difperfion of that gentle-
man's library.

Mr. Higgs, by the way, proved himfelf, in this latter inftance,
to be a fingular mixture of the worfhipper and the iconoclaft.

" Gofden's own illuftrated copy," fays Dr. Bethune cc (if I
make out correctly a pencilled note appended to the above), un-
bound, fingle leaves, in a portfolio, was difpofed of at 1 10/. !"

It was probably about this period that angling-book collect-
ing firfl: took fhape and confidence. At all events, the earlieft
record of it, that has come under our obfervation, occurs in a
fale-catalogue of the library of Philip Splidt, Efq. (1814), in
which attention is fpecially invited to a <c very rare collection of
books on angling." But that the tafte was not then what it
was deftined afterwards to become — one of the manifold phafes
of bibliomania — is evident from the circumftance that this fo-
called rare collection confifted of but twenty-feven volumes,
and that fcarcely a fingle work amongft them merited the
designation in any ferious fenfe.

How little zealous refearch had, hitherto, been brought to
bear on the queftion, is mown by Mr. Ellis's cc Catalogue of
Books on Angling, with fome brief notices of feveral of their
authors," which he contributed to the " Britifh Bibliographer"
in 181 1. This earlieft regifter of the literature of the fport
contains but eighty-fix works, although \t flwuld have included
nearly twice that number.

38

The Chronicle of

Of the amount of labour accomplifhed fince then, and of
the large increafe of angling-books, within the laft fifty years,
our readers will have an idea when we inform them that
thelateft lift, the <c New Bibliotheca Pifcatoria,"1 for the com-
pilation of which the prefent writer is refponfible, includes no
lefs than fix hundred and fifty works on angling, and has
fince been confiderably extended.

As regards the modern multiplication of fuch books, there
can be little queftion that it is to be attributed lefs to the
numerical increafe of anglers, than to the improved character
of the works themfelves, and to the wider range of fubjects
which they now embrace. Recent days have, in fact, brought
back to the angler and his literature, a reaction and a rehabili-
tation. With Sir Humphrey Davy and Chriftopher North
was ufhered in an era of found, practical, philofophical, and
manly writers, who have fucceeded in raifing the art to a fair
average level, as remote from the myftical aflumptions of the
earlier epoch, as from the maudlin feeblenefs that ftamped
the period of its decadence. And with this pofition we have
every reafon to be fatisfied.

Mr. H. R. Francis, in his clever Cambridge EfTay,2 entitled
c< The Fly Fifher and his Library," recommends the afibcia-
tion of a collection of angling-books with the plant of every
angling club in the kingdom, a motion which we fecond moft
cordially, recommending it, in particular to the adoption of
the c Walton and Cotton Club,' on which body corporate, from

1 London. ' Field' Office, 346, Strand, 1S61.

2 London : J. W. Parker and Son, 1856, pp. 233-60.

the ' Compleat Angler.'

39

its more metropolitan pofition, would feem to devolve the
right of initiative.

By way of amendment we would fuggeft that fuch libraries
mould be cofmopolite in their character, and not exclusively
Britifh, as collections of the kind have hitherto been. So
long as the Englifh angler plied his craft within his infular
limits alone, his fartheft-falling line never reaching beyond
John o' Groat's houfe on the one hand, and the Land's End
on the other, it was natural he mould be indifferent as to what
foreign profefTors might have to fay of his fport. But now,
that he may cry with UlyfTes,

" I have become a name,
For always roaming with a hungry heart " —

Now that Ultima Thule knows the ripple of his fly on its
boreal waters — that the banks of Pyrenean Streams keep the
track of his footprints — that Superior and Erie and Ontario
have yielded to his fkill their gigantic broods — that India and
Africa have paid him tribute, and that, at laSt, even Australian
rivers are likely to be peopled by his instrumentality — now, in
fhort, that he has <f whipped all creation," though not in the
bellicofe American fenfe, furely it is time that his library
doors mould be opened to the contributions of other lands
and other languages.

Thefe contributions, as far as our inquisition has gone, form
barely one-third of the whole and are distributed thus : Ame-
rica fupplies fourteen works, Denmark two, Holland nineteen,
France ninety-five, Germany a hundred and fourteen, Italy

4-o

The Chronicle of

Bagfter's Second
Edition, 1815.2

twenty-three, Norway one, Spain four, and Sweden five.
While, on the other hand, the United Kingdom yields, for
its quota, fix hundred and four, proving, if indeed fuch proof
were needed, how far more deeply than elfewhere both the
fport and its literature have taken root among us.1

To return to the c Compleat Angler,' we have now to take
note of Bagfter's fecond edition, ifiued in i8i5,and printed in
two fizes, octavo and royal octavo.

The editorfhip, on this occafion, was confided to Mr. Henry
Ellis, of the Britifh Mufeum, and whom we havejuft cited as
the compiler of the firft lift of angling-books. His additions
to the rapidly accumulating body of notes are mainly biblio-
graphical and biographical, and require no fpecial comment at
our hands.

A frefh feries of plates of fifh was given with this reprint,
and they are, in our opinion, fuperior to thofe of 1808. A
portrait of Walton, from the picture by Houfman as before,
was alfo added.

1 The above ftatiftics are taken from a MS. copy of the ' New Bibliotheca
Pifcatoria,' revifed and greatly extended. The Englifh department, however,
includes the feries of works and pamphlets on the Fifheries.

2 Title (preceded by fac-fimile title,) the fame as in the foregoing edition.
" London : Printed for Samuel Bagfter, in the Strand, by R. Watts, at Brox-
bourne, on the River Lea, Herts, mdcccxv."

534 pages, including Index; 50 illuftrations. Publifhed at 1/. \s., and in
royal oftavo at 2/. zs.

Valentine, 243, 13/., large paper. Cotton, 171, il. js., large paper.
Haworth, 917, 15/., large paper. Haflewood, with additional illuftrations,
4/., large paper, and with rare portrait by Bovi, &c, 61. 10s. Stace, lis.
Walfh, 78, 11/., large paper. Higgs, 51, 3/. 12s. Pickering, 15/.

the c Compleat Angler.'

41

Great is our leaning, we confefs, to this edition, which was
printed in the village of Broxbourne, by the river Lea, and in
the very footprints of old Izaak. The river itfelf meanders
down the opening page, and feated under a pollard-willow,
by Lea-fide, with this book on our knee, we drop, readily,
into a reverie. We ceafe to read the page — we feem to
hear the quiet monotone of the old man's voice, and are
ftartled, prefently, by the plaining of the water as he plays and
lands his fifh. . . .

<c Look you, there is a tryal of my (kill ! there is that very
chub that I mowed you, with the white fpot on his tail."

And the broad -leaved water- flags flap to and fro, as the
wind flirs them, and the fwallow dips, and the dragon-fly
ruffles by, and from a neighbouring copfe, a bird fets up a
mellow, joyous trill, whereat the quiet undertone refumes1 . . .

" Lo ! there, the nightingale ! another of our airy creatures,
which breathes fuch fweet loud mufic out of her little inftru-
mental throat, that it might make mankind to think miracles
are not ceafed. He that at midnight (when the very labourer
fleeps fecurely) fhould hear (as I have very often) the clear
airs, the fweet defcants, the natural rifing and falling, the
doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted
above earth and fay, Lord, what mufick haft thou provided
for the Saints in Heaven, when thou afforded bad men fuch
mufick on earth."

Pleafant, too, for its own fake, and dear to all anglers, is

1 Speaking for Auceps.

42

The Chronicle of

that paftoral, fedgy Lea. Pleafant always, as we fee it mapped
out in* our memory of the long ago, with its broad reaches of
pafture land on either fide, outfpread in the morning twilight,
white with dew, and dappled with kine ; here and there, in
the diftance, a round-fhouldered hill, or a clump of trees,
tipped with a village fpire — the gleaming of the river, broken,
at intervals, with ruftic bridges, and its banks girt with a thick
belt of fedge, out of which the God Pan might have plucked
reeds manifold for his piping. We have learnt that river by
heart, in a double fenfe ; it was the haunt of our boyhood,
and we know every bend, and tumbling-bay, and pool in it.
We could fhow you where that chub, with the white fpot on
his tail, was taken ; we could lead you blindfold to the pool,
where Pifcator fifties out for Peter that opportune trout ; and
we could feat you (fo unwavering are our illufions) under that
very honeyfuckle hedge, where matter and pupil fat difcourfing
of holy Mr. Herbert, and reciting his quaint, curious verfes,
while the pattering of the fpring fhower died off among the
leaves.

Many are the years fince we trod thofe familiar paths, and
many the waters we have fifhed fince then. Now, all things
are changed. Our feet brufh the Ardennes heather as we hurry
to our fport, and inftead of the level lowlands, we have red,
precipitous walls of rock, thick forefts, and a tofiing and foaming
mountain river. We fill our creel fuller than we ever filled
it of yore, but we are faithful to the old love ftill, and were
the choice given us, far rather would we be catching " logger-
headed chub," in that Lea-water of our youth, than the moft

the c Compleat Angler.9

43

fpeckled of trout, or filver-fided of falmon, in other, though
immemorially famous dreams.

Between the two foregoing Waltons, Bagfter iflued in 1810
a fo-called fac-fimile of the edition of 1653. We fay fo-called,
becaufe, though the plates are in clofe imitation of their proto-
types, and were engraved on filver, in conformity with the
common credence on the fubject, there is no attempt at identity
in the general getting up of the work. A portrait of Walton,
engraved by Scott from the picture by Houfman, is prefixed.

The ftock of this edition fhared the fate of that of 1808,
and was partly confumed in the fire at Bagfter's.

In 1822, Gofden, the fporting bookbinder, prefented the
world with his reprint of Walton, an octavo volume, with
Hawkins' notes and biographies, and no other innovations than
a new fet of plates, and a preface, not written, we prefume,
by Gofden himfelf, who, though an enthufiaftic lover of
angling literature, was poiTefTed of little education.

Bagfter's Fac-
fimile, 1810.1

Gofden's Edi
tion, 1822.2

1 Title and collation of this edition the fame as in that of 1653.
Half-title : "The Compleat Angler, by Ifaac Walton. London : mdcccx.

Printed for S. Bagfter, in the Strand."

Valentine, 228, 4/. Milner, 162, 1/. is., thick paper. Grace, 1076, js.
Stace, 87, 5 s. 6d. Lowndes, 723, 4/. 6d. Bindley, 14/. Cotton, 159, 5/. 6d.
Walfh, 68, \s. Pickering, 6s. Harward, 13/.

2 Title the fame as in Hawkins, 1784. "London: Printed for James
Smith, 163, Strand, 1822." Some copies are dated 1825.

60 pages preliminary; 383 pages. 15 plates. Lowndes (1864) ftatcs
erroneoufly, 21.

Taylieure, 243, 5/. Cotton, 177, 2/. 5/. Milner, 161, 2/. 16s. Hafle-
wood, additional illuftrations, 1/. Grace, 1080, 2/. 12s. 6d. Walfh, 79,
1/. ~s. Lowndes, 724, 2/. 14/. Duke of York, \6s.

44

The Chronicle of

Major's Firft
Edition, 1823.

The new plates are practical in their bearings, but fcarcely
in unifon with the quaint character of the book. They are,
in fact, anachronifms. They did triple duty, being offered
for fale, in a feparate fhape,and employed to illuftratethe reprint
of Zouch's Life of Walton, in 1823, and later. They were
accompanied by portraits of Walton and Cotton, in mezzotint,
the former from Houfman, the latter from Sir Peter Lely.

Gofden was a collector, as well as a trader ; and there are
few angling libraries, at the prefent day, that do not poffefs
works adorned with one or other of his book-plates, and fome-
times enriched, befides, with his very ungrammatical anno-
tations.

The following year muft be marked with a white ftone, as
a turning point in the fortunes of the c Compleat Angler.'

The work had held a high place, hitherto, in the efteem of
the judicious and difcerning, but was deftined, through the
publication, in 1 8 23, of Major's firft edition, to attain to a wider

1 " The Complete Angler of Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton : Exten-
fively embellifhed with Engravings on Copper and Wood from original Paint-
ings and Drawings, by firft-rate Artilts. To which are added, an Introductory
ElTay ; the Linnasan Arrangement of the various River-Fifh delineated in the
Work; and Illuftrative Notes. London: John Major, Fleet-Street, adjoining
Serjeants'-Inn. mdcccxxiii."

60 pages preliminary ; 411 pages. opiates, and jy woodcuts. Price
18/., or large paper, 1/. 12s.

Taylieure, 244, 1/. is., large paper. Valentine, 246, ioj. Cotton, 173-4,
8j\, and 2/. 14/., large paper. Prince, 135, 1/. 8/. Haflewood, duplicate
proofs, 3/. 15/. Stace, 90, 1/. 4/. Lowndes, 725, lgs. Walfh, 80, \1. 12s.,
large paper. Higgs, 54, 2/. lgs. Brockett, 2/. gs. Utterfon, with Zouch's
Life of Walton, 2/. js.

the ' Compleat Angler.'

45

range of circulation, and a greatly increafed popularity. Dazzled
as our eyes are with the fplendour of our recent typographical
fuccefTes, we may wonder at the amount of admiration excited,
forty years ago, by this pretty book, which was looked upon
as a marvel in its kind, pointed out as fuch on the fhelves of
libraries, or pafTed from hand to hand, amidft the encomiums
of delighted connoiffeurs. And a pretty book it is, even now,
the old drawings by Wale having been engraved for it, in
more finimed ftyle, by Cook and Pye, the woodcuts of fifh
fkilfully executed, and the editing performed by a practifed
and competent hand.1

Unfortunately, its publifher, not content with thefe ad-
vantages, thought it incumbent on him to add an " Intro-
ductory EfTay," from his own pen, the effect of which is to
mar the unity of the work. The writer, though worthy and
inoffenfive, was vain, vulgar and filly, and his effay is pre-
cifely what we mould expect from a fhopkeeper turned man of
letters, for the nonce. It is, in fact, a farrago of twaddle, from
end to end. In one paffage, he attempts to glofs over Walton's
humble pofition in early life, and eftablifh a claim for con-
sideration, not fo much on his own intrinfic merits, as on the
ground of his high relations and fine acquaintances ; a piece
of fnobbifhnefs, which draws down on him the juftly indignant
rebuke of Dr. Bethune :

<c Impertinent is not a word flrong enough to characterize
fuch an attempt to put honeft Izaak's worth on another footing

1 Mr. R. Thomfon, Author of the " Chronicles of London Bridge," 1 827.

46

The Chronicle of

than his own pious virtue and unaffected talent. If the
fimple-minded angler and writer of plain, artlefs Englifh, could
rife from his grave, not all his meeknefs, nor even Major's
beautiful edition, could prevent him from giving the man a
fillip for thus putting tawdry on his decent garments. Efpe-
cially is fuch a folly out of place in a preface to the c Complete
Angler,' throughout which, the humble author, unfpoiled by
affociation with learned, dignified clergymen and others who
had heaped praifes on him, reprefents himfelf as a foot-traveller,
content with a wayfide inn . . . nay, ready to fhare his bed
with the companion of his walks by the river fide. Cotton was
a gentleman, and put his collocutors on horfeback ; Sir Hum-
phrey Davy invites his friends to go an angling in a light
carriage with him, as befitted a knighted philofopher ; let it be
our comfort to know that good father Walton was the ready
friend of the angler who goes afoot. Gentleman he was by
orthography and fpirit, but gentleman in any other fenfe, he
cared not to be. As he himfelf fays, c I would rather prove
myfelf a gentleman, by being learned and humble, valiant and
inoffenfive, virtuous and communicable, than by any fond
orientation of riches, or, wanting thofe virtues myfelf, boaft
that thefe were in my anceftors. And yet I grant that where a
noble and an ancient defcent and fuch virtues meet in any man,
it is a double dignification of that perfon.' We mould not
like him more — we could not like him lefs, if he had had f all
the blood of all the Howards.'"1

1 " The Complete Angler." New York, 1847, pp. Iv-vii of the ' Biblio-
graphical Preface.'

the ' Compleat Angler.'

+7

The above caftigation is not a whit too fevere, and we
marvel that no contemporary critic was found to punifh with
the knout this wretched EfTay, which is not only fawning and
fervile in its tone throughout, but has a click of the counter,
befides, that is efpecially diftafteful.1

So great was the fuccefs of Major's publication, that a frefh
ifTue was called for, in the following year, and a new fet of
plates, ftill from Wale, given with it.3 It was diftinguifhed

Major's Second
Edition, i 824. 2

1 To the edition of 1844, Major adds certain notes, which we quote here,
that our readers may have the meafure of the man's fatuity.

" On the appearance of the firft Edition in 1823, Mr. D'lfraeli, who
fomewhere fpeaks of the Doric fweetnefs of Izaak Walton, obferved to me —
' One often fees a pretty book which is interefting to a particular clafs ; but you
have hit on a work that pleafes everybody !' And Mr. Alexander Chalmers
was pleafed to fay that I had given quite a new tone to the fubjedt, and had
* Waltonized the land !'

" For my own part I can only fay that I had long been afking myfelf in
the language of Abraham Cowley, ' What fhall I do to be for ever known ?'
And my good Genius whifpered, ' Give your days and nights to emblazon
the worth of Izaak Walton.'''

It is to be regretted that this good Genius did not, at the fame time, point
a profpeftive veto in the direction of the Introductory Effay.

In another note he fays : " The bantling is, in truth, my own, but its
fponfors are innumerable ; one kind patron, a gentleman of fortune, ufed to fay
to his friends, • You muft have this edition, for / have a fhare in it !' And a
total ftranger once affured me that he had beftowed no lefs than fix guineas on
the binding of the work, as a fpecimen of the fkill of Charles Lewis !"

2 Title the fame as in the foregoing. Preliminary pages the fame. Body
of the work, 416 pages, the extenfion being in the notes. Price as before.

Cotton, 175-6, 2/. gs., and \l. is. Lowndes, 726, 6s. 6d. Walfh, 81,
(foiled) 14J.

3 The old plates " rebit" fays Bohn's Lowndes (1864), but a difference of

48

The Chronicle of

Dove's Edition,
n. d.1

Whittingham's
Edition, 1824
and 1826.2

Cole's Edition,
n. d.3

alfo by a copy of verfes from the pen of the editor, which
were very properly fuppreffed in the fourth edition. Like its
predecefTor, it was printed in two fizes, crown-oclavo and
odtavo, and in the latter form the engravings were proof im-
preffions. Both thefe books have maintained their place in
public eftimation, although far furpafTed by the reprint of
1844.

We mall now have to chronicle, currente calamo, and with-
out clofe analyfis, feveral confecutive editions. A revival of
Hawkins, in 241T10., with portraits of the authors, printed by
Dove, circa 1825.

Another, prettily printed by Whittingham, 2 vols., 24tno.,
in 1824, and again in 1826. This is alfo a verbatim reprint
of Hawkins, 1797.

An edition in 1 2mo. (no date), publifhed by Cole. It has
indifferent portraits of Walton and Cotton, and brief original
biographies. This is ignored by Lowndes' recent editor.

fize, and other variations, negative this ftatement. The new ones were en-
graved by W. R. Smith.

1 " The Complete Angler of Ifaac Walton and Charles Cotton. London :
For the Proprietors of the Englifh Claffics." On the laft page : " Printed
by J. F. Dove, St. John's Square." 420 pages. \s.

2 " The Complete Angler of Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton. Chifwick :
Printed by C. Whittingham, College Houfe. Sold by Thomas Tegg, 73,
Cheapfide ; R. Jennings, Poultry, London : and Richard Griffin and Co.,
Glafgow. 1824." 551 pages, and 8 preliminary, gs.

To the edition of 1826, fome woodcuts of fifh were added, and one or two
vignettes.

3 "The Complete Angler; or, Contemplative Man's Recreation. By
Ifaac Walton and Charles Cotton. Embellifhed with Portraits of the Authors,

the c Compleat Angler.'

Alfo, Pickering's firft edition, in 32mo., 1825. With a
frontifpiece by Stothard, and an engraved title (both of which
were enlarged for the edition of 1836), and abridged bio-
graphies.

This was followed by Pickering's fecond edition, 1826,
241110., with a portrait of Walton (dated 1827) and a vignette
in the title-page (the milkmaid fcene), alfo afterwards enlarged
for the edition of 1836.

In the laft three editions, the annotation is fupprefTed.

In 1833, we have ProfefTor Rennie's firft edition (i2mo.),
which, though publifhed under cover of a fcientific name, is,
perhaps, the leaft refpectable of the entire feries. Flippancy
and trafhinefs characlerife moft of the notes that bear the
editor's fign-manual. The reft of the work is a reprint of
Hawkins, with a catch-penny portrait, and fome coarfe wood-
cuts of fifh added.

Owing, we prefume, to the low price of the book, it has

and Engravings of the River-fifh defcribed in the work. London : Printed
for William Cole, 10, Newgate Street." 314 pages, and 20 preliminary.

1 " The Complete Angler; or the Contemplative Man's Recreation. Two
Parts. The Firft by Izaak Walton, The Second by Charles Cotton. London :
William Pickering, mdcccxxv." 318 pages, and 16 pages preliminary.

2 Tide as in the foregoing. " London : William Pickering, mdcccxxvi."
330 pages, 25 preliminary.

3 Firft part of the title the fame as in the edition of 1661. "With Lives
and Notes. By Sir John Hawkins, Knight. Edited by James Rennie, A.M.,
ProfefTor of Zoology, King's College, London. Edinburgh : Publifhed, for the
Proprietors, by W. and R. Chambers, Edinburgh ; W. Orr, London ; and
W. Curry, Jun. and Co., Dublin, mdcccxxxiii." 328 pages.

* Edit. 1834, " Publifhed by Allan Bell and Co., and Simpkin and Mar-

49

Pickering's
Firft Edition,
1825.'

Pickering's
Second Edition,
1826.2

Rennie's Firft
Edition, 1833 3

Rennie's feven
further reprints,
1834, 1835,
18,6, 1847,
1849, 1851,
and 1857. *

5°

The Chronicle of

Major's Third
Edition, 1835."

Lewis's Major,
1839.2

Waflibourne's
Major, 1842.3

gained a certain currency, and no lefs than feven reprints have
been ifTued by different publifhers, at the feveral dates given
in the margin. As they were all identical with the firft, the
duty of revifion and improvement never feeming to have pre-
fented itfelf to the profeflbrial mind, we fhall not deem it
necefTary to refer to them again.

In 1835, Major ifTued his third edition, but morn of its
ancient glories, the plates of all kinds being much worn and
deteriorated. A portrait of Dr. Wharton, the " good man
that dares do anything rather than tell an untruth," was its
only new feature.

A reprint of Major, by Lewis, appeared in 1839 (cr- 8vo.),
and another, by Wafhbourne, in 1842.

In thefe the * Introductory EfTay' was replaced by the old
biographies of Walton and Cotton, by Hawkins.

fhall ; Frafer and Co., Edinburgh ; and W. Curry, Jun., and Co., Dublin."

Edit. 1835, "London : Thomas Tegg and Son, Cheapfide ; R. Griffin,
and Co., Glafgow ; Tegg, Wife, and Co., Dublin."

Edit. 1836, "London : Allan Bell and Co., Warwick Square."

Edit. 1847. This I have not met with.

Edit. 1849. "London: John Johnfon, 30, High Holborn ; Thomas
Johnfon, 22, Livefey Street, Manchefter."

Edit, (no date, but probably 1851), "Thomas Johnfon, Livefey Street,
Manchefter."

Edit. 1857, " Halifax : Milner and Sowerby."

1 " London : J. Major, Great RufTell-Street, Bloomfbury. Printed by W.
Nicol, 51, Pall Mall, mdcccxxxv."

2 "London: L. A. Lewis, 125, Fleet Street, mdcccxxxix."

3 "London: Henry Wafhbourne, Salifbury Square, Fleet Street, mdcccxlii."
Price of this and the foregoing, 1 zs.

the ' Compleat Angler.'

51

Here we may flip in, at a venture, an anonymous edition,
with a reduced fac-rimile, cut in wood, for fole title, and
without date, printer's or publifher's name.

In 1836, we do obeifance to Pickering's third edition, in
which Walton's fimple work puts on the purple of an un-
accuftomed fovereignty, and is fcarcely to be recognifed in its
new and fplendid inveftiture. The refult of feven years' con-
tinuous labour, and of much patient refearch and foftering care
on the part of its publisher, this edition requires, more than
moil, our mature and critical confederation.

It is in two tall volumes, the form being imperial octavo.
Paper and type, as might be expected from a publifher pre-
eminent for the beauty of the books iffued by him, are both
admirable in their kind, and the title-page, as Mr. H. R.
Francis rightly remarks, is of a perfection that might " trouble
the ghofts of the Aldi."

The illuftrators are Stothard and Infkipp, the former being
charged with the fcenic plates and the views of the localities,

1 " The Complete Angler ; or the Contemplative Man's Recreation. Being
a Difcourfe of Rivers, Fifti-Ponds, Fifh, and Fifhing, written by Izaak Walton ;
and Inftruttions how to angle for a Trout or Grayling in a clear dream, by
Charles Cotton. With original Memoirs and Notes, by Sir Harris Nicolas,
K.C.M.G. (Underneath, an adaptation of the Aldine mark, with "Aldi
Difcip. Anglvs.") London: William Pickering, 1836."

214 pages preliminary; body of the work, 436 pages. 61 illuftrations.

Prince, 5/. 18/., and with 580 ancient and modern portraits, &c, 24/. 10s.
Lowndes, 3/. 19s. Wallh, additional illuftrations, 14/. 10s. Sotheby, 5/. icv.
Harwood, 5/, js. 6d. Bernal, with extra portraits and proof plates from
Major's and Bagfter's Editions, and from other works on Angling, 3 vols,
elephant iize, morocco, 40/. Utterfon, extra illuftrations, 14/.

Anonymous
Edit. n. d. ( circa
1836;.

Pickering's
Third Edition,
1836.'

52

The Chronicle of

and the latter, principally, with the fifh. The engravers are
Fox, Cooke, Richardfon, and other eminent hands ; and the
editor, Sir Harris Nicolas, aflifted by feveral competent autho-
rities, vvhofe names he designates in his Preface.

The biographies extend to two hundred and twelve pages.
The notes are of a moft elaborate character — pedigrees of
Walton, Cotton, and others are given, and a comprehenfive
index is added, extending to thirty-fix pages.

Such are the materials that go to make up thefe very
noticeable volumes, which were ifiued1 at the patrician price of
fix guineas for ordinary impreflions, and ten guineas for proofs.

The fentiment infpired by a curfory furvey of them is, no
doubt, one of pleafure and admiration ; but the after and more
permanent impreflion refults, we are pained to confefs, in a
fenfe of comparative failure. The book, footh to fay, is a
pompous book, and with much that is overdone in it. We
feek for our modefr. king-cups and pimpernels, and find them
buried beneath a heap of learned and heterogeneous lumber.
We turn the pages over with a feeling of difproportion, a
perception of incongruity and unfitnefs. Infkipp's fifh, indeed,
have all the force and freflinefs of nature, and rejoice the eye ;
but Stothard's plates feem to us weak and filly, infignificant, as
regards the fize of the work in which they figure, and un-
worthy, alike, both of it and the artift.

Stothard was probably felected for this tafk lefs for his
eligibility, than from the fact of his being the painter a la

1 In numbers, commencing 1835.

the ' Compleat Angler.'

S3

mode of the day. Of his graceful fervices as a book-illuftrator,
we have a lively remembrance, but the f Compleat Angler'
feems to have lain beyond his beat, his genius being of that
Watteauifh character, that luxuriates more in Arcadian revels
and the. fetes champetres of conventional life, than in the em-
bodiment of the fimple Englifh paftoral. He was no angler,
befides, and the fact betrays itfelf, as might be expected, in
many minute, but conclusive points. That his coftumes, in
thefe plates, are archaeologically correct, in a general fenfe, we
doubt not, but that they are correct in their application to the
angler, we refufe to believe. All frill and frippery, Pifcator
and his aflbciates are attired as if for a ftroll, fnuff-box and
cane in hand, among the fcented exquifites of the Mall, rather
than for rough encounter with brake and briar by the river
fide. Their faces, throughout, are weak and meaninglefs, and
Pifcator, in the falutation plate, were it not for the rod he
carries, might be miflaken for a beggar, in eafy circumftances,
imploring an alms.

The views of the localities, alfo, fall fhort of the mark, for
though truthful and precife, they are flat and meagre in the
execution, and have an awkward knack of fprawling acrofs the
page.

The biographies, on the other hand, prefent the reader with
feveral new facts, are very confcientious and laborious, and
leave but little in the way of data for any future gleaner in
the fame fcanty field. But here, again, we have an editor who
is no angler, a deficiency that is painfully felt as we perufe
thefe dryly written, matter-of-fact, unfympathetic pages, in

54

The Chronicle of

which no femblance of colour or vitality is given to the lay-
figures they place before us. As raw material, parts of them
(for there is much extraneous matter, and many points dilated
on of infinitefimally fmall intereft), may be ufefully employed
by fome future biographer of Walton, who, we truft, will
treat his fubjec~l from the angling, as well as the antiquarian
and genealogical point of view, and pen his record, not in any
dufky retreat of ftudy — in air heavy with erudition, but under
the green leaves and by the gurgling water — at Broxbourne,
for inftance, or pleafant Amwell on the Hill.

This fine book, in a word, is over-dreffed. It is Maudlin,
the milkmaid, tricked out in a gown of brocade, with a mantle
of cloth of gold. Pretty Maudlin were comelier far in her
own artlefs attire, with a pofy for fole adornment. But this is
a fin to be judged gently and tenderly, fpringing, as it did,
from over-love ; Pickering's wifh was to raife a worthy
monument to Walton's fame, but, by a common error of
judgment, he loft fight of the relation that mould always exift
in fuch a cafe between the memorial and the man, or his
work commemorated.

On Corydon's grave we plant flowers amongft the grafs —

" Purple narciffus, like the morning rays,
Pale ganderglas and azure culverkays."1

We do not crufh it beneath a weight of marble magnificence,
pedeftals, with their votive urns, or a coloffal genius with
gilded tears.

Neverthelefs, as this monument has been reared, let us

1 Denny's " Secrets of Angling,'' 1613.

the ' Compleat Angler.'

55

accept it for what it is — one of the handfomeft publications of
modern times, an ornament to the Angler's Library, unique
of its kind, and perhaps deftined to remain fo.

As for the huge amalgam of note upon note, and comment
upon comment, we plead guilty, with no c peradventure '
this time, to a heathenifh longing for a fweeping and final
clearance, fuch as would give us the c Compleat Angler,'
illuftrated and annotated, if you will, but by the artift's pencil
alone, and in which we fhould have Walton folus, not Walton
baited and badgered by fifty learned profeffors, all catechifing,
criticifing, and cavilling at him at once.

In 1837, we have a miniature reprint of Walton, by Tilt,
in two volumes (24-mo.), with neither notes, portraits, nor
illuftrations. This we regifter and fet afide.

In 1844, appeared Major's fourth edition (the two by Lewis
and Wafhbourne not having been publifhed under his fuper-
intendance). It was printed, as before, in two fizes, crown-
octavo and octavo. The obnoxious " Introductory EfTay,"
aggravated by the abfurd additions we have quoted, (till {ticks
to the work, like a burr ; but with this our cenfure exhaufts
itfelf ; in other refpects the volume approaches more nearly to

Tilt's Edition,
1837.'

Major's laft
Edition, 1844.2

1 " The Complete Angler. By Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton. London :
Charles Tilt, 86, Fleet-ftreet ; I. Menzies, Edinburgh; T. Wardle, Phila-
delphia, mdcccxxxvii." 301 pages.

2 " Edited by John Major. Fourth edition. London : D. Bogue, Fleet-
Street ; H. Wix, New Bridge Street. mdcccxliv." Price 12/., or large
paper, 1/. 4/.

60 pages preliminary; 418 pages. 12 Iteel engravings; 74 woodcuts.
Prince, 1/. 6s., large paper. Pickering, 1/. zs.

56

The Chronicle of

our ideal of an edition confident in all its parts, than any of
its predecefibrs or fuccefibrs.

Wale's defigns, repeated ad naufeam, are here fuppreffed,
and a new feries, by Abfolon, fubftituted, embodying the fame
fubjects, indeed, but conceived in no plagiariftic fpirit. They
are quaint, unaffected, and picturefque, and have the fignal
merit of feeming an emanation from and efflorefcence of the
book itfelf, rather than a fet of artiftic notions grafted on it.1
The difficulty of a capable and confcientious book-illuftration
is, in fact, great ; renouncing his own individuality, at the
outfet, the artift muft make himfelf one with the author, mud
clothe himfelf with his genius, put on his moods, penetrate
into the inner heart of his conceptions, and from thence tranf-
mute them, by the alchemy of his art, into form, colour, and
exprefiion. Without this identity between author and artift
there may be the aflbciation of pictures with books, but no
book-illuftration, properly fo called ; and our readers do not
require to be told that ninety-nine out of a hundred of the
pretty picture-books of the day belong to the former and
defective category.

The woodcuts of fifh, in Major's new ifiue, give the varying
tones and furfaces with great fuccefs ; and the vignettes of
fcenery, by Crefwick and others, leave far behind them thofe

1 " The new defigns by Abfolon," fays Major, " form the crown of my
prefent efforts ; nothing could exceed his zeal whilft they were on his eafel ;
fkilful anglers flood for the men, and fair and handfome ladies volunteered for
the females ; the refult, I warmly anticipate, will come with a pleafing furprife
upon the minds of the moft afFedionate admirers of our author," p. xxxix.

the ' Compleat Angler.5

57

of former editions. Some of thefe, indeed, are fo charming as
to fuggeft the idea of a more extenfive ill uft ration of the
' Compleat Angler,' confined entirely to this department of
art, which feems fpecially adapted for the adornment of books
treating of country purfuits and paftimes, and which poflefles
a frefhnefs, freedom, and artlefThefs that we feek for in vain
from the more ambitious burin. Vignettes we poflefs by the
Fofters and the Crefwicks of the day — (ketches of fylvan
fcenery, in which we almofty^ the leaves lifted by the fummer
wind, and hear the plaining of the waterfall as it tumbles, all
froth and foam, over the weir. Thus our bofky dells and
dingles, our green Engliih lanes, our filver-threaded brooks,
our wood- openings, with their delicate tracery of boughs againft
a pale fky, and their intricate network of leaves and fpray,
are fubjects that have pafTed of right into the hands of the
artift in wood, as their fitting interpreter. While, on the
other hand, in cafes demanding greater depth of tone and
treatment — the favage aufterity of bare rock and windy ravine,
the ruggednefs of immemorial forefts, with their gaunt and
blafted trunks, or the chaotic tumult of a fky blurred and
blackened with tempeft, a modern inftance, in Guftave Dore's
illu fixations of Dante's f Inferno/ prove that appeal may be
made with equal fuccefs to the fame fchool of engraving, a
fchool that, from its recent development, feems deftined to
rule paramount over all others.

The next addition to our rapidly lengthening lift is the

1 "The Complete Angler; or, the Contemplative Man's Recreation. By
Ifaac Walton. And Inftruclions how to angle for a Trout or Grayling in a

The American
Editions, 1847, l
1848, and 1852.

58

The Chronicle of

American reprint, publifhed at New York in 1847, under
the editorial aufpices of Dr. G. W. Bethune. Could we admit
the necerTity of erudition in this cafe, we mould be difpofed to
aflign to Dr. Bethune's verfion a foremoft rank in the anno-
tated feries.

The wifdom he brings to bear on his tafk is of the bene-
volent order, cordial, reverent, and fympathetic, and his
criticifm has nothing in common either with the flippant or
dry-as-duft fchool. For the lover of angling-books, and for
the collector efpecially, there is no edition fo ufeful as this.
In his " Bibliographical Preface," the editor gives an extended
catalogue raifonne of the earlier literature of the fport, and in
the Appendix, we have his " Waltonian Library," or lift of
angling books, including fome three hundred works, beftdes
many on ichthyology.1 He gives us alfo an enlarged lift of

Clear Stream. By Charles Cotton. With copious Notes, for the moil part
original, a bibliographical Preface, giving an Account of Fifhing and Fifhing-
Books, from the earlieft Antiquity to the time of Walton, and a notice of Cotton
and his writings, by the American Editor. To which is added an Appendix,
including illuftrative Ballads, Mufic, Papers on American Fifhing, and the
moft complete Catalogue of Books on Angling, &c, ever printed. Alfo a
general Index to the whole work. New York: John Wiley, 1 67, Broad-
way. 1847."

Part 1., 1 1 2 pages, preliminary ; 249 pages. Part 11., 29 pages preliminary ;
210 pages. Some copies were printed on large paper.

Prince, l/. 5 s., large paper. Sotheby's, with duplicate fet of woodcuts, 15s.
Puttick, alfo with duplicate fet, lzs.

1 In Mr. J. Wynne's " Private Libraries of New York," we find the
following mention of Dr. Bethune and his Angling Library: —

" During the darker feafons of the year, when forbidden the a£tual ufe of his
rod, our friend has occupied himfelf with excurfions through fale catalogues,

the ' Compleat Angler.'

59

the authorities referred to by Walton, another of the books
formerly belonging to him, (and containing his autograph
infcriptions,) in the Cathedral Library of Salifbury — a third,
of thofe which have been attributed to him ; and a fourth, of
the works of Cotton. Thefe addenda are gathered, of courfe,
from various known fources, but no where elfe do we find
united fo complete a body of angling-book ftatiftics, and fo
large an accumulation of collateral data.

Of the getting-up of the volume, we cannot fpeak with
praife. It is behind the time ; the type, blunt and blotty, the
illustrations, (a few worn-out plates, borrowed from Major,
1 844,) a difgrace. The intrinsic merit of the work, however,
is fo great, that we hope fome day to fee it taken up by a more
liberal publifher on our own fide of the Atlantic, and re-iflued
with all the honours. Two further editions appeared in 1848
and 1852.

In 185 1, we have to notice an edition, in crown octavo,

fifhing out from their dingy pages whatever tends to honour his favourite
author and favourite art, fo that his fpoils now number nearly five hundred
volumes of all fizes and dates. Pains have been taken to have, not only copies
of the works included by the lift, but alfo the feveral editions ; and when it is
of a work mentioned by Walton, an edition which the good old man himfelf
may have feen. Thus the collection has all the editions of Walton, Cotton
and Venables in exiftence, and, with but few exceptions, all the works referred
to by Walton, or which tend to illuftrate his favourite rambles by the Lea or the
Dove. Every fcrap of Walton's writing, and every compliment paid to him,
have been carefully gathered and garnered up, with prints and autographs, and
fome precious manufcripts. Nor does the department end here; but embraces
moft of the older and many of the modern writers on ichthyology and angling."
1 " With a new Introduction and Notes ; and embelliftied with eighty-five

Caufton's Edi-
tion, 1851.'

6o

The Chronicle of

' Ephemera's*
Editions, 1853,
1854, and
1859.'

publifhed by Henry Kent Caufton, who, on the ftrength of
his defcent from the Richard and Henry Caufton figuring
as printers and publishers of Mofes Browne's revival (1772),
finds it incumbent on him to attempt a quixotic rehabilitation
of Browne's editing, and even to perpetuate fome of his
<c expurgations," and all his notes.

In a diftracting-looking, but not ill-written " Introduction,"
he gives a fummary of Walton's career, and examines the
various and conflicting evidence brought to bear on the fubject,
dealing about him the while fome heavy blows, efpecially in
the direction of genealogical editors.

He perpetuates, alfo, we are forry to fay, Wale's feries of
drawings borrowed from Major, and which in this, their laft
ftage of evaporation, look ghaftly and impalpable as ghofts at
noon-day. Shabby in its externals, this book feems to have
enjoyed but a neglected exiftence and has already paffed out
of fight.

Two years later MefTrs. Ingram and Cooke prefent us, in
their cc Uluftrated Library," with the l Complete Angler,'
edited by c Ephemera' (Fitzgibbon), of * Bell's Life,' who
grafts on it, in notes and appendices, his own fyftem of the

Engravings on Copper and Wood. London : Henry Kent Caufton. mdcccli."
418 pages; 68 pages preliminary.

1 " New Edition. Edited by ' Ephemera,' of ' Bell's Life in London.'
London: Ingram, Cooke, and Co. mdcccliii." 317 pages.

Edit. 1854. "Second Edition. London: Nathaniel Cooke, Milford
Houfe, Strand."

Edit. 1859. "London: Routledge, Warnes, and Routledge, Farringdon
Street. New York : 56, Walker Street."

the c Compleat Angler.

61

practice of the fport as expounded more fully in his " Hand-
Bookof Angling." This edition, on practical, working grounds,
deferves commendation. It is adorned with fome fketchy
woodcuts and plates of fim and flies. A frefh iflue was called
for in 1854, and a third publifhed by MefTrs. Routledge and
Co. in 1859. The two latter ifTues, however, are but
paginary reprints.

Turning the various verfions over in his mind, Mr. Edward
J^e, in 1856, confidered himfelf called upon to add yet
another to the number, and into this he c moots,' to ufe a
carter's phrafe, a heap of his own notes, on the top of the
already vaft accumulation. At this ftage of the proceeding
we have to ftand tip-toe to fee Walton at all. Mr. Je/Xe is
known as a man of amiable manners, fome knowledge of
natural hiftory, and a very elaftic credulity, and we fay grace
over his notes . . . but partake not.

Mr. Bohn, on the other hand, as publifher of the work,

JefTe 's Edition,
1856.1

1 "The Complete Angler; or the Contemplative Man's Recreation,
of Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton. With Lives of the Authors, and
variorum Notes, hiftorical and practical. Edited by Edward JefTe, Efq.
To which are added, papers on Fifhing Tackle, Fifhing Stations, &c. By
Henry G. Bohn. London : Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden.

MDCCCLVI."

496 pages; 29 pages preliminary. Price Js. 6J. with the extra fteel en-
gravings, and 5/. without. Poft 8vo. According to Bohn's Lowndes (1864)
the copies with extra illuflrations were only ifTued in 1861.

The Biographies are a refacimento of thofe by Hawkins.

We may mention here that the reprint of the "Bibliographer's Manual"
juft cited, regifters but forty-two editions of the ' Compleat Angler,' inltead of
fifty-three.

62

The Chronicle of

Groombridge's
Edition, 1858. '

German Tranf-
lation, 1859. 3

drives into it vi et armis, f neck and crop,' and in other forcible
fafhions, an indifcriminate fwarm of woodcuts, line-engravings,
&c, recruited from various fources, and making up a patch-
work of illuftration to keep in countenance the patch-work of
notes. Reading the f Compleat Angler ' under fuch circum-
ftances can only be compared to the ftudy of c Bradfhaw,' in
its effect on the brain. Caveat leffor et emptor !

In 1858 we have Groombridge's miniature reprint, (241110.),
in two volumes, apparently a re-ifTue of Tilt's edition (1837),
and acceptable on the fame grounds, namely, the abfence of all
tags and tafTels, and the merit of a plain and unperplexed
text ; while, in the following year, we are ftartled by a German
translation (oclavo, published at Hamburgh) of ( Ephemera's '
edition, in which we find the translator apologising to his
readers for old Izaak's lengthinefs, wordinefs, and heavinefs.
He profeSTes to efteem the work, indeed, but in a profeSTional
fenfe alone, and this narrownefs of appreciation gives us the
meafure of his capability.

In France, Walton has met with even lefs recognition ; the
only tranflation that we have encountered (and that a very
garbled and unfaithful one) of fome brief portions of his
dialogue, appears in <c Le Pecheur a la Mouche Artificielle,"
by Charles de Mafias, and is contributed to that publication

1 "London: Groombridge and Sons, Paternofter Row, 1858." 301 pages.

2 " Der Vollkommene Angler von Ifaac Walton und Charles Cotton,
heraufgegeben von Ephemera, iiberfetzt von J. Schumacher. Hamburg:
P. Salomon & Co. 1859."

308 pages; 12 preliminary.

the ' Compleat Angler.'

63

by a certain c Alfred d'Angleville,' who accompanies it with
the collateral afiurance that Walton's work is quite unworthy
of French readers, and will be very properly replaced by
de Mafias' performances.

In i860, we have to notice Mefirs. Nattali and Bond's re-
ifiue of Pickering's edition of 1836, in two volumes, imperial
octavo, at a reduced price, and with fundry other reductions
confequent thereupon; inferior paper, for inftance, worn plates,
and a general decadence of fbyle.

The text remains unaltered, even one or two notable
blunders being left uncorrected.

Finally, in 1863, we take note of a pocket edition by
Mefirs. Bell and Daldy ; the fimple text alone, but praife-
worthy for its faithfulnefs and the beauty of its typography.

Here our tafk ends — the ultimate mileftone on the long
road of more than two hundred years being reached at kit.
Through our window, as we write thefe clofing lines, ftreams
cheerily, (and with a fhimmer of young leaves and buzzing of
infect wings,) the May funfhine — that funfhine that, of yore,
gladdened Pifcator on his way through the Lea-fide meadows to
his fport at matin-fong, and that broods, we are fain to believe,
with a foftened radiance now, on his honoured grave in the
grey pile of Winchester. Peace be to his allies .'—for his fame
we have no fear ; the bygone centuries have given their con-
fecration to his work, the centuries to come will ratify that

1 " Second Edition. London: Nattali and Bond, i860."

2 " London : Bell and Daldy, 186, Fleet Street; and Sampfon Low, Son,
and Co., 47, Ludgate Hill. 1863." 304 pages.

Nattali and
Bond's re-iffue
of Pickering's
Edition of 1836,
1860.'

Bell and Daldy's
Edition, j86?.2

64

The c Compleat Angler.5

confecration anew. How much of good and great the future
may have in ftore for it, it is not our province to predict.
Suffice it that looking up to the fhelves of our Angling
Library and to the Fifty-Three feveral editions chronicled
in thefe pages, we may fay already for the Father of Fifher-
men, what he were too modeft to fay for himfelf could he
return amongft us —

" Si monumentum requiris,
Circumfpice ! "

FINIS.

CHISWICK PRESS : PRINTED BY WHITTINGHAM AND WILKINS,

TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
BERKELEY

Return to desk from which borrowed.
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.

LD 21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476

M212018

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

HL

V'