^T. 47-] LIFE OF IZAAK WALTON. xxix 



him, as a token of his gratitude, a copy of the volume of sermons * 

 in which it occurred, was probably more agreeable to Walton's 

 feelings than the praises of the great and the learned : 



" Sir, — I send this book rather to witness my debt than to make any 

 payment. For it would be uncivil in me to offer any satisfaction for that 

 that all my father's friends, and indeed all good men are so equally en- 

 gaged. Courtesies that are done to the dead being examples of so much 

 piety, that they cannot have their reward in this life, because lasting as 

 long, and still (by awaking the like charity in others) propagating the debt, 

 they must expect a retribution from him who gave the first inclination. 

 And by this circle, sir, I' have set you in my place, and instead of making 

 you a payment, I have made you a debtor ; but 'tis to Almighty God, to 

 whom I know you will be so willingly committed, that I may safely take 

 leave to write myself, your thankful servant, Jo. Donne. ' 



" From my house in Covent Garden, 

 24th June 1640." 



Sir John Hawkins says that in 1632 Walton was living in 

 Chancery Lane, in a house a few doors higher up on the left hand 

 than the one he had previously occupied, and that he was then 

 described as a "sempster;" but his residence from 1628 until 

 1644,^ is stated in the parish books of St Dunstan's to have been 

 about the seventh house on the left-hand side, though, unlike 

 most other houses, that of Walton is not called a shop. From 

 those records it also appears that he filled a parish office in 

 December 1632 ; served on the grand jury in 1633 ; was ap- 

 pointed a constable on the 20th of December 1636; was again on 

 the grand jury in 1638; was one of the overseers of the poor, 

 and a sidesman on the i8th of April 1639; and a vestryman in 

 February 1640. 



During Walton's residence in Chancery Lane, he experienced 

 severe afflictions, by the loss of no less than seven children,^ 



6 The book in question, together with the original letter from the younger Donne to 

 Walton, was in 1714 in the possession of the Rev. Dr Borradale, rector of Market Deep- 

 ing, in Lincolnshire. — Hawkins's Life of Walton, p. 16, note. " 



' Zouch's Life of Walton, II. 322, 323. 



8 Vide Appendix, Note H. The Books of the parish of St Dunstan's leave little or no 

 doubt that Walton alwajfs lived in Chancery Lane during that period : but ic is remark- 

 able that the Parish Register of that church should state that his son Henry was baptized 

 on the 2ist March 1633-4, ^' out of Fleet Street,*^ though as early as December 1627, as 

 well as so lately as October 1632, his children are said to have been baptized or buried 

 "out of Chancery Lane." Vide Appendix, Note H. The discrepancy would, however, 

 disappear if Walton then resided in the corner house of Chancery Lane, which is partly 

 in Fleet Street. 



9 Namely, \z\K'Viy who was baptized 19th December 1627, and buried 28th March 

 1631 : John, who was baptized 23d July X629, and is presumed to have died soon after- 

 wards : Thomas, baptized 20th January 1630-1, and was buried 6th March following ; 

 Henry, baptized 12th October 1632, and buried on the 17th of the same month; 

 Henry, baptized 21st March 1633-4, ^nd buried 4th December 1634 ; Thomas, buried 

 19th August 1637; and Anne, born loth July 1640, and died izth May 1642. 



