Franck, as we saw, called Walton 'a plagiary.' He was a plagiary in the
same sense as Virgil and Lord Tennyson and Robert Burns, and, indeed,
Homer, and all poets. _The Compleat Angler_, the father of so many
books, is the child of a few. Walton not only adopts the opinions and
advice of the authors whom he cites, but also follows the manner, to a
certain extent, of authors whom he does not quote. His very exordium,
his key-note, echoes (as Sir Harris Nicolas observes) the opening of _A
Treatise of the Nature of God_ (London, 1599). The _Treatise_ starts
with a conversation between a gentleman and a scholar: it commences:--
_Gent_. Well overtaken, sir!
_Scholar_. You are welcome, gentleman.
A more important source is _The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle_,
commonly attributed to Dame Juliana Barnes (printed at Westminster,
1496). A manuscript, probably of 1430-1450, has been published by Mr.
Satchell (London, 1883). This book may be a translation of an unknown
French original. It opens:--
'Soloman in hys paraboles seith that a glad spirit maket a flowryng
age. That ys to sey, a feyre age and a longe' (like Walton's own),
'and sith hyt ys so I aske this question, wyche bynne the menys and
cause to reduce a man to a mery spryte.' The angler 'schall have hys
holsom walke and mery at hys owne ease, and also many a sweyt eayr of
divers erbis and flowres that schall make hym ryght hongre and well
disposed in hys body. He schall heyr the melodies melodious of the
ermony of byrde: he schall se also the yong swannes and signetes
folowing ther eyrours, duckes, cootes, herons, and many other fowlys
with ther brodys, wyche me semyt better then all the noyse of houndes,
and blastes of hornes and other gamys that fawkners or hunters can
make, and yf the angler take the fyssche, hardly then ys ther no man
meryer then he in his sprites.'
This is the very 'sprite' of Walton; this has that vernal and matutinal
air of opening European literature, full of birds' music, and redolent of
dawn. This is the note to which the age following Walton would not
listen.
In matter of fact, again, Izaak follows the ancient _Treatise_. We know
his jury of twelve flies: the _Treatise_ says:--
'These ben the xij flyes wyth whyche ye shall angle to the trought and
graylling, and dubbe like as ye shall now here me tell.
'_Marche_. The donne fly, the body of the donne woll, and the wyngis
of the pertryche. Another donne flye, the body of blacke woll, the
wyngis of the blackyst drake; and the lay under the wynge and under
the tayle.'