Izaak Walton

“ Man irreparably, (as poyson'd fumes
Doe waste the braine) make silence a safe way,
To'inlarge the Soule from these walls, mud and clay,
(Materials of this body) to remaine
With Donne in heaven, where no promiscuous pain
Lessens the joy we have, for, with him, all
Are satisfy'd with joyes essentiall.
Dwell on this joy my thoughts; oh, doe not call [6]
Griefe back, by thinking of his Funerall;
Forget hee lov'd mee; Waste not my sad yeares;
(Which hast to Davids seventy,) fill'd with feares
And sorrow for his death; Forget his parts,
Which finde a living grave in good mens hearts ”

“ The original Lives themselves—especially those of Wotton and Donne—were mere sketches of what they are in their present enlarged form.
Walton had the good fortune to be thrown very early in life into the society and intimacy of men who were his superiors in rank and education. But he had enough of culture, joined to his inherent reverence of mind, to appreciate and understand all that they had and he wanted.
The preface to Sir John Skeffington's Heroe of Lorenzo had for two centuries lain forgotten, and escaped the notice of Walton's biographers, till in 1852 it was discovered by Dr. ”

“ Singer, [3] and by a writer in the "Retrospective Review," [4] that the poem of Thealma and Clearchus, which he published in the last year of his life, as a posthumous fragment of his relation John Chalkhill, was really a juvenile work of his own. Some plausibility is lent to this notion by the fact that Walton speaks of the author with so much reticence and reserve in his preface to the volume, and also that in introducing two of Chalkhill's songs into the "Complete Angler," he does not bestow on them the customary words of commendation. ”

“ When this relation of the life of Doctor Donne was first made publick, it had besides the approbation of our late learned & eloquent King, a conjunction with the Authors most excellent Sermons to support it; and thus it lay some time fortified against prejudice; and those passions that are by busie and malicious men too freely vented against the dead.
And yet, now, after almost twenty yeares, when though the memory of Dr. Donne himself, must not, cannot die, so long as men speak English ”

“ Can in your absence weave an Elegy:
Which we will do; and often inter-weave
Sad Looks, and Sighs; the ground-work must receive
Such Characters, or be adjudg'd unfit
For my Friends shroud; others have shew'd their Wit,
Learning, and Language fitly ”

“ This theory has been rebutted by others, who assert that Walton was of too truthful and guileless a nature to resort to such an artifice. We confess that we are unable to see anything dishonest in the adoption, as a pseudonym, of the name of a deceased friend, or anything more than Walton appears to have done on another occasion when he published his two letters on "Love and Truth." ”

“ And God reward those that shall doe this with out partialitie and with honestie and a good contience.
And if the saide maior and others of the saide towne of Stafford, shall prove so necligent or dishonest as not to imploy the rent by me given as intended and exprest in this my will, (which God forbid,) then I give the saide rents and profits, of the saide farme or land, to the towne and chiefe magestrats or governers of Ecles-hall, to be disposed by them in such maner as I have ordered the disposall of it, by the towne of Stafford, the said Farme or land being nere the towne of Ecles-hall. ”

“ To the Right Honourable The Lady Mary Wotton Baronness, and to her Three Noble Daughters.
{ KATHERIN STANHOP. THE LADY { MARGARET TUFTON. { ANN HALES. Since Bookes seeme by custome to Challenge a dedication, Justice would not allow, that what either was, or concern'd Sir Henry Wotton, should be appropriated to any other Persons; Not only for that nearnesse of Aliance and Blood (by which you may chalenge a civil right to what was his;) but, by a title of that intirenesse of Affection, which was in you to each other, when Sir Henry Wotton had a being upon Earth. ”

“ And first I doe [declare] my beleife to be that their is only one God who hath made the whole world and me and all mankinde to whome I shall give an acount of all my actions which are not to be justified, but I hope pardoned for the merits of my saviour Jesus.—And because [the profession of] Cristianity does at this time, seime to be subdevided into papist and protestant, I take it to be at least convenient to declare my beleife to be in all poynts of faith, as the Church of England now professeth. ”

“ PREFACE TO THEALMA AND CLEARCHUS. 1678.
[Thealma and Clearchus, a Pastoral History, in smooth and easie Verse.
Written long since, By John Chalkhill, Esq.; an Acquaintant and Friend of
Edmund Spencer. London: Printed for Benj. Tooke, at the Ship in S. Paul's
Church-yard, 1683.]
The Preface.
The Reader will find in this Book, what the Title declares, A Pastoral History, in smooth and easie Verse; and will in it find many Hopes and Fears finely painted, and feelingly express'd. And he will find the first so often disappointed, when fullest of desire and expectation ”

“ This I write that you may inform M'r. Fulman of it, and I pray let him know I will not yet give over my queries; and let him know that I hope to meet him and the Parliament in health and in London in October, and then and there deliver up my collections to him. In the mean time I wish him and you health; and pray let him know it either by your writing to him, or sending him this of mine.
God keep us all in his favour,
his and your friend to serve you,
IZAAK WALTON.
Winchester, 24th August, 1673. ”

“ FOOTNOTES [1] In the edition of 1633, the poem opens thus:—
Is Donne, great Donne deceas'd? then England say
Thou'hast lost a man where language chose to stay
And shew it's gracefull power, &c.
[2] La Corona.
[3] for piety and wit,—1633.
[4] As none but hee did, or could do? They know (Such as were blest to heare him know) 'tis truth.—1633.
[5] age in the edition of 1633.
[6] My thoughts, Dwell on this Joy, and do not call—1633.
[7] vowes in the edition of 1633.
[8] Write no Encomium, but an Elegie. Here the poem closed in the edition of 1633. ”

“ You are therefore requested to fancy him cast by fortune into the company of some yet unknown Shepheards: and you have a liberty to beleeve 'twas by this following accident.
"He in a Sommers morning (about that howre when the great eye of Heaven first opens it selfe to give light to us mortals) walking a gentle pace towards a Brook (whose Spring-head was not far distant from his peacefull habitation) fitted with Angle, Lines, and Flyes: Flyes proper for that season (being the fruitfull Month of May;) ”

“ XV. Dedication of the Third Edition of Reliquiae Wottonianae.
1673. XVI. Letter to Marriott.
1678. XVII. Preface &c. to Thealma & Clearchus.
1680. XVIII. Letter to John Aubrey.
1683. XIX. Izaak Walton's Last Will and Testament.
PREFACE. Few men who have written books have been able to win so large a share of the personal affection of their readers as honest Izaak Walton has done, and few books are laid down with so genuine a feeling of regret as the "Complete Angler" certainly is, that they are no longer. ”

“ Greinwood now dwelleth, in which is now about 16 years to come. I give these two leases to them, they saving my executor from all damage concerning the same. (And I doe also give to my saide dafter all my books this day at Winchester and Droxford: and what ever ells I can call mine their, except a trunk of linen w'ch I give my son Izaak Walton, but if he doe not marry, or use the saide linen himselfe, then I give the same to my grand-doughter Anne Hawkins) . ”