| Show WAKEMANS wanderings LONDON july 24 1893 no single work written wi within t hin the last years has had universally so wholesome ati aa influence as dzaak waltons complete angler and I 1 can call to mind no other writer who has during the same period through his sweet and calm per sodality sona lity and work so held if often unwittingly and unrealized what may be termed the literary conscience of mankind so tenderly close to the tranquilizing touch of natures outstretched tender hand this is not only a fact of excellent significance as sh showing i n the value balut and permanency of puri purity an and simplicity in all art but is a tribute to the heal tafu u ness of motive in sought for source of inspiration by literary people and its accuracy curacy Lc is easily shown if needs be in in an impressive manner by citation contrast and illustration from the best known literature between waltons time and this in many instances it has been clearly acknowledged by literary men themselves in others the identification is so clear and true as to admit of no possible doubt the frankest though still indirect and the most clearly traced indebtedness of this prompting influence to nature loving in those whose genius transmits the same lovable quality to others is made by that master of english prose washington ir irving vh while gle under the spell ol of walton he became for the nonce an angler 1 I hooked myself he charmingly confesses ini instead tead of the fish tangled my line in every tree lost my bait broke m my r rod 0 d until I 1 gave u up the attempt in desp despair a ir and passed t the e day under the trees reading old izaak idaa k satisfied that it was his charming ve vein i n of honest simplicity and rural fe feeling el ing that had bewitched me and not the passion for angling we are certainly largely indebted to this by walton of irving for that rambling nature tom corn muning mood whence was filtered through his loving fancy the f folklore folk olk lore of the legend haunted hudson and gave us the sweetest and best of all his work in those tender tales of the sketch book no less undeniably and far more consciously ly and direct has wordsworth himself divine interpreter ol of natures holiest hollest moods and influences paid tribute to waltons power for purest inspiration he tells us of meek waltons he heavenly averil y demoi memory one of the most beautiful expressions ot of praise and reverence to be found in our language and in the same tribute to waltons lives of hooker sanderson wooton donne and george herbert wordsworth again bursts fourth in in this incomparable strain of eulogy there are no colors in the fairest sky su so fair as these the feather whence the pen was shaped that traced the lives of these good men dropped from an angels wing pages could be filled with most briefly noted admissions by the immortals immert als of the gentle anglers subtle power to draw them to the ever living fountain of purity simplicity and truth justly then baak faak izaak walton and his work must be framed in a different perspective than that of their commonly accepted setting he must not be merely regarded as honest izaak walton father of the gentle art of angling there were able writers before his time upon this engaging diversion most of what he wrote as purely instructive has been more than half a century out of date one must be more than a deft and successful angler to be a disciple of wal walton ton and this truly lovable epithet is almost universally ver sally misapplied I 1 would say then that the name and fame of izaak walton increase with the centime because a truly good and sweetly life with a glorious genius constantly shine cl clearer aber and brighter through his income incomparable pages into our later and better understandings his complete angler which it must be remembered is also the contemplative mans recreation is an imperishable shrine in the world of letters because after the bible it is the most perfect guide to the worship of nature and natures god toge together er to which we have access and being a disciple of walton must come to mean not merely one who can land a trout or grayling prettily but that one who in any vocation is heart and soul attuned to the god sent harmonies of nature through the measureless peace of pure and perfect life with this spirit of loving remembrance a quest for the olden haunts of walton becomes almost a reverential pilgrimage in a half months time it will be years since since his birth august 9 1593 in 1 staffordshire about years since actual knowledge of his existence as s a dempster semp ster or linen draper in the royal royal burse cornhill Com hill where the royal exchange now stands was made a matter of record by deed and just years since the first sale at eighteen pence price by richard in st dunstano Dun stans church yard fleet street of copies of the first edition of the com pleat angler the london indeed one might say the england of that time is no more loiter and delve as one may about old fleet street and chancery lane there is not a single existing existing 9 reminder of walton and his time so far as I 1 am able to discover in the entire worlds metropolis there is but one that is the initials and date 1 I W 1658 on the stone tablet to isaac casaubon in westminster abbeys south transept it was scratched there by walton himself and is a desecration now cherished by all britain who would ever glance at the pages of Casaubon iana today or remember that james I 1 made casaubon of westminster and canterbury save for this silent token of izaak waltons regard the scene of the angler lies directly north of london along the river lea between e tween tottenham and hertford and it was a no small walk from waltons shop in chancery lane to his favorite haunts beside this stream the river itself has its rise in Bedford shire still north of Hertford shire in the marsh called Lui grave or leagrave seagrave Lea grave from whence the saxons borrowed its denomination as the old writer chauncy relates it pursues a sinuous course through richly wooded and paris parishes hes and such chief towns of hert ford shire as broxbourne Brox bourne ware and hatfield and from tottenham lazily and slimly flows down through east london under lea bridge is is split into black lagoons in the foul hackney marshes and becomes a muddy stream again as it passes between queen matildaa Mat ildas bridge and the noted bridge of stratford le bow the ancient way into essex then a mere open channel of london sewage it forms the various basins of the lea cut limehouse cut and limehouse basin of regents canal and trailing to the west of stratford and barking marshes marsh esthe the foulest smelling factory spot on the earths surface enters the thames through the noisome delta forming the isle of dogs in waltons time all this region was country it is one of the most unpleasant experiences you can n w know in london to follow the lea irom from east india dock to tottenham the latter is even now a part of london and one can only with difficulty see the way the gentle angler came and as dimly h imagine i the tottenham ot of old its then smart elizabethan habitations and its laich cross where the characters in the angler first met and ana on his hig way to fish the lea at ware that fine fresh may morning makes the pleasant acquaintance of venator and the white swan inn at tottenham was the place where walton tarried going to and coming from the river lea the last tinie time I 1 saw it it was half hidden from the high road and high cross a tiny slumberous hostel of the long ago ap 0 white stuccoed coed ana gabled with a pata 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 led his companions of the angler waltons own picture of the inn is a pleasanter plea santer one than can now be drawn an honest alehouse where might be found a cleanly room lavender in the windows and twenty ballads stuck about the wal walk with a hostess both cleanly and hand some and civil it was here over the eating of the toothsome chub that venator insisted upon terming walton as master shortly beyond this the lea winds pleasantly n near edmonton where john gilpin from tse indecorous speed of his horse missed a comfortable dinner and at Hoddes doa above was the That cht house where at the very outset of the anglers Angler lt a pleasant experiences venator expressed 3 his purpose of drinking his draught from tottenham to war want is is a pleasant vagrant jaunt but the lover of walton must needs carry thel good old fisherman along with hin him hi h i L the sweet cradle of his fancy for all but ji the merest suggestion of companionship companion shio 1 I identification in these first and oldest angling haunts along the river lea H i undoubtedly dove dale the water 3 yay way of the valarous arous and im impetuous i etu ous river dove dorming tor ming the boundary y b be e tween derbyshire and staffordshire in the romantic region of the derby peak retains least changed the natural sc scenes eries Z most loved of izaak walton it is here his summer months for years were wera t passed in an almost idyllic enjoyment T of his favorite pastime and in a briend s ship hip with cotton of so perfect a nature natured natu ref f that it at least exalted an otherwise sw 7 characterless man of no little talent tos tol nobler aspirations and accomplishments every one is familiar with this strange stran jre and unequal attachment how walton walto almost saintly in character and forty four lis years the elder of the blase spendthrift and scribbler of unreadable became his friend and companion ia beresford hall how cotton built the thea famous fishing hause beside th tha dove with its intertwined escutcheon 01 of t his own and waltons initials and the f motto ibus sacrum aboa abiva the door how their affect affection io ripened 14 until cotton adopted walton as W father and walton the spendthrift gentleman as his son and how it ajr aff had a good andin ending g when at walto walmont Wal tont 11 I W request cotton accomplished the best work of las his life in part second of the anglet angler being instructions how to angle for P or A trout or grayling in A dear stream prefaced by the retire ment or stances Stan zes to mr izaak walton of much poetic power beginning with the lines farewell thou busy world and tria may we never meet again 1 I 1 always love to ima imagine ne this odd d d 1 friendship not to have treen been an unac countable I 1 matter but an affinity of opposites beginning away back there as walton stretched his legs up tottenham hill and first met the wayward ill directed though undoubtedly appreciative and sympathetic cotton as none other than venator who from the instinctive deference to a great soul which made the word master unconsciously ly burst from his lips came by degrees of betterment grateful love and reverence to know the gentle langler who had saved hi him lm f from rola himself as a father in the highest in and d purest spiritual sense the whole romantic valley is te redolent dolent of legend and memory of cotton and walton the ancient beres ford hall is changed but the walton room is intact the bowling green beside the dove is as it was nearly a quarter of a thousand years ago and the e old stone fishing house now more than years old still stands in in the dale one of the truest monuments in england to a strange but scat bless friendship the distinction between classes and immeasurably closer drawn masses was in england in waltons time than now few laymen and particularly few tradesmen enjoyed even ordinary familiarity with men of consequence in church and state in this respect walton was an extraordinary axce exception eption all authorities hold that no man 0 of f his bis time enjoyed so loft lofty y a personal regard among the noblest and most famous men of that oay day two facts contributed to this though 1 hough but a sim simple le linen draper the and the win graces of his perfect life win some qualities of his intellect and heart gave him not only the unqualified respect but the unlimited affection of men ot of high degree besides this his relation by birth and marriage made recognition of his personality sona lity and its logical result a matter of natural sequence some biographers believe his mother to have been a niece of archbishop cranmer his first wife rachel floud whom he married in 1626 and who died in 1640 was a great grand niece of that prelate his second wife anne ken whom he married in in 1646 and who died in 1662 was a half sister of bishop thomas ken author of the morning and F evening hymns and I 1 have seen a mern memorial orial tablet to her memory written by walton himself in in the lady chapel of worcester cathedral his son izaak became a canon in salisbury cathedral where his remains and those of some of his descendants now lie during many of the later years of waltons life apartments were constantly reserved reamed for him and his daughter anne at the episcopal residences of dr ward bishop of salisbury and dr morley bishop 8 op of winchester inc es e and the marriage of this is daughter anne to dr hawkins re ada of winchester cathedral in whose house walton died dec 15 centered still closer to historic winchester for centuries the royal capital of england the closing memories of waltons peaceful life while the grand old cathedral here became the glod roans mans tomb thus memorials nemo wein rials orias in three of En glands noblest nobles ecclesiastical structures preserve his glorious name because these things about walton are nowhere collectively made concise and clear have dwelt upon them here and delight also to point out another remarkable fact in his bis career illustrating illustration how the human intellect secures and powerful gerful sustentation from pure and equalito equable lle physical and moral life walton was wa sixty years of age when his complete angler first appeared three of the remarkable series of his lives were first published after he was seventy years old and at the age of ninety i when he be wrote the preface to theale thealma a and clearchus a pastoral poem by john chalkhill Chal khill the mental powers of this noble man were clear and strong and whole I 1 believe there is not in the whole range of english literature so luminous an exam example le of sweet and pure living thinking ang and writing as that furnished bishea by the career and work of izaak walton so as the peaceful evening of his life was passed at winchester the pilgrim to waltons haunts and shrine will find in and about the old cathedral town the closest and kenderest ten terY derest ties of presence and memory all through these lovely hampshire valleys are the haunts of his hale and calm old age the river test steal stealing ipg out of the berkshire moors and the river itchen gleaming between the chalk hills of hamps to murmur through the old cathedral town both reach the sea at southampton water in all their lovely way from the north are countless dee deeps a and shallows where the gentle angher angler came every mossy old mill every flower embowered empowered every slumberous old inn every quaint old parish paris h church every n rippling I 1 ling ford silent t pool and ancient bridge every hall and castle and almost every riverside cottage along these streams has its loving legend of the good old man who transfused the sweetness of his life into the murmurs of the waters the odors of the blossoms the melody of the birds and the very sunlight apon these hampshire hills and meads and streams and when you have come to the noble cathedral wherein he lies it is not the tombs of kings and prelates pr elates that hold bold your rapt attention the bones of g grim arim william rufus of Kyn KyD egils of adolphus of egbert of Ke of canute and that spotless queen who trod the fiery ploughshares plough |
