traft the death-bed fcenes, which our author has described, with that which is exhibited to us in the laft illaefs of a modern philofopher, who at that awful period had no fource of confolation but what he derived from reading Lucian and other books of amufement, difcourfing chiefly with his friends on the trifling topics of common converfation, playing at his favourite game of whift, and indulging his pleafantry on the fabulous hiftory of "Charon and "his Boat," without one fingle act of devotion, without any exprefsion of penitential forrow, of hope, or confidence in the goodnefs of God, or in the merits of a Redeemer;-when this contraft, I fay, is prefented to my view, it is impofsible not to adopt the language of the prophet, "Let me die the death of the righteous,

"and let my laft end be like his "."

Is it necefsary to add, that we are here prefented with two pleasing portraits of female excellence, in the mother and in the wife of Mr. George Herbert? In the first were united all the perfonal and mental accomplishments of her fex: The enlightened piety of the latter, her native humility, her truly Chriftian charity, exhibit her as a perfect model of every thing good and praife-worthy, while her marriage, with Mr. Herbert, though attended with some unusual circumftances, proves inconteftably, that an union, originating from good fenfe, from inclination, and from an equality of age, of dignity, and of fortune," can feldom fail of being attended with happiness.

It is faid of Socrates, that all who knew him, loved him: And that if any did not love him, it was because they did not know him. May we not affirm the fame of that worthy perfon, who is the fubject of this memoir? Such was the fweetnefs of his temper, fo affectionate was the regard which his friends profefsed for him, that, in their epiftolary correfpondence, though they were far fuperior to him in rank and condition of life, they usually addrefsed him in the language of tenderness and foothing endearment, styling him, "Good Mr. Walton;" "Honeft Ifaac ;" "Worthy Friend;" "Dear Brother;" "Moft Ingenious Friend." No one better deferved thefe kind appellations. Let it always be recorded to his honour, that he never retracted any promise, when made in favour even of his meanest frienda. Neal, in his "Hiftory of the Puritans," introduces an erroneous quotation from "Walton's Life of Mr. Hooker." Dr. Warburton, in his notes on that hiftory (Warburton's Works, Vol. VII. p. 895,) commenting upon this quotation, fpeaks of "the quaint trafh of a fantastical life-writer." Is it possible to fuppofe that an epithet, more adapted to the afperity of faftidious cenfure, than to the cool and deliberate judgment of candid and

meek and holy men, defcribed by the pleafing and faithful biographer. He alfo read, and, afsuredly, with fimilar intentions, Mr. Herbert's "Country Parfon."— Of this pious and learned man, the ornament of the eighteenth century, fee "Churton's Memoirs of Dr. Townfon."

c See "The Life of David Hume, Efq." p. 43, 46.

d See "Mr. Cotton's Epiftle Dedicatory to his moft worthy Father and Friend, Mr. Ifaac Walton the elder," prefixed to the Second Part of "The Complete Angler."

equitable criticism, should be justly applied to a man of real merit, who ftrenuously exerted himself in promoting the caufe of religion, as well by his writings as by his exemplary conduct?

The corporation of Stafford have publicly pronounced him their worthy and generous benefactor. Of his fingular munificence to the poor inhabitants of this his native town, we find feveral inftances in his life-time: And, at his death, he configned fome bequests of confiderable value to be appropriated to their use.

In an ancient infcription yet extant, it is faid of a Roman Citizen, that he knew not how to fpeak injuriously-NESCIVIT MALEDICERE. We may obferve of Ifaac Walton, that he was ignorant how to write of any man with acrimony and harfhnefs. This liberality of difpofition will ever recommend him to his readers. Whatever are the religious fentiments of the perfons, whom he introduces to our notice, how widely foever they differ from his own; we discover not, in his remarks, the petulance of indiscriminate reproach, or the malignancy of rude invective. The mild fpirit of moderation breathes almoft in every page. I can only lament one inftance of feverity, for which however feveral pleas of extenuation might readily be admitted.

He is known to have acquired a relish for the fine arts. Of paintings and prints he had formed a small, but valuable collection.And we may prefume, that he had an attachment to and a knowledge of mufic. His affection for facred mufics may be inferred from that animated, I had almoft faid, that enraptured language which he adopts, whenever the subject occurs to him. It will be

é It appears from a table fixed in the Church of St. Mary's, in the borough of Stafford, that Mr. Ifaac Walton gave, in his life-time, a garden of eight shillings a year, to buy coals for the poor yearly about Christmas; and that he also gave twenty-two pounds, to build a ftone-wall around St. Chad's Churchyard in the faid borough; and did also set forth nine boys apprentices, beftowing five pounds

on each.

At his death, he bequeathed one mefsuage or tenement, at Shalford in the county of Stafford, with all the land thereto belonging, of the clear yearly value of twenty pounds ten fhillings and fixpence; of which, ten pounds are appropriated, every year, to the putting out two boys, fons of honeft and poor parents, to be apprentices to tradefmen, or handicraftsmen; and five pounds to fome maid fervant, that hath attained the age of twenty-one years (not less), and dwelt long in one fervice; or to fome honest poor man's daughter, that hath attained to that age, to be paid her at, or on the day of her marriage. What money or rent shall remain undifpofed of, he directs to be employed in the purchase of coals, for fome poor people, that shall need them: the faid coals to be diftributed in the last week of January, or every first week in February; because he considers that time to be the hardest, and most pinching time.

In his laft will, he leaves to his fon "all his books, not yet given, at Farn"ham Caftell, and a deske of prints and pictures; also a cabinet, in which are some "little things, that he will value, though of no great worth."

"He that at midnight, when the very labourer fleeps fecurely, fhould hear, I have often done, the fweet defcants, the natural rifing and falling, the "doubling and redoubling of the nightingale's voice, might well be lifted above earth, and fay, Lord, what mufic haft thou provided for the faints in heaven, when thou affordeft bad men fuch mufic upon earth?"- Complete Angler, P. I. Ch. I.)

eafily recollected, that Ken, his brother-in-law, whofe morning, evening, and midnight hymns, endear his memory to the devout Chriftian, began the duties of each day with facred melody. And that between men perfectly congenial in their fentiments and habits of virtue, a fimilarity of difpofition in this inftance fhould prevail, is far from being an unreasonable fuggeftion. That he had an inclination to poetry, we may conclude from his early intimacy with Michael Drayton, "the golden-mouthed Poet;" a man of an amiable difpofition, of mild and modeft manners, whofe poems are much Jefs read than they deferve to be. It is needlefs to remark, that on the first publication of a work it was ufual for the friends of the author to prefix to it recommendatory verses. Ifaac Walton, whose circle of friends was very extenfive indeed, often contributed his fhare of encomium on these occafions. To his productions of this kind no other commendations can be allowed, than that they were fincere memorials of his grateful and tender regard. It muft however be added, that he never debafed his talents by offering, the incenfe of Adulation, at the fhrine of Infamy and Guilt. The perfons, whom he favoured with these marks of his attention, were not undeferving of praife. Such, for inftance, was William Cartwright, who, though he died in the thirtieth year of his age, was the boast and ornament of the University of Oxford, as a divine, a philofopher, and a poeth. Dr. Fell, Bishop of Oxford, declared him to be, "the "utmost man can come to ;" and Ben Jonfon was wont to fay of him, "My fon Cartwright writes all like a man." And here an opportunity prefents itfelf of afcertaining the author of "The Synagogue, or the Shadow of the Temple," a collection of facred poems ufually annexed to Mr. George Herbert's "Temple." Mr. Walton has addrefsed fome encomiaftic lines to him, as his friend; and in "The Complete Angler," having inferted from that collection, a little poem, entitled The Book of Common Prayer," he exprefsly afsigns it, and of course the whole work, to a reverend and learned divine, Mr. Chriftopher Harvie, that professes to imitate Mr. Herbert, and hath indeed done so most excellently; and of whom he adds pleasantly, "you will like him the better, because he is a "friend of mine, and I am fure no enemy to angling i."

Faithfully attached to the Church of England, he entertained the highest veneration for her difcipline and doctrines. He had not been an inattentive fpectator of the rapid progress of the sectaries, haftening from one degree of injuftice to another, until an univerfal

h See "Comedies, Tragi-comedies, with other Poems, by William Cartwright, late Student of Christ Church in Oxford, and Proctor of the University. London, 1651."

i See "The Complete Angler," P. LXVIII. and p. 123, edit of 1773. We find the name of Chriftopher Harvie fubfcribed to "Verfes addrefsed to the Reader of the Complete Angler." He is probably the fame perfon, who was the author of "The Right Rebel. London, 1661," 8vo.-a treatife, difcovering the true use of the name, by the nature of rebellion; with the properties and practices of rebels, applicable to all, both old and new fanaticks: by Chriftopher Harvey, Vicar of Clifton, in Warwickshire. He was a minister's fɔn, in Cheshire, and was educated in Braze nofe College, Oxford. See "Wood's Ath, Ox." Vol. II, sol. 268.

anarchy confummated the ruin of our ecclefiaftical conftitution. In" his laft Will he has announced an ingenuous and decided avowal of his religious principles, with a defign, as it has been conjectured, to prevent any fufpicions that might arife of his inclination to Popery, from his very long and very true friendship with fome of the Rouan Communionk. But a full and explicit declaration of his Chriftian faith, and the motives which enforced his ferious and regular attendance upon the fervice of that Church in which he was educated, are delivered, with great propriety and good fenfe, in his own words. For thus he writes in a letter to one of his friends. "I go fo conftantly to the Church fervice to adore and worship my God, who hath made me of nothing, and pre"ferved me from being worse than nothing. And this worship " and adoration I do pay him inwardly in my foul, and testifie it "outwardly by my behaviour; as namely, by my adoration, in my forbearing to cover my head in that place dedicated to God, "and only to his fervice; and also, by ftanding up at profession of "the Creed, which contains the feveral articles that I and all true "Chriftians profefs and believe; and alfo my standing up at giving glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, and confefsing them to be three perfons, and but one God.

66

66

tr

And, fecondly, I go to Church to praise my God for my creation " and redemption; and for his many deliverances of me from the "many dangers of my body, and more especially of my foul, in "fending me redemption by the death of his Son, my Saviour; "and for the constant assistance of his holy fpirit: a part of which "praife I perform frequently in the Pfalms, which are daily read "in the public congregation.

"And, thirdly, I go to Church publicly to confefs and bewail my fins, and to beg pardon for them, for his merits who died to re"concile me and all mankind unto God, who is both his and my "Father; and, as for the words in which I beg this mercy, they "be the Letany and Collects of the Church, composed by thofe learned and devout men, whom you and I have trufted to tell us "which is and which is not the written word of God; and trusted "alfo to tranflate those Scriptures into English. And, in these Col"lects, you may note, that I pray absolutely for pardon of fin, and "for grace to believe and ferve God: Eut I pray for health, and peace, and plenty, conditionally; even fo far as may tend to his glory, and the good of my foul, and not further. And this confefsing my fins, and begging mercy and pardon for them, I do "in my adoring my God, and by the humble pofture of kneeling on my knees before him: And, in this manner, and by reverend fitting to hear fome chofen parts of God's word read in

66

86

66

k A fteady friendship fubfifted between Mr. Walton and Mr. James Shirley, who, having been ordained a Clergyman of the established Church, renounced his religion, for that of the Church of Rome. He is defcribed by Phillips, in his "Theatrum Poetarum," printed at London, in 1675, as "a juft pretender to 66 more than the meanest place among the English poets, but most especially for dramatic poefy; in which he hath written both very much, and for the most part, with that felicity, that by fome he is accounted little interior to Fletcher "himfelf." See "The Life of Mr. Herbert," p. 390.

d

66

"the public afsembly, I fpend one hour of the Lord's day every forenoon, and half so much time every evening. And fince this "uniform and devout cuftom of joining together in public con"fession, and praise, and adoration of God, and in one manner, "hath been neglected; the power of Chriftianity and humble piety is fo much decayed, that it ought not to be thought on but "with forrow and lamentation; and I think, efpecially by the "Nonconformists."

The reasons which he has afsigned for his uninterrupted attention to the discharge of another duty will afford fatisfaction to every candid reader. "Now for preaching, I praise God, I understand "my duty both to hi.. and my neighbour the better, by hearing "of fermons. And though I be defective in the performance of "both (for which I befeech Almighty God to pardon me), yet I "had been a much worse Christian, if I had not frequented the "blefsed ordinance of preaching; which has convinced me of my Imany fins paft, and begot fuch terrors of confcience, as have be"got in me holy refolutions. This benefit, and many other like benefits, I and other Chriftians have had by preaching: And "God forbid that we fhould ever ufe it fo, or fo provoke him by our other fins as to withdraw this blefsed ordinance from us, or "turn it into a curse, by preaching heresie and schism; which too Imany have done in the late time of rebellion, and indeed now do "in many conventicles; and their auditors think such preaching is "ferving God, when God knows it is contrary." Such were the rational grounds, on which he founded his faith and practice.

"

No excufe is pleaded for again noticing the opportunities of improvement, which he experienced from his appropriated intimacy with the most eminent Divines of the Church of England. Genuine friendship exifts but among the virtuous: A friend is emphatically ftyled the medicine of life;" the fovereign remedy that foftens the pangs of forrow, and alleviates the anguifh of the heart. We cannot therefore fufficiently felicitate the condition of Ifaac Walton, who imbibed the very fpirit of friendship; and that with men renowned for their wifdom and learning; for the fanctity of their manners, and the unfullied purity of their lives. "If," to ufe the words of one of his biographers, "we can entertain a doubt that "Walton was one of the happieft of men, we fhew curfelves ig "norant of the nature of that felicity, to which it is pofsible even "in this life for virtuous and good men, with the blefsing of God, " to arrive."

Yet it must not be concealed, that our venerable biographer has, from his love of angling, been denominated a cruel and hard-hearted He has been compared to Popish inquifitors, and the most favage perfecutors,

man.

Nothing certainly can be faid in vindication of any amufement which is productive of pain and anguish to the loweft of the brute creation. Every animal claims from man a mild and gentle treatment; and it is much to be wifhed that diversions, which tend to

1" Biographical Dictionary." Ed. 1784.

3