i62 THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELBORNE 



primitive piety, her great and general knowledge being 

 adorned with such true humihty, and blest with so 

 much Christian meekness, as made her worthy of a 

 more memorable monument." 



We now come to what we have ventured to call the 

 fourth or last period of Walton's life, and of this 

 period, especially of the last seven years of it, little 

 beyond conjecture, more or less probable, is to be 

 found in his biographies ; and even Mr. Stapleton 

 Martin, the latest of his eulogists, has no fresh light 

 whatever to throw upon it. It is usually supposed 

 that the old man spent most of his time with Bishop 

 Morley at Farnham or Winchester, and the belief 

 seems to be based on a statement by Dr. Zouch that 

 " Walton and his daughter had apartments constantly 

 reserved for them in the houses of Dr. Morley, the 

 Bishop of Winchester, and of Dr. Ward, Bishop of 

 Salisbury." This assertion need not be disputed ; 

 there can be little doubt that after the death of his 

 wife in 1662 the aged fisherman and his youthful 

 daughter frequently visited their friends, especially 

 Bishop Morley at Farnham Castle, where he wrote 

 his Lives of "Mr. Richard Hooker" and of "Mr. 

 George Herbert," and Bishop Ward at Sarum, and 

 doubtless Charles Cotton, on the banks of the Dove. 

 But in the year 1676, when Izaak Walton had attained 

 the great age of eighty-three, his daughter Anne, the 

 inseparable companion and comfort of his old age, was 

 married to Dr. William Hawkins, usually described as 

 a Prebendary of Winchester Cathedral. Now this 

 event cannot but have greatly influenced the conditions 

 and surroundings of the old man's life, which had still 

 some seven years to run. But of these seven years 

 his biographers have nothing to tell us. His last visit 



