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and connexions, such a concurrence of circumstances is visible, as it would be almost presumption to pray for.

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For, not to mention the patronage of those many prelates and dignitaries of the church, men of piety and learning, with whom he lived in a close intimacy and friendship; or the many ingenious and worthy persons with whom he corresponded and conversed; or the esteem and respect, testified by printed letters and eulogiums, which his writings had procured him, to be matched with a woman of an exalted understanding and a mild and humble temper; to have children of good inclinations and sweet and amiable dispositions, and to see them well settled; is not the lot of every man that, preferring a social to a solitary life, chooses to become the head of a family.

But blessings like these are comparatively light, when weighed against those of a mind stored, like his, with a great variety of useful knowledge, and a temper that could harbour no malevolent thought or insidious design, nor stoop to the arts of fraud or flattery, but dispose him to love and virtuous friendship, to the enjoyments of innocent delights and recreations, to the contemplation of the works of Nature and the ways of Providence, and to the still sublimer pleasures of rational piety.

If, possessing all these benefits and advantages, external and internal (together with a mental constitution, so happily attempered as to have been to him a perpetual fountain of cheerfulness), we can entertain a doubt that Walton was one of the hap

piest of men, we estimate them at a rate too low; and show ourselves ignorant of the nature of that felicity to which it is possible, even in this life for virtuous and good men, with the blessing of God, to arrive.

COPY OF WALTON'S WILL.

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August the ninth, one thousand six hundred eighty-three.

"IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN, I IZAAK WALTON the elder, of Winchester, being, this present day, in the ninetieth year of my age, and in perfect memory, for which praised be God; but considering how suddainly I may be deprived of both, do therefore make this my last Will and Testament as followeth: And first, I do declare my belief to be, that there is only one God, who hath made the whole world, and me, and all mankind; to whom I shall give an account of all my actions, which are not to be justified, but I hope pardoned, for the merits of my Saviour Jesus: And because the profession of Christianity does, at this time, seem to be subdivided into Papist and Protestante, I take it, at least, to be convenient to declare my belief to be, in all points of faith, as the Church of England now professeth; and this I do the rather, because of a very long and very true friendship with some of the Roman Church. And for my worldly estate (which I have neither got by falsehood or flattery, or the extreme cruelty of the

law of this nation), I do hereby give and bequeath it as followeth First, I give my son-in-law, Doctor Hawkins and to his wife; to them I give all my title and right of or in a part of a house and shop in Paternoster-row, in London, which I hold by lease from the lord bishop of London for about fifty years to come. And I do also give to them all my right and title of or to a house in Chancery Lane, London, wherein Mrs. Greinwood now dwelleth, in which is now about sixteen years to come: I give these two leases to them, they saving my executor from all damage concerning the same. And I give to my son Izaak all my right and title to a lease of Norington farme, which I hold from the lord bishop of Winton: And I do also give him all my right and title to a farme or land near to Stafford, which I bought of Mr. Walter Noell; I say, I give it to him and his heirs for ever; but upon the condition following, namely; if my son shall not marry before he shall be of age of forty-and-one years, or, being married, shall dye before the said age, and leave no son to inherit the said farme or land, or if his son or sons shall not live to attain the age of twenty-andone years, to dispose otherways of it, then I give the said farme or land to the towne or corporation of Stafford, in which I was borne, for the good and benefit of some of the said towne, as I shall direct, and as followeth; (but first note, that it is at this present time rented for twenty-one pound ten shillings a year, and is like to hold the said rent, if care be taken to keep the barn and housing in repair; and I would have, and do give ten pound of the said

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rent, to bind out, yearly, two boys, the sons of honest and poor parents, to be apprentices to some tradesmen or handy-craft men, to the intent the said boys may the better afterward get their own living. And I do also give five pound yearly, out of the said rent, to be given to some maid servant, that hath attained the age of twenty and one years, not less, and dwelt long in one service, or to some honest poor man's daughter, that hath attained to that age, to be paid her at or on the day of her marriage; and this being done, my will is, that what rent shall remain of the said farme or land, shall be disposed of as followeth: first, I do give twenty shillings yearly, to be spent by the major of Stafford and those that shall collect the said rent and dispose of it as I have and shall hereafter direct; and that what money or rent shall remain undisposed of, shall be imployed to buy coals for some poor people, that shall most need them, in the said towne; the said coals to be delivered the first weeke in January, or in every first week in February; I say then, because I take that time to be the hardest and most pinching times with poor people; and God reward those that shall do this without partiality, and with onesty and a good conscience. And if the said major and others of the said town of Stafford shall prove so negligent, or dishonest, as not to imploy the rent by me given as intended and exprest in this my will, which God forbid, - then I give the said rents and profits of the said farme or land, to the towne, and chief magistrates or governors, of Ecleshall, to be disposed of by them in such manner as I have

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ordered the disposal of it by the towne of Stafford, the said farme or land being near the towne of Ecleshall. And I give to my son-in-law, Dr. Hawkins, whom I love as my own son; and to my daughter, his wife; and my son Izaak; to each of them a ring, with these words or motto; "Love my memory, I. W. obiit

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:" to the Lord Bishop of Winton a ring, with this motto; "A mite for a million, I. W. obiit and to the friends hereafter named, I give to each of them a ring with this motto: "A friend's farewell, I. W. obiit And my will is, the said rings be delivered within forty days after my death; and that the price or value of all the said rings shall be thirteen shillings and fourpence a piece. I give to Dr. Hawkins, Doctor Donne's Sermons, which I have heard preacht, and read with much content. To my son Izaak, I give Doctor Sibbs his "Soul's Conflict"; and to my daughter his "Bruised Reed," desiring them to read them so as to be well acquainted with them. And I also give unto her all my books at Winchester and Droxford, and whatever in those two places are, or I can call mine, except a trunk of linen, which I give to my son Izaak: but if he do not live to marry, or make use of it, then I give the same to my grandaughter, Anne Hawkins. And I give my daughter Doctor Hall's Works, which be now at Farnham. To my son Izaak I give all my books, not yet given, at Farnham Castell; and a deske of prints and pictures; also a cabinett near my bed's head, in which are some little things that he will value, though of no

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