LIFE 



MR. ISAAC WALTON. 



J. H E excellent Lord Verulam has noted it, as one of the great 

 deficiencies of biographical history, that it is,"for the most part, con- 

 fined to the actions of kings, princes, and great personages, who are 

 necessarily few; while the memory of less conspicuous, though good 

 men, has been no better preserved, than by vague reports, and bar- 

 ren elogies. l 



It is not therefore to be wondered at, if little care has been taken to 

 perpetuate the remembrance of the person who is the subject of the 

 present enquiry; and, indeed, there are many circumstances that 

 seem to account for such an omission ; for neither was he distin- 

 guished by his rank, or eminent for his learning, or remarkable for 

 the performance of any public service ; but as he ever affected a 

 retired life, so was he noted, only, for 'an ingenious, humble, good 

 man. 



However, to so eminent a degree did he POMCM the qualities above 

 ascribed to him, as to afford a very justifiable reason for endeavour- 

 ing to impress upon the minds of mankind, by a collection of many 

 scattered passages concerning him, a due sense of their value and 

 importance. 



ISAAC, or, as he used to write it, IZAAK WALTON, was born at 

 Stafford, in the month of August, 1593. The Oxford Antiquary, who 

 has thus fixed the place and year of his nativity, has left us no me- 

 morials of his family,* nor even hinted where or how he was 

 educated; but has only told us, that before the year 1643, Walton 

 was settled, and followed the trade of a sempster, in London. 3 



From his own writings, then, it must be, that the circumstances 



(1) " De vitis cogitantem subit qua-darn admiratio, tempora isla nostra 

 baud nflsse bona sna ; cum tani raia fit conuucmoratio el consciiptio 

 vitamin, eoruui, qui noslio seculo clarncrunt. KIM enim reges, et qui 

 absolntum principatum obtineaut, pauci esse possint; principes etiani in 

 republic^ liber (lot rebuspublicis in mnuarrhiam conversis) baud multi; 

 ii tr u M q tie tair.cn noil dct'uerunt viri egregii (licet sub regibus) qui melipra 

 merentur, quam inceriain et vapam memorise sine fainaui aut elogia arida 

 et jejuna." De Attf mentis Sc'u'iitiurum, lib. II. cap. 7. 



(2) By the register of St. Mary, Suiiord, it appears he was born August 

 9th, 1593. 



(3) Atken. Oxon. Vol. I 305. 



