of his only surviving daughter Anne, by saying that he "loved him as his own son." The rings which he ordered to be given to his friends bore an appropriate motto. Through these silent but eloquent relics he bid his family, as it were from the tomb, to "love his memory," whilst his gratitude to Bishop Morley was quaintly but feelingly expressed by the legend, "a mite for a million." The rings of his other friends who were thus remembered, bore no other motto than the simple one, that they were "a Friend's farewell." His regard for the spiritual welfare of his children was evinced by his selecting for them the books from which he had himself derived the most religious knowledge and consolation. It appears that he had a house or rooms at Droxford in Hampshire, as well as apartments in the episcopal residences at Winchester and Farnham Castle; that his books and other property were divided among those places; and that he was a collector of prints and pictures. His affection for his second wife's family is shown by the request that his son would be kind to his aunts Beacham and Rose Ken, that he would contribute to the support of a son of the former, and that he would bring up a son of the latter, as he himself intended to have done, adding his conviction that he would do so if he were able, because "they be good folk." The bequest to his old friend and publisher, Richard Marriott, of ten pounds and a ring, and his injunction to his son to show kindness" to him, if he happened to require it, is a pleasing proof of the good understanding which existed between them for nearly half a century. 66 His desire to be buried near the place of his death, free from any ostentation or charge, but privately," was consistent with the simplicity of his character. Among the three witnesses to his will was the Reverend Doctor Abraham Markland, a prebend of Winchester, who was probably one of his friends; but nothing more is known of the other witnesses than their names. Some of the parties mentioned in Walton's will have been already described; and his descendants and immediate relatives, the Kens and Beachams, will be particularly alluded to; but it is desirable to state, as far as has been ascertained, who were the other persons to whom he bequeathed tokens of his regard. Mr Francis Morley was a nephew of Bishop Morley. Sir George Vernon was a younger branch of the ancient and dis 1 Dr Abraham Markland, fellow of St John's College, Oxford: he was also a prebendary of Winchester and master of the Hospital of St Cross.-Trollope's History of Christ's Hospital, p. 242. tinguished family of that name. He lived at Farnham, in Surrey; was knighted on the 6th of November 1681;2 and died in November 1692. Of his three daughters mentioned by Walton, Elizabeth died in August 1699, aged thirty-three; and Katherine in December 1725, both unmarried.3 Lady Anne Howe was the sister of Henry King, late Bishop of Chichester. Mrs King is presumed to have been the daughter of Sir Richard Hobart, and widow of Dr Philip King, the brother of the Bishop of Chichester.4 Mr William Milward, of Christ Church, Oxford, and Mrs Eliza Milward, were most likely distantly related to Walton,5 in the way before alluded to. His cousin Dorothy Kenrick was the daughter of Edward Kenrick, by Susan, sister and co-heiress of Sir William Cranmer. 6 Mr Garrard seems to have been allied to the family of Walton's son-in-law, Dr Hawkins. Mrs Nelson is supposed to have been of the family of the Reverend Henry Nelson, rector of Haugham, in Lincolnshire, "a man of noted worth and learning," whose daughter Anne married Bishop Sanderson. The Lord Bishop of Sarum was Doctor Seth Ward, who was one of Walton's particular friends, and to whom his son was then chaplain; and they had 7 Harleian MS. 5301, f. 153. 3 Manning and Bray's History of Surrey, vol. iii. p. 159. Walton was connected with other branches of the house of Vernon, through his wife Anne Ken, in the manner pointed out in the annexed table : Maud. Henry Vernon, a quo the present LORD VERNON. 4 Fasti Oxoniensis, vol. ii. p. 89. Vide also vol. i. pp. 361, 380; and Athenæ, vol. i. p. 761; ii. 294, 435; iii. 84r; iv. 195. The connection between the families of Walton and Milward is stated in note K. See also the pedigree of Walton. 6 Harleian MS. 5801, and MS. in the College of Arms, K. 9, f. 335. 7 An Edward Garrard was buried in Salisbury Cathedral, in March 1712-13. His daughter Elizabeth, who was the wife of George Hawkins, died in 1702. Vide Price's Description of Salisbury Cathedral, 4to, 1774. A Thomas Garrard, who died on the 14th December 1697, was buried near his father, the Reverend George Garrard, in Winchester Cathedral. See Gale's History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of Winchester, 8vo, 1715, p. 70. 8 Walton's Lives, ed. Zouch, ii. 183. perhaps received civilities from Mr Rede, "the bishop's servant," or probably agent or land steward. Mrs Eliza Johnson is mentioned in the will of Walton's son, in 1714, as "formerly of Worcester," where she may have resided in 1662, when Mrs Walton died in that city; and it is not unreasonable to conjecture that her kindness to the Waltons on that occasion caused her to be thus remembered. Mr Valentine Harcourt was doubtless a younger son of Humphrey Harcourt, who in the year 1614 was the son and heir-apparent of John Harcourt, of Ranton Hall, in Staffordshire.9 Mr Richard Walton, Mr Palmer, Mr Taylor, who was perhaps one of the witnesses to his will, "his cousin Lewin," "1 Mr Walter Higgs,2 Mr John Darbyshire, Mr Holingshed, Mrs Mary Rogers, Mrs Vuedvill, Mrs Rock, Mr Peter White, Mr John Lloyde, his cousin Greinsell's widow, and Mrs Dalbin, have not been identified. The execution of Walton's will on the 24th of October 1683, was one of the latest acts of his life respecting his temporal affairs; and the completion of that instrument may have been hastened by symptoms of decay, warning him that the unusual period to which his existence had been prolonged, was not likely to be extended. Of his last hours nothing is known. Few men were so well prepared for the awful change, and had so little cause to view it with apprehension. His death took place in the house of his son-in-law, Dr Hawkins, at Winchester, on the 15th of December 1683, during a severe frost, which may have hastened the event, for the serious effect of extreme cold upon aged persons is well known. His dying hours were probably cheered by the tender regard of his family; 3 and it is not unlikely that he received the consolations of religion from his constant and venerable friend Bishop Morley, who died in the following year, aged eighty-seven, and being also buried in Winchester Cathedral, 3 "In one hallowed pile at last their bones repose."4 Walton was buried in Winchester Cathedral, in a chapel in the 9 Harleian MS. 1439, f. 57. 1 A Dr Lewin Floud was first the father of Walton's first wife. n 1619. cousin of Robert Floud, who is supposed to have been A family of Lewin were seated at Öldingden, in Keut, 2 The ancestor (it is presumed) of William Simond Higgs, Esq. of the Regent's Park, London, whose youngest son, John Higgs, Esq. of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, died at Hastings on the 4th May 1833. His library contained copies of the original editions, and numerous illustrations, of the Complete Angler." Gentleman's Magazine, ciii. i. 477: & civ. pt. 3 His brother-in-law, Dr Ken, was then abroad, having accepted the situation of Chaplain to Lord Dartmouth, who commanded the expedition to Tangiers, in that year. Bowies's Life of Ken, ii. 62. 4 Bowles, ibid. i. p. 112. south aisle, called Prior Silkstead's Chapel. A large black marble slab is placed over his remains, with the following inscription; and to use the poetical language of Mr Bowles, "the morning sunshine falls directly on it, reminding the contemplative man of the mornings when he was for so many years up and abroad with his angle on the banks of the neighbouring stream: "5_ 66 HERE RESTETH THE BODY OF MR IZAAC WALTON, WHO DIED THE 15TH OF DECEMBER Alas! he's gone before, Gone to return no more! Whose well-spent life did last, That which will ne'er be done. VOTIS MODESTIS SIC FLERUNT LIBERI.' The character of Izaak Walton has been described by so many able writers, that the hope of exhibiting him in a new light, or of increasing the number of his admirers, would be presumptuous. In the preceding pages all the incidents of his life have been stated; and by introducing his own words whenever he has alluded to himself, he has been made, in a great degree, his own biographer. Those statements present, however, little but a general outline of his career; and the idiosyncrasies of mind which distinguish one individual from another must be sought for in the passages of his works, where he has expressed his opinions and feelings. The obscurity in which the early part of Walton's life is involved, has given rise to considerable doubts as to the nature and extent of his acquirements. It is not probable that he received a regular classical education; but although translations existed of nearly all the Latin works which he quotes, it is nevertheless certain that he had some knowledge of that language. His reading in English literature was various and extensive, particularly in divinity. On many occasions he alludes to his imperfect education and mean abilities; and though the latter may be attributed to modesty, the former was, doubtless, grounded upon Life of Ken, ii. 271. Mr Bowles conjectures that "the retired spot which contains Walton's remains was probably fixed on by himself, as suiting his humbler station of life." fact. Thus, in his preface to the collected edition of the Lives of Donne, Wotton, Herbert, and Hooker, he says, "When I look back upon my education and mean abilities, it is not without some little wonder at myself that I am come to be publicly in print;" and in his dedication of that work he resigns all claim "to acquired learning or study.” Walton's opinion of ancestry and honours, like his sentiments on most other subjects, was liberal and just. When alluding to the antiquity of Angling, he says, “As I would rather prove myself a gentleman, by being learned and humble, valiant and inoffensive, virtuous and communicable, than by any fond ostentation of riches, or wanting those virtues myself boast that these were in my ancestors (and yet I grant, that where a noble and ancient descent and such merit meet in any man, it is a double dignification of that person); so if this antiquity of angling, which for my part I have not forced, shall, like an ancient family, be either an honour or an ornament to this virtuous art which I profess to love and practise, I shall be the gladder that I made an accidental mention of the antiquity of it." Nor is there less truth in the following reflection upon hereditary titles: "Bare titles are noted to have in them nothing of reality; for titles not acquired, but derived only, do but show us who of our ancestors have, and how they have achieved that honour which their descendants claim, and may not be worthy to enjoy. For if those titles descend to persons that degenerate into vice, and break off the continued line of learning, or valour, or that virtue that acquired them, they destroy the very foundation upon which that honour was built; and all the rubbish of their degenerousness ought to fall heavy on such dishonourable heads; ought to fall so heavy, as to degrade them of their titles, and blast their memories with reproach and shame."6 It was impossible for a man of Walton's talents and sensibility to live through the events, which distracted this country for nearly twenty years, without adopting very decided political opinions. It has been already observed, that he adhered with unshaken fidelity to the cause of royalty, which he considered was identified with that of religion. This has been partly attributed to his constant association with the most eminent divines of the Church of England; but it is probabie that he would, under any circumstances, have followed that course, because the most striking characteristic of his mind was veneration, from which feeling 6 Life of Sanderson, ed. Zouch, ii. 157. |