Walton's Business. 109 



the notice of that most careful and in 

 defatigable of all Walton's biographers, 

 Sir Harris Nicolas, appears to me to 

 prove that Walton came to London prior 

 to 1613, the earliest date mentioned by 

 Sir Harris. The records of the Iron- 

 mongers' Company show that on Novem- 

 ber 1 2th, 1618, Walton, who is described 

 as late apprentice to Mr. Thomas Grinsell, 

 was made a member of that company. 

 This__ would seem to indicate that 

 Walton began life in London as an 

 apprentice when he was about sixteen^ 

 years of age i.e., about the year 1611. 

 The sUUeiiient of Sir John Hawkins that 

 Walton's first settlement in London as a 

 shopkepeer was in the Royal Burse in 

 Cornhill, built by Sir Thomas Gresham, 

 in 1616, is not supported by proof of any 

 kind ; nor is there any evidence to show 

 that he was ever a sempster, haberdasher, 

 or Hamburgh merchant, as stated by most 

 of his biographers, while there is direct 

 evidence that he was engaged in a 

 totally different business. 



\The records of the IromnojigersJ_Com- 

 panY^as-alreadv mentioned, prove thatTEe 

 was made a membejofthat.cQiripany on 

 November i2th, i6i8._)lt does not follow 

 as a matter of course that Walton was 

 an ironmonger by trade because he was 



