xx The Complete Angler 



be ; and do as earnestly beg of every reader to say 

 Amen !" He wrote, in 1678, a preface to Thealma 

 and Clearchus (1683). The poem is attributed to 

 John Chalkhill, a Fallow of Winchester College, 

 who died, a man of eighty, in 1679. Two f his 

 songs are in The Compleat Angler. Probably the 

 attribution is right : Chftlkhill's tomb commemorates 

 a man after Walton's own heart, but some have 

 assigned the volume ^o Walton himself. Chalkhill 

 is described, on the title-page, as " an acquaintant 

 and friend of Edmund Spencer," which is im- 

 possible. 1 



On August 9, 1683, Walton wrote his will, "in 

 the neintyeth year of my age, and in perfect 



memory, for which praised be God ". IJgprofesses 



the AnglicaaJaith, despite " a very longan 



trew friendshipTor some of the Roman Church ". 



His worldly estate he has acquired "neither by 

 falsehood or flattery or the extreme crewelty of the 

 law of this nation ". His property was in two houses 

 in London, the lease of Norington farm, a farm near 

 Stafford, besides books, linen, and a hanging cabinet 

 inscribed with his name, now, it seems, in the pos- 

 session of Mr. Elkin Mathews. A bequest is made 

 of money for coals to the poor of Stafford, " every 

 last weike in Janewary, or in every first weike in 

 Febrewary ; I say then, because I take that time to 

 be the hardest and most pinching times with pore 

 people". To the Bishop of Winchester he be- 

 queathed a ring with a posy, "A Mite for a 

 Million M . There are other bequests, including ten 

 pounds to " my old friend, Mr. Richard Marriott," 

 Walton's bookseller. This good man died in peace 

 with his publisher, leaving him also a ring. A ring 



1 There is an edition by Singer, with a frontispiece by Waine- 

 wright, the poisoner. London, 1820. 



