Let none blush for an occupation in which there is no shame so glaring as the unrequired apology, or the attempted exaltation, which the good old man himself, humble in mind and unassuming in the world's conceit, would have eschewed as a vain assumption, with the same heartiness that he would have shunned a crime. His earliest Editor* was satisfied to describe him as a "responsible well-respected Milliner and Draper;" and undoubtedly he was respected in society of a rank above his own; with whom, his occupation being no disparagement, demands no apology now. At the age of 33, after several years, it may be presumed, of prudent and successful trading, Izaak Walton took unto himself a wife, Rachel Floud, of a family which claimed distant relationship to that of Archbishop Cranmer.† This lady seems to have been residing with her widowed mother at Canterbury; and the marriage took place there on the 27th December, 1626. Walton refers to his introduction to his wife's family as having taken place four or five years before. "About forty-two years past," he writes "for I am now past the seventy of my age,-I began a happy affinity with William Cranmer, -now with God,-grand-nephew unto the great archbishop of that name; a family of noted prudence and resolution; with whom and two of bis sisters I The Rev. Moses Browne. + Rachel Floud was daughter of Floud and Susannah Cranmer, grand-daughter of Edmund, brother of the Archbishop; to whom therefore she stood in the relationship of great grandniece. · had an entire and free friendship; one of them was the wife of Dr. Spencer,"*—the other was the mother of Walton's wife. The circumstance of the wife's descent from a name so celebrated, has been strongly urged as evidence of the rank of the husband. Take it for what it is worth, and it will show that his calling was not discreditable, and that he was himself personally respected. His occupation introduced him to the best society, and the barriers of social intercourse, less starched than the bands he sold, were not so exclusive as to shut out from a free and true friendship,' a man of ability and worth, by reason of the station of life into which it had pleased God to call him. Than the connexion with the family of Cranmer, however, the alliance was no otherwise brilliant; indeed the arrangements that followed on both sides, betoken economy and convenience. On the marriage of Izaak Walton with Rachel Floud, the mother came to reside with them in London ;+ and encouraged by their joint resources, he was enabled to become tenant of an entire house. This was situate in Chancery-lane, a few doors only from his former residence. The maps of the period. * Introd. to the Life of Hooker.--Walton's Lives. + By a passage in his own writings it seems probable, that the aunt, widow of Dr. Spencer, also formed a member of his domestic circle. Referring to his wife's uncle, he says: "This William Cranmer and his two forenamed sisters had some affinity, and a most familiar friendship, with Mr. Hooker, and had had some part of their education with him in his house, when he was parson of Bishop's Bourne, near Canterbury, in which city their good father then dwelt. They had, I say, a part of their education with him, as myself, since that time, a happy cohabitation with them."Life of Hooker, Introd. The year 1632, a date assumed by Sir John Hawkins, from a document in his possession, has usually been assigned as the date represent a row of goodly tenements, with gardens in the rear, open to the fields behind Lincoln's Inn; and the parish books describe Walton's residence as the seventh house from Fleet-street, on the left-hand side.* Here were born to him many children, who all died in infancy; and here, in 1635, he lost his wife's mother, Mrs. Floud, under whose Will himself and wife enjoyed a legacy of fifty pounds, with ten shillings each for a ring. Five years later, he had also the misfortune to be bereft of his wife, leaving an infant only six weeks old,† who survived her mother nearly two years, and was also buried at St. Dunstan's. In the earlier part of his residence in this neighbourhood, Walton had the happiness to be under the pastoral care of Dr. Donne, dean of St. Paul's, vicar of the parish. He it was, who by Walton's own account, guided and settled, in wavering times, his religious ideas: Dwell on these joys, my thoughts! Oh! do not call Forget he loved me! waste not my swift years, of Walton's removal from Fleet-street; but the Parish Registers support the hypothesis of the text. In 1627, December 19, (not quite twelve months after his marriage) his eldest son Izaak, was baptised "out of Chancery-lane."-Par. Reg. St. Dunst. * This house, Walton appears to have held under a lease for a long term of years, of which a residue was still unexpired at the time of his death. By his will, he bequeathed to his son-in-law, Dr. Hawkins, and his wife, all his "right and title of and to a house in Chancery-lane, London, wherein Mrs. Greinwood now dwelleth, in which is now about sixteen years to come.' "Rachell Walton dyed the 22d of August, about 12 on that day, 1640, buried the 25th day. Her dafter Anne, borne the 10th July, 1640, dyed the 11th May, 1642."-Walton's Prayer Book. b And sorrows for his death: forget his parts! Forget his powerful preaching! and forget The Vicarage house was but a few doors from his own, eastward of the church, in Fleet-street; and we can readily fancy the quiet-loving and contemplative angler receiving the instruction of his "spiritual father," and by his amiable qualities cementing a friendship that ended only with the life of one, and in the survivor displayed itself in a monument of living words that will last the duration of our native tongue.† That Walton became an author is said to have been "by accident," if that can be called accidental which is an innate principle developed by the occasion. The manuscript before referred to, describes him to have been "a sweet poet in his youth;" and though his Life of Dr. Donne may have been his first regular essay in prose, there is some evidence of a literary reputation as early as 1619, when he appears to have revised the poem of "Amos and Laura," written by his friend S. P., which in that year was dedicated to his "approved and much res * Elegy on Dr. Donne, by Izaak Walton. + Dr. Donne died in 1631; see his "Life," by Izaak Walton. Supposed Samuel Purchas, author of the " Pilgrimage ;" born at Thaxted, Essex, in 1577, and consequently Walton's senior by sixteen years. After finishing his education at Cambridge, Purchas obtained the living of Eastwood, in his native county; which he relinquished for the Rectory of St. Martin Ludgate, in the city of London. He was also chaplain to archbishop Abbot, and died, in 1628, in distressed circumstances, occasioned by the publication of his book.-Biog. Brit. pected friend, Iz. Wa." in a copy of verses laudatory of his "more than thrice beloved friend:" To thee, thou more than thrice beloved friend, These harsh turn'd lines I here to thee commend, For had'st thou held thy tongue, by silence might If they were pleasing I would call them thine, It is evidence of a mind of no ordinary character, that at so early a period of his life he should have been in intimate friendship with men of such mark as it is known were his associates. With Dr. Morley, bishop of Winchester, he, at a later period of his life, claimed the "advantage of forty years. friendship;" and a friendship of the like standing with Dr. Sanderson, afterwards bishop of Lincoln.t With Dr. Sheldon, bishop of London, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, he had an early friendship, and received from him substantial proof of a reciprocal regard and Dr. King, bishop of Chichester, Dedication to the "Lives." † Dedication to the Life of Sanderson.-Walton's Lives. In 1662, Dr. Sheldon granted to Izaak Walton a lease of a newly erected building, adjoining the Cross Keys, in Paternoster Row, for a term of forty years, at a rent of forty shillings a year. The premises were burnt down in the fire of London; and in 1670, the Court of Judicature for the settlement of differences, adjudged, on rebuilding the premises, the lessee to have his term extended to sixty years, at the old rent.--(Add. MSS. 5088.) The residue of the term, about fifty years, in these premises, was bequeathed by Walton to his son-in law, Dr. Hawkins, and his wife. |