[1] Have sung with mirth and merry-gle:--1661.
* * * * *
TO MY REVEREND FRIEND THE AUTHOR
OF THE SYNAGOGUE.
1661.
[The Synagogue, or The Shadow of the Temple. Sacred Poems and Private
Ejaculations. In imitation of Mr. George Herbert. The fourth Edition
corrected and enlarged. London, Printed for Philemon Stephens, at the
guilded Lyon in St. Pauls Churchyard, 1661. p. 67.]
_To my Reverend Friend the Author of the Synagogue._
Sir,
I lov'd you for your Synagogue, before
I knew your person; but now love you more;
Because I find
It is so true a picture of your mind:
Which tunes your sacred lyre
To that eternal quire;
Where holy _Herbert_ fits
(O shame to prophane wits)
And sings his and your Anthems, to the praise
Of Him that is the first and last of daies.
These holy Hymns had an Ethereal birth:
For they can raise sad souls above the earth
And fix them there
Free from the worlds anxieties and fear.
_Herbert_ and you have pow'r
To do this: ev'ry hour
I read you kills a sin,
Or lets a vertue in
To fight against it; and the Holy Ghost
Supports my frailties, lest the day be lost.
This holy war, taught by your happy pen,
The Prince of Peace approves. When we poor men
Neglect our arms,
W'are circumvested with a world of harms.
But I will watch, and ward,
And stand upon my guard,
And still consult with you,
And _Herbert_, and renew
My vows; and say, Well fare his, and your heart,
The fountains of such sacred wit and art.
IZ. WA.
* * * * *
EPITAPH ON HIS SECOND WIFE,
ANNE KEN.
1662.
[In Worcester Cathedral. The event is thus recorded by Walton in his
Family Prayer-Book: "Anne Walton dyed the 17th of April, about one o'clock
in that night, and was buried in the Virgin Mary's Chapel, in the
cathedral in Worcester, the 20th day."]
Ex Terris
M.S.
Here lyeth buried so much as
could dye of ANNE, the Wife of
Isaak Walton;
who was
a Woman of Remarkable Prudence,
and of the Primitive Piety; her great
and general knowledge being adorned
with such true humility, and blest
with so much Christian meekness, as
made her worthy of a more memorable
Monument.
She dyed! (Alas, that she is dead!)
the 17th of April, 1662, aged 52.
Study to be like her.
* * * * *