When Leoniceni, one of the most profound scholars in Italy, in the fifteenth century, was asked by what art he had, through a period of ninety years, preserved a found memory, perfect senses, an upright body, and a vigorous health, he answered, " by innocence, ferenity of mind, and temperance." Ifaac Walton, having uniformly enjoyed that happy tranquillity, which is the natural concomitant of virtue, came to the grave in a "like as a fhock of corn cometh in his feason." full age, "So would I live, such gradual death to find, DRYDEN. He died during the time of the great froft, on the 15th day of December, "That defends us from a fhower "Making earth our pillow;. "Where we may "Think or pray, "Before death "Stops our breath. Other Joys "Are but toys “And to be lamented. 1683, (See WALTON'S COMPLETE ANGLER, P. I. Ch. 16.) "Nunc per gramina fufi "Densâ fronde falicti, Nunc inftare futuris, "Quicquid quæritur ultra "Vel fpe ludit inani "Luctus mex pariturum. (Dr. JOHNSON'S WORKS, Vol. I. p. 190.) 1683, at Winchester, in the prebendal houfe of Dr. William Hawkins, his fon-in-law, whom he loved as his own fon. It was his express defire, that his burial might be near the place of his death, privately, and free from any oftentation, or charge. On the ftone which covers his remains within the cathedral of that city these lines are yet extant. "Here refteth the body of "MR. ISAAC WALTON, "Who died the 15th of Dec. 1683. "Alas! he's gone before, "Gone to return no more. "Our panting breasts aspire "Whofe well-fpent life did laft "Full ninety years and past. "But now he hath begun "That which will ne'er be done, "Crown'd with eternal blifs, "We wish our fouls with his. VOTIS MODESTIS SIC FLERUNT LIBERI." He furvived his wife many years. She died in 1662, and was buried in our Lady's Chapel, in the Cathedral of Worcester. In the north wall is placed a small oval monument of white marble, on which is the following inscription, written, no doubt, by her affectionate husband. He had one fon Ifaac, who never married, and a daughter Anne, the wife of Dr. William Hawkins, a Prebendary in the Church of Winchester, and Rector of Droxford in Hampshire. Dr. William Hawkins left a fon William, and a daughter Anne. The latter died unmarried. The fon, who was a Serjeant at Law, and author of the well-known treatife of "The Pleas of the Crown," lived and died in the Close of Sarum. He published a fhort account of the life of his great uncle in 1713, and also his works in 1721, under the title of "The Works of the right reverend learned and pious Thomas Ken, D. D. late Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, 4 vol." These works include only Ken's Poetical Compofitions, which do not merit any great encomium, though they are written in a strain of real piety and devotion. This William Hawkins had a fon and three daughters, the eldest of whom Mrs. Hawes, relict of the Rev. Mr. Hawes, rector of Bemerton, is the only furviving person of that generation". I have omitted to enumerate among the friends of our biographer Dr. George Morley, Bishop of Winchester', and Dr. Seth Ward, Bishop of The following fepulchral inscriptions are in the Cathedral Church of Winchester. H. S. E. GULIELMUS HAWKINS S. T. P. HUJUS ECCLESIÆ PREBENDARIUS, QUI OBIIT JUL. 17. ÆTATIS SUÆ 58. r H. S. E. ANNA ETIAM IZAAC WALTON FILIA *QUÆ OBIIT SUPER-MEMORATI GULIELMI VIDUA AUG. 18, 1715. Mr. Edward Powell, in commendatory Verses, prefixed to "The Complete Angler," has commemorated the friendship which fubfifted between Bishop Morley and Mr. Ifaac Walton. "He that converfed with angels fuch as were "Oldworth and Fealty, each a fhining ftar "Shewing Salisbury'. To be efteemed, to be careffed by men of fuch comprehenfive learning and extraordinary abilities is honourable indeed. They were hist choiceft and most confidential companions. After the Restoration, he and his daughter had apartments conftantly referved for them in the houses of thefe two prelates. Here he fpent his time in that mutual reciprocation of benevolent offices, which conftitutes the bleffednefs of virtuous friendship. He experienced many marks of favour from the Bishop of Winchester, of whofe kindness to him he has fignified his remembrance in the ring bequeathed at his death, with this expreffive motto, "A MITE FOR A MILLION." It was doubtlefs through his recommendation, that Ken obtained the Shewing the way to Bethlehem; each a faint A diftinguished trait in the character of this prelate, who was first known to the world as the friend of Lord Falkland, and to whom Mr. Waller owns himself indebted for his taste of the ancient claffics, may be difcovered from the following narrative. "Being confulted by the mayor of a country corporation, what method he should take effectually to root out the fanatics in the year of his mayoralty; the bishop, now growing old, firft preached friendlinefs to him, by ordering him a glass of Canary, as oft as he started the question in company; and next admonished him, when alone, to let thofe people live quietly, in many of whom, he was fatisfied, there was the true fear of God, and who were, not likely to be gained by rigour and feverity." See "Kennet's Regifter," p. 816. After the Restoration, many divines, who had been educated among the Puritans, and had gone into the notions and scheme of Prefbytery, upon mature thoughts, judged it lawful, and even eligible to conform for the honour and intereft of the Chriflian religion, and for the peace and happiness of this church and nation. Among these was Dr. Seth Ward, celebrated for his mathematical ftudies. Having been appointed Prefident of Trinity College, Oxford, in 1659, he was ejected in 1660: In which year he was admitted Precentor of Exeter, Dean in 1661, and Bifhop in 1662. He was tranflated to the fee of Salisbury in 1667, and upon his death, in 1688, was fucceeded by Dr. Burnet, who has given a character of him in "The Hiflory of his own Times." A few years before his death, he suffered a fatal decay, not only in his body, but in his intellectual faculties. For, to the mortification of all human. fufficiency and wifdom, this great mafter of reason fo entirely loft the ufe of his understanding, as to become an object of compaffion, and uneafinefs to himself, and a burden to his friends and attendants. See "Dr. Walter Pope's Life of Seth, Bishop of Salisbury." the patronage of Dr. Morley; who, having appointed him his chaplain, prefented him to the rectory of Woodhay, in Hampshire; and then preferred him to the dignity of a Prebendary in the Cathedral Church of Winton. The worthy fon of a worthy father had no caufe to complain that his merit was unnoticed, or unrewarded. Mr. Ifaac Walton, junior, was educated at Chrift Church, in Oxford. Whilft he was Bachelor of Arts, he attended his uncle, Mr. Ken', to Rome, where he was prefent at the jubilee appointed by Pope Clement X. in 1675. On this occafion Ken was wont to fay, "That he had great reafon to give God thanks for his travels; fince, if it were poffible, he returned rather more confirmed of the purity of the Proteftant religion than he was before." During his refidence in Italy, that country, which is juftly called the great School of Mufic and Painting, the rich Repofitory of the nobleft productions of Statuary and Architecture, both ancient and modern, young Mr. Walton indulged and improved his tafte for the fine arts". On his return to England, he retired to the University of Oxford, to profecute his ftudies. Having afterward accepted an invitation from Bishop Ward, to become his domeftic chaplain, he was preferred to the rectory of Polfhot, near Devizes in Wiltshire, and elected a Canon of Salisbury. He afforded much affiftance to Dr. John Walker, when engaged in his "Hiftory of the Sufferings of the Clergy," communicating to him a variety of materials for that excellent work. He F 2 poffeffed He was not admitted to the degree of D. D. till 1679. u "VIATOR. But what have we got here? a rock springing up in the middle of the river."This is one of the oddeft fights that ever I faw. "Pisc. Why, Sir, from that pike that you fee ftanding up there diftant from the rock, "this is called Pike Pool; and young Mr. Ifaac Walton was fo pleafed with it, as to draw it "in landscape in black and white, in a black book I have at home, as he has done feveral "profpects of my house alfo, which I keep for a memorial of his favour, and will fhew you "when we come up to dinner. "VIAT. Has young Mr. Ifaac Walton been here too? "Pisc. Yes marry has he, Sir, and that again and again too; and in France fince, and at "Rome, and at Venice, and I can't tell where; but I intend to afk him a great many hard questions, so foon as I can fee him, which will be, God willing, next month."(Complete Angler, P. II Ch. 6.) |