Introduction to The Compleat Angler
Introduction to The Compleat Angler
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used to upbraid the world,' is also
a pleasant and accurate piece of self-criticism. 'I am his
convert,' Walton exclaims. In a citation from a manuscript
which cannot be found, and perhaps never existed, Walton is
spoken of as 'a very sweet poet in his youth, and more than
all in matters of love.' {1} Donne had been in the same case:
he, or Time, may have converted Walton from amorous ditties.
Walton, in an edition of Donne's poems of 1635, writes of
'This book (dry emblem) which begins With love; but ends with tears and sighs for sins.'
The preacher and his convert had probably a similar history of the heart: as we shall see, Walton, like the Cyclops, had known love. Early in 1639, Wotton wrote to Walton about a proposed Life of Donne, to be written by himself, and hoped 'to enjoy your own ever welcome company in the approaching time of the Fly and the Cork.' Wotton was a fly-fisher; the cork, or float, or 'trembling quill,' marks Izaak for the bottom-fisher he was. Wotton died
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