To him is rear'd no marble tomb, Within the dim cathedral-fane, But some faint flowers of summer, bloom, No village monumental stone Records a verse, a date, a name; Oh, far more grateful to thy God "To pay their morning sacrifice." And can we listen to their Hymn, Without a thought, that from the dust And bid the faithful and the just Up spring to heaven's eternal day! * Alluding to his well-known Hymns, Morning and Evening. This iron grating, with the mitre and crosier, is placed over Bishop Ken's grave, at the east end of Frome church. CHAPTER VI. CONCLUSION. "I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord;' even so sayeth the Spirit, for they rest from their labours." FUNERAL SERVICE. In retrospection of what has passed before our view, it may give a kind of melancholy interest to look, as it were, for a brief space, on the silent monuments of death, which record the names of those spoken of in this history. These records are in the cathedrals of Worcester, Winchester, and Salisbury, besides the neglected grave of Ken at Frome. The epitaph on " Poor Kenna," the sister of Ken, wife to Izaak Walton, in Worcester Cathedral, has been given in the first volume, and no other historian has ever related the circumstances which caused her monument to be there placed, so far from all her kindred. The following is the inscription over the last resting-place of the aged Piscator, her brother, in Winchester Cathedral: Here resteth the Body of MR. ISAAC WALTON, who dyed the 15th of December, 1683. Alas! he's gone before, That which will ne'er be done. We wish our souls with his. Votis modestis, sic flerunt liberi. This revered old man lies in a secluded corner of the ancient fane called Prior Silkstead's Chapel; and in this small recess, isolated from the other monuments, a black stone, on the floor, marks the spot where is buried the well-known Piscator. The morning sunshine falls directly on the inscription, reminding the "contemplative man" of the mornings when he was for so many years "up and abroad," with his angle, on the banks of the neighbouring stream. This retired nook in the Cathedral was probably fixed on by himself, as suiting his humbler station in life. His old friend Morley, more conspicuously, lies not far from the bronze statue of the unfortunate king for whom he suffered so much, in exile and in his best days. A flat stone is placed over his remains, upon the platform, to which the steps ascend leading to the choir, on the left hand. The following is the inscription on the monu ment: In spe resurrectionis ad vitam æternam, in hac Episcopali Cathedra sederet annos XXII, menses quinque. In the Cathedral of Salisbury, underneath the elaborate marble monument of Seth Ward, as if he were still looking down to the pavement below on those he loved and patronised, are read the following inscriptions. First, to the memory of William Hawkins, the grandson of Piscator, and the original biographer of him whose annals these pages record. Here lies buried WILLIAM HAWKINS, Esq. who died Nov. 29, 1748, aged 70. Also lieth JANE, the relict of William Hawkins, and daughter of John Merewether, M.D. Hawkins, his biographer, was the only son of that Dr. William Hawkins, Prebendary of Winchester, who married the only daughter of old Izaak Walton. One daughter of William Hawkins, and of Jane his wife, lies under the next stone, with this inscription: Here lye the dear remains of JANE, eldest daughter of William and Jane Hawkins, on the 12th day of April, 1728. Why should we grieve for what we must approve? The younger sister was the mother of Dr. Hawes, the nearest living relative of Bishop Ken, to whom I have already expressed my obligations. Not far removed, beneath the same pavement, rests the only daughter of Dr. Hawkins. Here lieth the body of ANN HAWKINS, only daughter of WILLIAM HAWKINS, D.D. |