Izaak Walton 



by whom he had seven children. No 

 incident of his married life with this lady 

 is anywhere recorded ; but that he had 

 much sorrow to put to the test his nat- 

 ural sweetness and cheerfulness may be 

 gathered from the fact that he not only 

 lost all the offspring of this marriage, but 

 at the end of fourteen years had likewise 

 to mourn her death. Childless and a wid- 

 ower, Walton was now in his forty-seventh 

 year ; and it was probably to direct his 

 mind away from his domestic afflictions 

 that he essayed to publish the first of his 

 famous lives, viz., that of Dr. John Donne, 

 Dean of St. Paul's, along with a collection 

 of the sermons of that well-known divine 

 and poet. Three years later, though only 

 arrived at what many regard as the merid- 

 ian of life and effort, Walton relinquished 

 business, and, with a fair competency, ac- 

 quired, we may rest assured, honestly and 

 diligently, left London to reside near Staf- 

 ford, his native place. 



During the period of his London life, 

 Walton must have fore-gathered with not 

 a few notable and worthy men. He ap- 

 pears to have had a special genius for form- 

 ing friendships with men of really high 

 and representative character. The attrac- 

 tion was perhaps as much on his side ; and 



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