equitable criticism, fhould be juftly applied to a man of real merit, who ftrenuously exerted himself in promoting the cause 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 several 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 observe of Ifaac Walton, that he was ignorant how to write of any man with acrimony and harfhness. 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 difcover not, in his remarks, the petulance of indifcriminate 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 almost faid, that enraptured language which he adopts, whenever the fubject occurs to him. It will be 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 alfo gave twenty-two pounds, to build a stone-wall around St. Chad's Churchyard in the faid borough; and did also set forth nine boys apprentices, bestowing 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 handicraftfmen; and five pounds to fome maid-fervant, that hath attained the age of twenty-one years (not lefs), and dwelt long in one fervice; or to some honeft 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 fhall 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. f 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 fome "little things, that he will value, though of no great worth." "He that at midnight, when the very labourer fleeps fecurely, fhould hear, as 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 Christian, 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 should prevail, is far from being an unreafonable 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 lefs read than they deserve to be. It is needless to remark, that on the first publication of a work it was ufual for the friends of the author to prefix to it recommendatory verfes. Ifaac Walton, whofe circle of friends was very extenfive indeed, often contributed his fhare of encomium on thefe 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 must 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 boaft and ornament of the University of Oxford, as a divine, a philofopher, and a poet. Dr. Fell, Bishop of Oxford, declared him to be, "the "utmoft 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 itself 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.". 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 fectaries. haftening from one degree of injustice to another, until an universal h See "Comedies, Tragi-comedies, with other Poems, by William Cartwright, late Student of Christ Church in Oxford, and Proctor of the Univerfity. 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 ufe. 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 minifter's fon, in Cheshire, and was educated in Braze nofe College, Oxford. See "Wood's Ath. Ox." Vol. II. col. 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 Roman Communion. But a full and explicit declaration of bis 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 sense, 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 worfe than nothing. And this worthip " 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 alfo, by ftanding up at profefsion of "the Creed, which contains the feveral articles that I and all true "Chriftians profess and believe; and alfo my standing up at giving "glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, and con"fefsing them to be three perfons, and but one God. "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 conftant afsiftance 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, compofed 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 trufted "also to tranflate thofe 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: But 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 con"fefsing 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 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 just pretender to "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 inferior to Fletcher "himself." See "The Life of Mr. Herbert," p. 590. d "the public afsembly, I spend 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 praife God, I understand "my duty both to him 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 Chriftian, if I had not frequented the blessed ordinance of preaching; which has convinced me of my many fins paft, and begot such terrors of conscience, as have begot in me holy refolutions. This benefit, and many other like benefits, I and other Chriftians have had by preaching: And "God forbid that we should ever ufe it fo, or fo provoke him by our other fins as to withdraw this blessed ordinance from us, or "turn it into a curfe, by preaching heresie and schism; which too many 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. 66 86 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 anguish of the heart. We cannot therefore fufficiently felicitate the condition of Ifaac Walton, who imbibed the very spirit 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 happiest of men, we flew curselves ig"norant of the nature of that felicity, to which it is pofsible even "in this life for virtuous and good men, with the blessing of God, "to arrive1." 66 Yet it must not be concealed, that our venerable biographer has, from his love of angling, been denominated a cruel and hard-hearted man. He has been compared to Popish inquifitors, and the most favage perfecutors. Nothing certainly can be faid in vindication of any amusement which is productive of pain and anguifh to the loweft of the brutę creation. Every animal clainis from man a mild and gentle treatment; and it is much to be wished that diverfions, which tend to "Biographical Dictionary." Ed. 1784. $ prolong the mifery of any creature, were entirely laid afide. Whe does not applaud the humane sentiment of Gay? "Around the fteel no tortur'd worm fhall twine, "And with the far-wrought fly delude the prey. And it is hoped that the remark of the poet is not strictly true that "the poor beetle, which we tread upon, "In corporal fufferance feels a pang as great "As when a giant dies. Aningenious naturalift has adduced many arguments, which render it extremely probable that infects are not in reality possessed of the degrees of feeling pain, which have been erroneously attributed to them. The features of the countenance often enable us to form a judgment, not very fallible, of the difpofition of the mind. In few portraits can this discovery be more fuccefsfully purfued than in that' of Ifaac Walton. Lavater, the acute mafter of phyfiognomy, would, I think, inftantly acknowledge in it the decifive traits of the original:-Mild complacency, forbearance, mature confideration, calm activity, peace, found understanding, power of thought, difcerning attention, and fecretly active friendship. Happy in his unblemished integrity, happy in the approbation and esteem of others, he inwraps himself in his own virtue. The exultation of a good conscience eminently shines forth in the looks of this venerable perfon. "6 CANDIDA SEMPER "GAUDIA, ET IN VULTU CURARUM IGNARA VOLUPTAS." Hacket, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, ufed this motto, "SERVE GOD, AND BE CHEERFUL." Our Biographer feems to have adhered to this golden maxim, during the whole tenor of his life. His innocence, and the inoffenfive plainnefs of his manners, his love of truth, his piety, and the unbiased rectitude of his conduct diffused over his mind a ferenity and complacency, which never forfook him. Let no one, however elevated in rank or ftation, however accomplished with learning, or exalted in genius, efteem himself undervalued, when it fhall be pronounced concerning him, that his religious and moral qualities are placed in the balance, or compared with thofe of ISAAC WALTON. |