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IZAAK WALTON

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IZAAK WALTON
AND HIS FRIENDS

BY

SEAPLETON MARTIN, M.A.

OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

BARRISTER-AT-LAW
SECOND EDITION, CORRECTED AND REVISED

“One generation shall praise thy works to another.”—PsALM CxIV. 12, lV.
‘* By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we quote.”—-R. W. Emerson.

‘The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages may be preserved by
quotation. "—CuRIOsITIES OF LITERATURE.

40
00 lo
2)
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LONDON Cy

CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED —

1904

M
WH aes!
Maa
eth

Dedicated
TO

MY WIFE
AND CHILD

PREFACE

WE have recently been informed that in a
biography ‘‘the person delineated should have
the power of permanently interesting his fellow-
men; and next, that the delineator should be
able to recall him to life.”'

Izaak Walton, as years go on, is loved as a
man and writer more and more; but whether I
have succeeded in re-animating him must be left
to the reader to determine.

This book is written chiefly with a view to
bring out the spiritual side of Walton’s character.
I cannot find that anyone before me has attempted
to do this. Walton was (to borrow a splendid
phrase) a ‘‘ God-intoxicated man,” and to ignore
this fact seems fatal to any right estimate of
his character and life.

I venture to think that some little fresh in-
formation may be found in this book which may

1 See an article in the National Review of December 1901,

by Mr Asquith.

vil

vill PREFACE

be acceptable to Waltonians. It is, however,

written in the first instance for those who only
know of Walton as a ‘‘Fisherman” and as the
author of The Complete Angler; and in hope that
this humble contribution to Waltonian lore may
not only instruct, but so enamour the reader
that he may for himself ‘rummage’ Walton's
writings, the only way, I apprehend, to get to
the heart of the writer.

STAPLETON MARTIN.
THE Firs,

Norton,
WORCESTER.

CHAP.

Ix.

XII.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

. A Sort Memoir or [zAakK WALTON .

. (1) Watton as A Royauist.

(2) WaLron as THE Reticious Man

. WALTON AS AN ANGLER

. “THe ComMPLETE ANGLER”
. CHARLES COTTON .

. CoLonEL RoBertT VENABLES

. THe FISHING-HOUSE

THe Lives—
(a) Joun DoNNE
(6) Henry WorTon
(ec) GEorGE HERBERT
(d) Richard HooKER
(ec) RoBERT SANDERSON .

(a) “Love anp TruTH”
(6) “'THEALMA AND CLEARCHUS” .

. Wa.ton’s DEATH .
. ©Farraco LIBELLI”

SHort SKETCHES OF SOME Famous ECCLESIASTICS

WHO WERE WALTON’s FRIENDS—
THomas Barlow
WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH
James Duport
Brian Duppa

103
108
113
118
122

125

141
142
143
145

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE
DANIEL FEATLEY . ¢ ‘ 4 : , 146

JoHN FELL . ’ é , : . . 148
THomAs FULLER . : : } s : 150

JoHN HALEs . : : : } . 152
JosEPH Hau : ; ’ : . 163
Henry HamMonp . ; E : ; . — hee
CHRISTOPHER HARVEY . : : ; . SESS
HuMpPHREY HENCHMAN . : : .. SBE
RicHarpD HoLpsworTH . ; 3 Pp ae
THomas KEN ; : ; : .; ais
Henry Kine. i ; : ; : meee
ABRAHAM MARKLAND . : : ; , 163
GrorcE Morey . : : : : 5) ie
THomas Morton . : : ¢ : ‘ 166

JOHN PEARSON : ; ; : ae |S
THomas PIERCE. ; ; ee 169
GILBERT SHELDON . : : : ‘ Te

JAMES SHIRLEY . : 3 : : . . 22
RIcHARD SIBBES . : : : ; . we

JAMES UssHER ; . : : . 9

SetH Warp . j : ‘ ‘ 2 v2. a
SAMUEL WoopFORD ; : : : eR

xu. Copy or WALTon’s WILL . : 3 , , St
xiv. A SHort Nore on Watrton’s Famity . : ; 188

Xv. SELECTIONS FROM THE PoETICAL WORKS OF—

(a) Izaak WALTON : ; : », Te
(6) Caartes Corron . : : . F202
(c) Joun Donne . ; . : - 226
(d) GeorGE HERBERT . : : : . 232
(e) Henry Worton : ; ; . 239
(f) James Duporr : . 242
(g) Henry BayLry : : ; . 247

INDEX . : , , : : , : 249

—— =

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Izaak WALTON. ; . Frontispiece

THz Font In wHIcH WALTON was Baptizep To face page 2

CHARLES COTTON . é f : ; : a 54
BERESFORD HALL . ; : : ; . : a 56
Tue BeresrorD MoNUMENT . : 2 > : ‘ 70
Corron’s FisHinc-HovusE ; ‘ : : : ie 72
JoHN DoNNE , ‘ : t : : ; i 78
Donne’s Statue tn St Pavt’s CaTHEDRAL, LONDON i 84
Henry WorTron . : ; : j z : “ 92
GrorGE HERBERT : : : ; : - 96
RicHarpD HooKER ; : : : : : e 104
RoBERT SANDERSON : : : : : ; - 108
Watton’s Toms . : ; , : : ‘ i 124
Memoriat WInpow IN St Dunstan’s CHourcH, Lonpon ,, 126
WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL : : ; : : ys 144
Watton’s STaTUE IN WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL be 161
ANNE WALTON’s TOMBSTONE IN WORCESTER CATHEDRAL ,, 188

Tue Watton Bust in St Mary’s CourcH, STAFFORD ,, 208

xi

Re ls WAL TON

(1593—1683)

CHAPTER I
A SHORT MEMOIR OF IZAAK WALTON

“ We seldom find
The man of business with the artist join’d.”
Curiosities of Literature.

IzAAK WALTON was born on the 9th of August
1593, in the parish of St Mary, in the town of
Stafford. Research as to his parentage has
proved unsatisfactory, and nothing certain is
known on the subject beyond that his father’s
name was Jervis Walton. The late Mr Thomas
Westwood, who died in 1888, and was a great
authority on Walton, wrote in 1873 (see Notes and
Queries, 4th S. XI. p. 41): “It may be we shall
never know which is the roof that sheltered
Walton’s youthful head in Stafford, even if such
relic be still in existence.” It has been conjectured
by Dean Stanley (Memorials of Westminster Abbey)
that he was named Izaak after the learned Isaac

Casaubon, who was a friend of Walton’s father,
A

2 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

and who died in 1614, and this seems highly
probable.?

Walton married twice. His first wife, to
whom he was married at St Mildred’s Church,
Canterbury, on the 27th of December 1626, she
being then aged nineteen, was Rachel, daughter
of William and Susanna Floud, of Chevening,
Kent, and she was maternally descended from
Archdeacon Cranmer, brother of the Arch-
bishop.? Rachel Walton died on the 22nd of
August 1640, and was buried at St Dunstan’s in
the West, Fleet Street, London. There was issue
of this marriage seven children, all of whom died
young.

Walton married as his second wife, in 1646,
Anne, daughter of Thomas Ken, an attorney, and
half-sister to Dr Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells,
the most remarkable man among the non-juring
prelates. Anne Walton died on the 17th of April
1662, and as she was buried in the Cathedral of
Worcester, it is generally supposed that her death
occurred while on a visit with her husband to
George Morley, who was then Bishop of Worcester,

1 Casaubon was also a friend of Sir Henry Wotton. We find
Wotton, writing in 1593 to Lord Zouch, saying : “I am placed to my
very great contentment, in the house of Mr Isaac Casaubon, a person
of sober condition among the French.”

2 As regards the corruption of the Welsh name Llwyd (meaning
grey), or Lloyd into the English forms Floud, Floyd, etc., and as to
Cranmer’s pedigree, see The Perverse Widow; or, Memorials of the
Boevey Family (Longmans & Co., 1898).

THE FONT IN WHICH WALTON WAS BAPTISED IN ST MARYS CHURCH, STAFFORD

To face page 2.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 3

and who soon after became Bishop of Winchester,
and from whom Walton has been said to have
“sucked wit and wisdom.” JBy this second
marriage Walton had issue three children, short
particulars of whom are given in Chapter XIV.

It is a curious fact that none of Walton’s
biographers, before Sir Harris Nicolas," make any
mention of his first marriage, and very few of them
mention that by his second marriage he had issue
two sons, respectively called by the name of
Izaak. )

Of Walton’s youth we know nothing for certain.
We may well believe that it was spotless and that
he possessed ‘‘self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-
control,” added to that which St Augustine has
called “a mind naturally Christian,’ and that he
sat ‘‘self-governed, in the fiery prime of youth,
obedient at the feet of law.” This makes his life
much more interesting than if he had been a great
sinner before he became a great saint. I consider
that he must have received a very good education,
and that he must have read a great deal, having a
special knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. The
Love of Amos and Laura,’ written in 1613, is
dedicated ‘‘To my approved and much respected
friend, Iz. Wa.” In that year Walton was only

1 His full names appear in the Dictionary of National Biography
as Nicholas Harriss Nicolas.

2 The unique first edition (1613) was sold at Sotheby’s in May
1903. The second edition (1619) is in the British Museum.

4 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

twenty years old. This alone shows that his
devotion to literature must have begun early
in his career; indeed, he appears to have been
possessed of an almost immoderate thirst for
knowledge. Most of his biographers state Walton
had but an imperfect education, and knew Latin
very imperfectly—“ small Latin and less Greek.”
The reasons given are poor. Walton could never,
says Lowell, ‘‘ have been taught even the rudiments
of Latin,” and he gives some instances which he
considers carry his point. It is enough for us, he
says, “‘that he contrived to pick up somewhere
and somehow a competent mastery of his mother
tongue (far harder because seeming easier than
Latin) and a diction of persuasive simplicity,
capable of dignity where that was natural and
becoming, such as not even the Universities can
bestow.”

Bethune writes that Walton’s ‘‘knowledge of
Latin, a few scraps of which appear on his
pages, was evidently very slight.” I suggest he
was at least a fair Latin scholar. I do not forget
that many of his own quotations from ancient
authors might have been supplied to him in
translations in English books, which are known
to have been in existence in his day. And Iadmit,
he says of himself, “when I look back upon

1 Walton quotes Thucydides in his Life of Sanderson; but a
translation of that writers History of the Grecian War was printed
in 1628,

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 5

my education and mean abilities, it is not with-
out some little wonder at myself that I am
come to be publicly in print,” and he would not
boast ‘‘ of acquired learning or study.” However,
he must have conversed much with learned men,
and walking with wise men, without doubt, made
him wise. Canon Beeching points out in his
Religio Laict (Smith, Elder & Co., 1902) that it
is important to insist that Walton was a man of
education, and draws attention to his handwriting,
‘‘which is beautiful and scholarlike.” Early in
life he seems to have made friends with the best-
known literary men of the day, and with those
who “excelled in virtue.” He appears to have
followed the counsel given to cleave unto him that
is wise, and be willing to hear every godly dis-
course, and when he saw a man of understanding |
—to get betimes unto him, and to let his foot
wear the steps of his door (Ecclesiasticus vi.
34, 36).

Walton came to London before the year 1613,
and was engaged in business in or near Chancery
Lane for many years. Perhaps the real nature of
his business will never now be discovered. It is
usually supposed that he was a_ linendraper,
sempster, haberdasher, milliner or merchant.
That he was an ironmonger, as has been lately so
confidently asserted, is improbable. It is true that,
on the 12th of November 1618, he was admitted

6 IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS

a free brother of the Ironmongers’ Company, and
that in the license for his marriage with Rachel
Floud he was described as of the ‘“Cittie of
London, Ironmonger,” but, as the master for the
time being of the Ironmongers’ Company remarked
on the occasion of the unveiling of the Walton
Memorial Window at St Dunstan’s Church in
1895, one who is free of the City of London ‘‘when
styling himself as a citizen, appends the name of
some trade or craft; that, however, does not
necessarily indicate the trade or craft he actually
follows ; it simply means that he is a Freeman of
the Livery Company of the City of London which
bears such name.”* It appears, therefore, that we
have no good reason for supposing Walton to have
been an ironmonger by trade. The same reasoning
that would make him out to have been an iron-
monger might just as well make him out to have
been an attorney, since he is described in several
documents and writings as “Gentleman,” which,
until quite a recent date, has been the proper and
legal description of an attorney.”

In a petition to the “ Court of Judicature for

1 The Fishing Gazette, April 13, 1895.
? William Combe in his Dance of Death wrote :—

“ And thus the most opprobrious fame
Attends upon the attorney’s name.
Nay, these professors seem ashamed
To have their legal title named :
Unless my observation errs,

They’re all become Solicitors,”

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 7

determination of differences touching houses burnt
in London,” presented in 1670, Walton is de-
scribed as ‘Isaac Walton, Gentleman.”

Bethune says of Walton: “Gentleman he was
by orthography and spirit, but gentleman in any
other sense he cared not to be.”

Of himself Walton writes: ‘‘I would rather
prove myself a gentleman by being learned and
humble, valiant and inoffensive, virtuous and com-
municable, than by any fond ostentation of riches,
or, wanting those virtues myself, boast that they
were my ancestors’.”

CHAPTER It
(1) WALTON AS A ROYALIST

‘“‘ And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall
be a scorn unto them.”—H as. i. 10.

“The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.”
TsalaB i. 5,
Ir is necessary that the reader should regard
the state the country was in when Walton lived,
if he would estimate rightly the man.

S. T. Coleridge wrote :—

“T know no portion of history which a man
might write with so much pleasure as that of
the great struggle in the time of Charles L,
because he may feel the profoundest respect for
both parties. The side taken by any particular
person was determined by the point of view
which such person happened to command at
the commencement of the inevitable collision,
one line seeming straight to this man, another
line to another. No man of that age saw the
truth, the whole truth; there was not light enough

for that. The consequence, of course, was a
8

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 9

violent exaggeration of each party for the time.
The King became a martyr, and the Parlia-
mentarians traitors and vice versd.”

It has been well said that it is the privilege of
posterity to adjust the characters of illustrious
persons, and to set matters right between those
antagonists who by their rivalry for greatness
divided a whole age into factions.

We wonder if Walton ever hesitated as to
which party he would side with. He says,
in his Infe of Bishop Sanderson: ‘I praise
God that He prevented me from being of the
party which helped to bring in this Covenant,
and those sad confusions that have followed
it.”

However, his hesitation, if the sentence really
means he ever thought twice on the subject, was
not for long, as he became a strong partisan and
the trusted friend of the Royalists.

After the Battle of Worcester, the Royalists
who took part in it dispersed. The follow-
ing extracts taken from Boscobel, or, The
Compleat History of His Sacred Majestie’s Most
Miraculous Preservation after the Battle of
Worcester, 3rd September 1651, by Sir Thomas
Blount, follow the account of the King’s hiding
in the neighbourhood of Worcester: ‘‘His Majesty
having put off his garter, blue riband, George of
diamonds, buff coat, and other princely ornaments,

Io IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

committed his watch to the custody of the Lord
Wilmot, and his George to Colonel Blague, and
distributed the gold he had in his pocket among
his servants, etc., did advertise the company to
make haste away.” And, quaintly adds the
writer: “‘Thus David and his men departed out
of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go”
(1 Sam. xxiii. 13).

“Colonel Blague remaining at Mr Barlow's
house at Bloorpipe, about eight miles from
Stafford, his first action was, with Mrs Barlow’s
privity and advice, to hide his Majesty’s George
under a heap of chips and dust; yet the Colonel
could not conceal himself so well, but that he was
here, soon after, taken and carried prisoner to
Stafford, and from thence conveyed to the Tower
of London. Meantime the George was trans-
mitted to Mr Robert Milward, of Stafford, for
better security, who afterwards faithfully
conveyed it to Colonel Blague in the Tower
by the trusty hands of Mr Isaac Walton.”
Most biographers of Walton give an account
of the George incident with the reference
to Ashmole’s History of the Order of the
Garter.

Charles II., after an exile of twelve years,
landed in England on the 25th May 1660, and five
days later Walton wrote a joyous eclogue to Mr
Alexander Brome (one of Ben Jonson’s sons) on

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS II

the event. By an Act of Parliament of 1660,
those of the parish clergy who had been turned
out of their benefices during the Civil War were
reinstated. In 1661 the New Parliament assured
the Church in possession of all the property
which she had held at the outbreak of the Civil
War, and replaced the bishops in the House of
Lords.

(2) WALTON AS THE RELIGIOUS MAN
* Pectus est quod facit theologum.”—NEANDER’s Morro.

Walton’s friendship appears to have been con-
fined almost entirely to Churchmen and Royalists,
though it is true he informs us in his will he had
a very long and true friendship with some of the
Roman Church. Very likely Dr Donne, Dean of
St Paul’s Cathedral,1 and Vicar of St Dunstan’s
Church, Fleet Street, introduced him to a “set”
among the bishops and certain of the learned
clergy, in return, perhaps, for Walton’s under-
taking various parochial duties. With the ‘taint
of trade” upon him Walton must have found him-

1 St Pauls Cathedral which in 1643 was completely restored,
suffered at the hands of the Puritans, but was being repaired again in
1663 when in 1666 it was entirely destroyed by the Great Fire. The
present St Paul’s Cathedral was commenced in 1675. It was begun

and completed under one architect, Sir Christopher Wren, under one
Bishop of London, Dr Henry Crompton, and under one master-mason,

12 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

self sometimes like a fish out of water in company
with the high-born and cultured Cotton, and in
that of scholars and Church dignitaries. He had,
says Lowell, ‘‘a genius for friendships and an
amiability of nature ample for the comfortable
housing of many at a time; he had even a special
genius for bishops, and seems to have known
nearly the whole episcopal bench of his day.”
Lowell gives us his own explanation of what he
means by ‘‘ genius.”

We may imagine that Walton was as good
a listener as he was a great converser and a
maker of good talk “across the walnuts and
the wine,” never making harsh remarks; a re-
peater of reminiscences, though no mere man of
anecdote, a man full of bonhome. If these con-
jectures are right such a man would have been
a welcome guest anywhere, but especially among
the clergy.

Dr Johnson said: ‘It was wonderful that |
Walton, who was in a very low situation in life,
should have been familiarly received by so many
great men, and that at a time when the ranks of
society were kept more separate than they are
now.” Yet Johnson might have wondered how it
was that he was similarly treated by his superiors.
It is never recorded that Walton was on terms of
intimacy with any of the leading nonconformists
of his day. He might have known John Milton,

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 13

since Wotton called him friend, and he might
have known Richard Baxter, but we never
read that he even came into contact with either
of them. The Complete Angler and The Pugrin’s
Progress are two of the most popular books ever
published in the English language, yet Bunyan,
though an angler himself, would have been quite
an impossible companion for Walton, since his
views on the Book of Common Prayer would
alone have hindered, we may feel sure, their
friendship.

Bunyan’s view of prayer was that it should be, to
use a phrase of Bishop Sanderson’s, “‘ open prayer;”
in other words, that prayer should be extemporary,
not preconceived. Judge Keeling cautioned
Bunyan thus: ‘Take heed of speaking irrever-
ently of the Book of Common Prayer, for if
you do, you will bring great damage upon your-
self.” It is to be hoped few nonconformists will
be found in this age to say with Dr Horton, that
the Book of Common Prayer is a book of “un-
answered prayers.” *

Walton’s views of the book may be gathered
from the following verses, written by his friend,
Christopher Harvie, which he quotes in The Com-
plete Angler, but I observe it is not to be found in
the first edition :—

1See the Dissolution of Dissent, by Robert F. Horton, D.D.
(London: Arthur H. Stockwell, 1902).

14 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

‘What! Prayer by the Book? and Common? Yes; why not?
The spirit of grace
And supplication
Ts not left free alone
For time and place,
But manner too: to read, or speak by rote
Ts all alike to him that prays
In’s heart, what with his mouth he says,

“‘ They that in private, by themselves alone,
Do pray, may take
What liberty they please,
Tn choosing of the ways
Wherein to make
Their soul’s most intimate affections known
To Him that sees in secret, when
Th’ are most conceal’d from other men.

“ But he that unto others leads the way
In public prayer
Should do it so
As all that hear may know
They need not fear
To tune their hearts unto his tongue, and say
Amen! not doubt they were betrayed
To blaspheme, when they meant to have prayed.

‘*e Devotion will add life unto the letter :
And why should not
That which authority
Prescribes esteemed be
Advantage got?
If th’ prayer be good, the commoner the better,
Prayer in the Church’s words as well
As sense, of all prayers bears the bell.”

Excepting the prayers in the Liturgy, many
regard Dr Jeremy Taylor’s to be superior to all

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 15

others. The reader may be referred to the
published prayers of George Dawson of Birming-
ham, as being seemingly almost inspired. Dawson
thought he might perhaps go down to posterity in
his prayers. Some persons dread any new forms
of service with prayers not found in the Prayer-
book. Christopher Wordsworth, the late Bishop
of Lincoln, said : “It would indeed be a misfortune
deeply to be regretted, if Convocation in these days
were to present itself before the public in the
character of a manufactory of prayers” (see his
Life, p. 172, Rivingtons).

About the year 1644 Walton left London,
‘finding it dangerous for honest men to be there.”
He appears to have made money by his business,
and we expect he was an exception to the state-
ment that “a merchant shall hardly keep himself
from doing wrong” (EKcclesiasticus, xxvi. 29), for
we cannot conceive him effecting a ‘“‘deal” to the
detriment of anyone, or being a party to ‘‘the
wrongful dealings of men.” We expect those who
did business with him soon found :—

“ His Nay was Nay, without recall ;
His Yea was Yea, and powerful all ;
He gave his yea with careful heed,
His thoughts and words were well agreed,
His word his bond and seal.”

Whilst engaged in his business and “midst the
crowd, the hum, the shock of men,” we think he

16 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

must have been one of those referred to in these
beautiful lines :—

“There are in this loud stunning tide
Of human care and crime,
With whom the melodies abide
Of th’ everlasting chime ;
Who carry music in their heart
Through dusky lane and wrangling mart,
Plying their daily task with busier feet,
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat.”
JoHN KEBLE.

This “saint of the mart and busy street” seems
by opportunity of leisure to have given his mind
to literature, and his free-time to the study and
practice of angling. It is indeed difficult to know
exactly where to place him. He was saturated
with religion and with theology from his youth up,
and the man who only knows of him as a fisher-
man will receive a mighty revelation when he
discovers he was a most religious man, as well as
a theologian and a literary one, though also “un-
doubtedly the best angler with a minnow in
England,” if we are to believe Cotton’s statement
on the point. We may be permitted to wonder
where Walton would have found himself in the
ecclesiastical world if now alive. No “peacock”
ritualism, as Emerson expresses it, would, we may
be sure, have attracted him. The sight of the
churches staggering backward to the mummeries
of the dark ages would probably have made him

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 17

“tremble for the ark.” He would have grieved
over those who, taking the pay and status of the
English Church, openly deny the principles of
the Reformation, and, hating the very name of
“Protestant,” seek altogether to alter the geo-
graphical boundaries of that Church.

The late Bishop Harvey Goodwin, of Carlisle,
well said, “that any English Churchman should
doubt whether upon the whole the Church was
better or worse for being reformed, or should
regard the Reformation not as a necessity, but as
a crime—this is to my mind absolutely wonderful ”
(“The Message of the Spirit to the Church of
England,” a sermon preached before the University
of Cambridge, 1869).

In no period has the Anglican Church, writes
Hallam, referring to the period 1650-1700, stood
up so powerfully in defence of the Protestant
cause. From the era of the Restoration to the
close of the century, the war was unremitting
and vigorous. And it is particularly to be re-
marked, he says, that the principal champions
of the Church of England “threw off that
ambiguous syncretism which had displayed itself
under the first Stuarts, and, comparatively at
least with their immediate predecessors, avoided
every admission which might facilitate a deceitful
compromise.” Many of Walton’s greatest friends

were out and out Protestants.
B

18 IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS

Macaulay has said “that the school of divinity
of which Hooker was the chief occupies a middle
place between the school of Cranmer and the
school of Laud.” Walton, in my opinion, must be
placed in Hooker’s school, and must certainly be
classed as a “High Churchman.” That he re-
ceived his knowledge of Christ from Donne’s
teaching we can have no doubt at all.

He thus describes Donne’s preaching: ‘‘Preach-
ing the Word so, as shewed his own heart was
possessed with those very thoughts and joys that
he laboured to distil into others; a preacher in
earnest; weeping sometimes for his auditory,
sometimes with them; always preaching to him-
self, like an angel from a cloud* but in none;
carrying some, as St Paul was, to heaven in holy
raptures, and enticing others by a sacred art and
courtship to amend their lives; here picturing a
vice so as to make it ugly to those that practised
it: and a virtue so as to make it beloved, even by |
those that loved it not; and all this with a most
particular grace and an unexpressible addition of
comeliness.” ?

1 This is a phrase in a poem of Donne's.

2 Dean Milman said Donne’s sermons “held the congregation en-
thralled, unwearied, unsatiated.” “It is my full conviction” (says
Coleridge), “that in any half-dozen sermons of Donne or Taylor there
are more thoughts, more facts and images, more excitement to inquiry
and intellectual effort, than are presented to the congregations of the

present day in as many churches or meetings during twice as many
months.”

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 19

In the most pathetic elegy Walton wrote on
Donne’s death, beginning ‘Our Donne is dead,”
he writes that Donne

** Went to see
That blessed place of Christ’s nativity
Did he return and preach him? preach him so
As since St Paul none did, none could! Those know
(Such as were blest to hear him) this is truth.”
And his agony (we can use no other word) on
Donne’s death is vividly shown by the haunting
wail :—

“Oh! do not call grief back, by thinking on his funeral.”!

Walton probably adopted the direction to
“decline the company and society of known
schismatics, not conversing frequently or familiarly
with them, or more than the necessary affairs of
life and the rules of neighbourhood and common
civility will require, especially not to give counten-
ance unto their Church Assemblies by our pre-
sence among them, if we can avoid it.”” How-
ever, it appears from a letter of Walton’s, dated
the 2nd of October 1651, that he attended a
“fanatical meeting called an Evening Lecture, in
St Dunstan’s Church, where a brawling trooper
filled that pulpit which was once occupied by ye
learned and heavenly-minded Dr Donne” :—

1 Jeremy Taylor, in his Holy Dying, writes : “I desire todie a dry
death, but am not very desirous to have a dry funeral.”

2 See Bishop Sanderson’s Judgment Concerning Submission to
Usurpers.

20 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

“Where first I caught the rays divine,
And drank the Eternal Word.”
CARDINAL NEWMAN.

This semi-delirious sectary was probably one
of those of whom Sydney Smith, the witty Canon of
St Paul’s Cathedral, sarcastically said: ‘‘ He could
gesticulate away the congregation of the most
profound and learned divine of the Established
Church, and in two Sundays preach him bare to
the very sexton.” In the introduction to Walton's
Inves, written by Henry Morley (George Routledge
& Sons, 1888), he states that Walton “went to
church” at St Paul’s, where Donne had been made
dean, and that he had “from the pulpit of St
Paul's first stirred in him the depths of spiritual
life.” He never refers to St Dunstan’s Church
and appears ignorant of the fact that it was the
church Walton attended.

Sir Leslie Stephen can imagine Walton “ gaz-
ing reverently from his seat at the dean in the
pulpit, dazzled by a vast learning and a majestic
flow of elaborate rhetoric which seemed to the
worthy tradesman to come as from an ‘angel in
the clouds,’ and offering a posthumous homage as
sincere and touching as that which, no doubt,
engaged the condescending kindness of the great
man in life.” How radically false this view is
Canon Beeching well points out.

Some of Walton’s views of the nonconformists

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 21

of his own time will be found recorded in the
remarkable “digression,” as he himself calls it,
which he makes on the subject in his Life of
Hooker. We must suppose Walton observed
Saints’ days and fasting, for he sings :—

** Rach Saint’s day
Stands as a landmark in an erring age,

To guide frail mortals in their pilgrimage
To the celestial Canaan ; and each fast

Is both the soul’s direction, and repast.”

He would also appear from his remarks in
the Life of Hooker to have approved of the
clergy being celibate, for he speaks of ‘‘those
corroding cares that attend a married Priest,
and a country Parsonage.”

If the reader believes that Walton was the
author of the treatise Love and Truth, as to which
see Chapter IX., he will be fully acquainted
with his attitude to the nonconformists of his
time and as to his views of religion and habits
of worship, and he will be forced to rank
him nearer to Laud’s school than to Hooker’s.
Walton’s views of heaven show that he had
not gone very deeply into the distinction between
it and Paradise, and he seems to have believed,
with certain Roman Catholic theologians, that
“perfectly cleansed souls pass at once to heaven.”
His ideas also on the subject of our occupation
in heaven are rather antiquated; he seemingly

22 IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS

thought that its occupants would be engaged
in perpetual singing, and in ‘sweeping idle harps
before a throne.” It is quite impossible to dis-
sociate Walton from his religion, as I have before
intimated. His character is best shown by apply-
ing two words to him, “distinctive” and “ trans-
parent.” ‘None but himself can be his parallel ;”
he was indeed quite a unique personage. Lowell
has written that Walton’s ‘real business in this
world was to write the Lives and The Complete
Angler, and to leave the example of a useful and
unspotted life behind him.”

CHAPTER III

WALTON AS AN ANGLER

“O come, and rich in intellectual wealth,
Blend thought with exercise, with knowledge, health ;
Long, in this sheltered scene of lettered talk,
With sober step repeat the pensive walk ;
Nor scorn, when graver triflings fail to please,
The cheap amusements of a mind at ease,
Here every care in sweet oblivion cast,
And many an idle hour—not idly passed.”
SAMUEL Rogers (An Epistle to a Friend).

“He that wonders shall reign.”—Gospel According to the
Hebrews, quoted by Clem. Alex., Strom, ii. 9, 45.

WueEn residing in London, Walton must often
have left ‘City noise” for the purpose of fishing
in the rivers round it—the River Lea in particular.
Although most, but not all, of Walton’s biographers
think it very improbable that he ever himself
used a reel, and although the Thames and other
southern rivers drew good store of sea-fish, they
nearly all think that most of his information on
salmon-fishing was derived from hearsay only.’

1 See Salmon and Sea Trout, by Sir H. Maxwell, Bart. Walton
informs us that though some of our northern countries have as fat
and as large salmon as the Thames, yet none are of so excellent a
taste.

23

——

rte

24 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Sir Henry Wotton in his old age built himself
a fishing-house near Eton. Walton styles him
‘that under-valuer of money,” and narrates that
he was ‘‘a frequent practiser of the art of
angling.” Wotton is supposed to allude to Walton
in the line :—

“There stood my friend,”
in his verses entitled—

“On the bank as I sate a-fishing.”
Reliquie Wottoniane.

The friendship between Walton and Wotton is
remarked upon by Edward Jesse, in Favourite
Haunts and Rural Studies (J. Murray, 1847),
thus :— ;

‘‘Qdd enough we should think it now-a-days, to
see a provost of Eton, a dignitary of the Church
and a linendraper in the same punt, bobbing for
eels or hooking gudgeons !”

We must suppose Walton now and again
visited Stafford for fishing purposes, and when he
tells us he used to

‘“‘Loiter long days near Shawford Brook,”

we are to infer that it is the water of that name
about five miles from Stafford that is meant, and
not the Shawford Brook near Winchester, although
he appears to have fished in Hampshire. This
latter brook is dear to anglers of this generation as
a trout stream.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 25

Walton also fished in Kent, for he says he
knew himself of a certain brook there that bred
trouts ‘remarkable alike to their number and
smallness,” and he says he had seen in the be-
ginning of July, “some parts of a river not far
from Canterbury covered over with young eels
about the thickness of a straw.” He writes of
himself as a man who is a master of his art,
thus cock sure of his knowledge, he says: “I am
sure I both can and will tell you more than any
common angler yet knows.”

Cotton tells us Walton understood ‘as much
of fish and fishing as any man living,” and that he
really did believe he understood “as much of it
(angling) at least as any man in England,” and
that it was only because he had from his
childhood pursued the recreation of angling in
very clear rivers that he presumed to supplement
the instructions given by Walton in Part 1. of The
Complete Angler. There is no life, Walton says, so
happy and pleasant as the life of a “ well-governed
angler ;” itinvites to contemplation and quietness ;
its lawfulness he justifies by appeal to the
Scriptures and to the practice of it by apostles, the
saints and primitive Christians. Our Saviour,
he says, never reproved the apostles for their
employment or calling, and he suggests that Christ
found the hearts of such men by nature fitted for
contemplation and quietness. He quotes some

nee

26 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

verses expressing this idea. The last stanza
runs :—
“The first men that our Saviour dear

Did choose to wait upon Him here,

Bless’d fishers were, and fish the last

Food was that He on earth did taste:

I therefore strive to follow those

Whom He to follow Him hath chose.”

Walton informs us very minutely how to fish
with frogs for pike, yet to use the reptile “as
though you loved him.” It was, I presume, on
account of these directions he incurred the censure
of Byron, who wrote :—

« And angling too, that solitary vice,
Whatever Izaak Walton sings or says:
The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, in his gullet
Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it.”
Don Juan.

He also called Walton “a sentimental savage,”
and said of angling that it was ‘‘the cursedest,
coldest, and the stupidest of sports.”

As if to resent the term “carnifex” being
applied to him, Walton says of himself: ‘I am not
of a cruel nature, I love to kill nothing but fish.”

Richard Franck (1624-1708) '—of whom the
reader will read more later on—quieted his own
qualms about taking life in sport, by quoting the
command: ‘Arise, Peter, kill and eat!” I here
remark that no good sportsman glories in the

1 Sir Harris Nicolas calls him Robert Frank, and Jesse calls him
Richard Franks, in their editions of The Complete Angler.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 27

death merely of his quarry, and takes “no com-
fort” in killmg. He would rather hide his eyes,
if possible, over that part of the business, con-
sidering that it rather detracts from his enjoyment
than otherwise. We have the right to believe
that fish suffer no more pain when taken by a
fly or minnow than when captured by nets.
Unless we are strict vegetarians we surely have
every right to indulge in fishing and field sports,
but this is very far from justifying vivisection,
which—allowing for the sake of argument that
discoveries have been, or may be, made by its
practice for the benefit of man and also beasts—
is so absolutely hellish that it should cease to be
tolerated in this country at least. The late Bishop
Westcott, of Durham, has written :—

“Tf He who made us made all other creatures
also, if they find a place in His providential plan,
if His tender mercies reach to them—and this we
Christians most certainly believe—then I find it
absolutely inconceivable that He should have so
arranged the avenues of knowledge that we can
attain to truths which it is His will that we should
master only through the unutterable agonies of
beings which trust in us. Life is more than a
bundie of physical facts. Life in each distinct
form is a sacred gift to be dealt with reverently.
Life for the Christian is an energy not apart from
Christ. Better, then, than any precarious increase

ae

EE ——

28 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

of our acquaintance with phenomena, better than
any fresh supply of vital force drawn for man from
the mutilated beast, better than a brief span
possibly added to our earthly sojourn, is the pure
consciousness that we have not broken down the
barriers of a holy reverence, or sought relief for
our own pain by inflicting it on some weaker
being.” No man by reason of his philosophy need
be afraid to adopt this reasoning. The words are
noble and fearless.

Franck wrote: “The creatures in the creation
(we must grant) were designed for nutrition and
sustentation; yet no man had a commission so
large to take away life upon no other account than
to gratify his lust. Then the next question arising
will be, whether the rod or the net is rather to be
approved of. I have only this answer (since both
contribute to health and maintenance), the apostles
themselves used the one, why then may not the
angler plead for the other?”

Walton insists strongly that angling is an art,
and an art worth the learning, and worthy the
knowledge and practice of a wise man; he dis-
cusses the question whether the happiness of a
man consists more in contemplation or in action,
and declares his own belief to be that in angling
both meet together. The very sitting, he says,
by the riverside is the fittest place for contempla-
tion and for revelation. He learnt much about

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 29

fishing from Zhe Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an
Angle, a fourth part issued in 1496 to a second
edition of the Book of St Albans, printed by
Wynkyn de Worde in 1486 in three parts; the
first part being on Hawking, the second in verse
on Hunting and the third on Coat Armour. The
writer of this Treatyse of Fysshynge has been
generally supposed to have been Dame Juliana
Barnes or Berners. A few years ago doubts were
raised (seemingly on no sufficient authority) as to
whether she really wrote or compiled it. A charm-
ing facsimile reproduction of The Treatyse was
brought out by Elliot Stock in 1880, and I possess
another privately printed in Edinburgh in 1885.
Walton, all admit, copied from this work, without
any acknowledgment, the writer’s directions for
making flies. His other chief authorities were
Androvanus, Dubravius and Gesner, and the
reader gets a trifle weary of the mention of their
names and especially of the name of the latter.
Walton admits that a great deal of information on
fly-fishing was derived second-hand from one
Thomas Barker, whom he describes in the first
edition of The Complete Angler as a gentleman
that had spent much time and money in angling.
Barker had been “admitted into the most Am-
bassadors’ kitchens that had come to England for
forty years, and drest fish for them.” It was
probably he who gave Walton instructions of a

30 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

culinary nature, for the reader of The Complete
Angler is often instructed how to dress fish for
dinner ; indeed, Franck hints that the book became
popular because it taught the reader to cook as
well as to catch fish.

Until Walton’s time the principles of angling
were propagated mainly by tradition. An account
of angling among the ancients and down to Walton’s
time is to be found in Dr Bethune’s learned edition
of The Complete Angler, published in 1847 by Willy
& Putnam, of New York; and the reader is also
referred to Angling Literature in England, by
Osmund Lambert (1881), and to Wailton and the
Earlier Fishing Writers, by R. B. Marston (1894).
Only a few books on the subject of angling
had appeared in England when Walton brought
out his book. His discourse caused various
books to be written in his lifetime. In 1651
Thomas Barker wrote his book entitled The Art
of Angling, and in 1657 the second edition was
published under the enlarged title of Barker's
Delight; or, The Art of Angling. One of the
commendatory verses of that edition runs :-—

‘Bark not at Barker, lest he bite ;
But if in angling thou delight,

To kill the trout, and cook the fish,
Follow his rules and have thy wish.”

In 1658 Richard Franck wrote a book entitled
Northern Memoirs, calculated for the Meridian of

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 31

Scotland. Wherein most or all of the Cities,
Citadels, Seaports, Castles, Forts, Fortresses,
Rivers, and Riverlets, are compendiously described.
It was not, however, published until 1694, and a
new edition of it appeared in 1821, with a preface
by Sir Walter Scott.

Franck was a practical fisherman and a very
independent man. His Northern Memoirs is avery
interesting book, but is now rarely read. It consists
of a dialogue carried on between Theophilus and
Arnoldus. In one place the latter says: “ What
would you propound to yourself?” The former
replies: ‘‘The exercise of the rod and learn to
fish.” Arnoldus—‘‘ And who shall instruct us?”
Theophilus—‘‘ Ourselves: who should? You
shall be my tutor, and I'll be your pupil.” Sir
Walter Scott, in his preface to the 1821 edition,
remarks that Franck seems to have entertained
peculiar and mystical notions in theology, yet, in
general, expresses himself as a good Christian and
well-meaning man. |

Another interesting book written in Walton’s
lifetime was The Anglers Vade Mecum; or, A
Compendious, yet Full, Discourse of Angling.
Chetham’s name did not appear as the writer
in the first edition of 1681, in the preface
he says the author hath forborne to annex
his name; not that he is ashamed to own it, but
wishes the reader to regard things more than

32 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

empty names, which, if all would do, many would
not so long labour under the veil of ignorance as
they do. In after editions, however, he annexes
his name, not, he says, out of the common itch, or
ostentation, to be seen in print, but to evidence
that he’s not ashamed to own the work. I think
that at least until the year 1740, when John
Williamson published The British Angler; or, A
Pocket Companon for Gentlemen-Fishers, little
advancement had really been made in the know-
ledge of the angler’s art. In the preface to that
work, the writer states that the improvements that
had been made by the generality of writers since
Walton’s time “‘are indeed so few, and for the
most part so trivial, rather adding to and perplex-
ing his words,” that he could not but wonder at
seeing so much done to so little purpose; and he
further states that the improvements that had
been made in experimental philosophy justified
his writing his own book. He probably had The
Complete Angler in view when he said, he rejected
“idle superstitious observances, and weak fabulous
accounts of natural causes.” He also says: ‘‘ The
great advantage, as well as ornament of this book,
and which must eminently distinguish it from
all others, is the poetical part, which cannot but be
equally useful and entertaining. I dare speak so
highly of it because a great number of the lines
are by authors of the first rank. It was my

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 33

remembering so many of these, and at the same
time lighting on an ingenious little book called
The Innocent Epicure, which more than doubled
my quantity, that first put me in the head of thus
adding a summary in verse to each chapter.” The
full title of the interesting book referred to is The
Innocent Epicure; or, The Art of Angling. A Poem.
It was published in 1697. The preface is by N.
Tate, who says: “The copy of this poem being
sent to me from the unknown author, with
commission to publish or suppress it, as I thought
fitting; his indifference about the matter con-
vinced me that he was a gentleman who wrote it
for his diversion, or at least in kindness to those
who are lovers of that ingenious and innocent
recreation, concerning which he has made so
judicious observations. I immediately communi-
cated the sight of his manuscript to several
experienced anglers, (and some of them no enemies
to the Muses) who agreed in their opinions, that
notwithstanding the confinement that verse lays
upon a writer, it far excels anything that has been
published in prose upon this subject, even in the
useful and instructive part of the work. They assured
me, that it contains all the necessary rules that
have yet been delivered; and those rules digested
into a much better method; together with several
uncommon and surprising remarks, which many

who are reputed artists at the Sport, may receive
Cc

34 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

advantage by.” After the year 1740 the works on
angling fast increased, and now their number is
legion.

Hugh Miller might have considered Walton
his model when he gave the following advice:
“Occupy your leisure in making yourselves
wiser men. Learn to make a right use of your
eyes; the commonest things are worth look-
ing at—even stones and weeds and the most
familiar animals. Read good books, not forgetting
the best of all.” Walton could say, with Sir Henry
Wotton, of angling : ‘‘’T was an employment for his
idle time, which was then not idly spent.” We
picture him at one time walking alone by shadowed
waters and amongst odoriferous flowers, at another
time sitting under a honeysuckle hedge finding
‘solitude the audience chamber of God.” *

He was “to catch men,” by the example of a
godly life, unique holy living, a loving heart,
alacrity of spirit, cheerfulness, and by his writ-
ings. Living in a “world of opportunity and —
wonder,” he was to enjoy life and to obtain
knowledge and learning while pursuing a lawful
recreation. This attitude is beautifully expressed
in the six verses by J. Davors to be found set out

in the first chapter of The Complete Angler. The —
singer prays for a quiet and happy life, and to have ©
what we read of in the Book of Job as the “‘ hear- —

1 W.S. Landor.

“
‘a
3

'

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 35

ing ear, and the seeing eye,” for appreciating fully
the glories and beauties of the natural world with
its birds and fish. The last stanza runs :—

“ All these, and many more of His creation
That made the heavens, the angler oft doth see:
Taking therein no little delectation,
To think how strange, how wonderful they be!
Framing thereof an inward contemplation
To set his heart from other fancies free.
And whilst he looks on these with joyful eye,
His mind is wrapt above the starry sky.”

All this is just what the ordinary man cannot
understand—it is “foolishness” to him. An
“athlete” is understood, and a “ capuchin,” as
Napoleon calls the religious man, is understood,
but only the few can reconcile the meaning of i
santo atleta—the athlete sanctified. We can
claim Walton as being rightly described as an
“athlete,” for he states, “no reasonable hedge or
ditch shall hold me,” when he expresses his eager-
ness to join in pursuit of the otter; so he was
able, we must suppose, to get across a country at
least on foot! The careful reader will not accept
the ridiculous belief of some writers on Walton
that he only followed angling “as a pretext for a
day or two in the fields”; on the contrary, it may
be taken for granted he was keen. He was not
first a lover of the picturesque, and merely, in the
second place, an angler. Walton says he does

! Dante, Paradiso, XII. 55.

36 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

not consider it proper to talk of some fish “‘ because
they make us anglers no sport”; and he quotes
the saying: ‘‘I envy nobody but him, and him
only, that catches more fish than I do.” Yeta
recent writer in his edition of The Complete Angler
(published by Methuen & Co., 1901), can say he is .
“not sure if Walton ever deserved the fine name
of sportsman in its truer sense!”

Walton greatly disliked swearing. A com-
panion, he says, that feasts the company with wit
and mirth and leaves out the sin (which is usually
mixed with them), he is the man. He says, “ good
company and good discourse are the very sinues of
virtue.” With quaint humour he advises anglers to
be patient and forbear swearing, lest they be heard
and catch no fish, but he assures us that anglers
seldom take the name of God into their mouths
but it is either to praise Him or pray to Him; if ©
others use it vainly in the midst of their recrea-
tions, so vainly as if they meant to conjure, he tells
us it is neither our fault nor our custom; we pro-
test against it." He says he loves such mirth as
does not make friends ashamed to look upon one
another the next morning. Fancy in these days
men praying before, and as part of, their recrea-
tion! Yet in “primitive” times they did.

1 Mercurius Hermon, in verses to Richard Franck, writes :—

“ Sir, you have taught the angler that good fashion
Not to catch fish with oaths, but contemplation.”

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS BY |

What a number of times in his writings
does Walton use this word primitive! At a
meeting of brothers of the angle he says:
“Let's e’en say grace, and turn to the fire,
and drink the other cup to wet our whistles,
and so sing away sad thoughts.” The Treatyse of
Fysshynge before mentioned contains this advice
near the end: ‘‘ Whanne ye purpoos to goo on
your disportes in fysshynge, ye woll not desyre
gretly many persones wyth you, whiche myghte
lette you of your game. And thenne ye maye
serve God deuowtly in sayenge affectuously youre
custumable prayer. And thus doynge ye shall
eschewe and voyde many vices.” It may be worth
observing that in no age has angling been con-
sidered repugnant to the clergyman’s calling.
Amongst many clerical votaries of the art who
have lived since Walton’s day may be mentioned—
Dr William Paley, the author of Natural Theology,
who died in 1805,’ who had himself painted with a
rod and line in his hand ; Charles Kingsley, Canon
of Westminster, who died in 1875; the Rev. John
Russell, best known as “the sporting parson,” or
as “Jack” Russell, who died in 1883; Archbishop
Magee, who died in 1891; the Rev. R. H. Barham,
author of The Ingoldsby Legends, who died in 1845 ;
the Rev. William Kirby, the entomologist, who
died in 1850; the Rev. Theobald Mathew, called

' He was Senior Wrangler, and Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge.

38 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

the ‘‘ Apostle of Temperance,” a Roman Catholic
priest, who died in 1856; the Rev. William Lisle
Bowles, Canon of Salisbury, who died in 1850;
Bishop Claughton of St Albans, who died in
1892; and the Rev. Morgan George Watkins,
now living. Mr Watkins, in his preface to the
above-mentioned facsimile reproduction of The
Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle (see p.
29), well says that the last two pages of
it give us a portrait of the writer’s conception of
the perfect angler—“ simplicity of disposition, for-
bearance to our neighbour’s rights, and considera-
tion in fishing or employment of its gentle art to
increase worldly gain and fill the larder is equally
condemned. She holds the highest view of
angling; that it is to serve a man for solace, and
to cause the health of his body, but especially of
his soul. So she would have him pursue his craft
alone for the most part, when his mind can rise to
high and holy things, and he may serve God
devoutly by saying from his heart his customary
prayer. Nor should a man ever carry his amuse-
ment to excess and catch too much at one time;
this is to destroy his future pleasure and to
interfere with that of his neighbours. A good
sportsman too, she adds, will busy himself in nourish-
ing the game and destroying all vermin.” I cannot
refrain from quoting a paragraph from Salmonia;
or, Days of Fly Fishing, which might have come

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 39

from the pen of Walton instead of from that of the
great philosopher and chemist, Sir Humphrey
Davy. He thus describes the benefits of angling
to the philosopher and the lover of nature: “It
carries us into the most vivid and _ beautiful
scenery of nature, among the mountain lakes, and
the clear and lovely streams that gush from the
highest ranges of elevated hills, or that make their
way through the cavities of calcareous strata.
How delightful, in the early spring, after the dull
and tedious time of winter, to wander forth by
some clear stream, to see the leaf bursting from
the purple bud, to wander upon the fresh turf
below the shade of trees, whose bright blossoms
are filled with the music of the bee, and on the
surface of the waters to view the gaudy flies
sparkling like gems in the sunbeam, to hear the
twittering of the water birds, with other like sights
and sounds, and to finish all by catching a salmon,
and carrying him home.”

CHAPTER IV

‘*THE COMPLETE ANGLER ”

It containeth “wise sayings, dark sentences, and
parables, and certain particular ancient godly stories of
men that pleased God.”—Eccresiasticus (Prologue).

“This book is so like you, and you like it,
For harmless mirth, expression, art, and wit,
That I protest ingenuously ’tis true,
I love this mirth, art, wit, the book and you.”

To my dear brother, Mr Iz. Walton, on his Complete Angler.
Ros. Fioup, C.1

In 1653 Walton published Zhe Compleat Angler;
or, The Contemplative Man's Recreation. Being a
Discourse of Fish and Fishing not Unworthy the
Perusal of Most Anglers, adorned with exquisite
cuts of some of the fish mentioned in it.? The
title-page had the motto :—

“Simon Peter said, I go a-fishing; and they
said, We also will go with thee” (John xxi. 8). —
This motto has been omitted in all subsequent
editions. The author’s name did not appear on
the title-page of this edition.

Sir Harris Nicolas says that Walton framed
his treatise upon A Treatise on the Nature of God

* R. Floud was Walton’s brother-in-law.
* Generally supposed to be the work of Lombart.

40

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 41

(often attributed to Bishop Morton), a small volume
first printed in 1599, which not only commences in
nearly the identical words of, but bears, in other
places, a great similarity to The Complete Angier,
and there is so much resemblance between many
passages of Walton’s work and Heresbachius’
Husbandry, by Googe, which was first printed in
1577, as to render it probable that he was indebted
to that work for some of his ideas.

The subject-matter of the treatise is carried on
in dialogue between two interlocutors, Piscator (a
fisherman) and Viator (a traveller). A second
edition was demanded in 1655, and various im-
portant alterations were made, there now being
three interlocutors, ‘Piscator,” ‘‘Venator” (a
hunter) and ‘‘Auceps” (a falconer), Viator being
eliminated.

Of this most wonderful work five editions were
brought out during Walton’s life, viz., in 1653,
1655, 1661, 1668 and 1676. A short discourse by
way of postscript, touching the laws of angling,
was first published with, and was printed at the
end of, the third edition of the book; it is, how-
ever, omitted in most of the subsequent editions.
Who the writer was is not known, but he was
evidently learned in the law. The fifth edition
contained a second part, which Cotton wrote, and
this second part had the title The Complete Angler :
Being Instructions how to Angle for Trout or

A
42 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Grayling in a Clear Stream. In the title-page is a
cypher composed of the initial letters of Walton
and Cotton, with the words :—

‘Qui mihi non credit, faciat licet ipse periclum,
Ht fuerit scriptis eequior ille meis.” }

All the later editions have been founded upon this
fifth edition. The second part consists of a
dialogue between two persons, “ Piscator ” junior,
(who was Cotton himself), and Viator, a supposed
friend of Walton’s, who had been addicted to the
chase till taught by Walton ‘a good, a more
quiet, innocent and less dangerous diversion.”
It has often been remarked that, considering
the state the country was in when the book
was first published, it is wonderful how it
could have been written, but it should be
remembered that it must have been well thought
out after many years of cogitation, since Walton
was sixty years old when the first edition was
published. Cotton writes, in 1675, that for some
years past he had often thought on the
subject which he “scribbled” in little more than
ten days’ time, and which constitutes Part II. of
the book.

Some attempts have been made during recent

years to discard Part II. altogether, and to pro-—

1 A translation of which reads: He who does not believe me, let
him make trial himself, and he will be fairer to my writings.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 43

duce Part I. by itself. This seems a great mistake,
considering how many years the two parts have
formed one book, and considering also how
pleasant in their lives Walton and Cotton were
together.

The Experienced Angler ; or, Angling Improved,
by Colonel Robert Venables, was published in
1662, and was reprinted by some booksellers, and
bound as a third part to one of the editions of The
Complete Angler. Such copies were known by the
name of The Universal Angler. Walton wrote a
preface to The Experienced Angler signed I. W.,
though he says he had never to his knowledge had
the happiness to see the author’s face, and that he
had accidentally “come to a view of the dis-
course” before it went to the press. This work
is now seldom read, and as it differs so much in
style from both Parts I. and II. of The Complete
Angler, it is hardly likely it will ever again form
one book with it.

In Book-Prices Current, 1892, on p. 274, it will
be seen that The Universal Angler has had bound
up with it The Complete Troller; or, The Art of
Trolling, making four volumes in one. This last-
named book is described in the preface to a book
entitled The Whole Art of Fishing (E. Curll, 1714)
as usually bound up with The Experienced Angler,
and Walton’s and Cotton’s Complete Angler. I
cannot, however, find The Whole Art of Fishing in

44 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

any catalogue or index at the British Museum,
though I happily possess a copy of it.

In the body of The Innocent Epicure, before
mentioned in Chapter III., Walton, Cotton and
Venables are referred to in the lines :—

“Hail! Great Triumvirate of Angling! Hail!”

Hallam has said of The Complete Angler, that
“its simplicity, its sweetness, its natural grace,
and happy intermixture of graver strains with the
precepts of angling, have rendered this book
deservedly popular” (lnterary History, Vol. IV.,
p. 323). Charles Lamb, in a letter to Coleridge,
wrote: “Among all your quaint readings did you
ever light upon Walton’s Complete Angler? I
asked you the question once before; it breathes
the very spirit of innocence, purity and simplicity
of heart; there are many choice old verses inter-
spersed in it; it would sweeten a man’s temper at
any time to read it, it would christianise every
discordant angry passion; pray make yourself
acquainted with it.” Its remarkable power to
fascinate is most amusingly shown by Washington
Irving in one of his chapters in The Sketch Book.
William Hazlitt wrote : ‘“Walton’s Complete Angler
makes that work a great favourite with sports-
men; the alloy of an amiable humanity, and the
modest but touching description of familiar inci-
dents and rural objects scattered through it, have

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 45

made it an equal favourite with every reader of
taste and feeling” (Plain Speaker). This high
authority also wrote: ‘I should suppose no other
language than ours can show such a book as
an oft-mentioned one, Walton’s Complete Angler,
so full of naiveté, of unaffected sprightliness, of
busy trifling, of dainty songs, of refreshing brooks,
of shady arbours, of happy thoughts, and of the
herb called heart’s-ease!” (‘‘Merry England” in
Sketches and Essays). Miss Mary Russell Mitford,
in her Recollections of a Interary Life, says:
“Certainly it was not amongst the least of the
many excellencies of Izaak Walton’s charming
book, that he helped to render popular so many
pure and beautiful lyrics.” Thomas Westwood’s
estimate of the value of the book is neatly given :
it ‘“‘is essentially a book to be loved, and to be
discoursed of lovingly.”

The following remarks I take from the Works
of Alexander Pope, with Memoirs of His LInfe, by
William L. Bowles, Vol. I., p. 185: “Let me take
this opportunity of recommending the amiable
and venerable Izaak Walton’s Complete Angler,
a work the most singular of its kind, breathing
the very spirit of contentment, of quiet and un-
affected philanthropy, and interspersed with some
beautiful relics of poetry, old songs and _ ballads.”
It has been asked, see Notes and Queries (3rd
S., VIIL, p. 353), who it was that wrote of

46 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

The Complete Angler that it will hold its place
in our literature ‘‘as long as the white-thorn
blossoms in the hedgerows, and the lark carols
in the cloud.”

We get at the Scotsman’s estimate of Walton
by reading an article in Blackwood’s Magazine for
October, 1823, soon after Major’s edition of The
Complete Angler was brought out. The writer
says that Walton was more tenderly beloved in
England than in Scotland: ‘Such a being could
never have been in Scotland, and therefore we do
not thoroughly understand either his character
or the impassioned veneration with which it is
regarded. He is rather considered as a sort of
oddity; and the book itself is not so much felt,
as the real record of the experience of a flesh and
blood old man: as a pleasant, although somewhat
unnatural, fiction, too often bordering upon silli-
ness; and to a grave philosophical people like us,

throughout tinged with a childish and Utopian

spirit.” Of course, it was quite impossible that
such a book should not have fierce criticism
bestowed upon it, and Hazlitt says: “There are
those who if you praise Walton’s Complete Angler,
sneer at it as a childish or old-womanish perform-
ance.” The greatest by far of Walton’s detractors,
however, was Richard Franck; this is what he
writes : ‘“‘ Isaac Walton (late author of The Compleat
Angler) has imposed upon the world this monthly

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 47

novelty which he understood not himself; but
stuffs his book with morals from Dubravius and
others, not giving us one precedent of his own
practical experiments, except otherwise where he
prefers the trencher before the trolling-rod, who
lays the steps of his arguments upon other men’s
observations, wherewith he stuffs his indigested
octavo; so brings himself under the angler’s
censure, and the common calamity of a plagiary,
to be pitied (poor man) for his loss of time, in
scribbling and transcribing other men’s notions.”

Sir Walter Scott, in his preface when he edited
the book written by Franck, as to which see
Chapter II]., states: “ Probably no reader, while
he reads the disparaging passages in which the
venerable Isaac Walton is introduced, can forbear
wishing that good old man, who had so true an
eye for nature, so simple a taste for her most
innocent pleasures, and withal, so sound a judg-
ment, both concerning men and things, had made
this northern tour instead of Franck, and had
detailed in the beautiful simplicity of his Arcadian
language, his observations on the scenery and
manners of Scotland.” Mere I digress in order
to make some observations as to Walton’s reasons
for writing his books.

In Boswell’s Lnje of Dr Johnson, we read
of a letter which runs thus: “It gives me much
pleasure to hear that a republication of Isaac

SE ES ees ee
y

48 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Walton's Lives is intended. You have been in
a mistake in thinking that Lord Hailes had it in

view. I remember one morning, while he sat —

with you in my house, he said, that there should —

be a new edition of Walton’s Lives, and you said
that they should be noted a little. This was all
that passed on that subject. You must, therefore,
inform Dr Horne, that he may resume his plan.
I enclose a note concerning it; and if Dr Horne
will write to me, all the attention that I can give
shall be cheerfully bestowed upon what I think
a pious work, the preservation and elucidation of
Walton, by whose writings I have been most
pleasingly edified.”

Later on, however, we read: “Pray get for
me all the editions of Walton’s Lives. I have a
notion that the republication of them with notes
will fall upon me, between Dr Horne and Lord
Hailes.”

It has been said most men work for the

present, a few for the future. The wise work
for both—for the future in the present, and for
the present in the future. In his epistle to the
reader in Walton’s Infe of Donne he informs us
that he wrote the Life of George Herbert chiefly
to please himself, but yet not without some respect
to posterity. In 1676, when the fifth edition of
The Complete Angler was given to the world, in
his epistle to the reader Walton says: “I did not

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 49

write this discourse to please myself but to please
others,” and he says, “that in writing of it I have
made myself a recreation of a recreation,’ and
again : ‘I write not to get money but for pleasure.”
In spite of this admission Walton was no fool
in the estimation of Dr Johnson, who remarked
that ‘nobody but a fool wrote except for money.”
A modern thinker’ has remarked that the desire
of posthumous fame, though a very high one, is a
very unusual ambition. We rather think with
Frederick Robertson, of Brighton, that most of us
“long to be remembered after death.” Certainly
we must suppose that Walton desired fame in his
life and after. We remember his well-known
monogram, scratched by him on Isaac Casaubon’s
tomb in the south transept in Westminster Abbey
in 1658, “earliest of those unhappy inscriptions of

names of visitors which have since defaced so

many a sacred space in the Abbey. ‘O si sic
omnia!’ We forgive the Greek soldiers who
recorded their journey on the foot of the statue at
TIpsumbul; the Platonist who has left his name in
the tomb of Rameses at Thebes ; the Roman Emperor
who has carved his attestation of Memnon’s music
on the colossal knees of Amenophis. Let us in
like manner forgive the angler for this mark of
himself in Poets’ Corner” (Dean Stanley’s Memorials
of Westminster Abbey). :

1 Dean Vaughan, Master of the Temple.
D

5° IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

We read of a stone near Madeley Pond on :

which Walton is said to have carved his initials.
In some twenty of his own books now in
the Cathedral Library at Salisbury’ can be
seen his name or initials (all, however, may not
be autographs), and now and again some book will
turn up at auction, ear-marked in that way, as

having been once in his possession, and therefore —

fetching far more than its fair market value
on that account.? Johnson called Walton “a
great panegyrist,’ and once Boswell said to him:
‘‘No quality will get a man more friends than a
disposition to admire the qualities of others, I
do not mean flattery but a sincere admiration.”
Dr Johnson: “Nay, sir, flattery pleases very
generally.” In his Life of Donne, Walton himself
says: “It is observed that a desire of glory or
commendation is rooted in the very nature of man;
and that those of the severest and most mortified
lives, though they may become so humble as to
banish self-flattery, and such weeds as naturally
grow there; yet they have not been able to kill

1In the Winchester edition of The Complete Angler (1902), the
editor inserts a letter dated the 23rd of March 1901, from the librarian

of Salisbury Cathedral Library, in which he gives a list of Walton’s —

books in that library. This list varies from the list given by Sir
Harris Nicolas.

2 In the Cathedral Library at Worcester his name can be seen in-
scribed in a copy of the first edition of his Lives (1670), which he
presented to Mrs Eliza Johnson, to whom he bequeathed a ring by
his will.

|
|

|

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 51

this desire of glory, but that like our radical heat
it will both live and die with us, and many think
it should do so, and we want not sacred examples
to justify the desire of having our memory to out-
live our lives.” Man praises man. We must
construe his life like his will, with the ‘love my
memory” motto in view throughout it, and con-
clude that Walton’s little weakness was love of
fame.

Of the many editions of The Complete Angler
brought out since Walton’s death, I only mention
those that seem to me to be the best, with the
dates of the original issues :—

Moses Brown . : : s 1750
Sir John Hawkins . f : 1760
S. Bagster ‘ ; : : 1808
J. Major : é ; : 1823
Sir Harris Nicolas . ; ‘ 1836
Dr Bethune . 3 : ‘ 1847
R. B. Marston . 3 , ; 1888
R. Le Gallienne : . 2 1897
G. A. B. Dewar . 1902

With regard to the edition brought out by
Moses Brown in 1750, he tells us in his preface
that the book having by an _ unaccountable
neglect become of late years difficult to obtain,
though frequently inquired after by several who
desired it, it was thought the recovering it in such

_ a way would be reckoned a very acceptable ser-

vice ; accordingly, at the invitation of Dr Johnson,
he undertook this employment of introducing a

—

52 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

favourite author of the last age who seemed
exposed to the unkindness of being forgotten.
He says he “pruned” away some inaccuracies
and redundancies and claimed to have used great
deliberation in these retouches! The edition
brought out by Sir John Hawkins in 1760 con-
tains an account of the author’s Lives, the informa-
tion given being derived from the researches made
by William Oldys. It was the late Mr William
John Thoms, formerly the editor of Notes and
Queries, who pointed out how much we owe to
William Oldys for information as to Walton and
Cotton.’ This Oldys was a curious character, but
little is known of his early life. He became the
keeper of Lord Oxford’s library, and superin-
tended the publication of the Harleran Miscellany.
Formerly Norfolk Herald Extraordinary, but not
belonging to Heralds’ College, he was appointed
Norroy King-of-Arms, by patent, in 1755. He
was fond of ale, but drinking it did not make

him inaccurate as a writer on our literary

history. Oldys had contracted to supply ten
years of the life of Shakespeare unknown to the

biographers, with one Walker, a bookseller in —
the Strand; but Oldys did not live to fulfil the |

engagement (see Curiosities of Interature under
‘«‘Oldys and his Manuscripts’).

Two small editions I value, one published by |

1 See on the subject Mr Marston’s works on Walton.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 53

Tegg in two volumes in 1826, the other published
by C. Tilt and others, in two volumes, in 1837
(832mo). This last is the smallest edition I can
find ever published. It has a note on page xi
in Vol. IL, stating: “It has not been thought
necessary or desirable to introduce notes in this
edition of The Complete Angler, which is got up
rather in relation to its literary and poetical than
its technical character. To most readers they are
(un)necessary or readily supplied by the common
books of reference, while, on the other hand, they
have often only the effects of disturbing the tone of
the more agreeable thoughts excited by the text.”

Inasmuch as a nice copy of The Complete Angler
can now be bought for a few shillings there seems
no reason for giving further information as to its
contents. It is worth remarking that the first
edition of the book was published “of eighteen
pence price.” Messrs Sotheby, in May 1898, sold
a beautiful set from the Ashburnham Library of
the first five editions, in the original bindings,
for £800!* For a few shillings a facsimile reprint
of the first edition can be bought.

Americans are buying up all the best editions
of Walton. The reader may note that the second
edition of The Complete Angler is extremely scarce,
more so than the first edition.

1In May 1903, they sold a copy of the first edition for £405.

CHAPTER V
CHARLES COTTON
(s, 1630, p. 1687)

“The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill
together ; our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped
them not; and our crimes would despair, if they were not
cherished by our virtues.”—All’s Well That Ends Well.

‘‘Tt seems the world was always bright
With some divine unclouded weather,
When we, with hearts and footsteps light,
By lawn and river walked together.”
Wituiam WATSON.

One of Walton’s friends was Charles Cotton, of

Ovingden, Sussex, who married Olive, daughter

of Sir John Stanhope, of Elvaston, Derbyshire,
by Olivia or Olive, his first wife, who was
the daughter and heiress of Edward Beresford,
of Beresford and Bentley respectively, on the
borders of Staffordshire and Derbyshire. The
ancient township of Beresford is now generally
regarded as part of Fawfield Head (see Kelly's
Directory of Staffordshire, 1900). About two
miles from Alstonfield stood Beresford Hall.
54

CHARLES COTTON

‘ace page 54.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 55

Beresford Dale forms the uppermost part of the
glen called Dovedale.

The Beresford estates came to the Cottons by
the aforesaid marriage. The Hall is now a ruin.
The only child of this marriage was Charles
Cotton, who was born at Beresford on the
28th of April 1630. It is doubtful whether he
was educated at Cambridge, as most of his
biographers state he was, but it appears he was
highly educated and had travelled abroad for some
time, and was a particularly good French scholar.
He obtained a captain’s commission in the army,
and if we construe rightly some lines of his own
poetry he became a Justice of the Peace. He
married twice—first his cousin, Isabella, daughter
of Sir Thomas Hutchinson, of Owthorpe, Notts,
Knight; she died in 1670, having had issue three
sons and five daughters. About 1675 he married
his second wife, Mary, eldest daughter of Sir
William Russell, Baronet, of Strensham Park,
Worcestershire, and widow of Wingfield, Earl of
Ardglass, by whom he had no issue. The elder
Cotton died in 1658.

The friendship between Walton and Cotton
was no doubt due in the first instance to the fact
that the former was the friend of the latter's
father; but a similarity of political opinions
existed between them, which must be noted, as
well as a common love of literature and angling.

56 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

The men, however, were widely different, both
by birth and in character, and the strange-
ness of the close friendship has been often
discussed.’

Nevertheless in this case the “kettle and the
earthern pot” seemed to agree together, though
Cotton was “much mightier and richer” than
Walton. Cotton became Walton’s adopted son,
and he refers to Walton as “the truest friend any
man ever had,” and writes that ‘‘he gives me leave
to call him father, and I hope is not yet ashamed
to own me for his adopted son.” In the beautiful
verses written in 1672 to Walton he is gratefully
mentioned as being “the best friend I now or
ever knew.” He became “father and friend and
tutor all in one.” Although Cotton’s chief claim
to fame may be said to rest on his contribution to
The Complete Angler, still he was famous for his
translations from various French writers, and
especially as being the translator of the Essays of ~
Montaigne. He wrote a good deal of prose,
poems and verse, a few specimens of which appear
at the end of this book.

In 1664 he published a burlesque poem entitled
Scarronides ; or, The First Book of Virgil Travestie,

1 Moses Brown, it may be remarked, one of Walton’s earliest
editors, published The Complete Angler, as “by the ingenious and
celebrated Mr Isaac Walton, and Charles Cotton, Esq.” This shows, I

think, that the title of Esquire was not considered as a proper descrip-
tion of a man of Walton’s traditional position in life.

HALL

SFORD

ARE

BI

To face page 50.

ay,
ley

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 57

and in 1670 he published a new edition dealing
with the first and fourth books. Fifteen editions
of this work were produced.

In 1670 he translated the History of the Life
of the Duke of Espernon, with a dedication to
Archbishop Sheldon. In 1675 he published his.
Burlesque upon Burlesque; or, The Scoffer Scoffed,
“being some of Lucian’s Dialogues newly put into
English Fustian, for the consolation of those who
had rather Laugh and be Merry than be Merry
and Wise.” He tells us in the prologue it was
written in a month and that :—

“ The subject is without offence,

Do but some smutty Words dispense,
We'll make amends with Rime, if not with sense.”

In the epilogue he refers to the lewdness of the
age :—
“Which made our Author wisely choose
To dizen up his dirty Muse
In such an odd Fantastic Weed
As every one, he knew, would read.”

He tells us he wrote it ‘to please himself” as
well as the reader. In the same year he wrote the
Planter’s Manual, being instructions for cultivating
all sorts of fruit trees. In the preface to the reader
he states that the treatise was only written for the
private satisfaction of “a very worthy gentleman
who is exceedingly curious in his choice of his
fruits, and has great judgment in planting.” In

58 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

1676 he wrote Part II. of The Complete Angler,
as to which see Chapter [V. He was the author
of various other books, and is generally be-
lieved to have written The Complete Gamester,’
which is the earliest account of the game of
billiards in English. It is there said: ‘The
genteel, cleanly and ingenious game at billiards
had its first original in Italy (in another
place he says in Spain), and for the excellency
of the recreation is much approved of and played
by most nations in Europe, especially in England,
there being few towns of note therein which
hath not a public billiard-table, neither are they
wanting in many noble and private families in the
country for the recreation of the mind and exercise
of the body.” In 1681 Cotton produced The
Wonders of the Peak, and in 1685 he published
his famous translation of Montaigne’s Essays.
Although it is true Cotton could not have sung
in the words of Sir Lewis Morris :—

“ Nay, what care I though all verse shall die,
If only it is pure ;”

still, we must recollect the ‘peculiarities of the age
in which the author lived” before we judge him

_too severely. He seems to have been a most

inconsistent man and inconsistent writer also, and

1 Tn the preface the author says, “It is not any private interest of
my own that caused me to adventure on this subject.”

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 59

George Herbert’s lines may well be applied to
him :—
“O what a thing is man! how far from power,
From settled peace and rest!

He is some twenty several men at least
Each several hour.”

Yes! at different times he appears as serious as a
jadge and as jocular as a Merry Andrew!

Cotton was of a kindly nature, and, though
usually hard up, a generous giver. He enjoyed
“good company,” with plenty of wine and
ale and tobacco, and delighted, to use his own
words, “to toss the can merrily round.” His
language was also often not exactly ‘ Parlia-
mentary.” Possibly—

‘‘ He erred, he sinned: and if there be
Who, from his hapless frailties free,
Rich in the poorer virtues, see

His faults alone.

To such, O Lord of Charity,
Be mercy shown.” +

It is amusing to notice how many of his bio-
graphers repeat, one after another, his weak-
nesses, and on close examination show how little
original examination of the man and his writings
they have made, and nearly all state that Cotton
wrote because he was forced to write for money,
omitting all mention of what he says in his

1 William Watson.

60 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

prefaces to his Burlesque upon Burlesque; or, The
Scofer Scoffed, and to The Complete Gamester.

In his charming verses to Walton on his Infe of
Donne, written in 1672, he certainly shows his
appreciation of good men, and also that he him-
self at least with ‘‘mind,” if not with “heart,”
understood what religion meant. He desires to
be considered a worthy member of society, for he
says: ‘My father Walton will be seen twice in no
man’s company he does not like, and likes none
but such as he believes to be very honest men,
which is one of the best arguments, or at least of
the best testimonies I have, that I either am, or
that he thinks me, one of those, seeing I have not
yet found him weary of me.”

He appears to have refrained from fishing on
a Sunday, for he writes of killing fish ‘‘ winter
or summer, every day throughout the year, those
days always excepted, that upon a more serious

account ought always so to be.” He may have —

considered Sunday a day when all that is
noblest in a man should predominate; and that
it is a day for wit, intellect, spirit, light and
God :—

*“‘ His greatness, not his littleness, concerns mankind.”

Cotton was a Royalist to the backbone, and a
highly-accomplished man. He was a rider, and
as a native of a mountainous county could ride

a
ia

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 61

over it fearlessly, disdaining “to alight where a
foreigner might prefer entrusting his neck to the
fidelity of his feet rather than to those of his
horse.”

It is dangerous riding in Dovedale. There
was a bad road to Reynard’s Cave, and it was
there that a Dean of Clogher lost his life many
years ago. His horse was carrying him, and a
lady behind him, when it lost its foothold and
rolled over a precipice. The Dean was killed,
but the lady’s hair saved her by becoming
entangled in some bushes and arresting her
descent.

Cotton played at bowls, having a bowling-green
near Beresford Hall. He says of himself: ‘Though
I am no very good bowler, I am not totally de-
voted to my own pleasure; but that I have also
some regard to other men’s!” He also, we may
fairly infer from what we have before said, knew
something of billiards and probably played with
Walton at the then popular game of shovel-board.
Sir Aston Cockayne, his cousin, has in some highly
eulogistic verses claimed, and rightly so, that
Cotton should be considered as a good all-round
man. Cotton wrote complimentary verses to him
on his Tragedy of Ovid. In February, 1687, Cotton
died in the parish of St James, Westminster, it
is generally supposed of a fever, without having
attamed his coveted age of sixty years—‘“try to

62 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

live out to sixty full years old,” he wrote in ‘‘ The
Retirement.”

No stone, monument, or tablet of any sort or
kind has ever been erected or put up in memory
of Cotton :-—

“No marble columns or engraven brass
To tell the world that such a person was.”

Apart from his connection with Walton, I think
that Cotton has good reason to be remembered.

Cotton’s Poems on Several Occasions were
published after his death in 1689. As to the ode
“Winter,” written by him, the poet Wordsworth
says in his preface to his Miscellaneous Poems:
“ The middle part of this ode contains a most lively
description of the entrance of Winter, with his
retinue, as a palsied King,’ and yet a military
monarch, advancing for conquest with his army,
the several bodies of which, and their arms and
equipment, are described with a rapidity of detail

and a profusion of fanciful comparisons which

indicate on the part of the poet extreme activity
of intellect and a correspondent hurry of delightful
feeling.”

Cotton’s widow, and his eldest son, Beresford
Cotton, and also his four daughters—Olive,

1Tn the twenty-eighth stanza of “ Winter,” which contains fifty-three
stanzas, the line occurs: “The Entry of their Palsied King.” In this
collection of poems there are two poems on Winter besides one on the
Great Frost.

|
,
|
|
|

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 63

Catherine, Jane and Mary—survived him. Beres-
ford Cotton became a captain in the army, and
served in Ireland. He is believed to have died
at Nottingham, a bachelor. He published in 1689
a translation from the French of the Memours of the
Steur de Ponts, on which his father was engaged
at the time of his death.

The pedigree of Cotton will be found set out
in the edition of The Complete Angler, by Sir
Harris Nicolas, tracing his daughters’ descendants
down to the year 1836; and it is carried one step
' further by Mr R. B. Marston in his edition of
the book published in 1888.

CHAPTER VI

COLONEL ROBERT VENABLES
(1612-1687)

“T am a man
More sinned against, than sinning.”
He was a son of Robert Venables, of Antrobus,
Cheshire, a member of an ancient Cheshire house.
He served in the Parliamentary Army and held
various posts. In 1649 he was Commander-in-
Chief of the Forces in Ulster, and became Gover-
nor of Belfast, Antrim and Lisnegarvey. He
left Ireland in 1654, having gained great renown
there. ‘Cromwell demanded from the Spaniards
that they should treat the English as friends in
South America, and in regard to the trade of Spain,
that a clause should be struck out of the last treaty
which made it still possible for the Inquisition to
molest English merchants. But these were pro-
posals which seemed to the Spaniards little else
than insults.”* Accordingly placing Admiral
William Penn at the head of the fleet, and
Venables at the head of the army with the
rank of general, Cromwell despatched them

1 Ranke’s History of England, 1875, Vol. I1., Chapter V.
64

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 65

hastily from England in 1654. The two chiefs
did not get on well together. The men Venables
had to command were a raw rabble, and very
different from the men he had had under his
command when in Ireland. The expedition was
very badly equipped, much “stuff” being wanting.
After touching at Barbadoes, the troops landed at
Hispaniola, at the mouth of the Nizao, some twenty
miles from Santa Domingo, the city and port of the
island, without opposition." The march there was
attended with disaster, chiefly on account of want
of water. Venables fell ill, and it was deemed best,
after various encounters and many repulses, to
withdraw from the island altogether and try for
better fortune against Jamaica. This they had,
and the island was easily captured. It has ever
since remained part of our possessions. Penn was
now delighted of the excuse to return to England
in order to report on the affairs that had taken
place. Venables soon after followed. Cromwell
was greatly ‘‘discomposed” on hearing of the dis-
aster and “shut himself up in his room, brooding
over it.’ He considered that the West Indies, if
prosperous, afforded facilities for future attempts
on the American continent. On their arrival in
England, Penn and Venables were committed to
the Tower. ‘‘ Have you ever read,” said Cromwell

1 Lingard, in his History of England, Vol. VIIL., gives the distance

as forty miles,
E

—S-..

66 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

to Venables, ‘of any general that had left his
army, and not commanded back?” Cromwell had
made up his mind not to set Penn and Venables
at liberty till they had formally acknowledged
their offences. Penn did this soon. Venables
held out longer, but also did so. Cromwell could
never be persuaded to trust either of them again.
“For Penn there was little to be said, as his
presence was manifestly required at the head of
the fleet remaining in the West Indies. Venables,
on the other hand, was guilty at the most of
saving his own life at a time when hundreds of
his officers and men were perishing. It was out
of the question that he could have lived long
enough to render efficient service in Jamaica” (see
The History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate,
by G. S. R. Gardiner, Vol. II], Longmans &
Co.). Venables became very bitter against
Cromwell, and became a Royalist, though remain- —
ing to the end of his life an Independent. In
1660 he was made Governor of Chester, and in
1662 he published The Haperienced Angler, of
which mention has been made in Chapter IV.
In his prefatory address he remarks on the under-
valued subject of angling that nothing passes for
“noble or delightful which is not costly; as though
men could not gratify their senses, but with the
consumption of their fortunes.” How these
words agree with Wordsworth’s—

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 67

“The wealthiest man among us is the best:
No grandeur now in nature or in book
Delights us!”!

Venables contends that ‘‘the minds of anglers
are usually more calm and composed than
many others, especially hunters and_falconers,
who too frequently lose their delight in their
passion, and too often bring home more of
melancholy and discontent than _ satisfaction
in their thoughts; but the angler, when he
hath the worst success, loseth but a hook or
line, or perhaps, what he never possessed, a
fish !”

Amongst his general observations he says:
“Deny not part of what your endeavours shall
purchase unto any sick or indigent persons, but
willingly distribute a part of your purchase to
those who may desire a share’”’; and he ends thus:
“Make not a profession of any recreation lest your
immoderate love towards it should bring a cross
wish on the same.” There was a very nice reprint
brought out of the book in 1827, by T. Gosden.
Venables bought the estate of Wincham, in
Cheshire, where his descendants are still settled.

In the notes to Robinson's Discourse of the War
m Lancashire, printed for the Chetham Society,
p. 97, will be found the best information as to his
life, and it is thence that the information given

1 The Sonnets.

68 IZAAK WALTON AND HATS FRIENDS

of him in the Dictionary of National Biography
seems to be derived.

Venables was twice married ; first to Elizabeth
Rudyard, and secondly to Elizabeth, widow of
Thomas Lee, of Darn Hall, and daughter of
Samuel Aldersey. The reader can find the
story of the unfortunate expedition against the
Spaniards well narrated in Clarendon’s History of
the Rebellion, though Dr Gardiner says the account
is not to be “trusted implicitly.”

Venables was probably a disappointed man,
and the later part of his life is likely to have been
his happiest. The following lines of James
Thomson, the poet, seem to be applicable to his
last days :—

“An elegant sufficiency, content, retirement,
rural quiet, friendship, books, ease and alternate
labour, useful life, progressive virtue, and ap-
proving Heaven.”

CHAPTER VII

THE FISHING-HOUSE

** Methinks I see Charles Cotton and his friend,

The modest Walton, from Augusta’s Town,
Enter the fishing-house, an hour to spend,

And by the marble table set them down.” !

“ Now we sit to chat.”
Taming of the Shrew.

In 1676 Cotton finished building the celebrated
little fishing-house, dedicated to anglers, “my
seat’s best grace,” as he calls it—on the margin
of the River Dove—‘“ Princess of Rivers,” near
to his house, Beresford Hall. Mr Edwards (the
Poet of the Dove as he has been called), after
describing the beauties of ‘“‘ Beresford’s enchanting
glen,” very finely writes :—

“Enough, methinks, is told of Nature’s grace

Poured freely on this stream, to anglers dear,

Diviner worth has sanctified the place.

That Fishing-House amid those firs which rear

Their tops above it, leads me to revere

The seal of Friendship warm as filial love.
Twined in one cypher, on the first appear

1 See A Journey to Beresford Hall, by W. Alexander.
69

70 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

a

Walton and Cotton’s names; there fixed to prove

A record of affection near their favourite Dove.

Cheerful, sage, and mild,

Walton’s discourse was like the honey balm

Distilled by flowers. Along these waters wild,

Smit with the love of angling, he beguiled,

With his adopted son, the hours away ;

While Cotton owned the fondness of a child

For him, in whose glad company to stay

Had made the whole year pass like one sweet month of May.”!

The following description of the fishing-house
was written by a Mr White for Sir John Hawkins,
in 1784 :—

“Tt is of stone, and the room inside a cube of
about fifteen feet; it is also paved with black and
white marble. In the middle is a square black
marble table, supported by two stone feet. The
room is wainscotted with curious mouldings that
divide the panels up to the ceiling; in the larger
panels are represented, in painting, some of the
most pleasant of the adjacent scenes, with persons
fishing; and in the smaller, the various sorts of
tackle and implements used in angling. In the
further corner on the left is a fireplace, with a
chimney, and on the right a large beaufet with
folding doors, whereon are the portraits of Mr

Cotton, his boy-servant, and Walton in the dress

of the time. Underneath is a cupboard, on the

1 The Dove, which has its source in the High Peak, a few miles
south of Buxton, is for many miles the boundary between Derbyshire
and Staffordshire ; it falls into the Derwent near Newton-Solney.

‘ol and anf OT,

WUIHSAIUAd WMOMAHO AWIOINGT ANNWA NI TNAWONOW GUOMSHUMA ANG

IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS 71

door of which are the figures of a trout, and also
a grayling, well portrayed.”

The Beresford family trace from John
Beresford, of Beresford, in the Parish of Alston-
field, in the County of Stafford, in 1087, and
from him the descent has continued to the
present time (Glover's Derbyshire, and Lyson’s
Derbyshire).

The bulk of the Beresford Estates were sold in
the year 1681, but conveyed back that year into the
family by John Beresford, of Newton Grange, in
Derbyshire. A portion of these estates, including
the fishing-house, was sold in 1825 to Viscount
Beresford, and shortly after that date the fishing-
house was repaired, and its appearance now
corresponds externally with the earliest descrip-
tions and pictures known of it. In the reign
of King Henry VI. a younger branch of the
Beresfords settled at Fenny Bentley, about two
miles north of Ashbourne, and the Manor was
held by the family for many generations. In the
chancel of the church are various monuments,
erected to members of the family, including one
of particular interest to Thomas Beresford, who
raised a troop of horse consisting only of his own
sons and retainers to fight for Henry VI. in his
French wars.’ The present head of the house

1 The monument consists of a square alabaster altar-tomb with
figures of two bodies enveloped in shrouds, and upon the sides twenty-

72 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

of Beresford is the Rey. Gilbert Beresford (see
Burke's Peerage for further information of the
family).

In October 1901 the fishing-house and other
adjoining property was sold to Mr Frank Green,
of Treasurer's House, York. A letter appeared
about that time in the Field newspaper suggest-
ing that the National Trust for the Preservation
of Historic Buildings or some other like body
should purchase the fishing-house. It has been
stated, however, in the Press, that “this property,
is preserved from being broken up and developed
for at least some considerable time to come.”

Tissington Hall is the seat of Sir Richard Fitz-
Herbert, Bart., whose family has intermarried
frequently with the Beresfords, and certain estates
of the latter were acquired by the ancestors of the
present Baronet." The Waterford Beresfords are
a younger branch of the English Beresfords, tracing
from the sixth son of Thomas Beresford before —
mentioned, whereas the English Beresfords trace
from the fourth son.

In 1808 a copy of The Complete Angler, with
the bands of the book made of wood from the

one similar effigies for sixteen sons and five daughters, with a long
inscription in hexameter verses. There are seven other mural monu-
ments to the same family, dating from 1516 to 1815, and a brass to
Richard Beresford (1733). Three new windows have recently (ue.,
in 1895), been erected by the Beresford (English) family.

1 Tissington has been in the Fitz-Herbert family since 1466 (see
Burkes Peerage). The word was originally spelt “Tiscinctuna.”

‘tl add an foy,

USNOM-DNIHST A S NOLLOO

IZAAK WALTON AND HATS FRIENDS 73

door of the fishing-house, sold for £63. The
fishing-house was reproduced at the World’s Fair
at Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 300th
anniversary of Walton’s birthday on 9th August
1893.

“THE FISHING-HOUSE

“What spot more honoured than this peaceful place ?
Twice honoured, truly. Here Charles Cotton sang,
Hilarious—his whole-hearted songs, that rang
With a true note, through town and country ways,
While the Dove trout—in chorus—splashed their praise.
Here Walton sat with Cotton, in the shade,

And watched him dubb his flies, and doubtless made
The time seem short, with gossips of old days.
Their cyphers are enlaced above the door,
And in each Angler’s heart, firm-set and sure.
While rivers run, shall those twin names endure—
Watton and Corvon linked for evermore—
And ‘ Piscatoribus sacrum,’—where more fit
A motto, for their wisdom, worth and wit?”
One of Twelve Sonnets by T. Wusrwoop.

CHAPTER Vit?
THE LIVES

** Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.”
LONGFELLOW.

‘*O God-lit cloud of witnesses,
Souls of the sainted dead.”
E. Hatcu.

“ There ought to be death-beds worth going to.”
Grorce Dawson.

“God give us men!
Men whom the lust of office does not kill ;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy ;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honour, men who will not lie.”
OLIvER WENDELL HoLMEs.

Ir has been recently remarked that the
biographic memoir was in England a com-
paratively late growth.

‘“‘Meagre seeds of the modern art of biography
were indeed sown within a few years of Shake-
speare’s death, but outside the unique little field

of Isaak Walton’s tillage the first sproutings
74

Ee

IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS 75

were plants so different from the fully-developed
tree that they can with difficulty be identified
with the genus.” ... “In the days of Walton,
of course what we now call conscientious bio-
graphy was unknown” (Mr Edmund Gosse in the
Nineteenth Century and After for February 1902).

In a letter dated the 10th of May 1678, com-
mencing, “My Worthy Friend, Mr Walton,” the
then Bishop of Lincoln, Thomas Barlow, says: “I
am heartily glad that you have undertaken to write
the life of that excellent person, and, both for
learning and piety, eminent Prelate, Dr Sanderson,
Bishop of Lincoln, because I know your ability
to know and integrity to write truth.” This
writer at least considers that what Walton wrote
would be exact.

“Besides The Complete Angler,” Miss Mitford
writes, “Izaak Walton has left us a volume
containing four or five lives of eminent men,
quite as fine as that great Pastoral, although
in a very different way. His Life of Dr Donne,
the satirist and theologian, contains an account
of a vision (the apparition of a beloved wife in
England, passing before the waking eyes of her
husband in Paris), which, both for the cleverness
of the narration and the undoubted authenticity
of the event, is amongst the most interesting
that is to be found in the long catalogue of
Supernatural visitations.” It is right here to

76 IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS

mention that this event as narrated has been
the subject of a great deal of criticism. It is
not narrated in the edition of 1670, but appears
in the fourth edition of The Life of Donne (1674).

The history of the publication of the Lives
is usually given as follows :—

In a letter (undated), written by Wotton to
Walton as to the promise given by the former
to write the life of Donne, Wotton says he will
write again and set down certain general heads,
““wherein I desire information by your loving
diligence; hoping shortly to enjoy your own
ever welcome company in this approaching time
of the Fly and the Cork.” Wotton dying before
he could write the life, Walton published his
Infe of Donne in 1640, with a collection of his
sermons. In 1651 he published the life of |
Sir Henry Wotton prefixed to the Relique
Wottoniane of which he was also the editor.
In 1666 Walton published Zhe Infe of Richard — |
Hooker, which he wrote at the request of Dr
Sheldon, when he was Bishop of London. In :
1670 he published The Lnfe of George Herbert
(together with the other Lives). In 1678 he
published Zhe Lnfe of Dr Robert Sanderson. |

The Infe of Donne was at first a mere sketch.
Walton was always altering and retouching his |
writings, like a true artist not finding readily
‘‘a chisel fine enough to cut the breath of his

IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS 77

thought,” and he has well “ padded” The Lnfe of
Donne in particular. Baxter was very different
in this respect; of one of his books he says:
“T gcarce ever wrote one sheet twice over,
nor stayed to make any blots or interlinings,
but was fain to let it go as it was first con-
ceived.”

The lives of Hooker and Herbert were
written when Walton was residing with Bishop
Morley at Winchester. The text of the lives
of Donne, Wotton, Hooker and Herbert is usually
taken from the fourth edition of 1675, and the
text of the life of Dr Sanderson from the edition
of 1678. There was a second impression of it
produced in 1681, which, however, does not
contain many alterations from the text of the
first edition.

Mr T. Westwood’s communication to Notes
and Queries in 1865 should be read as to his
opinion on the editions of the Lives (see 3rd S.
VIIL., p. 482). He considers no such editions as
1670 and 1675 ever appeared, and that the edition
of 1675 is really the second collective issue, and
he accounts for its being styled the “fourth ”
on the title page by the fact that two of the
Lives were therein reprinted for the fourth time—
those of Donne and Hooker.

From the beautiful verses written by Cotton
to Walton in 1672, and set out at the end of this

78 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

volume, the reader can get at a glance a very
good idea of the lives of Donne, Wotton, Hooker
and Herbert, so graphically has Cotton depicted
their characters and appropriated their very
language. But a study of the Lives should be
made by any reader as yet unacquainted with
them :—

“the feather whence the pen
Was shaped that traced the lives of these good Men,
Dropped from an Angel’s wing,”

as Wordsworth has in a sonnet so beautifully
expressed it.

‘‘These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them and greeted
them from afar” (Heb. xi. 13).

“Rare Lives! that whoso reads, to him is given
To pace the precincts of the courts of Heaven.”
T. WeEsTwoop.

(a) JOHN DONNE
(1573-1631)

* Diligent and believing.”

Dr John Donne was born in the Parish of
St Nicholas Olave, London, in 1573; he was a
son of John Donne, a London merchant. His
mother was the daughter of a Mr John Hey-
wood. They belonged to the Church of Rome.
He was sent when in his twelfth year to Hart

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IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 79

Hall, Oxford. He was entered in 1592 as a
student at Lincoln’s Inn with the intention of be-
coming a barrister. His tutors were instructed “to
instil into him particular principles of the Roman
Church.” He early began seriously “to survey
and consider the body of Divinity as it was
then controverted betwixt the Reformed and the
Roman Church.” Having a good competence,
he spent a large part of it in travelling abroad.
A runaway match, in 1601, with the third daughter
of Sir George More of Loseley in Surrey, caused
him to be committed to the Fleet Prison, and
also caused him to lose an appointment which
he held as a secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton,
Keeper of the Great Seal of England. He sent
his wife a letter acquainting her with his dismissal
which ended thus :—

“John Donne, Anne Donne, Undone.” ’

The idea of taking Holy Orders appears to
have first been put into his head by Dr Morton,
who became Bishop of Durham, and who at the
great age of ninety-four, enjoyed, as Walton
describes it, ‘‘perfect intellectuals and a cheerful

1 Hart Hall was so called from Elias de Hertford, who lived in
the reign of Edward the First. In 1312 the name was changed to
Stapledon Hall. In 1739 it was by a Royal charter erected into a
college by the name of Hertford College in the University of Oxford.

? Donne was very fond of making puns on his name. In some
verses to Sir Henry Wotton he ends thus :—

“But if myself I’ve won,
To know my rules I have, and you have Donne.”

80 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

heart.” It was after much hesitation that Donne
became an “ambassador for the God of Glory”;
this was due to some irregularities of his life
which, having been visible to some men, might,
he thought, bring censure upon him and upon the
sacred calling dishonour, although he had made
his peace with God against them. He was
ordained on the Feast of the Conversion of St
Paul, on the 25th of January, 1615, by Dr John
King, Bishop of London.
Donne wrote :—

“Tf our souls have stained their first white, yet we
May clothe them with faith, and dear honesty,
Which God imputes as native purity.”

He had had great expectations of a Crown
employment, but he counted all his Court-hopes
but “loss for Christ.” ‘‘ Now,” says Walton, ‘the
English Church had gained a second St Austin;

for I think none was so like him before his-

conversion, none so like St Ambrose after it, and
if his youth had the infirmities of the one, his
age had the excellencies of the other ; the learning
and holiness of both. And now all his studies
which had been occasionally diffused, were con-
centred in Divinity. Now he had a new calling,
new thoughts, and a new employment for his wit
and eloquence. Now, all his earthly affections
were changed into Divine love; and all the faculties

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 81

of his own soul were engaged in the conversion of
others ; in preaching the glad tidings of remission
to repenting sinners, and peace to each troubled
soul.” In 1616 we find Donne chosen to be the
preacher at Lincoln’s Inn.

In 1617 his wife died, aged thirty-six ; she was
buried in St Clement’s Church, near Temple Bar,
London. Her death caused him extreme grief,
and for a time he retired from the world. ‘He
began the day and ended the night: ended the
restless night and began the weary day in
lamentations.”

His first sermon, Walton states, after her death
was preached from the text in Lamentations ii. 1,
“Lo, I am the man that have seen affliction.” Dr
Jessopp, in his life of Donne in Leaders of Religion
(Methuen & Co., 1897), states it to be “a fable”
that Donne preached a funeral sermon upon his
wife in St Clement’s Church upon that text. His
reason is, that some ten years afterwards he
preached from the same text in St Dunstan’s
Church a sermon that was not a funeral sermon.
Why Donne could not preach twice within ten
years from the same text a fresh sermon, I quite
fail to see. Walton writes without any doubt as
having himself heard the sermon preached in St
Clement’s Church,’ and to doubt him upon the

1 Only an eye-witness, I contend, could have written thus: “ And
indeed his very words and looks testified him to be truly such a man ;

F

82 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

point is simply to make him a liar. In 1621
Donne became Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, and
in 1624 Vicar of St Dunstan’s in the West, and
soon after became the greatest preacher in England.’
St Dunstan, to whom the church is dedicated, was
Abbot of Glastonbury, and rose successively to be
Bishop of Worcester and London (holding both in
conjunction for about a year) and Archbishop of
Canterbury, dying in 987. The first mention of the
church in Fleet Street is in 1237. The great fire
of London was arrested within three doors of the
church. The present church was built about the
year 1830. In 1630 Donne began to “die daily.”
Walton gives an interesting account of how Donne
in his illness caused a figure to be drawn of the
body of Christ extended upon an anchor—the
emblem of hope; many of these figures thus drawn
he had engraved very small in heliotropium or
blood-stone,” and set in gold. He sent them to
several of his dearest friends to be used as seals
or rings, and kept as memorials of him. Walton

and they, with the addition of his sighs and tears, expressed in his
sermon, did so work upon the affections of his hearers, as melted and
moulded them into a companionable sadness.”

1“The greatest preacher of the seventeenth century ; the admired
of all hearers” (Coleridge).

2 “The helotropium is a very beautiful species of jasper, and has
been long known to the world as a gem. Its colour is a fine and
strong green, sometimes pure and simple, but more frequently with
an admixture of blue in it. It is moderately transparent in thin
pieces, and is always veined, clouded and spotted with a blood-red.
From this, its most obvious character, it has obtained among our
jewellers the name of the bloodstone” (Lewis's Hateria Medica).

7

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 83

sealed his will with one of these seals. The reader

who would pursue the history of these seals must
consult Zhe Perverse Widow; or, Memorials of
the Boevey Family (Longmans & Co., 1898), where
all the learning on the subject of these seals
will be found. His illness left Donne but as much
flesh as did “only cover his bones,” but he would
preach, and he amazed the beholders when he
appeared in the pulpit to preach what turned out
to be his last sermon. Many that then saw his
tears, and heard his faint and hollow voice, pro-
fessed they thought that Dr Donne had preached
his own funeral sermon :—

“When pale looks and faint accents of thy breath,
Presented so to life that piece of death,
That it was feared and prophesied by all
Thou thither cam’st to preach thy funeral.” !

Donne was easily persuaded to have a monu-
ment erected to his memory. A ‘‘choice painter”
was taken into his study, and Donne draped him-
self in his shroud and closed his eyes, and, “with
so much of the sheet turned aside as might show
his lean, pale, and death-like face, which was pur-
posely turned towards the East,’ from whence he
expected the second coming of his and of our
Saviour Jesus,” his portrait was taken. When the
portrait was fully finished, he caused it to be set
by his bedside, where it continued his hourly

1 Bishop King’s “ Elegy” on Donne.
The statue as now placed in St Paul’s does not look eastward.

Ne eee Pe ee ee a

84 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

object till his death, after which it was reproduced
in stone by Nicholas Stone, the famous sculptor.
During his last illness Donne for several days lay
waiting for the appointed hour of his death, then
closing his own eyes and disposing his hands and
body into such a posture as required not the least
alteration by those that came to shroud him,’
“The world’s beloved Donne,” “Our Donne,”
falling on sleep, bade farewell to the world. His
last words were, ‘‘ Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done.” —‘‘ Death had set the seal of immortality
upon him, and the beautiful had become eternal.”

Donne was buried in St Paul’s. Cathedral;
many noted persons attended the funeral. His
grave was strewed with choice flowers.

The next day, writes Walton, after his burial,
some unknown friend, some one of the many lovers
and admirers of his virtue and learning, writ this
epitaph with a coal on the wall over his grave :—

‘Reader, I am to let thee know,
Donne’s body only lies below ;

For could the grave his soul comprise
Earth would be richer than the skies.”

In Notes and Queries I have raised the question

1¢Tf IT must die I'll snatch at everything
That may but mind me of my latest breath ;
Death’s heads, graves, knells, blacks, tombs, all these shall bring,
Into my soul such useful thoughts of death
That this noble king of fears
Shall not catch me unawares.”
QuarLe’s Midnight Meditations.

DONNE’S STATUE IN ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

face page 84.

IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS 85

whether anyone has ever surmised who the un-
known friend was? It seems very likely it might
have been Walton himself,’ because we have seen,
in Chapter IV., how fond Walton was of scribbling
on stones and the like, and we have certainly a
right to presume he was present at the funeral
himself, and in London the next day. We know
he was at Donne’s deathbed shortly before he
died. The incident was not narrated by Walton
until over thirty years after the death of Donne,
and it is most improbable, if not impossible, that
the Cathedral authorities would have allowed a
writing in coal to have remained unobliterated ;
and who except the author would have been likely
to remember the lines after that lapse of time ??
Walton never mentions Donne as being an
angler. The author of Zhe Angler's Sure Guide,
published in 1706, ascribed a book called The
Secrets of Angling, by J. D., “to that great Prac-
titioner, Master, and Patron of Angling, Dr
Donne.” The real author was, however, in 1811,
clearly shown to have been John Dennys.’

'T see Mr Gosse, in his Life and Letters of Donne, suggests this: but
he gives no reasons.

? Walton published his Life of Donne in 1640, but the epitaph in-
cident is not narrated init. It is one of the many additions he made
after the first collected edition of the Lives published in 1670, for it
appears for the first time in the first collected edition of the Lives re-
published in 1675. There is an epitaph on Dr Donne’s death worth
reading, to be found in Sir John Mennis’s Musarwm Delicie, Vol. I1.,
commencing, “ He that would write an epitaph for me.”

3 The Secrets of Angling was first printed in 1613.

86 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Donne is said to have been very beautiful,
and to have become so after his golden age, «e.,
eighteen :—

“Thine was thy later years, so much refined
From youth’s dross mirth and wit.”

His company was “one of the delights of man-
kind, and his fancy was inimitably high, equalled
only by his great wit, and his melting eye showed
he had a soft heart.”

Walton ends his Infe of Donne thus : ‘“‘ He was
earnest and unwearied in the search of knowledge,
with which his vigorous soul is now satisfied, and
employed in a continual praise of that God that
first breathed it into his active body; that body
which once was a temple of the Holy Ghost,
and is now become a small quantity of Christian
dust :—

**¢ But I shall see it re-animated.’”
Donne’s white marble effigy escaped damage in

the great fire of London * :—

“Tn Paul’s I look,
And see his statue in a sheet of stone.”

His epitaph in St Paul’s Cathedral is in

1 Hare, in his London, says: “Out of some remains saved from the
fire only one statue has been given a place in the Cathedral, that of
Donne.”

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 87

Latin, and the following is a translation made by
Archdeacon Francis Wrangham :—

‘*JOHN DONNE, DOCTOR OF DIVINITY,

after various studies pursued by him from his earliest years with
assiduity and not without success, entered into Holy Orders
under the influence and impulse of the Divine Spirit and by
the advice and exhortation of King James, in the year of his
Saviour 1614, and of his own age forty-two; having been
invested with the Deanery of the Church, Nov. 27, 1621, he
was stripped of it by death on the last day of March 1681,
and here though set in dust, he beholdeth Him whose name is
the Rising.”

Donne wrote and published a great many
books, sermons and poetry. His Pseudo-Martyr
was written in answer to Bellarmine’s justification
of Popish recusants. His secular poems are sup-
posed to have been published before he was
twenty-five at the latest, and he is always in-
cluded amongst the metaphysical poets of his
period.

In 1651 Donne’s son published a book his
father had in 1607 written entitled Bualdvaros,
‘“A Declaration of that Paradoxe, or Thesis, that
Selfe-homicide is not so naturally sinne, that it
may never be otherwise. Wherein the Nature and
the extent of all those Laws which seeme to be
violated by this Act, are diligently surveyed.” He
says: “It was written long since by my Father,
and by him forbid both the Press and the Fire,

= oa ,”ll

Ne i 8 ee he en ils il eis
:

88 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

neither had I subjected it now to public view, but
that I could find no certain way to defend it from
the one, but by committing it to the other.” In the
preface Donne says because he thought, as in the
Pool of Bethsaida,’ there was no health till the
water was troubled, so the best way to find the
truth in this matter was to debate and vex it, he
abstained not for fear of misinterpretation from
this undertaking. He states that Self-homicide
is nO more against the law of nature than any
other sin, and that that cannot be against the law
of nature which men (and he cites many by name),
have affected. Hallam says: ‘No one would be
induced to kill himself by reading such a book,
unless he were threatened with another volume”
(Interary History, Vol. I1., note on p. 457).

Under the euphonical name of “ Euthanasia”?
the subject was discussed in the Fortnightly Review
for February 1873, in the Spectator for the 15th
of February 1874, and quite recently in the
Spectator in February 1902.

Anyone interested in Donne should read his
Infe and Letters, by Mr Gosse, the article on him

1 Bethesda is generally given as the word in St John’s Gospel
v. 2; the Revised Version, however, has the note: “Some
ancient authorities read Bethsaida, others, Bethzatha.” Bethesda
means the house of mercy, Bethsaida means the house of fishing.

2 “Euthanasia! Euthanasia! an easy death ! was the exclamation
of Augustus ; it was what Antoninus Pius enjoyed” (see Curiosities
of Interature, Vol. III., p 228. Cf. Notes and Queries, 4th 8. XL, p.
276).

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 89

by Sir Leslie Stephen in the December number
of the National Revew of 1899, and Canon
Beeching’s study of Walton in his Religio
Laict (1902), and Dr Jessopp’s Lnfe of Donne.

I do not think it has been made out that
Donne was in any way a humbug, as some will
have it. I only here refer to two points these
recent critics touch on, viz., his so-called ‘‘con-
version” and his sincerity in preaching. It really
seems most amusing for pure literary men to be
troubling as to the exact date of Donne’s real
“conversion” even in their attempt to prove
Walton inaccurate.

It may be that Donne was transformed “at a
bound into a saint,” but it is more likely that, as a
literary man and one religiously brought up, the
change came about through the effect his wife’s
death had upon him. We know that extreme
melancholy marked him for her own after it, yet,
as Canon Beeching points out, it is possible that
her influence in life, and not his grief at her death,
was the cause of his conversion :—

“ Here the admiring her my mind did whet
To seek Thee, God ; so streams do show their head ;

But tho’ I have Thee, and Thou my thirst hast fed,
A holy dropsy melts me yet.”

Walton writes: “Dr Donne would often in his
private discourses, and often publicly in his sermons,
mention the many changes both of his body and

' ; -

go IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS

mind, especially of his mind from vertiginous
giddiness ; and would as often say ‘his great and
most blessed change was from a temporal to a
spiritual employment,’ in which he was so happy
that he accounted the former part of his life to be
lost ; and the beginning of it to be from his first
entering into Sacred Orders, and serving his most
merciful God at His altar.”

Again, as to Walton’s account of Donne’s
preaching being so unreal, no case is made out.
Has no preacher wept over his own composition
before or since Donne ?*

Dr Cary, Master of Christ’s College, Cambridge,
and Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1614, as Vice-
Chancellor preached a funeral sermon for Prince
Henry, son of King James I., who died young in
1612, ““when weeping himself, he made all the
people weep again and again” (College Histories :
Christ's College, Cambridge).

Canon Beeching observes: “‘ A preacher with a_

faith in God that is hardly removed from sight
cannot fail of conveying his belief to his audience ;
even though the matter in hand be dry and
metaphysical, an emphasis, a parenthesis, which in
print attract no attention, may in speaking have
had the effects of a revelation; for a fire that is
always smouldering will sooner or later break out.

1 T have been told, by one who said he had seen it, of a manuscript
sermon in which the words “ Here weep” were written in the margin.

ae

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 91

This seems to be the secret of the ‘tears’ and
‘raptures’ that were at the command of the
crabbed Donne, and were not at the command
of the rich eloquence and graceful fancy of Jeremy
Taylor.” *

I am not going into the question whether
Walton may not have brought too much sentiment
into his Life of Donne, and certainly I admit that
he is very often very inaccurate and too trusting.
Walton anticipates the criticism bestowed upon
him. He writes: “There may be some that may
incline to think my friend hath transported me to
an immoderate commendation of his preaching.”

(6) HENRY WOTTON

(1568-1639)
‘We shall not look upon his like again.”

‘*Companion of the Saints!”

Sir Henry Wotton was the youngest son of
Thomas Wotton, of Bocton or Boughton, Mal-
herbe, in Kent, where he was born. He refers
to his father as, “my father, the best of
men.” After receiving his education at Win-
chester and at New College and Queen’s Col-

1 Tn the Life of Herbert, by Walton, he states that in July 1627 he
“saw and heard” Donne “weep, and preach” a funeral sermon on
Lady Danvers, in the Parish Church of Chelsea.

92 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

leges, Oxford, he was admitted to the Middle
Temple in 1595. He became Ambassador at The
Hague, and was three times appointed Ambassador
at Venice, viz, in 1604, 1615 and 1621. Going
from Rome he went to Florence, where a romantic
incident befell him. The Grand Duke of Florence
had heard of a plot against the life of James, then
King of Scotland, and he took Wotton into his
confidence in the matter; Wotton disguised him-
self as an Italian, and under the name of Baldi
delivered his message, letting no one but James
himself know that he was an Englishman, and
after three months departed as true an Italian
as he came thither.’

Wotton’s house in Venice seems to have been
the resort of very learned men. “Here was
seen the purity of the Protestant faith in its own
primitive lustre and native loveliness, recommended
by its most powerful of all motives, a practice

in its professors perfectly consonant with the

rules of the Evangelical code.” Wotton was never
ashamed to confess Christ before men; he
attracted and did not repulse, although he had
services and sermons in his house after the
Protestant “use.” The effect exercised by his
personality upon all who met him must have
been indeed magnetic. Father Paul (Peter Paul

! English Public Schools: Winchester, Arthur F. Leach (Duck-
worth & Co., 1899).

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IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS 93

Sarpi), although he never formally left the Romish
Church, is supposed to have been convinced of
the errors of Popery when Wotton was main-
taining the rights of Venice against the civil
authority of the Pope.

The liberal-minded Father Fulgentio, who had
been a pupil of Father Paul, was enlightened by
Wotton on the subject of Popery. ‘I know,” he
said to another friend, ‘“ this Church of England, as
I know it by your Liturgy, articles and canons, I
know not your practice, to be the most apostolical
Church in the whole world, and the Church of
Rome to be at this time the most impure.” He
would not forsake his Church. “A man,” he
said, ‘‘may live in an infected city and not have
the plague.” Again, “Live in it and die in it
I must, though it be the impurest of Christian
Churches.”

Without doubt Wotton was the most accom-
plished man of the age, “‘a man whose experience,
learning, wit, and cheerfulness made his company
to be esteemed one of the delights of mankind.”

‘He did the utmost bounds of knowledge find.”

He had “an innate pleasure of angling,” and
was, says Walton, ‘‘an excellent angler.” He
intended to write a discourse on angling, but
never did so. His saying is well known that ‘‘ An
Ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad

94 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

for the good of his country!” Wotton was
generally impecunious. In a letter he wrote to
his very worthie friend Nicholas Pey at Court,
dated in March 1615, he says: “The substanciall
pointe is to have money, for without that bladder
we cannot swymme.” In a letter written from
Venice to Sir Walter Aston, who was Ambassador
at Madrid, dated in February 1621, he says: ‘‘The
common man heere knowes no other rules of a
good Prince but bigg loaves.” *

Tll health was often Wotton’s lot, and he
suffered great pain. He writes that he in-
tended to visit ‘‘an excellent physician inhabitant
in St Edmund’s Burie, whom I brought myself
from Venice, where (as eather I suppose or
surmise) I first contracted my infirmities of the
splene.”

Shortly before his death he wrote in Latin A
Panegyrick to King Charles ; “being Observations

upon the Inclination, Life and Government of our —

late Sovereign.”

He wrote many books on all sorts of subjects ;
his treatise on the Elements of Architecture being
one of his best. It was published in 1624 and has
been translated into Latin. Some of his beautiful
verses are set out at the end of this volume.
When asked by a priest of the Church of Rome,
“Where was your religion to be found before

1 See the Archeologia, Vol. XL.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 95

Luther?” ' he replied, ‘‘ My religion was to be
found then where yours is not to be found now,
in the written Word of God.” He asked the same
priest, ‘‘Do you believe all those many thousands
of poor Christians were damned, that were ex-
communicated because the Pope and the Duke of
Venice could not agree about their temporal
power? even those poor Christians that knew
not why they quarrelled.” To which the priest
replied in French, “ Monsieur, excusez-moi.” To
one that asked him “whether a Papist may be
saved,” he replied: “ You may be saved without
knowing that. Look to yourself.” But to another
he gave this advice: ‘‘Take heed of thinking, the
farther you go from the Church of Rome, the
nearer you are to God.”

He took Deacon’s orders late in life, and
became Provost of Eton in 1624. Near the end
of his life he said to a friend, the learned John
Hales, Fellow of Eton College: ‘“‘I now see that
I draw near my harbour of death; that harbour
that will secure me from all the future storms
and waves of this restless world; and I praise
God I am willing to leave it, and expect a better ;

1 “They may ask us, where was your religion before Luther? and
our reply is, In the Word of the living God, in the creeds of Apostles
and apostolical men, and in the practice of those witnesses who in
every age refused to participate in the abominations of Rome”
(Sermons by Henry Melvill, Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, Vol. IL., p.
100 : Rivingtons, 1872).

96 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

that world wherein dwelleth righteousness; and
I long for it.”

He was taken very ill, and in the beginning
of December 1639, “his better part, that part of
Sir Henry Wotton which could not die, put off
mortality with as much content and cheerfulness
as human frailty is capable of, being then in great
tranquillity of mind, and in perfect peace with
God and man.” He died at Eton, and was buried
in the College Chapel in accordance with the
directions contained in his will in that behalf
should he end his “ transitory days at or near ” Eton.

By his will he bequeathed to the Library of
Eton College all his manuscripts not before dis-
posed of, and to each of the Fellows a plain ring
of gold, enamelled black, all save the verge, with
this motto within, ‘‘ Amor unit omnia.”

Amongst some of the books given or be-
queathed to Eton College by Wotton are a

Xenophon, an Ovid, known as the Codex Lango-- |

bardicus, a _ fifteenth-century Dante, and a
fourteenth-century Infe of St Francis, by
Bartholomew of Pisa.

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IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 97

(c) GEORGE HERBERT
(1593-1632)

‘““The man I held as half-divine.”
In Memoriam.

“Friend of my friend! I love thee, though unknown,
And boldly call thee, being his, my own.”
W. CowPEr.

* Content dwells not at Court.”
Thealma and Clearchus.

George Herbert was born in 1593, near the
town of Montgomery. He was the fifth son of
Richard Herbert, a descendant of the famous
William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, who lived
in the reign of Edward IV. He was educated
at Westminster School, and at Trinity College,
Cambridge, of which he became a Fellow. He
was B.A. in 1612, M.A. 1616. In October 1619
he became Public Orator. In 1615, while at
Cambridge, in a letter to his mother, he remarked,
that so many poems were written and consecrated
to Venus that, for his own part, he had determined
that his ‘‘ poor abilities in poetry should be all and
ever consecrated to God’s glory.” His mother was
one of the most talented women of the day, and
Donne wrote in her praise. Over her children
she had great influence. Walton tells us he never
knew Herbert, ‘I have only seen him.” He says

he “had heard he loved angling.” Herbert
G

4

98 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

was ordained in 1626. He was a friend of
Bacon. His poems were published under the
title of The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private
Ejaculations.” The book was issued to the —
public in 1633, and read by King Charles I.
when in prison. Walton, in his Life ef Herbert,
says his verses were thought so worthy to be
preserved, “that Dr Duport, the learned Dean of
Peterborough, had collected and caused many of
them to be printed, as an honourable memorial
of his friend Mr George Herbert, and the cause
he undertook.” Richard Baxter loved Herbert's
poetry. A writer in the Zimes newspaper of the
ist of August 1902 makes the following excellent
remarks upon the poems :— |
“Widely as Herbert is read for the sake of |
his piety, we doubt whether he is reckoned at his |
full value. The temptation is to stop short at
his conceits; to take them for all he has to offer, |
and to smile or close the book according to the |
reader’s taste and knowledge. These conceits are |
not of the essence; they are the accidents of the
age, and in particular, perhaps, of the influence
of his mother’s friend, Donne. Beneath them lies |
subtle and piercing thought, masterly insight into
the spiritual nature, rare tenderness, a delight in
things of beauty that his asceticism cannot conceal, |
and technical attainments of the highest order.” |
Herbert wrote a prose sequel to Zhe Temple as

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 99

a guide to country parsons, which Hallam calls

a pleasing little book; but the precepts are some-
times so overstrained, according to our notions,
as to give an air of affectation (Literary History,
Vol. IT., Part III, Chapter II.) The first edition
of Herbert's Outlandish Proverbs, d&c., appeared
in 1640.

When Archbishop Benson was an_ under-
graduate at Cambridge he won a prize for an
English declamation on Herbert. It ended thus :—
“The man himself has been far more to

Englishmen, to scholars and to priests, than his
work has been, far more deserving too of admira-
tion and imitation than many weaklings whom
late years have seen held up to us for examples.
For he was not the mere muser or devout
sentimentalist, but a most active and prosperous
clergyman.”

‘This was delivered in the Hall of Trinity
College on Commemoration Day, 1851. (See
_ Benson’s Infe, by his son, Vol. I. p. 102). The
footnote runs thus: “24 Jan. 1852. At the
suggestion of the Master . . . a window to com-
memorate George Herbert, notice of whom had
lately been brought before the College by Mr E. W.
Benson’s English Speech on Commemoration Day.”
There are two windows in Trinity in which George
Herbert is represented. In the one in the ante-
chapel he appears standing behind our Lord in an

100 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

attitude of reverence. He is represented also in a
window in the chapel itself which was put up
about 1870. It is this former window which was
put up on account of the suggestion before
mentioned.

Herbert protested, says Walton, against
ministers that “huddle up the Church prayers,
without a visible reverence and affection ; namely,
such as seemed to say the Lord’s Prayer, or a
Collect, in a breath. But for himself, his custom
was to stop betwixt every Collect, and give the
people time to consider what they had prayed,
and to force their desires afiectionately to God,
before he engaged them into new petitions.” He
was a good musician. Cathedral music greatly
affected him—‘it elevated his soul and was with
prayer his Heaven upon earth.” He wrote:
“Resort to sermons, but to prayers most.”
Walton, however, narrates that by his order the

reading pew and pulpit were, in a church he.

served, a little distant from each other, and both
of an equal height ; for he would often say : ‘‘ They
should neither have a precedency or priority of the
other; but that prayer and preaching, being
equally useful, might agree like brethren, and
have an equal honour and estimation.” Herbert
dedicated himself afresh to a life for God on
taking the preferment of Bemerton Church, near
Salisbury. Cowper’s words apply to his case :—

IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS Iol

“JT thirst, but not as once I did,
The vain delights of earth to share ;
Thy wounds, Emmanuel, all forbid
That I should seek my pleasures there.”

He said on the night of his induction: ‘‘I now
look back upon my aspiring thoughts, and think
myself more happy than if I had attained what
then I so ambitiously thirsted for." And I can
now behold the Court with an impartial eye, and
see plainly that it is made up of fraud and titles,
and flattery, and many other such empty, imaginary
painted pleasures; pleasures that are so empty, as
not to satisfy when they are enjoyed. But in God
and His services, is a fulness of all joy and
pleasure, and no satiety. And | will now use all
my endeavours to bring my relations and de-
pendents to a love and reliance on Him, who
never fails those that trust Him. But above all, I
will be sure to live well, because the virtuous life
of a clergyman is the most powerful eloquence to
persuade all that see it to reverence and love, and
at least to desire to live like Him. And this I
will do, because I know we live in an age
that hath more need of good examples than
precepts.”

1“ Not always turned
His soul to Heaven ; the splendours of the Court
Dazzled his youth, and the fair boundless dreams
Of youthful hope.”
A Vision of Saints, by Sir Lewis Morris.

102 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

He thought much as to the clergy living well;
he said it would be a cure for the wickedness and
growing atheism of the age if they themselves
would be sure to live unblamably, and if “the
dignified clergy especially which preach temper-
ance, would avoid surfeiting and take all occasions
to express a visible humility and charity in their
lives.” We read that the Sunday before his death
he rose up and called for one of his instruments,
and, having tuned it, played and sang his beautiful
hymn beginning :—

“The Sundays of Man’s life.”

“When the end was near he fell into a sudden
agony.” His wife asked him how he felt, and he
replied “that he had passed a conflict with his last
enemy, and had overcome him by the merits of his
Master Jesus.” Having given certain directions
as to his will, he said: “I am now ready to
die,” and “ Lord, forsake me not now my strength
faileth me: but grant me mercy for the merits
of my Jesus. And now Lord— Lord, now re-
ceive my soul.” And with those words he
calmly passed away. He was very happily
married to a daughter of Charles Danvers, of
Baynton, Wiltshire, a near relation of the Earl
of Danby, but had no issue.

Herbert is buried in Bemerton Church. On
his death the following verses were found wrapped

os

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 103

up with a seal which was given to him by
Donne :—

‘When my dear friend could write no more,
He gave this seal and so gave o’er.”

“When winds and waves rise highest, I am sure,
This anchor keeps my faith, that me secure.”

The parish register of Bemerton states that “ Mr
George Herbert, Esq., Parson of Inggleston and
Bemerton, was buried the 3rd day of March
1632.”

His widow married Sir Robert Cook, of
Highnam, Gloucestershire. She died and was
buried there in 1656.

(d) RICHARD HOOKER
(1553-1600)
“Thy gentleness hath made me great.”
(2 SAMUEL xxii. 36).

**Give me the lowest place.”
C. G. Rossetti.

“ Not being less but more than all
The gentleness he seemed to be.”
TENNYSON.

Hooker was born about 1553 near Exeter.
Of his parentage little is known. His mother was
a most excellent woman, and Hooker often affec-
tionately refers to her. He was educated at the

104 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

grammar school there. He proceeded to Corpus
Christi College, Oxford. It is not within the plan
of this book to say much about him. He was no
angler so faras we know. His marriage was un-
fortunate, and his wife appears to have been a foe
to his life, and a “clownish silly woman.” Her
maiden name was Churchman. Hooker was
Master of the Temple from 1581 to 1591. The
reader or lecturer there was one Walter Travers,
a man of Ultra-Calvinistic and Presbyterian views,
but ‘‘a man of learning and good manners,” and
the controversy between them on theology became
very acute. Fuller says: ‘The pulpit spake pure
Canterbury in the morning and Geneva in the
afternoon.” In their disputations Travers seems
from all accounts to have come off more than
conqueror. In 1595 Hooker became Rector of
Bishopsbourne, near Canterbury. He was a most
exemplary parish priest, and noted for his great

humility. His fame of course rests on his ©

Ecclesiastical Polity. Mr Bayne, the latest writer
on Hooker, insists that Hooker wrote under the
influence of Calvin, and that Calvin, the leading
theologian of the Sacramentarians, did not hold
what are called “low” — what Hooker calls
‘“cold”—views of the Lord’s Supper (see The
Pilot, January 3, 1903).

The reader is referred to Hallam’s Constitutional
History and to his Interary History for informa-

lo face page 104.

:

RICHARD HOOKER

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 105

tion shortly given as to the contents of this great
work. Pope Clement VIII. said of it: ‘‘There are
in it such seeds of eternity as will continue till the
last fire shall devour all learning.” Hallam re-
marks that Hooker never entirely emancipated
himself from the trammels of prejudice on the
subject of religious toleration. We should remem-
ber, however, that very few men of the period had
done so, and that even Baxter pronounced uni-
versal toleration to be ‘‘soul murder,” though he
was, on the whole, somewhat more liberal than his
co-religionists on the subject (Lecky’s Rationalism
im Europe, Vol. II., Chap. IV., Part IT.).

Dr Arnold (see his lx/e, by Stanley, Vol. IT.)
wrote : ‘‘I long to see something which should solve
what is to me the great problem of Hooker's
mind. He is the only man that I know, who,
holding with his whole mind and soul the idea of
the eternal distinction between moral and positive
laws, holds with it the love for priestly and cere-
monial religion, such as appears in the fifth book.”
In Landor’s imaginary conversations between Lord
Bacon and Hooker, the former is made to say:
“Good master . . . you would define to a hair’s
breadth, the qualities, states and dependencies of
Principalities, Dominations and Powers; you would
be unerring about the Apostles and the Churches ;
and ’tis marvellous how you wander about a pot
herb,” and Hooker's reply is: “Wisdom con-

106 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

sisteth not in knowing many things, nor even in
knowing them thoroughly ; but in choosing and in
following what conduces the most certainly to our
lasting happiness and true glory. And this wisdom,
my Lord of Verulam, cometh from above.”

On his death-bed Hooker said: “I have
lived to see this world is made up of perturba-
tions, and I have been long preparing to leave
it, and gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of
making my account with God, which I now appre-
hend to be near: and though I have by His grace
loved Him in my youth, and feared Him in mine
age, and laboured to have a conscience void of
offence to Him and to all men; yet if thou, O
Lord, be extreme to mark what I have done amiss,
who can abide it? and therefore when I have
failed, Lord, show mercy to me, for I plead not
my righteousness but the forgiveness of my un-
righteousness for His merits, who died to pur-
chase pardon for penitent sinners.”

And now, says Walton, in exquisite language,
‘¢TLet me here draw his curtain, till with the most
glorious company of the Patriarchs and Apostles,
the most Noble army of Martyrs and Confessors,
this most learned, most humble holy man, shall
also awake to receive an eternal tranquillity, and
with it a greater degree of glory than common
Christians shall be made partakers of.”

Hooker’s papers and manuscripts were left, it

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 107

is narrated, in a state of great confusion at his
death, and some appear to have been purposely
burnt by, or at the least with the privity of, his
wife. Hooker’s wife married again and died
suddenly within five months of his death. In
his will Hooker made Joane Hooker, my well-
beloved wife, sole executrix (he wrote executor),
of his will. Hallam thinks all the stories on this
subject given in the Life of Hooker. by Walton
(who, he says, seems to have been a man always
too credulous of anecdote), are unsatisfactory to
anyone who exacts real truth (lnterary History,
Vol. IL, Part II., Chapter IV.).

Fuller states that Hooker’s ‘‘ voice was low,
stature little, and gesture none at all in the
pulpit.”

Hooker died at Bishopsbourne in 1600, and
was buried there, where a monument was erected
to his memory in 1634. There is a bust of him by
the west wall of the south aisle of the Temple
Church in London. Hooker left four daughters,
two of whom married ; his family were left very
ill provided for.

In the first edition (1670) of Hooker's Life,
by Walton, his portrait appears. In 1890 his
portrait, by a painter uncertain, was presented to
the National Portrait Gallery.

108 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

EPITAPH TO HOOKER
BY

Str WILLIAM CooPER

Though nothing can be spoke worthy his fame
Or the remembrance of that precious name,
Judicious’ Hooker: though this cost be spent
On hin, that hath a lasting monument

In his own books ; yet ought we to express,
If not his worth yet our respectfulness.
Church ceremonies he maintained ; then why
Without all ceremony should he die?

Was it because his life and death should be
Both equal patterns of humility ?

Or that perhaps this only glorious one

Was above all, to ask, why had he none?

Yet he that lay so long obscurely low,

Doth now preferred to greater honours go.
Ambitious men, learn hence to be more wise,
Humility is the true way to rise:

And God in me this lesson did inspire,

To bid this humble man, Friend, sit up higher.

(e) ROBERT SANDERSON
(1587-1663)
«The Lord will beautify the meek with salvation.”
Psawm cxlix. 4.
Sanderson was the youngest son of Robert
Sanderson, of Gilthwaite Hall, Yorkshire. The
place of his birth is uncertain. Walton says he
was born at Rotherham, in the county of York,

1 The word “judicious,” invariably applied to Hooker, was taken
from this epitaph.

ROBERT SANDERSON

‘0 face page 108,

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 109

but this is admitted to be wrong. In 1606 we
find him a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and
in 1611 he was ordained by Dr King, Bishop of
London. We never read that he was an angler.
He was given the living of Boothby Pagnell in
Lincolnshire, and became Chaplain to King
Charles I. He married Anne, daughter of the
Rev. Henry Nelson, Rector of Hangham, Lincoln-
shire. The Parliamentarians compelled him to
alter the form of the prayers read in his church.
As he refused to take the Solemn League and

- Covenant his living was sequestered. Some say
he wrote (but this is rather doubtful) the prayer in
the Book of Common Prayer for all sorts and con-
ditions of men and also the General Thanksgiving.
Walton says that the three offices added at the
Savoy Conference to the Book of Common Prayer,
viz.: A Form of Humiliation for the Murder of
King Charles the Martyr, A Thanksgiving for the
Restoration of his Son our King, and for the
Baptising of Persons of Riper Age, were formed or
worded more by Sanderson than any single man
of the Convocation. It is agreed by all writers
that he composed the preface to the Book of
Common Prayer (on the subject see Proctor,
Whately, and Barry on the Book of Common
Prayer). Sanderson left the following direction :
“I do absolutely renounce and disown whatsoever
shall be published after my decease in my name.”

110 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

After his death his Nine Cases of Conscience
Occasionally Determined were published with
other of his writings. Few now read the writings
of this very learned prelate and great casuist.
Walton dedicated his Life of Sanderson to George
Morley when he was Bishop of Winchester, and
states that his own friendship with Sanderson
began ‘‘forty years past when I was as far from a
thought as a desire to outlive him; and farther
from an intention to write his life,” and he
expressed his thanks to the Bishop for having
introduced him to Sanderson, Chillingworth and
Hammond. At the Restoration Sanderson was
made Bishop of Lincoln.

Sanderson in his will, after commending his
soul into the hands of Almighty God, professed
that as he lived so he desired to die, in the
Communion of the Church of England. He
mentions the danger the Church was in from
the great increase of ‘“Popery.” By his will
he directed: ‘As to my corruptible body, I
bequeath it to the earth whence it was taken,
to be decently buried in the Parish Church of
Buckden, towards the upper end of the Chancel,
upon the second, or—on the furthest —the
third day after my decease; and that with as
little noise, pomp, and charge as may be.” And
he gave further instructions for carrying out his
funeral in a simple style which would have vastly

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS Ill

pleased Charles Dickens. He states his utter
dislike of the flatteries commonly used in funeral
sermons, and of the vast expenses otherwise laid
out in funeral solemnities and entertainments
with very little benefit to any ; which if bestowed
in pious and charitable works “might redound
to the public or private benefit of many
persons.”

He lay ill for some three weeks before he died,
longing to quit this world. It was not his desire,
he said, to lead a useless life, and by filling up a
place keep another out of it that might do God
and His Church service. He mentioned that till
he was threescore years of age he had never
spent five shillings in law, nor—upon himself—so
much in wine; and he hoped he should die
without anenemy. ‘And now,” says Walton, “his
thoughts seemed to be wholly of death, for which
he was so prepared, that the King of Terrors
could not surprise him as a thief in the night;
for he had often said he was prepared and longed
for it. And as this desire seemed to come from
Heaven, so it left him not till his soul ascended
to that region of blessed spirits, whose employ-
ments are to join in concert with his, and sing
praise and glory to that God, who hath brought
him and them to that place, into which sin and
sorrow cannot enter. Thus this pattern of meek-
ness and primitive innocence changed this for a

II2 IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS

better life. °Tis now too late to wish that mine
may be like his; for I am in the eighty-fifth year
of my age, and God knows it hath not: but I
most humbly beseech Almighty God, that my
death may: and I do as earnestly beg, that if
any reader shall receive any satisfaction from
this very plain, and as true relation, he will be so
charitable as to say, Amen.” He was very happily
married to a wife that made his life happy “by
being always content when he was cheerful; that
was always cheerful when he was content; that
divided her joys with him, and abated of his
sorrow, by bearing a part of that burden, a wife
that demonstrated her affection by a cheerful
obedience to all his desires, during the whole
course of his life.”

Sanderson died in January 1663, leaving his
wife and a family insufficiently provided for.

His portrait is at Lincoln Palace. The curious
may care to be referred to a book entitled A
Dialogue between Isaac Walton and Homologistes,
in which the character of Bishop Sanderson is
defended against the Author of the Confessional.

CHAPTER TX

‘“LOVE AND TRUTH’ —‘“ THEALMA AND CLEARCHUS”’

“A little glooming light, much like a shade.”

Fairy Queen, Bk. I., C. II., St. 14.
Tus book does not pretend to give a list of all
Walton’s various writings; its chief object is, as
before stated, to enamour those who hitherto have
known but little of Walton, with his life-character
and writings ; and at the same time to give some
fresh information and ideas to those who already
know something about the subject. To the literary
Waltonian I hope this chapter may not prove
destitute of interest.

(a) AS TO THE TREATISE ENTITLED “‘ LOVE AND
TRUTH ”

In 1675 a pamphlet known by the name of The
Naked Truth rose “like a comet” over the
theological world; its full title was ‘The Naked
Truth ; or, The True State of the Primitive Church,
by an Humble Moderator.” “Although anonym-

ous, its manifest ability at once attracted notice,
H

114 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

while the comparative lull in this kind of litera-
ture, which had followed upon the Restoration,
may perhaps have contributed to the interest
which this tractate excited.” *

It is supposed to have been written by Herbert
Croft, Bishop of Hereford. The chief object of
the pamphlet was to suggest a scheme for includ-
ing the nonconformists within the Established
Church. Dr Francis Turner, Master of St John’s
College, Cambridge (who became successively
Bishop of Rochester and Ely, dying in 1700), wrote
in 1676 a reply entitled Animadversions on @
Pamphlet entitled The Naked Truth, adopting the
view that learning and culture were absolutely
essential for the clergy. Among other writers on
the subject were Bishop Burnet and Andrew
Marvell, the latter advising the bishops to correct
many abuses that had sprung up, and insisting that
a good life is a clergyman’s ‘‘ best syllogism and the
quaintest oratory.” .

“At this critical period,’ says Dr Zouch,
“Walton expressed his solicitude for the real
welfare of his country, not with a view to
embarrass himself in disputation—for his nature

1 See College Histories : St John’s, Cambridge.

2 Edward Stillingfleet (Bishop of Worcester) had in 1662 repub-
lished The Irenicum suggesting that the form of Church Government —
was of little consequence; Dr Croft must have read it, and also :
probably Henry More’s Mystery of Godliness published in 1660 and
republished in 1662. It deals with Church matters in these days
regarded as indifferent by many.

W

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS II5

was totally abhorrent of controversy—but to give
an ingenuous and undissembled account of his own
faith and practice, as a true son of the Church of
England.” According to his very confident opinion
Walton in 1680 published the treatise entitled
Love and Truth, the full title was ‘Love and
Truth in two Modest and Peaceable Letters, con-
cerning the Distempers of the Present Times,
written from a Quiet and Conformable Citizen of
London, to two Busie and Fractious Shopkeepers
in Coventry.” The motto to it was, ‘‘ But let none
of you suffer as a busie-body in other men’s
matters” (1 Peter iv. 15). It is generally con-
sidered very doubtful who wrote it.

The authorship has been credited to Walton by
many, merely on account of Archbishop Sancroft
having in a volume called Miscellanea (Press-mark
now 32-2-34, but formerly 14-2-34), in the library
of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, with his own
hand marked its title thus -—“ Is. Walton’s 2 letters
conc. ye Distemps of ye Times 1680.” The author,
whoever he was, tries to answer the arguments put
forth in the pamphlet Zhe Naked Truth, and
specially deprecates schism and resistance to the
authority of the Bishops, as regards the Church
ceremonies enjoined by them. ‘“ Remember,” the
writer says in his second letter, ‘you and I are
but citizens, and must take much that concerns
our religion and salvation upon trust.” He refers

116 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

to the “Holy life and happy death of George
Herbert, as it is plainly and I hope truly writ
by Mr Isaac Walton.” Of course this reference
may possibly have been made in order to deceive
the world as to Walton being the writer.

There are only two copies of Love and Truth in
the British Museum; one is of the edition of 1680
(Press-mark c. 40. c. 16), and the other is of the
edition of 1795 (Press-mark 4105, bb.). The
former edition has a MS. note by William
Pickering in it, which runs thus: “The present
is the only copy I have met with after twenty
years’ search, excepting the one in Emmanuel
College, Cambridge.—W. Pickrrine.” A copy of
Love and Truth is in a volume of tracts, formerly
Archbishop Sancroft’s, in Emanuel College, Cam-
bridge ; in the MS. contents at the beginning of
the volume is written, probably by Archbishop
Sancroft : “ Walton J. two letters on ye distempers
of ye times,” which is Dr Zouch’s authority for .
attributing them to Walton. The copy described
above appears to be the same edition as the
present, but has the following variation, after the
title-page is printed: “ The Author to the Stationer
Mr Brome, &c.,” and ends with ‘your friend
without the N N which is found in this copy, but
what is more remarkable the printed word Author
is run through and corrected with a pen and over
it written Publisher, which is evidently in the hand-

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 117

writing of Walton, from which I infer that its
advertisement may have been written by Walton
and the work probably seen through the Press and
the copy given by Walton to Archbishop Sancroft,
but I do not believe that the two letters were
written by Walton (see his Life by Nicolas, p. 101).
Although Dr Zouch has confidently asserted that
they are his by him.—W. P.”'

It is unlikely that further light will be forth-
coming as to who the real author of this treatise
was; I will, however, remark that Walton was
no resident “‘ citizen” of London in 1680.’ To judge
from internal evidence only it would seem highly
probable it was written by Walton, as so many
of his words and phrases occur in it, and the
style, sentiment and argumentation are similar,
as even a cursory perusal of it will show. Lowell
writes : ‘‘The evidence internal and external that
he was the author seems to me conclusive.” No
help towards solving the difficulty is afforded by
the writer of Walton’s life in the Dictionary of
National Biography, the treatise not being even
mentioned or referred to! My difficulty is, that
if Walton wrote the work | think he would only
have been too glad to tell the world he did so,
for the reasons given in Chapter [V., but Dr

! This manuscript note was most courteously copied out and sent
to me by the British Museum authorities.

2 And he was not so in 1668 or 1679, the years in which the
letters were respectively written.

118 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Zouch thinks “his modesty precluded him from
annexing his name to the treatise!” There are
parallel passages in the treatise and in other
writings admitted by all to have been written by
Walton set out in Shepherd’s Waltoniana (1878),
which, as I have before said, give strong internal
evidence that Walton was the author of the two
letters. Zouch’s edition of the Lives was brought
out in 1796, and was re-issued in 1807 and (with
inclusion of Love and Truth), in 1817; his Life of
Walton was published in 1823, and was re-issued
in 1825.

(b) AS TO ‘‘THEALMA AND CLEARCHUS ”

In 1683 Thealma and Clearchus, a Pastoral
Mistory, in Smooth and Easie Verse, was published
by Walton. If curiosity is aroused over Love and

Truth itis more so over this work. Who was John .

Chalkhill, by whom it was said to have been written ?
He is said on the title-page to have been ‘“‘an
acquaintance and friend of Edmund Spencer.” But
Spenser died in 1599, when Walton was five years
old! A mystery is here; Jo. Chalkhill signed two
songs to be found in Zhe Complete Angler.
Walton had connections of the name. A John
Chalkhill died at Winchester in 1679. This is all
too wonderful. We do not offer any suggestion as
to this literary mystery, but it seems rather hard

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 11g

to believe that Walton, when nearly ninety years
of age, could be such a gay deceiver as some
would make him out to be, if he were really
the author himself of this work. The preface in
the book I here set out :-—

“The reader will find in this Book, what the
title declares, A Pastoral History, in smooth and
easie verse; and will in it find many Hopes and
Fears finely painted, and feelingly express’d. And
he will find the first so often disappointed, when
fullest of desire and expectation; and the latter,
so often, so strangely, and so unexpectedly reliev’d
by an unforeseen Providence, as may beget in him
wonder and amazement. And the Reader will
here also meet with Passions heightened by easie
and fit descriptions of Joy and Sorrow; and find
also such various events and rewards of innocent
Truth and undissembled Honesty, as is like
to leave in him (if he be a good-natur’d
Reader) more sympathising and virtuous im-
pressions, than ten times so much time spent
in impertinent, critical, and needless Disputes
about Religion: and I heartily wish it may
do so.

“ And, [ have also this truth to say of the Author,
that he was in his time a man generally known, and
as well belov’d; for he was humble, and obliging
in his behaviour, a Gentleman, a Scholar, very

120 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

innocent and prudent: and indeed his whole life
was useful, quiet, and virtuous. God send the
Story may meet with, or make all Readers like
him. LW.

“© May 7th, 1678.”

This preface is followed by some verses ad-
dressed by Thomas Flatman, the poet, to Walton,
including the following lines: “ Happy Old Man,
whose worth all mankind knows,” and—

‘* Hence did he know the Art of living well,
The bright Thealma was his Oracle:
Inspired by her, he knows no anxious cares,
Thro’ near a Century of pleasant years :
Easie he lives, and cheerful shall he die.
Well spoken of by late Posterity.”

The ending of Thealma and Clearchus is
thus :—

‘never fear it,
Thealma lives.”

I cannot find that the phrases used in this poem
are similar to those Walton uses in his other
writings. I can see no internal evidence at
all that he was the author, such as there is in
the case of Love and Truth, to go towards
showing he wrote that work. Dr Zouch, however,
considers “the internal evidence in the poem itself
is strongly corroborative of the opinion as to the
unity of Chalkhill and Walton!” It must follow, if

ooo LS oa we

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 121

we think Walton was the author, that he also
wrote the beautiful poems in The Complete Angler
signed by the name of Jo. Chalkhill (see on the
subject of this book Notes and Queries, 4th S.
IV., p. 93, 5th 8. IIT., p. 365, and 8th S. XII, pp.
441, 516).

CHAP T.E hx
WALTON 'S DEATH
‘*‘ ARCESSITUS AB ANGELIS”
“ Last scene of all that ends this strange, eventful history.”

““Wouldst see December smile?
Wouldst see nests of new roses grow
In a bed of reverend snow ?”
RIcHARD CRASHAW.

“Tn the midst of Death we are in Life.” }

‘He was a man among the few
Sincere on virtue’s side ;
And all his strength from Scripture drew,
To hourly use applied.

His joys be mine each reader cries,
When my last hour arrives ;
They shall be yours, my verse replies,

Such only be your lives.”
W. Cooper.

WE know no particulars about Walton’s death:
we only know that he died on the 15th of
December 1683, at the time of the great frost

1The Eagle Lectern in Lambeth Palace Chapel bears this motto

(see Archbishop Benson’s Life, by his son, Vol. I1., p. 394.)
122

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 123

in that year, at his son-in-law’s house at
Winchester.’

George Dawson said, “that for his own part he
would rather have written on his tomb, ‘He was
a good fellow, bless him,’ than, ‘Of your charity
pray for the soul of George Dawson, deceased.’ ”
We know not what Walton would have wished
written on his tombstone, but we may well think
that up to the last day of his life he possessed ‘‘all
that should accompany old age, as honour, love,
obedience, troops of friends.” At peace with God, at
peace with man, life’s work well done, and happy in
that no shadow of doubt ever probably disturbed the
serenity of his faith, we may suppose his death was

‘serene and bright
And calm as is a Lapland night.”

We need not apply to his death-bed any such
phrase as “unique hopefulness,” for most probably
he could have said with St Paul that he had “the
desire to depart and be with Christ.” No mere
“minimum of salvation” could be his!

We may suppose he could have said, as John
Wilson, ‘‘ Christopher North,” said of himself :—

“It has pleased Heaven to crown my life with

1 The great frost began on the 15th of December, and lasted over
eight weeks, till the 4th of February. Cotton refers to the state of the
River Dove, and the fish in it thus: “ And doubtless there was great
mortality of trout and grayling of great quality.” He, however, never
mentions, as we might have expected he would, that Walton died
during the frost. As to a sermon preached on the subject of the frost
(London, 1684), see Notes and Queries for August 1902.

124 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

such a load of happiness, that ofttimes my very
soul is faint with bearing up the blessed burden.”

In fancy we can imagine Walton “babbling
of green fields”; and thanking God for long
and happy days, for friends made and kept, for
learning won and knowledge gained; but above
; all for the redemption of the world by our Lord
’ Jesus Christ, and for the hope of glory.

Walton was buried amidst some of the virtuous
and the greatly wise, and lies under a marble slab in
Prior Silkstead’s Chapel in Winchester Cathedral:—

“Tn the great minster transept,
Where lights like glories fall,
And the organ rings, and the sweet choir sings,
Along the emblazoned wall.”
Dr ALEXANDER.

ce oe,
will nere os done
tig 8 bliffe

WALTON’S TOMB IN WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL

To face page 124.

CHAPTER: Xf
‘““RARRAGO LIBELLI,”—Jwv.

In Warwick Castle may be seen Walton’s marriage
chest. The inscription on it is :-—

“ [ZAAK WALTON. RACHEL FLoup.
Joyned Together In ye Holie Bonde Of
Wedlocke on ye 27th Daie Of
Decembere. <A. 1626. D.

We once were two, we two made one,
We no more two, through life Bee one.”

A writer in Notes and Queries (6th S. XIL, p.
326) states that at an auction sale of carved oak
furniture, which took place at Worcester on the
10th of October 1884, the auctioneers described
in their printed catalogue a Curious Dower
Coffer said to have come from the Cathedral
precincts, Worcester, on the centre panel of which
was inscribed :— “Izaak Walton and Ann Ken
was joyned together in holie wedlocke on ye Eve
of Saint Gregory, ano. MDCXLVII., dom.” The
cabinet bequeathed by Walton was sold by public
auction in 1881. His name was found on it with
the date 1672. Full particulars as to the cabinet

125

126 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

will be found in Mr Marston’s Complete Angler,
referred to before.

In St Mary's Church, Stafford, may be seen
Walton’s bust by Belt, which was erected by public
subscription in 1878.

In 1888, by the permission of Dean Kitchin, a
small statue of Walton was placed in the Great
Screen in Winchester Cathedral. It was the work
of Miss Mary Grant.

In St Dunstan’s Church, London, a Walton
memorial window was put up in 1895. It was
designed by Messrs Percy Bacon and Brothers,
of Newman Street, Oxford Street. - The central
figure on the window is a copy of the statue
of Walton in the Cathedral Screen at Win-
chester. On the right side are portraits of
Donne, Hooker and Sanderson, and on the left
side are portraits of Wotton, Ken and Herbert;
and in the tracery are depicted angels holding
scrolls of the virtues and the arms of St Dunstan
and of the Ironmongers’ Company. The centre
quatrefoil contains the intertwined monograms
of Walton and Cotton. The window cost £100.
Cotton is given no place in the window. No
one ever heard that Ken was an angler, and it
seems quite out of keeping with the memorial
to have included this great hymn-writer and
good man in the group to the exclusion of
Cotton.

MEMORIAL WINDOW IN ST DUNSTAN’S CHURCH, FLEET STREET, LONDON

To face page 126,

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 127

RSet): SE i eee eee

In 1891 there was purchased in an old
curiosity shop near Westminster Abbey a fishing
creel bearing the initials I. W., with the date 1646
marked on the side. The purchaser submitted
it for examination to experts at the British
Museum, who pronounced the creel to be the
genuine work of Walton's period, but that the
initials had been more or less recently scratched
on it.

By the kind permission of the owner I have
been allowed to inspect the creel for myself.
Some Jew is supposed to have been guilty of the
fraud (see Notes and Queries, 9th S. VIL, p.
410). Several previous attempts have been made
to deceive Waltonians as to Walton’s possessions ;
as to a clock supposed to have been his, see Notes
and Queries, 7th 8S. IL, p. 459, and fir Boy see

p- 69.
| I have handled Walton’s Prayer-book, which is
to be seen in the British Museum. It contains
his studies for the epitaph of his second wife,
which is in Worcester Cathedral. The words
“Ex terris M. §.” do not appear and there are
various autobiographical notes. The article
“the” between “of” and “primitive piety”
is an interlineation and “Alas! that she is
dead” was originally ‘Alas! Alas! that she
dyed.”

Walton rang the changes over the spelling of

128 IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS

his name Izaak, he and others sometimes spelling it
with a “k” and sometimes with a “c.” In the
Prayer-book his son the Canon spells it with a
‘““¢.” The Canon himself spelt his own name
with a “c.” In his marriage licence in the
Canterbury Episcopal Register, dated the 27th
of December 1626, Walton signs his name with a —
“e¢”; but his will is signed with a ‘‘k.”

In Macaulay’s History of England, Vol. L.,
Chapter III., there is a note on the paragraph as —
to the scarcity of books in country houses in the ©
year 1685 which seems misleading. It is stated :
“Cotton seems, from his Angler, to have found ~
room for his whole library in his hall window;
and Cotton was a man of letters.” I fail to find
the authority for the statement. In Chapter
X. of Part II. of The Complete Angler, Piscator
says: “Walk but into the parlour, you will find
one book or other in the window to entertain
you the while”; but surely this is a poor
authority to quote to show that Cotton had but
few books and that he kept all he possessed in
his hall window!

With a curious desire to discover defects in
Walton’s character I have made careful search.
The charge against him of cruelty as a fisherman
has been referred to in Chapter III]. The charge
of his having been on one occasion “huffy,
brought against him by Franck, is almost too

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 129

childish to mention, since the occasion was
merely a discussion between them as to Gesner,
Dubravius and Aldrovandus being better
authorities as to ‘“pickerel weed” than him-
self.

The fact is Franck was very dogmatic, and
probably Walton was piqued if not exasperated by
him. I give one instance of the former being
himself a formal opinionist. After giving certain
directions for the composition of a salmon fly he
said: ‘‘Should any man, under the pretence of an
artist, remain destitute of these printed qualifica-
tions, proclaim him a blockhead; let him angle
for oisters.” It is right to mention that Franck
was a skilful salmon angler.

Walton is often said to have made a mistake in
writing, as he did when near the end of his life, of
Ben Jonson, with reference to his infirmities; but
considering his letter was written to his friend
John Aubrey, the antiquary, in reply to a re-
quest for information about Jonson, there was
no impropriety in Walton telling all he knew.
Subject as aforesaid, as lawyers write, and
if it be conceded that Walton was guilty of
several little literary deceptions, and _ frankly
allowing he was to some extent a plagiarist, and
“expanded unconsciously,” I confess I cannot
find any flaw in his character.

I have never seen it observed what a pity it is
I

*

130 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Cotton did not write a biography of Walton, which,
as he survived him four years, there was ample
time for him to do. Mr Le Gallienne in his edition
of The Complete Angler (1897) remarks that
Canon Isaak Walton, “in his long quiet life in
Salisbury Close, might surely have written some
notes of a father to whose biographical faculty,
and consequent acceptability with bishops, he owed
his canonry.’’

One of the last editions of The Complete
Angler I have seen is called the “ Winchester
Edition,” published in 1902, by Freemantle,
and edited by Mr George A. B. Dewar, who
has discovered the lease of ‘‘ Norington farme”
which Walton in his will gave to his son
Isaak.”

There is a great deal of learned and interesting
information as to Donne’s seals in The Perverse —
Widow; or, Memorials of the Boevey Family —
before mentioned. I only remark here that
many gifts passed between Walton’s friends
in the way of seals. Donne sent Herbert a
seal depicting Christ upon an anchor, which
Donne adopted in lieu of the crest of his
family, which was a sheaf of snakes :—

** Adopted in God’s family, and so
My old coat lost, into new Arms I go.”

Walton sealed his will with one of these seals

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 131

of Donne’s, and by his will bequeathed many rings,
some of which bear quaint mottoes.

There are in certain cities and towns in England
various Clubs calling themselves after the names of
‘Walton and Cotton.”

I possess a very rare work, of which only
thirty-three copies were printed; it is beautifully
printed and illustrated and was published in
London in 1840. It is headed Rules and Regula-
tions of the Walton and Cotton Club. Instituted
19th March 1817. Revised 8th April 1840.
‘“Dum capimus capimur.” The frontispiece con-
tains a view of Cotton’s fishing-house. The
contents are shown by the following extracts :—

“ At a meeting held at the Freemason’s Tavern,
London, on Wednesday the 19th March
1817.

‘‘ PRESENT—Charles Harvey, Esq., M.P.; Thomas
Butts Aveling, Esq.; Michael Bland, Esq.; John
Caley, Esq.; Henry Ellis, Esq.; Robert Gatty,
Ksq.; John Bland Hanbury, Esq. ; William Henry
Sharp, Esq.

“IT WAS RESOLVED—That with sentiments of
veneration for the memory of honest Isaak Walton,
and of the high respect for that of the eminent
Fly-fisher, Charles Cotton, a Society be now in-

—.

132 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

stituted by the title of the Walton and Cotton
Club.

“That Charles Harvey, Esq., be the first and
modern President of the Club.

“That Michael Bland, Esq., be the first Vice-
President, Treasurer, and Secretary.

“That the above Gentlemen, together with the
Reverend Jeremiah Ives, of Norwich, be declared
the Founders of the said Club.

“ Ata meeting of the Walton and Cotton Club
held at the Freemason’s Tavern, on the 26th
of March 1840, it was proposed and carried, that
a Committee consisting of the following Gentlemen
be appointed to revise the Rules and Regulations
of the Club :—

“Edward Jesse, Esq.; William Dunn, Esq. ;
Wiliam R. Collett, Esq.; A. Jenkins, Esq. ;
William Yarrell, Esq.; R. G. Parnther; William ~
Pickering, Esq.

“The Committee met on the 8th of April, and
the ensuing Rules and Regulations were submitted
to the General Meeting of the Club, and con-
Armed. ; . .”

Then, following the list of members, it is stated
that :—

‘The object of this Club being to promote and

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 133

improve the ‘delightful Science of Angling,’ it is
hoped that, following the example of those eminent
men, Walton and Cotton, every Member will study
to ensure the Harmony thereof, by a steady ad-
herence to. Good-humour, Temperance, and
Sobriety ; gratefully sensible of the Blessings of
that Constitution of Government, which, while it
protects our Rights, permits us, with our Brethren,
‘quietly to go a-fishing !’”

Then are set out ten ordinary club rules, the
seventh providing that any visitor introduced to
dinner was to be a gentleman attached to “the
Contemplative Man’s Recreation.” This club, so
far as I can discover, no longer exists (see Notes
and Queries, 9th 8. XI., p. 7).

There appears to have been a Walton and
Cotton Club founded at Cambridge in 1825; but
my letter addressed there has been returned through
the Dead Letter Office.

Bethune, in his edition of The Complete Angler,
tells us about the formation of a club, called “ The
Lake Piseco Trout Club,” for anglers who fished
the waters in Hamilton county, in the northern
part of the State of New York, and that they had
erected a fishing-lodge and named it ‘“ Walton
Hall,” in honour of their patron saint, “with
convenient rooms for each member of the

Club.”

134 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

There is an amusing letter to Walton, written
by Mr Andrew Lang in his Letters to Dead Authors
(Longmans, 1896), which recognises Walton’s
kindliness and acknowledges the stability of
his religion.

It has been much debated whether Walton
smoked. Some infer by a curious construction,
as it seems to me, of a sentence in Zhe Com-
plete Angler that he did; others again quote
the line in his elegy on Donne, “as poison’d
fumes do waste the braine,” to show he did
not. The poet and the man are often very
different beings! We know from’ his own
words that Cotton obtained his tobacco from
London, but he wrote a crushing satire against
its use. Walton tells us that Wotton had
taken tobacco ‘somewhat immoderately.” He
and Isaac Barrow are both instances of men
who died ‘‘of the poisons that most sweetly
slay.” *

I fear we must for ever guess in vain on how
many of the “prints and pickters” and “littell
things” specifically bequeathed to his son the
Canon, Walton had emblazoned his name or
initials. One likes to know that Virgil wore
patched shoes, that Horace had no gilt cornices

1 Barrow called tobacco his “av@apuaxov.” He is supposed to
have learned the use of it where he found the opium which killed him
at last, in Turkey (see his Life by James Hamilton, 1839).

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 135

at the Sabine farm, that Samuel Johnson wore
snuff brown, that Voltaire had gay embroidered
bed-gowns, that Oliver Goldsmith was vain of a
cherry-coloured coat, and that Barry Cornwall had
a patent lamp and a flunky in green livery (see
Blackwood’s Magazme, Vol. XII., p. 166), so every
scrap of information as to Walton is eagerly sought
for by his many devotees.’

Walton was no teetotaler. We read of his
resorting to ‘‘an honest ale-house, where we may
have a good cup of good barley-wine.” By this
wine was probably meant common beer.’

He seems fond of the word “honest ale-house,”
for he uses it more than once. Again we read:
“Come, hostess, dress it (a trout) presently, and
get us what other meat the house will afford, and
give us some of your best barley-wine and good
liquor that our honest forefathers did use to drink
of; the drink which preserved their health, and
made them live so long, and do so many good
deeds.” When asked, ‘‘ Will you drink a draught of
red cow’s milk?” ’ his answer was, ‘“‘ No, I thank

”

you.

1 One of Walton’s watches, or what is believed to be such, is in the
possession of a sister of the Rev. A. S. Wyndham Merewether, of
North Bradley Vicarage, Trowbridge, Wilts.

2 Beer then (1685) was to the middle and lower classes not only all
that beer now is, but all that wine, tea and ardent spirits now are.
(Macaulay’s History of England, Vol. 1., Chap. II1.).

3 This was supposed to be good for consumption.

136 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Walton did not make his fishing “pay.” ‘“Itis
a good beginning of your art,” he writes, “to offer
your first-fruits to the poor, who will both thank
God and you for it.” And again we read : “ Having
caught more fish than will sup myself and my
friend, I will bestow this upon you and your
daughter, for I use to sell none.”*

Walton was very fond of backing his opinion ;
but it does not appear that money really passed.
Sometimes it is “twenty to one” if he had taken
up a certain rod; then it is an “even lay” as to
which rod catches, and at another time it is
“twenty to one” on his catching the: biggest of

——————— ae

| some twenty chubs.
Mr F. C. Burnand has written a funny book
entitled The Incompleat Angler (Bradbury, Agnew
& Co.), consisting of amusing conversation between
Piscator, Venator and Auceps and others; it is

4 well worth perusing.

The question has been raised by Mr Marston
whether Walton kept a horse. He _ observes
Walton could not go from London fishing “by
train or tram or ’bus, as the modern Londoner
does.” Certainly Walton once refers to ‘‘my
horse” when referring to baits for bream. How-

ever, the question seems hardly worth pursuing,

! Walton tells us that Dr Nowell (1507-1692), Dean of St Paul’s
Cathedral, who was a great angler, “usually bestowed all his fish
amongst the poor,”

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 137

but the following fancy conversation written by
W. S. Landor in his Imaginary Conversations,
Vol. IV., is interesting ;—

“ Walton. Hold my mare, son Cotton. I will
try whether my whip can reach the window, when
I have mounted the bank.

‘Cotton. Curious! the middle of a street to
be lower than the side by several feet. People
would not believe it in London or Hull.”? Again
we read; “I never could have believed, master
Izaak, that you would have trusted your tackle out
of your own hand”; and Walton says: ‘‘ Without
cogent reason, no indeed; but—let me whisper.
I told youngster it was because I carried a
hunting-whip, and could not hold that and rod
too.”

The play-writer has not forgotten to make
Walton the subject for a drama. I possess a
booklet printed from the prompter’s copy by
Charles Dance (Chapman & Hall). The dedica-
tion runs as follows: “To the President and
Members of The Walton & Cotton Club, the
following humble tribute to the memory of their
revered ‘ Father and Friend, honest Izaak Walton,’
is especially dedicated by their very obedient
Servant, Charles Dance.” It is written from the
Garrick Club, and dated ist July 1839.

Walton’s portrait, formerly in the National

1 The scene is Ashbourne.

138 IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS

Gallery, was in July 1898 deposited in the |
National Portrait Gallery. It was painted by Jacob
Huysman (1656-1696), a Dutch artist, who was
born at Antwerp, and settled in England. He
was the rival as a portrait painter of Sir Peter
Lely. One of the portraits among the ‘“ Windsor
Beauties,” now at Hampton Court, was painted by
him, also an altar-piece in the King’s Chapel, St
James's. He died in London.

The portrait has been thought to show “ mild
complacency, forbearance, mature consideration,
calm activity, peace, sound understanding, power
of thought, discerning attention, and secretly
active friendship.”

There are several portraits of Charles Cotton.
The portrait by Sir Peter Lely, now in the
possession of the writer, was formerly in the
possession of his great uncle, John Beresford,
of Ashbourne, and it is the one to be found
copied in Sir Harris Nicolas’s, and Baxter's’
edition of The Complete Angler.

Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680) became intimate
with Charles II. and painted many beauties of his
Court. He was knighted in 1679. He died
suddenly, and was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral,
where a monument was erected to his memory.
He married and had two children.

The real lover of Walton will enjoy the

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 139

following extract from Major: “I had long been
asking myself in the language of Abraham Cowley,
‘What shall I do to be for ever known?’ and my
good genius whispered, ‘Give your days and
nights to emblazon the worth of Izaak Walton.’ ”

OS —

CH AP Pik Xt

SHORT SKETCHES OF SOME FAMOUS ECCLESIASTICS
WHO WERE WALTON’S FRIENDS

** Love and esteem are the first principles of friendship,
which always is imperfect where either of these two is
wanting.” 20, 385, The Spectator.

‘*Tn companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
{* Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirits.”
Merchant of Venice.

“Life is never finished in its purpose and idea; and its
work is at best but a fragment.”—JamEs Martineau.

In his youth and early manhood Walton appears to
have had the power to make “troops of friends,”
and he possessed the still greater power of keep-
ing them. We have seen in a former chapter
he was very particular whom he would reckon
as his friends; his will shows he had many who
survived him, though he outlived nearly all of

the most famous of them.
140

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS I4I

I now give concise biographical sketches of
some of them.

** And we may well wonder how many more sons of Memory
must he not have known or seen in all those years—so populous
with men justly famous.”

I have dived into a multitude of books to gain
my information, and I think that certain matters
not generally known will here be found narrated.

THOMAS BARLOW, BISHOP OF LINCOLN
(1607-1691).

“Fling away ambition.”

He was born at Langhill, in the Parish of Orton,
in Westmoreland, and was a son of Richard
Barlow, descended from the ancient family of that
name, of Barlow Moore, in Lancashire. He was
educated at Queen’s College, Oxford. He was
a strong Protestant and Calvinist, and became a
very ambitious man and a great time-server. In
1660 he wrote in favour of toleration." Becoming
Provost of Queen’s College, and a prebendary of
Worcester Cathedral, he was, in 1675, appointed
Bishop of Lincoln. It appears he changed his
views in 1684, for in a charge to his clergy he
called on them to enforce the laws against the
dissenters, ‘‘agreeably to the resolution of the

1 The title of the treatise being The Case of Toleration in Matters
of Religion ; it was addressed to Robert Boyle.

=

142 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Bedfordshire Justices adopted at jonni " i
this charge he both justifies and enforces the
persecution of dissenters as necessary to ‘“ bring
them to a sense of their duty by the blessing |
of God for that ‘afflictio dat intellectum.’”
He died at Buckdon and was buried in the
chancel of the Parish Church there, near to the
body of Bishop Sanderson. By his will he be-
queathed some of his books to Queen’s College
and some to the University of Oxford. His por-
trait ‘“‘was bequeathed by Bishop Cartwright of
Chester, to be hung up and kept for ever in the
provost’s lodgings.”

WILLIAM CHILLINGWORTH
t (1602-1644).
“Thy commandment is exceeding broad.”

He was the son of an Oxford mercer, and

' was educated at the Grammar School in Oxford,
and became a Fellow of Trinity College in that

| university in 1628, and was ordained in 1638.
His fame rests on his book The Religion of ©
Protestants, the full title being “ The Religion of

Protestants, a Safe Way of Salvation, or an Answer

to a Book entitled ‘ Mercy and Truth; or, Charity

Maintained by Catholiques.’” The writer pleads for

the right of private judgment, and declares it is

“ 7
—_— ee

aa IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 143
impossible for any man to attain to more than
relative certainty on religious matters. “Chilling-
worth,” says Sir James Stephen, “ wants little but
a change in punctuation to be a writer of our own
day, and a writer as powerful, as expressive and as
idiomatic as any in the whole history of our
language.” A writer in the Quarterly Remew for
July 1902 asks if it can be said that there still
survives sufficient interest in the long argumenta-
tion between a Protestant and a Jesuit on the facts
of the case, as they appeared in the earliest part
of the seventeenth century, to make it worth
while to republish The Religion of Protestants.
Chillingworth has been styled “ The Immortal.”
He died on the 30th of January 1644, and was
buried in Chichester Cathedral.’

JAMES DUPORT
(1606-1679).
“He was a scholar ; and a ripe and good one.”

He was the son of John Duport, Master of
Jesus College, Cambridge, who assisted in the
translation of King James’s Bible.

He was educated at Westminster and at
Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became a

1 His life was much harassed by Francis Cheynell, the Parlia-

mentary Chaplain, who threw the famous book into Chillingworth’s
grave.

eH

PV oe 0

144 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Fellow in 1627, and later on Vice-Master. He was
Greek professor at Cambridge, and was said “to
have been the main instrument by which literature
was upheld in this university during the civil
disturbances of the seventeenth century.” Isaac
Barrow was his pupil, and when, in 1654, Duport
resigned the Greek professorship at Cambridge he
recommended him for the post. Barrow did not
then succeed in obtaining it, although he did so at
the Restoration. He complained, however, that no
one attended his lectures. “I sit like an Attic owl,”
he says, “driven out from the society of all other
birds.” In 1662 Duport published a collection of
Latin poems. In 1664 he was made Dean of
Peterborough, and in 1668 Master of Magdalene
College. He was not allowed to preach in St
Paul's Cathedral a second time, because of a
sermon he had preached there as to the way that

Cathedral was profaned. He said: ‘“ Church aisles —

were exchanged into shops, and churchyards into
markets.” *

Duport was buried in Peterborough Cathedral,
where there is a tablet erected to his memory.
He wrote verses in praise of Walton. They are
set out at the end of this book, and translated

1§t Paul’s Cathedral was turned into a market, and the aisles, the
communion table and the altar served for the foulest purposes.
Churchyards seem to have been in old times used as market-places.

An Act of Parliament provided that neither fairs nor markets be
kept in churchyards, for the honour of the Church.

>

a

‘bhi adv anf OL

TVUCHHLVO YULSHAHONIM

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 145

into English for the benefit of readers who may not
be competent to translate them.

BRIAN DUPPA, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
(1588-1662).

‘‘There has perhaps never passed a life of which a
judicious and faithful narrative would not be useful.”
Dr JOHNSON.

His father was by repute Vicar of Lewisham
in Kent, where he was born. He was educated
at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, be-
coming a Fellow of All Souls’ in 1612, and Dean
of Christ Church in 1629, where during his reign
he made many changes in the interior of the
Cathedral. In 1626 he married, and _ later
on he became tutor to the Prince of
Wales, afterwards Charles II., who visited
Duppa when he was dying and knelt at his
bedside to receive his blessing. In 1638 he was
made Bishop of Chichester, and translated to
Salisbury in 1641. At the Restoration he was,
in 1660, made Bishop of Winchester. Some say
he assisted Charles I. in the composition of
Eikon Basilike, but he did not write much.
Duppa was a man of “exemplary piety, lively
conversation, and excess of good-nature.” He
was noted for his charity. His last days were

spent in retirement at Richmond in Surrey,
K

146 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

where he interested himself in the preservation
of the Episcopal succession during the Common-
wealth, even admitting men privately to holy
orders. He died at Richmond, Surrey, and was
buried on the north side of Edward the Con-
fessor’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey; and King,
Bishop of Chichester, preached his funeral sermon.
His portrait is at Salisbury and at Christ Church,
and a bust of him is at All Souls’ College. He
bequeathed legacies to his old school, to Christ
Church and All Souls, to his former sees, and
to various charities.

DANIEL FEATLEY
(1582-1645).
‘“‘The whirligig of time brings in his revenges.”

He was born at Charlton-upon-Otmoor, in ~
Oxfordshire, and educated at Corpus Christi
College, Oxford. He became domestic chaplain
to Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, and was
presented to the living of Lambeth in Febru-
ary 1618, on resigning Northhill Rectory, in
Cornwall. He became a great controversialist
and was a Calvinist. His best known works
are, ‘‘ The Dippers dipt : or, the Anabaptists duck’d
and plung’d over head and ears at a Disputa-
tion in Southwark, &c.,” and Claws Mystica.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 147

He died at Chelsea College, and was buried
in the chancel of Lambeth Parish Church.’ It
is most curious to note that Featley, who was
so very bitter against the Baptists, should have
been buried in a church where a font-grave for
baptising adults by immersion has been dedicated
as a memorial to Archbishop Benson. It is de-
signed after the general plan of one in the ruined
Church of St Stephen, in the Campagna at Rome.
The inscription, in open copper work, is taken from
the font of St Sophia at Constantinople—

NIYON ANOMHMATA
MH MONAN OYFIN,

which, being translated, means ‘Wash your
transgressions, not only your face.”? The last
Rector, the Rev. J. Andrewes Reeve, received
the approval of Archbishop Benson to the erection
of such font in his lifetime. There is no other
church belonging to the Establishment in London
in which baptism can be duly administered by
immersion. Featley spelt his name in four
different ways, viz., Fertlough, Fairclough, Fair-
clowe and Featley.

1 The History and Antiquities of Lambeth, by John Tanswell
(F. Pickton, 1858).

* There is a silver dish used for rose-water, belonging to Trinity
College, Cambridge, on which these words appear in a little circle in
the centre of the dish. For various references to this inscription, see
Notes and Queries, 4th S. XT., etc., under Palindromes.

148 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

JOHN FELL, BISHOP OF OXFORD
(1625-1686).
“Clad with zeal as a cloke.”—Isa1AH lix. 17.

He was the son of Dr Samuel Fell, who was
Dean of Christ Church College, Oxford, in 1638, by
Margaret, daughter of Thomas Wilde or Wyld, of
Worcester. When only eleven years old he was
sent to Christ Church, and took his degree in
1640. He was in arms for Charles I. within the
garrison of Oxford, and later on was ordained ;
after the Restoration he was made Prebendary of
Chichester, and Canon of Christ Church, and in
1660 he was made D.D. and Dean of Christ
Church. He restored the college by his own bene-
factions and with what he collected from others,
and built the tower over the chief gateway of the
college, to which he had transferred out of the
steeple in the Cathedral the bell known as
“Great Tom,” which he had re-cast with addi-
tional metal.’

Walton sent his son to Christ Church, most
probably to be under the eye of his friend.

Fell was a great Protestant. When Master of

1 “Hark! the first and second bell
On ev’ry day, at four and ten,
Cries : come, come, come, come to prayers,
And the verger walks before the dean.’
Draw ALDRICH,

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 149

St Oswald Hospital, Worcester,’ he rebuilt it in a
sumptuous manner, bestowing all the profits of his
income there in augmenting and recovering its
estates. In 1663 an Act of Parliament was
passed for “‘ governing of the hospital of St Oswald
in the county of Worcester.”

In 1666-1669 Fell was Vice-chancellor of the
university, during which time he successfully re-
stored discipline there and greatly raised the
reputation of the college. In 1675 he became
Bishop of Oxford. He rebuilt the Episcopal Palace
of Cuddesden. He was, says Wood, ‘The most
zealous man of his time for the Church of England;
a great encourager and promoter of learning in the
university, and of all public works belonging there-
unto; of great resolution and exemplary charity ;
of strict integrity ; a learned divine, and excellently
skilled in the Latin and Greek languages.” It is
now generally allowed that he was the subject of
the epigram, “I do not like you, Dr Fell,” though
the origin of the epigram has been the subject of
much learned and interesting discussion.? Fell
wrote a life of Dr Henry Hammond. He died a
bachelor, and was buried in Christ Church
Cathedral. There is a picture in which he figures

1 This hospital was originally an infirmary, founded for leprous
monks of Worcester Priory.

2 So popular was Fell, says W. L. Bowles in his Life of Ken, that
a loyal Oxford apothecary left eight pounds a year for a prize com-
position at Christ Church, “In laudem Doctoris Fell.”

150 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

in the hall at Christ Church, and there is a statue
of him in the quadrangle at Christ Church, which,
since it is thereon recorded that he was born at
Longworth in Berkshire, should settle the doubts
that have been raised as to his birthplace, since
such evidence would, primd facie, be taken as con-
clusive in a Court of Judicature."

THOMAS FULLER
(1608-1661).

“In moderation placing all my glory,
The Tories call me Whig, the Whigs a Tory.”

“T cannot tell how the truth may be,
I say the tale as it was said to me.”

He was born in Northampton and became ‘a
boy of pregnant wit,” and was educated at Queen’s
College, Cambridge, but being disappointed in not
obtaining a Fellowship there he migrated to Sidney
Sussex College, where he succeeded in becom-
ing a Fellow. He became a popular preacher,
and in 1631, was made a Prebendary of Salisbury
Cathedral. He was a rigid ascetic. He became
Lecturer at St Bride’s, Fleet Street. The best
known of his works are his Church History of
Britain and Worthies of England, which was com-

1 Lysons states Fell was baptised on July 16, 1624.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 151

pleted in 1660, but not published until a year
after his death. After Walton had read The
Church History he asked Fuller for some informa-
tion as to Hooker, whose life he was preparing to
write. In return Fuller asked Walton’s opinion
of the history and what his friends thought of it.
Walton answered, that “he thought it would be
very acceptable to all tempers, because there were
shades in it for the warm, and sunshine for those
of a cold constitution: that with youthful readers,
the facetious parts would be profitable to make
the serious more palatable, while some reverend
old readers might fancy themselves, in his History
of the Church, as in a flower garden, or one full of
evergreens.” ‘And why not,” said Fuller, ‘“ Zhe
Church History so decked, as well as the Church
itself at a most holy season, or the Tabernacle of
old at the feast of boughs?” ‘That was but for a
season,” said Walton, “in your feast of boughs,
they may conceive, we are so overshadowed
throughout, that the parson is more seen than
his congregation—and this sometimes, invisible to
its own acquaintance, who may wander in the
search till they are lost in the labyrinth.” ‘ Oh,”
said Fuller, “the very children of our Israel may
find their way out of this wilderness.” ‘ True,”
replied Walton, ‘‘as, indeed, they have here such
a Moses to conduct them.” Fuller, who was a
Royalist, was, on the Restoration, created a D.D.

152 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

He was no strong partisan, however. He was
deemed by one party before whom he preached
‘a hot Royalist,” while for his discourses
before the King and Court at Oxford he
was blamed as being too lukewarm. He was
noted for having a wonderful memory. He died
in Covent Garden and was buried in the chancel
of Cranford Church in Middlesex, of which he
had been appointed Rector in 1658. His epi-
taph says that ‘‘while he was endeavouring to
give immortality to others he himself attained
it.” His wife survived him over twenty-one
years and was buried in Cranford Church.

JOHN HALES
(1584-1656).

‘‘ Rver memorable.”

He was the fourth son of John Hales of High-
church, near Bath, in Somersetshire, and was
educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, being
subsequently elected to a Fellowship at Merton in
1605. He was a great Greek scholar; Wotton
dubbed him ‘Our Bibliotheca ambulans.” He
was a friend of Chillingworth’s. Laud made him
a Canon of Windsor in 1639. Dr King styled him
‘“‘the best critic of our time.” His chief work was

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 153

a small book on Schism and Schismaticks. He died
and was buried at Eton. There is no known
portrait of him, but Sir Harris Nicolas says that
Walton’s memoranda show that his portrait after
his death was painted by Anne, Lady Howe, sister
of Henry King, Bishop of Chichester.

JOSEPH HALL, BISHOP OF NORWICH
(1574-1656).
“* Satire’s my weapon.”

He was the son of a keeper near Norwich, and
was born in Bristow Park, in the parish of Ashby-
de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, and was educated at
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and became a
Fellow there in 1595. Heconsidered himself to be
the best English satirist, and wrote :—

“T first adventure; follow me who list,
And be the second English Satirist.”

Hall has often been called “The Christian ” ;
or, “Our English Seneca.” Appointed Dean of
Worcester, and in 1627 promoted to be Bishop
of Exeter, he was transferred, in 1641, to Nor-
wich. He is said to have written his finest dis-
courses at Worcester. He was a Calvinist and a
decided Low Churchman. Among other works,

154 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

he wrote one entitled No Peace with Rome. Lord
Clarendon refers to him as being a popular
prelate. He married, and several of his sons
obtained good positions as clergymen. Walton, by
his will, bequeathed to his daughter ‘“‘Dr Hall’s
works, which be now at Farnham.” In 1643, upon
being turned out of his Norwich bishopric by the
Commissioners who were sent there on the passing
of the Act for Sequestration of the Property of
Malignants, in which he was named, Hall retired
to Heigham village, near to Norwich, where he
lived till his death. He was buried in the church-
yard there and not in the church, for he did not
hold ‘‘ God’s house a meet repository for the dead
bodies of the greatest saints.” Affixed to some
of his books is a portrait of him.

HENRY HAMMOND
(1605-1660).

“‘ Inter Silvas Academi querere Verum.”’

He was a son of Dr John Hammond, Physician
to Prince Henry, and was born at Chertsey in
Surrey, and educated at Eton and at Magdalene
College, Oxford. He became Canon of Christ
Church and Public Orator, and one of Charles the
First's chaplains. In 1630 he was Rector of
Penshurst, Kent, and in 1639 became D.D. He

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 155

became a great friend of Sir John Pakington, who
married Lady Dorothy Coventry, the fifth daughter
of Thomas Coventry, Lord Keeper of the Great
Seal, who was elevated to the peerage by the title of
Baron Coventry of Aylesborough, county Worcester,
in 1628. She was known by the name of “The
good Lady Pakington,” and has been credited with
being the authoress of The Whole Duty of Man.
Although many others have had the work attributed
to them (in the Bodleian Catalogue, in Oxford, the
book is ascribed to Richard Allestree), it seems
quite likely that she may have been the real
authoress of the work, having the help of Bishop
Morley, Bishop Henchman, Dr Fell and Hammond
possibly as well, over it. Hammond gave Isaac
Barrow sufficient aid to enable him to study at Cam-
bridge and lived to see his bounty rewarded in the
early eminence of his protégé; whilst Barrow lived
to testify his gratitude in a copious Latin epitaph.
During the Civil Wars, Hammond, with other learned
men, found Westwood, in Worcestershire, a refuge
place, where he wrote many of his books. Hallam,
in his Interary History, says: “ The Paraphrase and
Annotations of Hammond on the New Testament
give a different colour to the Epistles of St Paul
from that which they display in the hands of Beza
and the other theologians of the sixteenth
century. And the name of Hammond stood so
high with the Anglican clergy, that he naturally

156 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

turned the tide of interpretation his own way.”
Hammond was Bishop-designate of Worcester, but
died before his consecration at Westwood. He
was buried at Hampton Lovett, Worcestershire,
where there is a marble monument erected to
his memory in the nave, with a long Latin
inscription.

His portrait, by an artist unknown, is in the
Hall of Magdalene College, Oxford.

CHRISTOPHER HARVEY
(1597-1663).

“The coin that is most current among mankind is flattery.”
Dean SwIrt.

He was a son of the Rev. Christopher Harvey,
or Harvie, of Bunbury, Cheshire, and was educated
at Brasenose College, Oxford. He married and

had issue. He was the author of The Synagogue

and other works. To the second edition of
The Complete Angler he prefixed commendatory
verses, and to one of the editions of The Synagogue
Walton contributed some like verses. The
beautiful poem on Common Prayer, written by
Harvey, is set out on page 14. Harvey was
buried at Clifton, in Warwickshire, of which place
he was vicar.

1 Schola Cordis is one: but it is sometimes ascribed to Quarles,

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 157

HUMPHREY HENCHMAN, BISHOP OF LONDON
(1592-1675).

“ They who have steeped their souls in prayer
Can every anguish calmly bear ;
They who have learnt to pray aright
From pain’s dark well draw up delight.”
Hovueuton.

He was the son of a citizen of London, and
was born at Barton Seagrove, in Northampton-
shire; he was educated at Christ’s College,
Cambridge, and three years after taking his B.A.
degree became a Fellow on the ‘‘ Freeman” Founda-
tion at Clare College, then Clare Hall. His grand-
mother was a near relation of the founder, one John
Freeman of Billing, in Northamptonshire. Hench-
man married a niece of John Davenant, Bishop of
Salisbury, and had issue. When Prebend of
Salisbury he arranged the escape of Charles II.
from England, after the battle of Worcester (1651).
Clarendon, in giving the account, spells his name
Hinchman, which is wrong. He suffered depriva-
tion during the rebellion. He was one of those
who attended at the Savoy Conference, and his
great learning was recognised by Baxter. In 1630
he married. It has been suggested that he was the
author of The Whole Duty of Man. Walton says
he was indebted to Henchman for some inform-
ation as to George Herbert. During the plague

158 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Henchman remained bravely at his post. He
was noted for his hospitality. He wrote the
Epitaph to Henry Hammond, which is on his
monument in Hampton Lovett Church in Worcester-
shire. Becoming Bishop of Salisbury in 1660, he
succeeded Sheldon as Bishop of London in 1668,
which see he held until his death. He died at the
Episcopal Palace in Aldersgate Street, and was
buried in Fulham Church. Portraits of him are
at Fulham and the Charterhouse, and at Lord
Clarendon’s place, Grove Park, in Herts. The last-
mentioned portrait is by Sir Peter Lely.

RICHARD HOLDSWORTH
(1590-1649).

“A brave man struggling in the storms of fate, and
greatly falling in a falling state.”

‘“What if He hath decreed that I shall first
Be try’d in humble state and things adverse,
By tribulations, injuries, insults,
Contempts, and scorns, and snares and violence.”
Mitton.

He was a son of the Vicar of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, and was born there. He was edu-
cated at St John’s College, Cambridge. <A great
dispute arose in the college whether he or a Dr
Lane should be the master, but neither was
elected. Holdsworth became Master of Emmanuel

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 159

College in 1637, and Vice-Chancellor of the Univer-
sity in 1640. Hedid not write much. Though a
staunch Royalist, he was a very moderate Church-
man, and was appointed Dean of Worcester, but
was never installed. He was dispossessed of all
his preferments, imprisoned, and so harassed that
he died soon after the execution of the king in 1649,
being deeply affected thereby (see The Monastery
and Cathedral of Worcester, by John Noake, 1866).
He was buried in St Peter’s Poor Church, Broad
Street, London, having remembered his College, St
John’s, in his will by bequeathing some books to it.
There was a dispute, however, over the bulk of
his library between the University and Emmanuel
College. The former, by paying the College a sum
of money, acquired it.

THOMAS KEN
(1637-1711).

“T will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and
will not be ashamed.”

He was educated at Winchester and at New
College, Oxford. He was a son of Thomas Ken
by his second wife Martha, daughter of John
Chaulkhill, and was born at Berkhamstead, Herts,
in July 1637. It is thought likely that his home,
on his father’s death, was at the house of Walton,
who married his half-sister Anne. In 1675 he
travelled abroad with Izaak Walton’s son, who was

160 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

then at Christ Church College, Oxford, and re-
turned more convinced than before of the errors
of the Romish Church. When at Winchester, —
Morley made him his domestic chaplain, and later |
on, that is, in January 1685, he became Bishop of |
Bath and Wells, and attended Charles II. on his |
deathbed. He opposed James II. in his en-
deavours to introduce Popery, and was one of the
seven bishops sent to the Tower. Though he was
a non-juror he refused, unlike Sancroft, to conse-
crate bishops in order to continue the Episcopal
succession among the non-jurors, who only died
out in 1805. Queen Anne granted him a pension
of £200 ayear. Ken’s Morning and Evening Hymns
are perhaps the most popular in our language.
Ken was attended in his last illness, which was
very painful, by his physician, Dr Merewether,
whose daughter married William Hawkins, grand-
son of Izaak Walton.’ Ken died a bachelor in
1711, and was buried in the Parish Church of _
Frome in Somersetshire. In his will he said: “I

die in the Holy Catholic and Apostolic faith, pro-

fessed by the whole Church before the division of

East and West; more particularly, I die in the

communion of the Church of England as it stands

1 Ken would not continue to take opium to relieve his sufferings,
and wrote :—“ Verse is the only laudanum for my pains.” He died
with the words “‘Laus Deo” trembling on his lips. The Rev. A. 8.
Wyndham Merewether (see p. 185) has Ken’s watch, seal and Greek
Testament,

2 - i. a ae aa ee
oe — a. = = ee |

ATHEDRAL

WINCHESTER C

t IN

STATU

N’s

WALTO

age

To face p

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 161

distinguished from all papal and puritan innova-
tions, and as it adheres to the doctrines of the
cross.” Ken’s house at Winchester stood in the
garden of the present Deanery. “Tradition still
points to the spot in the garden at which Ken
made his famous stand against ‘Poor Nelly,’ and
won the respect of the monarch whose wishes he
did not fear to withstand” (Historic Towns:
Winchester. By G. W. Kitchin, Dean of Winchester,
Longmans, 1890). Ken’s figure has been placed
near Walton’s on the great screen of Winchester
Cathedral.* There are two portraits of him in New
College, Oxford, and one at Wells Palace and
Winchester College, and he is one in the group of
“The Seven Bishops” in the National Portrait
Gallery. In 1885, a window to Ken was set up in
Wells Cathedral, and as mentioned in a previous
chapter, he is given a place in the window erected
to Walton’s memory in St Dunstan’s Church.

HENRY KING, BISHOP OF CHICHESTER
(1592-1669).

“ Linked sweetness long drawn out.”—-GoLpsm1TH.

He was educated at Westminster and at Christ
Church, Oxford, and was a son of John King,

1 Dr Plumptre, in his Life of Ken, claims for Walton a larger
share in the formation of Ken’s character than the biographers before
him (Plumptre) have assigned to Walton.

L

162 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Bishop of London, who died in 1621, and was
a celebrated {preacher in his day, being styled
by James I. “The King of Preachers,” and is
buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, with the one word
“Resurgam” on his gravestone. On his death a
report went about that he had died a Roman
Catholic. The son Henry King preached a
sermon at St Paul’s Cross,’ entitled “The
Scandalous Report touching the supposed
Apostasie,” exposing the falsity of the story.
King and Walton were both present with Donne
when the latter was dying. King wrote a letter
from Chichester, dated the 17th of November
1664, to Walton, commencing ‘“‘ Honest Isaac,” ”
in which he stated that their friendship had
existed for more than forty years, and which,
after giving him certain information about
Hooker, ends thus: ‘‘One who heartily wishes
your happiness, and is unfeignedly, Sir, your
ever faithful and Affectionate old Friend, Henry ~
Chichester.” King wrote an elegy “Upon the

1 Stowe says that there was a pulpit cross of timber, mounted
upon steps of stone, and covered with lead, in which sermons were
preached by learned divines every Sunday in the forenoon, when the
Court and the Magistrates of the City, besides a vast concourse of
people, usually attended.

It was at St Paul’s Cross that, in the beginning of the Reformation,
the Rood of Grace, whose eyes and lips were moved with wires, was
exposed to the view of the people and destroyed by them.

2 In using the word “ Honest” the writer possibly remembered the

force of the Latin word “honestus,” and may have wished to imply
that Walton possessed a fine character as well as a magnetic one,

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 163

death of my ever-desired friend Doctor Donne,
Dean of St Paul’s.” Like his father, King gained
great celebrity by his preaching. He was a Low
Churchman. He died at Chichester and was
buried there, where there is a monument to his
memory. There is a portrait of King at Christ
Church College, Oxford.

ABRAHAM MARKLAND
(1645-1728).

‘¢We cannot all be Masters.” SHAKESPEARE,

He was a son of Michael Markland, a druggist,
and was born in London. After being sent to
Merchant Taylors’ School, he proceeded to St
John’s College, Oxford, where he became a Fellow
in 1662, and was ordained, and successively held
various livings in Hampshire, becoming a prebend
of Winchester, and, in the year 1692, D.D. In
1694 he was appointed Master of St Cross
Hospital, Winchester, which post he held till
his death. He was married twice and had issue—
one child by each wife. He published some poems
and sermons. He was one of the three witnesses
to the will of Walton. James Heywood Markland,
the learned antiquary, who died in 1864, was one
of his descendants, and published a Life of
Bishop Ken.

164 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

GEORGE MORLEY, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
(1597-1684).

“What I planned, I did; what I desired to be, I was;

what was in me I taught.”

He was a son of Francis Morley, and was
born in Cheapside, London, and was educated
at Westminster School, and at Christ Church,
Oxford. In 1641 he was made a Canon of Christ
Church, the only appointment he said he ever
desired. He became one of Jonson's “sons.”
Charles I. appointed him to be one of his
chaplains. In 1642 he preached one of his
sermons before the House of Commons, but he
was not ordered to print it according to the usual
custom. He was a Calvinist, and zealous against
Popery. Innocently asked “ what the Armenians
held,” he answered pleasantly, “that they held
all the best bishoprics and deaneries in England.”
He passed some years abroad. In 1660 he was
appointed Dean of Christ Church and Bishop
of Worcester, but after two years he was, on
Dr Duppa’s death, translated to Winchester. In
1660 Morley preached the Coronation sermon
(from Proverbs xxviii. 2). ‘The sermon was
very long and was intended to show the evils of
a multitude of rulers, and especially of an un-
natural, unreasonable, insolent and _ tyrannical

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 165

democracy.” ' His generosity was so well known
that when the king gave him the Bishopric of
Winchester he said that ‘Morley would never
be the richer for it.” “‘ He restored Farnham Castle
at his own expense and built and endowed the
College of Matrons,” says Dean Kitchin—“ a home
for the widows of the clergy of the diocese of
Winchester. This is among the proofs that after
the Restoration the position and needs of a
married clergy were much more distinctly re-
garded than they had been before that time”
(Mistoric Towns: Winchester). Morley was not
at all acceptable to Laud’s party, as he was very
tolerant of, and charitable to, many of the Non-
conformists. It is supposed that Walton and his
second wife were on a visit to Morley at Worcester
when she died there. From a study of his life it
is difficult to see what he and Walton could have
had in common, although he writes he had had the
advantage of forty years’ friendship with him. In
1683 Morley published a book in vindication of
himself from “divers false, scandalous and in-
jurious reflections” made upon him by Richard
Baxter, who, according to his opinion, was the
most fluent and chief speaker at the Savoy
Conference. Walton tells us he was introduced
by Morley to Sanderson, Hammond and Chilling-
worth. He died at Farnham Castle on the 29th of
1 See Wotes and Queries, 9th 8. XI., p. 502.

166 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

October 1684, and was buried in Winchester
Cathedral. There is a portrait of him there, and
there is a portrait of him also in the National
Portrait Gallery, drawn in coloured chalks on
grey paper by E. Lutterel, which was presented to
the Gallery in 1877. The Cathedral library at
Winchester owes its origin to a bequest made
in Morley’s will.

THOMAS MORTON, BISHOP OF DURHAM
(1564-1659).

* All his prospects brightening to the last
His heaven commences ere the world be past.”
GOLDSMITH.

He was one of the nineteen children of Richard
Morton, an Alderman of York, and was born in
Berkshire and educated at St John’s College,
Cambridge. In 1614 he erected Casaubon’s tomb in
Westminster Abbey at his own expense. In 1602,
when the plague raged in York, Morton visited
many of the poor who had booths erected on a
moor near the city, and ministered to them and
helped to provide for their wants. He befriended
Donne, and once gave him a sum of money, saying :
“Take this, gold is restorative ;” to which Donne
replied: “I doubt I shall never restore it back
again.” Before becoming Bishop of Durham he
was successively Dean of Winchester, Peterborough

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 167

and York, and Bishop of Chester and Lichfield.
He was very generous and judicious in dispensing
his princely revenues as befitted the noble pur-
poses for which the See of Durham was founded
and endowed, was an active administrator, and
partly drew up King James’s_ Declaration,
commonly called The Book of Sports. He was a
strong Broad Churchman and a great Protestant,
writing much against Popery. He died a bachelor
at Easton-Mauduit, near Northampton, and was
buried in the Yelverton Chapel of the Parish
Church, his funeral sermon being preached by
Dr John Barwick, afterwards Dean of St Paul’s
Cathedral. His portrait is in the Hall of St
John’s College, Cambridge, at Christ Church,
Oxford, and at the Castle at Bishop Auckland,
Durham. By his will he bequeathed his chalice
to All Saints’ Church in York, and ten pounds to
the poor of the parish where he died.

JOHN PEARSON, BISHOP OF CHESTER
(1613-1686).

“ Believing where we cannot prove.”
Tennyson’s In Memoriam.

“OQ mount a stalwart guard
Of answers, to oppose invading doubt,
All aids are needful, for the strife is hard.”
CoLERIDGE.

He was the son of Robert Pearson, who was

168 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

a Fellow of Queen’s College, Cambridge, Arch-
deacon of Suffolk, and Rector of Great Snoring,
Norfolk, where he was born. He was educated at
Eton, and was admitted sizar on the 10th of June
1631, at Queen’s College, but migrated the next year
as scholar to King’s College, becoming a Fellow in
1634. In 1639 he was ordained, becoming, in
1640, Prebend of Salisbury and Rector of Thor-
ington, Suffolk. In 1654 he was lecturer at St
Clement's, Eastcheap, and it was there he began
a series of sermons, which were published in 1659,
as an exposition of the Creed. He dedicated
the book ‘“‘To the Right Worshipful and Well-
Beloved, The Parishioners of St Clement's, East-
cheap. Mercy unto you, and peace and love be
multiplied.” A good query was given by him to
his own question, ‘‘whether Creeds are to be
extempore: Shall we stand up and begin with
‘I believe’ at a venture?” He lives on this
standard book on the Creed, but he wrote
many other works. Bentley said the “very dust
of his writings was ‘gold.’”* In 1660 we find
him made Master of Jesus College, and in 1661
he was prominent at the Savoy Conference. In
1661, too, he became Lady Margaret’s Professor of
Divinity at Cambridge, and in April 1662 he was

1 Bishop Barry says he is especially a representative of a distinctly
Anglican Theology, at a time when, by necessity, the peculiarities of
the Anglican position had to be resolutely defined and maintained.
(Masters in English Theology. J. Murray, 1877.)

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 169

elected Master of Trinity College. In 1673 he be-
came Bishop of Chester, where he died on the 16th
of July 1686, being buried in the Cathedral. No
monument was erected to his memory until 1860.
It is uncertain whether he ever married. There is
a portrait of him at Trinity College, Cambridge, but
there is no portrait of him at Jesus, and his only
monument there is the inscription which he caused
to be placed in the chapel on the grave of his old
friend Stephen Hall, the sturdy President in 1644
(College Histories : Jesus, Cambridge, p. 122). Arch-
deacon Churton, in 1844, edited most of his works.

THOMAS PIERCE
(1622-1691).

“ Beware of entrance to a quarrel.”

Thomas Pierce, or Peirse, was a son of the
Mayor of Devizes in Wiltshire. He was educated
in Magdalene College, Oxford, and was elected a
Fellow in 1643. He became a popular preacher.
In 1661 he was elected President of his college,
but he was an Ishmael in it, and in about ten
years time resigned the post. He seems to have
been a very quarrelsome man, “‘ wanting in tact
and judgment at a time when the peculiar con-
dition of the college made these qualities absolutely
necessary.” In 1675 he became Dean of Salisbury
and came into frequent collision with his Bishop,
Seth Ward; he appears, however, to have been

170 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

very friendly with Walton. This fact tends to
show how probable it was that the latter could
get on with men with whom others found it im-
possible to remain friends. The Dean died at
North Tidworth in Wiltshire, and was buried
there, as also was his wife, by whom he had issue—
two sons. The following epitaph was composed
by him upon himself :—

‘“‘ Here lies all that was mortal, the outside, dust
and ashes of Thomas Pierce, D.D., once the
President of a College in Oxford, at first the
Rector of Brighton - cum - Membris, Canon of
Lincoln and at last Dean of Sarum; who fell
asleep in the Lord Jesus, but in hope of an awake
at the resurrection. He knew himself, and taught
others, that all the glorified saints in heaven cannot
amount to one Saviour, as all the stars in the
firmament cannot make up onesun. Therefore his
only hope and trust was in the Lord Jesus, who will
change, etc., Phil. iii. 21. ‘Disce, viator, perinde
esse, seu fragile frangi, seu mortale mori.’”

GILBERT SHELDON, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
(1598-1677).

“He served his generation.”
He was born at Stanton,’ a small village in the
Parish of Ellaston, two miles west of Mayfield in

1In the Dictionary of National Biography it is stated he was born
at Ashbourne. My authority is The History and Topography of
Ashbourne (1839).

.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 171

Derbyshire, on the 19th of July 1598. His father,
Roger Sheldon, was a menial servant to the Earl
of Shrewsbury. He was educated at Oxford, and
became a Fellow, and later on was elected Warden
of All Souls’ College. Little mention of him is
made in any biography of Walton beyond the fact
that he was a friend of his. Yet it would seem
that Walton had more in common with him than
he had with many of his friends.

He was a skilful angler for barbel, a staunch
Royalist, and a hard worker as a politician as well
as a theologian. Lord Clarendon says he was very
early looked upon as equal to any preferment the
Church could yield. At the Restoration he was
made Bishop of London, and at the Savoy Con-
ference figured prominently. On the death of
Archbishop Juxon, in 1663, be became Archbishop
of Canterbury. He remained at his post of duty
at Lambeth during the raging of the plague,
relieving many afflicted persons, and he is said
to have placed his chief point in religion in the
practice of a good life rather than in multiplied
services and the mere acts of worship. He said,
‘Let it be your principal care to be honest men,
and afterwards be as devout and religious as you
will. No piety will be of any advantage to your-
selves or anybody else unless you are honest and
moral men.” He was noted for his amiable
temper and his great generosity. He urged

172 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Walton to write Hooker’s Infe to correct the errors
of that by Bishop Gauden, which had come out
in 1662. Cotton dedicated his translation of
Gerard's History of the Infe of the Duke of
Espernon to Sheldon. Sheldon founded the
theatre at Oxford, and was very active over the
rebuilding of St Paul’s Cathedral. His chief
defect would appear to have been his severity
against Dissenters.

He died a bachelor at Lambeth, and was buried
under a “stately monument” at Croydon. There
is a portrait of him at All Souls’ College, Oxford,
by an artist unknown.

JAMES SHIRLEY
(1596-1666).

‘Mark what ills the scholar’s life assail ;
Toil, envy, want, the patron and the jail.”

“Shirley, the morning-child, the Muses bred,
And sent him born with bays upon his head.”

He was born in London and educated at
Merchant Taylors’ School, London, and took his
degree from St Catharine’s College, then Hall,
Cambridge, having previously been at St John’s
College, Oxford. He was ordained, but sub-
sequently became a Roman Catholic and a very

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 173

devoted one. He wrote many plays, some of
which were written in conjunction with his fellow-
dramatists, and published some poems. Hallam
says he had no originality, no force in conceiving
or delineating character, little of pathos, and less,
perhaps, of wit. This great authority admits his
mind “‘ was poetical, his better characters, especially
females, express pure thoughts in pure language.”
From time to time he appears to have been a school-
master. He married twice and had a family.
He was saved, it is said, from the workhouse by
the kindness of Thomas Stanley, the author of the
History of Philosophy, who survived him. On his
return from a lengthened stay in Ireland he resided
in Fleet Street, near to the Temple. Being driven
from there by the great fire, he and his wife found
an asylum in some lodgings in St Giles-in-the-
Fields.

The destruction of their home, however, com-
bined with the awful scene of which they had been
witnesses, seems to have been more than their
constitutions could endure. Shirley survived his
flight, some authorities inform us, scarcely twenty-
four hours, and the same day died his inconsolable
wife. Their remains were interred in the same
grave in St Giles’s churchyard,’ which contains
the bodies of various celebrities. There is a
portrait of Shirley in the Bodleian Library.

1Wood’s Athene Oxonienses.

174 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

RICHARD SIBBES
(1577-1635).

“They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as

the stars for ever and ever.”

He appears to have been born in Suffolk, and
was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge.
He was “converted” by the preaching of Paul
Bayne, a Puritan writer of note. He was made
preacher at Gray’s Inn, and, in 1626, Master of
St Catharine’s College, Cambridge (then Catharine
Hall), which greatly flourished under his rule.
His best known books are Zhe Bruised Reed,
The Soul’s Conflict, and The Returning Backslider.
The first book is said to have converted Richard
Baxter. When at Cambridge Sibbes preached
often at St Mary’s Church and appears to have had
great influence in the pulpit, his hearers, it is said,
with probable truth, including Milton. Walton in
his will specifically bequeathed copies of the two
first-mentioned books, desiring the legatees to read
them so as to be well acquainted with them. In
Walton’s copy of the last-mentioned book he wrote
his famous couplet :—

“Of this blest man let this just praise be given,
Heaven was in him before he was in Heaven.”

This book is, with two other books by Sibbes, in
the Cathedral Library at Salisbury. Sibbes died at

IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS 175

Gray’s Inn in 1635, having, it is believed by some,
bequeathed to St John’s College a large number
of volumes from his library, which, however, cannot
be ear-marked as his, if he really did make the
bequest.

JAMES USSHER, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH

(1581-1656).

‘Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel.”

These words Ussher had engraved as his motto on the
Episcopal seals at Meath and at Armagh.

He was born in the Parish of St Nicholas,
Dublin. His uncle, Henry Ussher, Archbishop of
Armagh, sent him to Trinity College, Dublin, to be
educated. Dr Johnson refers to that “great
luminary of the Irish Church,” and he has been
called “learned to a miracle.” He carried on a
book-war with Milton, and became Bishop of
Meath, and later on Bishop of Carlisle, before
being appointed Archbishop of Armagh and
Primate of all Ireland.* He witnessed, from a
neighbouring housetop, the last moments of Charles
the First on the scaffold, from the effects of which he
never recovered. He died rather suddenly at

1“ His Augustinian theology commended him to the Puritans, his
veneration for antiquity to the High Churchmen.” Ussher visited
England many times to live, as he termed it, “among the libraries,”
“hiving wisdom with each studious year.” His Protestantism was
“out and out.”

a

176 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Reigate in Surrey ; his last words were : ‘Oh, Lord
forgive me, especially my sins of omission.” A
public funeral was given, in Westminster Abbey,
to this great and learned man, Cromwell contribut-
ing £200 towards the expenses. The liturgical
service was heard there on that occasion for the
only time during the Commonwealth. He married
an heiress, and had issue—one daughter. No
monument was ever erected to him in the Abbey.
There is a portrait of him in the National Portrait
Gallery by Sir Peter Lely, it having been trans-
ferred there in 1879 from the British Museum, and
there is also one at Trinity College, Dublin. His
portrait was ordered to be prefixed to his edition
of the Epistles of Ignatius by the University of
Oxford. (See, on the subject of his portraits,
Notes and Queries, 9th 8. VII., p. 195.) Ussher’s
library was bought by the State and placed, in 1661,
in Trinity College, Dublin.

SETH WARD, BISHOP OF SALISBURY
(1617-1689).
«¢ An undevout astronomer is mad.”—YOuNG.

“Tis death to me to be at enmity, I hate it, and desire
all good men’s love.” Richard III.

|
He was born at Aspenden, or, some will have _
it, at Buntingford, Herts, and educated at Sidney ,
|

}

|

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 177

Sussex College at Cambridge, proceeding B.A. in
1636, and M.A. in 1640. He became a Fellow, but
was, with four others, ejected in 1644. He refused
to subscribe to the Solemn League and Covenant.
Going to Oxford he became Savilian Professor of
Astronomy and President of Trinity College.’
Later on he became Bishop of Exeter, and in
1667 was translated to Salisbury. Walton’s son,
the Canon, at one time was chaplain to Ward.
Ward was one of the original members of the
Royal Society. He was active against Dis-
senters but kind to many of them individually.
He was much given to hospitality. His sermons
were “strong, methodical, and clear.” Ward’s
peace was much disturbed by the Dean, Dr Pierce,
who was a quarrelsome man. Ward died at
Knightsbridge, and was buried in Salisbury
Cathedral. There is a portrait of him in the
Town Hall of Salisbury, and in 1881 the Trustees of
the National Portrait Gallery purchased a portrait,
which is described in their catalogue as “drawn
and engraved from the life in 1678 by David
Laggan.” In the Infe of the Right Reverend Seth,
Lord Bishop of Salisbury, by Dr W. Hope, 1697,
the writer says :—

‘Tho’ I am conscious that I have not enumerated
all his Benefactions yet will I conclude this

1 In 1657 he was elected principal of Jesus College, Oxford, but

was ejected by Cromwell.
M

178 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

chapter with his Erecting of four Scholarships at
Christ’s College in Cambridge, and endowing them
with ten pound per annum, which in that
University is a considerable allowance, the scholar-
ships there being generally inferior to those at
Oxford, as the Fellowships better. He had desired
to have placed this his Benefaction at Sidney
College, but upon some disgust altered his
intention, tho’ it is not improbable but that that
College might refuse his proffer upon very good
reasons : For at Oxford no College will accept a
Benefaction which only increases the number of
Fellows, or Scholars, for thereby the Society is
rather injured, than profited, unless the Bene-
factor also builds Chambers for their reception,
for taking away so many Chambers, takes away
from the Fellows so many pupils, but on the
contrary, a Benefactor who will increase the
stipends of the members of the Society, will always
be very gratefully embraced.”

SAMUEL WOODFORD
(1636-1700).

“On the choice of friends
Our good or evil name depends.’”’—Gay.

He was born in London, and educated at St
Paul’s School, and at Wadham College, Oxford.

t

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 179

He read for the Bar, but was in 1669 ordained by
Bishop Morley. In 1670 he wrote some compli-
mentary verses to Walton, addressed “To his very
worthy and much honoured friend Mr Isaak
Walton upon his excellent Infe of Mr George
Herbert.” When referring to the lives of Herbert
and Donne he wrote :—

‘Herbert and Donne again are join’d,
Now here below, as they’re above.”

In 1670 he wrote some verses upon Hooker's
Infe by Walton, and he also wrote a sonnet to
Seth Ward. He composed a Paraphrase on the
Psalms and made many translations. In 1676
we find him Canon of Chichester. The next year
Archbishop Sancroft conferred upon him the
degree of D.D. by diploma. In 1680 he was ap-
pointed Canon of Winchester. He married and
had issue, his youngest son becoming a Fellow of
New College, Oxford, and Regius Professor of
Medicine in the University. The Canon died at
Winchester.

There were many more ecclesiastical friends
of Walton besides those already mentioned.
Among others may be named the Rev.
Thomas Weaver, the Rev. Edward Powel, the
Rev. Henry Bayley or Bagley, Dr Honiwood,

180 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Dean of Lincoln, the Rev. Dr John Price and the
Rev. Joseph Pullen.’

* Oh bring us back once more
The vanished days of yore,
When the world with Faith was filled!
Bring back the fervid zeal,
The hearts of fire and steel,
The hands that believe and build.”
LONGFELLOW.

1 I merely infer that Dr Honiwood and Joseph Pullen were friends
of Walton from the fact that Walton wrote their names in presenta-
tion copies of his books (see catalogue of the Ashburnham Library,
1898).

CHAPTER XIIl

COPY OF WALTON’S WILL
August the ninth, one thousand six hundred eighty-three.

IN THE NAME OF Gop, AMEN, I, IzAAK WALTON, the
elder of Winchester, being this present day, in the
ninetyeth year of my age, and in perfect memory,
for which praised be God; but considering how
suddainly I may be deprived of both, do therefore
make this my last Will and Testament as
followeth: And first, I do declare my belief to
be, that there is only one God, who hath made
the whole world, and me, and all mankind; to
whom I shall give an account of all my actions,
which are not to be justified, but I hope pardoned,
for the merits of my Saviour Jesus. And because
the profession of Christianity does, at this time,
seem to be subdivided into Papist and Protestante,
I take it, at least, to be convenient, to declare my
belief to be, in all points of faith, as the Church
of England now professeth: and this I do the
rather, because of a very long and very true
friendship with some of the Roman Church. And

for my worldly estate (which I have neither got
181

182 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

by falsehood or flattery, or the extreme cruelty
of the law of this nation), I do hereby give and
bequeath it as followeth: First, I give my son-in-
law, Doctor Hawkins, and to HIS WIFE; to them
I give all my title and right of or in a part of
a house and shop in Pater-noster row, in London,
which I hold by lease from the lord bishop of
London for about fifty years to come. And I
do also give to them all my right and title of
or to a house in Chancery-lane, London, wherein
Mrs Greinwood now dwelleth, in which is now
about sixteen years to come: I give these two
leases to them, they saving my executor from all
damage concerning the same. And I give to my
son Izaak all my right and title to a lease of
Norington farme, which I hold from the lord
bishop of Winton: And I do also give him all
my right and title to a farme or land near to
Stafford, which I bought of Mr Walter Noell;
I say, I give it to him and his heirs for ever;
but upon the condition following, namely; if my
son shall not marry before he shall be of age of
forty and one years, or being married, shall dye
before the said age, and leave no son to inherit
the said farme or land,—or if his son or sons
shall not live to attain the age of twenty and
one years to dispose otherways of it,—then I
give the said farme or land to the towne or
corporation of STAFFORD in which I was borne,

|
|

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 183

for the good and benefit of some of the said
towne, as I shall direct, and as followeth: (but
first note, that it is at this present time rented
for twenty-one pound ten shillings a year, and
is like to hold the said rent, if care be taken
to keep the barn and housing in repair;) and
I would have, and do give ten pound of the said
rent, to bind out, yearly, two boys, the sons of
honest and poor parents, to be apprentices to
some tradesmen or handycraft-men, to the intent
the said boys may the better afterward get their
own living. And I do also give five pound yearly
out of the said rent, to be given to some maid-
servant, that hath attained the age of twenty and
one years, not less, and dwelt long in one service,
or to some honest poor man’s daughter, that hath
attained to that age, to be paid her at or on the
day of her marriage ; and this being done, my will
is, that what rent shall remain of the said farme or
land, shall be disposed of as followeth: first I do
give twenty shillings yearly, to be spent by the
major of Stafford and those that shall collect the
said rent and dispose of it as I have and shall
hereafter direct; and that what money or rent
shall remain undisposed of, shall be imployed to
buy coals for some poor people, that shall most
need them, in the said towne; the said coals to be
delivered the first weeke in January, or in every
first week in February; I say then, because I

184 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

take that time to be the hardest and most pinch-
ing times with poor people; and God reward
those that shall do this without partiality, and
with honesty, and a good conscience. And if the
said major and others of the said towne of
STAFFORD shali prove so negligent, or dishonest,
as not to imploy the rent by me given as intended
and exprest in this my will, which God forbid,—then
I give the said rents and profits of the said farme
or land to the towne, and chief magistrates or
governors, of ECLESHALL, to be disposed of by them
in such manner as I have ordered the disposal of
it by the towne of Stafford, the said farme or land
being near the towne of Ecleshall. And I give to
my son-in-law, Dr Hawkins, whom I love as my
own son ; and to My DAUGHTER, HIS WIFE; and my
son Izaak; to each of them a ring, with these
words or motto; “Love my memory, I. W.,
obiet” ;* to the Lord Bishop of Winton, a ring with
this motto; ‘‘A mite for a million, I. W., obiet”;
and to the friends hereafter named, I give to each
of them a ring with this motto, “A friend’s fare-
well, I. W., obiet.” And my will is, the said rings
be delivered within forty days after my death ; and
that price of the value of all the said rings shall be
thirteen shillings and fourpence a piece. I give
to Dr Hawkins Doctor Donne’s Sermons, which
I have heard preacht,’ and read with much con-
1 So spelt in the Will.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 185

tent. To my son Izaak, I give Doctor Sibbs His
Soul’s Conflict; and to My DAuGuTeR his Bruised
Reed, desiring them to read them so as to be well
acquainted with them. And I also give unto HER
all my books at Winchester and Droxford, and
whatever in those two places are, or I can call
mine, except a trunk of linen, which I give to my
son [zAAk: but if he do not live to marry, or make
use of it, then I give the same to my grand-
daughter, AnnE Hawkins. And I give My
DavuGHTER Doctor Hall’s Works, which be now at
Farnham. To my son IzAax I give all my books
not yet given, at Farnham Castell; and a deske
of prints and pictures; also a cabinett near my
bed’s head, in which are some little things that he
will value, though of no great worth. And my
will and desire is, that he will be kind to his aunt
BEACHAME, and his aunt Ross Ken ; by allowing the
first about fifty shillings a year, in or for bacon
and cheese, not more, and paying four pounds a
year towards the boarding of her son’s dyet to
Mr John Whitehead: for his aunt Ken, I desire
him to be kind to her according to her necessity
and his own abilitie; and I commend one of her
children, to breed up as I have said I intend to do,
if he shall be able to do it, as I know he will; for
they be good folke. I give to Mr Jonn Darpy-
SHIRE the Sermons of Mr Anthony Farringdon, or
of Dr Sanderson, which, my executor thinks fit.

-

186 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

To my servant, Thomas Edgill, I give five pounds
in money, and all my cloths, linen and woolen,
except one suit of cloths, which I give to Mr
Ho.LInsHED, and forty shillings if the said Thomas
be my servant at my death; if not, my cloths only.
And I give my old friend Mr Ricnarp Marriot,
ten pounds in money, to be paid him within three
months after my death; and I desire my son to
shew kindness to him if he shall neede, and my
son can spare it. And I do hereby will and
declare my son IzAAK to be my sole executor of
this my last will and testament; and Doctor
Hawkins, to see that he performs it; which |
doubt not but he will. I desire my burial may
be near the place of my death, and free from any
ostentation or charge, but privately. This I make
to be my last will (to which I shall only add the
codicil for rings), this sixteenth day of August, one
thousand six hundred eighty-three, IzAAK WALTON,
Witness to this will.

The rings I give, are as on the other side. To
my brother John Ken; to my Sister his wife;
to my brother, Doctor Ken; to my sister Pye;
to Mr Francis Morley; to Mr George Vernon ; to
his wife; to his three daughters; to Mistris
Nelson; to Mr Richard Walton; to Mr Palmer;
to Mr Taylor; to Mr Thomas Garrard; to the
Lord Bishop of Sarum; to Mr Rede, his servant ;
to my cousin Dorothy Kenrick; to my cousin

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 187

Lewin; to Mr Walter Higgs; to Mr Charles
Cotton; to Mr Richard Marryot; 22. To my
brother Beacham; to my sister his wife; to the
lady Anne How; to Mrs King; Doctor Phillips's
wife; to Mr Valentine Harecourt; to Mrs Eliza
Johnson; to Mrs Mary Rogers; to Mrs Eliza
Milward; to Mrs Dorothy Wollop; to Mr Will
Milward, of Christ-church, Oxford; to Mr John
Darbyshire; to Mrs Undevill; to Mrs Rock;
to Mr Peter White; to Mr John Lloyde; to
my cousin Greinsells Widow; Mrs Dalbin
must not be forgotten, 16. IzaaxK Watton, Note,
that several lines are blotted out of this will, for
they were twice repeated,—and that this will is
now signed and sealed this twenty and fourth day
of October, one thousand six hundred eighty-three
in the presence of us: Witness ABRAHAM
MARKLAND, Jos. TAYLOR, THOMAS CRAWLEY.

CELA PT ER: Xi.
A SHORT NOTE ON WALTON’S FAMILY

It has already been shown that all Walton’s
children by his first marriage died in infancy. Of
the issue by his second marriage, the elder son
Isaak was born and baptised on the 10th of
February 1649, and died the following June.

The younger son Isaak was baptised on the 7th
of September 1651, and was educated at Christ
Church College, Oxford. He became B.A. in 1672
and M.A. in 1675, and travelled abroad with Ken.
He was Rector of Poulshot, Wilts, and Canon of
Salisbury. The Canon refers in his will to his
“many and grievous sins,” and to his “ unprofit-
able life.” We know, however, that he is said to
have been ‘a very pious, sober, learned, inoffen-
sive, charitable, good man” (see Notes and Queries,
ist S. [X., p. 397). His estimate of his own char-
acter seems worthless. Sir Harris Nicolas thinks
that the allusion originated in extreme humility,
I think it arose from ill health.

The will states that the testator lived at

present, and intended through God’s grace to
188

Yy Ex ferris

pal re lyeth buryed, soe much aS Bey ae 4
mw ould dye, of ANNE the wile of f er
4 IZAAK WALTON

Ww h oO Was,

14

f A woman: of remarkeable-prudenee
; and, of the Primitive Piety , oe ereat

’ 4 : ;
and general knowledge, being adornd |
with such. true Humility, and blest i
with soe much Chirifivan meckenefse,as EN
mace her worthy of amore memorable ff
Monument.

She dyed (Alas that she 1s dead’)
the 17" of April iGG2 Aged 52

Sludy to be like her.

ANNE WALTON’S TOMBSTONE IN WORCESTER CATHEDRAL

To face page 188.

,
’
-

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 189

die in the communion of the Church of England
as it is at present by law established. Being
according to the best measure of his understand-
ing fully satisfied that she has reformed herself
with that sound judgment and godly sincerity as
to be the soundest and purest part of the Church
Catholic.

The Canon died a bachelor in London on the 29th
of December 1719, and thereupon Walton’s male
issue became extinct. His will was proved on the
14th of November 1720, and is sealed with a seal
bearing Donne’s characteristic device. He was
buried at Salisbury.

Anne, the daughter, married in 1676 Dr William
Hawkins, Prebendary of Winchester Cathedral,
who died on the 17th of July 1691, aged 58.
Anne Hawkins died on the 18th of August 1715,
leaving male issue, and was buried with her
husband in Winchester Cathedral.

CHAPTER XV

SELECTIONS FROM THE POETICAL WORKS OF WALTON,
COTTON, DONNE, HERBERT, WOTTON AND DUPORT

In this chapter the reader will find selections from
the poetry of Walton, Cotton, Donne, Wotton and
Herbert, and the Latin verses by Duport, which
are to be found in many editions of Zhe Complete
Angler. In supplementing these verses by a
translation into English, I have taken a course the
utility of which will, I hope, be accepted as
sufficient apology for its novelty.

(4) SOME OF WALTON’S VERSES, ETC.
AN ELEGIE Upon Dr DONNE
(1633).

Our Donne is dead; England should mourne, may
say

We had a man where language chose to stay

And shew her gracefull power. I would not praise

That and his vast wit (which in these vaine dayes

Make many proud) but, as they serv’d to unlock

That Cabinet, his minde: where such a stock
190

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS IQI

Of knowledge was repos’d, as all lament
(Or should) this generall cause of discontent.
And I rejoyce I am not so severe,
But (as I write a line) to weep a teare
For his decease; such sad extremities
May make such men as I write Elegies.
And wonder not; for, when a generall losse
Falls on a nation, and they slight the crosse,
God hath rais’d Prophets to awaken them
From stupifaction ; witnesse my milde pen,
Not us'd to upbraid the world, though now it
must
Freely and boldly, for the cause is just.
Dull age, Oh I would spare thee, but th’ art
worse,
Thou art not onely dull, but hast a curse
Of black ingratitude ; if not, could’st thou
Part with miraculous Donne, and make no vow
For thee, and thine, successively to pay
A sad remembrance to his dying day ?
Did his youth scatter Poetry, wherein
Was all Philosophy? was every sinne,
Character’d in his Satyrs? Made so foule
That some have fear’d their shapes, and kept their
soule
Safer by reading verse? Did he give dayes
Past marble monuments, to those, whose praise
He would perpetuate? Did he (I feare
The dull will doubt): these at his twentieth year ?

192 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

But, more matur’d; did his full soule con-
ceive,

And in harmonious-holy-numbers weave
A Crown of sacred sonnets, fit to adorne
A dying Martyrs brow: or, to be worne
On that blest head of Mary Magdalen.
After she wip’d Christ’s feet, but not till then ?
Did hee (fit for such penitents as shee
And he to use) leave us a Litany,
Which all devout men love, and sure, it shall,
As times grow better, grow more classicall ?
Did he write Hymnes, for piety, for wit,
Equall to those, great grave Prudentius writ ?
Spake he all Languages? knew he all Lawes?
The grounds and use of Physick; but because
"Twas mercenary, waived it? Went to see
That blessed place of Christ’s nativity ? |
Did he return and preach him? preach him so |
As since S. Paul none did, none could? Those know,
(Such as were blest to heare him this is truth. ;
Did he confirm thy aged? convert thy youth ? :
Did he these wonders? And is this deare losse ;
Mourn’d by so few? (few for so great a crosse).

But sure the silent are ambitious all
To be Close Mourners at his Funerall ; |
If not ; in common pity they forbear |
By repetitions to renew our care ; :
Or, knowing, griefe conceiv’d conceal’d, consumes
Man irreparably (as poison’s fumes

|

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 193

Doe waste the braine) make silence a safe way,
To inlarge the Soule from these walls, mud and
clay,
(Materials of this body) to remaine
With Donne in heaven, where no promiscuous pain
Lessens the joy we have, for, with him, all
Are satisfy’d with joyes essentiall.
Dwell on this joy my thoughts ; oh, doe not
call
Griefe back, by thinking of his Funeral ;
Forget hee lov’'d mee; waste not my sad yeares ;
(Which haste to Davids seventy), fill’d with feares
And sorrow for his death ; Forget his parts,
Which find a living grave in good men’s hearts ;
And (for, my first is dayly payd for sinne)
Forget to pay my second sigh for him:
Forget his powerfull preaching ; and forget
I am his Convert. Oh my frailty! let
My flesh be no more heard, it will obtrude
This lethargy : so should my gratitude,
My vows of gratitude should so be broke ;
Which can no more be, than Donnes vertues spoke
By any but himself; for which cause, I
Write no Encomium, but this Elegie,
Which, as a free-will-offring, I here give
Fame, and the world, and parting with it grieve
I want abilities, fit to set forth
A monument, great, as Donnes matchless worth.

Iz. Wa.
N

194 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS
ee
LINES ENGRAVED UNDER A PorRTRAIT OF DONNE
TAKEN IN HIS EIGHTEENTH YEAR

Tus was for youth, Strength, Mirth and
Wit that Time
Most count their golden Age; but
"Twas not thine.
Thine was thy later yeares, so much refind
From youths Drosse, Mirth and wit; as thy pure
mind
Thought (like the Angels) nothing but the Praise
Of thy Creator, in those last, best Dayes.
Witness this Booke (thy Embleme) which begins
With Love, but endes, with Sighes, and Teares for
sinnes. Iz. WA.

IN PRAISE OF MY FRIEND THE AUTHOR, AND HIS
Booxke’

Ir thou would’st be a Statesman, and survey
Kingdoms for information ; heres a way
Made plaine, and easie ; fitter far for thee
That great Ortelius his Geographie.

If thou would’st be a Gentleman, in more
Than title onely ; this Map yeelds thee store

1 Verses prefixed to The Merchants’ Map of Commerce, by Lewes
Roberts, merchant (1638).

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 195

Of Observations, fit for Ornament,
Or use, or to give curious eares content.

If thou would’st be a Merchant, buy this Booke :
For ‘tis a prize worth gold; and doe not looke
Daily for such disbursements ; no, ’tis rare,

And shall be cast up with thy richest ware.

Reader, if thou be any, or all three ;

(For these may meet and make a harmonie)

Then praise the Author for his usefull paines,

Whose aime is public good, not private gaines.
Iz. Wa.

ON THE DEATH OF MY DEAR FRIEND, MR
WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT
(1651).

I cannot keep my purpose, but must give

Sorrow and Verse their way; nor will I grieve

Longer in silence; no, that poor, poor part

Of natures legacy, Verse void of Art,

And undissembled tears, Cartwright shall have

Fixt on his Hearse ; and wept into his grave.

Muses I need you not; for, Grief and I

Can in your absence weave an elegy :

Which we will do; and often inter-weave

Sad Looks, and Sighs; the ground-work must
receive

Such Characters, or be adjudg’d unfit

For my Friend’sshroud; others have shew’d their Wit,

196 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Learning, and Language fitly ; for these be
Debts due to his great Merits, but for me,

My aymes are like myself, humble and low

Too mean to speak his praise, too mean to show
The World what it hath lost in losing thee,
Whose Words and Deeds were perfect Harmony.

But now ’tis lost, lost in the silent grave
Lost to us mortals, lost, ’till we shall have
Admission to that Kingdom, where He sings
Harmonious Anthems to the King of Kings.

Sing on, blest Soul! be as thou wast below,
A more than common instrument to show
Thy Makers praise; sing on, whilst I lament
Thy loss, and court a holy discontent,
With such pure thoughts as thine to dwell with me,
Then I may hope to live, and dye like thee,
To live belov’d, dye mourn’d, thus in my grave,
Blessings that Kings have wish’d but cannot have.

Iz, Wa. @

To tHE AUTHOR UPON THE SIGHT OF THE FIRST
SHEET OF HIS Book

(1652).
My worthy friend, I am much pleas’d to know,
You have begun to pay the debt you owe

By promise, to so many pious friends,
In printing your choice Poems ; it commends

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 197

Both them, and you, that they have been desir’d
By persons of such Judgment ; and admir’d
They must be most, by those that best shall know
What praise to holy Poetry we owe.

So shall your Disquisitions too; for, there
Choice learning, and blest piety, appear.
All usefull to poor Christians : where they may
Learne Primitive Devotion. Each Saint’s day
Stands as a Land-mark in an erring age
To guide fraile mortals in their pilgrimage,
To the Ccelestiall Can’an ; and each Fast,
Is both the soul’s direction, and repast :

All so exprest, that I am glad to know
You have begun to pay the debt you owe.’

Iz, Wa.

To my ingenious friend, Mr Brome, on his various and
excellent Poems :

AN HUMBLE EGLOG?
Written on the 29th of May, 1660.

DAMON AND Dorvs
Damon.

Haru happy day! Dorus, sit down :
Now let no sigh, nor let a frown

1 These verses appeared in the first edition of Scintillula Altaris; or
A Pious Reflection on Primitive Devotion: as to the Feasts and Fasts of
the Christian Church. Orthodoxally Revived. By Edward Sparke, B.D.,
London, 1652.

? From Songs and Poems. By Alex. Brome, Gent, 1661.

198

IZAAK WALTON AND AIS FRIENDS

Lodge near thy heart, or on thy brow.
The King! the King’s return’d! and now
Let's banish all sad thoughts, and sing
We have our Laws, and have our King.

Dorus.

"Tis true, and I would sing, but oh!
These wars have shrunk my heart so low,
Twill not be rais’d.

Damon.

What, not this day ?

Why, ’tis the twenty-ninth of May:
Let Rebels’ spirits sink : let those
That, like the Goths and Vandals, rose
To ruine families, and bring

Contempt upon our Church, our King,
And all that’s dear to us, be sad ;

But be not thou; let us be glad.

And Dorus, to invite thee, look,

Here’s a collection in this book

Of all those cheerful songs, that we
Have sung with mirth and merry-glee ;
As we have march’d to fight the cause
Of God’s anointed, and our laws:
Such songs as make not the least odds
Betwixt us mortals and the Gods:
Such songs as Virgins need not fear
To sing, or a grave matron hear.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 199

Here’s love drest neat, and chaste, and gay,
As gardens in the month of May ;

Here's harmony, and wit, and art,

To raise thy thoughts and cheer thy heart.

Dorus.

Written by whom ?

Damon.

A Friend of mine,

And one that’s worthy to be thine :

A civil swain, that knows his times

For businesse, and that done, makes rhymes,
But not till then: my Friend’s a man

Lov’d by the Muses ; dear to Pan;

He blest him with a cheerful heart,

And they with this sharp wit and art,

Which he so tempers, as no swain

That’s loyal, does or should complain.

Dorus.

I would fain see him.

Damon.
Go with me,
Dorus, to yonder broad beech-tree,
There we shall meet him and Phillis,
Perigot, and Amaryllis,

200 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Tityrus, and his dear Chlora,
Tom and Will, and their Pastora:
There we'll dance, shake hands, and sing
We have our Laws,
God bless the King.
Iz. WALTON.

To my REVEREND FRIEND THE AUTHOR OF
“THE SYNAGOGUE ”’*
(1661).
Sir,
I lov’d you for your Synagogue, before
I knew your person; but now love you more ;
Because I find
It is so true a picture of your mind ;
Which tunes your sacred lyre
To that eternal quire
Where holy Herbert sits
(O shame to prophane wits)
And sings his and your Anthems, to the praise
Of Him that is the first and last of daies.

These holy Hymns had an Ethereal birth:
For they can raise sad souls above the earth,
And fix them there,
1 The Synagogue; or, the Shadow of the Temple. Sacred poems

and private ejaculations in imitation of Mr George Herbert. See
Notes and Queries, 8th 8, VIL., pp. 326 and 479.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 201

Free from the world’s anxieties and fear.
Herbert and you have pow’r
To do this: evry hour
I read you kills a sin,
Or lets a vertue in
To fight against it; and the Holy Ghost
Supports my frailties, lest the day be lost.

This holy war, taught by your happy pen,
The Prince of Peace approves. When we poor men
Neglect our arms,
W’ are circumvested with a world of harms.
But I will watch and ward,
And stand upon my guard,
And still consult with you,
And Herbert, and renew
My vows, and say, Well fare his, and your heart,
The fountains of such sacred wit and art.
Iz. Wa.

The following epitaph is supposed to have
been written by Walton on a servant of his':—

Sacred to the Memory of Davin Hooxuawy,
who died a.p. 1647, aged 63 years.

WIrTduIn this turfe, on which in life he trod,
Rests David Hookham, waiting for his God.

1See Gentleman’s Magazine for October 1830, Vol. C., Part IT.,
p. 296. The name Hookham is rather suggestive of fiction,

202 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

A peaceful, honest, faithful life he led ;

And blessed as he break his daily bread.

Simple his manners, candid was his look,

His mirror was the bright and purling brook;

And life’s clear waters as they passed on,

Reminded him how soon he should be gone.

At last his rod and angle he laid by,

And humbly dyed. May all like David dye,

And serve their Lord and Master faithfully,

As David Hookham in this world served me.—‘‘ I, W.”

(b) SOME OF COTTON’S VERSES!
CoTTon’s VERSES TO WALTON
(1672).
To my old and most worthy Friend, Mr Izaak Walton, on
his Life of Dr Donne, Ete.
WHEN to a nation’s loss, the virtuous die,
There’s justly due, from every hand and eye,
That can or write, or weep, an elegy.

Which though it be the poorest, cheapest way,
The debt we owe, great merits to defray,
Yet it is almost all that most men pay.

And these are monuments of so short date,
That, with their birth, they oft receive their fate ;
Dying with those whom they would celebrate.

And though to verse great reverence is due,
Yet what most poets write, proves so untrue,
It renders truth in verse suspected too.

1 Cotton’s Lyrical Poems have lately been edited and published by
J. R. Tutin of Cottingham, near Hull.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Something more sacred then, or more entire,
The memories of virtuous men require,

Than what may with their funeral torch expire ;

This History can give; to which alone
The privilege to mate oblivion
Is granted, when denied to brass and stone.

Wherein, my friend, you have a hand so sure,
Your truths so candid are, your style so pure,
That what you write may envy’s search endure.

Your pen, disdaining to be brib’d or prest,
Flows without vanity or interest ;
A virtue with which few good pens are blest.

How happy was my father then, to see
Those men he lov’d, by him he lov’d to be
Rescued from frailties and mortality.

Wotton and Donne, to whom his soul was knit :

Those twins of virtue, eloquence and wit,
He saw in fame’s eternal annals writ ;

Where one has fortunately found a place,
More faithful to him than his marble was:
Which eating age, nor fire, shall e’er deface.

A monument, that, as it has, shall last,
And prove a monument to that defac’d ;
Itself, but with the world not to be raz’d.

203

204 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

And even, in their flowery characters,
My father’s grave, part of your friendship shares :
For you have honour’d his in strewing theirs.

Thus, by an office, though particular,
Virtue’s whole commonweal obliged are ;
For in a virtuous act all good men share.

And by this act the world is taught to know,
That the true friendship we to merit owe
Is not discharg’d by compliment and show.

But your's is friendship of so pure a kind,
For all mean ends and interest so refined, ‘
It ought to be a pattern to mankind:

For whereas most men’s friendships here beneath,
Do perish with their friend’s expiring breath,
Yours proves a friendship living after death ;

By which the generous Wotton, reverend Donne,
Soft Herbert, and the Church’s champion,
Hooker, are rescued from oblivion.

For though they each of them his time so spent,
As rais’d unto himself a monument,
With which ambition might rest well content ;

Yet their great works, though they can never die,
And are in truth superlatively high,
Are no just scale to take their virtues by ;

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 205

Because they show not how the Almighty’s grace,
By various and more admirable ways,
Brought them to be the organs of his praise.

But what their humble modesty would hide,
And was by any other means denied,
Is by your love and diligence supplied.

W otton—a nobler soul was never bred !—
You, by your narrative’s most even thread,
Through all his labyrinths of life have led ;

Through his degrees of honour, and of arts,
Brought him secure from envy’s venom’d darts,
Which are still levell’d at the greatest parts ;

Through all the employments of his wit and spirit,
Whose great effects these kingdoms, still inherit ;
The trials then, now trophies of his merit.

Nay, through disgrace, which oft the worthiest
have,

Through all state tempests, through each wind
and wave,

And laid him in an honourable grave.

And yours, and the whole world’s beloved Donne,
When he a long and wild career had run
To the meridian of his glorious sun ;

206 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

And being then an object of much ruth,
Led on by vanities, error and youth,
Was long ere he did find the way of truth ;

By the same clue, after his youthful swing,
To serve at his God’s altar here you bring,
Where once a wanton muse doth anthems sing.

And though by God’s most powerful grace alone
His heart was settled in religion :
Yet ’tis by you we know how it was done ;

And know, that having crucified vanities,
And fix’d his hope, he clos’d up his own eyes,
And then your friend a saint, and preacher, dies.

The meek and learned Hooker too, almost
In the Church’s ruins overwhelmed and lost,
Is by your pen, recover’d from the dust.

And Herbert ;—he whose education,
Manners, and parts, by high applauses blown,
Was deeply tainted by ambition ;

And fitted for a court, made that his aim ;
At last, without regard to birth or name,
For a poor country cure does all disclaim ;

Where, with a soul composed of harmonies,
Like a sweet swan, he warbles as he dies,
His Maker’s praise, and his own obsequies.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 207

All this you tell us, with so good success,
That our oblig’d posterity shall profess
To have been your friend, was a great happiness.

And now, when many worthier would be proud
To appear before you, if they were allow’d,
I take up room enough to serve a crowd :

Where, to commend what you have choicely writ,
Both my poor testimony and my wit
Are equally invalid and unfit :

Yet this, and much more, is most justly due :
Where what I write as elegant as true,
To the best friend I now or ever knew.

But, my dear friend, ’tis so, that you and I,

By a condition of mortality,

With all this great, and more proud world, must
die :

In which estate, I ask no more of fame,
Nor other monument of honour claim,
Than that of your true friend to advance my name.

And if your many merits shall have bred
And abler pen, to write your life when dead ;
I think an honester can not be read.

CHARLES COTTON.
January \7th, 1672,

ener

208

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Directed to my dear Father and most worthy Friend, Mr

‘¢ CONTENTATION ”

Isaac Walton.

HEAV’N, what an age is this! what race
Of giants is sprung up, that dare
Thus fly in the Almighty’s face,
And with his providence make war !

I can go no where but I meet

With malecontents and mutineers ;
As if, in life, was nothing sweet,

And we must blessings reap in tears.

O senseless man! that murmurs still
For happiness ; and does not know,

Even though he might enjoy his will,
What he would have to make him so.

Is it true happiness to be,
By undiscerning fortune, plac’d
In the most eminent degree,
Where few arrive, and none stand fast ?

Titles and wealth are fortune’s toils,

Wherewith the vain themselves ensnare ;

The great are proud of borrow’d spoils,
The miser’s plenty breeds his care,

i ae

THE WALTON BUST IN ST MARY’S CHURCH, STAFFORD

To face page 208.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 209

The one supinely yawns to rest,

Th’ other eternally doth toil ;
Each of them equally a beast,

A pamper’d horse, or lab’ring moil.

The titulado’s oft disgrac’d,
By public hate, or private frown ;
And he whose hand the creature rais’d,
Has yet a foot to kick him down.

The drudge who would all get, all save,
Like a brute beast both feeds and lies;

Prone to the earth, he digs his grave,
And in the very labour dies.

Excess of ill-got, ill-kept pelf,
Does only death and danger breed ;
Whilst one rich worldling starves himself,
With what would thousand others feed :

By which we see that wealth and power,
Although they make men rich and great,
The sweets of life do often sour,
And gull ambition with a cheat.

Nor is he happier than these
Who, in a moderate estate,
Where he might safely live at ease,

Has lusts that are immoderate ;
re)

210 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

For he, by those desires misled,

Quits his own vine’s securing shade,
T’ expose his naked empty head

To all the storms man’s peace invade.

Nor is he happy who is trim,
Trickt up in favours of the fair :
Mirrors which ev'ry breath may dim ;
Birds caught in evry wanton snare.

Woman, man’s greatest woe or bliss
Does ofter far than serve, enslave ;
And, with the magic of a kiss,
Destroys whom she was made to save.

Oh fruitful grief! the world’s disease ;
And vainer man to make it so,
Who gives his miseries increase
By cultivating his own woe.

There are no ills but what we make,

By giving shapes and names to things ;
Which is the dangerous mistake

That causes all our sufferings :

We call that sickness which is health ;
That persecution, which is grace ;

That poverty, which is true wealth ;
And that dishonour, which is praise.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Providence watches over all,

And that with an impartial eye ;
And if to misery we fall,

‘Tis through our own infirmity.

‘Tis want of foresight makes the bold
Ambitious youth to danger climb ;
And want of virtue, when the old
At persecution do repine.

Alas! our time is, here, so short,
That in what state soe’er ’tis spent,

Of joy, or woe, does not import,
Provided it be innocent :

But we may make it pleasant too,
If we will take our measures right ;
And not what Heav’n has done undo,
By an unruly appetite.

’Tis contentation that, alone,
Can make us happy here below ;
And, when this little life is gone,
Will lift us up to heav’n too.

A very little satisfies
An honest and a grateful heart ;
And who would more than will suffice,
Does covet more than is his part.

2i1

212 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

That man is happy in his share,
Who is warm clad and cleanly fed ;
Whose necessaries bound his care,
And honest labour makes his bed :

Who, free from debt, and clear from crimes,
Honours those laws that others fear :
Who ill of princes, in worst times,
Will neither speak himself, nor hear :

Who from the busy world retires,
To be more useful to it still,

And to no greater good aspires,
But only the eschewing ill :

Who, with his angle and his books,
Can think the longest day well spent,
And praises God, when back he looks,
And finds that all was innocent.

This man is happier far than he
Whom public business oft betrays,
Through labyrinths of policy,
To crooked and forbidden ways :

The world is full of beaten roads,
But yet so slippery withal,

That where one walks secure, ’tis odds
A hundred and a hundred fall.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 213

Untrodden paths are then the best,
Where the frequented are unsure ;

And he comes soonest to his rest
Whose journey has been most secure.

It is content, alone, that makes
Our pilgrimage a pleasure here :
And who buys sorrow cheapest, takes
An ill commodity too dear.

But he has fortune’s worst withstood,
And happiness can never miss ;

Can covet nought but where he stood ;
And thinks him happy where he is.

TO MY DEAR AND MOST WORTHY FRIEND, Mr Izaak
'W ALTON

WuILst in this cold and blustering Clime,
Where bleak winds howl and Tempests roar,
We pass away the roughest time
Has been of many years before ;

Whilst from the most tempestuous Nooks
The chillest Blasts our peace invade,
And by great Rains our smallest Brooks

Are almost navigable made ;

214

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Whilst all the ills are so improved,
Of this dead quarter of the year,
That even you, so much beloved,
We would not now wish with us here :

In this estate, I say, it is
Some comfort to us to suppose,
That, in a better Clime than this,
You, our dear friend, have more repose ;

And some delight to me the while,
Though nature now does weep in rain,

To think that I have seen her smile,
And haply may I do again.

If the all-ruling Power please
We live to see another May,
We'll recompense an Age of these
Foul days in one fine fishing day :

We then shall have a day or two,
Perhaps a week, wherein to try
What the best Master’s hand can do

With the most deadly killing Fly :

A day with not too bright a beam,
A warm, but not a scorching sun,
A southern gale to curl the stream,
And (Master) half our work is done.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 215

There, whilst behind some bush we wait
The Scaly People to betray,

We'll prove it just, with treacherous bait
To make the preying Trout our prey ;

And think ourselves, in such an hour,
Happier than those, though not so high,
Who, like Leviathans, devour
Of meaner men the smaller Fry.

This (my best Friend) at my poor Home,
Shall be our Pastime and our Theme;
But then—should you not deign to come,
You make all this a flattering Dream.*

THE RETIREMENT
STANZES IRREGULIERS

To Mr Isaak Walton.

FAREWELL thou busie World, and may

We never meet again :
Here I can eat, and sleep, and pray,
And do more good in one short day,
Than he who his whole Age out-wears
Upon thy most conspicuous Theatres,
Where nought but Vice and Vanity do reign.
Good God! how sweet are all things here!
How beautiful the Fields appear !

216 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

How cleanly do we feed and lie!

Lord! what good hours do we keep!
How quietly we sleep!

What Peace! what Unanimity !

How innocent from the leud Fashion,

Is all our bus’ness, all our Conversation !

Oh how happy here’s our leisure !

Oh how innocent our pleasure !

Oh ye Vallies, Oh ye Mountains,

Oh ye Groves and Chrystall Fountains,
How I love at liberty,

By turn to come and visit ye!

O Solitude, the Soul’s best Friend,

That man acquainted with himself dost make,
And all his Maker’s Wonders to intend ;

With thee I here converse at will,

And would be glad to do so still;

For it is thou alone that keep’st the Soul awake.

How calm and quiet a delight
It is alone
To read, and meditate, and write,
By none offended, nor offending none ;
To walk, ride, sit, or sleep at one’s own ease,
And pleasing a man’s self, none other to displease!
Oh my beloved Nymph! fair Dove,
Princess of Rivers, how I love
Upon thy flow’ry Banks to lie,

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 217

And view thy Silver stream,

When gilded by a Summer's Beam,

And in it all thy wanton Fry
Playing at liberty,

And with my Angle upon them,
The All of Treachery

I ever learn’d to practise and to try!

Such streams Rome’s yellow Tiber cannot show,
Th’ Iberian Tagus, nor Ligurian Po ;
The Meuse, the Danube, and the Rhine,
Are puddle-water all compar’d with thine ;
And Loire’s pure streams yet too polluted are
With thine much purer to compare:
The rapid Garonne, and the winding Seine
Are both too mean,
Beloved Dove, with thee
To vie priority :
Nay, Tame and Isis, when conjoyn’d, submit,
And lay their Trophies at thy Silver Feet.

Oh my belovéd Rocks! that rise
To awe the Earth, and brave the Skies,
From some aspiring Mountain’s crown
How dearly do I love,
Giddy with pleasure, to look down,
And from the Vales to view the noble heights above !
Oh my belovéd Caves! from Dog-star heats
And hotter Persecution safe Retreats,

218 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

What safety, privacy, what true delight
In the artificial Night
Your gloomy entrails make,
Have I taken, do I take!

How oft, when grief has made me fly

To hide me from Society,

Even of my dearest Friends, have I

In your recesse’s friendly shade

All my sorrows open laid,

And my most secret woes entrusted to your
privacy !

Lord! would men let me alone,
What an over-happy one
Should I think myself to be,
Might I in this desart place,
Which most men by their voice disgrace,
Live but undisturb’d and free!
Here in this despis’d recess
Would I maugre Winter’s cold,
And the Summer’s worst excess,
Try to live out to sixty full years old,
And all the while
Without an envious eye
On any thriving under Fortune’s smile,
Contented live, and then contented die.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 219

THE ANGLER’S BALLAD

A way to the Brook,

All your Tackle out look,

Here’s a day that is worth a year’s wishing ;
See that all things be right,

For ’tis a very spight

To want tools when a man goes fishing.

Your Rod with tops two,

For the same will not doe

If your manner of angling you vary ;
And full well you may think,

If you troll with a Pink,

One too weak will be apt to miscarry.

Then Basket, neat made

By a Master in’s trade,

In a belt at your shoulders must dangle ;
For none e’er was so vain

To wear this to disdain,

Who a true Brother was of the Angle.

Next, Pouch must not fail,

Stuff'd as full as a Mail,

With Wax, Crewels, Silks, Hair, Furs and Feathers,
To make several Flies

For the several Skies,

That shall kill in despight of all weathers.

220 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

The Boxes and Books

For your Lines and your Hooks,

And, though not for strict need notwithstanding,
Your Scissors, and your Hone

To adjust your points on,

With a Net to be sure for your landing.

All these being on,

‘Tis high time we were gone,

Down, and upward, that all may have pleasure ;
Till, here meeting at night,

We shall have the delight

To discourse of our Fortunes at leisure. |

The day’s not too bright,

And the wind hits us right,

And all Nature does seem to invite us;
We have all things at will

For to second our skill,

As they all did conspire to delight us.

Or stream now, or still,

A large Panier will fill

Trout and Grailing to rise are so willing ;
I dare venture to say

‘Twill be a bloudy day,

And we all shall be weary of killing.

Away then, away,
We loose sport by delay,

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 221

But first leave all our sorrows behind us ;
If misfortune doe come,

We are all gone from home,

And a fishing she never can find us.

The Angler is free

From the cares that degree

Finds it self with so often tormented ;
And although we should slay

Each a hundred to-day,

"Tis a slaughter needs ne’er be repented.

And though we display

All our Arts to betray

What were made for man’s Pleasure and Diet ;
Yet both Princes and States

May, for all our quaint Bates,

Ruie themselves and their people in quiet.

We scratch not our pates,

Nor repine at the Rates

Our Superiors impose on our living ;
But do frankly submit,

Knowing they have more wit

In demanding, than we have in giving.

Whilst quiet we sit
We conclude all things fit,

222

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Acquiescing with hearty submission ;
For, though simple, we know
That soft murmurs will grow
At the last unto down-right Sedition.

We care not who says,

And intends it dispraise,

That an Angler t’ a Fool is next neighbour ;
Let him prate, what care we,

We're as honest as he,

And so let him take that for his labour.

We covet no Wealth

But the Blessing of Health,

And that greater good Conscience within ;
Such Devotion we bring

To our God and our King,

That from either no offers can win.

Whilst we sit and fish

We do pray as we wish,

For long life to our King James the Second ;
Honest Anglers then may,

Or they’ve very foul play,

With the best of good Subjects be reckon’d.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS Pe

To Port E. W.'

Occasion’d for his writing a Panegyric on Oliver Cromwell.

From whence, vile Poet, did’st thou glean the Wit,
And Words for such a vitious Poem fit ?
Where could’st thou Paper find was not too white ;
Or Ink, that could be black enough to write ?
What servile Devil tempted thee to be
A flatterer of thine own Slavery ?
To kiss thy Bondage, and extol the deed,
At once that made thy Prince and Country bleed ?
I wonder much thy false Heart did not dread,
And shame to write, what all Men blush to read ;
Thus with a base ingratitude to rear
Trophies unto thy Master’s Murtherer ?

Who call’d thee Coward (——) much mistook
The characters of thy pedantick Look ;
Thou hast at once abus’d thy self, and us :
He’s stout that dares flatter a Tyranne thus.

Put up thy Pen and Ink, muzzle thy Muse
Adulterate Hag fit for a common Stews,
No good Man’s Library ; writ thou hast
Treason in Rhime has all thy Works defac’t :

'E. W. is Edmund Waller. ‘‘Such a series of verses,” it is
said by Johnson, “had rarely appeared before in the English
language.” After the Restoration Waller wrote in praise of Charles
ET.

224 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Such is thy fault, that when I think to find
A punishment of the severest kind,
For thy offence, my malice cannot name
A greater; than, once to commit the same.
Where was thy reason then, when thou began
To write against the sense of God and Man ?
Within thy guilty breast Despair took place,
Thou would’st despairing Die in spite of Grace.
At once th’ art Judge, and Malefactor shown,
Each Sentence in thy Poem is thine own.
Then, what thou hast pronounc’d go execute,
Hang up thy self, and say, I bid thee do't ;
Fear not thy memory, that cannot dye,
This Panegyrick is thy Elegy,
Which shall be when; or wheresoever read,
A living Poem to upbraid thee dead.

THE E1gHtH PSALM PARAPHRASED

O Lorp, our Governour, whose potent sway

All Pow’rs in Heav’n and Earth obey,
Throughout the spacious Earth’s extended frame
How great is thy adored Name!

Thy Glories thou hast seated, Lord, on high,
Above the Empirean Sky.

Out of the mouths of Infants, newly come

From the dark Closet of the Womb,

Thou hast ordained pow’rfull Truth to rise,

To baffle all thine Enemies ;

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 225

That thou the furious Rage might’st calm agen,
Of bloudy and revengefull men.

When on thy Glorious Heav'ns I reflect,

Thy work, almighty Architect,

The changing Moon and Stars that thou hast made
T illuminate night’s sable shade :

Oh! what is man, think I, that Heaven’s King
Should mind so poor a wretched thing ;

Or Man’s frail Off-spring, that Almighty God
Should stoop to visit his abode ?

For thou createdst him but one degree
Below the Heav’nly Hierarchy

Of bless’d and happy Angels, and didst crown
Frail Dust with Glory and Renown.

Over the works of thy Almighty hand
Thou giv’st him absolute command,
And all the rest that thou hast made
Under his feet hast subject laid ;

All Sheep and Oxen, and the wilder breed
Of Beasts that on their Fellows feed ;

The Air’s Inhabitants, and scaly brood,
That live and wanton in the Flood,

And whatsoe’er does either swim or creep
Through th’ investigable Deep :

Throughout the spacious Earth’s extended frame

How great is thy adored Name!
P

226 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

(c) SOME OF DR DONNE’S VERSES
FEAR Cast OvT

Wit Thou forgive that sin, where I begun,
Which was my sin though it were done before ?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin, through which I run
And do run still, though still I do deplore ?
When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,

For I have more.

Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won

Others to sin and made my sins their door ?

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun

A year or two, but wallowed in a score?

When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
For I have more.

I have a sin of fear that, when I’ve spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore ;
But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son
Shall shine, as He shines now and heretofore :
And, having done that, Thou hast done :

I fear no more.

Note.—This lovely hymn, Walton tells us, Donne caused to be
set to a most grave and solemn tune, and to be often sung to the
organ by the choristers of St Paul’s Cathedral, in his own hearing. ~

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 227

Hymn to Gop, my Gop, IN my SICKNESS

Since I am coming to that holy room,

Where with Thy choir of saints for evermore,
I shall be made Thy music; as I come

I tune the instrument here at the door,

And what I must do then, think here before ;

Whilst my physicians by their love are grown
Cosmographers, and I their map, who lie
Flat on this bed, that by them may be shown
That this is my south-west discovery,

Per fretum febris, by these straits to die ;

I joy, that in these straits I see my West ;

For, though those currents yield return to none,
What shall my West hurt me? As west and east
Inall flat maps—and I am one—are one,

So death doth touch the Resurrection.

Is the Pacific Sea my home? Or are

The eastern riches? Is Jerusalem ?

Anvan, and Magellan, and Gibraltar

All straits, and none but straits, are ways to them
Whether where Japhet dwelt, or Ham, or Shem.

We think that Paradise and Calvary,

Christ’s cross and Adam’s tree, stood in one place ;
Look, Lord, and find both Adams met in me;

As the first Adam’s sweat surrounds my face,

May the last Adam’s blood my soul embrace.

228 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

So, in His purple wrapp’d, receive me, Lord ;

By these His thorns, give me His other crown ;

And as to others’ souls I preach’d Thy Word,

Be this my text, my sermon to mine own :—

“Therefore that He may raise, the Lord throws
down.”

Note.—This hymn was written on Donne’s death-bed.

A VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MouRNING

As virtuous men pass mildly away

And whisper to their souls to go,

Whilst some of their sad friends do say,

‘“ Now his breath goes,” and some say, “ No.’

3

So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;
‘Twere profanation of our joys

To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th’ earth brings harms and fears ;
Men reckon what it did and meant ;

But trepidation of the spheres,

Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers’ love

Whose soul is sense—cannot admit
Of absence, ‘cause it doth remove
The thing which elemented it.

IZAAK WALTON AND HATS FRIENDS 229

But we by a love so far refined,

That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,

Care less eyes, lips and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so,

As stiff twin compasses are two ;

Thy soul, the fix’d foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th’ other do.

And though it in the centre sit,

Yet, when the other far doth roam,

It leans and hearkens after it,

And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th’ other foot, obliquely run ;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.

Note.—These verses were given by Donne to his wife
when he went abroad in 1611. Walton says: “I beg leave to
tell, that I have heard some critics, learned both in languages
and poetry, say, that none of the Greek or Latin poets did ever
equal them.”

230 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

A SHEAF OF SNAKES USED HERETOFORE TO BE MY
SEAL, THE CREST OF OUR POOR FAMILY

ADOPTED in God’s family and so

Our old coat lost, unto new arms I go.

The Cross—my seal at baptism—spread below
Does, by that form, into an Anchor grow.
Crosses grow Anchors ; bear, as thou shouldest do
Thy Cross, and that Cross grows an Anchor too.
But He that makes our Crosses Anchors thus,

Is Christ, who there is crucified for us.

Yet may I, with this, my first serpents hold ;
God gives new blessings, and yet leaves the old;
The serpent may, as wise, my pattern be;

My poison, as he feeds on dust, that’s me.

And, as he rounds the earth to murder sure,

My death he is, but on the Cross, my cure.
Crucify nature then, and then implore

All grace from Him, crucified there before ;

Then all is Cross, and that Cross Anchor grown ;
This seal’s a catechism, not a seal alone.

Under that little seal great gifts I send,

Works, and prayers, pawns, and fruits of a friend.
And may that saint which rides in our great seal,
To you who bear his name, great bounties deal !

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

THE Bait

CoE live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines and silver hooks.

There will the river whisp’ring run
Warm’d by thy eyes, more than the sun ;
And there th’ enamour’d fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish which every channel hath,
Will amorously to thee swim,

Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou, to be so seen, be’st loth,

By sun or moon, thou dark’nest both,
And if myself have leave to see,

I need not their light, having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poor fish beset,

With strangling snare, or windowy net.

Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest
The bedded fish in banks out-wrest ;
Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,
Bewitch poor fishes’ wand ’ring eyes.

231

232 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

For thee, thou need’st no such deceit,
For thou thyself art thine own bait ;
That fish, that is not catch’d thereby,
Alas! is wiser far than I.

(d) SOME OF HERBERT’S VERSES
THE ELIXIR

TEACH me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in any thing,

To do it as for Thee:

Not rudely, as a beast,
To run into an action;

But still to make Thee prepossest,
And give it his perfection.

A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye;

Or if he pleaseth, through it pass,
And then the heaven espy.

All may of Thee partake :
Nothing can be so mean,

Which with this tincture “for Thy sake”
Will not grow bright and clean.

IZAAK WALTON AND HATS FRIENDS

A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine :

Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws,
Makes that and the action fine.

This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold:

For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told.

THE COLLAR

I strucK the board, and cried, no more;
I will abroad.
What? shall I ever sigh and pine?
My lines and life are free; free as the road,
Loose as the wind, as large as store.
Shall I be still in suit ?
Have I no harvest but a thorn
To let me blood, and not restore
What I have lost with cordial fruit ?
Sure there was wine,
Before my sighs did try it: there was corn,
Before my tears did drown it.
Is the year only lost to me?
Have I no bays to crown it ?
No flowers, no garlands gay? all blasted ?
All wasted ?

233

234 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Not so, my heart: but there is fruit,
And thou hast hands.

Recover all thy sigh-blown age

On double pleasures : leave thy cold dispute

Of what is fit, and not: forsake thy cage,
Thy rope of sands,

Which petty thoughts have made, and made to

thee

Good cable, to enforce and draw,
And be thy law,

While thou didst wink and wouldst not see.
Away ; take heed :
I will abroad.

Call in thy death’s-head there : tie up thy fears.
He that forbears

To suit and serve his need,
Deserves his load.

But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild
At every word,

Methought I heard one calling, “ Child:”
And I replied, ‘‘ My Lord!”

THE PULLEY

WHEN God at first made man,

Having a glass of blessing standing by ;

Let us (said He) pour on him all we can :

Let the world’s riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 235

So strength first made a way ;
Then beauty flow’d, then wisdom, honour, pleasure:
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that alone of all His treasure,

Rest in the bottom lay.

. For if I should (said He)

Bestow this jewel also on My creature,

He would adore My gifts instead of Me,

And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature:
So both should losers be.

Yet let him keep the rest,

But keep them with repining restlessness :
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to My breast.

DISCIPLINE

THROW away Thy rod,

Throw away Thy wrath :
O my God,

Take the gentle path.

For my heart’s desire

Unto Thine is bent :
I aspire

To a full consent.

236 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Not a word or look
I affect to own,

But by book,
And Thy book alone.

Though I fail, I weep:

Though I halt in pace,
Yet I creep

To the throne of grace.

Then let wrath remove ;
Love will do the deed :
For with love
Stony hearts will bleed.

Love is swift of foot ;

Love’s a man of war,
And can shoot,

And can hit from far.

Who can ’scape his bow ?

That which wrought on Thee,
Brought Thee low,

Needs must work on me.

Throw away Thy rod ;

Though man frailties hath,
Thou art God:

Throw away Thy wrath.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

SUNDAY

O Day most calm, most bright,
The fruit of this, the next world’s bud,
The indorsement of supreme delight,
Writ by a Friend, and with His blood ;
The couch of time; care’s balm and bay ;
The week were dark, but for thy light:
Thy torch doth show the way.

The other days and thou
Make up one man; whose face thou art,
Knocking at heaven with thy brow;
The working-days are the back-part ;
The burden of the week lies there,
Making the whole to stoop and bow,
Till thy release appear.

Man had straight forward gone
To endless death ; but thou dost pull
And turn us round to look on One,
Whom, if we were not very dull,
We could not choose but look on still ;
Since there is no place so alone

The which He doth not fill.

Sundays the pillars are,
On which heaven’s palace arched lies :
The other days fill up the spare
And hollow room with vanities.

237

238 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

They are the fruitful beds and borders
In God’s rich garden : that is bare
Which parts their ranks and orders.

The Sundays of man’s life,
Threaded together on time’s string,
Make bracelets to adorn the wife
Of the eternal glorious King.

On Sunday heaven’s gate stands ope ;
Blessings are plentiful and rife,
More plentiful than hope.

This day my Saviour rose,
And did enclose this light for His :
That, as each beast his manger knows,
Man might not of his fodder miss.
Christ hath took in this piece of ground,
And made a garden there for those
Who want herbs for their wound.

The Rest of our creation

Our great Redeemer did remove

With the same shake, which at His passion

Did th’ earth and all things with it move.

As Samson bore the doors away,

Christ’s hands, though nail’d, wrought our sal-
vation,
And did unhinge that day.

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

The brightness of that day
We sullied by our foul offence :
Wherefore that robe we cast away,
Having a new at His expense,
Whose drops of blood paid the full price,
That was required to make us gay,

And fit for Paradise.

Thou art a day of mirth :
And where the week-days trail on ground,
Thy flight is higher, as thy birth :
O let me take thee at the bound,
Leaping with thee from seven to seven,
Till that we both, being toss’d from earth,
Fly hand in hand to heaven !

239

(e) SOME OF SIR HENRY WOTTON’S VERSES

A Hymn To my Gop

Ox Thou Great Power! in whom I move,
For whom I live, to whom I die,
Behold me through Thy beams of love
Whilst on this couch of tears I lie ;

And cleanse my sordid soul within,

By Thy Christ’s blood, the bath of sin!

No hallowed oils, no grains I need,

No rags of saints, no purging fire ;

One rosy drop from David’s seed,

Was worlds of seas to quench Thine ire.

wm | #

240

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Oh precious ransom! which once paid
That consummatum est was said ;

And said by Him that said no more,
But sealed it with his sacred breath ;
Thou, then, that hast dispunged my score,
And dying wast the death of Death,

Be to me now, on Thee I call,

My life, my strength, my joy, my all!

THE CHARACTER OF A HAppy LIFE

How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another’s will;
Whose armour is his honest thought
And simple truth his utmost skill !

Whose passions not his masters are,
Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Untied unto the world by care

Of public fame, or private breath ;

Who envies none that chance doth raise,
Nor vice; who never understood

How deepest wounds are given by praise ;
Nor rules of state, but rules of good:

Who hath his life from rumours freed,
Whose conscience is his strong retreat ;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great ;

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 241

Who God doth late and early pray

More of His grace than gifts to lend ;

And entertains the harmless day
With a religious book or friend ;

This man is freed from servile bands
Of hope to rise, or fear to fall ;

Lord of himself, though not of lands ;
And having nothing, yet hath all.

ELIZABETH OF BOHEMIA !

You meaner beauties of the night,
That poorly satisfy our eyes
More by your number than your light,
You common people of the skies,
What are you, when the Sun’ shall rise ?

You curious chanters of the wood

That warble forth dame Nature’s lays,
Thinking your passions understood

By your weak accents ; what’s your praise
When Philomel her voice doth raise ?

You violets that first appear,

By your pure purple mantles known
Like the proud virgins of the year,

As if the spring were all your own,—
What are you, when the Rose is blown ?

1She was a daughter of James I., and married, in 1613, Frederick
Elector Palatine of Bavaria, afterwards King of Bohemia,
2Moon is sometimes given instead of Sun

Q

242

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

So when my Mistress shall be seen
In form and beauty of her mind,
By virtue first, then choice, a Queen,
Tell me, if she were not design’d

Th’ eclipse and glory of her kind ?

(f) LavpATORUM CARMINA
BY

Dr James Duport

Ad Virum Optimum et Piscatorem Peritissimum Isaacum

Waltonum.

MaGISsTER artis docte piscatoriae,
Waltone, salve! magne dux arundinis,
Seu tu reducta valle solus ambulas,
Praeterfiuentes interim observans aquas,
Seu forté puri stans in amnis margine,
Sive in tenaci gramine et ripa sedens,
Fallis perita squameum pecus manu ;

O te beatum! qui procul negotiis,

Forique et urbis pulvere et strepitu carens,
Extraque turbam, ad lene manantes aquas
Vagos honesta fraude pisces decipis.

Dum caetera ergo paené gens mortalium
Aut retia invicem sibi et technas struunt,
Donis, ut hamo, aut divites captant senes,
Gregi natantiim tu interim nectis dolos.
Voracem inescas advenam hamo lucium,
Avidamvé percam parvulo alberno capis,

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 243

Aut verme ruffo, muscula aut truttam levi.

Cautumveé cyprinum, et feré, indocilem capi

Calamoque linoque (ars at hune superat tua),

Medicamvé tincam, gobium aut esca trahis,

Gratum palato gobium, parvum licet.

Praedamvé, non aeque salubrem barbulum,

Etsi ampliorem et mystace insignem gravi.

Hae sunt tibi artes, dum annus et tempus sinunt,

Et nulla transit absque linea dies.

Nec sola praxis, sed theoria et tibi

Nota artis hujus; unde tu simul bonus

Piscator, idem et scriptor: et calami potens

Utriusque necdum et ictus, et tamen sapis.

Ut hamiotam nempe tironem instruas !

Stylo eleganti scribis en Halieutica

Oppianus alter, artis et methodum tuae, et

Praecepta promis rite piscatoria,

Varias et escas piscium, indolem et genus.

Nec tradere artem sat putas piscariam,

(Virtutis est haec et tamen quaedam schola

Patientiamque et temperantiam docet, )

Documenta quin majora das, et regulas

Sublimioris artis, et perennia

Monimenta morem, vitae et exempla optima,—

Dum tu profundum scribis Hookerum ; et pium

Donnum ac disertum; sanctum et Herbertum,
sacrum

Vatem ; hos videmus nam penicillo tuo

Graphice et perita, Isaace, depictos manu.

244 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

Post fata factos hosce per te Virbios.

O quae voluptas est legere in scriptis tuis!
Sic tu libris nos, lineis pisces capis,
Musisque litterisque dum incumbis, licet
Intentus hamo, interque piscandum studes.

A TRANSLATION

To the best of Men and the Most Skilled of Anglers, Izaac
Walton.
Hatt Walton, learned master of the art of
angling! Great champion of the rod, happy art
thou whether alone thou dost pace a secluded
valley, or, standing on the margin of a clear stream
or sitting in the matted grass of the bank, thou
dost with skilled hand trick the scaley race!
Happy art thou, who far from business cares, away
from the noise and dust of mart and town and
beyond reach of crowds, dost by the slowly flowing
waters cut off, by honest fraud, the wandering fish!
Whilst then almost all the rest of the race of
mortals either in turns spread nets for themselves
and bait traps with gifts as with a hook, or lie in
wait for rich old men, thou dost weave plots for
the tribe of fishes, dost entice the greedy foreign
pike with the hook, dost catch the voracious perch
with blay, a trout with red worm, or smooth
mussel, or thy art overcomes even the cautious
carp that rod and line can scarce take; or thou

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 245

dost with bait betray the healing tench or gudgeon,
palate pleasing gudgeon, it matters little what the
fish is ; or perhaps thy prey is the less wholesome
but larger mysteriously marked barbel. These are
thy pursuits when time and weather allow and
no day passes without a line. And not the
practice only but the theory of this art is known
to thee. Whence it comes that thou art at once
a good angler and a good writer: and thy mastery
of both rod and pen dost show thy good sense.
Be thou then indeed the instructor of the young
fisherman. In graceful style thou dost write a
second Oppian, of all things fishing, and dost duly
set forth the angler’s precepts and his methods and
the various kinds of bait and the different kinds of
fish and their habits. Nor dost think it enough to
hand down the art of angling (though this indeed
form a sort of school and teaches patience and
soberness) but dost give greater proofs of loftier
art, the ever fresh examples of character and noble
patterns of life. Thou hast written of deep
Hooker and of learned and pious Donne, and of
Herbert, holy priest. We see these, Izaac, painted
in living colours by trained brush. By thee these
Heroes though dead live once more. O what
pleasure it is to read thy books! Thus by thy
books thou dost catch us fish as with lines and
dost combine in wondrous wise fishing and the
pursuit of the muses.

246 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

LAUDATORUM CARMINA
BY
Dr James Duport

Ad Isaacum Waltonum, Virum et Piscatorem Optimum.

IsaacE Macte hac arte piscatoria ;
Hac arte Petrus principi censum dedit ;
Hac arte princeps nec Petro multo prior,
Tranquillus ille, teste Tranquillo, pater
Patriae, solebat recreare se lubens
Augustus, hamo instructus ac arundine.
Tu nunc, amice, proximum clari es decus
Post Caesarem hami, gentis ac Halieuticae :
Euge O professor artis haud ingloriae,
Doctor cathedrae, perlegens piscariam !
Nae tu magister, et ego discipulus tuus,
Nam candidatum et me ferunt arundinis,
Socium hac in arte nobilem nacti sumus.
Quid amplius, Waltone, nam dici potest!
Ipse hamiota Dominus en orbis fuit!

Jaco. Dup., D.D.

A TRANSLATION,
To Isaac Walton, Best of Men and Anglers.

Isaac, good luck to thee in the art of fishing!
By this art Peter gave tribute to Cesar. In this
art, not long before Peter, that great Tranquillus,
so Tranquillus (Suetonius) says Cesar Augustus
skilled in all knowledge of hook and line was

IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS 247

wont to find recreation. Thou now, oh my friend,
art after Cesar the greatest glory of the hook
and fishing tribe. Well done! professor of no
ignoble art, learned doctor deeply steeped in fish-
market-lore! Verily thou master and I thy
disciple we two were born, for they say that I too
am a novice of the rod, comrades in this noble
art. What more, Walton, remains to be said?
Our Lord Himself was on earth a Fisher!
JAMES Duvrort, D.D.

Note.—In Notes and Queries, 1st S. VIIL, p. 193, some
other lines to Walton, by Duport, are to be found.

(g) LaupaToRUM CARMINA
BY
Henry Baytey, Artium MaGIsTer

Clarissimo amicissimoque fratri, Domino Isaaco Walton,
artis piscatorve perrtissvmo.

Unicus est medicus reliquorum piscis, et istis,

Fas quibus est medicum tangere, certa salus
Hic typus est salvatoris mirandus Jesu,

Litera mysterium quaelibet hujus habet.
Hune cupio, hune cupias (bone frater arun-

dinis) Ov :

Solveret hic pro me debita, teque Deo.
Piscis is est, et piscator, mihi credito, qualem

Vel piscatorem piscis amare velit.

248 IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS

A TRANSLATION.

To my most distinguished friend and brother Master Izaac
Walton, past master in the art of angling.
OnE fish and one only is doctor of the rest, and
health is assured to those to whom it is given to
touch the doctor. Here is a wonderful image of
our Saviour Jesus, where every letter’ holds His
secret.

This fish I desire, and mayest thou catch this
fish (good brother of the rod): He would pay my
debts and thine to God. Fish is he and fisher,
believe me, a fish would wish to love such an one
though he were a fisher.

Henry Bay.ey, M.A.

The reader may note that the fish was the usual emblem of
Christ, chosen because the Greek word forms the initials of His

name and titles, and also because Christians are born by baptism
in water.2 The fish symbol is only found in the Latin Church.

1 Iy@vs, Piscis.
I “Inoois, Jesus.
X Xpiorés, Christus.
® Ge00, Del.
‘'Y ‘Y.ds, Filius.
x Zwrihp, Salvator.
2 Lecky’s Rationalism in Europe, Vol. 1., p. 202.

INDEX

A

Aldersey, Elizabeth, second wife of
Venables, 68

Aldersey, Samuel, 68

Alexander, W., see note, 69

Allestrie, Richard, The Whole Duty
of Man ascribed to, 155

All Souls, Duppa, Fellow of, 145;
Sheldon made Fellow of, 171;
Sheldon’s portrait at, 172.

Androvanus, Walton uses, as an
authority in his Complete Angler,
29

Angler's Ballad, The,
Cotton quoted, 219

Angler’s Sure Guide, The, 85

Angler’s Vade Mecum, The, by
Chetham, 31

Angling Literature in England, by
Osmund Lambert, 30

An Humble Eglog, verses by Walton
quoted, 197

Animadversions on a Pamphlet en-
titled The Naked Truth, by Dr
Francis Turner, 114

Anne, Queen, granted pension to
Bishop Ken, 160

Armagh, Ussher, Archbishop of, 175

Arnold, Dr, on Hooker, 105

Art of Angling, The, by Thomas
Barker, 30

Ashmole, his History of the Order of
the Garter, 10

Aspenden, birthplace of Seth Ward,
176

verses by

Aston, Sir Walter, quotation from
Wotton’s letter to, 94

Aubrey, John, Walton’s letter on
Ben Johnson to, 129

B

Bacon, George Herbert, friend of, 98

Bait, The, verses by Donne, 231

Bagster, 8., his edition of The Com-
plete Angler, 51

Barham, Rev. R. H., 37

Barker, Thomas, Walton derived
much information on fishing from,
29; The Art of Angling by, 30

Barlow, Mr, Colonel Blague stayed
with, 10

Barlow, Richard, 141

Barlow, Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln,
his letter to Walton on his writing
The Life of Sanderson, 75; bio-
graphical sketch of, 141

Barnes or Berners, Dame Juliana,
supposed to have written the
Treatyse of Fysshynge, 29

Barrow, Isaac, his fondness for
tobacco, 134 and note; pupil of
Duport’s, 144; enabled by Ham-
mond to go to Cambridge, 155

Barry, on Book of Common Prayer,
109

Barton Seagrove,
Henchman, 157

Barwick, Dr John, preached Morton’s
funeral sermon, 167

Baxter, Richard, possibility of Wal-
ton knowing, 13; his manner of
writing, 77; his appreciation of
George Herbert’s poems, 98, 105;

birthplace of

his attack on Morley, 165,
174
Bayley, Rev. Henry, friend of

Walton’s, 180; Laudatorum Car-
mina, verses by, 247
Bayne, Mr, quoted on Hooker, 104

R 249

250

INDEX

Bayne, Paul, Sibbes converted by,
174

Beeching, Canon, quoted on Walton’s
education, 5, 20; his study of
Walton in his Religio Laici, 89,

90

Belt, his bust of Walton in St Mary’s
Church, Stafford, 126

Bemerton, George Herbert as clergy-
man of, 100, 103

Benson, Archbishop, on Herbert, 99

Benson’s Life, quotation from, 99

Beresford, an account of the family
of, 71, 72

Beresford Hall, described, 54, 55;
Cotton’s fishing-house near, 69;
account of the Beresford family
and their estates, 71, 72

Beresford, John, of Ashbourne, 138

Berkhampstead, birthplace of Thomas
Ken, 159

Bethune, Dr, quoted on Walton’s
knowledge of Latin, 4; his edition
of The Complete Angler, 30, 51;
Angler’s Club mentioned by, 133

Bowles, Rev. William Lisle, 38 ; his
estimate of The Complete Angler,
45, see note, 149

Boyle, Robert, see note, 141

Brasenose College, Harvey educated
at, 156

Bristow Park, Joseph Hall born at,
153

British Angler,
Williamson, 32

Brome, Alexander, Walton’s eclogue
to, 10

Brown, Moses, his edition of The
Complete Angler, 51; see note, 56

Bruised Reed, The, by Richard
Sibbes, 174

Buckden, Sanderson desired to be
buried at, 110; Thomas Barlow
buried at, 141

Bunyan, John, his opinion of prayer,
13

Burlesque upon Burlesque; or, The
Scoffer Scoffed, by Cotton, 57

Burnand, F. C., his Jncompleat
Angler, 136

Burnet, Bishop, on the controversy
on The Naked Truth, 114

Byron, Lord, his lines on Walton
quoted, 26

Bible, King James’s translation of,
143

The, by John

Bishopsbourne, Hooker, rector of,
104; Hooker’s death, burial and
monument at, 107

Blackwood’s Magazine,
Walton in, 46

Blague, Colonel, Charles Il. com-
mitted his George to, 9; im-
prisoned in the Tower, 10

Blount, Sir Thomas, extracts from
his Boscobel, 9

Bocton or Boughton, in Kent, 91

Bodleian Library, portrait of Shirley
in, 173

Book of St Albans, The, issued in
four parts dealing with sport, 29

Boothby Pagnell, Sanderson pre-
sented to living of, 109

Boscobel ; or, The Compleat History of
His Sacred Majesties Most Mir-
aculous Preservation after the Battle
of Worcester, 3rd September 1651,
by Sir Thomas Blount, extracts
from, 9, 10

Boswell James, quotation from his
Life of Dr Johnson, 47

article on

Cc

Canterbury, Marriage of Walton at,
2; Sheldon made Archbishop of,
val

Carlisle, Ussher made Bishop of,
175

Cary, Dr, his funeral sermon on
Prince Henry, 90

Casaubon, Isaac, Walton probably
named after, 1, and see note, 2;
monogram scratched by Walton
on tablet of,in Westminster Abbey,
49 ; his tomb erected by Morton,
166

Case of Toleration in Matters of Re-
ligion, The, by Thomas Barlow,
see note, 141

Chalkhill, John, author of Thealma
and Clearchus, discussion as to his
identity, 118-121

Chancery Lane, Walton in business
in, 5

Character of a Happy Life, The, by
Wotton, 240

Charles I., Sanderson, chaplain to,
109. 145; Hammond, chaplain to,
154; Morley, chaplain to, 164

Charles Il., after the battle of

INDEX

Worcester, 9; his restoration, 10;
visits Duppa on his deathbed,
145; helped by Henchman to
escape after the battle of Wor-
cester, 157; attended by Thomas
Ken on his deathbed, 160

Charlton-upon-Otmoor, birthplace of
Featley, 146

Chertsey, birthplace of Hammond, 154

Chester, Morton made Bishop of,
167 ; Pearson made Bishop of, 169

Chevening, in Kent, 2 |

Cheynell, Francis, see note, 143

Chichester Cathedral, Chillingworth |
buried in, 143; Henry King buried
at, 163; Woodford, Canon of, 179

Chillingworth, William, biographical
sketch of, 142

Christ Church, Duppa, Dean of,
145; Fell made Dean of, and his
benefactions to, 148-150; Hammond
made Canon of, 154; Henry King
educated at, 162; portrait of King
at, 163; Morley, Canon of, 164;
Morton’s portrait at, 167; Walton’s
son, Isaak, educated at, 188

Christ’s College, Cambridge, Hench-
man and Paley educated at, 37, 157

Church History of Britain, by Thomas
Fuller, Walton’s remarks on, 150,
151

Churton, Archbishop, 169

Clare College, Henchman made
Fellow of, 157

Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion,
68

Clarendon, Lord, in possession of a
portrait of Henchman, 158

Claughton, Bishop, 38

Clavis Mystica, by Featley, 146

Clement VIII., Pope, his opinion on
Hooker’s Feclesiastical Polity, 105

Clifton, in Warwickshire, Harvey
buried at, 156

Clogher, Dean of, death of, 61

Cockayne, Sir Ashton, his estimate
of Cotton, 61

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, quoted,
8; on the preaching of Donne and
Taylor, seenote, 18 ; Lamb’s letter
about The Complete Angler to, 44

Collar, The, verses by Herbert, 233

Combe, William, his Dance of Death
quoted, see note, 6

Commendatory Verses,
Bayley, 248

by Henry

251

Complete Angler, The, Walton quotes
verses by Christopher Harvie in,
13, 14; the authorities used by
Walton in, 29; caused many other
books to be written on angling,
30, 31; verses by J. Davors in,
34; its first publication, 40; its
various editions and additions, 41-
44; universal appreciation of, 44-
46; Franck’s adverse criticism
of, 46, 47; list of editions since
Walton’s death, 51, 52; price of
early editions of, 53; Cotton
wrote PartII. of, 58; unique copy
of, 72; two songs signed Jo.
Chalkhill in, 118, 121; ‘* Win-
chester Edition” of, 130; Harvey’s
verses in, 156

Complete Gamester, The, attributed
to Cotton, 58

Complete Troller, The, 43

Contentation, verses by Cotton
quoted, 208
Cook, Sir Robert, of Highnam,

married the widow of George
Herbert, 103

Cooper, Sir William, his epitaph to
Hooker, 108

Corpus Christi College, Hooker
educated at, 104; Featley at, 146:
John Hales educated at, 152

Cotton, Beresford, son of Charles
Cotton, 63

Cotton, Charles, 11; quoted on
Walton’s knowledge of fishing,
25; his addition to The Complete
Angler, 41, 42; reference to, in
The Innocent Epicure, 44 ; parent-
age, birth and early history of,
54, 55 ; his friendship for Walton,
55, 56; his various publications,
56-58 ; character of, 58-61; death
of, 62; descendants of, 62, 63;
and account of the famous fishing-
house built by, 69-73 ; his portrait
by Lely, 138; dedicated his trans-
lation of Gerard’s History to
Sheldon, 172; Walton bequeathes
a ring to, 187; his verses to
Walton quoted, 202-207; his Con-
tentation quoted, 208; verses to
Walton quoted, 213; The Retire-
ment quoted, 215; The Angler’s
Ballad quoted, 219; To Poet E.
W. quoted, 223; The Eighth Psalm
Paraphrased, 224

252

INDEX

Coventry, Thomas, afterwards Baron
Coventry of Aylesbury, 155

Cranmer, Archdeacon, Rachel Floud
descended from, 2 and note

Crawford Church, Fuller buried in,
152

Crawley, Thomas, witness to Walton’s
will, 187

Creed, The, Bishop Pearson on, 168

Croft, Herbert, Bishop of Hereford,
supposed author of The Naked
Truth, 114

Crompton, Dr Henry, see note, 11

Cromwell, Oliver, his commissions
to Penn and Venables, 64; and
subsequent displeasure at their
failure, 65, 66

Croydon, monument to Sheldon at,
172

Cuddesden, Episcopal Palace of, re-
built by Fell, 149

D

Dalbin, Mrs Walton bequeaths a
ring to, 187

Dance, Charles, his dedication, 137

Dance of Death, see note, 6

Danvers, Charles, daughter of,
married to Herbert, 102

Darbyshire, John, Walton’s bequests
to, 185, 187

Davors, J., verses by, in The Com-
plete Angler, 34

Davy, Sir Humphrey, quotation from
his Salmonia, 39

Dawson, George, the prayers of, 15;
quotation from, 74; quoted, 123

Dennys, John, author of The Secrets
of Angling, 85

Dewar, George A. B., The Complete
Angler, edited by, 51, 130

Dialogue between Isaac Walton and
Homologistes, 112

Dippers dipt, The, by Featley, 146

Discipline, verses by Herbert, 235

Dissolution of Dissent, The, by
Robert F. Horton, see note, 13

Donne, Dr John, his introductions to
Walton, 11; Walton’s description
of the preaching of, 18, and note;
Walton’s elegy on, 19; Walton’s
Life of, 76; parentage of, 78;
early career of, 79; ordination of,
80: his power of preaching, 80,

81; his funeral sermon on his
wife, 81; made Dean of St Paul’s
and Vicar of St Dunstan’s, 82; his
last illness and death, 82-84;
epitaph written over his grave the
next day, 84, 85; his personal
charms, 86; his epitaph in St
Paul’s, 86; his writings, 87, 88;
his character, 89, 90; information
on seals of, 130; King’s elegy on,
163 ; received help from Morton,
166; Fear Cast Out, verses by,
226; Hymn to God, my God, in my
Sickness, by, quoted, 227; A Vale-
diction forbidding Mourning, by,
quoted, 228; A Sheaf of Snakes
wsed heretofore to be my Seal, the
Crest of our poor Family, by, 230;
The Batt, by, 231 -

Dove, River, Cotton’s famous fishing-
house, by the, 69, see note, 70

Dubravius, Walton uses, as an
authority in his Complete Angler,
29

Duport, John, Master of Jesus
College, Cambridge, 143

Duport, Dr James, his opinion of
George MHerbert’s poems, 98;
biographical sketch of, 1435-145;
Laudatorum Carmina, verses by,
242 and 246; and Translation of,
244 and 246

Duppa, Brian, biographical sketch
of, 145

Durham, Morton made Bishop of,
166

E

Easton-Mauduit, Morton died at,
167

Ecclesiastical Polity, by Hooker, 104.

Ecleshall, Walton’s legacies to, 184.

Edgill, Thomas, Walton’s legacy to,
186

Edwards, quotation from, on the
fishing-house, 69

Egerton, Sir Thomas,
secretary to, 79

Eighth Psalm Paraphrased,
verses by Cotton, quoted, 224

Exkon Basilike, 145

Elegie wpon Dr Donne, Walton’s,
quoted, 190

Elements of Architecture, by Wotton,
94

Donne

The,

INDEX

253

Elixir, The, verses by Herbert, 232.

Elizabeth of Bohemia, verses by
Wotton, 241
Emmanuel College, Cambridge,

Hall, Fellow of, 153. Holdsworth
made Master of, 159. MHolds-
worth’s library acquired by, 159

English Public Schools, Winchester,
by Arthur F. Leach, see note, 93.

Epitaph, on David Hookham, by
Walton, quoted, 201

Essays of Montaigne, translated by
Cotton, 56, 58

Hton, Sir Henry Wotton’s house at,
24. Wotton made Provost of, 93.
Wotton buried in College Chapel
at, 96. John Hales buried at, 153.
Hammond educated at, 154.
Pearson educated at, 168

‘* Huthanasia,” discussion on, 88 and
note

Exeter, Richard Hooker educated at
grammar school of, 104. Seth
Ward, Bishop of, 177

Experienced Angler, The, by Colonel
Robert Venables, sometimes
printed as Part Il]. of Zhe Com-
plete Angler, 43, quotation from
prefatory address to, 66; reprint
of, 67

F

Farnham Castle, restored by Morley,
165

Farrington, Anthony, sermons of,
1

Favourite Haunts and Rural Studies,
by Hdward Jesse, 24

Fear Cast Out, by Donne, 226

Featley, Daniel, biographical sketch
of, 146

Fell, John, biographical sketch of,
148-150

Fell, Dr Samuel, Dean of Christ
Church, Oxford, 148

Fenny Bentley, many monuments to
the Beresfords in the church of,
71

Fishing-house, Cotton’s famous, an
account of, 69-73

Fishing-creel, supposed to have been
Walton’s, 127

Fitz-Herbert, Sir Richard, 72 and
note

Fleet Prison, Donne committed to,

Floud, Rachel, see Rachel Walton,

Floud, Robert, quoted, 40 and note,

Floud, Susanna, mother of Walton’s
first wife, 2

Floud, Wiiliam, father of Walton’s
first wife, 2

Franck, Richard, his views on the

justification of sport, 26, 28;
Northern Memoirs by, 30, 31;
his criticism of The Complete

Angler, 46; his
Walton, 128

Freeman, John, founder of the Free-
man Fellowships, 157

Frome, Ken buried in Parish Church
of, 160

Fulgentio, Father, his opinion of the
English Church, 93

Fulham Church, Henchman buried
in, 158

Fuller, Thomas, quoted on the con-
troversy between Hooker and
Travers, 104; biographical sketch
of, 150-152

aspersion on

G

Gardiner, G, 8. R., quotation from
his History of the Commonwealth
and Protectorate, 66

Garrard, Thomas, Walton be-
queaths ring to, 186

Gauden, Bishop, 172

George, the order of the, Charles
II.’s, account of, after the Batile
of Worcester, 9, 10

Gesner, Walton uses, as an authority
in his Complete Angler, 29

Goodwin, Bishop Harvey, his opinion
of the Reformation, 17

Googe, author of Heresbachius’
Husbandry, 41

Gosden, T., his reprint of The Ex-
perienced Angler, 67

Gosse, Edmund, quoted, 75; his
opinion of the epitaph incident on
Donne’s grave, see note 85; his
Life and Letters of Donne, 88

Grant, Miss Mary, her statue of
Walton, 126

Great Snoring, birthplace of John
Pearson, 168

Green, Mr Frank, of Treasurer’s

254 INDEX

House, York, his purchase of
Cotton’s famous fishing-house, 72

Grove Park, Herts, the seat of Lord
Clarendon, 158

H

Hailes, Lord, 48

Hales, John, biographical sketch of,
152

Hallam, Henry, quoted on Protestant-
ism, 17, his opinion of The Complete
Angler, 44; quoted, 88; quoted on
Herbert’s work, 99; quoted on
Hooker, 104, 107; quoted on
Hammond, 155; his opinion of
Shirley, 173

Hall, Joseph, biographical sketch of,
153

Hall, Stephen, 169

Hammond, Dr Henry, Fell’s life of,
149; biographical sketch of, 154-
156; his epitaph written by
Henchman, 158

Hammond, Dr John, 154

Hampton Lovett, Hammond buried
at, 156

Hangham, 109

Hare, quotation from his London,
see note, 86

Harecourt, Valentine, Walton be-
queaths ring to, 187

Harleian Miscellany, 52

Hart Hall, Donne sent to, 79 and
note

Harvie, Christopher, 13, 14, 156

Hatch, E., quotation from, 74

Hawkins, Anne, see Anne Walton

Hawkins, William, Dr., Prebendary
of Winchester Cathedral, 160;
Walton’s legacies to, 182-186;
married Anne Walton, 189 ; buried
in Winchester Cathedral, 187,
189

Hawkins, Sir John, his edition of
The Complete Angler, 51, 52;
White’s description of Cotton’s
fishing-house written for, 70

Hazlitt, William, his estimate of
The Complete Angler, 44; quoted
46.

Heigham, Hall buried at, 154

Henchman, Humphrey, Bishop of
London, biographical sketch of,
157

Heresbachius’ Husbandry, Walton in-
debted to for some of his ideas,
41

Herbert, Life of George, by Walton,
76; parentage and education of, 97 ;
his poems on the appreciation they
received, 98; windows to his
memory in Trinity College, 99;
his views on prayer, 100; his
resolutions on his induction to
Bemerton, 101; his illness and
death, 102; verses wrapt up
with a seal given him by Donne,
103, 1381; The Elixir, verses by,
quoted 232; The Collar, by, 233;
The Pulley, 234; Discipline, by,
235 ; Sunday, by, 237

Herbert, Richard, father of George
Herbert, 97.

Heywood, John, 78

Higgs, Walter, Walton bequeaths a
ring to, 187

Histories and Antiquities of Lambeth,
see note, 147

History of the Commonwealth, and
Protectorate, by G. S. R. Gardiner,
quotation from, 66

History of Philosophy The, by Thomas
Stanley, 173

History of the Life of the Duke of

Espernon, translated by Cotton, 57.

Holdsworth, Richard, biographical
sketch of, 158

Holinshed, Thomas, Walton’s legacy
to, 186

Honiwood, Dr, Dean of Lincoln,
180

Hooker, Life of, by Walton, 21, 76;
parentage and education of, 103;
his unfortunate marriage, 104 ;
Master of the Temple and con-
troversy with Travers, 104; be-
came Rector of Bishopsbourne,
104; his Zeclesiastical Polity and
religious views, 104, 105; his
death, 106; memorials to, 107;
Cooper’s epitaph to, 108, 172

Hooker, Joane, wife to Richard
Hooker, 104; her second marriage
and death, 107

Hope, Dr W., quotation from his
Life of Ward, 177

Horne, Dr., 48

Horton, Dr Robert, his opinion of the
Book of Common Prayer, 13 and
note

INDEX

255

nnn nnn nee eee Ua EIUEENSnES cae

Howe, Anne, Lady, portrait of Hales

painted by, 153; Walton be-
queaths a ring to, 187
Hutchinson, Isabella, married to

Charles Cotton, 55

Hutchinson, Sir Thomas, of Ow-
thorpe, 55

Huysman, Jacob, Walton’s portrait
painted by, 138

Hymn to God, my God, in my Sickness,
by Donne, 227

Hymn to my God, A, by Wotton, 239

I

Incompleat Angler, The, by F. C.
Burnand, 136

Innocent Epicure, The; or, The Art of
Angling, 33; reference to Walton,
Cotton and Venables in, 44

In Praise of my Friend the Author,
and his Booke, verses by Walton
quoted, 194

Trenicum, by Edward Stillingfleet,
see note, 114

Ironmongers’ Company,
admitted to, 5

Irving, Washington, his appreciation
of The Complete Angler, 44

Walton

J

Jesse, Edward, quoted on the friend-
ship between Wotton and Walton,
24

Jessopp, Dr, on Donne’s funeral
sermon upon his wife, 81

Jesus College, Pearson Master of,
168; Pearson’s portrait at, 169;
Seth Ward elected principal of,
177

Johnson,Mrs Eliza, Walton bequeaths
a ring to, 187

Johnson, Mrs Eliza, received auto-
graph copy of Walton’s Lives from
the author, see note, 50

Johnson, Dr Samuel, quoted on
Walton’s friendships, 11; quoted,
47, 49

Journey to Beresford Hall, A, by W.
Alexander, see note, 69

Juxon, Archbishop, 171

K

Keeling, Judge, his caution to Bun-
yan, 13

Ken, Anne, see Anne Walton

Ken, John, Walton bequeaths a
ring to, 186

Ken, Thomas, father of Walton’s
second wife, 2, 159

Ken, Dr Thomas, Bishop of Bath and
Wells, half-brother to Walton’s
second wife, 2; biographical sketch
of, 159-161; Walton bequeaths a
ring to, 186

King, Dr John, Bishop of London,
Donne ordained by, 80; his elegy
on Donne, see note, 83; Sanderson
ordained by, 109; father to Henry
King, 161

King, Henry, Bishop of Chichester,
preached Duppa’s funeral sermon,
146; quoted on John Hales, 152;
biographical sketch of, 161, 162

King, Mrs Walton bequeaths a ring
to, 187

King’s College, Pearson Fellow of,
168

Kirby, Rev. William, 37

Kitchin, Dean, statue of Walton
placed in screen of Winchester
Cathedral by permission of, 126;
his book on Winchester, 161, 165

L

Laggan, David, his portrait of Ward,
177

Lamb, Charles, quoted on The Com-
plete Angler, 44

Lambert, Osmund, his
Literature of England, 30

Lambeth Parish Church, Featley
buried in, 147; description of font
in, 147

Landor, Walter Savage. quoted, see
note, 34, 105; quotation from his
Conversations, 137

Lane, Dr, dispute about Mastership
of St John’s College, 158

Lang, Andrew, his letter to Walton
in his Letters to Dead Authors, 134

Langhill, birthplace of Thomas
Barlow, 141

Angling

256

INDEX

Laudatorum Carmina, verses by
Duport, 242, 246; verses by Henry
Bayley, 247

Lea, River, Walton frequently fished
in, 23

Leaders of Religion, by Dr Jessopp,
81

Lecky, W. E. H., his Rationalism
in Europe, 105, 248

Lee, Thomas, of Darn Hall, 68

Le Gallienne, Richard, his edition of
The Complete Angler, 51, 130

Lely, Sir Peter, his portrait of
Cotton, 138; an account of, 138;
his portrait of Henchman, 158;
his portrait of Ussher, 176

Letiers to Dead Authors, Andrew
Lang’s letter to Walton in his, 134

Lichfield, Morton made Bishop of,
167

Life of Bishop Ken, by James Hey-
wood Markland, 163

Life of Donne, see Donne

Life of George Herbert, see Herbert

Life of Richard Hooker, see Hooker

Life of Dr Johnson, by James Bos-
well, quotation from, 47

Life of the Right Reverend Seth, Lord
Bishop of Salisbury, quotation
from, 177

Life of Dr Sanderson, see Sanderson

Life of Wotton, see Wotton

Lincoln, Sanderson made Fellow
and afterwards Bishop of, 109, 110;
Thomas Barlow made Bishop of,
141

Lingard, see note, 65

Literary History, by Hallam, quota-
tion from, 88, 99; on Hooker, 104,
107 ; quotation from, on Hammond,
155 =

Lives, Walton’s, their compilation
and editions, 74-78; life of Donne,
78, 91; life of Wotton, 91-96; life
of George Herbert, 97-103; life of
Hooker, 103-107; life of Sander-
son, 108-112

Lloyde, John, Walton bequeaths a
ring to, 187

Lombart, see note, 40

Longworth, Berkshire, birthplace of
John Fell, 150

Love and Truth, 21; a reply to The
Naked Truth, Walton its probable
author, controversy thereon, 114-
118

Love of Amos and Laura, The, dedi-
cated to Walton, 3

Lowell, quoted on Walton’s ignorance
of Latin, 4; quoted on Walton’s
friendships, 12; quoted, 22

Lutterel, E., his portrait of George
Morley, 166

M

Macaulay, quotation from his History
of England, 128

Magdalene College, Duport made
Master of, 144; Hammond
educated at, 154; Pierce, Fellow
and afterwards President of, 169

Magee, Archbishop, 37

Major, J., his edition of The Com-
plete Angler, 46, 51; quotation
from, 139

Malherbe, 91

Markland, Abraham, biographical
sketch of, 163, witness to Waltons
will, 187 ;

Markland, Michael, druggist, 163

Markland, James Heywood, 163

Marriot, Richard, Walton’s legacy to,
186, 187

Marston, R. B., his Walton and the
Earlier Fishing Writers, 30 ; his
edition of Zhe Complete Angler,
51; pedigree of the Cotton family
given by, 63; Walton’s cabinet
described by, 126

Marvell, Andrew, on the controversy
ag pamphlet 7he Naked Truth,

Matthew, Rev. Theobald, 37

Maxwell, Sir H., his Salmon and Sea
Trout, see note, 23

Meath, Ussher made Bishop of, 175

Memorials of Westminster Abbey, by
hee Stanley, 1; quotation from,

Memoirs of the Sieur de Pontis, Cotton
engaged upon at the time of his
death, 63

Merchant Taylors’ School, Markland
educated at, 163; Shirley educated
at, 172

iN esl Dr, Ken attended by,

Merton College, Oxford, Hales Fellow
of, 152

INDEX

Midnight Meditations,
from, see note, 84
Milman, Dean, on Donne’s preaching,

__ see note, 18

Milton, John, possibility of Walton
knowing, 12; Ussher’s controversy
with, 175

Milward, Mrs Eliza,
queaths ring to, 187

Milward, Robert, the George trans-
mitted to, 10

Milward, W., Walton bequeaths a
ring to, 187

Mitford, Mary Russell, her apprecia-
tion of The Complete Angler, 45;
quoted on Walton’s Lives, 75

Monastery and Cathedral of Worces-
ter, The, by John Noake, 159

Montaigne, his Hssays translated by
Cotton, 56, 58

More, Henry, author of The Mystery
of Godliness, see note, 114

Morley, Francis, 164; Walton be-
queaths a ring to, 186

Morley, George, Bishop of Worcester,
afterwards Bishop of Winchester,
2; Walton wrote lives of Hooker
and Herbert while staying with,
77; Walton dedicated his Life of
Sanderson to, 110; Thomas Ken,
chaplain to, 160; biographical
sketch of, 164-166; Woodward
ordained by, 179

Morley, Henry, his introduction to
Walton’s Lives, 20

Morton, Bishop, A Treatise on the
Nature of God attributed to, 41,
79 ; biographical sketch of, 166

Morton, Richard, Alderman of York,
166

Mystery of Godliness, The, by Henry
More, 114

quotation

Walton be-

N

Naked Truth, The, pamphlet sup-
posed to have been written by
Herbert Croft, 114

National Gallery, portrait of Hooker
presented to, 107; Walton’s por-
trait in, 138

National Portrait Gallery, Morley’s
portrait in, 166; Ussher’s portrait

257

in, 176; Seth Ward’s portrait in,
177

National Review, The, article on
Donne in, 89

Natural Theology, by Dr William
Paley, 37

Nelson, Anne, see Anne Sanderson

Nelson, Rev. Henry, Rector of
Hangham, 109

New College, Oxford, Sir Henry

Wotton at, 91; Thomas Ken
educated at, 159; portraits of
Ken in, 161

Newman, Cardinal, quoted, 20

Nicolas, Sir Harris, referred to 3,
26, 40, 50, 63, 117, 138, 153. 188

Nine Cases of Conscience Occasionally
Determined, by Bishop Sanderson,
110

Nineteenth Century, The, quotation
from, 75

Noake, John, author of The Monastery
and Cathedral of Worcester, 159

No Peace with Rome, by Joseph Hall,
154

Norington Farm left by Walton to
his son, 130

Northern Memoirs,
Franck, 30, 31

North Titworth, Pierce buried at,
170

Norwich, Joseph Hall, Bishop of,
153

Notes and Queries, 4th S. XI. p. 41,
quoted from, i; question of the
epitaph incident on Donne’s grave,
84; on Jo. Chalkhill, 121; Nicolas,
Sir Harris, first biographer to
mention Walton’s first marriage, 3;
quoted on The Complete Angler,
40; his edition of The Complete
Angler, 51; pedigree of the Cotton
family given by, 63; information
on Sanderson given in, 112, see
note, 123; on the Walton and
Cotton Club, 132; on Ussher’s
portraits, 176, 188

by Richard

O

Oldys, William, an account of, 52

Ona Portrait of Donne taken in his
Eighteenth Year, verses by Walton
quoted, 194

258

INDEX

On the Death of my dear Friend Mr
William Cartwright, quoted, 195

1B

Pakington, Lady, probable authoress
of The Whole Duty of Man, 155
Pakington, Sir John Hammond,
great friend of, 155

Paley, Dr William, author of Natural
Theology, 37

Palmer, Mr Walton bequeaths ring
to, 186

Panegyrick to King Charles, A, by
Wotton, 94

Pearson, John, Bishop of Chester,
biographical sketch of, 167

Pearson, Robert, his preferments,
168

Penn, Admiral William, sent by
Cromwell against the Spanish fleet,
64; his failure and Cromwell’s
displeasure with, 65, 66

Penshurst, Hammond, Rector of, 154

Perverse Widow; or, Memorials of
the Boevey Family, The, see note, 2,
85; information on Donne’s seals
in, 130

Peterborough Cathedral, Duport
made Dean of, 144; Duport buried
in, 144

Pey, Nicholas, Wotton’s letter to,
94

Pickering, W., his note in copy of
Love and Truth, 116

Pierce, Thomas, biographical sketch
of, 169, 177

Pilgrim’s Progress, The, 18

Planter’s Manual, The, by Cotton,
57

Poems on Several Occasions, collected
poems of Cotton published after
his death, 62

Poet E. W., To, verses by Cotton,

quoted, 223

Poulshot, Walton’s son Isaak Rector
of, 188

Prayer-book, Walton’s, 127

Price, Dr John, friend of Walton’s,
180

Pseudo-Martyr, by Donne, 87

Pullen, Rev. Joseph, friend of
Walton’s, 180

Pulley, The, verses by Herbert, 234

Q

Quarles, quotation from his Midnight
Meditations, see note, 84; Schola
Cordis, sometimes ascribed to, see
note, 156

Quarterly Review, The, on Chilling-
worth’s Religion of Protestants, 143

Queen’s College, Sir Henry Wotton
at, 92; Thomas Barlow educated
at, and afterwards Provost of, 141

R

Rationalism in Europe, by W. E. H.
Lecky, 105

Recollections of a Literary Life, by
Mary Russell Mitford, 45

Reeve, Rev. J. Andrewes, Rector of
Lambeth, 147

Religio Laici, by Canon Beeching,
5, 89 ;

Religion of Protestants, The, by
William Chillingworth, 142

Reliquie Wottoniane, edited by
Walton, 76

Retirement, The, verses by Cotton,
quoted, 215

Returning Backslider, The, by Sibbes,
174

Richmond, death of Duppa at, 146

Robertson, Frederick, quoted, 49

Robinson’s Discourse of the War in
Lancashire, containing best infor-
mation of life of Venables, 67

Rock, Mrs, Walton bequeaths a
ring to, 187

Rogers, Mrs Mary, Walton bequeaths
a ring to, 187

Rogers, Samuel, quoted, 23

Rudyard, Elizabeth, first wife of
Venables, 68

Rules and Regulations of the Walton
and Cotton Club, description of,
131, 132

Russell, Anne, wife to Henry King,
163

Russell, John,
Parson,” 37

Russell, Mary, second wife of Charles
Cotton, 55

Russell, Sir William, of Strensham
Park, 55, 163

“The Sporting

INDEX

259

Ss

Salisbury, Fuller, Prebendary of,
150; Henchman, Bishop of, 158 ;
Pearson made Prebend of, 168;
Pierce made Dean of, 169; Seth
Ward Bishop of, 177; Walton’s
son Isaak Canon of, 188

Salmon and Sea Trout, by Sir H.
Maxwell, see note, 23

Salmonia; or, Days of Fly Fishing,
by Sir Humphrey Davy, quotation
from, 38

Sancroft, Archbishop, his Miscellanea
containing Love and Truth, 115,
116, 179

Sanderson, Anne, daughter of Rev.
Henry Nelson and wife of Robert
Sanderson, 108

Sanderson, Robert,
Hall, 108

Sanderson, Life of Bishop, Walton
quotes Thucydides in his, see note,
4; quotation from, 9; Thomas
Barlow’s letter on, 75; parentage
of, 108; marriage and ordination,
109 ; his living sequestered, 109 ;
his share in the additions to the
Prayer Book on the Restoration,
109; his writings, 110; his will,
110; his death, 111, 112

Sarpi, Peter Paul (Father Paul), his
views on Popery, 93

Savoy Conference, George Morley a
chief speaker at, 165; Pearson
prominent in the, 168; Sheldon at
the, 171

Scarronides; or, The First Book of
Virgil Travestie, burlesque poem
by Cotton, 56

Schism and Schismaticks, by John
Hales, 152

Schola Cordis, see note, 156

Scott, Sir Walter, preface to Northern
Memoirs by, 31; quoted on
Franck’s criticism of The Complete
Angler, 47

Secrets of Angling, The, question of
authorship of, 85 and note

Shawford Brook, Walton’s fishing
in, 24

Sheaf of Snakes, ete., by Donne, 230

Sheldon, Archbishop, Cotton’s
dedication to, 57; Walton writes
Life of Herbert at request of,

of Gilthwaite

76; biographical sketch of, 170-
172

Sheldonian, founded by Archbishop
Sheldon, 172

Shepherd’s Waltoniana, 118

Shirley, James, biographical sketch
of, 172

Sibbes, Richard,
sketch of, 174

Smith, Sydney, quoted, 20

Soul’s Conflict, The, by Sibbes, 174

St Bride’s, Fleet Street, Fuller
lecturer at, 150

St Catharine’s College, Cambridge,
Shirley took his degree at, 172;
Sibbes at, 174

St Clement’s Church, wife of Donne
buried in, 81; her funeral sermon,
82 ; Pearson lecturer at, 168

St Dunstan’s in the West, Fleet
Street, London, Rachel Walton
buried at, 2; memorial window
to Walton at, 6; Dr Donne vicar
of, 11; an evening lecture at,
19; an account of, 82; descrip-
tion of window to Walton in, 126

St Giles, Shirley buried at, 173

St John’s College, Cambridge,
Holdsworth educated at, and dis-
pute about Mastership of, 158;
dispute about Holdsworth library,
159; Morton educated at, 166;
Morton’s portrait at, 169; Sibbes
educated at, 174

St John’s College, Oxford, Markland
Fellow of, 163

St Mary, parish of, Stafford,
Walton born in, 1; Walton’s bust
in, 126

St Mildred’s Church, Canterbury,
Walton to Rachel Floud at, 2

St Nicholas Olave, London, John
Donne born in parish of, 78

St Paul’s Cathedral, see note, 11;
Donne made Dean of, 82; Donne
buried in, 84; Donne’s epitaph in,
87, 90; monument to Sir Peter
Lely in, 139; Duport forbidden
to preach in, 144 and note; John
King buried in, 162

St Paul’s Cross, see note, 162

St Paul’s School, Woodward edu-
cated at, 178

St Peter’s Poor Church, London,
Holdsworth buried in, 159

St Oswald Hospital, Worcester, 149

biographical

260

INDEX

Stafford, birthplace of Walton, 1;

Walton’s legacies to, 182-184

Stanhope, Sir John, of Elvaston,
Cotton’s father-in-law, 54

Stanhope, Olivia or Olive, daughter
and heiress of Edward Beresford,
54

Stanley, Dean, on origin of Walton’s
name of Izaak, 1; quotation from
his Memorials of Westminster
Abbey, 49

Stanley, Thomas, his kindness to
Shirley, 173

Stanton, birthplace of Sheldon, 170
and note

Stephen, Sir James, his opinion on
Chillingworth’s writings, 143

Stephen, Sir Leslie, his description
of Walton’s listening to Donne’s
preaching, 20; his article on
Donne in the National Review,
89

Stillingfleet, Edward, Bishop of
Worcester, author of Jrenicum, see
note, 114

Stock, Elliot, published an edition
of The Treatyse of Fysshynge,
29

Stone, Nicholas, his statue of Donne,
84

Sunday, verses by Herbert, 237
Synagogue, The, by Harvey, 156

T

Tanswell, John, see note 147

Tate, N., his preface to The Innocent
Epicure, 33

Taylor, Dr Jeremy, the prayers of,
14, quotation from his Holy Dying,
see note, 19

Taylor, W., Walton bequeaths a
ring to, 186

Temple, The; Sacred Poems and
Private Ejaculations, by George
Herbert, 98; prose sequel to,

8

Temple Church, controversy between
Hooker and Travers at, 104; bust
to Hooker in, 107

Tegg, his edition of The Complete
Angler, 52

Thealma and Clearchus, discussion as
to its author, 118-121

Thoms, William John, 52

Thorington, Pearson Rector of,
168

Tilt, C., his edition of The Complete
Angler, 53

Tissington Halli, 72

To my Reverend Friend the Author
of “The Synagogue,” verses by
Walton, quoted. 200

To the Author upon the Light oy
the First Sheet of his Book, verses
by Walton, quoted, 196.

Tower of London, Venables and
Penn committed to, 65; Bishop
Ken sent to, 160

Travers, Walter, his theological
controversy with Hooker, 104

Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle,
The, supposed to have been written
by Dame Juliana Barnes or
Berners, 29; new edition of, 29;
extract from, 37

Treatise on the Nature of God, A,
Walton borrows from, in his
Complete Angler, 40

Trinity College, Cambridge, George
Herbert educated at, 97; two
windows to Herbert in, 99;
William Chillingworth Fellow of,
142; James Duport educated at,
143; Pearson Master of, 169.

Trinity College, Dublin, Ussher
educated at, 175; Ussher’s portrait
at, 176

Turner, Francis, his pamphlet in
reply to The Naked Truth, 114

U

Undevil, Mrs, Walton bequeaths a
ring to, 187

Universal Angler, The, being The
Complete Angler and Parts I. and
IIl., 43

Ussher, Henry, Archbishop of
Armagh, 175
Ussher, James, Archbishop of

Armagh, biographical sketch of,
175

~.

Valediction forbidding Mourning, by
Donne, 228
Vaughan, Dean, see note, 49

INDEX 261

Venables, Colonel Robert, author of
The Experienced Angler; or,
Angling Improved, 43; reference
to, in The Jnnocent Epicure, 44 ;
an account of, 64; sent by Crom-
well at the head of the army
against the Spanish, 64; failure of
the expedition and displeasure of
Cromwell, 65, 66 ; made Governor
of Chester, 66; publication of his
Experienced Angler, 66, 67; his
marriage and close of life, 68

Venice, Wotton’s manner of living
at, 92

Vernon, George, Walton bequeaths
ring to, 186

Verses to Walton, Cotton’s, quoted,
202, 213

WwW

Wadham College, Oxford, Wood-
ward at, 179

Waller, Edmund, Cotton’s verses to,
quoted, 223

‘* Walton and Cotton Clubs,” 131-
134

Walton and the Earlier Fishing
Writers, by R. B. Marston, 30

Walton, Anne, second wife to Walton,
her parentage and death, 2; her
dower coffer, with inscription, 125;
Walton’s epitaph on, 127

Walton, Anne, daughter of Isaak
Walton, her father’s legacies to,
182-186 ; married William Haw-
kins, 189; buried in Winchester
Cathedral, 189

Walton, Jervis, father of Izaak
Walton, 1

Walton, Izaak, birth and parentage
of, 1; his two marriages, 2; his
early life, 3; his love of knowledge
and imperfect education, 4; con-
jectures as to his business employ-
ment, 5, 6; his attitude towards
the political events of the reign of
Charles I., 8; entrusted with the
deliverance of the George to
Colonel Blague, 10 ; his eclogue on
the Restoration, 10; his friendship
for Churchmen and Royalists, 11;
his views of the Prayer Book, 13;
quotes Christopher Hervie’s verses
in The Camplete Angler, 14; his
worldly prosperity and departure

from London, 15; his religious
character and love of literature,
16; mfluenced by Donne’s preach-
ing, 18; his Elegy on Donne’s
death, 19; his views of Noncon-
formity, 21 ; as an angler, 22-25;
his knowledge of fishing, 25; he
insists that angling is an art, 28;
his various authorities on fishing,
29; his Complete Angler caused
many other books to be written on
fishing, 30, 31 ; John Williamson’s
appreciation of The Complete
Angler, 32; his godly life, 34; a
keen sportsman, 35; his dislike of
swearing, 37; his frequent use of
the word primitive, 37; publica-
tion of his Complete Angler, 40;
the sources from which he bor-
rowed, 40, 41; its various editions
and additions, 41-44 ; its universal
appreciation, 44-46; Franck’s ad-
verse criticism of. 46, 47; his
pleasure in writing, 49 ; scratched
his monogram on Casaubon’s tomb
in Westminster Abbey, 49; his
autographs, 50; an account of his
friend Cotton, 54-63; account of
his friend Venables, 64-68; an
account of Cotton’s fishing-house
often visited by, 69-73; compila-
tion and various editions of his
Lives, 73-78; life of John Donne,
78-91; life of Wotton, 91-96 ; life
of George Herbert, 97-103; life of
Hooker, 103-107 ; life of Sander-
son, 108-112; probable author of
Love and Truth, controversy there-
on, 114-118; discussion on Thealma
and Clearchus, 118-121 ; death of,
at Winchester, 123 ; buried in Win-
chester Cathedral, 124; two
cabinets with dates of his mar-
riages inscribed, 125; memorials
to, 126; supposed fishing-creel,
clock and Prayer-book, 127; the
spelling of his name, 128; his
seals, 131; various clubs named
after, 131-134; his habits, etce.,
134-136; his portrait, 138; his
opinion on Fuller’s Church History,
151; his bequest of Dr Hall’s
works to his daughter, 154; his
verses in The Synagogue, 156; Dr
Henchman gave information on
George Herbert to, 158; King’s

262

letter to, 162; Sheldon great
friend of, 171; his bequest to
Sibbes, 174; Woodford’s verses
to, 179; copy of his will, 181-187 ;
his Elegie upon Dr Donne quoted,
190; On a Portrait of Donne taken
in his Eighteenth Year, quoted,
194; In Praise of my Friend the
Author and his Book, quoted, 194 ;
On the Death of my dear Friend,
Mr William Cartwright, 195; To
the Author upon the sight of the
First Sheet of his Book, 196; An
Humble Eglog, 197; To my
Reverend Friend the Author of “The
Synagogue,” 200; Epitaph on David
Hookham, 201

Walton, Canon Isaak, 130; Norington
Farm left to, 130; his father’s
legacies, 185; chaplain to Ward,
177

Walton, Rachel, first wife to Walton,
her parentage and death, 2; their
matriage chest, with inscription,
125

Walton, Richard, 186

Ward, Seth, Bishop of Salisbury,
biographical sketch of, 176-178;
Woodford’s sonnet to, 179

Warwick Castle, Walton’s marriage
chest in, 125

Watkins, Rev. Morgan George,
quotation from his preface to The
Treatyse of Fysshynge, 38

Weaver, Rev. Thomas, friend to
Walton, 179

Wells Cathedral, memorial window
to Ken in, 161

Westcott, Bishop,
27

Westminster Abbey, Duppa buried
in, 145; Casaubon’s tomb in, 49,
166 ; Ussher buried in, 176

Westminster School, George Herbert
educated at, 97; James Duport
educated at, 143 ; Duppa educated
at, 145; Henry King educated
at, 161; George Morley educated
at, 164

Westwood, Thomas, quoted on
Walton’s birthplace, 1; his esti-
mate of The Complete Angler, 45;
his sonnet on the fishing-house,
73

White, Mr, his description of Cotton’s
fishing-house, 70

on vivisection,

INDEX

White, Peter, Walton bequeaths a
ring to, 187

Whole Art of Fishing, The, 43

Whole Duty of Man, The, doubt as
to the author, 155, 157

Will, copy of Walton’s, 181-187

Williamson, John, The British Angler,
by, 32

Wilmot, Lord, Charles II. committed
his watch to, 9

Wilson, John, ‘* Christopher North,”
quoted, 124

Wincham estate
Venables, 67

Winchester, Ken’s house in, 161

Winchester Cathedral, Wotton
educated at, 91; George Morley
Bishop of, 110; Walton buried in
Prior Silkstead’s Chapel in, 124;
statue of Walton placed in Great
Sereen of, 126; statue of Ken
placed in Great Screen of, 161;
Markland made Prebend of, 163;
Morley buried in, 166; Morton
made Dean of, 167; - Woodford
made Canon of, 179; William
and Anne Hawkins buried in,
189

Winchester College, Thomas Ken
educated at, 159

Winton, Bishop of, Walton’s legacy
of aring to, 184

Wollop, Mrs Dorothy, Walton be-
queaths a ring to, 187

Wonders of the Peak, The, by Cotton,
5-8

purchased by

Woodford, Samuel, biographical
sketch of, 178

Worcester, Hall made Dean of,
153

Worcester Cathedral, Anne Walton
buried in, 2

Worde, Wynkyn de, The Book of St
Albans printed by, 29

Wordsworth, Christopher, Bishop
of Lincoln, quoted on prayers,
15

Works of Alexander Pope, with
Memoirs of His Life, by William
L. Bowles, 45

Worthies of England, by Thomas
Fuller, 150

Wotton, Sir Henry, extract from his
letter to Lord Zouch, see note, 2;
friend of Milton, 13; Walton
visits, at Eton, 24; his intention

INDEX

of writing the life of Donne, 76;
parentage and education of, 91;
his appointments as ambassador,
92; his service to James, 92; his
godly life and influence, 92, 93;
his ill-health, 94; his writings,
94; made Provost of Eton, 95;
his death, burial and legacies, 96 ;
his fondness for tobacco, 134; A
Hymn to my God, by, quoted, 239 ;
The Character of a Happy Life,
by, 240; Elizabeth of Bohemia,
by, 241

Wotton, Thomas, of Bocton, father
to Sir Henry Wotton, 91

Wrangham, Francis, his transla-
tion of Donne’s epitaph quoted,
87

Wren, Sir Christopher, Architect

263

of St Paul’s Cathedral, see note,
11

WE

Yelverton Chapel, Morton buried in
the, 167
York, Morton made Dean of, 167

Z

Zouch, Dr, see note, 2; his opinion
as to Walton being the author of
Love and Truth, 114-118; his as-
sertion on Thealma and Clearchus,
120

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