112 THOMAS KEN AND IZAAK WALTON 



During the time of Walton's residence in Fleet 

 Street and in Chancery Lane, and between the 

 years 1627 and 1642, he had the grievous mis- 

 fortune to lose all his seven children one after the 

 other, his mother-in-law, Mrs. Floud, and his wife 

 Rachel ; she only survived the birth of an infant 

 about six weeks, and dying January 22, 1640, was 

 buried in St. Dunstan's on the 25 th. (This infant, 

 named Anne, died May 11, 1642.) 



It has been assumed, and doubtless very justly, 

 by Sir Harris Nicolas and other biographers, 

 that from the generous and effective way in which 

 Walton describes the happiness of the wedded life 

 in general, his own home must have been a model 

 of domestic bliss ; bearing in mind, however, that 

 during the last twelve years of his (first) married 

 life he lost seven children — that period must have 

 been one of great trial and great sorrow both 

 to husband and wife, demanding the exercise of 

 much Christian virtue and submission. Walton's 

 mother-in-law seems to have died in his house, 

 but it is not recorded how long she lived with 

 the family. Walton himself is very reticent ; the 

 only reference that he has ever made, so far as I 

 can discover, to his wife Rachel is that recorded 

 in the Prayer-Book, " Rachel died 1640," and the 



