IZAAK WALTON AT DROXP^ORD i6i 



first work, of which Hales of Eton is reported to have 

 said that " he had not seen a Life written with more 

 advantage to the subject, or more reputation to the 

 writer, than that of Dr. Donne." 



In 1644, at the age of fifty, Walton retired from 

 business, and deeming London "a dangerous place 

 for honest men to live in," returned, it seems, at any 

 rate for a time, to his native town of Stafford. It is 

 difficult, however, to trace with any certainty his 

 movements during this the third period of his life. 

 In 1646 he married his second wife, Anne Ken, half- 

 sister to Thomas Ken, afterwards Bishop of Bath and 

 Wells, and this happy union doubtless brought him 

 into still closer connection with the ecclesiastical 

 world. A few years later appeared his Life of Sir 

 Henry Wotton, followed in 1653 by The Conipleat 

 Angler, the work by which he is now most generally 

 known. During this period we may think of him as 

 residing for a time at Stafford, and afterwards, it 

 appears, at Clerkenwell ; as spending his time partly 

 in literary work and partly in fishing, sometimes with 

 his friend, Charles Cotton, in Dovedale; and as visit- 

 ing his numerous friends in various parts of the 

 country. In 1662, probably when on a visit to Bishop 

 Morley, who had recently been appointed to Wor- 

 cester, the great calamity of Walton's life occurred. 

 His second wife died, leaving him a widower at the 

 age of seventy, with two children — Anne, aged fifteen, 

 who was to be the stay and comfort of his old age, and 

 Izaak, aged eleven, afterwards Rector of Poulshot, in 

 Wiltshire, and Canon of Salisbury Cathedral. She 

 was buried in the Lady Chapel of Worcester Cathe- 

 dral, and her epitaph, written by Walton, speaks of 

 her as being " A woman of remarkable prudence and 



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