his productions of this kind no other commendations can be allowed, than that they were sincere memorials of his grateful and tender regard. It must however be added, that he never debased his talents by offering the incense of adulation at the shrine of infamy and guilt. The persons, whom he favoured with these marks of his attention, were not undeserving of praise. Such, for instance, was William Cartwright, who, though he died in the thirtieth year of his age, was the boast and ornament of the university of Oxford, as a divine, a philosopher, and a poet. Dr. Fell, Bishop of Oxford, declared him to be, "the utmost man can come to ;" and Ben Jonson was wont to say of him, "My son Cartwright writes all like a man." And here an opportunity presents itself of ascertaining the author of "The Synagogue, or the Shadow of the Temple," a collection of sacred poems, usually annexed to Mr. George Herbert's "Temple." Mr. Walton has addressed some encomiastic lines to him, as his friend; and in "The Complete Angler," having inserted from that collection, a little poem, entitled "The Book of Common Prayer," he expressly assigns it, and of course the whole work, to a reverend and learned divine, Mr. Christopher Harvey, "that professes to imitate Mr. Herbert, and hath indeed done so most excellently ;" and of whom he adds pleasantly, "you will like him the better, because he is a friend of mine, and I am sure no enemy to angling."

Faithfully attached to the church of England, he entertained the highest veneration for her discipline and doctrines. He had not been an inattentive spectator of the rapid progress of the sectaries, hastening from one degree of injustice to another, until a universal anarchy consummated the ruin of our ecclesiastical constitution. In his last will he has announced an ingenious and decided avowal of his religious principles, with a design, as it has been conjectured, to prevent any suspicions that might arise of his inclination to Popery, from his very long and very true friendship with some of the Roman communion. But a full and explicit declaration of his Christian faith, and the motives which enforced his serious and regular attendance upon the service of that church in which he was educated, are delivered with great propriety and good sense, in his own words. For thus he writes in a letter to one of his friends. "I go so constantly to the church service to

adore and worship my God, who hath made me of nothing, and preserved me from being worse than nothing. And this worship and adoration I do pay him inwardly in my soul, and testify it outwardly by my behaviour; as, namely, by my adoration, in my forbearing to cover my head in that place dedicated to God, and only to his service; and also, by standing up at profession of the creed, which contains the several articles that I and all true Christians profess and believe; and also my standing up at giving glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, and confessing them to be three persons, and but one God.

“And, secondly, I go to church to praise my God for my creation and redemption; and for his many deliverances of me from the many dangers of my body, and more especially of my soul, in sending me redemption by the death of his Son, my Saviour; and for the constant assistance of his holy spirit: a part of which praise I perform frequently in the Psalms, which are daily read in the public congregations.

"And, thirdly, I go to church publicly to confess and bewail my sins, and to beg pardon for them, for his merits who died to reconcile me and all mankind unto God, who is both his and my Father; and, as for the words in which I beg this mercy, they be the litany and collects of the church, composed by those learned and devout men, whom you and I have trusted to tell us which is and which is not the written word of God, and trusted also to translate those Scriptures into English. And, in these collects, you may note, that I pray absolutely for pardon of sin, and for grace to believe and serve God. But I pray for health and peace and plenty, conditionally; even so far as may tend to his glory and the good of my soul, and not further. And this confessing my sins, and begging mercy and pardon for them, I do in my adoring my God, and by the humble posture of kneeling on my knees before him. And, in this manner, and by reverend sitting to hear some chosen parts of God's word read in the public assembly, I spend one hour of the Lord's day every forenoon, and half so much time every evening. And since this uniform and devout custom of joining together in public confession and praise and adoration of God, and in one manner, hath been neglected, the power of Christianity and humble piety is so much decayed,

that it ought not to be thought on but with sorrow and lamentation; and I think, especially by the Nonconformists."

The reasons which he has assigned for his uninterrupted atten tion to the discharge of another duty will afford satisfaction to every candid reader. "Now for preaching, I praise God, I understand my duty both to him and my neighbour the better, by hearing of sermons. And though I be defective in the performance of both (for which I beseech Almighty God to pardon me), yet I had been a much worse Christian, if I had not frequented the blessed ordinance of preaching; which has convinced me of my many sins past, and begot such terrors of conscience, as have begot in me holy resolutions. This benefit, and many other like benefits, I and other Christians have had by preaching; and God forbid that we should ever use it so, or so provoke him by our other sins, as to withdraw this blessed ordinance from us, or turn it into a curse, by preaching heresy and schism; which too many have done in the late time of rebellion, and indeed now do in many conventicles; and their auditors think such preaching is serving God, when God knows it is contrary." Such were the rational grounds on which he founded his faith and practice.

No excuse is pleaded for again noticing the opportunities of improvement, which he experienced from his appropriated intimacy with the most eminent divines of the church of England. Genuine friendship exists but among the virtuous. A friend is emphatically styled "the medicine of life," the sovereign remedy that softens the pangs of sorrow, and alleviates the anguish of the heart. We cannot therefore sufficiently felicitate the condition of Izaak Walton, who imbibed the very spirit of friendship; and that with men renowned for their wisdom and learning, for the sanctity of their manners, and the unsullied purity of their lives. "If," to use the words of one of his biographers, "we can entertain a doubt that Walton was one of the happiest of men, we 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."

The features of the countenance often enable us to form a judgment, not very fallible, of the disposition of the mind. In few portraits can this discovery be more successfully pursued

than in that of Izaak Walton. Lavater, the acute master of physiognomy, would, I think, instantly acknowledge in it the decisive traits of the original;-mild complaisance, forbearance, mature consideration, calm activity, peace, sound understanding, power of thought, discerning attention, and secretly active friendship. Happy in his unblemished integrity, happy in the approbation and esteem of others, he inwraps himself in his own virThe exultation of a good conscience eminently shines forth in the looks of this venerable person.

tue.

"Candida semper

Gaudia, et in vultu curarum ignara voluptas."

Hacket, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, used this motto, "Serve God, and be cheerful." Our biographer seems to have adhered to this golden maxim during the whole tenour of his life. His innocence and the inoffensive plainness of his manner, his love of truth, his piety, and the unbiassed rectitude of his conduct diffused over his mind a serenity and complacency which never forsook him. Let no one, however elevated in rank or station, however accomplished with learning, or exalted in genius, esteem himself undervalued, when it shall be pronounced concerning him, that his religious and moral qualities are placed in the balance, or compared with those of Izaak Walton.

COPY OF WALTON'S WILL.

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

"IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN, I IZAAC 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 con sidering how suddenly 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-and-one 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 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