IZAAK WALTON AND HIS FRIENDS i^i 



Derbyshire on the 19th of July 1598. His father, 

 Eoger Sheldon, was a menial servant to the Earl 

 of Shrewsbury. He was educated at Oxford, and 

 became a Fellow, and later on was elected Warden 

 of All Souls' College. Little mention of him is 

 made in any biography of Walton beyond the fact 

 that he was a friend of his. Yet it would seem 

 that Walton had more in common with him than 

 he had with many of his friends. 



He was a skilful angler for barbel, a staunch 

 Royalist, and a hard worker as a politician as well 

 as a theologian. Lord Clarendon says he was very 

 early looked upon as equal to any preferment the 

 Church could yield. At the Restoration he was 

 made Bishop of London, and at the Savoy Con- 

 ference figured prominently. On the death of 

 Archbishop Juxon, in 1663, be became Archbishop 

 of Canterbury. He remained at his post of duty 

 at Lambeth during the raging of the plague, 

 relieving many afflicted persons, and he is said 

 to have placed his chief point in religion in the 

 practice of a good life rather than in multiplied 

 services and the mere acts of worship. He said, 

 "Let it be your principal care to be honest men, 

 and afterwards be as devout and religious as you 

 will. No piety will be of any advantage to your- 

 selves or anybody else unless you are honest and 

 moral men." He was noted for his amiable 

 temper and his great generosity. He urged 



