alton; and in the many other curious and embellished editions of Walton
and Cotton's Angler. He translated with such truth and spirit, the
celebrated Essays of Montaigne, that he received from that superior
critic, the Marquis of Halifax, a most elegant encomium. Sir John
Hawkins calls it "one of the most valuable books in the English
language." A complete list of Mr. Cotton's works appears in Watts's
Bibl. Britt. When describing, in his _Wonders of the Peake_, the Queen
of Scot's Pillar, he thus breaks out:--

Illustrious _Mary_, it had happy been,
Had you then found a cave like this to skreen
Your sacred person from those frontier spies,
That of a sovereign princess durst make prize,
When Neptune too officiously bore
Your cred'lous innocence to this faithless shore.
Oh, _England_! once who hadst the only fame
Of being kind to all who hither came
For refuge and protection, how couldst thou
So strangely alter thy good nature now,
Where there was so much excellence to move,
Not only thy compassion, but thy love?
'Twas strange on earth, save _Caledonian_ ground,
So impudent a villain could be found,
Such majesty and sweetness to accuse;
Or, after that, a judge would not refuse
Her sentence to pronounce; or that being done,
Even amongst bloody'st hangmen, to find one
Durst, though her face was veil'd, and neck laid down,
Strike off the fairest head e'er wore a crown.
And what state policy there might be here,
Which does with right too often interfere,
I 'm not to judge: yet thus far dare be bold,
A fouler act the sun did ne'er behold.[68]

Plott, in his Staffordshire, calls Mr. Cotton "his worthy, learned, and
most ingenious friend." Sir John Hawkins thus speaks of him:--"He was
both a wit and a scholar; of an open, cheerful, and hospitable temper;
endowed with fine talents for conversation, and the courtesy and
affability of a gentleman." He farther thus speaks of one of his
poems:--"It is not for their courtly and elegant turn, that the verses
of Charles Cotton ought to be praised; there is such a delightful flow
of feeling and sentiment, so much of the best part of our nature mixed
up in them, and so much fancy displayed, that one of our most
distinguished living poets has adduced several passages of his Ode upon
Winter, for a general illustration of the characteristics of fancy." He
must have possessed many endearing qualities, for the bene