should dye before me-I do then appoint my forementiond nephew & niece (William Hawkins & Anne Hawkins) jointly my executors, giving & bequeathing unto them the Remainder of my Estate unbequeathed, to be divided between them into Three parts, whereof my nephew is to have two Thirds, & my neice one Third part. ISAAC WALTON. Signed, sealed, published & declared as the last Will & Testament of the within named Isaac Walton, in the presence of us who have subscribed our names as witnesses to the same on the request of the said Isaac Walton & in his presence and in presence of each other EDWARD Seale. STEPHEN GAIsford. GEO: FROME." In the handwriting of the testator, "Last Will & Testamt of J: W: July 14. 1714." "Probat Londini &c decimo quarto die mensis Novris Anno D'ni 1720 coram Veñli viro Humphredo Henchman Legum D'core Surro &c Jurto Gulimi Hawkins afi un Extof substitut &c cui &c. De bene & jurat Reservatâ potestate silem comnem faciendi Annæ Hawkins juñ alter Execut substitui &c. cum venerit eandem petitura Annâ Hawkins señ Extrice in dĉo Tešto nominat in vitâ Testatoris mortem obeunte. 14° Novris 1720. "Guilielmus Hawkins Arm unus Executor substituť jurať reservať, potestate Anne Hawkins juñ alteri Execut Anna Hawkins sen. Executric in Vita Testatoris mortem obiunte. "Testator fuit unus Canonicorum Residentiarium Ecclesiæ Cathedralis Ste Beatæ Mariæ Virginis Sarum et obijt mense Decembris ult." The strong allusion which Canon Walton makes to his " many and grievous sins,” and to the “manifold scandals which his very irregular, negligent, and most unprofitable course of life had too surely administered," probably originated in extreme humility, and ought not to be construed literally. Like his father, he professed his ardent attachment to the Church of England, as she had then reformed herself; and he also imitated his example, by desiring to be interred in the most unostentatious manner. Anne Walton, the only daughter of Izaak Walton who attained womanhood, married about the year 1676 Dr William Hawkins, a prebendary of Winchester, and rector of Droxford in Hampshire, who died on the 17th of July 1691. She died on the 18th of August 1715, aged sixty-seven, and was buried, with her husband, in Winchester Cathedral. The following inscriptions, with the crest and arms of Hawkins, without an impalement, are placed on their tomb : "H. S. E. GULIELMUS HAWKINS S. T. P. HUJUS ECCLESIÆ PRÆBENDARIUS H. S. E. ANNA ETIAM ISAACI WALTON FILIA QUÆ OBIT SUPER MEMORATI GULIELMI VIDUA They left only two surviving children; viz., William and Anne Hawkins. The latter lived for many years with her uncle, Canon Walton, and superintended his domestic affairs; and after his decease she continued to reside at Salisbury. Her uncle, Bishop Ken, left her £50 in 1711; and dying unmarried on the 27th of November 1728, was buried in Salisbury Cathedral, where the following inscription is placed to her memory : "HERE LIETH THE BODY OF ANN HAWKINS ONLY DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM HAWKINS D.D. AND OF ANNE HIS WIFE SISTER OF MORE I AM FORBID. William Hawkins was born about 1678, entered of the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar. He was the executor of Bishop Ken, whose will he proved on the 11th of April 1711; and in 1713 he published a short account of that prelate. Some time before his death he unfortunately became blind,' and died on 7 Ibid. p. 56. 6 Hawkin's Life of Walton, p. 56. the 29th of November 1748, aged seventy. He married Jane, the beautiful daughter of John Merewether, M.D., who survived him until the 11th of June 1761. She was buried with her husband in Salisbury Cathedral, beneath a stone which is thus inscribed : AND DAUGHTER OF JOHN MEREWETHER, M.D. Their issue were one son, William Hawkins; and four daughters, Jane, Anne, Henrietta-Rebecca, and Mary. Jane, the eldest daughter, died on the 11th of April 1728, to whose memory her parents caused the following inscription to be placed over her grave :— ELDEST DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM AND JANE HAWKINS ON THE IITH DAY OF APRIL 1728 Why should we grieve for what we must approve Her sisters, Henrietta-Rebecca and Mary Hawkins, also died unmarried. Anne married the Reverend John Hawes, rector of Wilton and Fugglestone St Peter's in Wiltshire. William Hawkins, the only son of William Hawkins by Jane Merewether, left an only child, Frances, who married in 1790 the late Mr Thomas Knapp Blagden, a bookseller at Winchester, to whom she was the second wife. She had no issue. The Reverend John Hawes died in December 1787, having had issue by his wife, Anne Hawkins, who died in June 1797, four children, viz., Margaret-Jane, and Anne, who both died unmarried; the Reverend Henry Hawes, minister of Clifton, who married Miss Brown, and died without issue in March 1809; and the Reverend Doctor Herbert Hawes, prebendary of Salisbury. 8 See Bowles's Life of Ken, ii. 267. Of some of the relations mentioned in the wills of the Waltons it is difficult to speak with certainty. It is most probable that their affinity was produced by Izaak Walton's marriage with Anne Ken; and as nothing is known of his wife's half-sisters, Margaret and Elizabeth Ken, it may be conjectured, from the position of the name of his "sister Pye," in Izaak Walton's will, where it occurs immediately after the Kens, that she was one of the bishop's sisters. His "brother Beacham" was James Beacham, the husband of Martha Ken he was living in July 1714, and had two sons Jon and William Beacham, the latter of whom was a fellow of New College, but appears to have died before 1713, as his cousin Mr Hawkins does not mention him among Bishop Ken's relations, in his account of that prelate, though he particularly notices his brother Jon Ken, who proceeded M.A. in November 1683, and B.D. on the 23rd of March 1693. The said Jon Beacham obtained the vicarage of East Brent in March 1688, and the prebendary of Wanstrow in October 1689, from his uncle, Bishop Ken, who bequeathed part of his books, and £50 to him by his will. He was a fellow of Trinity College in 1713, after which year nothing has been found respecting him. Jon Ken, the elder brother of Bishop Ken, who married Rose, the sister of Sir Thomas Vernon, was sometime treasurer of the East India Company. He was living in 1683, and had issue by his wife, who is mentioned in Canon Walton's will in 1714, a son, who was at Cyprus about the year 1707,1 and two daughters, Rose,1 who died in 1700, unmarried, when administration of her effects was granted to her mother; and Martha, who married Christopher Frederic Kreinberg, resident for the Elector of Hanover in London. She was bequeathed a legacy of £50 by Bishop Ken; and Canon Walton left her, and her husband, £10 each, in 1714, after which time they have not been traced. Mr Hawkins says that Bishop Ken "left behind him but few relations: Martha, the daughter of his brother, Mr Jon Ken, by Rose, his wife, which Martha married to the Honourable Christopher Frederic Kreinberg, resident of his Electoral Highness of Hanover in London. Jon Beacham, at this time fellow of Trinity College, and William Beacham, sometime fellow of New College, Oxon, and since deceased, who were the .sons of his sister Martha, by her husband, Mr Janies Beacham. Izaac Walton, residentiary of the cathedral church of Sarum, and Anne, son and daughter of his sister Anne, by her husband, Mr Izaac Walton, of London, which Anne having married to William Hawkins, D.D., sometime prebendary of the cathedral church of Winton, had issue by him, William and Anne, both living; which William being, by will proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, April 24, 1711, appointed executor, and having had opportunities of knowledge and inquiry of him, submits this impartial, and he hopes not unacceptable account to the public."-Short Account of the Life of Bishop Ken, by William Hawkins, of the Middle Temple, Esq. 8vo, 1713, p. 46. 1 Pedigree compiled by Mr Dale, one of the Heralds, about the year 1707, and obligingly communicated by Charles George Young, Esq., York Herald. Canon Walton also bequeathed legacies to his three cousins, Elizabeth, William, and Susan Hoskins, children of Matthew Hoskins; but it has not been discovered in what way they were related to him. It is, however, most likely that they were the children of one of Bishop Ken's sisters, as the bishop bequeathed £20 to his niece, Mrs Elizabeth Hoskins,2 to be paid her on the day of her marriage. Matthew Hoskins was perhaps the father of the "little Matthew," whom Bishop Ken thus mentions in one of his letters from Winchester: "Little Matthew is very well, and the schoolmaster, at whose house I lodge, tells me he is very regular and minds his book." Mrs Mary Ireland, and Mrs Anne Farwell, the two other cousins mentioned by Canon Walton, have not been identified; nor does any clue exist by which to ascertain the parentage of his "godson Isaac Walton.” A Mr Richard Walton is mentioned in Izaac Walton's will in 1683; but neither he nor the godson are called relations. As there is cause to believe that branches of the Walton family continued for several generations in Staffordshire, it is extraordinary that none of them should be mentioned in the will of Izaak Walton, or of his son. It is not by his literary reputation alone that the memory of Izaak Walton is preserved from oblivion. His benefactions to his native town still exist, and are recorded on a tablet in St Mary's Church at Stafford.4 This Memoir must not be concluded without alluding to the tributes which some of the most distinguished writers of the present age have paid to Izaak Walton's memory; and it is gratifying to perceive that time has had no injurious effect upon his fame, that men of the highest attainments, with minds of kindred goodness to his own, have generously paid homage to his worth, and that, in his case at least, it may be truly said, that virtue can never die. In the wide range of British literature, from the sage to the poet, from the profound philosopher to the frivolous antiquary, and imaginative novelist, writers of every class, and of every degree of fame, have expressed their admiration of "honest Izaak Walton." The giant of English literature, Dr Johnson, ranks foremost among the modern admirers of Walton. It is said that he, at one time, intended to write his life; and it is a subject of regret that his virtues and talents were not immortalised by his pen. It was at Johnson's suggestion that the "Complete Angler" Erroneously printed Hawkins in the copy of Bishop Ken's will, in Mr Bowles's life of that prelate. 3 Bowles's Life of Ken, ii. 229. For a copy of that inscription, and an account of Walton's charities, see the Appendix. |