^T. 85.] LIFE OF IZAAK WALTON. xci 



a stage of his existence is of peculiar interest, evei7thing which 

 occurs in it illustrative of his own feelings or situation will be here 

 introduced. 



The dedication commences with an acknowledgment of Bishop 

 Morley's kindness ; and shows that through Morleyhe had become 

 acquainted with Sanderson, Chillingworth, and Dr Hammond : — 



"My Lord, — If I should undertake to enumerate the many favoure and 

 advantages I have had by my very long acquaintance with your lordship, I 

 should enter upon an employment that might prove as tedious as thexol- 

 lecting of the materials for this poor monument, which I have erected, and 

 do dedicate to the memory of your beloved friend Dr Sanderson. But 

 though I will not venture to do that ; yet I do remember with pleasure, 

 and remonstrate with gratitude, that your lordship made me known to him, 

 Mr Chillingworth, and Dr Hammond, men whose merits ought never to 

 be forgotten. My friendship with the first was begun almost forty years 

 past, when I was as far from a thought, as a desire to outlive him ; and 

 farther from an intention to write his life : but the wise Disposer of all men's 

 lives and actions hath prolonged the first, and now permitted the last ; 

 which is here dedicated to your lordship (and as it ought to be) with all 

 humility, and a desire that it may remain as ii public testimony of my 

 gratitude. — My Lord, your most aflectionate old Friend, and most 

 humble Servant, Izaak Walton." 



In the preface Walton says : " I confess " the Life of Dr Sander- 

 son "was worthy the employment of somepei'son of more learning 

 and greater abilities than I can pretend to ; and I have not a little 

 wondered that none have yet been so grateful to him and posterity 

 as to undertake it : for as it may be noted, that our Saviour had a 

 care, that for Mary Magdalen's kindness to him, her name should 

 never be forgotten : so I conceive the great satisfaction many 

 scholars have already had, and the unborn world is like to have 

 by his exact, clear, and useful learning ; and might have by a true 

 narrative of his matchless meekness, his calm fortitude, and the 

 innocence of his whole life : doth justly challenge the like from ttis 

 present age ; that posterity may not be ignorant of them : and it 

 is to me a wonder, that it has been already fifteen years neglected. 

 But, in saying this, my meaning is not to upbraid others ( I am far 

 from that) but excuse myself, or beg pardon for daring to attempt 

 it. This being premised, I desire to tell the reader that in this 

 relation I have been so bold, as to paraphrase and say what I 

 think he (whom I had the happiness to know well) would have 

 said upon the same occasions ; and if I have been too bold in doing 

 so, and cannot now beg pardon of him that loved me, yet I do of 

 my reader, from whom I desire the same favour. And though my 

 age might have procured me a writ of ease, and that secured me 



