268] A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



the seven Prelates sent to the Tower : the Doctor was afterwards 

 ejected, and died in retirement. Mrs. Walton appears to have been 

 a very accomplished and pious woman, and greatly contributed to 

 the domestic happiness of her husband. Death deprived Walton 

 of his amiable helpmate in the year 1662, and he has recorded her 

 virtues in an affectionate and well-written epitaph. 



After the death of his wife, he retired from business, and left 

 London for scenes more congenial to his contemplative turn of mind; 

 " living (according to Wood) sometimes at Stafford and elsewhere, 

 but mostly in the families of the eminent clergymen of England, by 

 whom he was much beloved." 



Whilst Mr. Walton resided in London, his favourite recreation 

 was angling, in which art he is said to have excelled almost all 

 men living. Langbaine calls him "the common father of anglers/' 

 His most frequented river for this primitive amusement seems to 

 have been the Lea, which has its source above Ware, in Hertford- 

 shire. 



While Mr. Walton lived in the neighbourhood of St. Dunstan's 

 in the West, he had frequent opportunities of attending the minis- 

 try of Dr. John Donne, who was vicar of that Church. To this 

 prelate's sentiments, he became, as he himself expresses it, a 

 convert; and upon the doctor's decease, in 1631, Sir H. Wotton 

 requested Walton to collect materials for his life, which Sir Henry 

 had undertaken to write. Sir Henry died before he had com- 

 pleted his work, and Walton undertook it himself, and in 1640, 

 finished and published it, with a collection of the Doctor's sermons, 

 in folio. 



On the death of Sir Henry, which took place in 1639, Walton 

 was importuned by the King to write his life also ; and it was ac- 

 cordingly finished about 1644. In 1655, he published that most 

 pleasing and highly interesting book, for which he will be ever re- 

 membered by all lovers of the art it is designed to recommend, "The 

 Complete Angler, or Contemplative Man's Recreation," in duo- 

 decimo, adorned with some very excellent cuts of most of the fish 

 mentioned in it. It is not known exactly who was the artist on 

 this occasion ; but it is generally believed to have been Lombart, 

 who is mentioned by Mr. Evelyn in the " Sculptura" and also 

 that the plates were of steel. Walton had not the advantage of a 

 classical education ; yet he frequently cites Latin and other learned 

 authors, as Gessner, Camden, Aldrovandus, Rondeltius, and even 

 Albertus Magnus. He of course had made use of such translations 



