Engraved from the Original Picture by Wilson, in the Posefsion of the Publisher. COTTON'S FISHING HOUSE. Published by T. Gooden, 107. S. Proof their names, to be inscribed on the front of his reader, that is blest with a generous soul, to love you the better. I confess, that for doing this you may justly judge me too bold; if you do, I will say so too; and so far commute for my offence, that, though I be more than a hundred miles from you, and in the eighty-third year of my age, yet I will forget both, and next month begin a pilgrimage to beg your pardon; for I would die in your favour; and till then will live, Sir, "Your most affectionate Father and Friend, London, April 29th, 1676." The second part of the Complete Angler, is, in appearance, an IMITATION of the first. It is a course of dialogues be of the river Dove, which divides the two counties of Stafford and Derby. Here Walton usually spent tween the Author, who is shadowed under the name of Piscator, and a traveller, the very person distinguished in the first part, by the name of Venator, and whom Walton had converted to an Angler; in which, besides the instructions there given, and the beautiful scenery of a wild and romantic country therein displayed, the warm heart, courtesy and hospitality of a well-bred country gentleman, are represented to an enviable advantage. Cotton's continuation might fairly be thought to contain a delineation of the author's character; and dispose the reader to think, that he was delighted with his situation, content with his fortunes, and in short, one of the happiest of men, but in his next work, entitled The Wonders of the Peak, first published in 1681, he speaks wholly a different strain; living in a country abounding in rocks, caverns, and subterraneous passages, objects that, to some minds, afford more delight than stately woods and fertile plains, rich enclosures, and other the milder beauties of rural nature; he seems to have been actuated by nothing more than a sullen curiosity to explore the secrets of that nether world, and surveying it rather with wonder than philosophical delight, and to have given way to his distaste, in a description of the dreary and terrific scenes around and beneath him; so far was he from thinking with the Psalmist, that his lot was fallen in a fair ground,' or that he had a goodly heritage.' In 1685, he published a translation of Montaigne's Essays, in 3 vols. 8vo., which is still considered as one of the most valuable works in the English language, and was the last production of his pen. The precise time of the decease of his first wife is not known; but his second marriage with the |