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time a man generally known, and as well beloved; for he was humble and obliging in his behaviour, a gentleman, a scholar, very 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.

May 7, 1678."

I. W.

But the most interesting part of the volume are the verses which the poet Flatman addressed "to his worthy friend, Mr Isaac Walton, on the publication of this poem," because they describe the venerable Walton in the happiest manner, and are beyond comparison the most elegant compliment ever paid to his virtues :

"Long had the bright Thealma lain obscure:

June 5, 1683."

Her beauteous charms, that might the world allure,
Lay, like rough diamonds in the mine, unknown,

By all the sons of folly trampled on,

Till your kind hand unveil'd her lovely face,

And gave her vigour to exert her rays.

Happy old man! whose worth all mankind knows,
Except himself; who charitably shows

The ready road to virtue and to praise,

The road to many long and happy days,
The noble art of generous piety,
And how to compass true felicity;

Hence did he learn the art of living well;

The bright Thealma was his oracle:
Inspired by her, he knows no anxious cares
Through 6 near a century of pleasant7 years;
Easy he lives, and cheerful 8 shall he die,
Well spoken of by late posterity.9

As long as Spenser's noble flames shall burn,
And deep devotions throng about his urn;
As long as Chalkhill's venerable name

With humble emulation shall inflame

Ages to come, and swell the rolls of fame:

Your memory shall ever be secure,

And long beyond our short-liv'd praise endure;
As Phidias in Minerva's shield did live,

And shar'd that immortality he alone could give.

THO. FLATMAN.

It is not certain whether Walton resided entirely with Bishop Morley after 1670, or divided his time between his son Izaak, his daughter Mrs Hawkins, and the Bishop of Winchester; but he appears to have spent the Christmas of 1678 at Farnham Castle, in Surrey, one of the Bishop's seats, as the following inscription in a copy of the fifth edition of the "Complete Angler," which he gave to Mrs Wallop, was dated there on the 19th of December in that year :

2 The following variations occur in the edition of Flatman's Poems and Songs, printed in 1686. Thyself.

5 Skill.

6 In.

9 On the soft bosom of eternity.

An euthanasie.

9 Way.
7 Happy.

8 Easy.

1 Shall attend.

2 Posterity, and fill the.

"For Mrs WALLOP,—I think I did some years past, send you a booke of Angling: This is printed since, and I think better; and, because nothing that I can pretend a tytell too, can be too good for you : pray accept of this also, from me that am really, Madam, yo most affectionate friend; and most humble servant, IZAAK WALTON.

FARNHAM CASTELL, Decem1 19o. 1678."

The lady for whom Walton thus expressed so much esteem, and to whom he bequeathed a ring, was Dorothy, the youngest daughter and one of the co-heirs of John Bluet, of Holcomb Regis, in Devonshire, Esq., and widow of Henry Wallop, of Farley, in Hampshire, Esq., whose grandson, John Wallop, was created Viscount Lymington and Earl of Portsmouth. She died on the Ist of December 1702, aged seventy-two; and in the monumental inscription to her memory it is said that, "To both which ancient families, by her extraordinary prudence, moderation, piety, and other eminent graces, she added great lustre," and "having had a considerable share in those troubles and difficulties which attend humanity, after a life of the wisest conduct with relation both to temporal and spiritual matters, died as much like a Christian as she lived; and into the hands of her God, to whom she had long paid a constant devotion, she meekly resigned her pious humble soul."

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It has been already observed that two letters on political affairs, the one written in 1678, and the other in 1679, have been attributed to Walton. But as the fact of their having been written by him is not fully established, it is desirable to examine the question with some attention.

In January 1668 a plan was proposed by Sir Orlando Bridgeman, then Lord Keeper, for the compression of the more moderate of the Dissenters from the Church, and allowing certain indulgences to such as could not be brought within the comprehension. A bill for that purpose was prepared by Sir Matthew Hale, but on being brought into the House of Commons, it resolved not to adopt any measure of that description. The rejection of the bill gave great offence to the Nonconformists; and Walton is said to have been the author of a letter dated on the 18th of February in that year, which, with another on the same subject written in September 1679, were printed in 1680 under the title of "Love and Truth, in two modest and peaceable letters concerning the distempers of the present times, written from a quiet and comfortable citizen of London to two busy and factious

Collins's Peerage, ed. 1779, vol. v. p. 194.

shopkeepers in Coventry." These letters are assigned to Walton upon the authority of the following memorandum in Archbishop Sancroft's handwriting, which occurs in a copy of the tract in the library of Emanuel College, Cambridge. "Is. Walton's 2 letters conc. ye Distemp's of ye Times 1680;" and as the Archbishop was living and filled the see of Canterbury when they were published, he is likely to have known who was the author. Dr Zouch, who reprinted the tract, considers that the internal proofs bring conviction with them, and that "the work is so like his temper of mind, and his other writings, that all readers may readily conclude it could flow only from his pen."

That there is a great resemblance to the style of Walton in these letters, especially in the conclusion of the first, and in the commencement as well as in great part of the second letter, and that they express the opinions which he entertained, is not denied; but there are some circumstances which render it very unlikely that they were written by him. There is a fictitious plan in the publication which is inconsistent with Walton's scrupulous regard for veracity, and straightforward adherence to fact. The editor of the tract, or, as he calls himself, "the publisher," appears to have been a distinct person from the author of the letters; but if any part of the work was written by Walton, the address from the publisher to the stationer may be attributed to him, because it bears as strong a resemblance to his style as the letters themselves. In that address, which is dated on the 29th of May 1680, the writer says:—

66

TO MR HENRY BROME IN ST PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON. "SIR, I here send you two letters (the first writ in the year 1667), both writ by a prudent and conformable quiet citizen of London, to two brothers, that now are, or were zealous, and busy shopkeepers in Coventry; to which place I came lately, and by accident met with a grave divine, who commended them to my reading: and having done what he desired, I thought them to speak so much real truth, and clear reason, and both so lovingly and so plainly, that I thought them worth my transcribing; and now, upon second thoughts, think them worth printing, in order to the unbeguiling many men that mean well, and yet have been too busy in meddling, and decrying things they understand not. Pray, get them to be read by some person of honesty and judgment: and if he shall think as I do, then let them be printed; for I hope they may turn somewhat to your own profit, but much more to the benefit of any reader that has been mis taken, and is willing to be unbeguiled.—God keep you, Sir, your Friend, N. N.4 May 29, 1680."

4 This signature has been attributed to JOHN SELDEN.

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If this address was written by Walton, it would seem that he was only the editor, and not the author of the letters; and there is no other difficulty in considering this to be the case than the circumstance of the tract not being printed by his friend Marriott, who was then living, and who printed all his other works. With respect to the authorship of the letters, it is to be observed that they are both signed " R. W.," instead of " J. W.," or with Walton's more usual abbreviation of his names, "Iz. Wa.;" that no other instance is known of his having used an imaginary signature; and that as the writer was personally acquainted with the parties addressed, and even alludes to a conversation which he had with one of them the evening before the date of his first letter, it would be absurd to suppose that he would affix to them any other initials than his own. On the other hand, it may be contended that the two shopkeepers were supposititious persons; or that before the letters were sent to press, the incongruities above mentioned were purposely made to conceal the author. These hypotheses are, however, opposed by the internal evidence which the letters bear of having been really written under the circumstances described : by the fact that even the most trifling artifice 5 or simulation was repugnant to Walton's disposition; and that no reasonable cause can be assigned for his wishing to conceal that these letters proceeded from his pen, if he was the author of them. He was then nearly eighty-seven years of age, and must have been too indifferent to the world's praise or censure to have had recourse, for the first time in his life, to anything which bore the appearance of deception. Against these reasons for disbelieving that Walton wrote the letters, there is nothing except a similarity of style, and the memorandum of Archbishop Sancroft; but the former is always uncertain evidence; and the latter may be explained by Walton's having merely caused them to be printed, or by a rumour respecting the authorship which might be unfounded.

The question has, however, been sufficiently discussed; and it is only necessary to add, that if Walton was the author of these letters, and they were actually written under the circumstances mentioned in them, it would appear that he was at Coventry in February 1668; that the two factious shopkeepers were brothers, and his cousins; that the one to whom the first letter was addressed died before the second was written; and that they and

5 Archdeacon Nares well observed, in reference to the authorship of "Thealma and Clearchus," " Let him not be made answerable for what he did not write, and for artifices of fiction which he would surely have considered as nothing less than dishonest."-Gentieman's Magazine, vol. xciii. part ii. p. 419.

he were related to a "Mrs B." whose uncle and father were active Presbyterians.

In 1681 Walton had the satisfaction of seeing his son, who was then chaplain to Dr Seth Ward, Bishop of Salisbury, provided for by presentation to the living of Polshot in Wiltshire; and as his only daughter had long been happily married, the evening of his days was undisturbed by painful cares for his family.

Though extreme old age and the solemn reflections which ought to attend it, may have alienated Walton from his literary pursuits, he had not, even when verging on his ninetieth year, altogether abandoned them. Nor had bodily infirmities prevented him from travelling; for it appears that he was at Farnham Castle on the 26th of May 1683, from which place he wrote to Anthony Wood in reply to an inquiry respecting the death of Doctor Aylmer. He soon afterwards returned to Winchester; and it seems that he never again left that city.

6

On the 9th of August following Walton completed his ninetieth year, on which day he commenced his will; and as it is a record of his religious sentiments, and contains the last testimony of his affection for his family, and esteem for his numerous friends, that document is far from being the least interesting production of his pen. He appears to have been seven days engaged on the subject; for though his will was commenced on the 9th, it was not finished until the 16th of August; and was not executed until the 24th of October following. It is written throughout in his own hand, with several erasures; and the following is, as nearly as possible, a literal copy of the original. The seal attached to it is the one which was given to him by Dr Donne, containing the Saviour extended on an anchor :

"August the 9o, 1683.

"In the name of God Amen. I IZAAK WALTON the elder of Winchester, being this present day in the neintyeth yeare of my age and in perfect memory for wich praysed be God: but Considering how sodainly I may be deprived of boeth doe therfore make this my last will and testament as followeth. And first I doe [declare] my beleife to be that their is only one God who hath made the whole world and me and all mankinde to whome 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] Cristianity does at this time, seime to be subdevided into papist and protestant, I take it to be at least convenient to declare my beleife to be in all poynts of faith, as the Church of England now pro

6 Athen. Oxon. by Bliss, iii. 957.

7 The words within brackets are interlineations.

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