2n4'§, No 20., May 17. ’56.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
385 
LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 17, 1856. 
Potes. 
UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF IZAAK WALTON, 
The following is a copy of a letter from Izaak Walton, 
of which the original autograph is among the MSS. in 
the library of Trinity College, Dublin. “AAtevs. 
Dublin. 
Ss, 
I came well from Winton .to London, about 3 
weikes past: at that time I left Do" Hawkins well: 
and my dafter (after a greate danger of child berth) 
not very well, but by a late letter from him, I 
heare they be boeth in good health. 
The doctor did tell me a gowne and some bookes 
of y™ were in danger to be lost, though he had 
made (at a distance) many inquiries after them, 
and intreated others to doe so too, but yet inefec- 
tually. He theirfore intreated me to undertake a 
search: and I have donne it so succesfuly that 
uppon thursday the 24° instant they were d¢ to 
that letter carryer that Inns at the Rose in Smith- 
feild, and with them the Life of Mr. George Her- 
bert (and 3 others) wrapt up in a paper and 
directed to you at Rodon Temple, the booke not 
tyed to the bundell, but of it selfe. The bundell 
cost me 3s. 8d. carryage to London, and I hope it 
will now come safe to your hands. 
What I have to write more is my heartie wishes 
for y* hapines, for I am 
y’ affec, frend and seruant, 
Izaak WALrToN. 
Nour 26°, 1670. . 
If you incline to write to me, direct your letter 
to be left at M* Grinsells, a grocer in King streite 
in Westminster. Much good doe you with the 
booke, w*" I wish better. i 
ffor my worthy frend M* 
- Edward Ward, 
att Rodon Temple, nere vnto 
Lester. 
dé p* 3%. 
Att Mr. Babingtons, 
att Rodon Temple. 
GAUTDERN’s “ PROPHETIC REFORMER.” 
It is not unfrequently with books as with men, 
certain of whom are so entirely devoid of utility 
or any quality which can make mankind unwilling 
to let them die, that we can only account for the 
notice which they still from time to time receive, 
on the score of the titles which separate them from 
the herd. It is upon this that 
“The tenth transmitter of a foolish face,” 
depends for his place in history, whether Hume’s 
or Debrett’s; and thus the catchpenny author 
seeks by the jangle of his Stokers and Pokers, and 
the spasmodic poet by the wnapt alliteration of his 
Pippa Passes and such balderdash, to secure for 
their productions the temporary notice to which 
their intrinsic merits would never be found to en- 
title them. But it is of a title-page, rather than 
a title, of which I am now about to speak ; and as 
it relates to a book which, from the small number 
of copies printed, is not likely often to cccur for 
sale, its entire transcription may not be thought 
unacceptable. It runs as follows: 
“The Prophetic Reformer: or the Age of Religion, and 
the Fruits of the Age, truely uncovered. By an unpo- 
pular Believer that ‘the wrath to come’ is now coming! 
a Believer that ‘the nations’ are angry!’ &c., as Rev. 
c. xii. v.18. William Gauthern, North Newton, near 
Banbury, Oxfordshire. 
“Thy kingdom come: thy will be done in earth as it 
is in heaven.” — Matt. ch, vi. v. 10. 
“This book, observe, is not Pain’s ‘ Age of Reason ;? 
*Tis not a book of Blasphemy, nor Treason ; 
Nor a religious book, but otherwise, 
A book of Truth, or of Prophetic Lies, 
One or the other; and if any man 
Would prove it lies, then let him if he can: 
But who dare try to prove Christ’s God a liar, 
That feareth God, or Christ, or endless fire ? 
Printed for the publick good, by myself, William Gau« 
thern, North Newton, at a make-shift press upon m 
‘house-top;’ and necessarily published by myself, Wil- 
liam Gauthern, because a certain Religious Bookseller 
has conscientiously refused to publish God’s truth! O, 
alas! On account of the unpopularity of genuine Truth, 
only 110 Books, with a needful Supplement, are printed 
for sale. Sold by me, William Gauthern, and by my 
seen. Price, seven shillings and sixpence, in boards, 
826. 
Next follows the “ Author's apology and Gospel 
advice,” in which we are told that “the aged and 
unlearned author of this unpopular book of Serip- 
tural prophecy has been his own writer, composi- 
tor, corrector, reviser, and pressman ;” on which 
ground he begs “of the more learned readers 
thereof to be so considerate as freely to excuse his 
imperfections in spelling, and grammatically word- 
ing the same, &c.,,and also his other imperfections 
in the art of printing.” At the end of his preface 
he confesses that, — 
“Such like matter as is contained in this book has so 
much and for such a length of time so completely ab- 
sorbed his thoughts, that some irrational religionists, as 
he has heard say, suppose him a madman, but of this he 
shall leave the rational part of the publick to judge for 
itself; he certainly is not yoked together with unbelievers ; 
and has no fellowship with them; God knoweth that he 
is come out from among them, and that he now stands 
separate; therefore he expects to be looked upon as an 
odd fellow, so long as his name is William Gauthern.” 
The book consists of no less than 316 pages, 
besides the ‘‘ needful supplement” of 36. It needs 
no apology for typographical incorrectness, being 
perfectly secundum artem throughout. Of the 
vaticinal delirations of our prophet I do not speak, 
especially as (p. 60.) he Logically shows that “no 
