U'alton 



isted. But with all his accomplishments 

 and opportunities, Donne nevertheless con- 

 tracted an unhappy marriage, which broke 

 his spirit, and brought his career all too 

 soon to an end ; for he was only fifty-eight 

 when he died, when Walton was in his 

 London heyday. 



The name of George Herbert needs no 

 recall to all lovers of true religious poetry. 

 The possibility of an association of the 

 writer of 



" Sweet Day, so cool, so calm, so bright, 

 The bridal of the earth and sky ! " 



with the devout and contemplative author 

 of The Complete Angler, is strikingly sug- 

 gestive. And yet, in his introduction to 

 his Life of Herbert, Walton admits that 

 he never knew that " saintly writer " per- 

 sonally, and indeed " only saw him once/' 

 For his being included in this remark- 

 able biographical quintette of English wor- 

 thies, Richard Hooker, the author of the 

 Laws of 'Ecclesiastical Polity, is indebted 

 entirely to Walton's admiration for that 

 powerful work, and not, as in the other 

 cases, to any regard for, or personal friend- 

 ship with, the subject of the Life. 

 Hooker died in the year 1 600, when only 

 in his forty-seventh year, and when Wal- 

 ton was but a boy of seven. 

 303 



