Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1893-08-10

factory spot on the earth's surface, |
enters the Thames through the noisome
delta forming the Isle of Dogs.
In Walton's time all this region was
country, 1t is one of the most unpleas-
ant experiences you can now know in
London to follow the Lea from East
Iudia Dock to Tottenham. The latter
is even now part of London, and one
can only with difficulty see the way the
gentle angler came and as dimly mag
inc the Tottenham Of old, its then smart
EliZabethan habitations, and its High
Cross, where the characters in the
Angler" first met, and Piscator, on his
way to fish the Lea at Ware that slime,
fresh May morning." makes the pleas.
ant acquaintance of Venator and
Auceps. The White Swan Inn at
Tottenham was the place where Walton
tarried going to and coming from the
river Lea. The last time | saw ii, it
was half hidden from the High Road
and High Gross, tiny slumberous
hostel of the long ago, white, succeed
and gsbled, with a patch of garden
blossom at its side and a bit of a skittle
alley behind.
just north Of Tottenham is Bleak
Hall, at a sleepy hamlet called Cooks
Ferry, to which Piscator led his COM
panions of the angler" Walton's own
| picture of the inn is pleasanter one
than can now be drawn; ian honest ale
house, where might be found clearly
room, lavender in the windows, and 30
ballads stuck about the walls; with
hastess both clearly and handsome and
| civil" 1t was here, over the eating of
the toothsome club that Venator in
sisted upon terning Walton, as Piscator,
master" Shortly beyond this, the Lea
winds pleasantly near Edminton where
| John Gilpin, from the INDIGENOUS speed
of his horse, missed q comfortable din
ner; and ut Hoddeson above, was the
"Thatchet House" where, at the very
outset of the anglers" pleasant ex-
| periences, Venator expressed his pur-
pose of drinking his "morning draught."
From Tottenham to Ware is pleasant,
vagrant jaunt; but the lover of Walton
must needs carry the good old fisher
man along with him in the sweet cradle
of his fancy for all but the merest sug-
gestion of companionship and identiflca-
ton in these first and oldest angling
haunts along the river Lea.
Undoubtedly Dove Dale, the water
way of the vagarous and .:Npetuous
river Dove, forming the boundary be-
tween Derbyshire and Staffordshire in
the romantic region of the Derby Peak,
retains least changed the natural scenes
most loved Of Izaak Walton. II is here
his summer months for years were
passed. In an almost idyllic enjoyment
of his favorite pastime, and in friend
ship with Cotton of so perfect nature
that ii at least exalted an otherwise
characterless man of no little talent to
, nobler aspirations and accomplishments
Every one is familiar with this strange
and unequal attachment; how Walton
almost sanity in character and A year.
the elder of the blase spendthrift and
! scribbler of unreliable themes, becamt
his friend and companion in Beresfort
Halk how Cotton built the famous
"FisAing- House" beside the Dove, witt
) its entwined escutcheon of his ow n anC
Walton's initials and the motto, "Pisca
: toribus Sacrum," above the door; how
their affection ripened until Cotton
adopted Walton as his "father" ant
c Walton the spendthrift gentleman as hi
"son;" and how it all had good endinl
y when, at Walton's request, Cotton &C
complished the best work of his life il
y part second of the "Angler," "Being In
= structions How to Angle for Trout o
= Grayling in Clear Stream" prefacet
e by "The Retirement" or "Stanzes Ii
: reguliers to Mr.. Izaak Walton" o
I much poetic power, beginning with tn
\ lines,
:. Farewell, thou busy world, and may
- We never meet againl
y l always love to imagine this cd
y friendship not to have been an "unaS
countable" matter, but an affinity {
:, opposites, beginning away back there Q
y Walton stretched his legs up Totter
II ham hill'' and first met the waywarC
= ill-directed, though undoubtedly apprt
I; ciative and sympathetic, Cotton as non
: other than Venator who, from the in
= stinctive Difference to great soul whic
y made the word "master" unconsciousl
IL burst from his lips, came by degrees {
~ betterment, grateful love and reverence
~ to know the gentle angler who ha
AZ saved him from himself as "father"
y the highest and purest spiritual sens
- The whole romantic valley is redolel
;s of legend and memory of Cotton an
- Walton. The ancient Beresford Hall
No changed, but the walton Room" is il
~. ~ tact. The bowling-green beside Il
n Dove is as it was nearly quarter of
ia thousand years ago; and the old stoI
~ "Fishing- House." now more than q
Nv years old, still stands in the murmurol
IL dale, one of the truest monuments
I'd England to u strange but seattle
es friendship.
ce The distinction between classes az
masses was immeasurably closer draw
n in England in Walton's time than no.
its Few laymen, and particularly fe
Or. tradesmen, enjoyed even ordinary fam
as iarity with men of consequence
III, church and state. In this respect Ws
nut ton was an extraordinary exceptio
lis All authorities hold that no man of /
,er time enjoyed so lofty personal rega
he among the noblest and most famo
de men of that day. Two facts cont
ist buted to this. Though but simE
en- linen draper, the graces of his perfC
St. life and the winsome qualities of his
of tcllect and heart gave him not only :
M unqualified respect but the uhlimit
ne affection Of men of high degree.
is Besides this, his relation by birth a
ay marriage made recognition of his pt
nv sonality and its logical result matt
re- of natural sequence. Some Geographic
far believe his mother to have been a ME
ire of Archbishop Crammer. His first wi
ne. Rachel Floud, whom he married
~. 1926 and who died in 1640 was gre
III. grandniece Of that prelate. His seco
It'll wife, Annie Ken, whom he married
by 1916 and who died in 1869, was hi
on sister of Bishop Thomas Ken, author
no the Morning and Evening hymns, a
of l have seen memorial tablet To
mar memory. written by Walton himself.