LIFE OF I2AAK WALTON. O 



higher up,- on the left hand, than the former, and described by 

 the occupation of a sempster, or milliner. The former of these 

 might be his own proper trade ; and the latter, as being a 

 feminine occupation, might probably be carried on by his wife : 

 she, it appears, was Anne, the daughter of Thomas Ken, of 

 Furnival's Inn, and sister of Thomas, afterwards Dr Ken, 

 Bishop of Bath and Wells, one of the seven that were sent to 

 the Tower, and who, at the Revolution, was deprived, and 

 died in retirement. Walton seems to have been as happy in 

 the married state, as the society and friendship of a prudent 

 and pious woman of great endowments could make him ; and 

 that Mrs Walton was such a one, we may conclude from what 

 will be said of her hereafter. 



About 1643 he left London, and, with a fortune very far 

 short of what w r ould now be called a competency,* seems to 

 have retired altogether from business ; at which time, (to use 

 the words of Wood,) " finding it dangerous for honest men to 

 be there, he left that city, and lived sometimes at Stafford,f 

 and elsewhere ; but mostly in the families of the eminent 

 clergymen of England, of whom he was much beloved. 



While he continued in London, his favourite recreation was 

 angling, in which he was the greatest proficient of his time ; 

 and indeed, so great were his skill and experience in that art, 

 that there is scarce any writer on the subject since his time, 

 who has not made the rules and practice of Walton his very 

 foundation. It is, therefore, with the greatest propriety that 

 Langbaine calls him " the common father of all anglers." $ 



The river that he seems mostly to have frequented for this 

 purpose was the Lea, which has its source above Ware, in 

 Hertfordshire, and falls into the Thames a little below Black 

 Wall ; |j unless we will suppose that the vicinity of the New 

 River 1 to the place of his habitation, might sometimes tempt 

 him out with his friends, honest Nat. and R. Roe, whose loss 

 he so pathetically mentions, ** to apend an afternoon there. 



* See his Will, at the end of the Life. 



f He lived upon a small estate near the town of Stafford, where, 

 according to his own account, he suffered during the time of the Civil 

 Wars ; having by his loyalty rendered himself obnoxious to the persons in 

 power. 



{ Athcn. Oxon. vol. i. J305. 



Lives of the English Dramatic Poets, art. Cha. Cotton, Esq. 



|| See chap six. 



\ That great work, the bringing water from Chadwell and Amwell, in 

 Hertfordshire, to London, by means of the trench called the New River, was 

 completed on Michaelmas day, 1613. Stow's Survey, fol. 1633, p. 12. 



** Preface to Complete Angler. 



