196 IZAAK WALTON'S ASSOCIATION WITH THE RIVER LEA.
he says, "where we shall find a cleanly room, lavender in the
windows, and twenty ballads stuck about the wall."
A little further on he says : "At 'Trout Hall,' not far from this
place, where I purpose to lodge to-night, there is usually an angler
that proves good company."
It was on their way to this hostelry that they fell in with the
milkmaid and her mother, who, at their request and in return for a
trout, sang that charming song, "Come live with me and be my
love," which Walton attributes to Marlow, but which the critics
affirm was composed by Shakespeare. So far as it can be traced, it
seems to have been first printed by Jaggard in 1599, in "The
Passionate Pilgrim and other Sonnets, by Mr. William Shakespeare,"
although in "England's Helicon," published in 1600, seven years
after Marlow's death, it is given with Marlow's name attached, and
entitled "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love."
But this by the way. Walton, in the character of Piscator, on
greeting the milkmaid, exclaims, "I have been a-fishing, and am
going to 'Bleak Hall' to my bed." This probably was a lapsus linguae,
for he had previously mentioned "Trout Hall" as his destination.
Sir Harris Nicholas, however, in his edition of "The Complete
Angler" (chap. iv. p. 113), gives a view of "Bleak Hall," which
he describes as a fishing-house on the banks of the Lea, about
a mile from Edmonton, that is, at Cook's Ferry. But this
must be a mistake, for Walton's inn was above Waltham, whereas
Cook's Ferry was some miles below it.5 Now, however, "Bleak
Hall" has disappeared, and the ferry has been superseded by a
bridge.
These are some of the thoughts which crowd upon the mind in
connection with Izaak Walton and the River Lea.
To inquire into the nature of the fishes he caught, or the tackle
he employed, would not only be beside our present purpose, but
would extend these notes to an inordinate length. Nor is it material
to discuss here the accuracy or otherwise of his observations in
Natural History. These have been pretty carefully examined in the
edition of "The Complete Angler," which I have lately published
through Messrs. Bagster, and which is annotated and illustrated
from the naturalist's point of view. But there is just one point upon
5 "Peter : But where shall we meet to-morrow night ? for my friend Coridon and I will go
up the water towards Ware.
Piscator : And my scholar and I will go down towards Waltham.
Coridon : Then let's meet here."