preferment he would; and he answered, if it please your grace I have all I desire. "He was made prebendary of Windsor about two years before the Wars, and enjoyed it but two years. "He was not long sick; about a fortnight, and then not very ill, but discoursed with all his friends as freely as in his Health, till within half an hour before his death, for Mr Montague was then talking with him, and left him for half an Hour, and before he returned he was dead, and had his perfect senses to the last minute. 66 After he came to Eton, for thirty years together he was never hindered by any sickness from studying constantly from 5 o'clock in the morning till night, seldom eating any Dinner. "About the time of Archb. Laud's Death, he retired from his Lodgings in the College into a private chamber in Eton, where he remained for a quarter of a yeare unknown to any body, and spent in that time only 6d. p week, living only upon Bread & Beere, and as he had formerly fasted from Tuesday night to Thursday night, so in that time of his retirement he absteined from his Bread & Beer, and when he heard that Abp. Laud was murdered, he wished his head had been cut off for him." Then follows the Will; with two letters of Hales on Cases of Conscience; and one or two tracts. NOTE E. [Referred to in p. cxvii.] BOOKS IN THE CATHEDRAL LIBRARY, SALISBURY, FORMERLY BELONGING TO IZAAK WALTON. 1. King James' Works, fol. Lond. 1616. 'Iz. Walton.' 2. Charon of Wisdom, 4to. Lond. n. d. Izaak Walton, price 4s. 6d. 3. Heylin's Microcosmus, 4to. 1621. 'Izaak Walton. 4. Heylin's Parable of the Tares, 4to. 1659. Izaak Walton given me May 28, 1659, by Mr Richard Marryot.' 5. Shute's Divine Cordials in X Sermons, 4to. 1644. Izaak Walton.' 6. Bishop Reynolds' Treatise of the Passions, 4to. 1640. Izaak Walton' 7. Dr Thomas Fuller, Abel Redivivus, 4to. 1651. 'Izaak Walton.' 8. Hammond's, The Christian's Obligations to Peace and Charity, X Sermons, 4to. 1649. Izaak Walton.' 9. Camerarius', Living Library, fol. Lond. 1621. Izaak Walton, given mee by my very good friend Mar henryffield, July 29, 1634.' 10. R. Sibb's, The Saint's Cordiall, fol. 1658. Izaak Walton, 1682.' 11. Pat. Symson's Historie of the Church, 4to. Lond. 1624. Izaak Walton.' 12. Dr Donne's Letters, 4to. Lond. 1651. 13. Mornay, of the Christian Religion, Izaak Walton? 4to. 1617. 'Izaak Walton, July 5, 1621. 14. Cowper's Heaven opened, 4to. 1613. Liber Izak Walton. 'Izaak Walton, pr. 5s.' 19. Sibb's Returning Backslider, 4to. Lond. 1650. On the title Of this blest man let this just praise be given, 'Heaven was in him, before he was in heaven. 20. Eusebius, Socrates, and Evagrius, Ecclesiastical Histories, fol. Lond. 1636. On the flyleaf, erased, 'Francis Garrard his booke. On the title-page, 'Izaak Walton.' On the inside of the cover, in Walton's writing At his conversion take out of Jeremy the ways of man are not in his owne power.7 Loke docr dones letter to Tilman 8 And on Sr Philip Sidneys Salms.9 On this booke folyo 28 himns and psalms wch was his holy recreation the latter part of his life and is now his imployment in heven where he makes new ditties in the praise of that god in 3 persons, to whome be glorie. And his better part is now doing that in heaven which was most of his imployment on earth magnyfying the mercies and making himns and singing them, to that god to whome be glory and honor. Vew Hookers preface; and hooker 226 & 229 Vew the verses before Sands psalms and Sír Tho. Haukins his Horrace doc dons letters and the elegies on him In heaven wher his imployment is to sing such himns as he made on erth in prase of that god to whome be glory and honor His deth was the prolog to joye and the end of troble Vew Chudleys elegies and godolphins on doc done where they are scratcht and vew the elegies on Cartwrite.1 Vew Doc. Cozens devotions Vew the complete woman of a good grace. Vew the penygerick on Mr Harvie Make his description that he was 10 for his complexion, then his behaviour, then his stature, then his discourse in my lord grace to the honor that he was like the dove without gall. docr taylor, living and dying doc Pridiex Mr Gouldsmithes poem. Vossius then.' 7 See Donne's Poems, p. 372, ed. 1635. 8 See p. 369, ib. 1 See ib. p. NOTE F. [Referred to in p. cxxiii.] ACCOUNT OF WALTON'S CHARITIES. The following statement occurs in the parish church of St Mary, at Stafford : "The Gift of Mr Isaac Walton, borne in ye Burrough of Stafford, A worthy & generous benefactor to this Burrough as followeth. First ye said Mr Walton in his life tyme gave a garden of eight shillings a yeare in ye possession of widdow Tildesley to buy coales for ye poore yearely about Christmas. Alsoe ye said Mr Walton in his life tyme gave 22 pounds to build a stone wall about St Chad's church yard in this Burrough, and alsoe set forth 9 boys apprentices, and gave to each 5 pounds, viz. Samuel Henshaw Daniel Bullock Francis Battey Richard Lees The said Mr Walton at his death gave by his Will to this Burrough one Messuage or Tenement in Shalford in this county wth all the lands thereto belonging of the yearly value of £20. 10. 6. besides Taxes and Repairs to the use hereafter as in & by his Will is mentioned, viz. “I would have & doe give 10 pounds of the said rent to bind out yearley 2 boys ye sonns of honest & poore parents to be apprentices to some tradesmen or handicraft men to ye intent ye said boys may ye better afterwards gett their owne living. And I doe also give 5 pounds yearley out of y said rent to be given to some maid servant yt hath attained ye age of 21 yeares not less & dwelt long in one service or to some honest poore Man's daughter y' hath attained to yt age to bee paid her at or on ye day of her marriage. And this being done my will is, that what rent shall remaine of y said farme or land shall be disposed of as followeth. First I doe give yearley 20 shillings to bee by the Major of Stafford and those that shall collect the said rent and dispose of it as I have or shall hereafter direct. And that what money or rent shall remain undisposed of shall bee employed to buy coles for some poore people that shall most need them in the said town: the said coales to bee delivered in the last weeke in January or every first weeke in February I say then because I take that tyme to bee the hardest and most pincheinge tyme with poore people." Before inserting the following account of the present state of those Charities, from a pamphlet which was published about twenty-seven years ago, it must be observed, that the farm there mentioned did not become the property of the Corporation of Stafford until the death of Canon Walton in 1719. "This farm is now [1808] let at the yearly rent of £80, and, excepting the application of the money directed to be given to some maid servant or poor man's daughter, I believe that the trusts of the will have for some years past been complied with. With respect to that sum, it has been the practice almost invariably for the mayor to give it to his own servant, 2 A Letter to the Inhabitants of Stafford. without even considering, in some instances the time she may have continued in her service. "Upon St Thomas's day last, the only application made was by the mayor's servant, so useless is it supposed to be to oppose the pretensions of a person claiming the money under such authority. "It seems to have been the intention of Mr Walton, that whether the money be given to a servant or poor man's daughter, it should be paid on the day of her marriage; but admitting that construction of his words to be wrong, to bestow it upon a servant who has not 'dwelt long in one service' is certainly incorrect. That the mayor's servant may sometimes be as well entitled to it as any other person is not to be disputed, but that it should so happen nine years out of ten, is somewhat too improbable to obtain belief; and such a disposition of this charity must unquestionably create a suspicion as to the motives of the gift which, it is to be presumed, the chief magistrate of a town would be desirous of avoiding."—P. 41, 42. The author of the pamphlet next proceeds to describe Startin's charity, and Mr Walton's gift in his lifetime. "Richard Startin, who was a baker in Stafford, gave £60 to the corporation to be put out at interest, and to be applied and given weekly in bread for ever, in the parish church of St Mary. By the advice, and with the assistance of Mr Isaac Walton, the money was laid out in the year 1672 in the purchase of a fee-farm rent of £3, 6s. 8d. payable to the crown from the borough. In a deed made in the following year, to which Mr Walton and the corporation were parties, it is stated that by the will of Mr Startin £2, 12s. only were to be paid to the poor, and that the corporation had, at Mr Walton's request, agreed to apply the surplus of the fee-farm rent (being 145.) in the purchase of coals for the poor. By that deed, and, it should seem, in order to induce the corporation to accede to his wishes, Mr Walton granted to them a garden near the gaol (as it then stood), in trust that the rent should be disposed of by the mayor with the alderman and church-wardens of the parish of St Mary's, ‘towards the buying of coals for the poor of the borough of Stafford, according to the discretion of the mayor, &c. at two days in the year; viz. one half of the coals to be given at or before St Thomas's day, and the other half at the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.' It was also provided, that in case the coals were not disposed of as directed, the rent of the garden should be paid to the church-wardens of the parish of St Chad, either to keep in repair the wall of St Chad's church, or to buy coals for the poor of the parish, at their discretion. Mr Walton's suspicions that the trusts, which he had reposed in the corporation, might in after-times be disregarded, appear as well by this deed as by his will, and even the members of that body must admit that they were but too well founded. In the gift of both charities he prudently endeavoured to guard against their abuse; but neither his exhortations to his trustees to a faithful discharge of their duty, nor the condition which he annexed to the non-conformance of it, seem to have had any effect. Of part of the garden, upon which four cottages have been erected, two leases, each for ninety-nine years, have been made, and none of the rent has been laid out in the purchase of coals; neither has the surplus of the fee-farm rent been applied for that purpose. For the amount of those sums, the corporation will therefore have to account; of the money appropriated to the purchase of bread, Is. is laid out weekly; and the bread is given away in St Mary's church on a Sunday." Since that statement was written, the following remarks on the subject have been communicated to the Gentleman's Magazine by an intelligent correspondent : "The estate has not hitherto been forfeited, although as appears from the Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into Public Charities (wherein it is particularly described,) complaints have occasionally been made that the money was not distributed with perfect impartiality. The subjoined accounts of the manner in which the receipts have been expended in one or two recent instances are from the Stafford Newspaper. 'This week has been dispensed to the poor of the Borough of Stafford the bounty of the celebrated and ingenious Izaak Walton, a native of the place, who bequeathed a portion of the "rents and profits of a farme" for the purchase of coals "for some poor people," to be delivered in January or February. "I say then," run the words of the humane testator, "because I take that time to be the hardest and most pinching time with poor people." The farm in question is now of considerable value, bringing in, we believe, about 8ol. a year, and after deducting a moiety of the profits directed to be applied to the apprenticing of two boys, and in a gift to a maid servant, or some honest poor man's daughter, a sufficient sum has this year remained for the purchase of a small allowance of coal to almost every poor family, which has this week been distributed.'— Staffordshire Advertiser, 27th January 1827. On Monday last (Sunday being St Thomas's Day) the Corporation of this borough, in pursuance of the will of "good old Izaak Walton," gave 51. each with the son of Charles Smith's widow, and the son of William Pilsbury, on their being bound apprentices; also 57. to Martha Smith, for long servitude in one place and general good conduct, and 40s. each to ten burgesses of this borough.'-Ibid. 27 Dec. 1828.”—Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xcix. pt. ii. p. 111. NOTE G. LIST OF PORTRAITS OF WALTON'S FAMILY, IN THE POSSESSION OF HIS DESCENDANT, THE REV. DR HAWES, AT SALISBURY, JUNE 1836. Izaak Walton, by Housman, æt. 79. a crayon drawing, æt. 82. Izaak Walton, Jun. by A. Bega. Dr Hawkins, by Mrs Hawkins, Daughter of Izaak Walton, by Housman. Anne Hawkins, Daughter of the above. William Hawkins, Esq. His Wife. Bishop Ken, by F. Skiffer. |