IZAAK WALTON AT DROXFORD 163 



to Charles Cotton seems to have taken place in the 

 year of his daughter's marriage, probably in her com- 

 pany, shortly before the ceremony took place. He 

 was now becoming too old for his beloved occupation of 

 fishing, except in fine weather; and the fatigues of 

 travelling were great in those days. The only event 

 of any importance which breaks the silence of those 

 seven years was the publication of his Life of Dr. 

 Robert Sanderson, which appeared in 1678, and was 

 dedicated to his old friend Bishop Morley of Win- 

 chester ; but there is nothing to show where the book 

 was written. In the concluding paragraph of the 

 Life the aged author says : " 'Tis now too late to 

 wish that my life may be like his, for I am in the 

 eighty-fifth year of my age : but I humbly beseech 

 Almighty God that my death may; and do as earnestly 

 beg of every Reader to say, 'Amen.'" Even of his 

 death no particulars remain. We only know that he 

 passed away on December 15, 1683, during the great 

 frost of that year, at the house of his son-in-law, Dr. 

 Hawkins, in the Close at Winchester. 



But it has long seemed to the writer that with re- 

 gard to these closing years of Walton's life sufficient 

 use has not been made by his biographers of the 

 details contained in his will. This most interesting 

 document, well known to all his admirers, was begun 

 by the old man on his birthday, a few months before 

 his death, " being," he says, "in the ninetyeth year 

 of my age, and in perfect memory, for which praised 

 be God." Now the respect and affection with which, 

 in his will, Walton speaks of Dr. Hawkins, " whom," 

 he says, " I love as my own son," is most noticeable, 

 and lends some support to the contention of the writer 

 that these last years were spent, not, as is usually 



