113439676.23.Pdf

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

113439676.23.Pdf h&s. I. 76?. /?0 'mi* ^ % , ? . ' . //? £ . .< M ? EXE AN- i L Contemplate e man’s rixkeatioe A DISCGU : OX RIVERS, FISH-:' '»OS, . •:-> HSH1X, 1ZAAK WALTOM AND CHARIT Y : -n- , . BY MB JOH ■ i 1WKLS KNB.i i | ■ ■IAMPK REN'N A. ' •Kl >■ .>f ifl -IV, K.O-. .I. ’ m KiMNB! KGM: FRASER ,& • a 54 NORTH BR1 teae. t " r COMPLETE ANGLER; OR, CONTEMPLATIVE MAN’S RECREATION: BEING A DISCOURSE ON RIVERS, FISH-PONDS, FISH, AND FISHING. IZAAK WALTON AND CHARLES COTTON. WITH LIVES, AND NOTES, BY SIR JOHN HAWKINS, KNIGHT. EDITED BY JAMES RENNIE, A.M. PUOFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY, KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON EDINBURGH : FRASER & CO. 54, NORTH BRIDGE; H. WASHBOURNE, LONDON. ,\R )-■ ^ b ^ .J. tfl <•2 ~ 1 "£.'-=■ ’AP O^ q, 19 75 Pa' EDINBURGH: Printed by Andrew Shortredf, Thistle Lane. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE EDITION PUBLISHED BY SIR JOHN HAWKINS, 1750. The Complete Angler having been written so long ago as 1653, although the last publication thereof in the lifetime of the Author was in 1676, contains many particulars of persons now but little known, and frequent allusions to facts, and even modes of living, the memory whereof is in a great measure obliterated : a new edition, therefore, seemed to require a retrospect to the time when the Authors lived, an explanation of such passages as an interval of more than a hundred years had necessarily rendered obscure, together with such improvements in the art itself as the accumulated experience of succeeding times has enabled us to furnish. An Edition, undertaken with this view, is now attempted, and in a way, it is to be hoped, that may once again intro- duce the Authors to the acquaintance of persons of learning and judgment. All that the Editor requests, in return for the pains he has taken, is, that the reader will do him the justice to believe that his only motives for the republication of this w'ork were, a desire to perpetuate the memory of a meek, benevolent, pious man, and to contribute something to the improvement of an art of which he professes himself a lover. Twickenham, April 10, 1760. [The Notes to this edition by Professor Rennie, con- sisting chiefly of the correction of the errors of the original in Natural History, are marked by his initials, J. R.] LIFE OF IZAAK WALTON. The excellent Lord Verulam has noted it as one of the great deficiencies of biographical history, that it is, for the most part, confined to the actions of kings, princes, and great personages, who are necessarily few ; while the memory of less conspicuous, though good men, has been no better preserved than by vague reports and barren elogies. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, if little care has been taken to perpetuate the remembrance of the person who is the subject of the present inquiry ; and, indeed, there are many circumstances that seem to account for such an omission ; for neither was he distinguished by his rank, or eminent for his learning, or remarkable for the performance of any public service ; but as he ever affected a retired life, so was he noted only for an ingenious, humble, good man. However, to so eminent a degree did he possess the qualities above ascribed to him, as to afford a very justifiable reason for endeavouring to impress upon the minds of mankind, by a collection of many scattered passages concerning him, a due sense of their value and importance. Isaac, or, as he used to write it, Izaak Walton, was born at Stafford, in the month of August, 1593. The Oxford Antiquary, who has thus fixed the place and year of his nativity, has left us no memorials of his family, nor even hinted where or how he was educated ; but has only told us, that before the year 1C43, Walton was settled, and followed the trade of a sempster, in London.* * Athen. Oxon. vol. i. 805. A LIFE OF IZAAK WALTON. From his own writings, then, it must be that the circum* stanees attending his life must, in a great measure, come ; and, as occasions offer, a proper use will be made of them: never- theless, a due regard will be paid to some traditional memoirs, which (besides that they contain nothing improbable) the authority of those to whom we stand indebted for them, will not allow us to question. His first settlement in London, as a shopkeeper, was in the Royal Burse in Cornhill, built by Sir Thomas Gresham, and finished in 1567.* In this situation he could scarcely be said to have elbow-room ; for the shops over the Burse were but seven feet and a half long, and five wide ; f yet here did he carry on his trade, till some time before the year 1624 ; when “ he dwelt on the north side of Fleet Street, in a house two doors west of the end of Chancery Lane, and abutting on a messuage known by the sign of the Harrow.”^ Now, the old timber house at the south-west corner of Chancery Lane in Fleet Street, till within these few years, was known by that sign : it is therefore beyond doubt that Walton lived at the very next door. And in this house he is, in the deed above referred to, which bears date 1624, said to have followed the trade of a linen-draper. It farther appears by that deed, that the house was in the joint occupation of Isaac Walton, and John Mason, hosier ; whence we may conclude, that half a shop was sufficient for the business of Walton. A citizen of this age would almost as much disdain to admit of a tenant for half his shop, as a knight would to ride double; though the brethren of one of the most ancient orders in the world were so little above this practice, that their common seal was the device of two riding on one horse.) A more than gradual deviation from that parsimonious character, of which this is a ludicrous instance, hastened the grandeur and declension of that fraternity ; and it is rather to be wished than hoped, that the vast increase of trade of this country, and an aversion from the frugal manners of our forefathers, may not be productive of similar consequences to this nation in general. I conjecture, that about 1632 he married; for in that year I find him living in a house in Chancery Lane, a few doors * Ward’s Life of Sir Thomas Gresham, p. 12. f I&id. J Ex vet. charta peat s me. § The Knights Templars. Ashmole’s Inst, of the Order of the Garter, p. 55. See the seal at the end of Alatt. Pans Hist. Anglicana, edit. 1640. LIFE OF IZAAK WALTON. 3 higher up, on the left hand, than the former, and described bv the occupation of a sempster, or milliner. The former of these might be his own proper trade; and the latter, as being a feminine occupation, might probably be carried on by his wife : she, it appears, was Anne, the daughter of Thomas Ken, of Furnival’s Inn, and sister of Thomas, afterwards Dr Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, one of the seven that were sent to the Tower, and who, at the Revolution, was deprived, and died in retirement. Walton seems to have been as happy in the married state, as the society and friendship of a prudent and pious woman of great endowments could make him ; and that Mrs Walton was such a one, we may conclude from what will be said of her hereafter. About 1643 he left London, and, with a fortune very far short of what would now be called a competency,* seems to have retired altogether from business ; at which time, (to use the words of Wood,) “ finding it dangerous for honest men to be there, he left that city, and lived sometimes at Stafford,-j- and elsewhere ; but mostly in the families of the eminent clergymen of England, of whom he was much beloved. J While he continued in London, his favourite recreation was angling, in which he was the greatest proficient of his time ; and indeed, so great were his skill and experience in that art, that there is scarce any writer on the subject since his time, who has not made the rules and practice of Walton his very foundation. It is, therefore, with the greatest propriety that Langbaine calls him “ the common father of all anglers.”;) The river that he seems mostly to have frequented for this purpose was the Lea, which has its source above Ware, in Hertfordshire, and falls into the Thames a little below Black Wall; || unless we will suppose that the vicinity of the New River 1 to the place of his habitation, might sometimes tempt him out with his friends, honest Nat. and R. Roe, whose loss he so pathetically mentions, ** to spend an afternoon there. * See his Will, at the end of the Life. f He lived upon a small estate near the town of Stafford, where, according to his own account, he suffered during the time of the Civil Wars ; having by his loyalty rendered himself obnoxious to the persons in power. j Athcn. Oxon. vol. i. SOS. § Lives of the English Dramatic Poets, art. Cha. Cotton, Esq. || See chap xix. ^ That great work, the bringing water from Chadwell and Amwell, in Hertfordshire, to London, by means of the trench called the New River, was completed on Michaelmas day, 1613. Stow’s Survey, fol. 1633, p. 1*2. ** Preface to Complete Angler.
Recommended publications
  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge
    Bloom’s Classic Critical Views JOHN DONNE AND THE METAPHYSICAL POETS Bloom’s Classic Critical Views Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens JOHN DONNE AND THE Edgar Allan Poe Geoffrey Chaucer METAPHYSICAL POETS Henry David Thoreau Herman Melville Jane Austen John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets Mark Twain Mary Shelley Nathaniel Hawthorne Oscar Wilde Ralph Waldo Emerson Walt Whitman William Blake Bloom’s Classic Critical Views JOHN DONNE AND THE METAPHYSICAL POETS Edited and with an Introduction by Harold Bloom Sterling Professor of the Humanities Yale University Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets Copyright © 2008 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2008 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data John Donne and the metaphysical poets / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) A selection of older literary criticism on John Donne. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60413-139-0 (hardcover : acid-free paper) 1. Donne, John, 1572–1631— Criticism and interpretation. I. Bloom, Harold. II. Title. III. Series. PR2248.J593 2008 821’.3—dc22 2008008428 Bloom’s Literary Criticism books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions.
    [Show full text]
  • Izaak Walton (A Model for Thoreau to Emulate?)
    IZAAK WALTON (A MODEL FOR THOREAU TO EMULATE?) “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Izaak Walton HDT WHAT? INDEX IZAAK WALTON IZAAK WALTON 1594 Izaak Walton was born at Stafford (the traditional August 9, 1683 has approximately as much chance of being precise as any other choice date during this period) to a father recorded in the register of his baptism as “Gervase,” an innkeeper. NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT Izaak Walton “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX IZAAK WALTON IZAAK WALTON 1600 This was the approximate florut of the English poet John Chalkhill, about whose life precious little is known. Izaak Walton would in 1653 include a couple of his songs in THE COMPLEAT ANGLER. His volume THEALMA AND CLEARCHUS. A PASTORAL ROMANCE. IN SMOOTH AND EASIE VERSE. WRITTEN LONG SINCE BY JOHN CHALKHILL, ESQ., AN ACQUAINTANT AND FRIEND OF EDMUND SPENSER would appear belatedly in 1683 and would be studied by Henry Thoreau in 1842. THEALMA AND CLEARCHUS LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Izaak Walton HDT WHAT? INDEX IZAAK WALTON IZAAK WALTON 1624 In about this year Anne King, wife of Archdeacon Henry King, died at the age of 23. The body would be buried at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The initial volume of the prose and poetry of Thomas Heywood, entitled GYNAIKEION OR NINE BOOKS OF VARIOUS HISTORY CONCERNING WOMEN.
    [Show full text]
  • January, 1946
    PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER OFFICIAL STATE VOL. XV-No. 1 PUBLICATION JANUARY, 1946 OFFICIAL STATE PUBLICATION ca PUBLISHED MONTHLY EDWARD MARTIN Governor by (he PENNSYLVANIA BOARD OF FISH COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS Publication Office: J. Horace McFarlaiul Co., CHARLES A. FRENCH Crescent and Mulberry Streets, Harrisburg, Pa. Commissioner of Fisheries Executive and Editorial Offices: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Board of Fish Com­ missioners, Harrisburg, Pa. MEMBERS OF BOARD 10 cents a copy—50 cents a year CHARLES A. FRENCH, Chairman Ellwood City JOHN L. NEIGER EDITED BY— Scranton J. ALLEN BABKETT, Lecturer Pennsylvania Fish Commission JOSEPH M. CRITCHFIELD South Office Building, Harrisburg Confluence CLIFFORD J. WELSH Erie NOTE Subscriptions to the PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER J. FRED McKEAN should be addressed to the Editor. Submit fee either New Kensington by check or money order payable to the Common­ wealth of Pennsylvania. Stamps not acceptable. MILTON L. PEEK Individuals sending cash do so at their own risk. Radnor CHARLES A. MENSCH Bellefonte PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER welcomes contribu­ tions and photos of catches from its readers. Proper EDGAB W. NICHOLSON credit will be given to contributors. Philadelphia 11. R. STACKHOUSE Secretary to Board All contributions returned if accompanied by first class postage. Entered as Second Class matter at the Post Office C. R. BULLER of Harrisburg, Pa., under act of March 3, 1873. Chief Fish Culturist, Bellefonte C» IMPORTANT—The Editor should be notified immediately of change in subscriber's address. Please give old and new addresses. Permission to reprint will be granted provided proper credit notice is given. PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER VOL XV—No.
    [Show full text]
  • The Complete Angler
    The Complete Angler Return to Renascence Editions The Complete Angler Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton Note on the e-text: this Renascence Editions text was transcribed, January 2003, by Risa Bear, University of Oregon. It is in the public domain. Source text is George Bell & Sons' edition of 1903. Content unique to this presentation is copyright © 2003 The University of Oregon. For nonprofit and educational uses only. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/walton/index.html (1 of 7)4/11/2005 6:37:26 AM The Complete Angler The Compleat Angler or the Contemplative man's Recreation. Being a discourse of F I S H and F I S H I N G, Not unworthy the perusal of most Anglers. _____________________________________ http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/walton/index.html (2 of 7)4/11/2005 6:37:26 AM The Complete Angler Simon Peter said, I go a fishing: and they said, We also wil go with thee. John 21.3. _____________________________________ London, Printed by T. Maxey for RICH. MARRIOT, in S. Dunstans Church-yard, Fleetstreet, 1653. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Part I. Dedication To the Reader of this Discourse. But Especially to the Honest Angler. Commendatory Verses Chapter I. A conference betwixt an angler, a hunter, and a falconer; each commending his recreation. Chapter II. Observations of the Otter and the Chub. Chapter III. How to fish for, and to dress the Chavender, or Chub. Chapter IV. Observations of the nature and breeding of the Trout, and how to fish for him. And the Milkmaid's song. Chapter V. More directions how to fish for, and how to make for the Trout an artificial minnow and flies; http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/walton/index.html (3 of 7)4/11/2005 6:37:26 AM The Complete Angler with some merriment.
    [Show full text]
  • Forage Friday: a Fishy Tale Friday 15 May 2020
    Forage Friday: A Fishy Tale Friday 15 May 2020 Welcome to Forage Friday: A Fishy Tale – sharing our heritage from Bruce Castle Museum & Archive. In today’s Forage Friday post, as lockdown restrictions have been eased a little this week to allow some more recreational activities, we are going to tell you ‘A Fishy Tale’. So take your place on the banks of the borough’s many waterways – rivers, canals, lakes, streams and ponds – cast a line in and let the slow pace of the water take you away. Into the Jaws of Death, artist unknown. 19th century Underneath the painting a plaque bears the inscription: 'Presented to the Tottenham Council for their Museum by the executors of the late Mr Augustus Taylor September 1927' From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum (Haringey Archive and Museum Service) Like all good tales, we are going to begin a long, long time ago, when a man who loved fishing decided to write about it. This man was the author, poet and biographer Izaak Walton (1593-1683). As this particular book was about fishing, Walton became known as the ‘Father of all Anglers’. The book, The Compleat Angler; or, the Contemplative Man’s Recreation was first published in 1653. Walton, along with his fellow angler, writer and friend Charles Cotton, continued to update the work until its last revision in 1676. Walton’s love of fishing and his skill and knowledge about the sport is evident throughout the work. The book is more than a fishing manual or instruction guide, it is a discourse about the joys of fishing and it clearly still captures people’s interest today.
    [Show full text]
  • Izaak Walton's Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker and George Herbert Online
    iZXjl (Mobile ebook) Izaak Walton's Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker and George Herbert Online [iZXjl.ebook] Izaak Walton's Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker and George Herbert Pdf Free Joseph Tinker Buckingham, henry morley, Izaak Walton *Download PDF | ePub | DOC | audiobook | ebooks Download Now Free Download Here Download eBook 2012-08-31Original language:English 10.00 x .67 x 7.50l, #File Name: B009HRLT8Y294 pages | File size: 62.Mb Joseph Tinker Buckingham, henry morley, Izaak Walton : Izaak Walton's Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker and George Herbert before purchasing it in order to gage whether or not it would be worth my time, and all praised Izaak Walton's Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker and George Herbert: 0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Little Read Today--And that's the ShameBy Martin AsinerBesides THE COMPLEAT ANGLER, Izaak Walton also wrote a series of five biographies. Three of them--Hooker, Wotton, Sanderson--are read today only by specialists in the literature of that era. His other two of Donne and Herbert are still read. In each of his biographies, he drops scattered hints that betray his nostalgia for the peaceful reign of James I. Though his loyalty to the monarchy was absolute, he yet realized that the England of his youth had vanished forever. In 1665, he spoke of `this weak and declining Age of the World,' and thirteen years later, in Life of Sanderson, he notes: `But when I look back upon the ruin of families, the bloodshed, the decay of common honesty, and how the former piety and plain dealing of this now sinful nation is turned into cruelty and cunning, I praise God that he prevented me from being part of that party which helped to bring in this Covenant.' Although most of his LIVES was written in the post-Restoration years, its spirit is that of an earlier epoch.
    [Show full text]
  • Victoria Park Restoration, Stafford
    VICTORIA PARK RESTORATION, STAFFORD HLF Round 2 Application 11.1 Capital Works RIBA Stage 3 Report February 2017 Contents 1.0 Introduction 4.7 Education Centre 1.1 Background Information 4.8 Display Glasshouse 1.2 HLF Funding 4.9 Bowls Pavilion 1.3 Condition 4.10 Toilet Block and Park Office 1.4 Partnerships 4.11 Sensory Garden 4.12 Thatched Shelter 2.0 Site Context 4.13 Catering Facility 2.1 Planning Policy 4.14 Amphitheatre 2.2 History 4.15 Mottram Shelter 2.3 Access and Circulation 4.16 Events Space 2.4 Trees 4.17 Bandstand 2.5 Ecology 5.0 Access and Movement 5.1 Access and Movement 3.0 Site Analysis and Concept 3.1 Site Analysis 6.0 Sustainability 3.2 Vision 6.1 Sustainability 3.3 Concept Design - Southern Section 3.4 Concept Design - Northern Section 7.0 Consultation 3.5 Education Centre Concept Design 7.1 Initial Consultation 3.6 Cafe Concept Design 7.2 Development Stage Consultation 4.0 Design Proposals 4.1 Masterplan 4.2 Mill Bank Gateway 4.3 Mottram Entrance 4.4 Mill Pond 4.5 Maintenance Depot 4.6 Aviary February 2016 page 3 1.0 Introduction 18 6 6 6 11 74.76 6 ST MARYS GATE 74.80 5 74.47 53 74.73 73.20 River Ps 74.78 ST MARYS GROVE GR 6 72.78 72.78 52 72.06 3 72.06 LP 73.05 74.81 74.24 74.63 74.23 73.20 73.13 Butterflies Stafford College Bank PH 74.33 ST CHADS PLACE 72.86 Bench 72.16 50 7 74.81 74.37 Day Nursery 73.01 Day Nursery Bin 74.70 73.20 74.35 1.1 Background Information Sow 72.96 72.98 72.15 74.73 Ancient 74.55 73.01 49 CASTLETOWN 72.78 Tarmac 73.19 72.07 74.55 Car Park St Mary's Church High SP Car Park 76.25 Shelters
    [Show full text]
  • NATURE/CULTURE and FLY FISHING in the NEW WEST By
    NATURE/CULTURE AND FLY FISHING IN THE NEW WEST by Jeffrey William Hostetler A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana April, 2006 © COPYRIGHT by Jeffrey William Hostetler 2006 All Rights Reserved ii APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by Jeffrey William Hostetler This thesis has been read by each member of the thesis committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding content, English usage, format, citations, bibliographic style, and consistency, and is ready for submission to the Division of Graduate Education. Dr. Susan Kollin, Committee Chair Approved for the Department of English Dr. Michael Beehler Approval for the Division of Graduate Education Dr. Joseph J. Fedock iii STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master’s degree at Montana State University, I agree that the Library shall make it available to borrowers under rules of the Library. If I have indicated my intention to copyright this thesis by including a copyright notice page, copying is allowable only for scholarly purposes, consistent with “fair use” as prescribed by the U.S. Copyright Law. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this thesis in whole or in parts may be granted only by the copyright holder. Jeffrey William Hostetler April 2006 iv DEDICATION I could not have accomplished this without the faith of those around me for the past two years. So many of you believed in me, even when I felt weighed down by the currents of thought and progress.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading the Rest of This American Fly
    The American Fly Fisher Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishzng Sampler A photo from the Mary Orvis Marbury panels prepared for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1892: "Equinox Pond, 'The Edge of the Shadows."' Photo by James D. Way, Manchester, Vermont. andwiched between the covers of this summer issue is the best water, he shrouded his favorite place with magic and mys- stuff of a sport and its place in the world. For the reader tery." That magic and mystery come through in Wargin's pho- Snew to thinking about fly-fishing history, here is a taste of tos, selected from the book. what anglers have been going on about, with examples that When a fishing title hits its 350-year mark in the world, we span four centuries. should probably make a note of it. In "Contemplating The A seventeenth-century book by Walt011 and Cotton. The Compleat Angler: A Remarkable Anniversary," special projects World's Columbian Exposition of 1892. A writer's secrecy sur- staffer Sara Wilcox hits a lovely note in her description of "one rounding his fabled favorite water and the sense of place that of the most reprinted works in the English language, trailing comes from intimacy. Homer's artistic representation of the only the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, and John Bunyan's sport. One twenty-first-century philosopher's musings on Pilgrim's Progress." She gives a little background on Isaak today's fly fisher and how sport and angler have evolved in the Walton's book and its editions and printings, noting that it is face of technology and lifestyle.
    [Show full text]
  • The Charles Lamb Bulletin the Journal of the Charles Lamb Society
    The Charles Lamb Bulletin The Journal of the Charles Lamb Society April 2008 New Series No. 142 Articles JOHN STRACHAN: Walton, Wordsworth and Late Georgian Angling Literature 34 STEPHEN BURLEY: Lamb’s First Play: An Editorial Enigma 48 REBEKAH OWENS: Lamb Roasts Kyd: Charles Lamb’s Reaction to Thomas Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy in Specimens 61 D. E. WICKHAM: ‘Dream Children: A Reverie’ Reworked 71 Society Notes and News from Members CHAIRMAN’S NOTES 72 34 Walton, Wordsworth and Late Georgian Angling Literature By JOHN STRACHAN The Ernest Crowsley Memorial Lecture, delivered to the Society at the Swedenborg Hall, October 2006 In June 1796, Charles Lamb writes thus to S. T. Coleridge: ‘I have just been reading a book, which I may be too partial to as it was the delight of my childhood; but I will recommend it to you. – it is Izaak Walton’s Compleat Angler’! All the scientific part you may omit in reading. The dialogue is very simple, full of pastoral beauties, and will charm you’.1 Lamb was not alone in his enthusiasm for Walton’s work; his friend William Wordsworth was also amongst the writer’s Romantic period admirers. This paper examines how Walton was read in the early nineteenth century, by enthusiasts such as Lamb and Wordsworth but also by highly antipathetic critics, Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt most notably. It is part of an ongoing project which examines how, from the publication of Peter Beckford’s Thoughts on Hunting in 1781 to the first classic of Victorian literature, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836-7), sport resounded through the print and periodical culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • BISHOP MORLEY of WINCHESTER 1598–1684: Politician Benefactor Pragmatist
    BISHOP MORLEY OF WINCHESTER 1598–1684: Politician Benefactor Pragmatist Andrew Thomson BISHOP MORLEY OF WINCHESTER 1598–1684: Politician Benefactor Pragmatist Andrew Thomson 02/08/2019, 21)40 Page 1 of 1 2 The Winchester Series A volume in THE WINCHESTER SERIES Winchester University Press takes as a special interest the hinterland of Winchester, a city whose reach in time and space goes a great way. The scope of that hinterland provides the topics and titles for books in the Press’s Winchester Series. The beginnings of Winchester are suggested by the evolution of its name from suppositious Celtic through attested Latin to everyday English. Caergwinntguic becomes Cair-Guntin, Caergwintwg, Caer Gwent, Venta Belgarum, Venta Castra, Wintanceastre, Wincestre, Vincestre and finally Winchester. The names chart the city’s passage over a thousand years from Britonic through Roman to Saxon possession, and they give a historical and linguistic starting point for the Winchester Series. From the sixth to the eleventh century, Winchester was in the Westseaxna Rice, the kingdom of Wessex, the home of the West Saxons. They ruled land between the south coast and the River Thames. They contested their northern and eastern boundaries with the kingdom of Mercia; what are now the counties of Oxfordshire, Sussex and Kent were sometimes part of the one kingdom and sometimes part of the other. To the west, Wessex was bounded by the River Taw or by the River Tamar as today’s Devon was contested with the British kingdom of Dumnonia. At highpoints, the West Saxon kings claimed rule over the whole of England, but the heart of their kingdom was Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, and Somerset.
    [Show full text]
  • Advisory Visit River Dove, Dovedale, Derbyshire / Staffordshire 30Th April
    Advisory Visit River Dove, Dovedale, Derbyshire / Staffordshire 30th April, 2009 1.0 Introduction This report is the output of a site visit undertaken by Tim Jacklin of the Wild Trout Trust to the River Dove, Dovedale on 30th April 2009. Comments in this report are based on observations on the day of the site visit and discussions with Russell Ashfield, Paul Mortimer and Jim Barber (National Trust); Graham Stevens, Alex Swann, Rob Hartley and Terry Parker (Leek & District Fly Fishing Association); Charlie Horsford (Derbyshire Wildlife Trust) and Andrew Heath (Trent Rivers Trust). Normal convention is applied throughout the report with respect to bank identification, i.e. the banks are designated left hand bank (LHB) or right hand bank (RHB) whilst looking downstream. 2.0 Fishery Overview The River Dove is probably one of the best-known trout rivers in the world. There is a long history of angling literature associated with the river from Charles Cotton’s 1676 addendum to Walton’s literary classic The Compleat Angler, through Edward Marston’s An Amateur Angler’s Days in Dovedale (1884) and Dovedale Revisited (1902), up to the present day. The title of Cotton’s Instructions How to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream probably best captures the attraction held by the river for anglers – the clear waters, beautiful surroundings and challenging angling for trout and grayling still hold a place in anglers’ affections today. Not only anglers are attracted by the River Dove, it is also one of the most visited beauty spots in the British Isles.
    [Show full text]