In 1643, about the beginning of the Civil War,— which he deplored
and reprobated with as much bitterness as was possible to a man of
his gentle disposition,- he retired from business with a modest for-
tune, and purchased a small estate near his native town, in the heart
of rural England and in the neighborhood of good fishing.
and reprobated with as much bitterness as was possible to a man of
his gentle disposition,- he retired from business with a modest for-
tune, and purchased a small estate near his native town, in the heart
of rural England and in the neighborhood of good fishing.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v26 - Tur to Wat
A gradual process of petrifaction began when inspi-
ration failed, and the traditions descended to lesser men. Thus rules
came to be established, and the form was reverenced whence the
soul had fled. This is doubtless the historic connection between
the wooden age of the Mastersingers and Walther's age of gold.
The descent had begun even in the time of Walther, who deplored
the peasant realism of his contemporary Nithart, whose so-called Ni-
tharte represented the triumph of vulgarity over the courtly. But
the descent was not precipitate, for there are still exquisite speci-
mens of the minnesang in the early fourteenth century; as for
instance, the poem “I saw yon infant in her arms carest of the
Zürich poet Hadloub. But in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
the courtly vanished before the vulgar; and it required all the inde-
fatigable industry of the sound-hearted Hans Sachs to rescue German
literature from hopeless coarseness. Walther's name was still hon-
ored as a tradition, but it was only a name;- then darkness fell and
that too was forgotten. The story of his rehabilitation is the same
as that which relates the recovery of the Nibelungenlied. Bodmer
turned the attention of Germans to their ancient poets; slowly the
interest grew; at last the pioneers of German philology and the
Romantic poets, especially Tieck, -- who in 1803 published his edition
of the Minnelieder,— restored the bards of the thirteenth century to
their rightful place among the greatest singers of German song. And
## p. 15588 (#542) ##########################################
15588
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
to-day every lover of pure lyric verse will echo with equal sincerity
the sentiment of Walther's younger contemporary, Hugo von Trim-
berg, when he enthusiastically exclaims:-
«Her Walther von der Vogelweide, -
Swer des vergaez', der taet' mir leide. )
(Sir Walther von der Vogelweide, - I'd be sorry for any one that could for-
get him. )
C
Chart Bruing
SONG OF WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
WHEN
HEN from the sod the flowerets spring,
And smile to meet the sun's bright ray,
When birds their sweetest carols sing,
In all the morning pride of May,
What lovelier than the prospect there?
Can earth boast anything more fair ?
To me it seems an almost heaven,
So beauteous to my eyes that vision bright is given.
But when a lady chaste and fair,
Noble, and clad in rich attire,
Walks through the throng with gracious air,
As sun that bids the stars retire,-
Then where are all thy boastings, May ?
What hast thou beautiful and gay,
Compared with that supreme delight?
We leave thy loveliest flowers, and watch that lady bright.
Wouldst thou believe me,- come and place
Before thee all this pride of May,
Then look but on my lady's face,
And which is best and brightest say.
For me, how soon (if choice were mine)
This would I take, and that resign;
And say, “Though sweet thy beauties, May,
I'd rather forfeit all than lose my lady gay! ”
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
(
## p. 15589 (#543) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15589
LAMENT OF WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
A"
H ME! whither have vanished the years of age and youth?
Has life been but a dream, then, or was it all a truth?
And was that really somewhat which I have lived and
thought?
Surely I must have slumbered, although I knew it not.
And now that I'm awakened, I not a whit recall
That once I was acquainted amongst these people all:
The country and the people 'mongst whom my life passed by
Have grown to be estranged, as if 'twere all a lie.
They who were once my playmates are weary now and cold;
The prairies have been broken, the woods cut down and sold.
If yonder river flowed not e'en as it once did flow,
I do believe my sorrow would, growing, lay me low.
Me greet with hesitation many who knew me well:
This wretched world is everywhere a dark, ungrateful hell;
And then I think of many days of ecstasy and joy,
That now e'en as a stroke on the sea have gone forever by -
Forever, forevermore, ah me!
Ah me, how sad and careworn our young men now appear!
The men who never sorrow in their fresh minds did wear
Do nothing now but weary -
Ah me! how can it be?
Wherever in the world I turn, no one seems glad to me.
Dancing, laughing, singing, grief has driven away;
Christian man saw never a world so sombre aye:
Look now how our women walk with strange headgear,
And how our knights and nobles in clownish dress appear.
Letters sharp reproving from Rome have come our way:
To mourn we have permission; we must no more be gay.
It grieves me to my heart's core — we once did live so grand –
That now from cheerful laughter to weeping I must bend.
The wild birds of the forest sadden at our complaint,
Is't wonder if I also despair and grow more faint ?
But what ( wretched me! have I been led to scoff ?
Who follows earthly happiness, from heaven's bliss turneth off
Forevermore, ah me!
Ah me, how we are poisoned with the sweetness of the world!
I see the bitter gall amidst the sweetest honey curled.
The world is outward beautiful, white, and green, and red,
But inward, oh! a sombre black, gloomy, aye, and dead.
## p. 15590 (#544) ##########################################
15590
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
Yet now to who have listened a comfort I will show:
Even a gentle penance forgiveness shall bestow.
Remember this, O knightly lords, 'tis yours to do and seal;
You bear the glittering helmets and breastplates of strong steel,
Moreo'er the shields so steady and the consecrated swords:
O God, that I were worthy to join the victor lords !
Then should I like the others achieve a prize untold, -
Not lands that have been promised, nor king's or nobles' gold,
But oh, a wondrous crown, and forevermore to wear
A crown which poorest soldier can win with axe or spear.
Yea, if the noble crusade I might follow o'er the sea,
I evermore should sing, All's well! and nevermore, Ah me!
Nevermore, Ah me!
Translation of A. E. Kroeger.
SONG OF WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH
WOULD
OULD I the lofty spirit melt
Of that proud dame who dwells so high,
Kind Heaven must aid me, or unfelt
By her will be its agony.
Joy in my soul no place can find:
As well might I a suitor be
To thunderbolts, as hope her mind
Will turn in softer mood to me.
Those cheeks are beautiful, are bright
As the red rose with dewdrops graced;
And faultless is the lovely light
Of those dear eyes, that, on me placed,
Pierce to my very heart, and fill
My soul with love's consuming fires,
While passion burns and reigns at will, -
So deep the love that fair inspires!
But joy upon her beauteous form
Attends, her hues so bright to shed
O'er those red lips, before whose warm
And beaming smile all care is fled.
She is to me all light and joy;
I faint, I die, before her frown:
Even Venus, lived she yet on earth,
A fairer goddess here must own.
## p. 15591 (#545) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15591
While many mourn the vanished light
Of summer, and the sweet sun's face,
I mourn that these, however bright,
No anguish from the soul can chase
By love inflicted: all around
Nor song of birds, nor ladies' bloom,
Nor flowers upspringing from the ground,
Can chase or cheer the spirit's gloom.
Yet still thine aid, beloved, impart;
Of all thy power, thy love, make trial;
Bid joy revive in this sad heart,-
Joy that expires at thy denial:
Well may I pour my prayer to thee,
Belovèd lady, since 'tis thine
Alone to send such care on me;
Alone for thee I ceaseless pine.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
BLANCHEFLEUR AT THE TOURNAMENT
From (Tristan and Isolde) of Gottfried von Strassburg
A
T TINTAJOEL 'twas, on the plain
Where the guests met again;
In the loveliest glen
Ever beheld by eyes of men
In the first freshness of that clime.
The gentle, gracious summer-time
Had by the sweet Creator's hand
With sweet care been poured on the land.
Of little wood birdlets bright,
That to ears should ever give delight,
Of grass, flowers, leaves, and blossoms high,
Of all that happy makes the eye
Or noble heart delight may gain,
Was full the glorious summer plain.
Whatever there you wished to find,
Spring had kindly borne in mind, -
The sunshine by the shadow,
The linden on the meadow.
The gentle, pleasant breezes,
With cunning, sweet caresses,
## p. 15592 (#546) ##########################################
15592
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
O'er all the guests did lightly sweep.
The brilliant flowers did brightly peep
From dewy grass and shadow.
May's friend, the fresh green meadow,
Had from the flowers that he had reared
A summer robe so bright prepared,
Each guest its glow detected
From eye and mien reflected.
The sweet tree blossom looked at you
With a smile so sweet and true,
That all your heart and all your mind
Again to the laughing bloom inclined;
With eyes playfully burning,
Its loving laugh returning.
The gentle bird-ditty,
So lovely, so pretty,
That stirs every feeling,
O'er ears and minds stealing,
Rang from each bush of the summer vale.
The blessed nightingale,
The dearest, sweetest bird on tree,
That ever blessed ought to be,
It sang in the coolness,
With such heartfulness,
That to every noble heart
The sound did joy and glow impart.
And now the whole company,
Full of mirth and in high glee,
Had settled down upon the lawn.
There did every one
As his notion or pleasure bent,
And put up or arranged his tent.
The wealthy were quartered wealthily,
The courtly incomparably;
Some under silk did rest,
Others on the heath gay-drest;
To many the linden gave shadow,
Others housed on the meadow,
Under leaf-green twigs demurely.
Nor guests nor servants, surely,
Rarely were pleasanter
Quartered than they were quartered here.
Plenty was gathered of the best,
Which needful is for mirthful feast,
## p. 15593 (#547) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15593
In way of clothing and eating;
Each his own wants meeting,
From home had brought provender.
King Mark, with regal splendor,
Moreover had provided for them.
Thus they enjoyed in bliss supreme
The gracious time of early spring;
Thus joy the feast to all did bring.
All that ever a curious man
To behold had longed, he then
There could have seen certainly.
One saw there what one liked to see:
Those eyed the pretty women,
These watched the peddling showmen;
Those looked at the dancing,
These at the jousting and lancing.
All that ever heart longed for
Was found there in sufficient store;
And all who were present,
Of joy-ripe years, pleasant
Effort made each to exceed
At every feast in mirthful deed;
And King Mark the good,
The courteous and high of mood,
Not only on this festivity
Had spent his wealth lavishly,
But here did he show men
A wonder of all women,
His sister Blanchefleur,-
A maid more beautiful than e'er
A woman upon earth was seen.
Of her beauty one must say, e'en,
That no living man could gaze
Intently on her glorious face,
But he would higher rank and find
Women and virtue in his mind.
The blessed eye-pleasure
O'er that wide inclosure
Gladdened all of young, fresh blood,
All noble hearts of courteous mood;
And on the lawn could have been seen
Many pretty women then,
## p. 15594 (#548) ##########################################
15594
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
Of whom each by her beauty
Should have been queen in duty.
Whoe'er had seen them surely would
Have drawn from such sight fresh bold mood.
Many hearts grew rich with joy.
Now began the great tourney
Of the servants and of the guests.
The boldest and the best
Up and down the track now paced.
Noble Mark ahead e'er raced
With his fellow Riwalin,
Whose knights following close and keen
Their play to guide ever
Did nobly endeavor
In their master's glory,
For future song and story.
Many a horse, in overdress
Of cloth or half silk, in the race
Was seen on the meadow clover;
Many a snow-white cover
There shone, or red, brown, green, or blue;
Others again, for show, wore too
Robes with noble silk worked nice,
Or scalloped in many a quaint device,
Parted, striped, or braided,
Or with trimmings shaded.
Gayly, too, appeared there
Knights of handsome form and fair,
Their armor slit, as if cut to pieces.
Even Spring with its balmy breezes,
King Mark its high favor showed;
For many people in the crowd
Were crowned with wreaths of flowers wrought,
Which, as his offering, Spring had brought.
In such glorious, blessed May,
Began the blessed tourney.
Oft intermixed, the double troop
Rode up this grade, rode down that slope.
This carried they on so long that day,
Till downward swept the glorious play
To where Blanchefleur sat, the sweet,
Whom I as wonder greet,
With pretty women at her side,
To watch the show and the gallant ride :
## p. 15595 (#549) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15595
And how they rode so nobly all,
With carriage imperial,
That many an eye with pleasure lit.
But whatsoever others did,
Still 'twas the courtly Riwalin -
As 'twas, indeed, meet to have been -
Who before all the knighthood rare
Best showed his knightly power there.
The women, too, him notice showed,
And whispered that, in all the crowd,
No one on horse appearing
Rode with such gallant bearing.
They praised that which in him was shown.
« See! ” said they,— see! this youth fine-grown,
This man, is truly glorious!
How gloriously sits all he does,
Sit all movements of his bearing!
How his body is fair-appearing!
How joins with equal grace on him
Each imperial limb!
How evenly his shield is moved !
As if fast-glued, it floats aloft!
How doth the shaft his hand befit!
How well his robes upon him sit!
How stands his head! how glows his hair!
Sweet his behavior he doth wear;
Glorified is his body all!
Ah, happy is the woman who shall
Her bliss owe his sweet body. ”
Well pondered this in study
Blanchefleur, the blessed maid;
In her secret heart she had,
Above all knights, addressed to him
Her pleasant thoughts, her wond'rings dim.
She had him in her heart enshrined,
He had around her soul him twined;
He bore upon high throne
The sceptre and the crown
In the kingdom of her heart,
Although the secret she did guard,
And from the world keep, as was fit,
That no one e'er suspected it.
Translation of A. E. Kroeger.
## p. 15596 (#550) ##########################################
15596
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
SONG OF HEINRICH VON VELDECHE
N°
O THANKS to Tristan that his heart had been
Faithful and true unto his queen;
For thereto did a potion move
More than the power of love:
Sweet thought to me,
That ne'er such cup my lips have prest;
Yet deeper love than ever he
Conceived, dwells in my breast:
So may it be!
So constant may it rest!
Call me but thine
As thou art mine!
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
SONG OF HEINRICH VON MORUNGEN
M
Y LADY dearly loves a pretty bird,
That sings and echoes back her gentle tone;
Were I, too, near her, never should be heard
A songster's note more pleasant than my own,-
Sweeter than sweetest nightingale I'd sing.
For thee, my lady fair,
This yoke of love I bear:
Deign thou to comfort me, and ease my sorrowing.
Were but the troubles of my heart by her
Regarded, I would triumph in my pain;
But her proud heart stands firmly, and the stir
Of passionate grief o'ercomes not her disdain.
Yet, yet I do remember how before
My eyes she stood and spoke,
And on her gentle look
My earnest gaze was fixed: oh, were it so once more!
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
## p. 15597 (#551) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15597
SONG OF HEINRICH VON MORUNGEN
M
INE is the fortune of a simple child,
That in the glass his image looks upon;
And by the shadow of himself beguiled
Breaks quick the brittle charm, and joy is gone.
So gazed I- and I deemed my joy would last-
On the bright image of my lady fair :
But ah! the dream of my delight is past,
And love and rapture yield to dark despair.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
SONG OF COUNT KRAFT VON TOGGENBURG
DºF
OES any one seek the soul of mirth,
Let him hie to the greenwood tree,
And there beneath the verdant shade,
The bloom of the summer see;
For there sing the birds right merrily,
And there will the bounding heart upspring
To the lofty clouds on joyful wing.
On the hedge-rows spring a thousand flowers,
And he from whose heart sweet May
Hath banished care, finds many a joy:
And I too would be gay,
Were the load of pining care away;
Were my lady kind, my soul were light,
Joy crowning joy would raise its flight.
.
The Aowers, leaves, hills, the vale, and mead,
And May with all its light,
Compared with the roses are pale indeed,
Which my lady bears; and bright
My eyes will shine as they meet my sight -
Those beautiful lips of rosy hue,
As red as the rose just steeped in dew.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
## p. 15598 (#552) ##########################################
15598
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
SONG OF STEINMAR
·W""
Tith the graceful corn upspringing,
With the birds around me singing,
With the leaf-crowned forests waving,
Sweet May-dews the herbage laving,
With the flowers that round me bloom,
To my lady dear I'll come:
All things beautiful and bright,
Sweet sound and fair to sight -
Nothing, nothing is too rare
For my beauteous lady fair;
Everything I'll do and be,
So my lady solace me.
She is one in whom I find
All things fair and bright combined.
When her beauteous form I see,
Kings themselves might envy me;
Joy with joy is gilded o'er,
Till the heart can hold no more.
She is bright as morning sun,
She my fairest, loveliest one:
For the honor of the fair,
I will sing her beauty rare;
Everything I'll do and be,
So my lady solace me.
Solace me, then, sweetest ! - be
Such in heart as I to thee;
Ope thy beauteous lips of love,
Call me thine, and then above
Merrily, merrily I will sail
With the light clouds on the gale.
Dear one, deign my heart to bless!
Steer me on to happiness!
Thou, in whom my soul confideth,
Thou, whose love my spirit guideth!
Everything I'll do and be,
So my lady solace me.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
## p. 15599 (#553) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15599
SONG OF THE MARNER »
M**
ARIA! Virgin! mother! comforter
Of sinners! queen of saints in heaven that are!
Thy beauty round the eternal throne doth cast
A brightness that outshines its living rays;
There in the fullness of transcendent joy
Heaven's King and thou sit in bright majesty:
Would I were there, a welcomed guest at last
Where angel tongues re-echo praise to praise!
There Michael sings the blessed Savior's name,
Till round the eternal throne it rings once more,
And angels in their choirs with glad acclaim,
Triumphant host, their joyful praises pour;
There thousand years than days more short appear,
Such joy from God doth flow and from that mother dear.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
ABSENCE
(ANONYMOUS)
I
F I a small bird were,
And little wings might bear,
I'd fly to thee;
But vain those wishes are:
Here, then, my rest shall be.
When far from thee I bide,
In dreams still at thy side
I've talked with thee;
And when I woke, I sighed,
Myself alone to see.
No hour of wakeful night
But teems with thoughts of light, -
Sweet thoughts of thee,-
As when, in hours more bright,
Thou gav'st thy heart to me.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
## p. 15600 (#554) ##########################################
15600
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
SONG OF CONRAD VON WÜRZBURG
SEE
EE how from the meadows pass
Brilliant flowers and verdant grass;
All their hues now they lose: o'er them hung,
Mournful robes the woods invest,
Late with leafy honors drest.
Yesterday the roses gay blooming sprung,
Beauteously the fields adorning;
Now their sallow branches fail :
Wild her tuneful notes at morning
Sung the lovely nightingale;
Now in woe, mournful, low, is her song.
Nor for lily nor rose sighs he,
Nor for birds' sweet harmony,
He to whom winter's gloom brings delight:
Seated by his leman dear,
He forgets the altered year;
Sweetly glide at eventide the moments bright.
Better this than culling posies:
For his lady's love he deems
Sweeter than the sweetest roses;
Little he the swain esteems
Not possessing that best blessing - love's delight.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
SONG OF JOHANN HADLOUB
F1
Ar as I journey from my lady fair,
I have a messenger who quickly goes,
Morning, and noon, and at the evening's close:
Where'er she wanders, he pursues her there.
A restless, faithful, secret messenger
Well may he be, who, from my heart of hearts,
Charged with love's deepest secrets, thus departs,
And wings his way to her!
'Tis every thought I form that doth pursue
Thee, lady fair!
Ah! would that there
My wearied self had leave to follow too!
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
## p. 15601 (#555) ##########################################
15601
IZAAK WALTON
(1593–1683)
BY HENRY VAN DYKE
>>
a
OF THE life of Master Izaak Walton, angler, author, and linen-
draper, but little is known, and all to his credit. In a life
so sparingly diversified with events, the biographer is di-
vided in his mind between regret that the material for narration is
so small, and gratitude that the picture of a good man's character
and peaceful occupation stands out so clear
and untroubled.
Izaak Walton was born at the town of
Stafford, in the English county of the same
name, in August 1593. Of his education
he speaks with becoming modesty: and it
is probable that it was slight, for at the
age of nineteen years he was engaged in
• retail trade in London. His first shop was
in the Royal Burse, Cornhill, and was only
seven and a half feet long by five feet
wide. ” But he seems to have done
good business at this humble stand; for in
1624 he had a la shop in Fleet Street,
IZAAK Walton
and in 1632 he bought a lease of a house
and shop in Chancery Lane, where his occupation is described as that
of a “sempster” or “milliner. ”
It is certain that he did not live for his trade, though he lived by
it; for as early as 1619 we find a book of verse, The Love of Amos
and Laura,' dedicated to him as a person of acknowledged taste
and skill in letters. The friendships which he formed with Dr. John
Donne the metaphysical preacher and poet, with Sir Henry Wot-
ton the witty and honest ambassador, with the learned John Hales
of Eton College, and with many other persons of like ability and
distinction, prove him to have been a man of singular intelligence,
amiable character, and engaging conversation. In some of these friend-
ships, no doubt, the love of angling — to which recreation he was
attached by a pure and temperate and enduring passion — was either
the occasion of intimacy or the promoter of it. For it has often
been observed that this gentle sport inclines the hearts of those that
XXVI–976
-
-
## p. 15602 (#556) ##########################################
15602
IZAAK WALTON
as
a
»
practice it to friendliness; and there are no closer or more lasting
companionships than such as are formed beside flowing streams by
men who study to be quiet and go a-fishing. ” And this Walton did,
as we know from his own testimony. He turned from the hooks and
eyes of his shop to cast the hook for the nimble trout or the slug-
gish chub, in the waters of the Lea, or of the New River, with such
cheerful comrades as honest Nat. and R. Roe; “but they are gone,”
he adds, “and with them most of my pleasant hours, even
shadow that passeth away and returns not. ”
In 1626 he married Rachel Floud, a great-great-niece of Arch-
bishop Cranmer. She died in 1640, leaving a child who survived her
but two years.
In 1643, about the beginning of the Civil War,— which he deplored
and reprobated with as much bitterness as was possible to a man of
his gentle disposition,- he retired from business with a modest for-
tune, and purchased a small estate near his native town, in the heart
of rural England and in the neighborhood of good fishing. Here he
lived in peace and quietness, passing much of his time as a welcome
visitor in the families of eminent clergymen; "of whom,” says the
gossipy old chronicler Anthony Wood, «he was much beloved. ”
About 1646 he married again; the bride being a lady of discreet
age, — not less than thirty-five years,- and a stepsister of Thomas
Ken, who afterwards became the beloved Bishop of Bath and Wells,
and the honored author of the Evening Hymn,' with many other
pieces of sacred poetry. This is the lady who is spoken of so pleas-
antly as “Kenna” in “The Angler's Wish,' Walton's best poem. She
died in 1662, leaving two children: a son, Izaak Walton Jr. , who
lived a useful, tranquil life and died unmarried; and a daughter who
became the wife of the Rev. Dr. William Hawkins, a prebendary in
the Church of Winchester, in whose house Walton died.
With such close and constant associations among the clergy, it
was but natural that Walton's first essay in literature should have an
ecclesiastical flavor. . It was "The Life of Dr. John Donne,' prefixed
to the sermons of that noted divine and difficult poet, — which were
published in 1640, while Walton was still keeping shop in London.
The brief biography was a very remarkable piece of work for an
untried author; and gave evidence of a hand that, however it may
have acquired its skill, was able to modulate the harmonies of English
prose, with a rare and gentle charm, to a familiar tune,— the praise
of piety and benevolence and humbleness,- and yet with such fresh
and simple turns of humor and tenderness as delight the heart while
they satisfy the judgment.
Walton speaks, in the preface to this ‘Life,' of his “artless pencil. ”
But in truth it was the ars celare artem that belonged to him. His
## p. 15603 (#557) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15603
writing shows that final and admirable simplicity which is always
the result of patient toil and the delicate, loving choice of words.
When, for example, he speaks of Master Donne as proceeding in a
certain search « with all moderate haste," or of his behavior (which,
when it would entice, had a strange kind of elegant irresistible art”;
or when he says of his relation to the Society of Benchers of Lin-
coln's Inn, that it was “a love-strife of desert and liberality”; or
when he describes “that last hour of his last day, as his body melted
away and vapored into spirit,” — he writes as one who understands
and respects the mysteries of language and the value of exquisite
expression
The series of biographies (all too few) in which he embalmed
the good memories of Sir Henry Wotton (1651), the Judicious Mr. Rich-
ard Hooker (1662), the Sacred Poet George Herbert (1670), and the
Devout Bishop Sanderson (1678), are adorned with some of the most
quaintly charming passages of prose to be found in English liter-
ature; and illuminated by a spirit of sincere charity and pious affec-
tion (except towards the Scotch and the Commonwealth-men), which
causes them to shine with a mild and steady lustre, like lamps hung
by grateful hands before the shrines of friendly and familiar saints.
Walton's "Lives, if he had written nothing else, would give him a
fair title to a place in a library of the world's best literature.
But his chief claim upon immortality, in the popular estimation,
rests on a work of another character. In The Complete Angler,
or the Contemplative Man’s Recreation,' Walton doubtless aimed at
nothing more than a small book of instruction in the secrets of his
beloved art; with which he mixed, as he says, “in several places,
not any scurrility, but some innocent harmless mirth, of which if
thou be a severe, sour-complexioned man, then I here disallow thee
to be a competent judge; for divines say, there are offenses given,
and offenses not given but taken. ” But in thus making a recreation
of his recreation, a fortunate fisherman's luck befell him. Like a
man who in casting the fly for trout hooks a lordly salmon (and
this happy accident occurred to a friend of mine only the other day,
but sadly enough the salmon was not landed),— even so, Walton, in
seeking to win the approbation and gratitude of a little peaceable
brotherhood of anglers in the troubled age of Oliver Cromwell, caught
and kept the thankful admiration and praise of many generations of
readers. I think it likely that no one could be more surprised at this
unlooked-for but well-deserved result than himself; or more thankful
for the success which gave to his favorite sport the singular honor of
having inspired a classic in literature.
(The Complete Angler) must have been begun not long after his
retirement from business, for it was ready to be printed in 1650. But
## p. 15604 (#558) ##########################################
15604
IZAAK WALTON
man
the first edition did not appear until 1653. The second followed in 1655;
the third in 1661; the fourth in 1668; and the fifth, which was the
last printed during the author's lifetime, in 1676. In all of these new
editions, except the third, there were many alterations and enlarge-
ments; for Walton labored assiduously to perfect what he had written,
and the changes, even the slightest, display the care of a scrupulous
and affectionate workman in words. In the fifth edition a Second
Part was added, consisting of 'Instructions How to Angle for a Trout
or Grayling in a Clear Stream. ' This was written by Charles Cot-
ton, Esquire, of Beresford Hall, in imitation of his master's manner,
but at a considerable distance. Since that time more than a hundred
editions of the book have been published, of all shapes and sizes,
from the tiny 48ino of Pickering to the imperial octavo of Sir Har-
ris Nicolas; so that a can choose whether he will read Old
Izaak in large print from a broad-margined page on a library table,
or carry him in his pocket as Washington Irving did, and read him
under a beech-tree, in a green meadow just by a spring of pure sweet
water.
The value of 'The Complete Angler' at this day is not to be looked
for in its completeness. In its time, no doubt, it gave much new and
curious instruction to the novice in the art; for Walton was unrivaled
in his skill with bait, and Thomas Barker, the retired cook and active
humorist who helped him in his discourse upon artificial flies, was
an adept in that kind of angling. But most of these instructions, and
likewise the scientific dissertations upon fish and fish-ponds, have long
since gone out of date; and the book now belongs to the literature
of power rather than of knowledge. Its unfailing charm lies in its
descriptions of the country and of country life; in its quaint pas-
toral scenes, like the episode of the milkmaid, and the convocation
of gipsies; and in its constant, happy exhortations to contentment,
humility, and a virtuous, placid temper.
The form of the book is a dialogue, in which at first the respect-
ive merits of hunting, hawking, and angling are disputed; and then
the discourse falls chiefly into the mouth of Piscator, who expounds
the angler's contemplative sport to Venator, who has become his
willing and devoted pupil. The manner of writing is sincere, collo-
quial, unaffected, yet not undignified; it is full of digressions, which
like the footpaths on a journey are the pleasantest parts of all; it is
an easy, unconstrained, rambling manner, yet always sure-footed, as
the step of one who has walked so long beside the streams that he
move forward safely without looking at the ground, while his
eyes follow the water and the rising fish. In short, the book has that
rare and imperishable quality called style: a quality easily recognized
but hardly defined; a quality which in its essence, whatever its varying
can
## p. 15605 (#559) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15605
forms may be, is always neither more nor less than the result of
such a loving mastery of the true proprieties of language as will
permit the mind and spirit of a man to shine with lucid clearness
through his words.
Thus Izaak Walton shines through The Complete Angler. ' An
honest, kindly man; a man satisfied with his modest place in the
world, and never doubting that it was a good world, or that God
made it; an amicable man, not without his prejudices and supersti-
tions, yet well pleased that every reader should enjoy his own opinion ;
a musical, cheerful man, delighting in the songs of birds and making
melody in his heart to God; a loyal, steadfast man, not given to
changing his mind, nor his ways, nor his friends; a patient, faithful,
gentle man,- that was Walton. Thus he fished tranquilly and with-
out offense through the stormy years of the Civil War, and the Rump
Parliament, and the Commonwealth, wishing that all men would beat
their swords into fish-hooks and cast their leaden bullets into sink-
ers.
Thus he died, on December 15th, 1683, being ninety years of
age and in charity with all men. Few writers are more deserving of
an earthly immortality, and none more certain of a heavenly one.
tury raudyken
FROM THE LIFE OF MR. RICHARD HOOKER)
I
RETURN to Mr. Hooker in his college, where he continued his
studies with all quietness for the space of three years; about
which time he entered into sacred orders, being then made
deacon and priest, and not long after was appointed to preach at
St. Paul's Cross.
In order to which sermon, to London he came, and immedi-
ately to the Shunamite's House; which is a house so called for
that, besides the stipend paid the preacher, there is provision made
also for his lodging and diet for two days before and one day
after his sermon. This house was then kept by John Church-
man, sometime a draper of good note in Watling-street, upon
whom poverty had at last come like an armed man, and brought
him into a necessitous condition: which, though it be a punish-
ment, is not always an argument of God's disfavor; for he was
a virtuous man: I shall not yet give the like testimony of his
wife, but leave the reader to judge by what follows. But to this
## p. 15606 (#560) ##########################################
15606
IZAAK WALTON
(
house Mr. Hooker came so wet, so weary, and weather-beaten,
that he was never known to express more passion than against a
friend that dissuaded him from footing it to London, and for find-
ing him no easier an horse,- supposing the horse trotted when
he did not; — and at this time also, such a faintness and fear
possessed him, that he would not be persuaded two days' rest
and quietness, or any other means, could be used to make him
able to preach his Sunday's sermon; but a warm bed, and rest,
and drink proper for a cold, given him by Mrs. Churchman, and
her diligent attendance added unto it, enabled him to perform the
office of the day, which was in or about the year 1581.
And in this first public appearance to the world, he was not
so happy as to be free from exceptions against a point of doc-
trine delivered in his sermon; which was, That in God there
were two wills, an antecedent and a consequent will: his first
will, That all mankind should be saved; but his second will was,
That those only should be saved that did live answerable to that
degree of grace which he had offered or afforded them. ” This
seemed to cross a late opinion of Mr. Calvin's, and then taken
for granted by many that had not a capacity to examine it; as it
had been by him before, and hath been since by Master Henry
Mason, Dr. Jackson, Dr. Hammond, and others of great learning,
who believe that a contrary opinion intrenches upon the honor
and justice of our merciful God. How he justified this I will
not undertake to declare; but it was not excepted against -as
Mr. Hooker declares in his rational Answer to Mr. Travers by
John Elmer, then bishop of London, at this time one of his audi-
tors, and at last one of his advocates too, when Mr. Hooker was
accused for it.
But the justifying of this doctrine did not prove of so bad
consequence as the kindness of Mrs. Churchman's curing him of
his late distemper and cold; for that was so gratefully appre-
hended by Mr. Hooker that he thought himself bound in con-
science to believe all that she said: so that the good man came
to be persuaded by her, “that he was a man of a tender consti-
tution; and that it was best for him to have a wife, that might
prove a nurse to him: such a one as might both prolong his life,
and make it more comfortable; and such a one she could and
would provide for him, if he thought fit to marry. ” And he, not
considering that “the children of this world are wiser in their
C
## p. 15607 (#561) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15607
>
(
»
--
>
(
generation than the children of light, but like a true Nathaniel,
fearing no guile because he meant none, did give such a power
as Eleazar was trusted with, - you may read it in the book of
Genesis,—when he was sent to choose a wife for Isaac; for even
so he trusted her to choose for him, promising upon a fair sum-
mons to return to London and accept of her choice; and he did
so in that, or about the year following. Now the wife provided
for him was her daughter Joan, who brought him neither beauty
nor portion; and for her conditions, they were too like that
wife's which is by Solomon compared to a dripping house: so
that the good man had no reason to “rejoice in the wife of his
youth”; but too just cause to say with the holy Prophet, “Woe
is me that I am constrained to have my habitation in the tents
of Kedar! ”
This choice of Mr. Hooker's— if it were his choice — may be
wondered at: but let us consider that the Prophet Ezekiel says,
« There is a wheel within a wheel; a secret sacred wheel of
Providence, - most visible in marriages,- guided by His hand
that allows not the race to the swift," nor «bread to the wise,"
nor good wives to good men: and He that can bring good out of
evil — for mortals are blind to this reason — only knows why this
blessing was denied to patient Job, to meek Moses, and to our as
meek and patient Mr. Hooker. But so it was: and let the reader
cease to wonder, for affliction is a Divine diet; which though it
be not pleasing to mankind, yet Almighty God hath often, very
often, imposed it as good though bitter physic to those children
whose souls are dearest to him.
And by this marriage the good man was drawn from the tran-
quillity of his college; from that garden of piety, of pleasure, of
peace, and a sweet conversation, into the thorny wilderness of
a busy world, into those corroding cares that attend a married
priest and a country parsonage: which was Drayton-Beauchamp
in Buckinghamshire, not far from Aylesbury, and in the diocese of
Lincoln; to which he was presented by John Cheney, Esq. -- then
patron of it - the 9th of December, 1584, where he behaved him-
self so as to give no occasion of evil, but as St. Paul adviseth a
minister of God — “in much patience, in afflictions, in anguishes,
in necessities, in poverty, and no doubt in long-suffering ”; yet
troubling no man with his discontents and wants. And in this con-
dition he continued about a year, in which time his two pupils,
Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer, took a journey to see their
## p. 15608 (#562) ##########################################
15608
IZAAK WALTON
tutor: where they found him with a book in his hand, - it was
the Odes of Horace,- he being then like humble and innocent
Abel, tending his small allotment of sheep in a common field;
which he told his pupils he was forced to do then, for that his
servant was gone home to dine, and assist his wife to do some
necessary household business. But when his servant returned
and released him, then his two pupils attended him unto his
house, where their best entertainment was his quiet company,
which was presently denied them; for Richard was called to rock
the cradle: and the rest of their welcome was so like this, that
they stayed but till the next morning, which was time enough
to discover and pity their tutor's condition; and they having in
that time rejoiced in the remembrance, and then paraphrased
on many of the innocent recreations of their younger days, and
other like diversions, and thereby given him as much present
comfort as they were able, they were forced to leave him to the
company of his wife Joan, and seek themselves a quieter lodg-
ing for next night. But at their parting from him, Mr. Cranmer
said, “Good tutor, I am sorry your lot is fallen in no better
ground, as to your parsonage; and more sorry that your wife
proves not a more comfortable companion, after you have wea-
ried yourself in your restless studies. ” To whom the good man
replied, “My dear George, if saints have usually a double share
in the miseries of this life, I, that am none, ought not to repine
at what my wise Creator hath appointed for me; but labor — as
indeed I do daily — to submit mine to his will, and possess my
soul in patience and peace. "
FROM THE LIFE OF MR. GEORGE HERBERT)
1
SHALL now proceed to his marriage; in order to which it will
be convenient that I first give the reader a short view of
his person, and then an account of his wife, and of some cir-
cumstances concerning both. He was for his person of a stature
inclining toward tallness; his body was very straight, and so far
from being cumbered with too much flesh, that he was lean
to an extremity. His aspect was cheerful, and his speech and
motion did both declare him a gentleman; for they were all so
meek and obliging that they purchased love and respect from all
that knew him.
## p. 15609 (#563) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15609
These and his other visible virtues begot him much love from
a gentleman of a noble fortune, and a near kinsman to his
friend the Earl of Danby; namely, from Mr. Charles Danvers of
Bainton, in the County of Wilts, Esq. This Mr. Danvers, having
known him long and familiarly, did so much affect him that
he often and publicly declared a desire that Mr. Herbert would
marry any of his nine daughters,- for he had so many,- but
-
rather his daughter Jane than any other, because Jane was his
beloved daughter. And he had often said the same to Mr. Her-
bert himself; and that if he could like her for a wife, and she
him for a husband, Jane should have a double blessing: and Mr.
Danvers had so often said the like to Jane, and so much com-
mended Mr. Herbert to her, that Jane became so much a pla-
tonic as to fall in love with Mr. Herbert unseen.
This was a fair preparation for a marriage: but alas! her
father died before Mr. Herbert's retirement to Dauntsey; yet some
friends to both parties procured their meeting, at which time a
mutual affection entered into both their hearts, as a conqueror
enters into a surprised city: and love having got such possession,
governed, and made there such laws and resolutions as neither
party was able to resist; insomuch that she changed her name
into Herbert the third day after this first interview.
This haste might in others be thought a love-frenzy or worse:
but it was not, for they had wooed so like princes as to have
select proxies; such as were true friends to both parties, such as
well understood Mr. Herbert's and her temper of mind, and also
their estates, so well before this interview, that the suddenness
was justifiable by the strictest rules of prudence: and the more
because it proved so happy to both parties; for the eternal lover of
mankind made them happy in each other's mutual and equal
affections and compliance: indeed, so happy that there never
was any opposition betwixt them, unless it were a contest which
should most incline to a compliance with the other's desires.
And though this begot, and continued in them, such a mutual
love, and joy, and content, as was no way defective; yet this
mutual content, and love, and joy did receive a daily augmenta-
tion, by such daily obligingness to each other, as still added such
new affluences to the former fullness of these divine souls as was
only improvable in heaven, where they now enjoy it.
## p. 15610 (#564) ##########################################
15610
IZAAK WALTON
FROM THE COMPLEAT ANGLER)
Plan
ISCATOR — sir, doubt not that angling is an art: is it not
an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly? a trout
that is more sharp-sighted than any hawk you have named,
and more watchful and timorous than your high-mettled merlin is
bold; and yet I doubt not to catch a brace or two to-morrow for
a friend's breakfast. Doubt not, therefore, sir, but that angling
is an art, and an art worth your learning. The question is
rather, whether you be capable of learning it ? for angling is
somewhat like poetry, - men are to be born so: I mean, with
inclinations to it, though both may be heightened by discourse
and practice; but he that hopes to be a good angler must not
only bring an inquiring, searching, observing wit, but he must
bring a large measure of hope and patience, and a love and pro-
pensity to the art itself; but having once got and practiced it,
then doubt not but angling will prove to be so pleasant that it
will prove to be like virtue, a reward to itself.
Venator - Sir, I am now become so full of expectation, that
I
I long much to have you proceed, and in the order you pro-
pose.
Piscator — Then first, for the antiquity of angling, of which I
shall not say much, but only this: some say it is as ancient as
Deucalion's flood; others, that Belus, who was the first inventor
of godly and virtuous recreations, was the first inventor of an-
gling; and some others say — for former times have had their
disquisitions about the antiquity of it -- that Seth, one of the sons
of Adam, taught it to his sons, and that by them it was derived
to posterity; others say that he left it engraven on those pillars
which he erected, and trusted to preserve the knowledge of the
mathematics, music, and the rest of that precious knowledge
and those useful arts, which by God's appointment or allowance
and his noble industry were thereby preserved from perishing in
Noah's flood.
These, sir, have been the opinions of several men that have
possibly endeavored to make angling more ancient than is need-
ful, or may well be warranted; but for my part, I shall content
myself in telling you that angling is much more ancient than
the Incarnation of our Savior: for in the prophet Amos, mention
is made of fish-hooks; and in the book of Job, which was long
before the days of Amos,- for that book is said to be writ by
## p. 15611 (#565) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15611
-
Moses, - mention is made also of fish-hooks, which must imply
anglers in those times.
But, my worthy friend, as I would rather prove myself a
gentleman by being learned and humble, valiant and inoffensive,
virtuous and communicable, than by any fond ostentation of
riches; or, wanting those virtues myself, boast that these were
in my ancestors (and yet I grant that where a noble and ancient
descent and such merit meet in any man, it is a double dignifi-
cation of that person); -- so if this antiquity of angling, which
for my part I have not forced, shall, like an ancient family, be
either an honor or an ornament to this virtuous art which I
profess to love and practice, I shall be the gladder that I made
an accidental mention of the antiquity of it, of which I shall say
no more, but proceed to that just commendation which I think it
deserves.
And for that, I shall tell you that in ancient times a debate
hath arisen, and it remains yet unresolved: whether the happi-
ness of man in this world doth consist more in contemplation or
action ?
Concerning which, some have endeavored to maintain their
opinion of the first, by saying that the nearer we mortals come
to God by way of imitation, the more happy we are.
And they
say that God enjoys himself only by a contemplation of his own
infiniteness, eternity, power, and goodness, and the like. And
upon this ground, many cloisteral men of great learning and
devotion prefer contemplation before action. And many of the
fathers seem to approve this opinion, as may appear in their
commentaries upon the words of our Savior to Martha (Luke
X. 41, 42).
And on the contrary, there want not men of equal authority
and credit, that prefer action to be the more excellent: as namely,
experiments in physic, and the application of it, both for the ease
and prolongation of man's life; by which each man is enabled to
act and do good to others, either to serve his country or do good
to particular persons. And they say also that action is doctrinal,
and teaches both art and virtue, and is a maintainer of human
society; and for these, and other like reasons, to be preferred
before contemplation.
Concerning which two opinions, I shall forbear to add a third
by declaring my own; and rest myself contented in telling you,
my very worthy friend, that both these meet together, and do
## p. 15612 (#566) ##########################################
15612
IZAAK WALTON
most properly belong to the most honest, ingenious, quiet, and
harmless art of angling.
And first I shall tell you what some have observed, and I
have found it to be a real truth, - that the very sitting by the
river's side is not only the quietest and fittest place for con-
templation, but will invite an angler to it; and this seems to be
maintained by the learned Peter Du Moulin, who in his discourse
of the fulfilling of prophecies, observes that when God intended
to reveal any future events or high notions to. his prophets, he
then carried them either to the deserts or the sea-shore, that
having so separated them from amidst the press of people and
business, and the cares of the world, he might settle their mind
in a quiet repose, and there make them fit for revelation.
And this seems also to be intimated by the Children of Israel
(Psalm cxxxvii. ), who having in a sad condition banished all
mirth and music from their pensive hearts, and having hung
up their then mute harps upon the willow-trees growing by the
rivers of Babylon, sat down upon these banks, bemoaning the
ruins of Sion, and contemplating their own sad condition.
And an ingenious Spaniard says that rivers and the inhabit-
ants of the watery element were made for wise men to contem-
plate, and fools to pass by without consideration. ”
And though
I will not rank myself in the number of the first, yet give me
leave to free myself from the last, by offering to you a short
contemplation, first of rivers and then of fish: concerning which
I doubt not but to give you many observations that will appear
very considerable; I am sure they have appeared so to me, and
,
made many an hour to pass away more pleasantly, as I have sat
quietly on a flowery bank by a calm river.
PISCATOR — And now you shall see me try my skill to catch a
trout; and at my next walking, either this evening or to-morrow
morning, I will give you direction how you yourself shall fish
for him.
Venator - Trust me, master, I see now it is a harder matter
to catch a trout than a chub; for I have put on patience and
followed you these two hours, and not seen a fish stir, neither at
your minnow nor your worm.
Piscator — Well, scholar, you must endure worse luck some
time, or you will never make a good angler.
But what say you
## p. 15613 (#567) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15613
now? There is a trout now, and a good one too, if I can but
hold him, and two or three turns more will tire him. Now you
see he lies still, and the sleight is to land him. Reach me that
landing-net: - so, sir, now he is mine own.
;
What say you now?
is not this worth all my labor and your patience ?
Venator - On my word, master, this is a gallant trout: what
shall we do with him ? .
Piscator - Marry, e'en eat him to supper: we'll go to my
hostess, from whence we came; she told me as I was going
out of door, that my brother Peter, a good angler and a cheerful
companion, had sent word that he would lodge there to-night,
and bring a friend with him. My hostess has two beds, and I
know you and I may have the best; we'll rejoice with my brother
Peter and his friend, tell tales or sing ballads, or make a catch,
or find some harmless sport to content us and pass away a little
time, without offense to God or man.
Venator A match, good master: let's go to that house; for
the linen looks white and smells of lavender, and I long to lie in
a pair of sheets that smells so. Let's be going, good master, for
I am hungry again with fishing.
Piscator — Nay, stay a little, good scholar. I caught my
last trout with a worm; now I will put on a minnow, and try a
quarter of an hour about yonder trees for another: and so walk
towards our lodging. Look you, scholar, thereabout we shall
have a bite presently or not at all. Have with you, sir! o' my
word I have hold of him. Oh! it is a great logger-headed chub; ;
come hang him upon that willow twig, and let's be going. But
turn out of the way a little, good scholar, towards yonder high
honeysuckle hedge; there we'll sit and sing whilst this shower
falls so gently upon the teeming earth, and gives yet a sweeter
smell to the lovely flowers that adorn these verdant meadows.
Look! under that broad beech-tree I sat down, when I was
last this way a-fishing. And the birds in the adjoining grove
seemed to have a friendly contention with an echo, whose dead
voice seemed to live in a hollow tree, near to the brow of that
primrose hill. There I sat viewing the silver streams glide
silently towards their centre, the tempestuous sea; yet sometimes
opposed by rugged roots and pebble-stones, which broke their
waves and turned them into foam. And sometimes I beguiled
time by viewing the harmless lambs; some leaping securely in
the cool shade, whilst others sported themselves in the cheerful
sun; and saw others. craving comfort from the swollen udders of
## p. 15614 (#568) ##########################################
15614
IZAAK WALTON
their bleating dams. As I thus sat, these and other sights had
so fully possessed my soul with content, that I thought, as the
poet hath happily expressed it,
“I was for that time lifted above earth,
And possessed joys not promised in my birth. ”
As I left this place and entered into the next field, a second
pleasure entertained me: 'twas a handsome milkmaid, that had
not yet attained so much age and wisdom as to load her mind
with any fears of many things that will never be, as too many
men too often do; but she cast away all care, and sang like a
nightingale: her voice was good, and the ditty fitted for it: it
was that smooth song which was made by Kit Marlowe, now at
least fifty years ago; and the milkmaid's mother sang an answer
to it, which was made by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days.
They were old-fashioned poetry, but choicely good; I think
much better than the strong lines that are now in fashion in
this critical age. Look yonder! on my word, yonder they both
be a-milking again. I will give her the chub, and persuade them
to sing those two songs to us.
God speed you, good woman! I have been a-fishing, and am
going to Bleak Hall to my bed; and having caught more fish
than will sup myself and friend, I will bestow this upon you and
your daughter, for I use to sell none.
Milk-Woman — Marry, God requite you, sir, and we'll eat it
cheerfully: and if you come this way a-fishing two months hence,
a grace of God, I'll give you a syllabub of new verjuice in a
new-made haycock for it, and my Maudlin shall sing you one of
her best ballads; for she and I both love all anglers, they be
such honest, civil, quiet men: in the mean time will you drink
a draught of red cow's milk? you shall have it freely.
Piscator — No, I thank you: but I pray, do us a courtesy that
shall stand you and your daughter in nothing, and yet we will
think ourselves still something in your debt; it is but to sing us
a song that was sung by your daughter when I last passed over
this meadow, about eight or nine days since.
Milk-Woman -- What song was it, I pray? Was it Come,
shepherds, deck your heads, or As at noon Dulcina rested,'
or Phillida flouts me,' or Chevy Chace,' or Johnny Arm-
strong,' or (Troy Town”?
Piscator — No, it is none of those; it is a song that your
daughter sang the first part, and you sang the answer to it.
(
## p. 15615 (#569) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15615
Milk - Woman — Oh, I know it now. I learned the first part in
my golden age, when I was about the age of my poor daughter;
and the latter part, which indeed fits me best now, but two or
three years ago, when the cares of the world began to take hold
of me: but you shall, God willing, hear them both, and sung as
well as we can, for we both love anglers.
PISCATOR — And now, scholar, i think it will be time to repair
to our angle-rods, which we left in the water to fish for them-
selves: and you shall choose which shall be yours; and it is an
even lay one of them catches.
And let me tell you, this kind of fishing with a dead rod,
and laying night-hooks, are like putting money to use: for they
both work for the owners, when they do nothing but sleep, or eat,
or rejoice; as you know we have done this last hour, and sat as
quietly and as free from cares under this sycamore, as Virgil's
Tityrus and his Melibus did under their broad beech-tree. No
life, my honest scholar, no life so happy and so pleasant as the
life of a well-governed angler; for when the lawyer is swallowed
up with business, and the statesman is preventing or contriving
plots, then we sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds sing, and pos-
sess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams,
which we see glide so quietly by us. Indeed, my good
scholar, we may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawber-
ries, “Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless
God never did;” and so, if I might be judge, “God never did
make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling. "
I'll tell you, scholar, when I sat last on this primrose bank,
and looked down these meadows, I thought of them as Charles
the Emperor did of the city of Florence, “that they were too
pleasant to be looked on but only on holidays. ” As I then sat
on this very grass, I turned my present thoughts into verse: 'twas
a wish, which I'll repeat to you.
now
>>>
THE ANGLER'S WISH
I in these flowery meads would be:
These crystal streams should solace me;
To whose harmonious bubbling noise
I with my angle would rejoice,
Sit here, and see the turtle-dove
Court his chaste mate to acts of love;
## p. 15616 (#570) ##########################################
15616
IZAAK WALTON
Or on that bank, feel the west wind
Breathe health and plenty; please my mind,
To see sweet dewdrops kiss these flowers,
And then washed off by April showers:
Here, hear my Kenna sing a song;
There, see a blackbird feed her young,
Or a leverock build her nest;
Here, give my weary spirits rest,
And raise my low-pitched thoughts above
Earth, or what poor mortals love:
Thus free from lawsuits and the noise
Of princes' courts, I would rejoice:
Or with my Bryan and a book,
Loiter long days near Shawford brook;
There sit by him, and eat my meat;
There see the sun both rise and set;
There bid good-inorning to next day;
There meditate my time away:
And angle on, and beg to have
A quiet passage to a welcome grave.
When I had ended this composure, I left this place, and saw
a brother of the angle sit under that honeysuckle hedge, one
that will prove worth your acquaintance: I sat down by him, and
presently we met with an accidental piece of merriment, which I
will relate to you; for it rains still.
On the other side of this very hedge sat a gang of gipsies,
and near to them sat a gang of beggars. The gipsies were then
to divide all the money that had been got that week, either by
stealing linen or poultry, or by fortune-telling, or legerdemain,
or indeed by any other sleights or secrets belonging to their
mysterious government. And the sum that was got that week
proved to be but twenty and some odd shillings. The odd money
was agreed to be distributed amongst the poor of their own cor-
poration; and for the remaining twenty shillings, that was to be
divided unto four gentlemen gipsies, according to their several
degrees in their commonwealth.
And the first or chiefest gipsy was, by consent, to have a
third part of the 205. , which all men know is 6s. 8d.
The second was to have a fourth part of the 205. , which all
men know to be 55.
The third was to have a fifth part of the 205. , which all men
know to be 43.
ration failed, and the traditions descended to lesser men. Thus rules
came to be established, and the form was reverenced whence the
soul had fled. This is doubtless the historic connection between
the wooden age of the Mastersingers and Walther's age of gold.
The descent had begun even in the time of Walther, who deplored
the peasant realism of his contemporary Nithart, whose so-called Ni-
tharte represented the triumph of vulgarity over the courtly. But
the descent was not precipitate, for there are still exquisite speci-
mens of the minnesang in the early fourteenth century; as for
instance, the poem “I saw yon infant in her arms carest of the
Zürich poet Hadloub. But in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
the courtly vanished before the vulgar; and it required all the inde-
fatigable industry of the sound-hearted Hans Sachs to rescue German
literature from hopeless coarseness. Walther's name was still hon-
ored as a tradition, but it was only a name;- then darkness fell and
that too was forgotten. The story of his rehabilitation is the same
as that which relates the recovery of the Nibelungenlied. Bodmer
turned the attention of Germans to their ancient poets; slowly the
interest grew; at last the pioneers of German philology and the
Romantic poets, especially Tieck, -- who in 1803 published his edition
of the Minnelieder,— restored the bards of the thirteenth century to
their rightful place among the greatest singers of German song. And
## p. 15588 (#542) ##########################################
15588
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
to-day every lover of pure lyric verse will echo with equal sincerity
the sentiment of Walther's younger contemporary, Hugo von Trim-
berg, when he enthusiastically exclaims:-
«Her Walther von der Vogelweide, -
Swer des vergaez', der taet' mir leide. )
(Sir Walther von der Vogelweide, - I'd be sorry for any one that could for-
get him. )
C
Chart Bruing
SONG OF WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
WHEN
HEN from the sod the flowerets spring,
And smile to meet the sun's bright ray,
When birds their sweetest carols sing,
In all the morning pride of May,
What lovelier than the prospect there?
Can earth boast anything more fair ?
To me it seems an almost heaven,
So beauteous to my eyes that vision bright is given.
But when a lady chaste and fair,
Noble, and clad in rich attire,
Walks through the throng with gracious air,
As sun that bids the stars retire,-
Then where are all thy boastings, May ?
What hast thou beautiful and gay,
Compared with that supreme delight?
We leave thy loveliest flowers, and watch that lady bright.
Wouldst thou believe me,- come and place
Before thee all this pride of May,
Then look but on my lady's face,
And which is best and brightest say.
For me, how soon (if choice were mine)
This would I take, and that resign;
And say, “Though sweet thy beauties, May,
I'd rather forfeit all than lose my lady gay! ”
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
(
## p. 15589 (#543) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15589
LAMENT OF WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
A"
H ME! whither have vanished the years of age and youth?
Has life been but a dream, then, or was it all a truth?
And was that really somewhat which I have lived and
thought?
Surely I must have slumbered, although I knew it not.
And now that I'm awakened, I not a whit recall
That once I was acquainted amongst these people all:
The country and the people 'mongst whom my life passed by
Have grown to be estranged, as if 'twere all a lie.
They who were once my playmates are weary now and cold;
The prairies have been broken, the woods cut down and sold.
If yonder river flowed not e'en as it once did flow,
I do believe my sorrow would, growing, lay me low.
Me greet with hesitation many who knew me well:
This wretched world is everywhere a dark, ungrateful hell;
And then I think of many days of ecstasy and joy,
That now e'en as a stroke on the sea have gone forever by -
Forever, forevermore, ah me!
Ah me, how sad and careworn our young men now appear!
The men who never sorrow in their fresh minds did wear
Do nothing now but weary -
Ah me! how can it be?
Wherever in the world I turn, no one seems glad to me.
Dancing, laughing, singing, grief has driven away;
Christian man saw never a world so sombre aye:
Look now how our women walk with strange headgear,
And how our knights and nobles in clownish dress appear.
Letters sharp reproving from Rome have come our way:
To mourn we have permission; we must no more be gay.
It grieves me to my heart's core — we once did live so grand –
That now from cheerful laughter to weeping I must bend.
The wild birds of the forest sadden at our complaint,
Is't wonder if I also despair and grow more faint ?
But what ( wretched me! have I been led to scoff ?
Who follows earthly happiness, from heaven's bliss turneth off
Forevermore, ah me!
Ah me, how we are poisoned with the sweetness of the world!
I see the bitter gall amidst the sweetest honey curled.
The world is outward beautiful, white, and green, and red,
But inward, oh! a sombre black, gloomy, aye, and dead.
## p. 15590 (#544) ##########################################
15590
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
Yet now to who have listened a comfort I will show:
Even a gentle penance forgiveness shall bestow.
Remember this, O knightly lords, 'tis yours to do and seal;
You bear the glittering helmets and breastplates of strong steel,
Moreo'er the shields so steady and the consecrated swords:
O God, that I were worthy to join the victor lords !
Then should I like the others achieve a prize untold, -
Not lands that have been promised, nor king's or nobles' gold,
But oh, a wondrous crown, and forevermore to wear
A crown which poorest soldier can win with axe or spear.
Yea, if the noble crusade I might follow o'er the sea,
I evermore should sing, All's well! and nevermore, Ah me!
Nevermore, Ah me!
Translation of A. E. Kroeger.
SONG OF WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH
WOULD
OULD I the lofty spirit melt
Of that proud dame who dwells so high,
Kind Heaven must aid me, or unfelt
By her will be its agony.
Joy in my soul no place can find:
As well might I a suitor be
To thunderbolts, as hope her mind
Will turn in softer mood to me.
Those cheeks are beautiful, are bright
As the red rose with dewdrops graced;
And faultless is the lovely light
Of those dear eyes, that, on me placed,
Pierce to my very heart, and fill
My soul with love's consuming fires,
While passion burns and reigns at will, -
So deep the love that fair inspires!
But joy upon her beauteous form
Attends, her hues so bright to shed
O'er those red lips, before whose warm
And beaming smile all care is fled.
She is to me all light and joy;
I faint, I die, before her frown:
Even Venus, lived she yet on earth,
A fairer goddess here must own.
## p. 15591 (#545) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15591
While many mourn the vanished light
Of summer, and the sweet sun's face,
I mourn that these, however bright,
No anguish from the soul can chase
By love inflicted: all around
Nor song of birds, nor ladies' bloom,
Nor flowers upspringing from the ground,
Can chase or cheer the spirit's gloom.
Yet still thine aid, beloved, impart;
Of all thy power, thy love, make trial;
Bid joy revive in this sad heart,-
Joy that expires at thy denial:
Well may I pour my prayer to thee,
Belovèd lady, since 'tis thine
Alone to send such care on me;
Alone for thee I ceaseless pine.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
BLANCHEFLEUR AT THE TOURNAMENT
From (Tristan and Isolde) of Gottfried von Strassburg
A
T TINTAJOEL 'twas, on the plain
Where the guests met again;
In the loveliest glen
Ever beheld by eyes of men
In the first freshness of that clime.
The gentle, gracious summer-time
Had by the sweet Creator's hand
With sweet care been poured on the land.
Of little wood birdlets bright,
That to ears should ever give delight,
Of grass, flowers, leaves, and blossoms high,
Of all that happy makes the eye
Or noble heart delight may gain,
Was full the glorious summer plain.
Whatever there you wished to find,
Spring had kindly borne in mind, -
The sunshine by the shadow,
The linden on the meadow.
The gentle, pleasant breezes,
With cunning, sweet caresses,
## p. 15592 (#546) ##########################################
15592
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
O'er all the guests did lightly sweep.
The brilliant flowers did brightly peep
From dewy grass and shadow.
May's friend, the fresh green meadow,
Had from the flowers that he had reared
A summer robe so bright prepared,
Each guest its glow detected
From eye and mien reflected.
The sweet tree blossom looked at you
With a smile so sweet and true,
That all your heart and all your mind
Again to the laughing bloom inclined;
With eyes playfully burning,
Its loving laugh returning.
The gentle bird-ditty,
So lovely, so pretty,
That stirs every feeling,
O'er ears and minds stealing,
Rang from each bush of the summer vale.
The blessed nightingale,
The dearest, sweetest bird on tree,
That ever blessed ought to be,
It sang in the coolness,
With such heartfulness,
That to every noble heart
The sound did joy and glow impart.
And now the whole company,
Full of mirth and in high glee,
Had settled down upon the lawn.
There did every one
As his notion or pleasure bent,
And put up or arranged his tent.
The wealthy were quartered wealthily,
The courtly incomparably;
Some under silk did rest,
Others on the heath gay-drest;
To many the linden gave shadow,
Others housed on the meadow,
Under leaf-green twigs demurely.
Nor guests nor servants, surely,
Rarely were pleasanter
Quartered than they were quartered here.
Plenty was gathered of the best,
Which needful is for mirthful feast,
## p. 15593 (#547) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15593
In way of clothing and eating;
Each his own wants meeting,
From home had brought provender.
King Mark, with regal splendor,
Moreover had provided for them.
Thus they enjoyed in bliss supreme
The gracious time of early spring;
Thus joy the feast to all did bring.
All that ever a curious man
To behold had longed, he then
There could have seen certainly.
One saw there what one liked to see:
Those eyed the pretty women,
These watched the peddling showmen;
Those looked at the dancing,
These at the jousting and lancing.
All that ever heart longed for
Was found there in sufficient store;
And all who were present,
Of joy-ripe years, pleasant
Effort made each to exceed
At every feast in mirthful deed;
And King Mark the good,
The courteous and high of mood,
Not only on this festivity
Had spent his wealth lavishly,
But here did he show men
A wonder of all women,
His sister Blanchefleur,-
A maid more beautiful than e'er
A woman upon earth was seen.
Of her beauty one must say, e'en,
That no living man could gaze
Intently on her glorious face,
But he would higher rank and find
Women and virtue in his mind.
The blessed eye-pleasure
O'er that wide inclosure
Gladdened all of young, fresh blood,
All noble hearts of courteous mood;
And on the lawn could have been seen
Many pretty women then,
## p. 15594 (#548) ##########################################
15594
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
Of whom each by her beauty
Should have been queen in duty.
Whoe'er had seen them surely would
Have drawn from such sight fresh bold mood.
Many hearts grew rich with joy.
Now began the great tourney
Of the servants and of the guests.
The boldest and the best
Up and down the track now paced.
Noble Mark ahead e'er raced
With his fellow Riwalin,
Whose knights following close and keen
Their play to guide ever
Did nobly endeavor
In their master's glory,
For future song and story.
Many a horse, in overdress
Of cloth or half silk, in the race
Was seen on the meadow clover;
Many a snow-white cover
There shone, or red, brown, green, or blue;
Others again, for show, wore too
Robes with noble silk worked nice,
Or scalloped in many a quaint device,
Parted, striped, or braided,
Or with trimmings shaded.
Gayly, too, appeared there
Knights of handsome form and fair,
Their armor slit, as if cut to pieces.
Even Spring with its balmy breezes,
King Mark its high favor showed;
For many people in the crowd
Were crowned with wreaths of flowers wrought,
Which, as his offering, Spring had brought.
In such glorious, blessed May,
Began the blessed tourney.
Oft intermixed, the double troop
Rode up this grade, rode down that slope.
This carried they on so long that day,
Till downward swept the glorious play
To where Blanchefleur sat, the sweet,
Whom I as wonder greet,
With pretty women at her side,
To watch the show and the gallant ride :
## p. 15595 (#549) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15595
And how they rode so nobly all,
With carriage imperial,
That many an eye with pleasure lit.
But whatsoever others did,
Still 'twas the courtly Riwalin -
As 'twas, indeed, meet to have been -
Who before all the knighthood rare
Best showed his knightly power there.
The women, too, him notice showed,
And whispered that, in all the crowd,
No one on horse appearing
Rode with such gallant bearing.
They praised that which in him was shown.
« See! ” said they,— see! this youth fine-grown,
This man, is truly glorious!
How gloriously sits all he does,
Sit all movements of his bearing!
How his body is fair-appearing!
How joins with equal grace on him
Each imperial limb!
How evenly his shield is moved !
As if fast-glued, it floats aloft!
How doth the shaft his hand befit!
How well his robes upon him sit!
How stands his head! how glows his hair!
Sweet his behavior he doth wear;
Glorified is his body all!
Ah, happy is the woman who shall
Her bliss owe his sweet body. ”
Well pondered this in study
Blanchefleur, the blessed maid;
In her secret heart she had,
Above all knights, addressed to him
Her pleasant thoughts, her wond'rings dim.
She had him in her heart enshrined,
He had around her soul him twined;
He bore upon high throne
The sceptre and the crown
In the kingdom of her heart,
Although the secret she did guard,
And from the world keep, as was fit,
That no one e'er suspected it.
Translation of A. E. Kroeger.
## p. 15596 (#550) ##########################################
15596
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
SONG OF HEINRICH VON VELDECHE
N°
O THANKS to Tristan that his heart had been
Faithful and true unto his queen;
For thereto did a potion move
More than the power of love:
Sweet thought to me,
That ne'er such cup my lips have prest;
Yet deeper love than ever he
Conceived, dwells in my breast:
So may it be!
So constant may it rest!
Call me but thine
As thou art mine!
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
SONG OF HEINRICH VON MORUNGEN
M
Y LADY dearly loves a pretty bird,
That sings and echoes back her gentle tone;
Were I, too, near her, never should be heard
A songster's note more pleasant than my own,-
Sweeter than sweetest nightingale I'd sing.
For thee, my lady fair,
This yoke of love I bear:
Deign thou to comfort me, and ease my sorrowing.
Were but the troubles of my heart by her
Regarded, I would triumph in my pain;
But her proud heart stands firmly, and the stir
Of passionate grief o'ercomes not her disdain.
Yet, yet I do remember how before
My eyes she stood and spoke,
And on her gentle look
My earnest gaze was fixed: oh, were it so once more!
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
## p. 15597 (#551) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15597
SONG OF HEINRICH VON MORUNGEN
M
INE is the fortune of a simple child,
That in the glass his image looks upon;
And by the shadow of himself beguiled
Breaks quick the brittle charm, and joy is gone.
So gazed I- and I deemed my joy would last-
On the bright image of my lady fair :
But ah! the dream of my delight is past,
And love and rapture yield to dark despair.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
SONG OF COUNT KRAFT VON TOGGENBURG
DºF
OES any one seek the soul of mirth,
Let him hie to the greenwood tree,
And there beneath the verdant shade,
The bloom of the summer see;
For there sing the birds right merrily,
And there will the bounding heart upspring
To the lofty clouds on joyful wing.
On the hedge-rows spring a thousand flowers,
And he from whose heart sweet May
Hath banished care, finds many a joy:
And I too would be gay,
Were the load of pining care away;
Were my lady kind, my soul were light,
Joy crowning joy would raise its flight.
.
The Aowers, leaves, hills, the vale, and mead,
And May with all its light,
Compared with the roses are pale indeed,
Which my lady bears; and bright
My eyes will shine as they meet my sight -
Those beautiful lips of rosy hue,
As red as the rose just steeped in dew.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
## p. 15598 (#552) ##########################################
15598
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
SONG OF STEINMAR
·W""
Tith the graceful corn upspringing,
With the birds around me singing,
With the leaf-crowned forests waving,
Sweet May-dews the herbage laving,
With the flowers that round me bloom,
To my lady dear I'll come:
All things beautiful and bright,
Sweet sound and fair to sight -
Nothing, nothing is too rare
For my beauteous lady fair;
Everything I'll do and be,
So my lady solace me.
She is one in whom I find
All things fair and bright combined.
When her beauteous form I see,
Kings themselves might envy me;
Joy with joy is gilded o'er,
Till the heart can hold no more.
She is bright as morning sun,
She my fairest, loveliest one:
For the honor of the fair,
I will sing her beauty rare;
Everything I'll do and be,
So my lady solace me.
Solace me, then, sweetest ! - be
Such in heart as I to thee;
Ope thy beauteous lips of love,
Call me thine, and then above
Merrily, merrily I will sail
With the light clouds on the gale.
Dear one, deign my heart to bless!
Steer me on to happiness!
Thou, in whom my soul confideth,
Thou, whose love my spirit guideth!
Everything I'll do and be,
So my lady solace me.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
## p. 15599 (#553) ##########################################
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
15599
SONG OF THE MARNER »
M**
ARIA! Virgin! mother! comforter
Of sinners! queen of saints in heaven that are!
Thy beauty round the eternal throne doth cast
A brightness that outshines its living rays;
There in the fullness of transcendent joy
Heaven's King and thou sit in bright majesty:
Would I were there, a welcomed guest at last
Where angel tongues re-echo praise to praise!
There Michael sings the blessed Savior's name,
Till round the eternal throne it rings once more,
And angels in their choirs with glad acclaim,
Triumphant host, their joyful praises pour;
There thousand years than days more short appear,
Such joy from God doth flow and from that mother dear.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
ABSENCE
(ANONYMOUS)
I
F I a small bird were,
And little wings might bear,
I'd fly to thee;
But vain those wishes are:
Here, then, my rest shall be.
When far from thee I bide,
In dreams still at thy side
I've talked with thee;
And when I woke, I sighed,
Myself alone to see.
No hour of wakeful night
But teems with thoughts of light, -
Sweet thoughts of thee,-
As when, in hours more bright,
Thou gav'st thy heart to me.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
## p. 15600 (#554) ##########################################
15600
WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE
SONG OF CONRAD VON WÜRZBURG
SEE
EE how from the meadows pass
Brilliant flowers and verdant grass;
All their hues now they lose: o'er them hung,
Mournful robes the woods invest,
Late with leafy honors drest.
Yesterday the roses gay blooming sprung,
Beauteously the fields adorning;
Now their sallow branches fail :
Wild her tuneful notes at morning
Sung the lovely nightingale;
Now in woe, mournful, low, is her song.
Nor for lily nor rose sighs he,
Nor for birds' sweet harmony,
He to whom winter's gloom brings delight:
Seated by his leman dear,
He forgets the altered year;
Sweetly glide at eventide the moments bright.
Better this than culling posies:
For his lady's love he deems
Sweeter than the sweetest roses;
Little he the swain esteems
Not possessing that best blessing - love's delight.
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
SONG OF JOHANN HADLOUB
F1
Ar as I journey from my lady fair,
I have a messenger who quickly goes,
Morning, and noon, and at the evening's close:
Where'er she wanders, he pursues her there.
A restless, faithful, secret messenger
Well may he be, who, from my heart of hearts,
Charged with love's deepest secrets, thus departs,
And wings his way to her!
'Tis every thought I form that doth pursue
Thee, lady fair!
Ah! would that there
My wearied self had leave to follow too!
Translation of Edgar Taylor.
## p. 15601 (#555) ##########################################
15601
IZAAK WALTON
(1593–1683)
BY HENRY VAN DYKE
>>
a
OF THE life of Master Izaak Walton, angler, author, and linen-
draper, but little is known, and all to his credit. In a life
so sparingly diversified with events, the biographer is di-
vided in his mind between regret that the material for narration is
so small, and gratitude that the picture of a good man's character
and peaceful occupation stands out so clear
and untroubled.
Izaak Walton was born at the town of
Stafford, in the English county of the same
name, in August 1593. Of his education
he speaks with becoming modesty: and it
is probable that it was slight, for at the
age of nineteen years he was engaged in
• retail trade in London. His first shop was
in the Royal Burse, Cornhill, and was only
seven and a half feet long by five feet
wide. ” But he seems to have done
good business at this humble stand; for in
1624 he had a la shop in Fleet Street,
IZAAK Walton
and in 1632 he bought a lease of a house
and shop in Chancery Lane, where his occupation is described as that
of a “sempster” or “milliner. ”
It is certain that he did not live for his trade, though he lived by
it; for as early as 1619 we find a book of verse, The Love of Amos
and Laura,' dedicated to him as a person of acknowledged taste
and skill in letters. The friendships which he formed with Dr. John
Donne the metaphysical preacher and poet, with Sir Henry Wot-
ton the witty and honest ambassador, with the learned John Hales
of Eton College, and with many other persons of like ability and
distinction, prove him to have been a man of singular intelligence,
amiable character, and engaging conversation. In some of these friend-
ships, no doubt, the love of angling — to which recreation he was
attached by a pure and temperate and enduring passion — was either
the occasion of intimacy or the promoter of it. For it has often
been observed that this gentle sport inclines the hearts of those that
XXVI–976
-
-
## p. 15602 (#556) ##########################################
15602
IZAAK WALTON
as
a
»
practice it to friendliness; and there are no closer or more lasting
companionships than such as are formed beside flowing streams by
men who study to be quiet and go a-fishing. ” And this Walton did,
as we know from his own testimony. He turned from the hooks and
eyes of his shop to cast the hook for the nimble trout or the slug-
gish chub, in the waters of the Lea, or of the New River, with such
cheerful comrades as honest Nat. and R. Roe; “but they are gone,”
he adds, “and with them most of my pleasant hours, even
shadow that passeth away and returns not. ”
In 1626 he married Rachel Floud, a great-great-niece of Arch-
bishop Cranmer. She died in 1640, leaving a child who survived her
but two years.
In 1643, about the beginning of the Civil War,— which he deplored
and reprobated with as much bitterness as was possible to a man of
his gentle disposition,- he retired from business with a modest for-
tune, and purchased a small estate near his native town, in the heart
of rural England and in the neighborhood of good fishing. Here he
lived in peace and quietness, passing much of his time as a welcome
visitor in the families of eminent clergymen; "of whom,” says the
gossipy old chronicler Anthony Wood, «he was much beloved. ”
About 1646 he married again; the bride being a lady of discreet
age, — not less than thirty-five years,- and a stepsister of Thomas
Ken, who afterwards became the beloved Bishop of Bath and Wells,
and the honored author of the Evening Hymn,' with many other
pieces of sacred poetry. This is the lady who is spoken of so pleas-
antly as “Kenna” in “The Angler's Wish,' Walton's best poem. She
died in 1662, leaving two children: a son, Izaak Walton Jr. , who
lived a useful, tranquil life and died unmarried; and a daughter who
became the wife of the Rev. Dr. William Hawkins, a prebendary in
the Church of Winchester, in whose house Walton died.
With such close and constant associations among the clergy, it
was but natural that Walton's first essay in literature should have an
ecclesiastical flavor. . It was "The Life of Dr. John Donne,' prefixed
to the sermons of that noted divine and difficult poet, — which were
published in 1640, while Walton was still keeping shop in London.
The brief biography was a very remarkable piece of work for an
untried author; and gave evidence of a hand that, however it may
have acquired its skill, was able to modulate the harmonies of English
prose, with a rare and gentle charm, to a familiar tune,— the praise
of piety and benevolence and humbleness,- and yet with such fresh
and simple turns of humor and tenderness as delight the heart while
they satisfy the judgment.
Walton speaks, in the preface to this ‘Life,' of his “artless pencil. ”
But in truth it was the ars celare artem that belonged to him. His
## p. 15603 (#557) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15603
writing shows that final and admirable simplicity which is always
the result of patient toil and the delicate, loving choice of words.
When, for example, he speaks of Master Donne as proceeding in a
certain search « with all moderate haste," or of his behavior (which,
when it would entice, had a strange kind of elegant irresistible art”;
or when he says of his relation to the Society of Benchers of Lin-
coln's Inn, that it was “a love-strife of desert and liberality”; or
when he describes “that last hour of his last day, as his body melted
away and vapored into spirit,” — he writes as one who understands
and respects the mysteries of language and the value of exquisite
expression
The series of biographies (all too few) in which he embalmed
the good memories of Sir Henry Wotton (1651), the Judicious Mr. Rich-
ard Hooker (1662), the Sacred Poet George Herbert (1670), and the
Devout Bishop Sanderson (1678), are adorned with some of the most
quaintly charming passages of prose to be found in English liter-
ature; and illuminated by a spirit of sincere charity and pious affec-
tion (except towards the Scotch and the Commonwealth-men), which
causes them to shine with a mild and steady lustre, like lamps hung
by grateful hands before the shrines of friendly and familiar saints.
Walton's "Lives, if he had written nothing else, would give him a
fair title to a place in a library of the world's best literature.
But his chief claim upon immortality, in the popular estimation,
rests on a work of another character. In The Complete Angler,
or the Contemplative Man’s Recreation,' Walton doubtless aimed at
nothing more than a small book of instruction in the secrets of his
beloved art; with which he mixed, as he says, “in several places,
not any scurrility, but some innocent harmless mirth, of which if
thou be a severe, sour-complexioned man, then I here disallow thee
to be a competent judge; for divines say, there are offenses given,
and offenses not given but taken. ” But in thus making a recreation
of his recreation, a fortunate fisherman's luck befell him. Like a
man who in casting the fly for trout hooks a lordly salmon (and
this happy accident occurred to a friend of mine only the other day,
but sadly enough the salmon was not landed),— even so, Walton, in
seeking to win the approbation and gratitude of a little peaceable
brotherhood of anglers in the troubled age of Oliver Cromwell, caught
and kept the thankful admiration and praise of many generations of
readers. I think it likely that no one could be more surprised at this
unlooked-for but well-deserved result than himself; or more thankful
for the success which gave to his favorite sport the singular honor of
having inspired a classic in literature.
(The Complete Angler) must have been begun not long after his
retirement from business, for it was ready to be printed in 1650. But
## p. 15604 (#558) ##########################################
15604
IZAAK WALTON
man
the first edition did not appear until 1653. The second followed in 1655;
the third in 1661; the fourth in 1668; and the fifth, which was the
last printed during the author's lifetime, in 1676. In all of these new
editions, except the third, there were many alterations and enlarge-
ments; for Walton labored assiduously to perfect what he had written,
and the changes, even the slightest, display the care of a scrupulous
and affectionate workman in words. In the fifth edition a Second
Part was added, consisting of 'Instructions How to Angle for a Trout
or Grayling in a Clear Stream. ' This was written by Charles Cot-
ton, Esquire, of Beresford Hall, in imitation of his master's manner,
but at a considerable distance. Since that time more than a hundred
editions of the book have been published, of all shapes and sizes,
from the tiny 48ino of Pickering to the imperial octavo of Sir Har-
ris Nicolas; so that a can choose whether he will read Old
Izaak in large print from a broad-margined page on a library table,
or carry him in his pocket as Washington Irving did, and read him
under a beech-tree, in a green meadow just by a spring of pure sweet
water.
The value of 'The Complete Angler' at this day is not to be looked
for in its completeness. In its time, no doubt, it gave much new and
curious instruction to the novice in the art; for Walton was unrivaled
in his skill with bait, and Thomas Barker, the retired cook and active
humorist who helped him in his discourse upon artificial flies, was
an adept in that kind of angling. But most of these instructions, and
likewise the scientific dissertations upon fish and fish-ponds, have long
since gone out of date; and the book now belongs to the literature
of power rather than of knowledge. Its unfailing charm lies in its
descriptions of the country and of country life; in its quaint pas-
toral scenes, like the episode of the milkmaid, and the convocation
of gipsies; and in its constant, happy exhortations to contentment,
humility, and a virtuous, placid temper.
The form of the book is a dialogue, in which at first the respect-
ive merits of hunting, hawking, and angling are disputed; and then
the discourse falls chiefly into the mouth of Piscator, who expounds
the angler's contemplative sport to Venator, who has become his
willing and devoted pupil. The manner of writing is sincere, collo-
quial, unaffected, yet not undignified; it is full of digressions, which
like the footpaths on a journey are the pleasantest parts of all; it is
an easy, unconstrained, rambling manner, yet always sure-footed, as
the step of one who has walked so long beside the streams that he
move forward safely without looking at the ground, while his
eyes follow the water and the rising fish. In short, the book has that
rare and imperishable quality called style: a quality easily recognized
but hardly defined; a quality which in its essence, whatever its varying
can
## p. 15605 (#559) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15605
forms may be, is always neither more nor less than the result of
such a loving mastery of the true proprieties of language as will
permit the mind and spirit of a man to shine with lucid clearness
through his words.
Thus Izaak Walton shines through The Complete Angler. ' An
honest, kindly man; a man satisfied with his modest place in the
world, and never doubting that it was a good world, or that God
made it; an amicable man, not without his prejudices and supersti-
tions, yet well pleased that every reader should enjoy his own opinion ;
a musical, cheerful man, delighting in the songs of birds and making
melody in his heart to God; a loyal, steadfast man, not given to
changing his mind, nor his ways, nor his friends; a patient, faithful,
gentle man,- that was Walton. Thus he fished tranquilly and with-
out offense through the stormy years of the Civil War, and the Rump
Parliament, and the Commonwealth, wishing that all men would beat
their swords into fish-hooks and cast their leaden bullets into sink-
ers.
Thus he died, on December 15th, 1683, being ninety years of
age and in charity with all men. Few writers are more deserving of
an earthly immortality, and none more certain of a heavenly one.
tury raudyken
FROM THE LIFE OF MR. RICHARD HOOKER)
I
RETURN to Mr. Hooker in his college, where he continued his
studies with all quietness for the space of three years; about
which time he entered into sacred orders, being then made
deacon and priest, and not long after was appointed to preach at
St. Paul's Cross.
In order to which sermon, to London he came, and immedi-
ately to the Shunamite's House; which is a house so called for
that, besides the stipend paid the preacher, there is provision made
also for his lodging and diet for two days before and one day
after his sermon. This house was then kept by John Church-
man, sometime a draper of good note in Watling-street, upon
whom poverty had at last come like an armed man, and brought
him into a necessitous condition: which, though it be a punish-
ment, is not always an argument of God's disfavor; for he was
a virtuous man: I shall not yet give the like testimony of his
wife, but leave the reader to judge by what follows. But to this
## p. 15606 (#560) ##########################################
15606
IZAAK WALTON
(
house Mr. Hooker came so wet, so weary, and weather-beaten,
that he was never known to express more passion than against a
friend that dissuaded him from footing it to London, and for find-
ing him no easier an horse,- supposing the horse trotted when
he did not; — and at this time also, such a faintness and fear
possessed him, that he would not be persuaded two days' rest
and quietness, or any other means, could be used to make him
able to preach his Sunday's sermon; but a warm bed, and rest,
and drink proper for a cold, given him by Mrs. Churchman, and
her diligent attendance added unto it, enabled him to perform the
office of the day, which was in or about the year 1581.
And in this first public appearance to the world, he was not
so happy as to be free from exceptions against a point of doc-
trine delivered in his sermon; which was, That in God there
were two wills, an antecedent and a consequent will: his first
will, That all mankind should be saved; but his second will was,
That those only should be saved that did live answerable to that
degree of grace which he had offered or afforded them. ” This
seemed to cross a late opinion of Mr. Calvin's, and then taken
for granted by many that had not a capacity to examine it; as it
had been by him before, and hath been since by Master Henry
Mason, Dr. Jackson, Dr. Hammond, and others of great learning,
who believe that a contrary opinion intrenches upon the honor
and justice of our merciful God. How he justified this I will
not undertake to declare; but it was not excepted against -as
Mr. Hooker declares in his rational Answer to Mr. Travers by
John Elmer, then bishop of London, at this time one of his audi-
tors, and at last one of his advocates too, when Mr. Hooker was
accused for it.
But the justifying of this doctrine did not prove of so bad
consequence as the kindness of Mrs. Churchman's curing him of
his late distemper and cold; for that was so gratefully appre-
hended by Mr. Hooker that he thought himself bound in con-
science to believe all that she said: so that the good man came
to be persuaded by her, “that he was a man of a tender consti-
tution; and that it was best for him to have a wife, that might
prove a nurse to him: such a one as might both prolong his life,
and make it more comfortable; and such a one she could and
would provide for him, if he thought fit to marry. ” And he, not
considering that “the children of this world are wiser in their
C
## p. 15607 (#561) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15607
>
(
»
--
>
(
generation than the children of light, but like a true Nathaniel,
fearing no guile because he meant none, did give such a power
as Eleazar was trusted with, - you may read it in the book of
Genesis,—when he was sent to choose a wife for Isaac; for even
so he trusted her to choose for him, promising upon a fair sum-
mons to return to London and accept of her choice; and he did
so in that, or about the year following. Now the wife provided
for him was her daughter Joan, who brought him neither beauty
nor portion; and for her conditions, they were too like that
wife's which is by Solomon compared to a dripping house: so
that the good man had no reason to “rejoice in the wife of his
youth”; but too just cause to say with the holy Prophet, “Woe
is me that I am constrained to have my habitation in the tents
of Kedar! ”
This choice of Mr. Hooker's— if it were his choice — may be
wondered at: but let us consider that the Prophet Ezekiel says,
« There is a wheel within a wheel; a secret sacred wheel of
Providence, - most visible in marriages,- guided by His hand
that allows not the race to the swift," nor «bread to the wise,"
nor good wives to good men: and He that can bring good out of
evil — for mortals are blind to this reason — only knows why this
blessing was denied to patient Job, to meek Moses, and to our as
meek and patient Mr. Hooker. But so it was: and let the reader
cease to wonder, for affliction is a Divine diet; which though it
be not pleasing to mankind, yet Almighty God hath often, very
often, imposed it as good though bitter physic to those children
whose souls are dearest to him.
And by this marriage the good man was drawn from the tran-
quillity of his college; from that garden of piety, of pleasure, of
peace, and a sweet conversation, into the thorny wilderness of
a busy world, into those corroding cares that attend a married
priest and a country parsonage: which was Drayton-Beauchamp
in Buckinghamshire, not far from Aylesbury, and in the diocese of
Lincoln; to which he was presented by John Cheney, Esq. -- then
patron of it - the 9th of December, 1584, where he behaved him-
self so as to give no occasion of evil, but as St. Paul adviseth a
minister of God — “in much patience, in afflictions, in anguishes,
in necessities, in poverty, and no doubt in long-suffering ”; yet
troubling no man with his discontents and wants. And in this con-
dition he continued about a year, in which time his two pupils,
Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer, took a journey to see their
## p. 15608 (#562) ##########################################
15608
IZAAK WALTON
tutor: where they found him with a book in his hand, - it was
the Odes of Horace,- he being then like humble and innocent
Abel, tending his small allotment of sheep in a common field;
which he told his pupils he was forced to do then, for that his
servant was gone home to dine, and assist his wife to do some
necessary household business. But when his servant returned
and released him, then his two pupils attended him unto his
house, where their best entertainment was his quiet company,
which was presently denied them; for Richard was called to rock
the cradle: and the rest of their welcome was so like this, that
they stayed but till the next morning, which was time enough
to discover and pity their tutor's condition; and they having in
that time rejoiced in the remembrance, and then paraphrased
on many of the innocent recreations of their younger days, and
other like diversions, and thereby given him as much present
comfort as they were able, they were forced to leave him to the
company of his wife Joan, and seek themselves a quieter lodg-
ing for next night. But at their parting from him, Mr. Cranmer
said, “Good tutor, I am sorry your lot is fallen in no better
ground, as to your parsonage; and more sorry that your wife
proves not a more comfortable companion, after you have wea-
ried yourself in your restless studies. ” To whom the good man
replied, “My dear George, if saints have usually a double share
in the miseries of this life, I, that am none, ought not to repine
at what my wise Creator hath appointed for me; but labor — as
indeed I do daily — to submit mine to his will, and possess my
soul in patience and peace. "
FROM THE LIFE OF MR. GEORGE HERBERT)
1
SHALL now proceed to his marriage; in order to which it will
be convenient that I first give the reader a short view of
his person, and then an account of his wife, and of some cir-
cumstances concerning both. He was for his person of a stature
inclining toward tallness; his body was very straight, and so far
from being cumbered with too much flesh, that he was lean
to an extremity. His aspect was cheerful, and his speech and
motion did both declare him a gentleman; for they were all so
meek and obliging that they purchased love and respect from all
that knew him.
## p. 15609 (#563) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15609
These and his other visible virtues begot him much love from
a gentleman of a noble fortune, and a near kinsman to his
friend the Earl of Danby; namely, from Mr. Charles Danvers of
Bainton, in the County of Wilts, Esq. This Mr. Danvers, having
known him long and familiarly, did so much affect him that
he often and publicly declared a desire that Mr. Herbert would
marry any of his nine daughters,- for he had so many,- but
-
rather his daughter Jane than any other, because Jane was his
beloved daughter. And he had often said the same to Mr. Her-
bert himself; and that if he could like her for a wife, and she
him for a husband, Jane should have a double blessing: and Mr.
Danvers had so often said the like to Jane, and so much com-
mended Mr. Herbert to her, that Jane became so much a pla-
tonic as to fall in love with Mr. Herbert unseen.
This was a fair preparation for a marriage: but alas! her
father died before Mr. Herbert's retirement to Dauntsey; yet some
friends to both parties procured their meeting, at which time a
mutual affection entered into both their hearts, as a conqueror
enters into a surprised city: and love having got such possession,
governed, and made there such laws and resolutions as neither
party was able to resist; insomuch that she changed her name
into Herbert the third day after this first interview.
This haste might in others be thought a love-frenzy or worse:
but it was not, for they had wooed so like princes as to have
select proxies; such as were true friends to both parties, such as
well understood Mr. Herbert's and her temper of mind, and also
their estates, so well before this interview, that the suddenness
was justifiable by the strictest rules of prudence: and the more
because it proved so happy to both parties; for the eternal lover of
mankind made them happy in each other's mutual and equal
affections and compliance: indeed, so happy that there never
was any opposition betwixt them, unless it were a contest which
should most incline to a compliance with the other's desires.
And though this begot, and continued in them, such a mutual
love, and joy, and content, as was no way defective; yet this
mutual content, and love, and joy did receive a daily augmenta-
tion, by such daily obligingness to each other, as still added such
new affluences to the former fullness of these divine souls as was
only improvable in heaven, where they now enjoy it.
## p. 15610 (#564) ##########################################
15610
IZAAK WALTON
FROM THE COMPLEAT ANGLER)
Plan
ISCATOR — sir, doubt not that angling is an art: is it not
an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly? a trout
that is more sharp-sighted than any hawk you have named,
and more watchful and timorous than your high-mettled merlin is
bold; and yet I doubt not to catch a brace or two to-morrow for
a friend's breakfast. Doubt not, therefore, sir, but that angling
is an art, and an art worth your learning. The question is
rather, whether you be capable of learning it ? for angling is
somewhat like poetry, - men are to be born so: I mean, with
inclinations to it, though both may be heightened by discourse
and practice; but he that hopes to be a good angler must not
only bring an inquiring, searching, observing wit, but he must
bring a large measure of hope and patience, and a love and pro-
pensity to the art itself; but having once got and practiced it,
then doubt not but angling will prove to be so pleasant that it
will prove to be like virtue, a reward to itself.
Venator - Sir, I am now become so full of expectation, that
I
I long much to have you proceed, and in the order you pro-
pose.
Piscator — Then first, for the antiquity of angling, of which I
shall not say much, but only this: some say it is as ancient as
Deucalion's flood; others, that Belus, who was the first inventor
of godly and virtuous recreations, was the first inventor of an-
gling; and some others say — for former times have had their
disquisitions about the antiquity of it -- that Seth, one of the sons
of Adam, taught it to his sons, and that by them it was derived
to posterity; others say that he left it engraven on those pillars
which he erected, and trusted to preserve the knowledge of the
mathematics, music, and the rest of that precious knowledge
and those useful arts, which by God's appointment or allowance
and his noble industry were thereby preserved from perishing in
Noah's flood.
These, sir, have been the opinions of several men that have
possibly endeavored to make angling more ancient than is need-
ful, or may well be warranted; but for my part, I shall content
myself in telling you that angling is much more ancient than
the Incarnation of our Savior: for in the prophet Amos, mention
is made of fish-hooks; and in the book of Job, which was long
before the days of Amos,- for that book is said to be writ by
## p. 15611 (#565) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15611
-
Moses, - mention is made also of fish-hooks, which must imply
anglers in those times.
But, my worthy friend, as I would rather prove myself a
gentleman by being learned and humble, valiant and inoffensive,
virtuous and communicable, than by any fond ostentation of
riches; or, wanting those virtues myself, boast that these were
in my ancestors (and yet I grant that where a noble and ancient
descent and such merit meet in any man, it is a double dignifi-
cation of that person); -- so if this antiquity of angling, which
for my part I have not forced, shall, like an ancient family, be
either an honor or an ornament to this virtuous art which I
profess to love and practice, I shall be the gladder that I made
an accidental mention of the antiquity of it, of which I shall say
no more, but proceed to that just commendation which I think it
deserves.
And for that, I shall tell you that in ancient times a debate
hath arisen, and it remains yet unresolved: whether the happi-
ness of man in this world doth consist more in contemplation or
action ?
Concerning which, some have endeavored to maintain their
opinion of the first, by saying that the nearer we mortals come
to God by way of imitation, the more happy we are.
And they
say that God enjoys himself only by a contemplation of his own
infiniteness, eternity, power, and goodness, and the like. And
upon this ground, many cloisteral men of great learning and
devotion prefer contemplation before action. And many of the
fathers seem to approve this opinion, as may appear in their
commentaries upon the words of our Savior to Martha (Luke
X. 41, 42).
And on the contrary, there want not men of equal authority
and credit, that prefer action to be the more excellent: as namely,
experiments in physic, and the application of it, both for the ease
and prolongation of man's life; by which each man is enabled to
act and do good to others, either to serve his country or do good
to particular persons. And they say also that action is doctrinal,
and teaches both art and virtue, and is a maintainer of human
society; and for these, and other like reasons, to be preferred
before contemplation.
Concerning which two opinions, I shall forbear to add a third
by declaring my own; and rest myself contented in telling you,
my very worthy friend, that both these meet together, and do
## p. 15612 (#566) ##########################################
15612
IZAAK WALTON
most properly belong to the most honest, ingenious, quiet, and
harmless art of angling.
And first I shall tell you what some have observed, and I
have found it to be a real truth, - that the very sitting by the
river's side is not only the quietest and fittest place for con-
templation, but will invite an angler to it; and this seems to be
maintained by the learned Peter Du Moulin, who in his discourse
of the fulfilling of prophecies, observes that when God intended
to reveal any future events or high notions to. his prophets, he
then carried them either to the deserts or the sea-shore, that
having so separated them from amidst the press of people and
business, and the cares of the world, he might settle their mind
in a quiet repose, and there make them fit for revelation.
And this seems also to be intimated by the Children of Israel
(Psalm cxxxvii. ), who having in a sad condition banished all
mirth and music from their pensive hearts, and having hung
up their then mute harps upon the willow-trees growing by the
rivers of Babylon, sat down upon these banks, bemoaning the
ruins of Sion, and contemplating their own sad condition.
And an ingenious Spaniard says that rivers and the inhabit-
ants of the watery element were made for wise men to contem-
plate, and fools to pass by without consideration. ”
And though
I will not rank myself in the number of the first, yet give me
leave to free myself from the last, by offering to you a short
contemplation, first of rivers and then of fish: concerning which
I doubt not but to give you many observations that will appear
very considerable; I am sure they have appeared so to me, and
,
made many an hour to pass away more pleasantly, as I have sat
quietly on a flowery bank by a calm river.
PISCATOR — And now you shall see me try my skill to catch a
trout; and at my next walking, either this evening or to-morrow
morning, I will give you direction how you yourself shall fish
for him.
Venator - Trust me, master, I see now it is a harder matter
to catch a trout than a chub; for I have put on patience and
followed you these two hours, and not seen a fish stir, neither at
your minnow nor your worm.
Piscator — Well, scholar, you must endure worse luck some
time, or you will never make a good angler.
But what say you
## p. 15613 (#567) ##########################################
IZAAK WALTON
15613
now? There is a trout now, and a good one too, if I can but
hold him, and two or three turns more will tire him. Now you
see he lies still, and the sleight is to land him. Reach me that
landing-net: - so, sir, now he is mine own.
;
What say you now?
is not this worth all my labor and your patience ?
Venator - On my word, master, this is a gallant trout: what
shall we do with him ? .
Piscator - Marry, e'en eat him to supper: we'll go to my
hostess, from whence we came; she told me as I was going
out of door, that my brother Peter, a good angler and a cheerful
companion, had sent word that he would lodge there to-night,
and bring a friend with him. My hostess has two beds, and I
know you and I may have the best; we'll rejoice with my brother
Peter and his friend, tell tales or sing ballads, or make a catch,
or find some harmless sport to content us and pass away a little
time, without offense to God or man.
Venator A match, good master: let's go to that house; for
the linen looks white and smells of lavender, and I long to lie in
a pair of sheets that smells so. Let's be going, good master, for
I am hungry again with fishing.
Piscator — Nay, stay a little, good scholar. I caught my
last trout with a worm; now I will put on a minnow, and try a
quarter of an hour about yonder trees for another: and so walk
towards our lodging. Look you, scholar, thereabout we shall
have a bite presently or not at all. Have with you, sir! o' my
word I have hold of him. Oh! it is a great logger-headed chub; ;
come hang him upon that willow twig, and let's be going. But
turn out of the way a little, good scholar, towards yonder high
honeysuckle hedge; there we'll sit and sing whilst this shower
falls so gently upon the teeming earth, and gives yet a sweeter
smell to the lovely flowers that adorn these verdant meadows.
Look! under that broad beech-tree I sat down, when I was
last this way a-fishing. And the birds in the adjoining grove
seemed to have a friendly contention with an echo, whose dead
voice seemed to live in a hollow tree, near to the brow of that
primrose hill. There I sat viewing the silver streams glide
silently towards their centre, the tempestuous sea; yet sometimes
opposed by rugged roots and pebble-stones, which broke their
waves and turned them into foam. And sometimes I beguiled
time by viewing the harmless lambs; some leaping securely in
the cool shade, whilst others sported themselves in the cheerful
sun; and saw others. craving comfort from the swollen udders of
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IZAAK WALTON
their bleating dams. As I thus sat, these and other sights had
so fully possessed my soul with content, that I thought, as the
poet hath happily expressed it,
“I was for that time lifted above earth,
And possessed joys not promised in my birth. ”
As I left this place and entered into the next field, a second
pleasure entertained me: 'twas a handsome milkmaid, that had
not yet attained so much age and wisdom as to load her mind
with any fears of many things that will never be, as too many
men too often do; but she cast away all care, and sang like a
nightingale: her voice was good, and the ditty fitted for it: it
was that smooth song which was made by Kit Marlowe, now at
least fifty years ago; and the milkmaid's mother sang an answer
to it, which was made by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days.
They were old-fashioned poetry, but choicely good; I think
much better than the strong lines that are now in fashion in
this critical age. Look yonder! on my word, yonder they both
be a-milking again. I will give her the chub, and persuade them
to sing those two songs to us.
God speed you, good woman! I have been a-fishing, and am
going to Bleak Hall to my bed; and having caught more fish
than will sup myself and friend, I will bestow this upon you and
your daughter, for I use to sell none.
Milk-Woman — Marry, God requite you, sir, and we'll eat it
cheerfully: and if you come this way a-fishing two months hence,
a grace of God, I'll give you a syllabub of new verjuice in a
new-made haycock for it, and my Maudlin shall sing you one of
her best ballads; for she and I both love all anglers, they be
such honest, civil, quiet men: in the mean time will you drink
a draught of red cow's milk? you shall have it freely.
Piscator — No, I thank you: but I pray, do us a courtesy that
shall stand you and your daughter in nothing, and yet we will
think ourselves still something in your debt; it is but to sing us
a song that was sung by your daughter when I last passed over
this meadow, about eight or nine days since.
Milk-Woman -- What song was it, I pray? Was it Come,
shepherds, deck your heads, or As at noon Dulcina rested,'
or Phillida flouts me,' or Chevy Chace,' or Johnny Arm-
strong,' or (Troy Town”?
Piscator — No, it is none of those; it is a song that your
daughter sang the first part, and you sang the answer to it.
(
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IZAAK WALTON
15615
Milk - Woman — Oh, I know it now. I learned the first part in
my golden age, when I was about the age of my poor daughter;
and the latter part, which indeed fits me best now, but two or
three years ago, when the cares of the world began to take hold
of me: but you shall, God willing, hear them both, and sung as
well as we can, for we both love anglers.
PISCATOR — And now, scholar, i think it will be time to repair
to our angle-rods, which we left in the water to fish for them-
selves: and you shall choose which shall be yours; and it is an
even lay one of them catches.
And let me tell you, this kind of fishing with a dead rod,
and laying night-hooks, are like putting money to use: for they
both work for the owners, when they do nothing but sleep, or eat,
or rejoice; as you know we have done this last hour, and sat as
quietly and as free from cares under this sycamore, as Virgil's
Tityrus and his Melibus did under their broad beech-tree. No
life, my honest scholar, no life so happy and so pleasant as the
life of a well-governed angler; for when the lawyer is swallowed
up with business, and the statesman is preventing or contriving
plots, then we sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds sing, and pos-
sess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams,
which we see glide so quietly by us. Indeed, my good
scholar, we may say of angling as Dr. Boteler said of strawber-
ries, “Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless
God never did;” and so, if I might be judge, “God never did
make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling. "
I'll tell you, scholar, when I sat last on this primrose bank,
and looked down these meadows, I thought of them as Charles
the Emperor did of the city of Florence, “that they were too
pleasant to be looked on but only on holidays. ” As I then sat
on this very grass, I turned my present thoughts into verse: 'twas
a wish, which I'll repeat to you.
now
>>>
THE ANGLER'S WISH
I in these flowery meads would be:
These crystal streams should solace me;
To whose harmonious bubbling noise
I with my angle would rejoice,
Sit here, and see the turtle-dove
Court his chaste mate to acts of love;
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IZAAK WALTON
Or on that bank, feel the west wind
Breathe health and plenty; please my mind,
To see sweet dewdrops kiss these flowers,
And then washed off by April showers:
Here, hear my Kenna sing a song;
There, see a blackbird feed her young,
Or a leverock build her nest;
Here, give my weary spirits rest,
And raise my low-pitched thoughts above
Earth, or what poor mortals love:
Thus free from lawsuits and the noise
Of princes' courts, I would rejoice:
Or with my Bryan and a book,
Loiter long days near Shawford brook;
There sit by him, and eat my meat;
There see the sun both rise and set;
There bid good-inorning to next day;
There meditate my time away:
And angle on, and beg to have
A quiet passage to a welcome grave.
When I had ended this composure, I left this place, and saw
a brother of the angle sit under that honeysuckle hedge, one
that will prove worth your acquaintance: I sat down by him, and
presently we met with an accidental piece of merriment, which I
will relate to you; for it rains still.
On the other side of this very hedge sat a gang of gipsies,
and near to them sat a gang of beggars. The gipsies were then
to divide all the money that had been got that week, either by
stealing linen or poultry, or by fortune-telling, or legerdemain,
or indeed by any other sleights or secrets belonging to their
mysterious government. And the sum that was got that week
proved to be but twenty and some odd shillings. The odd money
was agreed to be distributed amongst the poor of their own cor-
poration; and for the remaining twenty shillings, that was to be
divided unto four gentlemen gipsies, according to their several
degrees in their commonwealth.
And the first or chiefest gipsy was, by consent, to have a
third part of the 205. , which all men know is 6s. 8d.
The second was to have a fourth part of the 205. , which all
men know to be 55.
The third was to have a fifth part of the 205. , which all men
know to be 43.
