66 " 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 scripture in his playes, and lamented it with horror: yet "that, at that time of his long retyrement, his penfion (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 wch 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 Westminster. "The question 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 rest so tedyous as I doe this. " "ffor yr 2 and 3 que of Mr. Hill, and Bilingsley, 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 stares, "or market, in Woolftable. Woolftable is a place not far from "Charing-Crosse, and nerer to Northumberland-house. My lord "of Winchester tells me, he knew him, and that he fayde, he first "found out the cerculation of the blood, and discouer'd it to Dr. "Haruie (who said that 'twas he (himfelfe) that found it) for "which he is fo memorally famofe. Warner had a penfion of 401. 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 Windsor Park, "and was welcom, for he was harmles and quet. His winter was spent at the Woolftable, where he dyed in the time of the par"lement 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 1201. a yeare penfion from the faid Farle (who was a louer of their studyes), "and his lodgings in Syon-houfe, where he thinks, or believes, he dyed. "This is all I know or can learne for your friend; which I wish may be worth the time and trouble of reading it. Nour. 22, 80. I. W." "I forgot to tell, that I heard the fermon preacht for the Lady "Danvers, and have it: but thanke your ffriend "." 1 Of this great mathematician, fee" Wood's Ath. Ox." Vol. I. col. 461. 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 ftudiofifsimus, Dei triniunius "Cultor piifsimus." n This was the fermon preached by Dr. Donne, in the parish church of Chelfey, 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 C 3 MSS. 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 last a conftitution unbroken by disease, with the full possession 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 juft claim to a writ of eafe. On the ninetieth anniversary of his birth-day, he declares himself in his will to be 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 fmooth 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-esteemed friend, that it would be injurious not to transcribe the following lines: "TO MY WORTHY FRIEND MR. ISAAC WALTON, ON THE Long had the bright Thealma lay obscure: "Her beauteous charms, that might the world allure, "Lay, like rough diamonds in the mine, unknown, "By all the fons of folly trampled on, "Till your kind hand unveil'd her lovely face, "And gave her vigour to exert her rays. 66 Happy old man! whose worth all mankind knows, "Except himself; who charitably shows, "The ready road to virtue and to praise, Inspir'd by her he knows no anxious cares, 66 "As long as Spenfer's noble flames shall burn, MSS. in the Afhmolean Museum, are thefe 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.” o" Eft etiam quietè et purè et eleganter actæ Ætatis placida ac lenis Senec"tus." Cic. de Senectute." Non cani, non rugs, repentè auctoritatem arri❤ 66 pere pofsunt: Sed honeftè acta fuperior ætas fructus capit auctoritatis," b. As long as Chalkhill's venerable name "With noble emulation fhall inflame Ages to come, and fwell the rolls of fame. "And long beyond our fhort-liv'd praife endure; "And fhar'd that immortality, he alone could give." The classic reader, when he recollects the ftory of Phidias, will eafily acknowledge the propriety of the encomium passed on Mr. Walton, who fecured immortal fame to himself, while he conferred it upon others. That divine artist, having finished his famous itatue of Minerva, with the moft confummate exquifitenefs of fkill, afterward impressed 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 easy "verfe; and will in it find many hopes and fears finely painted " and feelingly expressed. And he will find the first so often dif"appointed, when fulleft of defire and expectation; and the latter "fo often, so strangely, and so unexpectedly relieved by an unfore"feen Providence, as may beget in him wonder and aniazement." He adds, that "the reader must here alfo meet with pafsions "heightened by easy and fit descriptions of joy and forrow; and "find also fuch various events and rewards of innocent truth and " undissembled honefty, as is like to leave in him (if he be a good"natured reader) more fympathizing and virtuous impressions than ten times fo much time spent in impertinent, critical, and "needless 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 P. So amiable were the manners, fo truly excellent the P In a volume, entitled "The Mufes Library, London, 1737," are inferted exnacts from this poem, viz. "The Arcadian Golden Age," "A Defcription of the Priestesses of Diana," "The Image of Jealoufy," "A Defcription of the Power of the Witch Orandra, together with her Cave." Dr. Johnson has revived the celebrity of Mr. Chalkhill, by an elegant tranflation of the following lines: character of all thole, whom Ifaac Walton honoured with his regard. 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, preferved a found memory, perfect fenfes, 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 full age, “like as a "flock of corn cometh in his season." "So would I live, fuch gradual death to find, DRYDEN, He died during the time of the great froft, on the 15th day of December, 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 thefe lines are yet extant. 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 fmall oval monument of white marble, on which is the following infcription, 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 son 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 Clofe of Sarum. He published a fhort account of the life of his great uncle in 1713, and alfo 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." Thefe works include only Ken's Poetical Compofitions, which do not merit any great encomium, though they are written in a ftrain 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 generations. 66 4 The following fepulchral infcriptions are in the Cathedral Church of Winchefter. H. S. E. GULIELMUS HAWKINS S. T. P. HUJUS ECCLESIÆ PREBENDARIUS, QUI OBIIT JUL. 17. ANNO DOMINI 1691. ÆTATIS SUE 58. H. S. E. ANNA ETIAM IZAAC WALTON FILIA QUÆ OBIIT SUPER-MEMORATI GULIELMI VIDUA ETATIS SUÆ 67. |