that church, of which you were made a member by your baptifm. Thefe graces you may practise, and not be a bufie-body in promoting schism and faction; as God knows your father's friends, Hugh Peters and John Lilbourn did, to the ruine of themfelves, and many of their difciples. Their turbulent lives and uncomfortable deaths are not, I hope, yet worn out of the memory of many. He that compares them with the holy life and happy death of Mr. George Herbert, as it is plainly, and, I hope, truly writ by Mr. Ifaac Walton, may in it find a perfect pattern for an humble and devout Chriftian to imitate: And he that confiders the reftlefs lives and uncomfortable deaths of the other two (who always lived like the falamander, in the fire of contention), and confiders the difmal confequences of schifm and fedition, will (if prejudice and a malicious zeal have not fo blinded him that he cannot fee reafon) be fo convinced, as to beg of God to give him a mcek and quiet fpirit; and that he may, by his grace, be prevented from being a bufie-body, in what concerns him not." Such admonitions as thefe could only proceed from a heart overflowing with goodness,-a heart, as was faid concerning that of Sir Henry Wotton," in which Peace, Patience, and calm Content did inhabit." His intercourfe with learned men, and the frequent and familiar converfations which he held with them, afforded him many opportunities of obtaining feveral valuable anecdotes relative to the hiftory of his contemporaries. The following literary curiofity is preferved in the Afhmolean Museum, at Oxford: "ffor y' ffriends que this: "I only knew Ben Johnfon: But my Lord of Winton knew him very "well; and fays, he was in the 6°, that is, the upermoft fforme in Weft"minfter fcole, at which time his father dyed, and his mother married a "brickelayer, who made him (much against his will) help him in his trade; "but in a fhort time, his fcole-maifter, Mr. Camden, got him a better im"ployment, which was to atend or acompany a fon of Sir Walter Rauley's, "in his travills. Within a fhort time after their return, they parted (I "think not in cole bloud) and with a loue futable to what they had in "their Dr. Morley, Bishop of Winchefter, in the early part of his life, was "one of Ben Jonfon's fons." "their travilles (not to be comended). And then Ben began to fet up for "himselfe in the trade by which he got his fubfiftance and fame, of which "I need not give any account. He got in time to have a 1ool. a yeare "from the king, alfo a penfion from the cittie, and the like from many of the "nobilitie and fome of the gentry, wch was well pay'd, for love or fere of his railing in verse, or profe, or boeth. or boeth. My lord told me, he told him he was "(in his long retyrement and ficknes, when he faw him, which was often) “much afflickted, that hee had profained the fcripture in his playes, and "lamented it with horror: yet that, at that time of his long retyrement, "his pension (fo much as came in) was giuen to a woman that gouern'd "him (with whome he liu'd and dyed nere the Abie in Westminster;) and "that nether he nor fhe tooke much care for next weike: and wood be "fure not to want wine: of wh he ufually tooke too much before he went "to bed, if not oftener and foner. My lord tells me, he knowes not, but "thinks he was born in Weftminster. The queftion may be put to Mr. "Wood very easily upon what grounds he is pofitive as to his being born. "their; he is a friendly man, and will refolve it. So much for braue Ben. "You will not think the reft fo tedyous as I doe this. "ffor y' 2 and 3 que of Mr. Hill, and Bilingfley, I do neither know nor can learn any thing worth teling you. "for y' two remaining que of Mr. Warner', and Mr. Harriott this: "Mr. Warner did long and conftantly lodg nere the water ftares, or "market, in Woolftable. Woolftable is a place not far from Charing"Croffe, and nerer to Northumberland-house. My lord of Winchester "tells me, he knew him, and that he fayde, he first found out the cercula"tion of the blood, and discouer'd it to Dr. Haruie (who faid that 'twas he (himselfe) that found it) for which he is so memorally famofe. Warner "had a pension of 40l. a yeare from that Earle of Northumberland that lay "fo long a prifner in the Towre, and fom allowance from Sr. Tho. "Aylesbury, and with whom he usually spent his fumer in Windfor Park, "and was welcom, for he was harmles and quet. His winter was fpent at "the E 2 1 Of this great mathematician, fee "Wood's Ath. Ox." Vol. I. col. 461. "the Woolftable, where he dyed in the time of the parlement of 1640, "of which or whome, he was no louer. "Mr. Herriott", my lord tells me, he knew alfo: That he was a more "gentile man than Warner. That he had 120l. a yeare penfion from the "faid Earle, who was a louer of ther ftudyes) and his lodging in Syonhoufe, where he thinks, or believes, he dyed. "This is all I know or can learne for your friend; which I wifh may be "worth the time and trouble of reading it. Nou'. 22, 80. "J. W. "I forgot to tell, that I heard the fermon preacht for the Lady Danvers, "and have it: but thanke your ffriend"." A life of temperance, fobriety, and cheerfulness, is not feldom rewarded with length of days, with an healthful, honourable, and happy old age. Ifaac Walton retained to the laft, a conftitution unbroken by disease, with the full poffeffion of his mental powers. In a letter to Mr. Cotton from London, April 29, 1676, he writes; "Though I be more than a hundred miles from you, and in the eighty-third year of my age; yet I will forget both, and next month begin a pilgrimage to beg your pardon." He had written" The Life of Dr. Sanderfon," when he was in his eighty-fifth year. We find him active with his pen, after this period, at a time when, "filvered o'er with age," he had a just claim to a writ of eafe. On the ninetieth anniversary of his birth-day, he declares himself in his will to be of m Of Mr. Thomas Hariot, or Harriot, fee "Wood's Ath. Ox. Vol. I. col. 459. The opinions which have been entertained concerning the infidel principles of Hariot, are fufficiently confuted by the infcription on his monument, erected by his executors, Sir Thomas Aylesbury and Robert Sidney, Viscount Lifle, in which he is exprefsly called, "Veritatis Indagator ftudiofiffimus, Dei triniunius Cultor piiffimus." "This was the fermon preached by Dr. Donne, in the parish church of Chelsey, at the funeral of Lady Danvers, the mother of Mr. George Herbert. See "Walton's Life of Mr. Herbert," p. 331. Annexed to this extract, in Mr. Aubrey's MSS. in the Afhmolean Museum, are these words: "This account I received from Mr. Ifaac Walton (who wrote Dr. Donne's life, &c.) Decemb. 2, 1680, he being then eighty-feven years of age. This is his own hand-writing, J. A.” "Eft etiam quieté et puré et eleganter actæ Ætatis placida ac lenis Senectus." Cic. de Senectute.-"Non cani, non ruga, repenté auctoritatem arripere poffunt: Sed honesté acta fuperior ætas fructus capit auctoritatis." Ib. . of perfect memory. In the very year in which he died, he prefixed a Preface to a work edited by him: "Thealma and Clearchus, a Paftoral History, in smooth and eafy Verfe; written long fince by John Chalkhill, Efq. an Acquaintant and Friend of Edmund Spenfer." Flatman, who is known both as a poet and a painter, hath in fuch true colours delineated the character of his much-efteemed friend, that it would be injurious not to transcribe the following lines: TO MY WORTHY FRIEND MR. ISAAC WALTON, ON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS POEM. 86 Infpir'd by her he knows no anxious cares, Eafy he lives, and cheerful fhall he die Well fpoken of by late pofterity, "As long as Spenfer's noble flames hall burn, "And deep devotions throng about his urn; "With noble emulation fhall inflame "Ages to come, and fwell the rolls of fame. "Your memory fhall for ever be fecure, "And long beyond our fhort-liv'd praife endure; "As Phidias in Minerva's fhield did live, "And shar'd that immortality, he alone could give.” The claffic reader, when he recollects the ftory of Phidias, will eafily acknowledge the propriety of the encomium paffed on Mr. Walton, who fecured fecured immortal fame to himself, while he conferred it upon others. That divine artift, having finifhed his famous ftatue of Minerva, with the most confummate exquifitenefs of fkill, afterward impreffed his own image fo deeply on her buckler, that it could not be effaced without deftroying the whole work. The beauties of "Thealma and Clearchus," and the character of the author, are not unaptly described in the editor's own language. He intimates in the Preface, that "the reader will find what the title declares, a Paftoral History, in fmooth and eafy verfe; and will in it find many hopes and fears finely painted and feelingly expreffed. And he will find the first fo often difappointed, when fulleft of defire and expectation; and the latter fo often, so strangely, and fo unexpectedly relieved by an unforeseen Providence, as may beget in him wonder and amazement." He adds, that "the reader muft here alfo meet with paffions heightened by easy and fit defcriptions of joy and forrow; and find also such various events and rewards of innocent truth and undiffembled honefty, as is like to leave in him (if he be a good-natured reader) more sympathizing and virtuous impreffions than ten times fo much time spent in impertinent, critical, and needlefs disputes about religion." Mr. Chalkhill died before he had perfected even the fable of his poem. He was a man generally known in his time, and as well beloved; for he was humble and obliging in his behaviour, a gentleman, a fcholar, very innocent and prudent; and indeed his whole life was useful, quiet, and virtuous". So amiable were the manners, fo truly excellent the character of all thofe, whom Ifaac Walton honoured with his regard. when ▸ In a volume, entitled "The Mufes Library, London, 1737," are inserted extracts from this poem, viz. "The Arcadian Golden Age," "A Defcription of the Priefteffes of Diana," "The Image of Jealoufy," "A Description of the Power of the Witch Orandra, together with her Cave." Dr. Johnson has revived the celebrity of Mr. Chalkhill, by an elegant translation of the following lines: "Or we fometimes pafs an hour "Under a green willow, "That |