40 LIFE OF WALTON. 



of a pious disposition observed in him, he was called St, 

 Nicholas*. From school he was, in his thirteenth 

 year, sent to Cambridge ; and after some time spent there, 

 was elected a fellow of Clare-Hall. About the age of 

 twenty-six, he betook himself to travel ; and, visiting 

 France, Italy, Spain, and the Low Countries, obtained 

 a perfect knowledge of all the languages spoken in the 

 western parts of Christendom ; as also of the principles 

 and reasons of religion, and manner of worship therein. 

 In these his travels, he resisted the persuasions of many 

 who tempted him to join in communion with the church 

 of Rome ; and remained stedfast in his obedience to the 

 church of England. Upon his return home, he, by the 

 death oi his father, became enabled to buy land at Little 

 Gidding, near Huntingdon, to the value of 500/. a 

 year t ; where was a manor-house and a hall, to which 

 the parish-church or chapel adjoined : here he settled. 

 And his father having been intimate with Sir Walter 

 Raleigh, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir Francis Drake, 

 and other famous navigators, he was, in 1624, by 

 means of some lords in the Virginia company, chosen a 

 member of the house of commons ; in which capacity 

 he distinguished himself by his eloquence and activity : 

 but having, in a short trial of a publick life, experienced 

 the folly and vanity of worldly pursuits, he took a reso- 

 lution to abandon them : and, first, he made suit to 

 his diocesan, that his mother and he might be permit- 

 ted to restore the tithes of the rectory which had been, 

 impropriated ; and accordingly the church was en- 

 dowed therewith ; which was no sooner done, than he, 

 with the rest of the family, entered into a course of 

 mortification, devotion, and charity. The society con- 

 sisted of himself, a very aged mother, four nieces, and 

 other kindred ; and servants: and amounted in number 



* St. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra in Lycia, and famous for his early 

 piety, which as the Romish legendaries tell us, he manifested, by forbear" 

 ing to suck on Wednesdays and Fridays. 



} This is a mistake of Walton's, and is corrected in a Collection of 

 Papers relating to the PROTESTANT NUNNERY of little Gidding, at the end 

 of Can Vindicia^ edit. Hearne. The mother in her widowhood, about 

 the year 1625, and not the son made the purchase. Among these papers, 

 are sundry curious conversations of the young women. 



