The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-06

characters IN The Angler ufst met, ana
. pisca.or. on his way 70 fish the Lea at
. War, that "fne. fresh May morning,
/ makes the pleasant acquaintance Of Ven
at0r and Auccps The White Swan Inn at
Tottcnham was the place where Walton
Z tarrIed going 10 and coming from the
river ga The last time ] saw IL, 10 was
half hidden from the High Road and
I High Cross a tiny slumberous hostel Of
/ the long ago, white. succeed and gabled,
with "a patch of garden blossom at its side
and q bit of a slzlttle alley behind.
| Just north of Tottenham is Bleak Hall,
! at "a sleepy hamlet called Cook ferry, to
/ which Piscator led his companions Of the
/ Angler" WaltOn's own picture of the
inn is q pleasanter one than can now be
/ drawn: "an honest alehouse, where might
I be found q clearly room, Lavender in the
/ windows, and twenty ballads stuck about
/ the walls; with a hostess both clearly
/ and handsome and civil" tt was here,
over the eating of the toOthsOme club
/ that Venator insisted upon terming Wal
/ ton, as PiscatOr, master. 80 Shortly be-
/ yOnd this, the Lea winds pleasantly near
/ Edminton where John Gilpin, from the
/ indecorOus speed of his horse, missed a
comfortable dinner; and at HOddesdon
| above, was the ''Thatcht House" where,
/ at the very outset of the Anglers pleas
/ ant experiences, Venator expressed his
! purpose of drinking his morning
/ draught" From Tottenham to Ware is
/ a pleasant vagrant jaunt; but the lover
! of Walton must needs carry the good old
/ fisherman along with him in the sweet
| cradle of his fancy for all but the merest
/ suggestion of companionship and identiti-
| cation in these first and Oldest angling
| haunts along the river Lea.
! Undoubtedly Dove Dale, the waterway
! Of the vagarous and impetuous river
Dove, forming the boundary between
! Derbyshire and Staffordshire in the ro-
matte region of the Derby Peak, retains
! least changed the natural scenes most
| loved of Izaak Walton. 1t is here his
/ summer months for years were passed.
| In an almost idylliC enjoyment OF his faY-
! Orite pastime and in a friendship with
! Cotton of so perfect nature that il at
| least exalted an otherwise characterless
man of no little talent to nObler aspira-
| tions and accomplishments. Every one
! is familiar with this strange and nm
! equal attachment: how Walton, almost
sanity in character and forty-four years
! the elder of the blase Spendthrlft and
scribbler of unreadable themes, became
! his friend and companion in Beresford
! Hall how Cotton built the famous Fish
| ing House beside the Dove, with its in
! tertwined oscutcheon of his own and
| Walton's initials and the motto, "Pisca-
| tOribus Sacrum, ~ above the door; how
! their affection ripened until Cotton
| adopted Walton as his father and Wal
ton, the spendthrift gentleman, as his
! son - and how IL all had q good ending
when, at Walton's request, Cotton ac-
/ cOmplished the best work of his life in
| part second Of the Angler" Being In
structions How TO Angle for a Trout or
! Grayling in a Clear Stream" pretaced by
"The Retirement" or stances Irregu-
liers to Mr. Izaak Walton" of much po-
| etc power, beginning with the lines,
Farewell. thou busy world, and may
We never meet again!
] always love to imagine this odd
! friendship not to have been an ''unaccoun-
table" matter, but an affinity of opposites,
| beginning away back there rs Walton
stretched his legs up Tattenham hill'
| and first met the hayward ill-directed.
though undoubtedly appreciative and
! sympathetic, Cotton as none other than
| Venator who from the instructive defer
| ence TO a great soul which made the word
| master unconcsiously burst from his lips
came by deRrerees of bitterment, CRATE
| full love and REVENGE, to know the gentle
! angler who had saved him from himself
! as a father in the higeSt and pureSt
| spiritual sense. The whole romantic val
| ley is redolent of legend and memory
! of Cotton and Walton. The ancient Ber
| esford hall is changed, but the Walton
! Room" is intact. The bowling-green be-
side the Dove is as it was nearly quar-
| ter Of a thousand years ago and the old
stone 'Fishing-House,' now more than
| 200 years old, still stands in the murmur-
| GUS dale. one of the truest monuments in
/ England to a strange but scathless friend
| ship.
The distinction between classes and
| masses was Immeasurably closer drawn
/ in England in Waltons time than now.
Few laymen, and particularly few trades
men, enjoyed even ordinary familiarity
with men of consequence in church and
state. In this respect Walton was an ex-
traordinary exception All authorities
hold that no man of his time enjoyed so
lofty a personal regard among the noblest
and most famous men of that day. Two
facts contributed to this Though but
simple linen draper, the graces of his
perfect life and the winsome qualities of
his intellect and heart gave him not only
the unqualified respect but the unlimited
affection of men of high degree. >
Besides this, his relation by birth and
marriage made recognition of his person
| ality and its logical result a matter of ma
tural sequence Some biographers be-
lieve his mother TO have been q. niece of
/ Archbishop Cranmer His first wife
| Rachel Floud, whom he married in 1925
and who died in 1910, was great-grand-
niece of that prelate His second wife,
| Anne Ken, whom he married in 1916 and
| who died in 1862, was n half sister of
| Bishop Thomas Ken, author of the Morn
ing and Evening hymns, and | have seen
4 memorial tablet to her memory, written
by Walton himself, in the Lady Chapel of
| of Worcester Cathedral. His son, Izaak,
! became canon in Salisbury Cathedral,
| where his remains and those of some of
his descendants now lie.
During many of the later years of Wal
tons life apartments were constantly re,
served for him and his daughter Anne at
the episcopal residences of DIR. Ward,
I Bishop of Salisbury, and DR.. Morley,
I Bishop Of Winchester; and the marriage
of this daughter Anne to Dr. Hawkins,
prebendary of Winchester Cathedral, in
whose house Walton died Dec. 10, 1888,
conferred still closer TO HISTORIC Winches-
ter, for centuries the royal capital of Eng
land, the closing memories of Walton s
peaceful life; while the grand old cathe-
dral here became the good mans tomb.
Thus memorials in three Of England
noblest ecclesiastical structures preserve
his glorious name.
Because these things about Walton are
nowhere collectively made concise and
clear, l have dwelt upon them here; and
/ delight also to point out another remark
able fact in his career illustrating how
the human intellect secures exalted and
powerful sustentation from pure and
equable physical and moral life Walton
was sixty years of age when his Com
pledt Angler first appeared. Three of