Chapter V (2)

_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!

FINIS.

C. WHITTINGHAM, CHISWICK.

-----

Footnote 1:

Arrian. Epict. l. I. c. 16.—ED.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 5:

Drayton’s Polyolbion: Song 12, p. 207.—ED.

Footnote 6:

Henry V. Act III. Scene vii.—ED.

Footnote 7:

‘The Art of Angling, written by Thomas Barker, an ancient practitioner
in the said Art.’ 12mo. London. 1651.—ED.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 9:

Pleasure of Princes, ch. iii. p. 15.—ED.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 11:

Pleasure of Princes, ch. iii. p. 16.—ED.

Footnote 12:

Secrets of Angling, p. 20.—ED.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 16:

Translated into English by Cyprian Lucas, Gent. folio, 1588. Tartaglia
was a famous mathematician.—ED.

Footnote 17:

A gentleman of Dauphiny in the reign of Henry IV. Par. 1640. Fol.—ED.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 19:

THE RETIREMENT. Irregular stanzas by Charles Cotton.—ED.

Footnote 20:

Silk.—ED.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 22:

LORD CLARENDON, who greatly praises him in his ‘Characters of Eminent
Men,’ in the reigns of Charles I. and II.—ED.

Footnote 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.

_Appointed to be read in Churches._

IMPRINTED at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the King’s Most
Excellent Majestie. ANNO DOM. 1611.—ED.

Footnote 24:

Rev. xxii. 17.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

‘What fate was mine, when in mine obscure cave,
‘Shut up almost close prisoner in a grave,
‘Your beams could reach me through the vault of night,
‘And canton the dark dungeon with light.’—ED.

Footnote 27:

William, Earl of Devonshire, mentioned in Cotton’s Wonders of the
Peak, p. 24. 1681.—ED.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 30:

Is. xlix. 25.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 32:

Ordination Service: charge to the priests.—ED.

Footnote 33:

Joel ii. 25.

Footnote 34:

Ezra iii.

Footnote 35:

Isa. xxiii. 8.

Footnote 36:

Is. i. 8.

Footnote 37:

S. Ignatius: Epist. ad Ephesiois, iii. 4.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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:

‘Tuesday at noon at Lichfield town we baited,
‘But there some friends, who long that hour had waited,
‘So long detain’d me, that my charioteer
‘Could drive that night but to Uttoxeter.
‘And there the Wedn’sday, being market-day,
‘I was constrain’d with some kind lads to stay,
‘Tippling till afternoon, which made it night,
‘When from my _Hero’s Tow’r_ I saw the light
‘Of her Flambeaux, and fanci’d, as we drave,
‘Each rising hillock was a swelling wave,
‘And that I swimming was, in Neptune’s spight,
‘To my long-long’d-for harbour of delight.’

Poems on several occasions, 1689, 8º.—ED.

Footnote 41:

The Planter’s Manual of railing, planting, and cultivating all Sorts
of Fruit-trees. London: 1675. 8vo.—ED.

Footnote 42:

A Panegyric to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, 1660. Folio.—ED.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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:—

‘Nature and art are here at strife;
‘This shadow comes so near to life,
‘Sit still, _dear Lely_, thou’st done that
‘Thyself must love and wonder at.’

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.

Footnote 45:

A PERAMBULATION OF KENT, containing the Descriptive Hystorie and
Customes of that Shyre, by _William Lambarde_, of Lincolnes Inne,
Gent. 1576. 12^o. 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.

Footnote 46:

The second wife of Mr. Cotton; Mary, the daughter of Sir William
Russell, and widow of Wingfield Cromwell, Earl of Ardglass.—ED.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

‘And some delight it is the while,
‘Though nature now does weep in rain,
‘To think that I have seen her smile,
‘_And haply may I do again_.

‘If the all-ruling Power please
‘We live to see another May,
‘_We’ll recompense an age of these
‘Foul days in one fine fishing day_.’

Poems on several Occasions.—ED.

Footnote 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;

‘To extricate myself from Love,
‘Which I could ill obey, but worse command,
‘I took my Pensils in my hand;
‘With that artillery for conquest strove:
‘Like wise Pigmalion thus did I
‘Myself design my Deity.
‘If she did frown, one dash could make her smile,
‘All bickerings one easy stroke could reconcile:
‘Thus did I quiet many a froward day,
‘While in my eyes my soul did play.’—ED.

Footnote 50:

Author of the Purple Island, printed 1633, 4to. and Piscatory
Eclogues, 1633, 4to.—ED.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 53:

Psalm civ. 10.

Footnote 54:

Eccl. ix. 7.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 56:

Lib. III. Epist. 3.

Footnote 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.’ 8^o 1569.—ED.

Footnote 58:

And so thought Mr. Charles Cotton; as witness these lines:

‘_To my dear and most worthy friend, Mr._ Izaak Walton.

‘A day without too bright a beam,
‘A warm, but not a scorching sun,
‘A _southern gale_ to curl the stream,
‘And, master, _half our work is done_.

‘There, whilst behind some bush we wait,
‘The scaly people to betray,
‘We’ll prove it just with treach’rous bait
‘To make the preying trout our prey.’

POEMS _on_ SEVERAL OCCASIONS, p. 115—ED.

Footnote 59:

The first edition was printed, 1674, for J. Martyn.

Footnote 60:

Prov. iii. 17.

Footnote 61:

Titus Andron. Act. 2. Sc. 4.

Footnote 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.

‘O my beloved Caves! from Dog-star heats,
‘And hotter perfection’s safe retreats,
‘What safety, privacy, what true delight
‘In the artificial night
‘Your gloomy entrails make,
‘Have I taken, do I take!
‘How oft, when grief has made me fly
‘To hide me from society,
‘Even of my dearest friends have I
‘In your recesses’ friendly shade
‘All my sorrows open laid,
‘And my most secret woes entrusted to your privacy.’

Occasional Poems, p. 138.—ED.

Footnote 63:

Ballads and Madrigals by Thos. Weekes, 1598.—ED.

Footnote 64:

Heb. xii. 22.

Footnote 65:

John xvii. 21.

Footnote 66:

John xiv. 23.

Footnote 67:

Ibid. xiv. 17.

Footnote 68:

Heb. i. 14.

Footnote 69:

Herbert’s Poems, THE CHURCH, p. 117.

Footnote 70:

Richard Marriott was the publisher of almost all Izaak Walton’s
works.—ED.

Footnote 71:

Antidote against Melancholy, A. D. 1661.—ED.

Footnote 72:

She died at the age of 38, as appears from a poem of Sir Aston
Cockaine:—‘On the death of his dear cousin germaine, Mrs. Olive
Cotton, who deceased at Beresford, in the 38th year of her age, and
lies buried at Bentley, by Ashbourne.’—ED.

Footnote 73:

P. Augustinus Chesneau, Orpheus Eucharisticus.—ED.

Footnote 74:

Psalm cvii. 29, 30.

Footnote 75:

John xiv. 27.

Footnote 76:

See Note p. 28.—ED.

Footnote 77:

Walton’s Life of Sir Henry Wotton.

Footnote 78:

Occasional Reflections by the Honourable Robert Boyle. 1665.—ED.

Footnote 79:

The incident here referred to, of a book found in the belly of a
cod-fish, taken on the Norfolk coast, and brought to Cambridge market,
on Midsummer eve, 1626, is no less true than strange. Fuller attests
the fact in his Worthies of England, folio, p. 359, and says he was in
Cambridge at the time: and in Parr’s Life and Letters of Archbishop
Usher, folio, p. 345, is a letter from his Grace to Dr. Samuel Ward,
dated 30th June, 1626, in answer to his communication of the same
fact. I have myself seen a copy of one of these treatises, in ‘_sexto
decimo_,’ printed in black letter, and entitled ‘The Preparation to
the Crosse and to Death, and of the Comfort under the Crosse and
Death.’ John Frith, who suffered martyrdom in 1533, was the
author.—ED.

Footnote 80:

See back p. 8.—ED.

Footnote 81:

See back p. 8.—ED.

Footnote 82:

Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

Footnote 83:

In ‘The King’s Majestie’s Declaration concerning lawful sports,’
Puritans and Precisians are designated ‘as Adversaries of our
Church.’—ED.

Footnote 84:

First Book of Ballads to five voices. By Thomas Morley, 1600.—ED.

Footnote 85:

1 Sam. xviii. 1.

Footnote 86:

xviii. 4.

Footnote 87:

1 Sam. xx. 18.

Footnote 88:

Heb. xii. 14.

Footnote 89:

Rev. xxii. 1.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Books on Angling.

_Published by_ W. PICKERING.

I

Walton and Cotton’s Complete Angler. Edited with Original Memoirs, by
_Sir Harris Nicolas_, Illustrated by Engravings from Designs by
_Stothard_ and _Inskipp_. 2 vols. imperial 8vo. 6_l._ 6_s._ or
proofs on India paper, 10_l._ 10_s._ The Illustrations separate,
4to. proofs before the letters, 10_l._ 10_s._

⁂ Additional Plates (XXXII) to Illustrate Walton and Cotton’s Complete
Angler, consisting of Portraits, Monuments, &c. mostly proofs,
imperial 8vo. 3_l._ 3_s._

II

The true Enjoyment of Angling. By _Henry Phillips, Esq._ Illustrated
with a Portrait of the Author, and Seven Songs, descriptive of the
Art, with Pianoforte Accompaniments. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._

III

Berners’s (Juliana) Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle. Reprint with
fac-simile wood-cuts, crown 8vo. 5_s._

IV

Piscatorial Reminiscences and Gleanings, by an _Old Angler_ and
_Bibliopolist_; with the most complete Catalogue of Books on Angling
ever published, fscap. 8vo. _with cuts_, 7_s._ 6_d._

V

The Angler’s Desideratum, containing the best and fullest Directions
for dressing the Artificial Fly; with some new and valuable
Inventions, “by _The Author_,” from a practice of nearly half a
Century, 12mo. 1_s._ 6_d._

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

● Non-standard spelling and dialect retained. ● Added table of Contents. ● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last chapter. ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. ● Enclosed blackletter font in =equals=. ● HTML alt text was added for images that didn’t have captions.