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(From a photograph of the painting by Hausman in possession of Mrs. Hawes at Salisbury.)

opinion that the "half-shop" was merely an office, while the business itself was carried on elsewhere.

In 1626, when in his thirty-third year, Walton married his first wife, a Miss Rachel Floud or Flood, or Floyd, by whom he had seven children. No incident of his married life with this lady is anywhere recorded; but that he had much sorrow to put to the test his natural sweetness and cheerfulness, may be gathered from the fact that he not only lost all the offspring of this marriage, but at the end of sixteen years had likewise to mourn her death.

Childless and a widower, Walton was now in his forty-seventh year, and it was probably to direct his mind away from his domestic afflictions that he essayed to publish the first of his famous lives, viz., that of Dr. John Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, along with a collection of the sermons of that well-known divine and poet. Three years later, though only arrived at what many regard as the meridian of life and effort, Walton relinquished business and, with a fair competency acquired, we may rest assured, honestly and diligently, left London to reside near Stafford, his native place.

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During the period of his London life, Walton must have fore-gathered with not a few notable and worthy men. He appears to have had a special genius for forming friendships with men of really high and representative character. The attraction was perhaps as much on his side, and indeed, we are told by one chronicler (Dr. Zouche) that "such were his manners and deportment that he classed among his friends the first and most illustrious of his contemporaries." Nor was Walton less fortunate in his social connections. The times in which he lived were times of gloomy suspicion, of danger and distress, when a severe scrutiny into the public and private behavior of men established a rigid discrimination of character. He must therefore be allowed to have possessed a peculiar excellency of disposition; and the singular circumspection which he observed in the choice of his acquaintances has not escaped the notice of Mr. Cotton, who says My father Walton will be seen twice in no man's company he does not like, and likes none but such as he believes to be very honest men; which

is one of the best arguments, or at least of the best testimonies I have, that I either am, or that he thinks me, one of those, seeing that I have not yet found him weary of me;"" a testimony otherwise amply confirmed and referred to later on.

While, on the one hand, there are these credible data respecting Walton's successful career in London, to the angler, who is eager to know something, outside of tradition and beyond mere surmise, of the master's doings by his beloved Lea, whither he often repaired in the intervals of business, history is most illiberal. We can only believe that he pursued his favorite pastime with all diligence, for he acquired that expertness in it which subsequently made him so famous. His proximity to the Thames and its upper waters afforded to a man with such ardor for fishing all the opportunities essential for becoming a successful sportsman and reliable guide. In those days, as indeed to some extent even yet, the higher Thames and the many feeders of that royal river-notably the Lea at Wareham, some twenty miles from Lon

don, which claimed the particular patronage of Walton-formed the chief resort of anglers from the metropolis. And when we reflect on the fact that most of the wayfaring then had to be done on foot, the knights of the gentle art, with their varied and oftentimes burdensome paraphernalia, must have been, to tramp that distance, liberally endowed with patience and endurance. These qualities at least were conspicuous in Walton, and, in all probability, more highly developed in him during his meanderings between Fleet Street and the Lea, than at any other time. The growing inspiration of the "Complete Angler" was, no doubt, often present within him on those days of travel, but it was only after the close of his London career and his retiring from active life, that we may suppose its idea actually to have developed.

The neighborhood of his native town was admirably adapted for stimulating it. Within a limit of twenty-five or thirty miles of Stafford, he had the

of his linen stuffs on Cornhill did not by one jot abate his youthful enthusiasm nurtured amid such opportunities.

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But when or where the "Complete Angler" was actually conceived, planned, and written can only be surmised. sibly the work had been taking shape in his fancy for many years, to be saved for his leisure on the small estate which he bought near Stafford on his retirement in 1643, where we are told "his companions were some friends, a book, a cheerful heart, and an innocent conscience." What a change from London to a man of his temperament! That city he declared, after he left it, however, to be "a place dangerous for honest men," and no doubt he was glad to turn his back upon it since, according to a biographer, "his loyalty had made him obnoxious to the ruling powers.' Whatever the circumstances of the actual writing of the "Complete Angler," that occupation did not prevent Walton's marrying for the second time. This happy event took place about 1646,

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mult then filled all England! Four years previously, King Charles I. had been executed, a tragedy which, in the words of John Richard Green, "sent a thrill of horror throughout Europe." Then followed the proclamation of the Commonwealth and Cromwell's invasion of Scotland. The battles of Dunbar and Worcester, in 1650 and 1651 respectively, and the outbreak of the Dutch war in the following year, were events enough to turn the minds of men from contemplative themes and peaceful recreations. Strange, therefore, that this quaint book, with its suggestive sub-title, should have been hatched and given to the world in such a time of clangor and clashing of swords!

Stranger still, that it should at once have found such general favor as to make necessary the publication of a second edition two years later. Yet such was the fact, testifying surely to the immediate recognition of its rare literary worth, its sterling descriptive beauty, and its fascination.

Of

A part of the immediate popularity of the "Complete Angler," was, of course, its subject, apart from its intrinsic qualities. It was the first really serviceable work on angling ever published in England. Not, indeed, the first "practical" treatise, not even the first "contemplative" book on the subject of angling, for the honor of the authorship of that unique literary curiosity belongs-hear it, ye gallant knights of the angle!-to a lady! This personage was none other than the Dame Juliana Bernars, or Berners, the austere Prioress of the nunnery of Sopwell, near St. Albans. This doughty dame flourished more than a century before Walton's time, and from all accounts was as celebrated for her delight in all true English sport as for her learning and piety-a female Admirable Crichton in many respects. this singular production, called "The Treatise of Fysshing with an Angle," or, as it came to be more popularly known afterward, "The Book of St. Albans," space will not permit more than a brief extract as a taste of its quality, and as a sample of her ladyship's kindly views on the subject of the gentle art. In a chapter dealing with the many excellencies of fishing as compared with other popular sports of the time, our noble authoress saith: "If in fysshing his sport fail him, the angler atte the leest hath his holsom walke and is mery atte his ease, a swete ayre of the swete savoure of the meede floures that maketh him hungry: he heareth the melodyous armony of fowles: he seeth the young swannes, heerons, duckes, cotes, and many other foules with theyr brodes: whych me seemeth better than alle the noyse of houndys, the blasts of hornes and the scrytt of foules that hunters, fawkeners and fowlers doe make. And if the angler take fysshe, surely, thenne, is there noo man merrier than he is in his apytyte." How much Walton was indebted

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