But come, brother, you must make me a return for these lines; and then let us be going, for I have appointed a servant with my horses to meet me in Ashbourne, that I may reach my house at —— —— to-night.
Angler. Well, then, if I give you a plaintive ditty, put it to the account of our parting: it is that sweet sonnet from the Passionate Pilgrim, composed by the greatest bard of the last or any other age.
And now, good brother, it is almost time to be at home.
Painter. Well—I’ll pay the reckoning, and then let’s away: but what is here?
Angler. We are come again to a lower part of the same Bentley Brook we saw before; so let us pass over; and now we are to the top of the hill.
Painter. What noise was that?—
Look over the hedge: there they are! there is a troop of lads and maidens down in yonder green meadows a-dancing.
Angler. And so they are!—tripping it merrily round to the tabor and pipe.
Painter. And, look you, there’s a bevy of innocent milkmaids, leading a fine sleek cow for a whipt syllabub: see how she is deck’d with ribands and scarfs, and wreaths of flowers, and her horns tipped with gold.
Angler. And there the young woodmen begin to dance with the maidens in blue kirtles: how they foot it to the measure! Out upon the cares and tumults of a court life. I do love to see these honest country junketings, and I pray that merry England may always have a race of happy peasants, and not let melancholy Precisians[83] forbid them to rejoice their tired spirits with lawful sports in the flowery meadows and greenwoods. Hark! how they laugh their sorrows away.
Painter. But stay awhile: they have set themselves down upon the grass; let us see what they will do.
Angler. Hist—hist—they are challenging each other to sing—and now they have begun their
Painter. There’s a ballet for you! a most merry madrigal set to music by a choice hand.
Angler. And now they are silent: and there come the little maids with baskets of bride cakes, and knots of ribbands at their bosoms, with nosegays and bunches of rosemary in their hands.
Painter. Now trust me, it is some rustical wedding day; and there you may see the bride in the midst, in a russet gown, and a kirtle of fine worsted.
Angler. And there goes the bride cup, all streaming with bride laces of red and white, and full of spiced posset, that the bridegroom serves her with:—and look you, the tankards are passing round.
Painter. See—see! the lusty woodman has put on his high crown’d hat, turned up with a silver clasp, and leads out his bride to the dance: mark with how special a coyness she gives him her hand; but you may depend she will foot it with the best as soon as she begins.
Angler. There’s the bagpipe again: by my word, Sir, they are going to Canary it. Now look at my Gentleman in his yellow stockings, and his fellows all ready.
Painter. No, no: they are for a Corantoe. Is it not excellent? with what a gravity they frolic it up and down.
Angler. Ay, ’tis a merry bridal,
but come, we may not tarry.
Painter. Well then I am with you. So farewell! ye peaceful sons and daughters of nature: and may ye never want a spiced bride ale to make you cheerful and thankful hearts withal.
Angler. Hither away then; and now you may see the town of Ashbourne in the valley, which is to be my resting place to-night.
Painter. Alas! I am very loth to part with you; but thou shalt be remembered in my prayers. And one thing I am resolved, when on occasion the cares of life come against me, or the fears of greater afflictions, I will then say to myself, ‘It is now but so and so before the month of May, when I will throw off all my moody thoughts on the banks of some retired river, and it may be by the side of Mr. Cotton’s fishing-house.’
Angler. It is bravely resolved, and the more so, because I know by experience, how a seclusion from the noisy world is a favourable aid and opportunity for religious services,—helps to soften the affections, and inclines them to a sublime love to God,—and if that be wanting, all others do but delude.
Painter. True; and consider the motives we have to that love; think of that proper and peculiar attraction—loveliness; and indeed Honourable Mr. Robert Boyle has declared, how such was the freeness of God’s love towards us, and so entirely was that love its own motive, that even our existence in the world is the effect of it; nay, He even ‘loved us before the foundation of the world.’ And consider again the rich discoveries of His free love in sending His Son to redeem us. Think of the Divine glory shrouded in the veil of manhood, and so tempered to the weak eyesight of a fallen race; of His weariness and watchings—of the buffet, mocking, and scourge, the injurious condemnation, and the uplifted Cross. And let us not forget how God loves to dwell, by His Spirit, in them whom He has drawn and disposed to love His Son: ‘He that loveth me,’ said the blessed Jesus, ‘shall be loved of my Father, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.’
Angler. Vast and exalted love! Oh the extreme abjectedness of our hearts, that cannot soar up to the skies, and there be ravished with a contemplation of such glorious love. It is enough to stir our penitential shame, to think of the dulness of our apprehensions! Let us often secretly, and alone by ourselves, pray for divine grace, that our souls may be able to rise to the throne of Him that only can strengthen them. I might enlarge, but now I must stop here: only this is most certain, the angler’s retirement is sweetened by a contemplation of God’s attributes; and the breath of praise perfumes even the banks of flowers he reclines himself upon, ‘for the prayers of saints are golden vials full of odours.’ And if he desires the best company, let him join the heavenly choir in spiritual adoration. Therefore, let all lovers of the angle be lovers of prayer, because they have best opportunity to it; and I would have them be lovers of God, for they have most reason to be so. And now, brother, the Talbot is before us, and there is your waiting man.
Painter. This parting comes too soon: do you remember how ‘the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul?’[85] and how, when they parted, they kissed one another, and wept one with another: and ‘Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David!’[86]
Angler. And so he did, and also ‘his sword and his bow, and his girdle,’ for ‘he delighted much in David.’
Painter. Well, then, here is a parting gift, that is offered with a love equal to Jonathan’s, notwithstanding this testimony is so unworthy: here is my little book, that is no longer a blank book, but full of rude pictures: they are all your’s, and welcome. They will bring to your mind some thoughts of the mutual pleasures we have felt along the banks of the Dove: and you may remember from them, that it was out of love for you I came this walk; and how you rewarded me beyond my hope, because you taught me some inward secrets, and sent me back to my house a happy composed Angler.
Angler. Indeed, dear brother, I’m in a strait how to answer you; only let me embrace you, as those loving friends kissed one another; and when I next go angling, ‘thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.’[87] But we have made a covenant, like Jonathan and David, and let it be for the ‘glorious twenty-ninth of May.’ And for this book of drawings, I shall esteem it to be more precious than any thing else I know of; and indeed I love you for this and many other bounties you have bestowed on me. And now you may oblige me in one thing more, for my consolation at parting.
Painter. Any thing you desire is, in a manner, performed.
Angler. It is this: here is my angle rod, and my landing net and pouch—I beseech you, let them obtain your acceptance. I do not say it out of ostentation, but there are some flies in that pouch that are artfully twisted; and above all others, I present you with the Compleat Angler, in two parts, writ by Mr. Walton and Mr. Cotton; therein we have found many passages of true piety, that may sometimes again contribute to your peace and contentment.
Painter. A thousand thanks to you; and I accept these gifts of your love as freely as they are offered; and when we meet again, you shall give me some instructions in your better art of fly-fishing. And now ‘I salute you with a holy kiss—Go in peace.’
Angler. Farewell, brother; and remember always how the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is, in the sight of God, of great price.—‘Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.’[88] We have had some innocent days of leisure amidst the beauties of the natural world: but let us not forget to give all diligence in our journey to the glories of the spiritual world. For these pleasures of the earth are but a faint shadow of the blessedness of the heavenly Sion. Let us be prepared in the whole armour of Christian soldiers, that when our temporal warfare is accomplished, we may receive an eternal crown; and rest and refresh ourselves beside the ‘pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.’[89] Once more, farewell!
1. Arrian. Epict. l. I. c. 16.—Ed.
2. ‘A new ballad of bold Robin Hood; showing his birth, breeding, valour, and marriage at Titbury Bullrunning. Calculated for the meridian of Staffordshire, but may serve for Derbyshire or Kent.’—Ed.
3. See Plott’s History of Staffordshire, p. 437, for an account of the primitive right to claim the Flyke of Bacon, which Sir Philip de Somerville was bound to keep hanging in his Hall, in token of his fealty to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, for the manors of Whichenovre and others. The same custom prevails at Dunmow in Essex.—Ed.
4. No doubt, in allusion to the Charter granted in 1381, by John of Gaunt, to the troop of minstrels maintained at Tutbury Castle, in that time of its splendour. The chief was appointed by the title of ‘King of the Minstrels;’ and he had wardens and other officers under him to maintain the rules of the Fraternity, and to levy fines for any disorders.—Plott’s Hist.—Ed.
5. Drayton’s Polyolbion: Song 12, p. 207.—Ed.
6. Henry V. Act III. Scene vii.—Ed.
7. ‘The Art of Angling, written by Thomas Barker, an ancient practitioner in the said Art.’ 12mo. London. 1651.—Ed.
8. Gervase Markham. This book contains a Discourse of the general Art of Fishing with the Angle or otherwise: and all the hidden secrets belonging thereto. 4to. London. 1614.—Ed.
9. Pleasure of Princes, ch. iii. p. 15.—Ed.
10. The Secrets of Angling; teaching the choicest tooles, baytes, and seasons for the taking of any fish in pond or river; practiced and familiarly opened in three Bookes. By J. D. Esq. 8vo. London. 1613.—Ed.
11. Pleasure of Princes, ch. iii. p. 16.—Ed.
12. Secrets of Angling, p. 20.—Ed.
13. Retirement. Irregular stanzas, addressed to Mr. Izaak Walton, and prefixed to Mr. Cotton’s Instructions how to angle for a Trout or Grayling in a clear stream. 1676.—Ed.
14. ‘Unknown,’ because Walton ascribes the ‘Secrets Of Angling’ to the pen of Jo. Davors, Esquire: but Mr. Roger Jackson, by whom they were published, ‘after the death of the author,’ entered them at the Stationers’ Company, ‘1612, 23º Martii, as practised and opened in three books, by John Dennys, Esquire.’—Ed.
15. Originally written in Greek; but that being lost, there is only a Latin version, supposed to have been made by Rufinus in the 4th century. Editio princeps, Pastor à Nic. Gerbellio. Lat. Argent. 1522. 4º—Ed.
16. Translated into English by Cyprian Lucas, Gent. folio, 1588. Tartaglia was a famous mathematician.—Ed.
17. A gentleman of Dauphiny in the reign of Henry IV. Par. 1640. Fol.—Ed.
18. London, Printed by Thomas Creede for Robert Dexter, dwelling in St. Paul’s Church-yard, at the sign of the Brazen Serpent. 1599. 12mo.—Ed.
19. The Retirement. Irregular stanzas by Charles Cotton.—Ed.
20. Silk.—Ed.
21. Barker’s Delight; or the Art of Angling, wherein are discovered many rare secrets both for catching fish and dressing thereof, &c. 12º 1657.—Ed.
22. Lord Clarendon, who greatly praises him in his ‘Characters of Eminent Men,’ in the reigns of Charles I. and II.—Ed.
23. The Holy Bible, conteyning the Old Testament, and the New; newly translated out of the Originall Tongues: and with the former Translations diligently compared and revised by His Majesties special Commandement.
Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majestie. Anno Dom. 1611.—Ed.
24. Rev. xxii. 17.
25. ‘Basilicon Doron,’ or a royal gift, written by James the First, and addressed to his son Prince Henry. Originally printed at Edinburgh, by R. Waldegrave in 1599.—Ed.
26. That this friendship, so happily begun between the two poets, was a lasting one we have undoubted evidence in Mr. Cotton’s Elegy ‘To the Memory of my worthy Friend Coll. Richard Lovelace,’ appended to a posthumous edition of Lovelace’s Lucasta, printed in 1659, the year after his death. In this collection of poems is one addressed by Lovelace ‘To the noblest of our Youth, and best of Friends, Charles Cotton, Esquire, being at Beresford, at his house in Staffordshire;’ in which is the following testimony of gratitude for Mr. Cotton’s having contributed to his necessities, when he was in prison.
27. William, Earl of Devonshire, mentioned in Cotton’s Wonders of the Peak, p. 24. 1681.—Ed.
28. Probably the son of Mr. Thomas Rolleston, who built the church at Mayfield, in Dove Vale, in 1616.—Pitt’s Survey of Staffordshire, p. 225.—Ed.
29. Printed by M. F. for John Marriott and Richard Marriott, and are to be sold at their shop in St. Dunstan’s Church-yard, Fleet Street, under the Dyall, 1646. A posthumous work, as the poet died in 1644. Francis Quarles, author of Divine Emblems, had been cup bearer to Elizabeth, Electress Palatine, daughter of James I., and afterwards Secretary to Archbishop Usher. His loyalty exposed him to persecution during the Rebellion.—Ed.
30. Is. xlix. 25.
31. The Secrets of Angling; teaching the choicest tooles, baits, and seasons for the taking of any fish in pond or river: practised and familiarly opened in three Books. By J. Davors, Esquire. 1652.—Ed.
32. Ordination Service: charge to the priests.—Ed.
33. Joel ii. 25.
34. Ezra iii.
35. Isa. xxiii. 8.
36. Is. i. 8.
37. S. Ignatius: Epist. ad Ephesiois, iii. 4.
38. His Majesty had so great a distaste to the use of the weed, that he wrote a treatise against it, intituled, ‘A Counterblast to Tobacco.’ It was re-published in 4to. in 1672, with ‘a learned discourse by Dr. Everard Maynwaring, proving that tobacco is a procuring cause of the scurvy.’ This royal pedantic treatise is thought to be a considerable ‘counterblast’ to His Majesty’s fame as an author.—Ed.
39. William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, a finished gentleman, and a most distinguished patriot, was author of the well-known work on horsemanship, originally published in French at Antwerp in 1658, fol., and afterwards in English under the title of ‘A new Method and extraordinary Invention to dress Horses, and work them according to Nature, as also to perfect Nature by the Subtilty of Art.’ 1667. fol.—Ed.
40. In a poetic epistle to John Bradshaw, Esq. describing his journey from London to Basford Hall, in his coach and four, he thus alludes to the Tower:
41. The Planter’s Manual of railing, planting, and cultivating all Sorts of Fruit-trees. London: 1675. 8vo.—Ed.
42. A Panegyric to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, 1660. Folio.—Ed.
43. The Moral Philosophy of the Stoics. Translated from the French of Monsieur de Vaix, 1664. 8vo. And the Life of the Duke of Espernon, in 12 Books, wherein the History of France is continued, &c. Translated from the French of M. Girard. London: 1670. Folio.—Ed.
44. Colonel Richard Lovelace inscribes a panegyric to him in his Lucasta. And the following lines of Mr. Charles Cotton, addressed to the painter on another occasion, are applicable to his own portrait, and testify to the familiarity between the poet and the painter:—
From a poem of Mr. Cotton’s, ‘To my friend Mr. Lely, on his picture of the excellently virtuous lady, the Lady Isabella Thynne,’ Poems on several Occasions. Printed 1689, 8º.—Ed.
45. A Perambulation of Kent, containing the Descriptive Hystorie and Customes of that Shyre, by William Lambarde, of Lincolnes Inne, Gent. 1576. 12o. He was one of the most eminent antiquaries of this country, and declared by the great Camden to be as distinguished for learning and piety. He was appointed Keeper of the Records in the Tower, of which he presented an account to her Majesty, under the title of Pandecta Rotulorum. This, with other great works, did not see the light till published by his grandson in 1635. His tomb may be found in the church of Sevenoaks.—Ed.
46. The second wife of Mr. Cotton; Mary, the daughter of Sir William Russell, and widow of Wingfield Cromwell, Earl of Ardglass.—Ed.
47. Alexander Brome, a poet, born 1620, and died 1666, eminent for his loyalty. His congratulatory poem on the miraculous and glorious return of Charles 2nd, fol. was published 1660; and his songs and poems, 1664. 8vo.—Ed.
48. Mr. Cotton’s hopeful temper amidst his cares has been well expressed in these lines ‘To my dear and most worthy friend, Mr. Isaac Walton.
49. Thomas Flatman. His poems were first published in 1674, 8vo. The ballad here alluded to will be found at p. 121. He afterwards took to him a wife, and was serenaded by his companions with his own contumelious song against marriage. His own portrait designed by himself, is prefixed to his Poems: and the following lines, in his ‘Pindarique Ode, The Review’ are a testimony to his practice of limning;
50. Author of the Purple Island, printed 1633, 4to. and Piscatory Eclogues, 1633, 4to.—Ed.
51. Michael Drayton was an admirable poet, and amongst other numerous works, wrote the Shepherd’s Garland, fashioned in 9 Eglogs, which was printed in 1593, 4to. Also the Poly-Albion, a chorographical description of all the tracts, rivers, mountains, forests, and other parts of this renowned isle of Great Britain, 1612, 1613, and 1622, all in folio.—Ed.
52. To my ingenious friend, Mr. Brome, on his various and excellent poems: an humble eglog. Damon and Dorus. Written the 29th May, 1660.—Ed.
53. Psalm civ. 10.
54. Eccl. ix. 7.
55. The original of this ballad is to be found in ‘A handfull of Pleasant Delites,’ contayning sundrie new Sonets and delectable Histories in divers kinds of meters, newly devised to the newest tunes. At London, 1584. Printed by Richard Jhones, dwelling at the sign of the Rose and Crown, near Holbourne Bridge.—Ed.
56. Lib. III. Epist. 3.
57. The Visions of Petrarch, ‘formerly translated’ by Edmund Spenser, at the age of 14: originally printed in a book of some rarity, ‘The Theatre of John Vander Noodt.’ 8o 1569.—Ed.
58. And so thought Mr. Charles Cotton; as witness these lines:
‘To my dear and most worthy friend, Mr. Izaak Walton.
59. The first edition was printed, 1674, for J. Martyn.
60. Prov. iii. 17.
61. Titus Andron. Act. 2. Sc. 4.
62. Sir John Hawkins, in his life of Cotton, states that ‘a natural excavation in the rocky Hill on which Beresford Hall stands, is shewn as Mr. Cotton’s occasional refuge from his creditors:’ and to this Cotton himself probably alludes in the following lines of his Ode to Retirement.
63. Ballads and Madrigals by Thos. Weekes, 1598.—Ed.
64. Heb. xii. 22.
65. John xvii. 21.
66. John xiv. 23.
67. Ibid. xiv. 17.
68. Heb. i. 14.
69. Herbert’s Poems, The Church, p. 117.
70. Richard Marriott was the publisher of almost all Izaak Walton’s works.—Ed.