188 IZAAK WALTON'S ASSOCIATION WITH THE RIVER LEA.
and then indoors, where they had bread, cheese, ale, and a fire for
their ready money ; Bishop Morley, of Worcester, and subsequently
of Winchester, in whose house he wrote much of the "Life of
Richard Hooker," author of the "Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity,"
1666 ; Dr. Morton, Bishop of Durham ; Dr. Fuller, author of "The
Church History" : Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, who addressed
him as "my worthy friend, Mr. Walton"; and Bishop King, of
Chichester, by whom he was addressed as "Honest Izaak." He
was slightly known to Ben Jonson, and alludes to Michael Drayton
as his "honest old friend."
Thus it would seem that such part of his time as was not occu-
pied in business was passed in the society of men whose acquaint-
ance is sufficient proof of the esteem in which his talents were held.
But it is rather with those of his companions who accompanied
him on his fishing excursions that we are just now chiefly concerned,
since it is through them that we are likely to get the best view of
him as an angler, and as a frequenter of the Lea and Thames.
Foremost amongst these, he seems to have had great admiration
for Sir Henry Wotton, Provost of Eton, with whom he probably
became acquainted through Dr. Donne.
" This man," says Walton, "with whom I often fished and con-
versed, was a dear lover and frequent practiser of the art of angling,
of which he would say it was an employment for his idle time, which
was then not idly spent."
William Basse, the composer, who at Walton's request wrote
the "Angler's Song," must have been himself an enthusiastic
fisherman, for he sang:
" Of recreation there is none
So free as fishing is alone ;
All other pastimes do no less
Than mind and body both possess.
My hand alone my work can do
So I can fish and stud)' too."
Then there was his friend Thomas Barker, who lived in Henry
the Eighth's gifts, the next door to the Gate-house in Westminster,
and who wrote a little book called "The Art of Angling," in 1651,
two years before "The Complete Angler" appeared. Walton
thought so well of this, that in his first edition (p. 108) he wrote :
" I will tell you freely I find Mr. Thomas Barker a gentleman
that has spent much time and money in angling, and especially of