xxiv LIFE OF IZAAK WALTON. [1633, 



able to complain." 4 As the younger Donne bequeathed his father's 

 collection of extracts to Bishop King to be given to the son of Izaak 

 Walton, 5 it may be inferred that Dr Donne's eldest son was the 

 person who desired Walton to claim his father's MSS. from King. 



Some time before his death, Dr Donne caused several seals 

 to be made of helitropium, or blood-stone, and engraved with a 

 representation of the Saviour extended on an anchor, instead of 

 the cross a beautiful emblem of the Christian faith which he 

 presented to his most intimate friends, among whom were Sir 

 Henry Wotton, Dr Hall, then Bishop of Exeter, Dr Duppa, 

 afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, Dr King, afterwards Bishop of 

 Chichester, George Herbert, the author of " The Temple," 6 and 

 Walton. Donne adopted this device instead of the crest of his 

 family, a sheaf of snakes ; and the seal sent by him to Herbert 

 was accompanied by some verses on the subject, which, with 

 Herbert's reply, were printed by Walton in his Life of Donne. 

 They are full of the quaint conceits with which the poetry of the 

 time abounded, and however agreeable to the taste of that age, 

 they have few charms for the present. Walton always used the 

 seal 7 that was given to him by Donne, of which an accurate 

 engraving will be found in a subsequent page. 



Walton wrote the following Elegy upon Donne, and, with 

 similar tributes to his worth by Dr King, Sir Lucius Carey, 

 Endymion Porter, and several other persons, it was printed at 

 the end of an edition of Donne's Poems, in 1633, of which work 

 it is not improbable that Walton was the editor. 8 The Elegy is 

 more remarkable for fervour than elegance ; but it contains a few 

 passages illustrative of the writer's own feelings and situation, 

 which render it of interest : 



" Is DONNE, great DONNE, deceased? then, England, say 

 Thou hast lost a man where language chose to stay,9 



* Life of Donne, ed. Zouch, I. pp. 22-24. 5 Vide postea, p. Ixx. 



6 Ibid. pp. 124-126. 



7 It is impressed on his will, and also on that of his son. 



8 The work was printed for John Marriott, and contained an address "from the Printer 

 to the Understanders," which does not bear sufficient resemblance to Walton's style to 

 justify its being positively attributed to his pen ; but it is not unlikely that the following 

 "Hexastichon Eibliopolse" was written by Walton, notwithstanding that the name of 

 the publisher is affixed to it : 



" I see in his last preach 'd and printed book, 

 His picture in a sheet ; in 'Paul's I look, 

 And see his statue in a sheet of stone ; 

 And sure his body in the grave hath one: 

 Those sheets present him dead these, if you buy, 

 You have him living to eternity. Jo. MAR." 



9 The following variations occur in the next edition of Donne's Poems, which was 

 printed in 1635 : 



" Our Donne is dead ; England should mourn, may say 

 We had a man whose language chose to stay." 



