CENTRE
for
REFORMATION
and
RENAISSANCE
STUDIES
VICTORIA
UNIVERSITY
T O R O N T O
D ,If
- _| , '
LIFE
OF
THE
GEORGE IIERBERT
OF BEMERTON.
BY THE LATE
JOHN J. DANIELL
RECTOR OF LANGLEV HURRELL IVILTS.
'«Great Saint! tmto thy memory and shrine
I owe ail veneration, save Divine."
"Talc tuum Carmen nobis, Divine Poeta,
Quale sopor fessis in gramine, quale per æstum
Dulcis aquoe saliente sitim restinguere rio."
VIRG. Bue. E. v. 45-
.'VE II r EDITIO.V,
!IVTH ADDE.VD.4 AND ILLUSTR,4TIOA'S.
PUBLISHED UNDER TI-IE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE.
SOC IETY FOR PROMOTING C I I RISTIAN KNOWLEDGE»
LONDON : IORTHUMB[RLAID AVENUE V.C.;
43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET» E.C.
13 R I G H TO N : x29, rmRTH STREET.
NEw YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.
i QO 2
R£F. & REo
GEORGE HERBERT,
HIS POETRY AND HIS LIFE.
IN HERBERT'S BOOK, As IN THAT GARDEN FA1R
WHERE ONCE, AT COOL OF DAg, GOD'S VOICE WAS
HEARD
THE LEAYS AS W1TH A 13REATH DI¥1NE ARE ST1RRD
AND HEAYNLY ECHOES THR1LL THE LISTENING AIR.
I-iERE HoLY THOUGHTS LIKE FRAGRANT BLOSSOMS RRE
SHINE FORTH ; AND IIUSIC AS OF SOME SWEET I;1RD
]ï)ELIGHTS US IN THE CADENCE OF A WORD
SUGGEST1NG CO3IFORT AND DISPELLING CARE.
ON HERBERT'S LIFE THE GENERATIONS GAZE
WITH LOVING REVERENCE AS THE PERFECT FLOWER
OF ENGLAND'S CHURCHMANSHIP IN FAR-OFF DAYS--
THE SWEET UNFOLDING OF HIS WORDS AND WAYS
HIS NOBLEST POEM, FRAUGHT W1TH CEASELESS POWER
IENS HEARTS TO TOUCH, TO SANCTIFY AND RAISE.
RICHARD "VI LTON
«1 uthor ,'./" ' Il, ood-Voes and Chuïtt tetls»' et.
Lon,tesbowt.h Re¢lor),,
,llay 898.
PREFACE.
IN issuing a Reprint of the I.ife of George tlerbert,
I wish to make express acknowledgment of the
obligation I am under to the Rev. A. 13. Grosart,
LL.D. The Memorial Introduction, Biographical
and Critical, prefixed to the noble edition of the
COMPLETE \VORKS OF GEORGEI IERBERT il three
vols. 4to, by Dr. Grosart, suggested to me the desir-
ability of attempting to supply a full biography of
Herbert, for xvhich I knew I was to a great extent
qualified by my long residence near Bemerton, as
curate of Wilton, and from my having personally
visited every place, except Woodford, on which the
shadow of his memory rested. But though I sought
out, with extreme care, all sources of independent
and original information, I was greatly aided by Dr.
Grosart's extensive reading, and I desire to express
my mature admiration of his works.
To the Rev. R. Wilton, Canon of York, I tender
most grateful thanks for the beautiful sonnet on
Herbert, which he kindly wrote at my request, and
which now graces this book, also for permission to
iv PREFACE.
make use of his apt translations of Herbert's tortuous
and ambiguous Latin and Greek.
I beg to acknowledge kind assistance also from the
Master of Westminster School, the Master of Trinity
College, Cambridge, and the Rev. John Burd, Vicar
of Chirbury, Salop ; I thank Mr. Gibbons, of Lincoln,
for the copy of George Herbert's Institution to the
Prebend of Leighton, and Mr. Malden, of the
Registry, Sature, for the copy of Herbert's subscrip-
tion to the Articles bcfore Institution and Ordination.
JOIIN J. DANIEL.
Lanley lurrdl,
Jtote 18lb, 1898
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. FAMIL'V OF HERBERT ......... 7
II. MONTGOMERY CASTLE ......... 1 4
III. OXFORD ............ 2 I
IV. WESTMINSTER SCHOOL ......... 28
V. CAMBRIDGE ............ 49
VI. EPIGRAMMATA APOLOGETICA ...... 93
Vil. LEGHTON ECLESIA ......... IOI
VIII. CHELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOHN I)ANVERS
IX. I)R. DONNE .........
X. WOOI)FORD--CORNARO ......
XI. BAVNTON .........
XII. I)AUNTEE .........
XIIIo WILTON .........
XIV. BEMERTON--VALDESSO ......
II2
... 36
... I46
-.- 55
...
... I6
... I82
XV. NICHOLAS FERRAR--VIRGINIAN PLANTATION 247
XVI. BROTHERS ANDSISTERS OF HERP, ERT ... 290
xvII. ISAAC WALTON--BISHOP KEN--OLE'V ... 300
XVIII. THE CHAINED LIBRARY ......... 308
XlX. PASSlO DlSCERPTA--LUCUS ...... 3Ix
XX. RECTORS OF FOULSTONE ...... 320
ADDENDA ............ 323
INDV.X ............ 343
n'EX TO AV.NA ......... 348
THE
IIFE OF GEORGE
IIERBERT.
CHAPTER I.
FAMILY OF HERBERT.
THE family of Herbert is said to be descended from
Charlemagne, and Hildegardis, daughter of Childe-
brand, Duke of Swabia, through Pepin and. Bernard,
Kings of Italy, and the Herberts, Counts de
Vermandois. They were settled in .Vales, and
possessed of vast heritages, long before history
begins. One branch runs up to Henry I., King of
England; Herbert Fitzherbert was Chamberlain to
Stephen. Peter and Matthew Fitzherbert attested
the deed of John's surrender of lais kingdom to the
Pope. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries this
poverful family held estates, not only in .Vales, but
in eight or ten counties in England.
William Herbert was knighted by Henry V. on the
8 TttE LIFE OF GEORGE ItERBERT.
ficld of Agincourt. He married Gwladys, daughtcr of
Sir David Gain. Thcir sons wcre, I. William; II.
Richard; III. Thomas.
William Hcrbcrt, on succeeding to his father's
wealth and power, thrcw both with vehement en-
thusiasm into the cause of the White Rose, and was
personally engaged in many of the sanguinary
conflicts between the Houses of York and Lancastcr
in the reign of Ilenry VI. On the triumph of thc
Yorkists, Edward IV. overwhelmed Sir 'Villiam
Hcrbert with substantial recognitions of lais emincnt
services, and on May 27, 1469, created him Earl of
l'embroke.
A fexv veeks later, the Earl posted hlmsclf on
Edgcot Hill, near Banbury, with eighteen thousand
Welshmen, to arrest the advance of twenty thousand
Lancastrians, but in the heat of the battle Lord
Stafford deserted him with lais eight hundred archers ;
and though the Earl and lais brother, Sir Richard
Herbert, fought xvith furious energy, the Welsh
troops, suddenly attacked in fiank by heavy masses,
shouting, "A WARWlCK ] A WARWICK [" and bc-
licving that that fiercc warrior himself was lcading the
charge, flcd in irrecoverable rout, lcaving on the ficld
rive thousand dead. The Earl of Pembroke and lais
brothcr xvere taken prisoners, and by their former
frïends, Clarence and Warwick, immediately con-
demned to death.
On receiving sentence the day after the battle, and
cxpecting to be beheaded on the lnorroxv, Lord
FAMIL¥ OF IIERI3ERT. 9
l'embroke wrotc this hurricd lettcr to his wifc, which
constituted his will--
" IN NOMINE JESU, AMEN. Item, I to be buricd in the
Priory of Bergavenny undre charge bytwcne my fadcrs toumbe
and the chancell. And the cost that should have be at Tyntcrne
to be set upon the chancell as my confessor shall say, and you
my wife and brother Thomas Herbert. And wyfe, that ye re-
membcr your promise to me to take the ordre of wydowhood as
ye may be the better maystre of your own to performe my wylle
and help my children as I love and trust you. And that c tonne
of (? tituber) be gcven to make the cloystre at Tyntcrne, and
xxl to thc Grey Freres where my body shall lygh, and that lny
body be sent for home in all haste secretly by Mr. Lcisone and
certain freres with him. To Dr. Leisone ten markes a year to
sing for my soule during his life. Item, to two prestes to be
found to sing afore the Trinitie at Lanteliowc for my soule, and
for ail the soules slayn in the feld for two yeres. Item, that my
ahns howse have as much livelode as shall suffice to find ri
power inen and one to serve therein. Wyfe, pray for me, and
take ye said ordre yt ye promised me as ye had in my lyfe my
hert and my love. God have mercy upon me and save you and
our children and our lady and ail the saints in heven help me
to salvation. Amen xvith my hand the xxvii day of June.
«WILLIAM PEMBROKE. n
_At his death this mighty noble was found seized
of above fifty manors, lordshlps, hundreds, boroughs,
and castles in Wales alone, the very names of which
take away an Englishman's breath.
Sir Richard Hcrbert, second son of Sir William
Herbert, xvho fought xvith his brother \Villiam on that
fatal field, was the lineal ancestor of George Hcrbert
of ]3emerton.
Of this Sir Richard these records rcmain :--He
was besieging Harlech Castle, one of the strongest
IO THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBEP, T.
fortresses in Wales, when the commander unex-
pectedly tendered professions of surrender, on con-
dition that Sir Richard should exercise all his interest
with the King, Edward IV., that his life might be
spared. The King rcjected his suit. Whereupon
Herbert requested him to do one of two things--
either to restore the Castle into the hands of the
cnemy, and command one of his best soldiers to
capture it; or to take his life in exchange for the
colnmander's. The King now granted him his
request, but he gave him no other reward.
Pembroke had apprehended seven brothers in
Anglesea, all of whom had been guilty of rapine and
murder, and thinking it desirable to root up so wickcd
a progcny out of the land, he commanded them ail to
be hanged.
Their mother on ber knees besought him to
pardon two, or at least one, of ber sons, to be a
support of ber old age, which request his brother,
Sir Richard, also supported, but the Earl, in deter-
mined anger, declared he could spare none of them,
as all scven had been proved tobe equally guilty.
Then the mother imprecated a solemn curse upon the
Earl, saying, "God's mischief fall on thee in the first
battle thou shalt make."
After this the Earl, coming to Edgcot Field, and
having marshalled his troops, saw lais brother, Richard
Herbert, standing silent at the head of his men,
leaning on his battle-axe, to whom ho said--
" IVhat dotlz th 3, great body (for he was highcr by
FAMILY OF HERI3ERT. I I
the head than any man in the army) alrehemt, that
thou art so zelacl«oly ?"
Sir Richard replied, "lrothe; I fcar lest the moth«r's
ctrse s]tottltl fall on thee."
Then followed the battle. Richard with his pole-
axe had hewed his way twice through the serried
columns of the enemy, and had escaped mortal
wound, yet he was taken prisoner, and though the
Earl, silent about himself, pleaded with all the
energies of affectionate eloquence for the life of his
brother, they were both executed at Northampton,
July -"8, A.D. I469. The Earl was buried in Tintern
_Abbey under a grand sepulchral shrine, long since
destroyed; Sir Richard in Abergavenny Church,
where his monument yet remains.
To Richard's son, Sir Richard Herbert, Governor of
lIontgomery Castle, and Steward of the lIarches of"
York and East Wales, in the reign of IIenry VIII.,
was entrusted the difficult task of repressing the
rebellious spirits, disbanded soldiers and outlaws, who
had fled in great numbers from England into ,Vales
after the battle of Bosworth. But though by martial
law he had power to execute criminals, his mercy and
justice could never be impeached. He was buried in
lIontgomery Church.
His son Edward in early life followed the court,
then became a soldier, and led a troop at the battle
of St. Quentin under Sir William Herbert (afterwards
the first Earl of Pembroke of the second creation, and
Lord of Wilton), and ruade a fortune by his sword.
The hills and woods of Wales were still haunted
12
TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE I1ERIIERT.
by the fugitives of political commotions, proscribcd
nobles and gcntlemcn, who (marked by the signifi-
cant lcgal brand of an outlaw, "c«lzt gcrit
he bears a wolf's head) were, in simple fact, hunted
like wolves.
Edward Herbert, in hot pursuit of a body of armed
men, was shot at by their leader, and the arrow struck
deep into the pommel of lais saddle, but dashing
through the troop he seized the captain, and then
pointed to the arrow. " A_h !" exclaimed the outlaw,
" I ara sorry I left my best bow at home."
tterbert's power was very great, and he raised his
retainers to high estate. His father, Sir Richard
Herbert, and himself after him, had lived like petty
kings in their embattled mansion of i\Iontgomery
Castle ; but in later life, and in more peaceable times,
when all danger from Welsh forays was past, he
built a mansion long and low, and of great extent,
at the foot of the Castle Hill, which was called Black
Hall. It perished by tire, and its site is barely
remembered. Here, for generations, with large
familles, and a vast array of dependants and servants,
the Herberts exercised unbounded hospitality. They
kept open house, with tables ever and heavily laden ;
so that the country people used to cry out xvhenever
they saw gaine fowl rise, " .Ah ! fly where thou wilt,
thou wilt light at Black Hall."
Edward Herbert died about eighty years of age,
and was burled with hls fathers, May 2o, 1593. To
hlm succeeded the third Richard Herbert, of Mont-
gomery Castle, father of George Herbert.
FAMILY OF I[ERBERT.
0
CHAPTER II.
lXIONTGOMERY CASTLE.
ON the northern brov of a huge mass of sandstone
rock, rising abruptly to the height of 15o feet, stand
the shattered walls and bastions of the old Castle of
Montgomery. Several fortresses bave towered above
that frowning and commanding eminence. It was
seized and fortified in early Norman days as a
position of paramount importance, overlooking and
overawing all the Welsh Marches from the Severn to
the sea.
The last castle vas erected by Henry I I I. in 122 I,
by masons and excavators from the Forest of Dean.
Edward I. greatly increased the extent and the
solidity of the fortifications, and thence poured forth
his soldiers for the final subjugation of \Vales. It
was built chiefly" of clay slate stone, of which there
vas a quarry on the neighbouring bill ; but the bases
and external walls and towers were constructed of
the rock on which it stood. It was surrounded by
four deep fosses, crossed by drawbridges, and pro-
tected by outworks of enormous size and strength.
IONTGOMERV CASTLE. 1 5
The fortress was governed by a Constable under
the Crown. Mortimer, Earl of March, was in office
in I434. Henry VII. grantcd the Lordship of
Montgomery to thc lIerberts, and, undisturbed
in thcir tenure through many generations, they
came to consider Montgomery Castle a heirdom
of their family, and it passed, as a f,'eehold, from
father to son.
tGEORGE HERBERT WAS IIORN THE THIRD DAY OF ztPRIL,
IN THE YEAR OF OUR REDEMPTIoN, 1593. THE PLACE OF
HIS BIRTH WAS NEAR TO THE TOWN OF {}NTGO/IERY AND
IN THAT CASTLE THAT D1D THEN BEAR TtIE NA-IE OF THAT
TOWN AND COUNTlZ. »
This is Isaac \Valton's unhesitating affirmation;
and as his opportunities of ascertaining the facts from
members and friends of the Herbert family were all-
sufficient, and his truthfulness, as far as his kuowledge
went, unimpeachable, the Church must accept as
verities the two averments that--
The place of George Herbert's birth was Mont-
gomery Castle; and that the day of his birth was
April 3rd, 593-
George was the fifth son of Richard and Magdalen
Herbert. Their children were, Edward, Elizabeth,
William, Richard, Charles, George, Henry, Margaret,
Frances, and Thomas; and the question has been
raised whether Black Hall, the new house which his
grandfather built, was not, rather than MTontgomery
Castle, George's real birthplace. Indeed, were it nit
fir Walton's unequivocal testimony, we might be
I6 TrIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
inclined to say that Georgc was hot born either in
Montgomery Castlc, or at Black Hall. For no record
of his baptism exists in the registers of Montgomery
Church.
Edward, the eldest son, as he himself states, was
bol'fa at High Ercall, lais mother's maiden home in
the parish of Eyton, ca. Salop, and christened there;
and George also, and other of the children might
bave been christened there, but the Eyton registers
fall more than fiffy years short of I593, the date of
George's birth. The baptisms of only one daughte
and three sons are recorded as having been solemnized
in the Parish Church of Montgolnery.
F'.LIZABETH, eldest daughter, baptized o Nov., 583 .
,-ILLIAM, second son, baptized __. Mar., 589.
IffElXlRY sixth son, baptized 7 July, 594-
THOMAS, seventh son, baptized 15 lXIay, 597.
Th2re is no record of the baptism of Richard,
Charles, George, Margaret, or Frances. There was
a Chapel in the new Castle from the time of Edward
I., with a bell, a chancel, and ail the accessories and
ornaments of a high ritual, and of this Chapel the
parson of Montgomery Church was minister, or he
was to appoint a chaplain as lais deputy. For reasons
laOt knoxvn, George and the other children xvhose
names are missing, might have been baptized iii this
Chapel; and yet, if so, their names ought to appear
in the registers of the Parish Church.
It is most disappointing that xve cannot recover
either the place or date of George Herbert's baptism.
IONTGOMER¥ CASTLE. 1 7
tIe well knew the wh«nand the zt,her«, and duly
appraised the blessing of lais baptism--
" Since, Lord, to Thee
A narrow way and little gate
Is all the passage, on my infancy
Thou didst lay hold, and antedate
gly faith in me."
Of Holy Baptism he avouched--
« You taught the Book of Life nly naine.
And again--
« Then there cornes into my way
Thy ancient baptism, which when I was foule,
And knew it not, yet cleansed me."
In the autumn of 1596, Richard Herbert, his father,
died, aged fifty years, having held the Castle but four
years. He was, like all his fathers, a man of great
courage, well-built, with a somewhat stern look, and
black hair; his effigy on lais monument presents a
fine face, which most likely is a likeness. Once in
attempting to arrest an offender in IAanervil Church-
yard, he was closed upon by numbers of \Velshmen,
and wounded in the head by a forest bill. He was
buried on Oct. 15.
The inscription on lais monument in the Lymore
Chapel in biontgomery Church
"In sepulchrum Richardi Herberti et Magdalen uxoris
ejus
and the hendecasyllabic lines
"--duos recludens
Quos uno thalamo fideque junctos,
Heic unus tumulus lapisque signat "--
B
I8
THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
show that it vas the intention and expectation of
MTagdalen his widow to sleep in the saine tomb by
his side. She died thirty years after, in I627, and
was buried in Chelsea Church, Middlesex. Against
the east wall supporting the entablature of the
monument in the Lymore Chapel, are four niches
enclosing the figures of six sons and two daughters,
all of the same size, kneeling; and under the effigy
of the lady, in a recess, lies supine a cada,,er in stone.
Northwards of the Ilerbert monument, recumbent
on the floor lie two fine stone statues of knights i
armour, probably Earls of March and Constables of
the Castle: and these effigies, as those of Richard
and Magdalen on the Herbert tomb, and the Church
itself, escaped mutilation by the iconoclasts of the
Great Rebellion, because Lord Herbert of Cherbury
attached himself to the Parliamentary cause.
Of the nine children left to Magdalen Herbert's
care, Edward, the eldest, was fifteen; Elizabeth,
thirteen ; \Villiam, seven ; George, three ; and Henry,
two years old. Thomas xvas born after his father's
death. But the difficulty of fixing dates and ages in
connection with the early history of the Herbert
family is very great.
A few crumbling ruins only crown the majestic
heights on which the lordly home of those nine
children once stood. 'Vhere their voices echoed
through the ancestral halls, ail is silence. The
rooms in which they played, the chambers in which
they slept, the chapel in which they prayed, ail sank
MONTGOMERY CASTLE. 19
beneath the destroyer's hand. _A_ piece of plastered
vall, a fragment of lcad hanging to a windov-
fralne, a shattered tire-place, show that it was once a
home. The home is gone; but there is the grim,
beetling rock on which that home was built; there
are the same glorious views of earth and heaven
areund; there are the same grassy paths on which
the children ran. But where are the parents ? .Vhere
are the children ? The father sleeps under lais proud
sepulchre in Montgomery Church, amid the graves of
lais ancestors; the mother in an unknown vault in
Chelsea Church ; Edward in the Church of St. Giles's-
in-the-Fields ; Elizabeth in a Church near Cheapside ;
William ha Flanders ; Richard in Itolland ; Charles in
Oxford; George at Bemerton ; Henry in St. Paul's,
Covent Garden ; Thomas in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields ;
Margaret--where ? Franceswhere ?
The Herberts seem to have been a family of true
nobility and honour, and to have acculnulated vast
property by courses of strict justice.
Edward, Lord Cherbury, who succeeded his father
Richard, gave orders to lais steward to proclaim to
the country round, that if any part of the family
property had been unjustly" acquired, he would either
restore or compound for it. He leaves it on record,
"Never any man yet complained to me in tlfis kind."
Magdalen, the mother of George Herbert, vas
daughter of Sir Richard Newport, of High Ercal,
Eyton, Salop, and Margaret his wife. Sir Richard
Newpot was descended from Wenwynwyn, prince
-'20 THE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
of thc Uppcr Powys; hlargarct was daughtcr and
hcir of Sir Thomas Bromlcy, one of thc cxccutors of
thc will of King IIenry VIII. tlcr husband dicd
carly, lcaving hcr a large family, of whom Magdalcn
was thc youngest daughtcr, "doubtlcss a pious
daughtcr," says Oley, "she was so good and godly
a mothcr." hIargarct Ncwport
"gave rare testimony of an incomparable piety towards God,
and love to ber children, as being lnOSt assiduous and devout in
her daily private and publick prayers ; she had for many years
kept hospitality with that plenty and order as exceeded all of
her countrcy or time ; she used ever after dinner to distribute
with her own hands to the poor altos in money, as she thought
thcy needed it. »
Through his mother, Gcorgc lIcrbcrt was allicd to
thc Talbots, Dcvcrcux, Grays, Corbcts, and many
other noble English fanilies, as by his father he was
connected with the oldest and noblest familles in
Wales.
CHAPTER III.
OXFORD.mcir. 1597-8 to Ch'. 603- 4.
EDWAP, r, eldest son of Richard and iIagdalen
IIerbert, xvas sent to Oxford in his fourteenth year,
and matriculated in 1595-6 as a Gentlelnan Commoner
of University College. In I597 he was summoned
to his father's death-bed. Soon after, in very early
years, he married iIary, heiress of Sir \Villiam
tIerbert, of St. Gilian's.
After Edward's marriage his mother left iIont-
gomery Castle, with the elder, if hot with all the
children, and took a house and ruade a home in
Oxford, with the view, partly, of exercising a mother's
halloving influence over Edward's life and studies,
and of assistlng lais young wife in household cares;
and partly, under the necessity of providing a higher
education for her younger sons, all of whom (with
the exception of George, then in his fifth year, and
delicate flore infancy), were growing robust and
handsome boys, with dark hair and eyes, high-
spirited, and of great bodily" strength, and
«often did their mother bless God that they were nelther
defective in their shapes, nor in their reason ; and often reprove
22 TIIE LIFE OF GEOI, GE IIERIIERT.
them that they did not praise God for so great a blessing2'
VALTON.
With deep solicitude she chose efficient tutors for
her boys, but from their earliest years the mother had
bcen their true teacher, companion, and friend. A
lady of devout soul, gracious and dignified presence,
learned and accomplished, exact in discipline and
order, in her love and lofty principle she watched
over her children as their guardian angel, walked
before them as their daily example of duty and
holiness, and guided them anxiously along that
narrow path on which she herself was but a fellow-
traveller with them. She would often say--
"that as our bodies take a nourishment sutable to the meat
on which we feed, so our souls do as insensibly take in vice by
the example or conversation with wicked company" ;
and again--
«that ignorance of vice was the best presel-ation of vertue ;
and that the very knowledge of wickedness was as tinder to
inflame and kindle sin, and to keep it burning."
The Herbert family lived in Oxford from four to
rive years,
"during which rime her great and harnfless wit, her chearful
gravity, and her obligeing behaviour, gain'd her an acquaintance
and friendship with most of an)- eminent worth or learning that
were at that time in or near that University, and particularly
with Mr. John Donne, who then came accidentally to that place
in this time of her being here."--VALTON.
Donne wrote of her--
« I see
That 'tis nota meere woman that is shee,
But must or more or less than voman be."
" No spring or summer beauty has such grace
As I have seen in an autumnal face."
OXFORD. 2 3
The men "of eminent worth or learning "in Oxford
at that rime, with whom Magdalen Herbert would
be conversant, were Sir Thomas ]3odley, then engaged
in refounding and building his magnificent library;
Dr. Howson, of Christ Church, Vice-Chancellor,
harassed almost out of his lire in his vain endeavour
to restrain Puritan preaching in the Univcrsity;
Robert Troutbeck, of Queen's; the two companies
of the translators of the 13ible--
Dr. Harding, Professor of Hebrev.
,, Raynolds, President of Corpus College.
,, Holland, Professor of Divinity.
,, Kilby, Rector of Lincoln College.
,, Smith, Brazennose, afterwards ]3ishop of Gloucestcr, who
wrote the Preface to the New Translation.
,, ]3rett, Lincoln College.
,, Fairclough, New College.--
These had to translate the Four Greater I)rophets,
Lamentations, and Twelve Prophets the Less ; and
Dr. Abbot, Master of University, aftervards Archbishop of
Canterbury.
,, Thompson, AI1 Souls, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester.
,, Harmar, Professor of Greek, Warden of Winchcstcr
School.
,, Aglionby, Principal of St. Edmund's Hall.
,, Perin, St. John's, Greek Reader.
,, Hutton, Canon of Christ Church.
,, Ravis, Dean of Christ Church.
Sir Henry Savile, Varden of Merton--
whose xvork xvas to translate thc Four Gospels, the
Acts, and Apocalypse.
These wee the toaster minds with whom the
24 THE LIFE OF GEORGE ItERBERT.
Herbert boys came in continual contact during their
sojourn in Oxford. Edward and Charles were old
enough to value and enjoy their friendship and
learning; George could listen and love. Oxford
introduced George to Donne, and then began a
friendship which developed in mutual affection, and
ceased but with lire.
It was the mother's care that thcy should all receive
a sound education.
"She went and dwelt in the University to recompense the
loss of their father by giving them two mothers."---OLEY.
But there is an education which books and schools
cannot give,--lessons of love, piety, prayer, faith,
repentance, holiness; thcse came ri-oto the mother.
"While she took a personal part in the regulation of
their studies, and reined in their chafing tempers
with a salutary discipline--(George speaks of her
as "severa parels")--she taught them herse}f---for,
thirty years after, he thus sadly celebrated the
memory of his mother's home-lessons--
"Tu vero, Mater, perpetim laudabere
Nato dolenti ; liter«e hoc debent tibi
Queis me educasti "-
".\lad as to thee, O dearest Mother mine,
I owe ail learning, earthly and divine,
'Tis meet that of that learning I shotfld raise
To thee a naonument of grateful praise."
Yet it is of his mother's splritual influences, tbe
sanctifying effect of her lessons on his soul, that
George Herbert spoke such grand words. No son
OXFORD. 2 5
has ever vritten of a mother as George Herbert wrote
of his mother Magdalen--
« PER TE NASCOR IN HUNC GLOBUM
EXEMPLOQUE TUO NASCOR IN ALTERUM--
BIS TU MATER ERAS MIHI.
OTo THEE I OWE M BIRTH ON EARTH--
TO THEE I OWE M" HEAVENL BIRTH--
2tS THoU IIDST LEAD I FOLLOWED THEE
THOU WAST A MOTHER TWICE Tli ME. "1
Bishop Hall, contenporary vith Magdalen Herbert,
celebrates the worth of his mother Winifred, also in naemorable
language--
"She was a voman of that rare sanctity, she was worthy to
be conpared to Monica herself. How often have I blest the
memory of those passages of experimental divinity I heard fron
ber mouth! Never any lips have read to me such feeling
lectures of piety."
But go back to the earlier day
When the Constantinopolitan congregations, in their ecstatic
adniration of the eloquence and doctrine of Chrysostom,
exclaimed, "Better that the sun should not shine than
Chrysostom should not preach "--the Father might strive to
cahn their vehenent applause by saying, " Give glory to God,
and to my nother Anthusa."
Gregory Nazianzen, that mighty champion of the Catholic
Faith, could tell in his old age, in the joy of his heart, how his
spiritual lire began from that hour when his mother Nonna took
him into church, put the Holy Gospels into his infant hands,
and dedicated him to the Lord.
Monica prayed twenty years for ber son's conversion. The
old Bishop counselled, " Pray on, Mother, pray on." In God's
hour Christ is born in Augustine's heart. He laboured, he
prayed, he ruled, he preached, he wrote ; and when on that hot
day in August, ..D. 43 o, the greatest Latin Father, and the last
great man of Africa lay down to die, if they had vhispered to
him and said, "Tell us, we pray thee, wherein thy great strength
lieth," he could have replied--" Monica was my mother !"
\Vell might the heathen orator, Libanus, exclaim--" \Vhat
mothers these Christians have ! "
26
THE LIFE OF GEORGE ttERBERT.
These words speak a volume. They are pregnant
xvith this immortal truth, that whenever, and as often
as, the child had fallen into sin, lais mother took him
by the hand, and led him to the Cross of the Lord
Jesus, and bending underneath its awfifl shade, they
craved the pardon ; and the child was washed, and
the sin forgiven.
In the second poem of" Parentalia" Herbert seems
to sketch the routine of lais mother's lire at Oxford.
" She rose early ; she vasted no time in dress ; she piled no
proud structures on her head ; and after a brief space spent in
decent adornment of her person, she approached her God in iln-
portunate and fervent prayer. Then she addressed herself to the
duties of her family and home, assigning to children and servants
their various tasks vith a gracious rule. As the highborn lady
she received the visits of the nobility, dignified clerics and
scholars, with whom she held converse in graceful and sensible
language, avoiding foolish and frivolous talk ; she corresponded
much with men of letters ; she played music so sweetly that she
raised the rapt soul to heaven. And what a friend was she to the
poor! She visited their bornes, soothed their sufferings, and
relieved their indigence."
"A common bahn on throbbing bosolns shed,
While public blessings hover round ber head. »
CANON x, VI LTON.
And when the plague invaded Oxford in I6o3,
Magdalen Herbert had an opportunity of txercising
ail ber Christian charities. The rimes in truth were
vcry sad; there was moaning and death in every
strcet. Colleges and shops xvere closed ; only doctors,
and such nurses as iXlagdalcn Herbert, were abroad ;
hot so much as a dog or cat was seen. The
Churches were seldom open, only a few College
OXFORD. 2 7
Chapels for the twos and threcs vho wearicd God
to take pity on His people.
About 16o3-4 all the family removed to London.
Charles was sent to Winchester School, and George
to Westminster. Iagdalen Herbert's MS. Book of
Household Accounl:s, recording the expenses of her
family in Oxford, betveen April and September,
I6OI, was in Bishop Heber's Library, and after his
death, in 1826, was sold for £60.
I t bas been impossible to discover whcrc the Ilcrberts
lived in Oxford and iii London.
CHAPTER IV.
WESTMINSTER SClIOOL.--I603--I6OS- 9.
TIIERE might have been a small school at West-
minster in the days of Edward the Confessor, coeval
with the Saxon Abbey, held by the lXlaster of the
Novices in the western cloister. Westminster was
then a village on the Thames, surrounded by fields.
When the majestic Norman Church arose, and the
grand Benedictine lXlonastery was added on the south,
a town grew up with them, and nestled under their
sacred shadow ; the school increased in numbers and
itnportance, so as to support a Master of Grammar
distinct from him who instructed the choristers. Stow,
writing in I565, says that the \Vestminster scholars
used to meet the boys of other Grammar Schools for
disputations in logic, rhetoric, grammar, and poetry,
according to the strictest rules of art,--
"XVhen one scholar hath stepped up, and were opposed and
answered, till he were of some better scholar put down ; and in
the end the best opponent and answerer had rewards.
Henry VIII. reanimated the old foundation, in-
creased the revenues, remodelled the statures, and
WESTMINSTER SCIiOOL. 2 9
located the Scholars and Masters in the large build-
ings of the Benedictine monastery, which he had
dissolved.
But Queen Elizabeth, in I56, transferred to the
School such munificent endowlnents, exercised so
much personal interest in drafting a scheme and
system fundamentally new,--determining the perma-
nent future tone and distinctive characteristics of her
Royal School, the mode of election into College, and of
passing into the Universities, the books to be read, the
hours of study, the times and stations of play, with
the minutest injunctions in reference to the religious
discipline, the mannrs, and even the dress and food
of the boys, that Queen Elizabeth must be regarded as
the truc founder of St. Peter's College, Westminster.
The number of Queeu's Scholars, resident in College,
rcmained at forty. But PENSIONARII, OPPIDANI, or
PEREGRINI, i.e. Day Boys, sons of gentlemen, might
be received on payment of fees for the advantages
of a high education. PENSIONARII lived with the
Dean or Prebendaries. The College boys were sup-
posed to be educated and boarded free of cost,
but in course of years certain dues were exacted
of them. AI1 the scholars were taught in the same
school-room. The maximum number was to be 2o ;
it often exceeded 3oo. The Head Master was nomin-
ated alt«rtatim, by Christ Church, Oxford, and by
Trinity College, Cambridge ; and though the College,
School, and Abbey were in close connection, he was
absolutely supreme in the government of the School.
.O THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
It was the evident purpose of the Royal Founder
to constitute a community, as of advanced classical
scholarship, so of pronounced moral merit, and on a
foundation of solid and healthy religion. The Second
Master was especially charged with the care of the
morals and religious lire of the boys.
No Chapel xvas built, nor was it much required, as
contin ual services vere celebrated in the Abbcy. There
is a low narrov undercroft beneath the old School-
room, the arches of which are thought to be Saxon,
of the day of Edward the Confessor, and xvhich might
bave led from the School into the Cloisters. Prime
or First Matins was said in Henry VII.'s Chapel at
six a.m. In the College, Sacred Offices, prescribed by
the statutes, Prayers, Lections, Anthems, and Graces,
embracing almost the xvhole service of the Church,
werc chanted ten rimes a da)-.
The Scriptures were put into the hands of the boys
from the day they entered the School till they leff.
In the Upper School they read and translated the
Gospels in Latin and Greek, and the Psalms in
Itebrew ; all the Historical Books, and most of the
Prophets, passed under review every year. The most
laboured lesson of the week was the Evidences of
our most holy Religion; and later, " CHRISTIANA2
PIETATIS IRIMA I NSTITUTIO," the famous Çatechism
written by Alexander Nowell, Master of Westminster
School in I543, became the general text-book of
religious instruction.
To a Westminster boy no place on earth was like
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 3 I
the old school-room. It was a lofty, spacious, vener-
able chamber, three hundred years old, with a hammcr-
beam roof of massive chestnut tituber, said to have
been the Dormitory of the monks. A curtain sus-
pended on an iron rod divided the Schools. At the
east end was a recess, a semi-circular apse, afterwards
occupied by the Shell, one of the Forms. Near this
was the Birch-room, where the rods were kcpt, and
where that Spartan discipline was administered which
ruade the Westminster boys such renowned scholars.
The Forms, or Classes, in the Upper School, were the
Sixth, the Shell, the Fifth, the Fourth; in the Lower
the Third, Second, First, and the Petty. The Statures
recognized only two Masters, the ARCIIIDID.kSC.\LUS,
and the I-tYPODIDASCALUS. Four tiers of desks,
heavy oaken benches, stood longitudinally along the
wall, in course of years cut and maimed unmcrcifully,
but so solid that they still held to their duty, and
names were marked with halls on the floor, and painted
or carved on the walls almost to the roof.
Scholars on the Foundation boarded in College,
subject to a stricter rule than the Town boys, who
lived at home, or in boarding-houses. Each Collegian
wore a cap and a gown, breeches and hose, heavy
shoes and buckles ; but the texture of the cloth pro-
vided by statute was so coarse that the friends of
x ,, The wall on which we tried our graving skill,
The very naine ve carved subsisting still ;
The bench on which we sat, while deep employed,
Though mangled, hacked, and hewed, not yet destroyed. '
CoWlaER.
3 2 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
the children furnished apparcl of fincr natcrial, but
of statutory garb.
The Collcge Donnitory in which Hcrbert slept, one
long lofty room, once the Abbot's grallary, was removed
in 177I. Only two neals a day wcre allowed by law
--dinner and supper in the summer molaths, luncheon
and dinner in the winter. The College Hall, a dark
and venerable rooln, used for meals, adjoining the
Jerusalem Chamber, is said to be of the time of
Edward III., and was probably the chamber in which
Abbot Osney received Elizabeth \Voodville, Queen of
Edward IV., and her two children, when she fled to
Sanctuary on the usurpation of Richard, Duke of
Gloucester. The floor of the Hall was paved with
Turkish marble in chequers. The boys dined on four
massive tables of Spanish chestnut, ruade of the
wreckage of the tilnbers of ships captured, it xvas said,
from the _Armada, and bearing the marks of English
cannon-balls. This room was heated by xvood on a
large circular hearth, the fumes ascending through a
louvre in the roof. The original stature enjoins that--
"The Dean and Prebendaries doe keep Commons together
in the Hall, with the School-master and ushers, and her Majestie's
scholars, and also the servants and officers of the saide College. »
Races, Fives, and t3owls, with the gravcr pastime
of Archery, vere the chief games. Westminstcr boys
were famous for their daring and skill in swimming,
boating, and sailing up and down the Thames; the
boat-house was on the Surrey side, close to Lambeth
Palace.
WESTMINSTER SCIIOOL. 33
Such was the School, such its rulcs and organization,
such the pcrvading influences and atmosphcre undcr
which Gcorge Hcrbert was brought, when in his twelfth
year, in I6o4-5, the tall, dark, dclicate boy became
one of its ahtmni. But what does the man mean by
saying of the child--
"My tender age in sorrow did beginne ;
And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne
That I becmne
Most thinne."
Even in those early years did his EOllSCiellC¢ fie under
a deep sense of sinfulness ; even from his youth did
he feel the burden and endure the penalty which he
bemoans so fcelingly in his poems ?
He was entered as a Town boy, and could lire daily
under his mothcr's carc, who now permanently rcsidcd
in London.
When Hcrbert came to chool, Dr. Lancelot
_Andreves vas Dean of Westminster. He was not
educated at the School, but was a very nursing-father
and spiritual friend to the boys.
« What pains he did take, »
writes Bishop Hacket affectionately,
U to train up the youth bred in the Public School, chiefly the
,41u»«niof the College. How strict he was to charge our Masters
that they should give us Lessons out ofnone but the most Classical
Authors; that he did often supply the Place both of Head
School-master and Usher for the space ofa whole week together,
and gave us not an hour of Loitering-time from morning to night.
How he caused our Exercises in Prose and Verse to be brought
to him to examine our Style and Proficiency. That he never
C
34
THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
walked to Chiswick for his Recreation without a brace of this
young Fry, and sometimes thrice in a week, sometimes oftner,
he sent for the uppermost Scholars to his Lodgings at night, and
kept them with him from eight till eleven, unfolding to them the
best Rudiments ofthe Greek Tongue, and the lïlements ofttebreo
Grammar ; and all this he did to Boys without any Compulsion
of Correction ; nay, I never heard him utter so much as a word
of Austerity among us. Indeed he was the most Apostolical
and Primitive-like Divine in his age ; of a most venerable Gravity,
and yet most sweet in all Commerce ; the most devout that ever
I saw, when he appeared before God ; full of Ahns and Charity,
of which none knew but his Father in secret. I ara transported
with rapture to corne near the Shrine of such a Saint. He was
the first that planted me in my tender Studies, and water'd them
continually with his ]3ounty?'--B1sHoP HACKET.
The name of Herbert would be a sufficient intro-
duction, and Magdalen Herbert would soon make
friendship with the Dean of Westminster, amongst the
great, and noble, and learned, in London. He was
chairman of the Westminster Translators of the Bible.
And though her boy would not share at first much of
the Dean's mere literary teaching, yet he would
hear the elaborate evangelical serinons of the Great
Preacher" STELLA PREDICANTUM," as the¥ called
himin the pulpit of the Collegiate Church ; serinons
sown so thick with quotations from the Vulgate and
the Fathers, that it might be said he preached in Latin,
as much as in English--to the great delight of the
advanced scholars. George Herbert, as soon as he
was known, would often be invited to the Deanery-,
and offen would be the Dean's companion in his
walks into the country; and the saintly Christian
man, the profound theologian, the consmnmate
WESTMINSTE SCHOOL. 35
scholar of thirty-cight years, and the thoughtful, noble
boy of fourteen, would be drawn togethcr by the
mysterious attraction and communion of soul with
soul, and mind with mind. The man might see the
future poet in the boy'; he would teach him, if not
Hebrew and Arabic, yet Latin and Greek; above all,
he would unfold to him the duty, the manncr, and
the power of prayer; he might give hiln a copy of
lais Greek and Hcbrew " Devotions" in manuscript.
.And it never will be known how far, during that
one memorable year of Herbert's intercourse with
Andrewes at Westminster, his plastic nature was im-
pressed, and his intellect and spirit were moulded
by the powerful mind and heavenly example of that
friend of his youth; nor how much of the intense
spirituality of his Poems must be attributed to the
Christianity, and lofty" principle, and purity of soul,
and effusive sanctity of Lancelot Andrewes.
Itis hot a chimerical idea, an attcmpt to establish
a connection where no connection exists, to main-
tain that from his childhood upward through all his
life, the example of Bishop Andrewes was the high
marl which Herbert strove to attain. His letter in
Latin, written from Cambridge in 1619-2o, vhile it
reveals the familiarity of their friendship and his pro-
found reverence for the Bishop's character, testifies
also to his wish and determination from his earliest
years, to take Andrewes for lais master, and to follow
his saintly steps.
36 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
"Ego, non nisi meditate, obrepsi ad favorem tuum; perfec-
tionibus tuis meis desideriis probe cognitis, excussis, perpen-
sisque. Cum enim vim cogitationum in vitam meam omnem
convertissem et ex altera parte acuissem me aspectu virtutum
tuarum, huc, illuc commeando, eo deveni animo u! nunquam
cessatdtot mihi ,htceret, ttttçltat falisccntlttt donec Lacteatt
aliqua»t I ïa»t tt otndoret »tettis luw dttcenlet aut refierisset
altt fedsset."
" I have long known, and sifted, and weighed thy perfections ;
and it is my heart's desire after mature deliberation, to deserve
thygood opinion. After I had well examined my own past life,
and then stimulated myself with the admiration of thy trans-
cendent virtues, I came to the conclusion that I would never
rest until I had either discovered or nade a Milky \Vay to the
whiteness of thy soul."
As this letter plainly reveals the influence which
the Bishop exercised over Herbert's life, so lais epigram
on thc Bishop renders equal testimony to the power
of his controlling genius over his poetry.
" Sancte Pater, coeli custos, quo doctius uno
Terra nihil, nec quo sanctius astra vident ;
Cure mea futilibus numeris se verba viderent
Claudi, pene tuas preteriere fores.
Sed propere dextreque reduxit euntia sensus,
Ista docens soli scripta quadrare tibi."
O holy Father, heavenly guide, than thou
No man more learned treads this earthly vale ;
There is no greater saint than thou, on whom
The stars of God look down at evening pale.
My thoughts were folly, and my verses naught,
And of thy thought and care unworthy all ;
With grace and wisdom thou didst interpose ;
Thou didst my weak and lifeless words recall ;
And all their passionate career didst bind
I3y the calm measures of thy mighty mind."
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 37
Another potent factor xvas operating in forming
Herbert's character--the Dean's prayers for the boys.
Amongst his" Devotions "he especially prays for--
"The Youth among us,
Students in Schools,
Those under instruction,
Children, Boys and Youths,
Charge formerly or now."
His best legacy to the Church was his volume of
Devotions in Greek and tIebrew, a copy of which, in
the Bishop's own hand, and given by him to Arch-
bishop Laud, has lately been recovered. This manu-
script, as his chaplain testified,
" was rarely out of his hand during his last days, happy in
the glorious defornfity thereof, being slubbered with his pious
hands, and washed with his penitential tears."
And amidst all the long intercessions of the dying
prelate,
" Tofi 'ETrtÇcdpvp{ov Movao'rlp[ov."
« The Church and School in the \Vest
found thcir place of remembrance, and were carried
up with his last breath to God.
Richard Ireland was Master of the School during
the terre of Herbert's residence ; he had been elected
out in 1587; in 599 was appointed to the Head-
mastership, and remained in office till 6IO. IIerbert
was under him about three years. Nothing is known
of him, except that he is mentioned on Jkrchbishop
Laud's trial.
38 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
"And thus he (Herbert) continued in that school ti]l he came
to be perfect in the learned languages, and especially in the
Greek tongue, in which he after prov'd an excellent critick."--
\VALTON.
Entered in thc Lower School, he mlght have reached
an Upper Form within a year. Bcsidcs dead and
livin lanuaes, he learnt, or taught himself after-
wards, the elcments of various physical sciences.
"I knov the xvayes of Learning : both the head
And pipes that feed the presse, and lnake it runne ;
\Vhat Reason hath from Nature borrowed,
Or of itself, like a good huswife, spunne
In laxvs and policie : what the starres conspire,
\Vhat willing Nature speaks, what forc'd by tire ;
13oth th' old discoveries, and the new-round seas,
The stock and surplus, cause and historie,--
All these stand open, or I have the keyes."
I» his poem, "Sinne," he briefly refers to his
school-days--
" Parents first season us : then schoolmasters
Deliver us to laws ; they send us, bound
To rules of reason, holy messengers,
l'ulpits and Sundays, sorrow dogging sin."
He was in School, as a Town boy, about two years ;
in his third year, in Lent 16o8-9, he passed by challenge
into College.
Not being robust, he would hot be found often in
the playground, or joining in athletic exercises; he
would take more interest in the annual performances
of the Latin Play, an institution peculiar to West-
minster, of statutory obligation,
"--quo juventus tutu actioni, tum pronunciationi decenti
nelius assuescat."
"VESTMINSTER SCtIOOL. 39
Thc School was entitlcd evcry year to £3 of the
Maundy money, given by the Sovcreign on thc
Thursday in Passion Week, which was awardcd by
the Mastcr as prizes to the best boys, and was greatly
valued, as Philip Henry, Cowper, and Southcy attest.
The Westminster boys also had the privilcge of
being present, without an order, at debates in the
House of Commons, a prerogative highly appreciated
by some of the pupils, who afterwards became
eminent statesmen.
But why enter into so particular a description of
the school where the boy, George Herbert, spent so
few of his early years, and received, after ail, but a
small part of his education ? \Vhy hover about the
places he haunted near three hundred years ago, a
mere child ?
Let the great Roman answer--
I,IovEMUR IIESClO QUO PACTO LOCIS IPSIS IN QUIBUS
EORUM QUOS DILIGIMUS AUTADMIRAMUR ADSUNT vESTIGIA;
UBI QUISQUE HABITARE, UBI SEDERE UBI lï)ISPUTARE SI l"
SOLITUS.'Cic. de Leg. lib. 1, cap. 2.
Therefore xve wander around, amidst, within, with-
out the sacred precincts of old Westminster, and
ponder, and dream, and say, " Here George Herbert
walked, here he played--his eyes looked certainly on
this building, and on that. In this School-room he
learned his Icssons--these walls hcard his voice--on
the benches, at the tables ofthis Hall he sat--he walked
through that archxvayhe roamed up and down these
cloisters--he worshipped and sang in that Abbey.
40 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
Where was he confirmed ? Did he make lais First
Communion at that/kltar ? \Vho wcre his teachers ?
who lais comrades? who his particular friends?
What books did he love? Where is lais Bible, his
Greek Testament ? What were his joys, his crosses,
his fears, his sins, his punishments, lais prayers, lais
graces, lais daily walks with God ?
He seems atone time to have bcen full of hcalth
and happiness, and religion also--
"At first Thou gav'st me milk and sweetnesses I
1 had my wish and way ;
My days were strawed with flowers and happinesses,
There was no moneth but May."
" .My sudden soul caught tire,
And made my youth and fierceness seek Thy Face."
It is Lent, I6o 7. There is great excitenent in
Westminster School. Heath, Wilson, and Sinpson
have gone up from College to Oxford--Gramnage
Tuckney, and Nevile to Cambridge.
Herbert, amongst many other boys from the Upper
School, bas sent in his naine as candidate for election
to College. No shallow scholarship will avail to attain
that honour.
The mode of election was unique, antique, and
thorough. The examination was conducted wholly
by the boys themselves, before the whole school and
a public audience, in the presence of the Head-master,
who sat as umpire to control the fairness of the
questions, and to judge of the accuracy of the scholar-
ship. The disputants chall««gcd (as the term was)
WESTMINSTER SCtlOOL. 4 I
each other in pairs in Latin and Greek translations,
parsing, and ,z',â z,oce composition. Only Latin
might be spoken. Each candidate, according to
custom, had engaged a friend already in College to
prepare him for the ordeal ; and it is scarcely" possible
to imagine the intense interest which the senior boys
took in their" men," or their unsparing sacrifice of tine
and gaines, for months together, in anticipation of the
coming contest, priming them to speak Latin tersely
and fluently, and to ask and answer questions put
rapidly in all the various involutions of grammar.
A Greek epigram was set for the morning exercise ;
a passage from Ovid's )/«ta»m'hoses for the evening.
The age of the candidates was from twelve to fifteen.
The youngest boy began the battle. He called on
his opponent to translate, analyze, and parse the
thesis, probing him xvith puzzling questions, and
watching eagerly to catch him at fault.
The Queen Scholars, xvho had tutored their friends,
sat as assessors, and watched with keen solicitude
how their "men" weathered the storm. Instantly
the respondent stumbled, and his antagonist had
detected and corrected his error, the latter took the
place of the former, and became the defendant of the
position. When the theme had been well threshed
out, and still the balances hung even, a new exercise
was given, and the excitement increased, and the
strife of words went on, and another unfortunate slip
occurred, and down xvent the one, and up went the
other, till the better scholar was clearly manifested.
42 TI[E LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
The victor thon challenged the next candidate, and
the contest continued ten or tvelve days, or il" there
were many candidates, seven or eight veeks, so that
the strain on the intellect, nerves, and health of the
candidates was very severe, the saine boy sometimes
carrying fifteen or twenty places. Often question
and answer vere prompt and brilliant, struck off from
mind in collision with mind, like sparks from flint and
steel; an honour to themselves and their tutors; and
the election of both candidates was carried by acclaim. 1
Herbert, with seven other successful candidates,
passes into College, to partake of its privileges, and to
be subject toits stricter rule. He seems to have worn
his cap and gown about a year.
The books read, and the subjects taken up by the
Upper School, embraced a very wide area of superior
literature. The examination for Scholarships to the
Universities was held in the open School on Rogation
Monday and Tuesday in every year. Fifty years
after Herbert's election, John Evelyn recorded his
admiration of the prowess of 'Vestminster Scholars--
"I66I. May 3. I heard and saw such exercises at the
election of Scholars of Westminster School to be sent to the
University, in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arable, in themes and
extemporary verses, as wonderfully astonished me in such youths
with such readiness and wit, some of them hot above twelve or
thirteen years of age. The examinants or posers were Dr.
ADDENDA--Note A.
" A Westminster boy of a later da), confessed--
"Though I have long with study mental
Laboured at language Oriental ;
Yet in my soil the Hebrev root
Has scarcely ruade a single shoot."
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 43
Duport, Greek Professor at Cambridge; Dr. FeI1, Dean of
Christ Church, Oxon ; Dr. Pierson ; Dr. Alstrce, Dean of West-
minster, and any that would."
Three students, at least, every ycar were draftcd
into each of the Universities. Those for Oxford went
thithcr at once, and succecded in due course to thc
Studentships at Christ Church ; those for Cambridge
were admittcd into Trinity College in Octobcr, but
vere not elected to Scholarships till Eastcr of the
next year ; the value of thcse scholarships was £4o ;
those of Oxford were worth more ; but generous aid
was accorded to meritorious endeavours.
In 5 James I., 16o8, Royal Letters Patent reached
Trinity College, commanding the Fellows to clect
Westminster men to all their Scholarships, but the
Fellows presented a hostile front, and the School
succumbed. In I727, the Royal Instructions were
repeated, with a like result.
The issue of the examination of I6o9 was that
Vallington, Henry King (afterwards Bishop of
Chichester), and John King (Canon of \Vindsor),
went up to Oxford; and Hacket, Shirley, and
Herbert to Cambridge. On Hacket and Herbert
leaving Westminster, Dr. Ireland, the Head-master,
said at parting
« that he expected to have credit from them two at the Univer-
sity, or would never hope for it afterwards by any while he lived ;
and added withal that he need give them no counsel to follow
their books, but rather to study moderately and use exercise ;
their parts being so good, that if they were careful not to impair
their health with too much study, they would not fail to arrive
to the top of learning in any art or science.'--PLuME.
ADDENDA--Note
44 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
ttacket bccame Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry;
of Shirley nothing is known, except that he took
I Ioly Orders, and became Rector of Stepney.
Thirty years after I Ierbert had lcft Westminster
School all the services in the Abbey were suppressed;
thc clcrgy wcre driven froln thcir offices; the altars
and shrines plundcred and profaned; the pulpit
was occupicd by fanatics, the Committee of Divines
sitting in the Jcrusalem Chambcr. Dr. Richard
13usby was Itead-mastcr; appointed in I638, he carried
hisfi'rul« for thc unprcccdented terre of 57 years. Dr.
Owen, thc famous Independent preacher, used to
say it never would be well with the nation till
Westminster School was torn up from its roots.
Ncvcrthclcss Busby was actually protected by Parlia-
mcnt, which passed an Act for the continuance
and support of the School. Though ejected fiom
some of his prcferments, he was allowed to retain his
Studentship at Oxford, and his Mastership at XVest-
minster ; the Committee of Sequestration dared hot
silence him because of his unimpeachable character
as a Christian man, and from his pre-eminent qualities
as a successful teachcr--
« the most eminent Schoolmaster of his own, or perhaps, any
day, having educated the greatest number of learned men that
ever adorned at one rime any age or nation."
As a very rock of honour, he stood unquailing
belote the usurping powers, and without any conceal-
ment or concession of principle, he piloted XVestmin-
ster School in ail orthodox integrity through those
WESTMINSTER SCIIOOL.
45
lamentable days, and kcpt it true to its Church, its
Country, and its King.
In 1642 , a Puritan mob, lcd by onc \Viscman, a
Knight of Kent, assailed the Abbey vith intent to
destroy the organ and other ornamcnts; they had
forced out a panel of the North door, when they wcre
confronted by the boys of the School, choirmcn, and
servants, and beaten back ; and the Abbcy vas saved.
.Viseman was killed by a tile thrown from the roof.
Dr. South extols the unshakcn fidclity of West-
minster in a sermon he prepared, but ncver preached--
"X, Vestminster is a School which neither disposes men to
division in Church, nor sedition in State ; a School so untaintedly
loyal that I can truly and knowingly aver that in the very worst
of times (in which it was my lot to be a member of it) we
were really King's Scholars, as well as called so. Nay, upon
that very day, Jan. 3oth, of the King's murder, I myself heard,
and ana now a witness, that the King was publicly prayed for
in this School, but an hour or two (at most) belote his sacred
head was struck off."
In the year 1731 , a mere child of ten was sent to
Westminster School. He remained there till he was
eighteen. Fifty years aftcr he described in a thousand
lines of scathing irony, in deepest bitterness and in-
dignation, his experience of a Public School. He
denounced the Masters, "the sage intendants of the
whole," as supplying to the pupil--
" No nourishment to feed his growing mind
But conjugated verbs, and nouns declined.
For such is ail the mental food purveyed
t3y public hackneys in the schooling trade»
4 6
THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Who feed a pupil's intellect xvith store
Of syntax, truly, but xvith little more ;
1)ismiss thcir carcs when they dismiss thcir flock,
]Xlachines thcmsclves, and governed by a clock."
l le affirmcd that thcy taught
"much mythologic stuf-f,
But sound religion sparingly enough."
I Ie says that whatevcr seeds of religion he might
have carried to Westminster were all stifled and
blighted bcfore his seven years' apprenticeship to
Virgil and Homer were expired, and that he left
school tolerably well-furnished with grammatical
knowledge, but as ignorant of ail kinds of religion as
the satchel at his back. His biographer relates--
"Crossing St. lIargaret's churchyard late one evening, a
glimmering light in the midst of it excited his curiosity, and he
vent to see from whence it proceeded. A grave-digger vas at
work there by lantern-light, and just as Cowper came to the spot,
he threw up a skull which struck him on the leg. This gave an
alarm to his conscience, and he remembered the illcit[t'll[ as
azotg tire best rdigius
--SOUTHEY.
Yet he confesses--
"That I may do justice to the place of my education I must
relate one mark of religious discipline which, in my time, was
observed at XVestminster ; I mean the pains which Dr. Nichols
took to prepare us for Confimaation. The old man acquitted
himself of his duty like one who had a deep sense of its import-
ance, and I believe most of us xvere struck by his manner, and
affected by his exhortations. »
.And he allows
« Ye once xvere justly famed for bringing forth
Undoubted scholarship and genuine worth ;
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL. 47
And in the firmament of faine still shines
A glory--
(_)f poets raised by you, and statcsmcn, and divincs.
Peace to theln ail ! »
« OF POETS RAISED Bi r YOU.
Undoubtedly Cowper refers plimarily to Herbert.
Read his affecting story--
"I was struck with such a dejection of spirits as none but
they who have felt the saine can bave the least conception of.
Day and night I was on the rack, lying down in horror, and
rising up in despair. I presently lost ail relish for those studies
to which I had been closely attached. The Classics no longer
had any charms for me. I had need of something more salutary
than anausement, but I had no one to direct me here to find it.
AT LENGTH I blET WITH I-IERBERTS POEMS AND GOTHIC
AND UNCOUTH AS THE¥ WERE I YET FOUND IN THEM A
STRAIN OF PIETY WHICH 1 COULD NOT BUT ADMIRE. THIS
WAS THE ONL¥ AUTHOR I HAD AN¥ DELIGHT IN READING.
I PORED OVER HIM ALL THE DA¥ LONG ; AND THOUGH I
FOUND NOT HERE (WHAT I MIGHT HAVE FOUND) A CURE
FOR M¥ MALAD¥--YET IT NEVER SEEMED SO MUCH ALLEVI-
ATED AS WHILE I WAS READING HIM?
This is one of the highest testimonials ever rendered
to the spiritualizing power of Herbert's poetry ; that
in the sufferer's darkest days, when he was struggling
for life with the foul fiend, only the pious strains of
Herbert's poems could calm and comfort his distracted
soul.
Therefore xvhen an American citizen in 876 ruade
the generous offcr of prescnting a stained glass window
to Westminster Abbey, it was a happy and gracious
suggestion that the windoxv should be placed in
the Baptistery, overlooking \Vestminster School, and
4 8 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
that it should bcar the effigies of Herbert and Cowpcr,
two Westminstcr scholars, and both rcligious poets of
emincnt mcrit. There Hcrbert stands in his cassock
at the Church porch, his hand upraised and blessing
his flock, with the lines subscribed--
"Look not on pleasures as they corne, but go.
Defer not the least virtue ; play the man.
If thou do ill, the joy fades, not the pains ;
If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains."
Cowper, in the second light, appears in his dressin K-
gown, with his hares at his feet in the garden, and
Olney Church in the background; he is looking at
his mother's picture, and crying--
"0 that those lips had language ! Lire has passed
x.Vith me but roughly since I heard thee last.
Voice only fails ; else hov distinct they say,
« Grieve hot» my child ; chase all thy fears away.' »
CHAPTER V.
CAM BRIDGE.-- 1609-- 1627.
TRINITXr COLLEGE, Cambridge, was founded by
Henry VIII. in 1546 , certainly with a noble design--
« To the glory and honour of Almighty God, and of the Holy
and Undivided Trinity, for the increase and strengthening of
Christianity, extirpation of error, development and perpetuation
of religion, cultivation of study in ail departments of learning,
knowledge of languages, education of youth in piety, virtue,
self-restraint, and knowledge, charity towards the poor, and
relief to the affiicted and distressed."
The King threw together the buildings, posses-
sions, and revenues of nine Halls and Hostels, and
some dissolved monasteries, "and compounded there-
out one fille Cllege, the stateliest and most uniform
in Christendom ; "
"which stands forth in its grandeur the most magnificent
educational corporation in the vorld."--CANON JESSOP.
Of Trinity College, Cambridge, of which Herbert
was a member from I6o9 to I627, for eighteen years,
very few buildings remain on which he looked. He
passed under the Great Gate at the entrance ; he saw
the Chapel on his right hand, the Master's Lodgc,
the Hall, and Fellows' Room in front ; the southern
side of the Quadrangle, and the Gateway and Old
D
5 ° TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Library on the north--almost all the other buildings
are new. Nevile's Court was in process of erectio11 in
the year he came up, and itis surmised (but there is no
sale tradition whatever on the subject) that as specially
commended by his mother to the Master, he xvould
have rooms assigned to him in the earliest finished
portion of the new court, near the present Library.
"About the age of fifleen, he being then a King's Scholar,
xas elected out of that (Westminster) School for Trinity College
in Cambridge, to xvhich place he was transplanted about the
year 16o8 (16o9) ; and his prudent mother did procure the
generous and liberal Dr. Nevil, who was then Dean of Canter-
bury and toaster of that collége, to take him into his particular
care, and provide him a tutor; which he did most gladly under-
take, for he knew the excellencies of his mother, and how to
value such a friendship."--WALTON.
Dr. Nevile died May 2, I615, just affer Herbert
had secured his Fellowship.
The 13ursar's books of Trinity College record that
IIerbert was elected Scholar of the IIouse on lXIay 5,
I6O9. From the Grace-book of the University xve
find that he matriculated on Dec. I8, I6O9, first
among the pensioners of Trinity College. He took
his 13achelor's degree in I612-i3, in his nineteenth
year. He became Master of Arts in I615-i6 , being
then twenty-two, at the saine rime with Shirley,
and John Hacket, vho had been elected with
him from Westminster School: in the saine year
Humphrey Henchman (who afterwards asslsted at
Herbert's ordination to the priesthood), took his M.A.
degree. He was admitted Minor Felloxv on Oct. 3,
CAMBRIDGE. 5 I
1614; Major Fellow, Mat. 5, I615-6; and was
advanced Sublector Quartae Classis in 1617, being
then twenty-four years of age.
In his first year at College he sent his mother a
Nexv Year's giff of a sonnet and a lctter.
In 6o 9, about the saine time that he went to
Cambridge, his mother, aftcr a widowhood of twelve
years, took for her second husband, Sir John Dan-
vcrs, brothcr and hcir of Baron Danvers, Earl of
Danby, lord of Dauntsey Manor, Wilts. His mag-
nificent mansion at Chelsea, on the banks of" the
Thames, with its beautiful park and Italian gardens,
henceforth became her permanent home, and through
the lavish hospitality of its owner, the frequent resid-
cnce and rendezvous of her childrcn for many years.
In his letter .to his mothcr, Herbert speaks as if
already he wëre writin some kind of verses, and hc
bcwails "that so fev 10ocres arc writ that loo1¢ towards
God and hcaven." And he says further--and they
are solemn and memorable words as spol¢en by a
youth of seventcen--for thcy witness at that early
hour the purpose and resolve of his heart :--
" FOR MY OWN PART, MY MEANING, I)EAR MOTHER, ,
IN THESE SONNETS, TO DECLARE MY RESOLUTION
TO BE» THAT MY POOR ABILITIES IN POETR'Y SHALL
BE ALL AND EVER, CONSECRATED TO GOD'S GLOR'."
Atd his sonnet attests the saine mind--
" Sure, Lord, there is enough in Thee to dry
Oceans of ink : for as the deluge did
Cover the earth, so doth Thy Majesty ;
Each cloud distils Thy praise, and doth forbid
loets to turn it to another use."
5 2 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
.As at ,Vestminster, so at Cambridge, he suffers
from attacks of the ague, and fears that its feverish
"heat may dry up the springs by which scholars say
the Muses used to take up their habitation."
"If during this time he exprest any error, it was that he
kept himself too much retir'd, and at too great a distance with
ail lais inferiours, and his cloaths seem'd to prove that he put
too great a value on his parts and parentage."
Ho would hot join the Collcge clubs in their several
muscular exorcises of tennis, bowls, &c., nor would
ho row much on the rivcr, but ho would oftcn visit
ttobson's stables, and ride far out into the country;
and would love to wandcr and meditate in the
pleasant gal-dens and walks belonging to the various
Colleges. He would stand on the little wooden
bridge over the Cam, then leading from King's
College to the fields, and admire the lovely views
which Cambridge there presents ; he would walk up
and down the long avenue from Trinity Bridge; he
noyer lookcd on the limes now forming that fine
aveuue, but there are ancient elms in the grounds
of St. John's College, under whose shade he might
have rested. He would often stand entranced belote
King's College Chapel, and gaze on that magnificent
"Much as Bishop Andrewes, who hath been sometimes heard
to say, that when he was a young scholar in the University, and
so ail his time onward, he never loved or used any gaines or
ordinary recreations, either xvithin doors, as cards, dice, tables,
chess, or the like ; or abroad, as bats, quoits, bowls, or any such ;
but his ordinary exercise and recreation was xvalking either alone,
or with some companion vith xvhom he might confer, and recount
his studies."---I SAACSON.
CAMBRIDGE. 53
monument of pietyand munificence, the groining of
its stone roof, the perfection of woodwol'l; in the
screen, the painted glass without a rival in the world.
But read again in his devoted chronicler
«During all which rime all or the greatest diversion from
his study was the practice of musick, in which he became a
great toaster, and of which he would say, «that it did relieve
his drooping spirits, compose his distracted thoughts, and raise
his weary soul so far above earth that it gave him an earnest of
the joyes of heaven before he possest them.'"
The Chapel of Trinity College, begun by Queen
Mary, 1556 , and completed by Queen Elizabeth,
I564, is a plain Tudor-Gothic building. Everything
is altered within and without that Chapel since
I Ierbert's day.
In this Chapel for many years Herbert sang the
Latin hymns and anthems, and worshipped God;
here he might have often retired for spiritual com-
munion ; here anew dedicated to God his life, and the
powers of poesy, now beginning to stir in the depth
of his soul.
During the military occupation of Cambridge by
the Parliament these entries were ruade in the
steward's accounts
To diuerse souldiers at seuerall times that behaued
themselues very devoutly in the Chappell ... oo. o5. oo
To some souldiers who defended the Chappell from
the rudeness of the test ............ oo. o5. oe
In I643, Vill Dowsing's commission round but
few objects in the Chapel on which to wreak their
Velleatce
ADDENDAOte C.
54 THE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
" We had 4 cherubims and steps levelled." But
the organs and hangings had bccn removed, and
some figures (pictures)whitewashed. Mistress Comber,
wife of Thomas Combcr (Master of Trinity College
ffoto I63I to 644, and then ejected) "out of great
t'iety, Zeal, and Devotion secretly conveyed away
the altar with all its appurtenances that it might
escape those most sacrilegious hands." This lnust
have bcen the altar at which I Icrbert was xvont to
communicate. It was rcplaced at the Restoration,
66o. But
" On 30 Nov., being Advent Sunday, a very sad accident
came to the High Altar recently erected in Trinity College
Chapel. Eensong being ended, flae candles, not having been
safely extinguished by the Chapel-clerk, set light to the vood-
work in the Chancel, the 5)«,tct«**z Sazclor«z, burnt down the
Traverse, ruade of most rich Mosaic work, and the new-erected
altar, with all its costly furniture, t3ook of Conunon Prayer, holy
vestments, of choristers and singing men, consecratêd Plate, hot
only that on the Altar, but a great chest of other Plate also."
At 5 a.m. the Master, Fellovs, and Undergraduates
met in the chapel for Marins; at 6 a.tn. the students
vent to the Hall to read with their tutors, and per-
form exercises; at 9 a.m. to the Lectures of the
l'rofessors ; at I a.m. they ail dined together, vhile
one read the Scripture; at p.m. they returned to
Declamations and Thcrncs; from 3 to 6 p.m, they
were at liberty ; then at 6 to Compline in the Chapel,
then to supper, and immediately afterwards they
xvithdrew to their chambers. Neglect of lectures and
other minor offenccs werc visitcd with corporal cas-
CAMBRIDGE. 5 5
tigation in the Hall in the presence of the whole
society ; for which purpose rods xvcrc kept in store.
John Milton was whipped by lais tutor at Christ
College after he vas sixteen. 1
Herbert's advancement in his College was rapid,
as his abilities were great, and his pursuit of know-
ledge passionate. He had read deeply into the
classical authors, Latin and Greek (and those were
days of hard, honest, comprehcnsive reading) and had
obtained a fait familiarity with lIebrexv; as regards
modern languages he probably taught himself, guided
and encouraged by lais eldest brother Edward, who
writes--
"During this time of my being at the University or at home,
I did, without any teacher, attain the French, Italian, and Span-
ish languages, by the help of some books in Latin and English,
and the dictionaries of those languages."
George certainly might adopt his brother's xvords
in reference to other studies
"I delighted ever in the knowledge of herbs, plants, and
gulns, and in a few words, the history of nature ; I consider it
is a fine study and worthy a gentleman to be a good botanic. »
Concerning Mathematics the brothers differ. Ed-
ward thought
"The end of mathematical doctrine was but ignoble in respect
of other sciences, and not much useful for a gentleman, and
can by no means be adequated or proportioned to the dignity of
our souls »--
while George commends
"the Mathematics as the only wonder-working knowledge,
and therefore requiring the best spirits."
ADDENDA--Note D.
56 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
In 6", bcing thcn ninetcen, hc publishcd two
Iatin poems on thc dcath of I lcnry, cldcr son of
Jamcs I.--" Epiccdiwn Cantabrigicnsc in obitum im-
maturum scmpcrque deflcndum Henrici Illustrissimi
l'rincipis Wallim."
King James used to corne to hunt in the neigh-
bourhood of Ncvmarkct and Royston, and generally
visitcd Cambridgc, and occupicd the Royal Chambers
at the Mastcr's Iodgc in Trinity Collegc, when the
Fellows fctcd laim with sumptuous magnificence, and
when (says Walton) his entcrtainment "was colncdies
suted to his pleasant humor." On March 9, I614,
the comedy of llbztJJzasar "was presented before the
King by the gcntlemen of Trinitie Colledge." Jamcs
visited the Colleges in turns, and left this apophthcgm
" If I lived in the University of Cambridge, I would pray at
King's, eat at Trinity, and study and sleep at Jesus."
James, with Princc Charles, xvas also in Cambridge
in 1615, when he paid a special visit to Emmanuel
College, and on his attcntion being called to the
circumstance of the chapel standing north and south,
and not as ail others, east and west, the glaster intcr-
posed a remark that the saine was said to be the case
with the Royal Chapcl at Whitehall ; on vhich the
l,[ing pertinently observcd
"The Almighty will always hear the prayers of the upright
and devout, irrespective of the points of the compass, n
In 1617 , when Herbert had been nine years at
College, and was now twenty-three, he vrites to thank
his generous stepfather, Sir John Danvcrs, "for the
CAblBRIDGE. 57
diversity of your favours." Whatever Sir John
Danvcrs' lire and character may have been after
his first wife's death, during her lire his kindness and
munificence to ber son George evoke expressions of
unbounded gratitude. He had sent him a horse, a
most acceptable present, and every way fit for him.
He says it is impossible to acknowlcdge his infinite
kindness; but for the future he will take heed how
he proposes his desires, since his gencrous friend is
so willing to yield to lais requests.
March I S, of the saine year, ho writes--
" I vant books extremely. You knov, Sir, I ara nov setting
foot into divinity, to lay the platform of nly future lire. Can I
write coldly in that wherein consisteth the lnaking good of my
former education, of obeying that Spirit which hath guided me
hitherto, and of atchieving my (I dare say) holy ends."
IIe is of age to be ordained Deacon, for which lais
Fellowship would render a sufficient title: he had
entered into a course of theological study, and he
wanted books on divinity, and could not be always
borrowing. The pole-star of lais heart is still the
service of lais God. Some of his f,'iends objected that
he was sickly, and studied too hard. He allowed
that he was weak, and that every day he was making
one step towards his journey's end. Others said,
"What becomes of your annuity ?" He round it too
little to keep him in health. Last Vacation he was
sick, and had not yet recovered, and he was ever and
anon obliged to buy something tending towards his
health, for infirmities were both painful and costly--
58 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
"Nov this Lent I mn forbid utterly to eat any fish, so that I
ara fain to dyet in my chamber at my own cost; for in our
publick halls, you know, is nothing but fish and white meats ;
out of Lent also twice a veek, on Fridayes and Saturdays, I
must do so, yet solnetimes I fast."
tic had on hire a cottage at Newmarket, with a
pretty garden, and he found his horse very useful, as
he would sometitnes ride thither, and remain there a
day or two for fresh air. In the hunger of lais mind,
the languid scholar, weak in body also, in a state of
scmi-starvation, plcads piteously for food
" I protest and vow I even study thrift, and yet I ara scarce
able with much ado to make one hall year's allowance shake
hands with the other. And yet if a book of four or rive shillings
corne in lny way, I buy it, though I fast for it : yea, sometimes
of ten shillings."
Itis income, at most, was then £5o a year.
In 68, Parliament met, and King James (as
Bishop ttacket rehearses) feasted them with a speech
than which nothing could be apter for the subject, or
more eloquent for the matter. In reference to this
speech the 13ishop interpolates--
"Mr. George Herbert, being Prelector in the Rhetorique
School in Cambridge, anno 68, Pass'd by those fluent Orators
that Domineered in the Pulpits of Athens and Rome, and
insisted to Read upon an oration of King James, which he
analysed, shew'd the concinnity of the Parts, the propriety of
the Phrase, the height and Power of it to more Affections;
the Style utterly unknown to the Ancients, who could not con-
ceive what Kingly Eloquence was, in respect of which those
noted Demagogi were but Hirelings, and Triobulary Rhet-
oricians. The Speech doth colnmend Mr. Herbert for his
Censure."
C,MV, RID«;E. 59
Sir Francis Nethersole, Public Orator, received an
appointment under the Crown, and as there was a
probability that he would eventually resign his post
in Cambridge, Herbert at once becomes a candidate
for the office about to be vacant, and arouses all
available interest in his favour, in London, as well as
in Cambridge.
He vrites to Sir John Danvers--
« Tbe orator's place, that you may understand what it is, is
the finest place in the University, though hOt the gainfidlest,
yet that will be about 3ol. per an. But the commodiousness is
beyond the revenue, for the Orator writes all the University
letters, makes all the orations, be it to king, prince, or whatever
cornes to the University ; to requite these pains, he takes place
next to the doctors, is at all their assemblies aud meetings, and
sits above the proctors, is regent or non-regent at his pleasure."
Valuable presents are continually reaching Trinity
College from the lord of Danvers House, and his
stepson reiterates his conviction that he never shall
be able to find time or paper enough to record lais
benefits. He would corne to London to render
personal thanks, but he bas been on a long journey
to Lincoln, and has to make a Latin oration to the
Unîversity of an hour's length : he begs Sir .John, and
his mother, and his sister, to pardon him, as the
necessities vhich tie him to Cambridge are so many.
He encloses a letter of recommendation on his behalf
from the Master of Trinity, Dr. Richardso, which
expresses the University's inclination to hîm, and
vhich he begs him to send to Sir Francis Nthersole
before he leaves England ; he is working the Heads
¢30 TIIE I.IFE OF GEORGE IIEI¢lgERT.
of Houses, and hopcs lac shall sccurc the Orator's
placc without lais London helps, fo show that lac can
stand on lais own lcgs.
Yet he seems fo have found rime fo pay a hurricd
visit to Chclsea, but was obliged as hurriedly fo
dcpart, for in anothcr lctter he fears he has dis-
plcascd his sick sistcr by spending so little rime
with her; yct he loved hcr evcn in his dcparturc,
for he took charge of her son; he had forty busi-
ncsses on hand, as thc election for thc Oratorship was
to bc decided the next Friday. Trin.Coll.,Jan. 19, 69.
619, Oct. 21, a Grace passed the Senate, permit-
ting Sir Francis Nethcrsole to go abroad on lais
Majcsty's service (Secretary fo Elizabcth, Queen of
Bohemia), and on the same day nominating George
Herbert Deputy Orator.
Sir Francis Nethersole and Herbert were of ancient
acquaintance, and he writes fo Herbert fo express his
fears that he had not fully considered the matter,
since the place, being civil, might divert him too much
from the study of divinity,
"at which (he says) not without cause, he thinks I aire, but I
bave wrote hiln back that this dignity bath no such earthiness
in it but it may very well be joined with heaven ; or if it had to
others, to Il*le it should not."
He remembers his most humble duty to his mother,
and hopes she will not feel neglected, as he had ridden
two hundred mlles fo sec a sister, in a way he knew not,
in the midst of much business ; and all in a fortnight.
69-zo , January 8, Sir Francis Nethersole's resig-
CAM I:RII »GE. 61
nation was accepted by the Senate, and Mr. George
Herbert was elected Public Orator. There is a para-
graph in the Orator's ]3ook in Herbcrt's autograph,
recording the appointment.
" Franciscus Nethersole Oratorio munere cessit 19 .[an.
69. Procancellario Rev «° D n° D re Scott Procuratoribus ]XU °
Roberts et M r° Mason. Eidem successit Georgius Herbert."
Thus, as he sadly complains in the Temple
" I was entangled in the world of strife,
]3efore I had the power to change my lire."
I[c loved his bookshis lire was ill h[s learning
he ascended the heights of scholastic honour.
" Thou often didst with academick praise
Melt and dissolve my rage.
The temptation was too strong--he confesses
" I took the sweetned pill, till I came where
I could hot go away."
In another direction, ambition allured him from
the Çhurch into the Court, into the world, into the
hope of political office. He assumed as his riffht,
by" birth and merit, companionship and equality with
the loftiest er the Church and State. He almost
became a statesman. But he died, as God had
ordained, as his mother had prayed, as he himself
had vowed,
GERGEHERBERT,
PRIEST OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND,
AUTHOR OF
THE TEMPLE, SACRED POEMS, AND OTHER
EJACU LA'IIONS.
TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
His poem' Affliction' (the first of the rive under that
significant title)was probably written at Cambridge
affer his election. It is his biography.
'At first he thought God's service happy work--many joys--
natural delights--grace's perquisites--God's filrniture fine, His
household stuff glorious--heaven paying him wages--a world
of mirth--joys of God--no place for grief or fear--milk and
sweetness--flowers and happiness--all life a May--This seemed
lais portion.
"Then came grief, sickness, agtles, groans--Sorrow was all his
soul.
" Then health restored ; but with health, death of his friends,
tcmptations of learning, fashion, society, and the world, bonds
he could hOt break.
" Then more sickness, till he read and sighcd, and knew not
what to do, and felt that his dear God had clean forgotten him."
lut in the innermost man was the consecrated
souk .A_gain and again, from youth to manhood, he
had dedicated himself to the Lord alone. He had
ncver abandoned his early resolve. He was setting
his foot into divinity, and laying the platform of his
future life, at the vcry time he was canvassing for the
Oratorship; he was obeying the spirit which had
guided him thus far, and was aiming to achieve his
holy ends, and it was well understood among his friends
that his ultimate object was ordination to the ministry
of the Church of England. IIis holding a secular
office in the University for a rime would not disqualify
him for Holy Orders. The very man who succeeded
him as Orator became Bishop of Bath and \Vells.
The new Orator, though his income is increased by
.C3o a year, has yet an eager craving for books. His
CAMBRIDGE. 6 3
brother Henry is studying French in Paris. George
had written to him--
"You lire, brother, in a brave nation, whcre you cannot but
see brave examples. Be covetous of all good which you see in
Frenchmen, and play a good merchant by transplanting French
commodities to your own country."
There were certain books wh{ch "wcre not to be
got in England," and George commissloned Hcnry
to buy them for him in France. He hears thc covcted
volumes are coming over, but lac bas no moncy to
pay for thcm. In lais nccessity ho again appcals (hc
says for the last time) to Sir John Danvers. His
sister had engaged to pay rive or six pounds towards
the cost of the books, but had deferred her promise.
So he asks Sir John's kind services in carrying out an
alternative he had before proposed, that his family
would consent to double his annuity on condition
that he should waive all title to it after he had
succeeded to a benefice, and thus he would be able
to pay for the books, and would ever cease his
clamorous and greedy requests.
As the public voice of the Senate, the Orator ,,vas
commissioned to receive, answer, and record every
letter sent to or from the Universi-ty, and to present
with an appropriate speech all candidates for Honorary
Degrees.
The two Orations which were published, and
the letters still to be read in the Orator's Book at
Cambridge, though Herbert's in composition and ex-
pression, are acts and resolutions of the Vice-Chan-
64 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERI3ERT.
cellor and Senate, accepted and endorsed by the
whole Univcrsit),. The language of these documents,
espccially that of the Letter of Thanks to King
Jarnes for his Book, and that of the Oration on the
return of Prince Carles, to our ideas, savour of odious
and nauseous adulation ; but they are written in the
recognized conventional style of cornplirnentary ad-
dress of that day, as witness the Epistle I)edicatory
of the Translators of the Bible to King Jarnes in 16I I,
and Milton's Lettcrs to Crornwell, of a later date.
I Icrbert's cornpositions are rnasterpieces of learning,
vit, and happy convcntional compliment, though he
lnay have bcen disgusted at the foulness of the incense
ho laid on the altar.
6 9. One of the first duties of the newly-elected
Orator was to congratulate George Villiers, Earl of
Buckingharn, on his creation as Marquis by Jarnes I.
He reminds him that he is a II.A. of the University,
which honour arnongst his ivy" and laurels he rnay
forget. He acknowledges that they had received
favours frorn him, and now gratefulbr rejoice in his
elevation, and pray that fitrther honour rnay be con-
ferred upon hirn according to his merit, till he has
run through ail the degrees of earthly dignity to an
everlasting reward.
6-'o. The Vice-Chancellor and the rest of the
Senate, in full house assernbled, present thanks to
King James, for his book Basi[icon Doron.
1 ,, \Vhosoever will read his Basilico« sDoro, particularly the
last two books, ' The Free Law of Free Monarchies,' and his
CAMBRIDGE. 6 5
"Amidst such convulsions on earth, hast lhou leisure to
compose a book ? Scotland was too narrow for thee : even the
empire of the British Isleg is hot wide enough for the expansion
of thy wishes. I3y this book thou dost compass the world;
nations hot subject to thy power acknowledge thy learning.
We have borne thee in our hearts ; thou wishest to be held in
our hands. Kings of old built us colleges, endowed them with
ample revenues, and gave us libraries, but they did not write the
books. In addition to noble gifts, thou hast presented to Allna
Mater a book written by thyself. \Ve humbly submit that it
is utterly impossible to render to thee due thanks. \Ve are
besprinkled with Royal ink. If a Jesuit should confront us, we
can grind him to powder on the spot, by thy arguments.
embrace this thy offspring, thy second Charles, this embodiment
of wisdom, the King of books. Mansions are destroyed. Statues
are thrown down. Thou dost overcome time and decay. In
thy Irish Kingdom grows a tree which is an antidote to all
poisons ; thy book defies the ravages of years and the venom of
heretics. As to the future, ve pray that as thou already wearest
two crowns, the crown of Britain and the crown of learning,
the Holy Trinity may, at a distant day, crown thee with a
celestial diadem."
"\Vhen scholars corne to Calnbridge, and boast of the treasures
in the Vatican and Bodleian Libraries, we say, 'AIl our Library
is contained in one book.'" _
"This letter was writ in such excellent Latin, was
so full of conceits, and all the expressions so suted
to the genius of the king, that he enquired the
orator's naine, and then ask'd William Earl of Pem-
broke if he knew him; whose answer was, 'That he
knew him very well, and that he was lais kinsman;
but he lov'd him more for his learning and vertue
than for that he was of his naine and family.' At
'Answer to Cardinal Perron,' and almost ail his speeches and
messages to Parliament, will confess him to have possessed no
mean genius.'---H UME.
E
66 TtIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
which answer the kin snail'd, and ask'd the earl
leave 'that he naight love hina too, for he took hina to
be the jewel of that university.' "--VALTON.
In the thirteenth century the sea had broken
over the eastern coast of England, and leff a morass
of 400,000 actes, 40 x 40 nailes, extending into six
counties, Lincoln, Northanapton, Cambrid.e, Norfolk,
and Guffolk. Various efforts were naade through suc-
ceedin years to drain the Fenland, but with little
success till a conapany was fornaed, about I6oo,
and application naade for parlianaentary sanction.
The Town and University of Canabridge took
inatnediate alarna, fearing that the giantic naeasures
and naachinery proposed would draw off the waters
of the river Cana. This project for reclainain so
vast an area of subnaerged land was an undertaking
of national interest and importance; there were few
sale roads in the district, the swanaps were in sonae
parts ten feet deep, naany of the villages were
unhealthy oases in the vaste of stagnant xvater, with
which there vas no available colnmunication except
by boat. The Cam was but a small river, formed
by the union of several slnaller streams frona the
south-west of the county" and from Essex, which
joining at Grantchester, flowed through the town of
Cambridge into the Ouse. But though shallov, and
in parts so narrow that tvo boats could hot be
rowed abreast, the little river vas essential to the
health of the town, and beyond all price to the Col-
leges for the boating of the students. With grassy
CAMBRIDGE. 67
banks doxvn to the margin, lofty trees and rich
meadows on one side, on the other, College buildings
and grounds, its limpid waters wcnt mcandcring on
under the picturcsque wooden bridges, from St.
Peter's College in the south to Magdalen in the
north, presenting lovely viexvs in its gracefully
curving course, and adding freshness and bcauty to
the lawns and gardens, both of the Colleges and of
the town.
I62o. Wherefore .A_lma Mater is sorely agitatcd,
and ever keenly jealous of any invasion of hcr
ancient privileges, commands her Orator to excrt all
the power of lais learning and eloquence in obstructing
the company in their endeavour to obtain a charter.
Many friends came forward to protect the interests
of the University, to whom the Orator is commissioned
to return letters of thanks, amongst others, to the
King, Lord Chancellor I3acon, Secretary Sir Robert
Naunton, and Fulke Greville, Lord I3rooke. He
reminds King James that he has already put the
University under great obligation by presenting to
them his book Basilicon Doroz, sacred to the Muses ;
and now he has secured to them the waters over
vhich the Muses delight to reign; he has çresented
them with a whole river ; they are oçerxvhelmed by his
munificence ; their gratitude cannot reach the heights
of his princely consideration.
To Sir R. Naunton he vrites that the University
rejoices that her son should preserve for his mother
the fountains at xvhich he himself had once drunk.
68 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Sad would it be for so noble a mother to surfer from
dry teats. For if the Cambe drained, and from
want of watcr the Colleges be abandoned, and the
Muses, like withcred widows, be bereff of children,
can any doubt that Eng|and would shed tears enough
to cause another river to flow ? The Univcrsity does
not keep the xvaters of knowlcdge to itself, but
rcfrcshes the whole reahn. Its cnemies are like
Xcrxes, who scourgcd the Hellcspont; but Naunton
had beatcn off the tyralts from the Cam. Again the
Orator xvritcs to record the kind offices of the
Sccretary of State, hot only i protecting the river,
but for a scheme which he had advanced for saving
the College buildings (which then xvere only thatched
xvith rushes or straw,) from the ravages of tire ; thus
he had shown a loving care that the Muses should
neither die of thirst, nor be burnt in the flames ; and
if he could do them as rnuch favour in land and air,
as he had done in tire and watcr, Alma Mater xvould
haii him her greatest son.
Lord Brooke is thanked thus--
«Well hast thou done in preserving our river Cam by the
river of thy eloquence, and hast washed avay the drainers from
the marshes, who have been at work as if the sun had ceased to
draw up exhalations from bogs : we offer thee the river of our
thanks, as for this service, so for thy generous aid to our scholars,
who are making hard fight against moths and cockroaches."
And thus Sir Francis Bacon, the Lord Chancellor,
is remembered
"That river, on the banks ofwhich so much learning and poetry
flourish, which flows through our College gardens, and strews
CAIIBRIDGE. 69
flowers all around, is of far higher value than all the swamps
and n:orasses in the land. Fortunately the season has been so
dry that it has mocked the grand concern, and done more for
us than a thousand speculators could have done. Some of our
foes are envious not only of o-ur river, but of our sovereign
ilnmunities, and these, not only the ignoble masses, who think
there can be no religion vith learning, but persons of gentle
birth, who cry out aloud against deep scholarship, as waste and
useless. »
But notwithstanding all the opposition aroused
and presented by the University, Parliament granted
a patent to the Corporation of Bedford Level; vast
drainage works went on for many years ; deep canais
were cut, mlles of embankment raised, mosses and
meres drained; rivers turned into nexv channels,
roads laid and bridges built, and thousands of actes of
valuable land reclaimed, and brought into cultivation.
.And the Cam flowed on iii the saine volmne as before.
Herbert left no memorials of his life at Cambridge.
He makes no special reference to his residence there ;
or to his College tutors. Though he continued con-
nected with Cambridge nearly twenty years, he never
utters an expression from which we may divine what
were his feelings towards the place of his education,
or to the mel of his day, or who were his felloxvs and
intimate frîends3
Abraham Coxvley xvas elected from Westminster
School to Trinity College in I636. One of the bright-
est lights of Cambridge University, a great poet, a
staunch loyalist, heoverfloxvs with enthusiastic affection
for Alma Mater. Of the University he gaily carols--
.A.DDENDA--Note I.
7 °
T[IE LIFE OF GEORGE I[ERBERT.
"O mihi jucundum Grantoe super omnia nomen,
O penitus toto corde receptus amor !
O pulchre sine luxu oedes, vitoeque beatoe,
Splendida paupertas, ingenuusque decor !"
Of lais College--
«o chara ante alias magnortma nomine Rcgum
Digna dolnus ! Trini laolnine digna Dei !"
And as there is no place on earth so delightful as
Carnbridge, no home so dear as.Trinity College, so
there is no river in the world so pregnant with poetic
itspiration as the Cam--
"O sacri fontes, O sacroe vatibus umbroe,
Quas recrcant aviuln Pieridumque chori !
O, Camus Phoebo nullus quo gratior amnis,
Omnibus auriferis invidiosus, inops !"
ishop Hacket is still more emphatic; writing
to the Master and Senior Fellows of Trinity, he
exclairns
"Most worthy gouernours of that societie which is more
precious to rnee ne-:t to the Church of Jesus Christ than anie
place upon earth--I was once an unworthy melnber of your
Bodie, and will be euer a lnOSt affectionate deuotee wto it."
13ut the rnost enthusiastic testimonial of love and
g'atitude to lais College and University was that of
Bishop Ridley, written in his prison while under
sentence of death--
" Farewell, Cambridge, my loving mother and tender nurse,
where 1 found more faithflfl and hcarty friends, receivcd more
bencfits (the benefits of my natura! parents Olfiy cxcepted) than
ever I did even in rny own native country wherein I was born.
Thou didst bestow on me ail thy school dcgrees ; of thy common
offices the chaplainship of the university, the office of the
proctorship and of a common reader ; and of thy emoluments
in colleges what was it that thou rnadest me hOt partner of?
CAMBRIDGE. 7 I
First to be a scholar, then fellow, and afier my departure froln
thee thou calledst me again to a mastership of a right worshipflfl
college.
" I thank thee, my loving mother, for all this thy kindness :
and I pray God that His laws and the sincere Gospel of Christ
may ever be truly taught and faithfully learned in thee.
" Farewell, Pembroke Hall, of late mine own college, my
cure, and my charge. Thou wert ever named since I knew thee
to be studious, well-learned, and a great serrer forth of Christ's
Gospel, and of God's true word.
" In thy orchard (the walls, buts, and trees, if they could
speak, would bear me vitness) I learned without book almost
all Paul's epistles, yea, and I ween all the canonical epistles,
save only the Apocalypse. Of which study, although in time a
great part did depart from me, yet the sveet smell thereof I
trust I shall carry with me into heaven."
In I624 a youth of sixteen was entered at Christ
College, Cambridge. He must offen have seen
Herbert, and heard his public speeches. He thought
no country so barren and uninteresting as Cambridge ;
he found no place so little appropriate for study as
Christ College, and he considered no rivulct so
contemptible as the little, sleepy, weedy Cam.
"Nuda nec arva placent, umbrasque negantia molles ;
Quam maie Phebicolis convenit ista locus
Ialn nec arundiferuln mihi cura revisere Camum "--
and all that he hears in College
"Dtlri verba magistri, et
Murmura rauca scholoe.
JOANNES [ILTONUS. »
The Orator writes to Sir R. Naunton, January I3,
I62O, to announce to him that in a crowded Sonate
by a unanimous vote he was elected M.P. for the
University--
7 2 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE tIERBERT.
"\Vith perfect confidence they entrust to thy charge all the
colleges, charters, revenues, and estates, together with the river.
IL is no slight honour to be the representative of such a Univer-
sity, but thy kind offices of old and thy eminent talents have
encouraged Alma Mater to lay her head upon thy bosom. Her
noble benefactors have deprived thee of the honour of founding
a University, but thou mayest secure the glory of preserving
one. God grant thee great honour in heaven."
Sir Thomas Coventry is thus congratulated on his
appointment as Attorney-General, I620--
"We congratulated thee before, do so now, on thy present
honour, and will again and again, if additional dignities are con-
ferred upon thee. Fail uot in regard to out interests, and be-
friend us in the Courts of Law, for we are busied with books,
and with eternity, and desire to be relieved of earthly cares."
Certain London booksellers had combined to pro-
cure a patent from the Crown for the exclusive sale
of foreign publications, and thus they infringed the
University's Charter, granted by Henry VIII. The
Senate, through iLs Orator, prays the Archbishop of
Canterbury (George Abbot), that he will use his
influence in thwarting these unjust confederations,
which are threatening their privileges, increasing the
price of books, and militating against the comtnon
interests of scholarship and scholars ; and may God,
the best and greatest, reward his services.
The saine day, January 29, I620, the Orator
addresses the Lord Chancellor t3acon--
"The purse of the students even nmv pines and groans, but if
through the monopoly of the London publishers the cost of
books is raised, as the number of necessary books increases, a
purse must be bottomless to compete with the cost. But it is a
CAMBRIDGE. 73
miserable thing that want of money should cripple the heavenly
genius of scholars, and force them to work in the mines."
January 1620. Sir Robert Heath, St. John's Collcgc,
became Solicitor-General. The Orator complimentcd
him and the country on his just promotion, and
begged him not to forger the University.
1620. James Ley, of Tcffont Evias, Wilts, was
raised to the office of Lord Chier Justice, 1620-2I,
and afterwards created Earl of Marlborough. Cam-
bridge cxpresses hcr joy at his promotion, and hopes
he will exert his watchful endeavours to protect hcr
immunities.
I620. Who is so worthy tobe set over the Royal
Treasuries as he who has proved himself eminently
sagacious, eminently upright, in the administration of
justice? "May further honours be added to thy
name; and to whatever official height thou mayest
ascend, the respect of the University shall ascend to
thee." Thus is addressed Henry Montague, Lord
Treasurer of England in 1620: in 1625 Earl of
Manchester.
1620, Dec. 6. The former letters, given in a sum-
mary, were written by Herbert, officially and pro-
fessionally, as Orator of Cambridge University. Now
he writes as a Brother, in a Brother's words, with a
Brother's heart ; itis a gracious letter.
"For my dear sick SisCr.
" ,[OST DEAR SISTER
"Think no/my silence forgetfulness ; or that my love is
as dumb as my papers. Though business may stop my hand,
yet my heart, a much better member, is always with you ; and,
74 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
which is more, with our good and gracious God, incessantly
begging some ease of your pains, with that earnestness that
becomes your griefs, and our love. God, who knows and sees
this writing, knows also that my soliciting Him has been much,
and my tears nany for you. Judge me then by those waters,
and hOt by my ink, and then you shall justly value your most
truly, most heartily affectionate brother and servant,
GEORGE H ERBERT."
Trz'm'Iy Co[[effe, 19eccmler 6, 162o.
This sister was Elizabcth, the eldest daughter of
the family, married to Sir Henry Jones, of Abcrmarle,
Carmarthcnshire: she had one son, and two daugh-
ters : of her Lord Herbert of Cherbury writes--
. . "the latter end of ber time was the most sic -kly and miser-
able that bath been known in our times ; while, for the space of
about fourteen years she languished and pined away to skin and
bones, and at last died in London, and lieth buried in a church
called -- near Cheapside."
She seems to bave spent her later life with ber
mother at Chelsea.
162o. Francis ]3acon, Baron Verulam, Viscount St.
Albans, presented to the University his grand book,
]tstauratio Scicttice. He had entered Trinity" College
at twelve and a quarter years of age. In mature life
he had risen rapidly through the various stages of
Court preferment, till in 6 9 he was created Lord
Chancellor of England, but becoming involved in the
tierce political intrigues of the day, he fell under the
charge of corruption, vas fined, and cornmitted to the
Tower.
"_As he fell, one said to hiln, 'It is rime for thee to look about
thee.' He cahnly replied, 'It is tine for me to look above
me.' »--AUBREY.
CAMBRI DGE. 7 5
From his commanding, comprehensive, and ma-
jestic mind emanated a vast number of philosophical,
literary, and professional treatises, abounding in
profound and original thoughts, clad in grand and
solemn language; and the question is not decided
whether Bacon be the greatest thinker that England
bas produced. His writings on religious subjects are
fcw, but are full of sublime sentilnent; they are
3[editationes çacrce, lais noble (oJtfcssion of I'aith, and
three remarkable prayers--T/e Ntudent's tray«r, Thc
llS"iter's Pr«yer, and The Prayer of t/e flan Dz
trouble--that is, himself in I62I ; of which last prayer
Addison wrote--" It seems rather the prayer of an
angel than a man."
If Walton's affirmation is absolutely correct, that--
"The great Secretary of Nature and all learning did put such
a value upon Mr. Herbert's judgement that he usually desir'd his
approbation before he would expose any of his books to be
printed,"--
it rcveals the high esteem in which Bacon held the
intelligence and discernment of so young a man.
Walton adds--
"He thought him so worthy of his fl'iendship, that having
translated many of the prophet I)avid's Psalms into English
verse, he ruade George Herbcrt his patron of them, by a pub-
lick dedication of thcm to him ; as the best judge of Divine
poetry."
The following is the dedication referred to by
Walton--
7 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
" To his very oeoodfremt, ,Ur. Gcor.(e l[crbert.
«The paines that it pleased you to take about some of
my \Vritings I cannot fi»rget ; which did put me in minde to
dedicate to you this poore Exercise of my sicknesse. Besides, it
bcing my manncr for Dedication to choose those that I hold
most fit for the Argument, I thought that in respect of Divinitie
and Poesie met (whcreof the one is the Matter, the other the
style, of this little \Vriting), I could not make a better choice.
So with signification of my Love and Acknowledgement, I ever
rest your affectionate frend,
FR. ST. 2LBAN. »
In lais Icttcr of thanks, sent by command of the
Senate for the I«stmtratio, Hcrbert hardly rises to
the dignity of lais subject--
"\Ve welcolne thy book, with sincere felicitations, as reveal-
ing sciences and regions unknown. Thou hast made a more
illustrious name than the discoverers of a nexv world. They
round nev lands, thou the boundless subtleties of undiscovered
art. They relied on the magnetic needle : thou on the piercing
acumen of thine own mind. Thy book is thy child of surpassing
genius ; and the University, thy mother, by the birth of thy off-
spring is become a grandmother. Thou hast carried off the
palm of rive thousand years. God grant that what proficiency
thou hast reached in the sphere of nature, thou lnayest attain to
higher knowledge in the reahns of grace, and in due season
perfect the conceptions of thy mind to the glory of God, the
benefit of thy country, and thy own eternal welfare."
But when the Orator call free himself from the
trammels of office, and throxv off fulsome, academic
phraseology, he writes as he feels, and poufs forth a
torrent of eloquent ejaculations in admiration of his
noble friend, and of his incomparable powers.
Herbert had translated part of the ltslattralio.
CAMBRIDGE.
Af ter reading Inslauratio
77
"Who is this? He does not pass by e«ery da)'.
He is--
Leader of Thought.
Pontiff of Truth.
Lord of Induction and Verulam.
Master of Creation, hOt only ' Master of Arts. »
Tower of Profundity and Elegance.
Diviner of the Secrets of Nature.
Treasury of Philosophy.
Umpire of Experience and Thcory.
Standard-Bearer of Justice.
Emancipator of Science.
Steward of Light.
Dispeller of Phantoms and Clouds.
Associate of the Sun.
Quadrant of Exactitude..
Scourge of Sophisms.
Brutus of Learning.
Champion of Slaves.
Arbiter of Reason.
Refiner of the Mind.
Atlas of Physics.
Dove of Noah.
Worm of Subtleties.
Heir of Time.
Hive of Honey.
Axe of Error.
Oh ! I'm so tired--Good-night."
In March 1626, driving near Highgate on a snowy
day, Lord St. Albans, then in his sixty-fifth year,
and very sick, leff his coach to gather a little snoxv
to stuff a fowl, that he might test the power of cold
to preserve flesh. He caught a chill, and died on
April 9. Walton would say, "The great Secretary
of Nature died in the study of Nature."
78 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Herbert sweetly sang his rcquiem--
"Dum longi lentique gemis sub pondere morbi,
Atque heret dubio tabida vita pede--
Quid voluit prudens fatum, jam sentio tandem ;
Constat Aprile uno te potuisse mori ;
Ut flos hinc lacrymis, illinc Philomela querelis
Deducant linguoe funera sola tuoe."
"Vrasted vith sickness, long and slov,
Thy groans and sufferings corne and go.
But when God willed thy death was nigh,
In April only thou couldst die ;
That birds and flovers thy death might wail,
The primrose and the nightingale."
" In short," _A_ubrey concludes, "all that vere great
and good loved and honoured him"; but the highest,
and pelhaps the truest, eulogium on t3acon's works
and character is that of this day
"He stood like a prophet on the verge of the Promised Land,
bidding men leave vithout regret the desert which lay behind
them, and enter with joyflflness and hopefulness into the rich
inheritance spread before them."--NEW BIOC;. Dic'r.
62. King James had advanced Lionel Cranfield
tothe function of Lord Treasurer. Cambridge con-
gratulated him oa his honours, and craved that as
the I(ing had set him in a deserved position over the
Royal Trcasury, he would consider the University
to be one of his treasures. He was created Earl of
Middlesex, but being suspected of various political
crimes, was impeached by Nicholas Ferrar, and dis-
missed from his office.
Don Charles de Coloma, the Spanish Jkmbassador,
and Ferdinand, ]3aron of ]3oyscot, _A_mbassador of
CAMBRIDGE. 79
Isabella, Archduchess of Austria, wcre presented to
the Scnate for the honorary degree of M.A. by the
Orator. This is the fiJst of Herbert's
I622. Feb. 27.
public addrcsses xvhich has corne doxw
to us; it is in Latin, in which language ail his oflîcial
documents were written. It was publishcd in Latin
and English in London, 162 3.
"MOST EXCELLENT AND IAGNIFICENT LORDS»
"\Ve salute you Masters of Arts. \Ve welcome the
ocers of the Catholic King, whose glory, wide as the world
itself, as with a cord, ties both the Indies to Spain. St. James
is the patron saint whom Spain worships. James is the august
sovereign whom England obeys. The virtues of your princess
Isabella also sound through our land. \Ve have nothing here
ansxverable to your greatness, or worthy of your acceptance.
Here are cultivated the arts of quietness, silence, literature,
poverty, and peace (except to moths). We pray you despise
not our books and labours. For unless the old historians
had written the lire of Alexander the Great, how could it be
shown that you vere as famous as he ? '»
I622. May 29. Lady Danvers is ill at Chelsea.
When her son George had paid her his last visit
he had hoped she would recover. He noxv xvrites
that "he is sorry to hear her sickness increases,
and would quickly make good his wish to see
ber, but he cannot leave Cambridge, as it is only
a month to the Commencement. The more earnest
and constant shall be his prayers for her to the God
of all consolation. The God of all comfort is not
willing to behold any sorrow but for sin. The earth
is but a point in respect of the heavens, so are earthly
troubles compared to heavenly joys. The thread of
80 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
life is like other threads, or skeins of silk, full of
snarles and incumbrances. For hitnsclf hc always
feared sickness more than death, because sickness
disabled him from worldly duties, ttis mother had
abundantly discharged her part in the care of her
family. If she turned her thoughts on the life past,
or on joys to corne, she had strong preservatives
against disquiet. If we have riches, we are com-
manded to give them axvay, so that the best use of
thcm is not to have them. The blessings of ttoly
Scripture are never given to the rich, but to the poor.
It is not said, ']31essed be the rich,' or ' Blessed
be the noble,' but ']31essed be the meek,'' ]31essed
be the poor,' and '131essed be the mourners.' But
most lire as if they hot only not desired, but feared,
to be blesse&
"If any of his mother's trials should seem a Goliath-
like trouble, she might say, ' The Lord, Who delivered
me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw
of the bear, He also will deliver me out of the hands
of this Philistine.' God intends our soul to be a
sacred temple for Himself to dwell in, and will not
allow any room there for such an inmate as
moderate grief, or that any sadness shall be His
competitor. Above all must be remembered those
admirable words of the Psalmist, ' Cast thy care on
the Lord, and He shall nourish thee' (Ps. Iv.). To
which may be joined that of St. Peter, 'Casting all
your care on the Lord, for He careth for you' (I Pet,
v. 7).
CAM BRIDGE. 8 I
"To conclude, there is one place more (Phil. ix,. 4),
where St. Paul says, 'Rejoice in the Lord always,
and again I say, Rejoice.' What, shall we rejoice in
tribulations? Yes. It is hot left us to rejoice, or
not to rejoice; but whatever befalls us, ve must
always rejoice in the Lord."
Charles, the second son of James I. and Arme
of Denmark, (after negotiations for his marriage
with Christina, Princess of France, had been broken
off,) xvas sent by his father with the Duke of 13uck-
ingham to seek the hand of the Infanta Maria of
Spain. Political and religious difficulties frustrated the
design, and Charles returned to England, October 5;,
I623.
The news of the return of the Prince reachcd
Cambridge on Monday, October 6. The Orator is
enjoincd to prcpare an Address of Wclcome. It was
dclivered on the following Vcdncsday, and must
have bcen chiefly extcmpore, but it was published by
Legge, the University printer, I623.
A letter dated from Christ College, of October t L
says
"Our belles rung ail that day (Oct. 6), and the Towne ruade
bonefires at night. Tuesday the belles continued ringing. Every
College had a speech, and one dish more at supper, and bone-
rires and squibbes in their Courts, the Townsmen still continuing
to warme their streets in every corner also with bonefires, least
they should hOt be merry when we were. \Vednesday the
University assembled in the forenoon to a gratulatorie Sermon
at St. Marie's, in the afternoon to a publick oration. The close
at night was with bonefires, drulnmes, gunnes, firevorks, till
past midnight ail the Towne about."
F
82
TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
The Oration extended over four hundred lines--
VENERABLE HEADS MOST HONOURABLE SIRS MOST
WORTHY" YOUNG GENTLEMEN
«We are most fortunate in recovering our Prince sale and
sound, with the ring of espousal, which may be nov disposed
as the judgement of a King lnost wise and experienced in things
divine and human shall direct. What nation ever had a better
Prince? Rummage out your book-shelves, ye omnivorous
scholars, and find us such another. My words are serious.
Give rattles and bubbles to boys. The journey of the Prince
shows his wisdom. He vent to seek a bride. He is a man,
not a marble statue. He courted a Princess of a most noble
family. The eagle of Austria does not fly at gnats. In the
lire of man is no event of greater moment than marriage : by
marriagewe take revenge on death, and bind the broken threads
of lire in the kuot of eternity. Marriage is a solemn under-
taking in all, especially among Princes. The word 'King' is
said to be derived from ' K6nig,' and means ' I can, I know, I
dare.' A King is hot tobe formed out of any log of a vife.
Children generally follow the nature and disposition of their
mother: our Prince would choose his wife with a view to
posterity. Also by his journey he would secure to his country
a lasting peace : var is thought glorious, but peace is devoutly
tobe preferred. In peace sons bury their parents; in war
fathers bury their sons. In peace the birds varble ; in war the
trumpets bray. In peace there is safety in the fields ; in var
not even in the tovns. Peace has opened the Nev World ;
\Var destroys the Old World. Hov great a blessing to our own
republic, to our University, is peace ! Hov vould out colleges,
our libraries, out manuscripts, our literature fare under the
murderous discharge of the sulphureous cylinder? Learning,
like a delicate flower, must be handled gently. While Archi-
medes was tracing problems on the ground, the sword of the
Roman soldier reached his heart, and his dead body effaced the
lines he had just described. Read the pages of history : fields
are drenched vith human blood; noble cities are burnt to
ashes ; hunger, misery, sickness and wounds rage among the
people. In time the 13ritish lion will roar loud enough. You
may see with one eye how the Prince sought peace at the danger
CAMBRIDGE 8 3
of his own life. The sulnmer was cold, and the sky cloudy,
while the Prince was away. He disregal-ded the pleasures and
comforts of home to take this distant journey. Some Princes bave
so pampered their bodies as if they never would be resolved
into dust, but into pancakes and sugar-plums. But in the grave
there is no difference between the Monarch and the subject,
and the stench ri'oin the rotting carcases of slaves makes as loud
a thunder as from the putrifying corpses of Kings.
"It is a good thing for a King sometimes not to reign. Thus
Alfred won a famous victory.
"But there is a querulous old woman amongst us, in the
Senate House to-day, who squeaks out, "Twas a pretty busi-
ness, sure! a fine journey, indeed! fit for a loyer.' lut, my
dear old lady, if the love of a maiden took him to Spain, what
but the love of his Fathcrland brought him back? The saw
cuts both a straxv and a plank. We teach mathematics at
Cambridge, which seem folly to the unlearned, but carried out
into practical use, they show engineers how to construct machines
of terrible power. That love which has been centred upon a
maiden's face, when circumstances shall demand, will defend a
kingdom. Envy devours itsclf, as a grub in a nut the kernel
which gave it lire. British curs are famous for barking.
"Now, gentlemen, rejoice. Charles has corne back laden
with honours, like a bee with thighs full of thyme.
"We are to bave a holiday to-day. Illustrious Sirs, it is no
rime for serious looks even from you. Ye hard readers, who sit
and devour your books, tuming over three hundred acres of
paper in a day, throw your books away. Alma Mater, though
now growing old, will lead the dance. Even an old woman,
capering up into the air, may make a good deal of dust.
"Only let us pray immortal God that our good Prince may
propose to himself no other journey, but remain at home.
Enough has been given to duty, enough to his country."
During one of James's last visits to Cambridge," he
was attended by Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam,
and Dr..&ndrews, Bishop of Vinchester, both which
did at that time begin a desir'd friendship with our
Orator."WALTON.
84 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE [IERBERT.
Rcfcrence has been ruade to the earlier recpro-
cation of kind offices between ]3acon and Herbert;
and it has been shown that as regards the friendship
between the ]3ishop and Herbert, it had begun while
Herbert was a boy of thirteen at Westminster School ;
and it is certain that as the years rolled on, and their
mutual adoption xvas tried, the two friends grappled
each other, soul to soul, as vith hooks of steel.
Herbert vrites in Latin from Cambridge to the
Bishop at Winchester, in 69-2o. _Apparently he
had lately been on a visit to the Palace at Win-
chester, and says, "From the comfort of thy counten-
ance and with the vi«ticu¢¢z of thy blessing, I returned
to Cambridge full of joy." He refers to a letter he
had before writtcn to the Bishop, xvhich he feared
savourcd more of the impetuosity of youth than of
mature judgment, but assures him those heated
emotions had now subsided, and he xvould for the
future endeavour to subdue the "qttickzess of his
feelit, gs.'" His heart is full of his friend ; but he had
not so earnestly sought his regard till, after long and
serious reflection, he had ascertained and experienced
the merits and perfections of his character. From
childhood upward, through the whole course of his
life, he had kept before his eyes the Bishop's holy
example, and felt it his duty never to rest till he
had found some Milky Way to the vhiteness of the
Bishop's soul. That his friend had received him into
his affection was hOt due to his merit, but to the
Bishop's condescension; and the loss of his esteem
CAMBRIDCE. 8 5
would be like the loss of the sun. I Ie had often
visited the Bishop, but says he must now plough less
frequently in the Winchester Field, as in addition to
his duties as Orator, he is Professor of Rhetoric this
year; and he feels that public duties have a stronger
claim on him than those of a private nature. No
heart can burn with a deeper glow than his for his
friend, and if the reverend Father xvill believe this,
and give him a full measure of his blessing, he will
make his obedient son most happy.
\Valton refers to the intimate spiritual communion
between Andrewes and Herbert--
«And for the learned Bishop, it is obsel'able, that as at that
time there fell to be a modest debate betwixt them two about
predestination and sanctity of lire ; of both which the orator did,
not long after» send the bishop some sale and useful aphorisms
in a long letter written in Greek : which was so remarkable for
the language and matter, that after the reading of it, the bishop
put it into his bosom, and did often show it to scholars, both of
this and foreign nations : but did alwayes return it back to the
place where he first lodg'd it; and continu'd it so, near his
heart, till the last day of his life."--WALTON.
It is almost vain to hope that, after the lapse of
two centuries and a hall, this letter of Herbert's will
ever be recovered. Either, after the freed spirit of
the Prelate had returned to God who gave it, and
the body was prepared for burial, some pious hand
religiously placed the hallowed treasure upon the
bare bosom of the dead, and it went down with
him in his coffin to the grave; or, it was devoutly
removed by his chaplain, and was lost amongst the
mass of his manuscripts.
$6 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
]3ishop Andrexves »vas translated to Winchester in
i619, just as Herbcrt succeedcd to the Oratorial
office; and he died in I626, a year belote Herbert
finally severed lais conncction xvith Cambridge. "God
translated him to heaven just as he xvas about to be
translated to Canterbury."
Whenever the King came to Cambridge--
"Mr. George Herbert vas to welcome him with the gratu-
lations and the applausês of an orator; which he alwayes
perform'd so well that he still grew more into the King's favour ;
insomuch that he had a particular apppointment to attend his
Majesty at Royston : wherc, after a discourse with him, his
Majesty declar'd to his kinsman, the Earl of Pembroke,' that he
round the orator's learning and wisdom much above his age.' »
--WALTON.
Herbert had perfected himself in foreign languages,
hoping that, as he was very high in the King's favour,
and commanded the interest of the nobility about the
Court, he might, as his predecessor, obtain some post
under Government.
"This, and the love of a Court conversation, mixt with a
laudable ambition to be something more, drew him often from
Cambridge to attend the King wherever the Court was : who
then gave him a sinecure, which fell into his Majesty's disposal,
I think, by the death of the Bishop of St. Asaph. It was the
saine that Queen Elizabeth had formerly given to her favourite,
Sir Philip Sydney, and valued to be worth I2O per annum."
Walton refers to the Rectory of \Vhitford.
This sinecure, in the Cathedral of St. Asaph, xvas
held in I564 by Hugh Whitford, a layman, who xvas
deprived by the Queen ; and the saine year, on her
presentation, Philip, son of Sir Henry Sydney, a boy
ten years old, at Shrewsbury School, vas instituted
and inducted by Thomas, Bishop of St. Asaph.
CAMBRIDGE. 87
Laymen and children were offcn appointed to pre-
bends, and other ecclesiastical offices. Bishop Jewell
of Sature, speaks of "one Harvee, prebendary of my
Church, hot having or using pricstly apparel, in all
respects going as a serving-man." At Norwich, Parkcr
round his authority scorned by " a prebendary of the
Church there, a man not ordered, a mere lay body."
_A_t York, a prebend was solicited " for a mcre boy,
a child of tender age." The great Camden, a Master
of Westminster School, never ordained, held a prebend
in Salisbury Cathedral. King James himself endowed
a lay professorship at Oxford with a prebend of Sature.
In the reign of Charles I I. a law was passed
making it illegal for laymen to hold prebendal stalls.
The Rectory of Whitford vas hot conferred on
Herbert. His naine never appears amongst the pre-
bendaries and canons of St. Asaph. The following
list embraces all the Rectors of Whitford from 1563
to 1633, a terre of seventy years--
RECTORS OF WHITFORD.
Hugh Whitford ...... 563, deprived.
Philip Sydney ......... 564 do.
Griffith Jones ......... 565
J. King ............ 6o8
Robert King ......... 624
Bishop Owen (it commemtam)
George Griffith ...... 63"2
XVilliam Thelwall ...... 1633
But neither Bishop Parry, to whom \Valton refers
as Bishop of St. Asaph, nor Hcrbert, xvas ever Rcctor
of Whitford.
88 THE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
Herbert's income now might be ,£200 a year.
"With this he enjoyed his gcnteel humour for clothes,
and court-like company, and scldom lookcd toward
Cambridge (unless thc King were there)." IIe gets
leave of absence for six months, on condition of his
appo[nting a sufficient deputy (June I I, 624). The
deputy he appointed was Herbert Thorndike, Fellow
of Trinity (afterwards Prebendary of \Vestminster).
" He had often design'd to leave the University, and decline
all study, which he judg'd did impair his health ; for he had a
body apt to a consumption, and to revers, and to other infirm-
ities, which he judg'd vere increas'd by his studies; for he
would often say, 'he had a wit like a penknife in a narrow
sheath, too sharp for his body.'
" His mother would by no means allow him either to leave the
University, or to travel ; to which, though he inclin'd very much,
yet he would by no means satisfie his own desires at so dear a
rate, as to prove an undutiful son to so affectionate a mother."
--WALTON.
His advancement to the Oratorship had thrust him
at once into prominent notice, into touch with the
great scholars of the day; and while he occupied that
position--though, as he had said to Sir Thomas
Nethersole, "Ths dignity bath no such earthiness
in it, but it may very well be joined vith heaven "
yet it tcnded to defer his ordination.
Then had followed his introduction at Court; his
gracious reception by the King; his unrestralned
admission into the society of nobles and aristocrats ;
vith the flatteries of life; the painted pleasures and
the glittering gauds of the world, and the probability
of attaining the loftiest pinnacle of human ambition,
and becoming a Cabinet Ministcr.
CAMBRIDGIï. 89
Entangled--snared--bound in the meshes of the
world's net--overcome--apparently, for a while, he
forgot lais covenant xvith God. He (it is faithful
Walton's own concession) expected some good occa-
sion to remove him from Cambridge to the Court.
But it was not to be. The purposes of God's grace
were not to be frustrated, nor xvas England to lose
ber greatest Christian poet.
" God, in whom there is an unseen chain of causes, did in a
short time put an end to the lives of his illost powerful friends,
and with them to all Mr. Herbert's Court hopes."
As he tenderly laments
"Thou tookst away my lire,
for my friends die."
The solemn death-bell was continually sounding in
his ear. The Duke of Richmond died in 1623; the
Duke of Lennox in I624; the Marquis of Hamilton
in 1625; King James the same year; Lord Bacon
and Bishop Andrewes in 626,
Herbert left Cambridge, and Trinity College,
probably never to return, and as he departed, the
world stood by, and curled its scornful lip, and
hissed out its derisive taunt--" Ah ! Nature intended
thee for a courtier, but disappointed ambition may
make thee a saint."
13ut now let Ferrar speak, and he is worthy to be
heard, who knew the secrets of Iterbert's inmost
soul, and he will speak the truth--
« Quitting both his deserts, and ail the opportunities that he
had for worldly preferment, he betook himself to the Sanctuarie
9 °
TItE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERIIERT.
and Temple of God, choosing rather to serve at God's altar
thcn to seek the honour of State-employments."
Pass but a few weeks, and Hcrbert stands, and looks
at the world, and now it is his turn to speak, and lais
words are these
"I now look back on my aspiring thoughts, and think myself
more happy than if 1 had attain'd what then I so alnbitiously
thirsted for. And I can now behold the Court with an im-
partial eye, and see plainly that it is ruade up of fraud and titles
and flattery, and many other such empty, imaginary, painted
pleasm-es : pleasures that are so empty as hOt to satisfie when
they are cnjoyed ; but in God and His service is a fulness of
ail joy, and pleasure, and no satiety."
But before he could speak thus, he had to pass
through the deep vaters. Sad, discomforted, dis-
appointed, displeased with himself, sickly, and sick,
Herbert went to London, and as lais mother had long
been suffering from a painful disease, he would spend
much rime with her at Chelsea ; this would be in the
spring of 6-6. At Danvers House he would often
meet some of lais brothers--Edward (recalled sud-
denly from his important post of Ambassador to
France by James I., and created Lord Castle-Island
just before that monarch's death ; and now hot much
in favour with the nexv King, Charles I.)Henry, in
his frequent visits to London from Paris, and the
other brothers as often as they returned from the
wars abroad. George and lais mother would talk
together with alarm at the crude, strange, daring
speculations on religion now festering in Edward's
mind, and of disloyal and almost treasonable language
CAMBRIDGE. 9I
towards the King and Constitution spoken both by
his brother and Sir John Danvcrs.
George Ilerbcrt remaincd a short time in London,
and thon
"presently betook himself to a retreat from London, to a
friend in Kent, where he liv'd very privately, and was such a
loyer of solitariness as was juàg'd to impair his health more than
his study had donc. In this time of retirement he had many
conflicts with himself whether he would return to the painted
pleasures of a Court-lire, or betake himself to a study of
Divinity, and enter into sacred orders, to which his dear lnother
had often perswaded him. These were such conflicts as they
only can knov who have endur'd them ; for mnbitious desires,
and the outward glory of this world, are not easily laid aside :
but at last God inclin'd him to put on a resolution to serve at
His altar."--'WALa'ON.
It is impossible to ascertain xvhere, or with what
friend, he sojourned in Kent ; but there is some place
in that county, some sacred arena of the struggle
between sin and grace, known to God alone, on which
Herbert bowed his knees and poured out his heart
like water belote the Lord, and cried---
" Oto supplex et acclinis,
Cor contritum quasi cinis--
Gere curam mei finis."
"AT LAST GOD INCL1ND ttlM TO PUT ON A RESOLUTION
TO SERVE AT I--IIs ALTAR"
and he trod Satan and the vorld under his feet, and
rose triumphant in conquering grace, and said
"I CAN DO ALL TH1NGS THROUGH CHRIST WHICH
STRENGTHENETH ME."
9_ TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERI3EIT.
He could hot have remained many weeks in I<ent,
for bcfore the summer of I6-6 he returned to London,
and residcd there.
Whcn it bccamc known that it was his intention to
enter into Pricsts' Ordcrs, one of his friends at
Court, to whom he had communicated his rcsolution,
used his influence to induce hhn to abandon the
design, saying that a clergyman's life was below his
worth and his excellent ablities.
To this man of the world Herbert replled--
" It hath been formerly judg'd that the domestick servants of
the King of Heaven should be of the noblest familles on earth
and though the iniquity of the late rimes bave ruade clergymen
meanly valued, and the sacred naine of priest contenaptible, yet
I will labour to make it honourable, by consecrating ail m¥
learning and ail my poor abilities to advance the glory of that
God who gave them, knowing that I can nerer do too much for
Him that has done so much for me as to make me a Christian.
And I will labour to be like my Saviour by making humility
lovely in the eyes of all men, and by following the merciful and
meek example of my dear Jesus."
Immediatel¥ upon this act of devout re-consecra-
tion, and this second self-surrender, came the pre-
sentation to the prebend of Leighton 13romeswold, in
Huntingdonshire, or as Walton calls it, Layton
Ecclesia, which is the naine it bcars in the records of
Lincoln Cathedral.
CHAPTER VI.
EPIGRAMMATA APOLOGETICA.
SooN after the accession of James I. to the Crown
of Great Britain, some Scotch ministers petitioned
him to assimilate the constitution of the Church of
England to the model of the Reformation which John
Knox had inaugurated in Scotland. The English
Universities at once took tire, and launched vehement
" Reasons and Resolutions" against the Petition.
Andrew lIelville (or, as his name was Latinized,
lIelvinus) was pushed forward by his party to sustain
the appeal, and minimize the force of the Resolutions.
"He was a man of learning, and was the toaster of a great
wit, a wit full of knots and clenches, a wit sharp and satirical ;
he had scattered many malicious, bitter verses in Latin against
our Liturgy, our ceremonies, and our Church government, which
were by some of that party so magnified that they were brought
into \Vestminster School, where Mr. Herbert, then and often
after, writ and scatter'd answers and reflections of the same
sharpness upon him and them : I think to the satisfaction of ail
uningaged persons."--\VALTON.
Melville concentrated his attack on the Church into
a Latin poem of fifty stanzas in Sapphic verse, under
94 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
the odd title of « ./tltti-Tattzi-Çami-Çateu, oria," meaning
" The Impeachment of Oxford and Cambridge." It
has little point or power.
It vas published in 16o4, while Lancelot Andrewes
vas Dean of Westminster, and would soon rail under
his lacerating censures. Watchflfl for the interests of
the Church and School, it vas only natural that he
should bring the satire to the notice of the best
scholars, expose its misrepresentatios, arm them
with such arguments as would neutralize its venom,
and encourage and inspire them to embody the
antidote in their themes and verses.
It speaks vell for Herbert, for his talents, (a boy
so young in the School,) and for his knowledge of the
history and economy of the Church, that his verses
should have been considered by his Masters xvorthy
of preservation, and of sufficiet force and ability to
compete vith the rancorous denunciations of the
Scotch Reformer.
And as bis caustic epigrams continued to be written,
their merit vas so apparent, that he was stimulated to
proceed, till iii the course of years he grappled with
almost all of Melville's objections. His verses, com-
posed as lire vent on, and probably most of them at
Cambridge (vith others without any reference to the
controversy), formed the littlebook by naine "PRo
DISCIPLINA ECCLESI.E NOSTRE IPIGRAMMATA
/k_POLOGETICA," dedicated to King James, but hot
published in entirety till 1662, by Dean Duport.
Melville died in 1622, vhile Herbert xvas Public
EPIGRAMMATA APOLOGETICA. 95
Orator at Cambridge, so that he never saw the
EPIGRAMMATA in print; but it is evidcnt, ri'oto
Herbert's personal addresses to him, that copies in
manuscript were put into his hands, affer the manner
with scholars in that day; and Herbert, perceiving
darl c]ouds arising in the Church's horizon, seems to
bave thought that his verses hereafter might be useful,
and belote his last illness he drafted a careful copy,
reviewing Melville's strictures almost seri«tim, as vith
a view to publication.
Melville declares that he only contends for truth,
and for the salvation of souls. He brands the
]3ishops as proud, insolent, covetous, pugnacious,
vith gorged paunches, ready for hell, polluting the
House of God.
He extols the piety and learning of the Gcnevan
Reformers, I3ucer, I3eza, and Calvin, greatest of all.
He denounces the rites and ceremonies of the
Church of England as stupid, impure, impious; he
reviles Church music and chanting as the bellowing
of bulls and the clash of Phrygian cymbals; he
condemns vith scorn the sign of the Cross, the
Surplice, the repetition of the Lord's Prayer,
]3aptism of infants, Confirmation, the ring in
Marriage, and Churching of women, all as unspiritual,
unprofitable.
Herbert's defence of the Church is stylcd " Poems
of George Herbert, Englishman, in rcply to Andrev
Melville, Scotchman." There are in all forty-three
poems, in Latin verse of all measures; three are
9 6 TtIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
addrcssed to the King, one to Prince Charles, one to
]3ishop Andrewes, and the test to Mclville.
Herbert allows that he is a bold youth to enter the
lists against an old man, but the occasion justifies
the deed ; and Melville shall be the boy, and Herbert
the old divine. He has no quarrel with Melville's
religion ; but with his unjust and ungenerous charges
against the Church. He asks derisively why Melville
wrote his Çateffor[a in effeminate Sapphics, and hot
in grand heroic verse ;--is his Latin only for women ?
" You libel Bishops," says the young champion,
"because they are of high position; but do they not
nourish the poor ? Libel the sun, because he shines
aloft, and call him proud, while he warms the earth."
"You attack the Universities, as if we were all
fools, and you and your sect the only wise men on
earth. Learn to look at yourselves as others see you."
"You allow a friend to act as guardian for an
unconscious infant in the charge of earthly properties,
and to bind him under engagements which earthly
laws compel him to fulfil. But you carp at God-
parents, when in ward of immortal concerns, they lay
the vows of God upon the soul of the child."
" Devils tremble and flee at the sign of the Cross--
but you seem so to hate the sacred symbol, that you
neither tremble nor flee."
"Which of you was it that said he could not sign
the Articles, because he had the gout in his hand ?
Have you all got the gout in your heart and head ?"
"You scoff at a mother offering thanks to God for
EPIGRAMMATA APOLOGETICA. 97
the birth of her child. Do not we thank God for
daily bread ? Ought we hot to thank God for the gift
of children ? Perhaps, friend, your mother never gave
thanks to God for your birth, and so you received no
blessing."
"Why, with your black teeth, do you gnaw at our
Surplice, because it is white ?--are not the Saints in
glory arrayed iii xvhite robes ? The old and honoured
name of England is AlbioJ«--and AlbioJt means white."
« Let Albion's foes malign ber naine,
And daub her Chtlrch with slime and shalne :
"While she lnaintains ber ancient right,
Her snowy robe, and naine of IVhie."
" If as you say, Bishops are so bad, hoxv is it every"
man among you, if he will, may be a bishop? A
Scotch weaver, xvho wove shirts, read that the Lord
chose His first /kpostles from among fishermen.
'But,' said he, 'a shirt is a nobler thing than a net,'
and forthwith he left off weaving, and xvent a-
preaching."
Objected--" The Church of England is full of blots
and blemishes."" Granted, good sir ; we own it ; we
are men. But why did the Lord Jesus die for His
Church, except that He might wash away out sins in
His own Blood ?"
"And are you, Puritans, altogether so pure ?
Listen, friend. One day an astronomer was looking
for spots in the moon ; he fell into a ditch, up to his
neck; scrambling out, and covered with mud, he looks
no more for spots in the moon."
G
9 8 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
" Hark! Do I not hear angel-songs ? The choirs
antiphonal, yet symphonious, are chanting psalms,
and hymns, and alleluias to the most Holy Trinity.
lIy soul, divorced from the body, ascends with their
melodious anthems to the highest heavens, fA
refreshment celestial! O bahn of aching hearts! O
ecstatic delight! O foretaste of the harmonies of
the harps of God!"
" Out h)'mns and organs rumble
Like bellowing bulls, you say ;
But if 'tis bulls that bellow,
'Tis asses, friend, that bray."
" Do you, ye preachers, disfavour music and singing
in your conventicles, that ye may gain longer time to
thump the pulpit, and thunder out your undigested
rhapsodies ?"
"'We shall win an easy victory over these naked
barbarians,' cried Coesar, when he saw the bare
bodies and scant armour of the defenders of Albion.
You would strip the Church of her holy- rites and
vestments that you may expose ber to the mockery
of the devil."
"You wrangle, captious sir, about the ring in
marriage; pluck the rainbow out of the sky."
« Is it credible that any mortal dare to dishonour
and repudiate the mighty Sevenfold Prayer, which
because He could leave no gift greater or dearer, the
Lord Jesus bequeathed to Itis Church as a legacy of
grace and power for ever ? Take care, whoever you
are, lest, while you abjure the words of the Lord, the
Word of the Lord abjure you."
EPIGRAMMATA APOOGETICA. 99
"When you preach, my friend, your cravat, your
shirt, your bands, your coat, your gown, are all
saturated with sweat. But, friend, it is you only that
sweat; the people are as cold as ice. Give them
something to make them warm."
"In your serinons you cry, ' Sirs, we are brethren' ;
yet you hate Roman Catholics with intense malignit),,
and scream out in elegant phrase, ' Ail beware of the
she-wolf of the Vatican puddle!' We understand
),ou, gentlemen, and we knoxv how to steer clear of
your Charybdis, and their $cylla ; and we are ready
to discharge our arrows both at the British fox and
the Roman wolf."
"Is it hot better, as our clergy do, to impose (lay)
hands on humble heads, than for you to impose your
deceits on the ignorant masses? Is not Imposition
(laying on of hands) better than Imtost«re ?"
"0 Scotland, quench your burning rage against the
Church in one of the seas xvhich wash your shores ; or
better, in Christ's Blood, which is nearer and nobler.
But where there are any pure souls anong you, living
in holiness, faith, and love, my censures are hot aimed
at them, but at your preachers vho have led them
astray."
"Now, Melville, I have done ; and you cannot say
that in this controversy, which you prçvoked, I have
treated you in an envenomed or supercilious spirit;
on the contrary, you must allow that my language has
been courteous if caustic, and my sarcasms playful
and toothless. You have vomited on us and out
IOO TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Church torrents of falsehood and invective, and your
verses are only fit for the tire ; and had I chosen to
assault you as you deserved, I could have overwhelmcd
you with cutting rcproach and scaldingridicule. But
I forbear--nay, I grant that you are a scholar, a poct,
and a man of honour, and worthy of better con-
federates than those among whom you more. Friend,
farewell."
A few of llelville's stanzas are revcrent, and com-
mand admiration.
.... "pia CUl-a Regis
Qui mare et terras variisque lllundulll
Temperat horis ;
Cujus oequalis Soboles l'arenti
Gentis electe Pater atque Custos ;
Par et alnbobus veniens utrinque
Spiritus almus :
Quippe Tres-Unus Deus ; unus actus,
Una natura est tribus ; una virttts»
Una majestas, Deitas et una,
Gloria et una ;
Una vis il-nlensa perennis una
Vita, ltlx tlna et sapientia una,
Una mens, una et ratio, ulla vox et
Una voluntas, n i
Herbert allows of this passage--" Plena Deo estf
CtIAPTER VII.
LEIGHTON ECCLESIA.--I626--I633.
TIrE Manor of Leighton Bromeswold was given by
\Valth«of, the last Saxon Earl, to Lincoln Cathedral.
Probably by lease it passed from the D'Arcys and Clin-
tons to the Duke of Lenno×, and he, being a friend of
George Herbert, might have interested himself in his
behalf with John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, by
whom the prebend of Leighton, in Lincoln Cathedral,
was conferred on I Ierbert.
Leland had visited the parish ia I55_ , and records
that the prebendary lived in a "praty bouse with
a moat." Jkttached to the prebend was an estate
of 5oo acres, which was leased out on lires, as was
then the custom. Herbert's income from that source
might have been very small, or nothing.
The Church of St. Mar),, a Latin cross, built (or
rebuilt) by the Lincoln ecclesiastics, an edifice of great
loftiness and expansion, was evidently intended for
another purpose than that of supplying a sanctuary
for so small a parish as Leighton. The parish gives
its name to the Hundred--Leigh¢ozs¢oze; and the
IO2 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
Church might have served for the mustering of pro-
vincial synods in Saxon thnes. Some portions of
this fine building are very" old, showing evidence of
very early Saxon, Norman, and First-Pointed work.
The chancel alone would have contained Herbert's
Chapel at Bemerton.
The history of the Church after the Reformation is
in uncertainty. It seems to have been seized by the
Commissioners of Henry VIII., and left desolate. On
Herbert's succession to the prebend, the tower was in
ruins; the roofs had fallen in, and xvith them the
Upper courses of the walls; no religious offices had
been celebrated within the building for nearly twenty
years. The parishioners xvorshipped in the large hall
of Leighton House, the mansion of the Duke of
Lennox.
The Vicar of" Leighton had ruade efforts to restore
the Church, and had obtained a brief from the Crown,
but the estimated cost of" restoration was L2c, oo (equal
to L6ooo of this day), and no sufficient funds were
attainable. The walls of the nave, chancel, and tran-
septs in their lower courses stood substantiaIIy sound ;
some of the beautiful tracery yet remained in many
of the windows ; high on its lofty site was seen from
ail the country round this conspicuous monument of
ancestral piety, but it was a mere wreck and skeleton
of a Christian Church.
\¥alton ascertained from the Registers of the
Diocese of Lincoln that Herbert was instituted to the
Erebend of Leighton Ecclesia on July I5, 1626, on
LEIGIITON ECCLESIA. IO 3
the presentation of the Bishop, John \Villiams; but
he could find no record of his ordination to the
Diaconate. I Ie also afterwards ascertained ff'oto the
registers of the diocese of Sarum when t[elbert xvas
instituted to the Rectory of Foulstone-cum-13emerton,
but could find no record of his ordination to the
Priesthood.
It was hot a necessary consequcnce, as has been
shoxvn, that a prebendary of a cathedral must be in
Holy Orders, but, as \Vairon says, Herbert was in
Deacon's Orders belote he xvas instituted to Leighton.
The Institution Registers of Lincoln for the year I626
are lost, but in the Muniment-room of the Dean and
Chapter exists the following document--
LINCOLN CHAPTER JkCTS.
Institucio G. Herbert ad prebendam de Leighton Ecclesia.
5 July, 1626. " Eodem die anno tempore et loco immediate
post preces vespertinas in partiloquio in choro ecclesie Cath.
13. Marie Lincoln coram superscriptis (Decano, Cancellario et al.)
comparuit personaliter Petrus \Valter clericus et exhibuit procur-
atoriun suum literarie pro Georgio Herbert diacono in artibus
magistro alias ad Canon et prebendmn de Leighton lïcclesia in
dicta Ecclesia Cathed. fundat per resignationem ultimi pre-
bendarij vacantem instituto, et fecit, &c., &c."
On July 5, 1626, leter \Valter, clerk, appeared
before certain oflïcials of the Cathedral of Lincoln as
Proctor for George Herbert, Deacon, M.A., and was
instituted to the Prebend of Leighton Ecclesia, and
took the customary oaths.
As it is stated in the above instrument that the
Prebendary was already in Deacon's Orders when in-
IO4 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE tIERBERT.
stituted to Leighton, he mîght have been ordained (as
Valton implies), early in 1626 on the title of his
fellowship in Trinity College; and if so, his name
would appear in the books of the Bishopric of Ely,
in which diocese Cambridge lay; but there is no
register existent at Ely for the whole of the seven-
teenth century, from 6oo to 7oo. Or was Herbert
ordained Deacon by Bishop \Villiams on the title of
Leighton ?
On Trinity Sunday, June I I, I6_-6, Nicholas Ferrar
had been ordained Deacon in Westminster Abbey by
Bishop Laud; and at once settled down at Little
Gidding in Huntingdonshire, and proceeded to the
repairs of the Church and manor-house, for the
permanent home of his mother and his family.
In the following July, Herl:ert was appointed to the
prebend of Leighton. Gidding and Leighton are rive
and a half mlles distant from each other. Ferrar was
born in Feb. 1592-3 ; Herbert the same year, in April.
Ferrar matriculated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, in
16o4; Herbert, at Trinity College, in 16o9. Ferrar
left Cambridge in I63; Herbert took his B.A.
degree in I6I_-. The time the two friends spent
together at College could not have extended much
over four years, yet then was laid the foundation of a
most devoted friendship, unbroken through twenty
years, till Herbert's death.
Though there was no legal claim whatever on the
Prebendary for the reconstruction of the Church, he
saw at once the necessity--he felt the pressing dis-
LEIGIITON ECCLESIA. IO 5
honour--he knexv that no blessing xvould test on him-
self or the parish while the House of God lay waste ;
he took no counsel with alanning apprehensions, but
vowed to God he would exert ail his powers for its
immediate restoration. And as soon as he heard, in
the summer of I626, that Ferrar had actually entered
on his home, and had begun his work at Gidding,
and when he ascertained that the distance between
the tvo villages was under six mlles, he earnestly
implored his friend to accept the emoluments of the
prebend, and undertake the repairs of the Church.
Ferrar declined, as ail his thoughts and powers
were concentred on one great object, the establish-
ment of his religious community at Gidding. Herbert,
on his side, reiterated his urgent request, when Ferrar
made the proposition that Herbert should use his
influence amongst lais personal friends, and raise vhat
sums he could toward the repairs of Leighton Church,
and he, on his part, would contribute towards the ex-
pense; and though he could not make himself re-
sponsible for much personal supervision, he would
undertake that his brother John should visit the
Church three times a week, and should overlook
and direct the works. This offer Herbert gratefully
accepted, surrendered his prebendal income, and
excited his friends to extend their sympathy to
Leighton.
As soon as Lady Danvers heard that her son was
nominated to Leighton, and that he proposed to
restore the Church, she sent for him from London,
IO6 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
where he was then visiting, to her house at Chelsea,
and "apprehending the great trouble and charge that
he was like to draw upon himself, his relatives, and
friends," like a rmtozt mother she said--
"George, itis not for your weak body and empty purse to
undertake to rebuild churches,"
and advised him to resign the prebend. He desired
that he might have a day's time to consider; and,
returning to ber on the morrow, he first knelt and
asked ber blessing (which she gave .him), and then
said--
"Mother, I ask you fo allow me, at the age of thirty-three
years, to become an undutiful son, for I bave ruade a vow to God,
that, if I ara able, I will rebuild Leighton Church."
And now, like a (]o'istia¢ mother, when she heard
that the vows of God were upon ber son, and saw his
zeal for the Lord's House, it pitied her also concern-
ing its stones ; she bade him "God speed" in his holy
purpose, and promised assistance of her own sub-
stance. On her intercession, William, Earl of Pem-
broke, subscribed ,£5o, which sum he doubled on
receipt of a persuasive letter from his kinslnan;
Arthur Woodnoth, a wealthy- gold merchant of Lon-
don, a relative of Ferrar's, beside his own bounty',
collected money for the work, kept all the accounts,
and, as he was frequentl¥ at Gidding, visited Leighton
Church, acted as Ferrar's deputy', and efficiently
carried out Herbert's wishes.
It bas been regarded as a singular fact that there is
no evidelce of Herbert's ever having visitcd Leighton
LEIGIITON ECCLESIA.
O7
all the seven years he hcld the prcbcnd. There were
reasonable causes for his absence. The ague seems
to have been cruelly racking his fceble body. He
could hot ride tvo hundred mlles on one journey as
in earlier days. His mother's lonely home, and pro-
longed sicknesses, claimed his frequent presence.- He
had perfect confidence that Leighton Church was in
competcnt halds.
It is more remarl<able that he nevcr paid a visit to
his old dear friend and brother at Gidding, though
it is undeniable enough that his hcart and prayers
were there continually ; and in that memorable ven-
ture of ascetic piety, devoted self-surrelder, and un-
wearied fiat'pe'a, which Ferrar consecrated to God at
Little Gidding, Iterbert's advice was anxiously
sought, and his suggestions reverently regarded and
adopted.
But the works at Leighton progressed very slowly,
and four or rive years later, when Herbert was
settled in Bemerton Rectory, the Church was hot
finished, and it lay very hêavy on the conscience of
the Prebendary, and upon his purse also, when, at
the saine rime, with a meagre income from his living,
he xvas responsible for the repairs of the Church,
Chapel, and rectory of his new parish.
lrom Bemertoli he wrotc to his "exceeding dear
brother," expressing the sense of his extreme gratitude
for lerrar's interest in Leighton Church and parish.
«' I shall ever put your care of Leighton upon my account, and
give you myself for it, to be yours for ever."
[08 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
IIe adds solcmnly--
"God knows I bave desired a long rime to do the place good,
and have endeavoured many ways to find a man for it. And
now my gracious God is pleased to give me you for the man I
desired ; for which I humbly than] tim."
His anxiety to be wholly rclicved of Leighton
icreased aftcr hc was fully entercd on his work in
Wiltshire; and he rcncwed his former appeal to
Ferrar; but I:errar's energies and life, his b'ody
and soul, were now absolutely absorbed in Gid-
ding, and he could only promise unabated interest
iii the Church. Herbert then resigned the restoration
entirely into Ferrar's hmds, suggesting only certain
details of internal arrangement.
Herbert's brother Henry (the best of all his brothers,
and himself a generous friend to Leighto) writes to
say that Catharîtle, daugbter of Lord Clifton of
Lcighton Bromcswold, Duchess of Lennox, and lier
son, had prcscnted £20o to the Restoratiot Fund ; he
had also interested Lord Machestcr and Lord
Bolingbroke in the utdertaking. In devout acl;now-
ledgment George replies--
"I ara glad, dear brother, I used you in it ; and you have no
cause to be sorry, since it is God's business.--From Bemerton,
March 2 , 63."
His last pious, gracious thoughts on tbe subject
were breathed when he was going down fast to the
gates of the grave ; in answer to a lctter to Ferrar he
says--
"You write very lovingly that all your things are mine ; if so,
let this, of Leighton Church the care, be amongst the chiefest.
LEIGIITON ECCLESIA. IO 9
I thank you for your care, your counsel, your cost. And as I
am heartily glad for the thing, so no less glad for the heart that
God has given you and yours to pious works.
"Blessed be my God and Master, the spring and fountain of
ail goodness. '»
Leighton was on lais heart in lais dying hour. XVith
lais own hand he wrote lais will, in which appeared
the bequest--
"... fifteene pound shal be bestowed vppon Leighton
Church. »
Ail the wood-work in the Church is Herbert's, of
solid, substantial oak, very thick and heavy, not of
conventional ecclesiastical pattern, but a costly and
admirable specimen of the semi-Italian style of the
day; the seats are all open. There are two large
pulpits, richly carved in oak; one for prayer, the
other for preaching, exactly of the saine form and
height, both with heavy sounding-boards.
Herbert's order--
"... the reading-pew and pulpit were a little distant from
each other, and both of an equal height ; for he would often say
they should neither have a precedency, or priority, of the other ;
but that prayer and preaching, being equaIly useful, might agree
like brethren, and have an equal honour and estinmtion.'"
From a note of Ferrar's it appears that the cost of
the restoration fell chiefly on the Prebendary himself---
"the reparation whereof having been uneffectually attempted
by publick collections, was in the end by his own, and SOlne few
others' private freewill offerings successfully effectcd."
Herbert could hOt compass the cost of the tower,
which was afterwards raised at the expense of James,
the sixth Duke of Lennox ; it is a noble erection, lofty,
I IO THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
well-proportioned, and solidly built, probably from
an existing Italian model; and probably also from
the design of Inigo Jones. He had returned from
Italy, where William, Earl of Pembro|e, had sent him
for his education, and Herbert would constantly
corne into contact with him, as Court _A_rchitect,
and as directing the works at Wilton House. It
is likely all the new wor|< at Leighton passed under
his reviev. The large tenor bell bears, in Lombardic
lctters, the names of Esmé and Catharine, father and
mother of the Dul<e of Lennox.
The lead work of the rain-pipes is singularly
claborate and ornamental, charged with scrolls and
crests ; one of the figures is a vyvern, the crest of the
I Ierberts ; another may be a coronet, affixed by Ferrar
in memory of other restorers of the holy place.
From the date I632 on a battlemented bowl oflead,
it might be inferred that a general restoration was
effected in that year, belote Herbert died ; but the date,
1634, on another, suggests indirectly that all the works
were not finished till affer his death. Perhaps that is
the date of the building of the tovcr. Herbert and
his fricnds rebuilt no nev Church ; they only worked
on old foundations; thcy inserted four new vindows
in the valls of the chancel, and re-roofed, repaired,
and re-seated the whole.
Though there is not the slightest evidence that
Herbert was ever in Leighton parish, or ever dis-
charged any Divine Offices in the Church, yet it seems
to have been a traditionary belief that he was atone
LEIGHTON ECCLE.IA. I I I
rime Vicar of Leighton. _About a hundred and thirty"
years after, Dr. _Adam Clarle, one of the most learned
and distinguished of Methodist ministers, and contcm-
porary with John Wesley, writes thus--
"On the road we passed by (I think it is called) Lelghton
Church, vhere that blessed man of God, Mr. Herbert, author of
the most excellent collection of poems, formerly preached ; the
sight of the place where such an eminent minister of God hath
dispensed the V¢ord of Lire, impressed my mind with solelnnity
and reverence."
Allow that Hcrbcrt, in the body, noyer lool¢cd on
Lcighton Church ; noyer worshipped God i its aislcs ;
3,et Leighton Church was very dear to Herbert's
heart ; it was hallowed by his prayers ; it was washed
by his tears ; it is ever to be remembered as incensed
by his memory. It is sacred also to English church-
men from the memories of John and Nicholas Ferrar,
and _Arthur Woodnoth.
CItAPTER VIII.
CIIELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOIIN DANVERS. M
1608--I655.
IT has been said that in the year 16o8- 9 ]Xlagdalen
Herbert was married to Sir John Danvers, of Chelsea.
The parish of Chelsea was thon a beautiful, well-
wooded district, in the country ; a few cottages clus-
tered round the village church; handsome seats
crowned the slopes adown to the river, nearest of which
to Danvers House was that of Sir Thomas More.
Danvers House was sumptuously adorned, and the
gardens were laid out in the new Italian style.
"'Twas Sir John Danvers, of Chelsey, who first taught us the
way of ItMian gardens. He had vell travelled France and
Italy, and made good observations. He had in a fair body an
harmonical mind. In his youth his complexion vas so beautiful
and fine that the people vould corne after him in the streets to
admire him. He had a very fine fancy, which lay chiefly for
gardens and architecture."--AUBRE¥.
When he married Magdalen Herbert, he had only
just entered his twentieth year; she was about forty
years of age, the mother of ten children, of whom
Thomas, the youngest, was about eleven, George was
fiffeen. "I-Ie married her for love of her wit"; he
CIIELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOIIN DANVERS. 1 13
was fascinated by hcr beauty yet abiding, her grace
and graciousness, hcr accomplishmcnts, hcr rcfined
and commandig intellect. She, though a ,voman of
mature judgment, and old enough to be his mother,
might have been captivatcd in a degrce by lais hand-
some form, more so perhaps by the elcgancies of his
house and the exquisite beauty of the gardons ; and
as he was presumptive heir to a vast estate, she
would be able to reccive hcr younger children into
a competent home, and aid thcm in their upward
struggle to an honourable position in lire. Nor were
her pleasurable anticipations unfulfilled. As long as
George Herbert's mother continued the wife of Sir
John Danvers, therc is testimony enough that the
stepfather was a truc fathcr to his adopted children ;
the three girls ruade Chelsea their home till they were
married ; Edward, sometimes from lXontgomery
Castle, sometimes from the Low Countries, after-
wards from Paris, where he was ambassador for six
years; Charles from Oxford; George from Cam-
bridge; Richard, William, Henry, and Thomas, first
on their return from school, afterwards from their
continental campaigns, ail received a cordial welcome
to that lordly mansion.
Here Lady Danvers, in becoming state, could
receive her illustrious visitors. Statesmen, nobles,
clergy of every grade, poets, scholars, converged to
Danvers House, as a centre of dignified life; refined,
elegant, literary society ; gracious courtesy, and
exuberant hospitality.
H
I 14 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
King James himself might have been the guest of
the mother of thc Cambridge Orator, who so incensed
him with his complimentary speeches.
Lord Bacon xvas often there.
"His Ls h much delighted in that curious garden at Chelsey.
He did meditate in those delicate bowers, and as he was walking
there one time, he fell down in a sowne. My Lady Danvers
rubbed his face, temples, &c., and gave him cordiall water. As
soon as he came to himselfe, he said, ' Madam, I ara no good
fool//z«/z. "--AUBREY.
Bishop Andrcwes, Laud, the Ministers, bishops,
and nobles, but espccially Dr. Donne, Dean of St.
Paul's (the fdend of the Herbcrt family for so many
years), shook off avhile their absorbing anxieties for
Çhurch and State, and refreshed their spirits in that
Elysium of beauty and grace.
At a later day, John Aubrey frequently sojourned
at Danvers House. He probably never saw George
Hcrbert, be]ng only in his eighth year at Herbert's
death ; but hc was a Viltshireman by birth, as was
Sir John Danvers; and was connected vith th¢
family, his grandmother having been Rachel Danvers ;
and he says of his «uriou¢ London anecdotes--" Most
of these nformations I have from Sr John Danvers."
Donne speaks favourably, though cautiously, of Sir
John up to I2 7. " His birth, his prospects, his noble
presence, might have ruade him acceptable in any
family, or with any wolnan on whom he set his
affections"--and he allows their married life vas happy;
and, at least, till some years after his wife's death, her
children had no cause to complain of the demeanour
CHELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOHN DANVERS. I I
of the stepfather tovards them. George had con-
fidcnce in him to the last, for he leff him overscer of
his will, in I633.
But though he xvas Imighted by Jalnes I., as early
as I624, to his wife's and his brother's (the Earl of
Danby) great disgust, he began to disclose unsym-
pathetic sentiments towards the Crown. Charles I.
appointed him Gentleman Usher, but he was already
associated with seditious spirits, who widened the
gulf between him and his Master day by day.
His wife's later years were darkened and saddened
by his open alienation from Church and State; her
house was no longer the pleasant rendezvous of
eminent courtiers and honourable Churchmen; dark
cabals xvere held under her roof, and ominous
whispers met her ear, and wouuded ber heart.
In May I627 Herbert was at Chelsea, probably in
attendance on lais sick mother. On the 6th he writes
in Latin to Robert Creighton, who had succeeded
Thorndike as Deputy-Orator--
« Your letters are kind and elegant. You feed on the fine
wheat of the University, I on acorns and puise, like an ancient
I3riton. Please occupy my place until it is seen thou art accept-
able to the University, and then it will not be my fault if thou
do hot succeed me. Ask our friend Thorndike to put into thy
charge the Orator's book and lamp. Consider when thou writest
a speech, what is due to Alma Mater ; do hot dress her up like
a young maiden; she is a matron, sacred, reverend, antique.
A perfect speech is grave, dignified, clear, concise. It is long
since I xvrote my best Latin, but sometilnes I like to chatter. I
seem to be an old man in letters.
"Farewell, my Pro-Orator, and love thy G.H."
1 Tlae Orator's book reanains ; the lamp is not.
I[6 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
Lady ]ï)anvers still continued, as from the first, and
as far as her health allowed, ber course of re]igious
obedienccs and unbounded bencvolencc. Shc attcnded
the daily services of the parish church, which was just
outside thc parle ; she rcceived the fev select fviends
who were hot repelled by the coldness of her lord ;
she vatched over the spiritual, as well as temporal,
concerns of her household ; and from her loneliness
and disappointment she sought in prayer and medl-
tation that consolation which out Holy Religion alone
can supply.
IIer health had been wan[ng many a day, and
through all the spring of I627 she grev weakcr and
weal¢er, till, in May, all the children within reach verc
summoned to repair with all haste to Chelsea to
receîve a dying mother's blessing.
No record tells who, or hov many of the children,
or what friends, gathered round the dying woman's
bed. George, apparently sometimes sojourning at
the houses of his brother Edward or Henry in Lon-
don, would visit his mother day by day, and would
weary his God with unceasing prayer e[ther for her
early recovery, or for her beatific dissolution. :But
the secrets of that chamber of tears, of prayers, of
sickness, and death are revealcd only, and in a few
brief sentences, in the fimeral sermon preached by
Dr. Donne, Dean of St. Paul's.
George vas absolutely unconsolable at his mother's
death. He sat alone for hours by her bed, held her
cold hands, and kissed her pallid brov. He wandered
CHELSIï!A--PARENTALIA--SIR JOHN DANVERS. Il 7
np and down the corridors whcre hcr last footstcps
faintly fell. He went out into thc garden, then
blooming in all the lovcliness of spring, and looled
on the parterres of her favourite flowers planted and
watered by her own hand. He gazed on the silvery
waters of the Thames, as she was wont to gaze, stood
on the spot where she last stood lcaning on his arm,
till the burden of woe seemed too heavy to bear, and
his heart was ready to burst in his breast.
Then came the funeral. Magdalcn Danvers was
buried i1 Chelsea Church on June 8, I627, without
a funeral sermon, as her friend, Dr. Dotale, who was
asked to preach, " was bound by pre-obligations and
pre-contracts in his own profession."
It has bcen recorded in an early chapter that a
stately monument, charged with proud, heraldic sym-
bols, stands in the Lymore chantry of Montgomery
Church, erected, as the inscription records, in memory
of Richard Herbert and Magdalen his wife ; and Latin
verses rehearse that the tomb covers two persons,
united both in lire and death. The marble lies.
Undisturbed since his widov Magdalen laid him
down to rest in I596, Richard Herbert sleeps alone
in his honoured grave. Magdalen Herbert bccame
Magdalen Danvers, and her body never came to the
sepulchre which she had prepared vith such love and
lavish cost for her first husband and herself. Her
children may repeat their impassioncd protestations,
and may entreat that their mother may bc laid by
their father's side in the place she had herself pro-
I I8 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
vidcd ; they may plead her mvn intcntions ; they may
point to ber effigy o,1 the monument, to the empty
vau|t, to the inscription testifying that a man and his
wife lie below. The widower shakes his head ; she is
hot a Herbert now; and she is hurried to earth in
the Parish Church hard by, and slceps alone in the
distant, Mien, unknown, unhonoured grave.
George has returned to his mother's vacant home.
Do we see him sitting in his mother's room, at his
mothcr's desk, sobbing over his mother's books and
letters, holding in his fingers his mother's pen ?
\Vhat does he write ?
"Ah Mater, quo te deplorem fonte ? Dolores
Quoe guttoe poterunt enumerare meos ?"
He is pouring out his soul and his sorrows in
spontaneous verse. These verses are the first
breathings of--
PARENTALIA--POEMS SACRED TO A MOTHERS MEMORY. »
He wails in Latin and Greek, as his great master,
13ishop Andrewes, prayed in Greek and Hebrew.
There vere twenty-two days betveen the burial
and the funeral sermon. Where did the son spend
those days--and nights ? Sometimes at his mother's
grave, in Church, sometimes in her gardenmore
often in ber chamber, prolonging his lamentations in
the mournful lneasures of the " Parentalia."
They are nineteen poems of various length and
metre, and they first appear in print appended to
CtlELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOHN DANVERS. I 19
Dr. Donne's sermon. As the sermon was published
(in a quaint little duodecimo) immediately after it
xvas preached, it may be accepted as more than prob-
able that all the poems of the " Parentalia" xvere
vritten by Herbert in Danvers House, between his
mother's death and the delivery of Donne's sermon,
and chiefly, (say, wholly, if you will) in his mother's
chamber.
On July , there is a vast auditory in St. Luke's
Church, Chelsea. Slowly and solemnly the preacher
ascends the pulpit. It is vell known xvith xvhat
pathos and sweeping eloquence he xvields the sword
of the Spirit, the \Vord of God. He speaks as
a dying man to dying men. His face is xvan, his
tears fall. His body trembles. His voice quivers.
She, of whom he bas to speak, xvas a friend, an old
friend, a true friend, a friend to his wife and children,
when they vanted a friend--inexpressibly dear, in-
tensely admired, devotedly venerated. He prays--
THE PRAYER.
"0 eternal and most glorious God! enable us in lire and
death seriously to consider the price of a soul. It is precious
because Thy image is stamped upon it--precious, because the
Blood of Thy Son was paid for it--precious, because Thy
Blessed Spirit, the Holy Ghost, works upon it--precious, because
it is entered into Thy revenue, and nmde a part of Thy
treasure. Surfer us hOt, therefore, O Lord, so to undervalue
ourselves, nay, so to impoverish Thee, as to give away those
souls, Thy souls, Thy dear and precious souls, for nothing. We
know, 0 Lord, that our rent due to Thee is out soul--and the
day of our death is the day, and our deathbed the place,when this
I20 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERI3ERT.
rent is to be paid. He that hath sold his soul for unjust gain,
or given away his soul for sin, or lent away his soul by a luke-
warmness, he cornes to that day and that place, his death and
deathbed, without any rent in his hand, vithout any soul to
tender unto Thee. Let, therefore, O Lord, the saine hand,
which is to receive thcln lhc'pt, preserve their souls lill
Let that mouth, which breathed them into us at first, breathe
always upon them whilst they are with us, and suck them into
itself, when they depart from us. Preserve our souls, 0 Lord,
because they belong to Thee, and, preserve our bodies because
they belong to those souls. In the straits of death open Thine
eyes wider, and enlarge Thy Providence towards us, that no fever
in the body may shake the soul, no apoplexy in the body benumb
the soul. So make our bed in ail out sickness, that being used
to Thy hand, we lnay be content with any bed of Thy mak-
ing, whether Thou be pleased to change our feathers into flocks,
or out flocks into dust, even the dust of the grave. And though
Thou dividest man and wife, mother and child, friend and friend,
by the hand of death, yet stay them that stay ; and send them
avay that go, with this consolation, that though we part, at divers
days, and in divers ways, here--yet xve shall all meet at one
place and at one day--a day that no night shall determine, the
day of the glorious Resurrection. Hasten that day, O Lord, for
their sakes, that beg it of Thy hands from under the altar--hasten
it for our sakes, that groan under the manifold encumbrances
of these mortal bodies--hasten it for her sake, whom we have
lately laid down in this Thy holy ground--and hasten it for Thy
Son, Christ Jesus' sake, to whom then, and not till then, all
things shall be absolutely subdued."
THE SERMON.
The text is -« ]N]'EVERTHELESS ACCORD1NG TO H1S PROMISE,
WE LOOK FOR NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH.-2 St.
Peter iii. 13.
1 propose--l. To instruct the living. II. To conamemorate
the dead.
I. Whether we look up to the throne of heaven for the one,
or to the stones of the grave and that pavement for the other,
we need no other words than those of the text. \Ve look for
something we have not yet--we expect greater, future things. \Ve
CIIELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOHN DANVERS. I2I
are on a voyage through a Mediterranean Sea between two lands
--the land of possession, and the land of promise. \Ve lay hold
on God for an everlasting possession. Christians must expect
scorns, and jests, and tentations; but God vith one word,
" FIAT," made all--with one word, " PEREAT," can destroy ail.
He spake the vord, and it vas done. He can speak, and all
shall be undone. It is hOt " ECCE, VENIAM," but " ECCE,
VENIO"----the future is reduced to an infallible present. It is so
sureHewill doit He is said to have doneit. I donot only
hot knov when that night shall be--but I do hOt only hOt know
a,/ta! night,--that is, whic]t night--but not wh,t! night, that is,
what kind of night He means. He may mean all kinds of night
--my night of ignorance--my night of vantonness--my night of
melancholy and suspicion of His mercy--my night of raging
sickness. \Ve that have laid our foundations in faith, and
made out super-edifications in sanctimony, come what terrors,
« IN CHRISTO OMNIA POSSU,tUS. » I shall look upon Him
then, and see ail my sins, substance and circulnstance of sin,
veight and ineasure of sin, heinousness and continuance of sin,
all my sins imprinted in His wounds. I have nothing to plead
with God but His promises. AIl my plea is that to which He
carries me so often in His \Vord, " QUIA FIDELIS DOMINUS. n
Gracious, He meant to sacrifice Himself for the world, and faith-
fully He did it. God hath had a long forenoon, as He shall
have an afternoon. God wrapt me in His covenant, and
derived me from Christian parents--the first sound I heard in
the world was the voice of Christians--the first character I was
taught to know was the Cross of Christ. What sins God for-
gave me this morning, )'et God forgives me scven more sins
to-morrow--and seven, in this arithlnetic, is infinite. Hath
Christ gone to prepare a place for us, and would we hOt have
Him corne to fetch us to it ? He that hath seen the marks of
election, in both editions, in the Scripture first, and then in his
own conscience; that finds himself truly incorporated in
Christ, may be sure if the Day come now, ho shall be able to
stand upright in the Judgement. \Ve have some ears, but vait
for the sheaves. If God will have us stay a little longer, it is
but a fev minutes, for this " NOVISSIMA HORA EST. » Of the
new heavens and new earth, when we have travelled as far as
we can with safety, yet we must sa)', it is a country inhabited
122
TItE LIFE OF GEORGE HERP, ERT.
with angels, cherubim and seraphim, and that we can look no
further into it with these eyes--'tis the habitation prepared for
the blessed angels, where ail their minutes are ages, and ail
their ages eternity.
That's lïly comfort, that vhen I corne thither, I shall have
mercy at God's hands. Though I have put on the garment of
l-lly Saviour's righteousness in baptism, and girt it to me closer
in the other Sacrament, and in some acts of holiness, yet my
sins of infirmity slacken this garment, and it falls from me ;
and in my sins of rebellion I leave it off, and throv it awa¥
myself. But God shall impart to us ail a mysterious gavelkind
--equality of fulness of glory to us all. God shall not xvhisper
to His own Son a « SEDE A DEXTRIS" nor a " HODIE GENUI n
nor a" IONAM INIMICOS "I'UOS" and no more--but as it is said of
the armies of Israel, " Thcy went fi»rth as one mat "--so the
whole host of God's saints incorporated in Christ Jesus shall be
as one man--and that One Man, Son of Man and Son of God
too, shall say to us all, " SEDETE A DEXTRlS"--and tO uS ail,
« HODIE GENUI VOS --and to Hs ail, "PONAM INIMICOS VES-
TROS"--and we slmll hOt only have, but be, a part of that
righteousness which dwells in the new heavens and earth.
II. The Text is for the Commemoration of the dead. Close
we here this Book of Life, whence we have had our first text,
and ¢' SURGE QU_,E DORMIS IN PULVERE »---« .ARISE THOU BOOK
OF DEATH? Thou that sleepest in this consecrated dust, and
hast been going into dust, now almost a month of days--thou
dost deserve such commemoration. Arise thou, and tell us vhat
this new heaven and earth is in vhich now thou dwellest. But
we do not invoke thee as thou art, a saint in heaven. Appear
to us, as thou didst appear a month ago--appear in thy histo,
--appear in our memory, that when one shall have seen thee,
the best wife--and a larger number the best motheand more
than they, a whole town, the best nczghbour--and, more than a
town, a large body of noble friends, t/te bestfri«ml--and more
than ail they, all the world, the best examible--because thy body
is still within these walls, be content to be one of this congre-
gation, and to hear some parts of this text re-applied to thee.
She lived in a rime when that prophecy of St. Peter was
superabundantly pcrformed, that there should be scoffers and
jesters of divine tlfings, and lnatters appcrtaining to God. Who
CHEL,qEA--PARENTALI,\--,qIR JOHN DANVERS. I2 3
ever saw ber, who ever heard her countenance a profane speech ?
As her inclination and conversation was naturally cheerful, and
lovingly facetious, I testify her holy cheerfulness and religious
alacrity (one of the best evidences of a good conscience) that
she came to this place, God's House, duly, hOt only every
Sabbath, but even in those week-days, vhen it was only a House
of Prayer, hastening ber family, and ber company with cheerful
provocation ; and the last act of that family, united in itself and
with God, shut up the day at night with a cheerful singing of
psalms.
In the declination of her years, sicknesses would sometimes
cast a cloud and some half-damp upon her natural cheerfulness
and sociableness, and sometimes indeed dark and sad appre-
hensions--nevertheless, who ever heard her murmur or repine,
or dispute upon any of God's proceedings, or to lodge a jealousy
or suspicion of His mercy and goodness toward ber, or inter-
rupt her confidence and assurance in God? The text is,
"Nevertheless ve"--and here, in this consideration, she--
"according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth."
Being left a widow, she proposed to herself, as her principal
care, the education of ber ten children ; and to advance that,
she came and dwelt with them in the University, and recom-
pensed to them the loss of a father in giving them two mothers
--her own personal care, and the advantage of that place.
She continued thirteen years in a state of widowhood, and then
returned to a second marriage ; and I would hOt consider ber
years at so much more than forty, nor his at so much less than
twenty, but as their persons were ruade one and their fortunes
ruade one, by lnarriage, so I would put their years into one
number, and think them thirty apiece. She had a cheerfulness
agreeable to his youth, and he had a sober steadiness conform-
able to ber years. Her fortune was fair and noble, derived
from her first husband, and fairly and nobly dispensed by
herself, with the allowance of her second; and as God's true
steward and ahnoner, her time and money passed in a continual
doing of good. _As she received her daily bread from God, she
daily distributed it to others, even what had been prepared for
her own table.
Her house vas a Court, in the conversation of the best--an
I2 4 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE ltERBERT.
Ahns-house, in feeding the poor--a Hospital, in ministering to
the sick. The love of doing good, the disposition that dwelt in
her children and kindred, the studies and knowledge of one, the
hand of another, and the purse of all, and a joint facility, and
openness, and accessibleness to persons of the meanest quality,
concurred in the blessed act of charity, and was the perfulne that
breathed over all her house. Of which myself, who had the
favour to be admitted into that family, lnust testify that when a
late affliction fell hotly on the town, when every door was shut
up, and lest death should enter into the house, it was ruade a
sepulchre--then, then, in the time of infection, divers persons,
visited with the infection, had relief from this house. 1 The rule
of her actions was Religion, so the rule of her Religion was the
Scripture; and her rule to understand the Scripture was the
Church. She never diverted to the Papist in undervaluing
Scripture, nor toward a Separatist in undervaluing the Church.
But in the doctrine and discipline of that Church, in which God
sealed her to Himself in t3aptism, she brought upher children--
she dedicated her soul to God in her life, and surrendered it to
Him in her death. And in the form of Common Prayer, as
ordained by[tt:at Church, and to which she had accustomed
herself and her (amily thrice every day, she joined with that
company that was about ber deathbed, with a clear understand-
ing, with a constant memory, and a distinct voice not two hours
before she died.
She expected this--that she hath received--God's Physic, and
God's Music, a Christianly death. By the Gospel the second
death is taken off; and though we die still, we die according to
His promise ; that's a part of His mercy. Consider us fallen in
Adam, and we are miserable that we must die ; but consider us
restored, and redintegrated in Christ, and we were more miserable
if we might not die. x.Ve get not heaven but by death. This
she expected till it came, and embraced it when it came. Her
last words were--" I submit my will to the will of Goal. » That
body upon which you tread now--that body now crumbling into
dust--that body which was eyes to the blind, and hands and feet
to the lame--that body at last shall bave ber expectation satisfied,
1 In 1625, London was scourged by the plague ; 35,ooopersons
died in the year ; the streets were forsaken and overgrown with
grass. In the slnall village of Chelsea twenty-two people died.
CIIELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOHN DANVERS. I2 5
and she shall dvell bodily vith that righteousness in the new
heavens and uew eat'th fi»r ever--and ever--and ever--and
infinite and super-infitfite evers. " His left hand is under my
head, and His right hand embraces lne," was the spouse's vale-
diction, ald "Good-night," to Christ then, when she laid herself
down to sleep in the strength of His mandrakes, and the power
of His spices--in the influence of His mercies. In His Name,
and in her behalf, I say that to all you, which Christ said then--
"ADJURO VOS"--" I charge you that ye xvake her not." But if
you will wake her--vake her--and keep her awake, vith an
active imitation of her holy virtues--that so, her example xvork-
ing upon you, and the number of God's saints being the sooner
by this blessed example fulfilled--we may all meet--and meet
quickly--in that kingdom, which hers and our Saviour hath
purchased for us all with the inestimable price of His incor-
ruptible Blood. Amen.
Thus Donne preached. Thus he honoured God.
Thus he remembered his fricnd. That dense crowd,
held, bound in a spiritual spell, for two hours by the
theme and tone of the mighty preacher, " melted and
moulded by his vords, and looks, and sighs, and tears,"
draw their breath, and disperse hither and thither over
all the land.
Who they were, vhat they vere, vhence they
came, vhither they went, God knoweth. But there
was one man in Chelsea Church that day on whom
the Holy Ghost set His seal, whose naine is known,
revered, and lovedshall be knovn and revered and
loved while love shall IastIsAAC WALTON.
Forty-three years afterwards he vrote
"I saw and heard this Mr. John Donne (vho was then Dean
of St. Paul's), veep, and preach her funeral sermon in the parish
Church of Chelsey."
Was that the dak" also, and was that the occasion,
I26 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
the only occasion, on which Isaac Walton saw George
Herbert ?
" Mr. George Herbert was to me a stranger, as to his person,
for I have only seen him."
As I[erbert vent into complete seclusion after his
mother's death, and six years after died in his retired
lome under Salisbury Plain, it is not likely Walton
would ever meet him aga[n.
These three saintly men, John Donne, George
Herbert, and Isaac \Valton, great men, truly great, met
together in St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, on July I,
I627 ; and \Valton (then not with the remotest idea
of being their biographer), afterwards wrote the lires
of Donne and Herbert.
Walton wrote--and thus he preserved (what but for
lim would have perished), for the honour of the God
of saints, and for the treasure and service of" the
Church, the memor¥ and memorial of these good men,
now indelibly graven on the rock of time, and on the
heart of universal Christendom.
"There are no colours in the fairest sky
So fair as these ; the feather whence the pen
\Vas shaped that traced the lires of these good men
Dropped from an angel's wing. \Vith moistened eye
\Ve read of faith and purest charity
In statesman, priest, and humble citizen.
O could we copy their lnild virtues, then
\Vhat joy to lire, what happiness to die !
Methinks their very names shine still and bright
Apart--like glow-worms on a summer night,
Or lonely tapers, when from far they fling
A guiding ray ; or seem like stars on high,
Satellites turning, in a lucid ring,
Around meek \Valton's heavenl- memory.--\VORDSWOP.TH.
CIIELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOHN DANVERS. I2 7
PARENTALIA.
Barnabas Oley--Herbert's second biographcrl
judged, and rightly judged--
" .... that the many Latin and Greek verses, the obsequious
tarcnta[ia, which he made and printed in his mother's memory,
though they be good, very good--they be dull and dead in
comparison of his Temple Poelns."
Oley's critical antitheses arc faithful to religion and
truth.
PARENTALIA.
1. To write those he made his
ink with water of Helicon.
2. In those are weak motions
of nature.
3. In those he writ flesh and
blood, a fl'aile, earthly
woman, though a mother.
THE TEMPLE.
1. These inspirations pro-
pheticall were distilled
from above.
2. In these raptures of grace.
3. In these he praysed his
Heavenly Father, the God
of men and angels, and
the Lord Jesus Christ his
Master.
Lovers of Herbert read his Par«ntalia with feelings
of disappointment. They naturally expect that the
subject of death--the death of such a mother, sub-
limed by religion and immortal hope--would fill a
poet's soul with divinest inspiration, and that Herbert
would have written the grandest poem on Death, in
the most spiritual strains, that language could afford.
They are startled at his free and frequent references
to Pagan mythology, and offended at the exaggerated
expressions of his filial affection, redeemed with
scarcely a Chrlstian thought.
"I'hey do not find in the Parent«lia that recognition
128 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
of an cver-prcscnt Goal ; those direct appeals to Itim
as an all-sufficicnt Fricnd; those awcd confessions,
and submissions, and COlnmunions with IIim; that
love and apprchcnsion of thc promises of the Word,
with which the Temple Poems are so richly imbued.
It may be assumed that Hcrbert's fcet wcre hot yet
firm in the ways of God--the secret of the Lord was
hot yct with him.
Again, as just fi'esh rioto the Schools, he thought,
he vrote, he wept, lac prayed in classic modes and
phraseology ; it was the natural outcome of his highly
cultured mind; he composed elcgiacs as an Ovid or
Tibullus.
Alloxv, that for a xvhile, for a month, untii perhaps
Donne (himself sternly disciplined by suffering, bodily,
mental, and spiritual, and seeing from the tarcntalia
that his friend xvas not sorrowing after a godl¥ sort),
b¥ his counsels and prayers opened to him the
Fountain of Consolation, and taught him to say
"Nec sire membrure delicatum
Sub spinoso Capite »--
allow that the scholar overbore the Christian. Soon
the Christian xvill triumph over the scholar.
The onl¥ threnody in the English language that
can be conpared with Herbert's Parentalia is Cowper's
Ode "On the Receipt of m v" Mother's Picture," and
while there is in it excess of acute anguish, ardent
veneration, and pathos indescribable, there is the like
absence of resignation to the Will of God, and justifi-
cation of His decrees.
ClIELSEAPARENTALIA--SIR JOIIN DANVERS. I2 9
The vailings of the l-'«r«,ztaN« may be thus briefly
gathered up--
",Vhat fountain can supply ine with tears ? What tears can
express inylove for iny mother ? What words can celebrate her
virtues? She blended in herself all that was noble, good, and
beautiflll in woinan. I go and stand by her grave, and say,
' Here lies the pride and praise of woinan, the pure maiden, the
faithful wife, the just mother.' "
"It is not only I that bewail her. All that knev her lament
her loss, as though she had been their mother as well as mine.
The ladies, as they talk of her, let fall their embroidery, and
weep."
"Ara I blained for so passionately extolling iny mother ? Do
)'ou say I grieve iinnmderately ? You never had, you never
lost, such a nmther. AI1 are singing her praises, why not I, who
owe my all to ber ?"
"The physicians say that I am sick, and feel my puise, and
pronouncethat I have a fever. So I ana sick, sick at heart ; btlt
their drugs and nostrums cannot cure my disease. I am in a
fever : but don't give me medicine. My mother is in my throb-
bing heart. I ara excited in writing of my mother's love and
virtues. My fever is my health."
"! see my mother in my dreams, but oh! her face is so
changed ; so pale! Not as I reineinber that face, so pure, so
sacred, so august. Oh ! if I inight see her again, I could spend
all my life at her side."
"I have in the country a pretty cottage and garden, small, but
large enough for us. O that my mother and I nfight vander
together amongst the flowers ! But she must corne as I re-
member her in my sunny days, with my mother's face, and my
mother's smiles, or my nev-born joys would wither at once."
"The affairs of the Church and nation proceed as usual, but I
take no interest in them, for I think only of my mother. I am
like a tree, felled by the stroke of the axe. Once I stood firm by
my mother's side. Nmv I ana motherless. I ara tossed to and
fro like the waves ofthe sea. I seem to have died with my lnother."
" Her children are left in the midst of tears and dangers. They
will never share again her wisdom, her love, her prayers, her
blessings."
I
I30 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE llERBERT.
"I walk in the gardens by day. She has a heavenly garden
now. I walk in the gardens at night, I look up at the starry
skies, and think my mother is a star. Through the night I
write and extol her goodness to me ; I say--
"' Per te nascor in hunc globum,
lïxemploque tuo nascor in alterum--
/gis tu Mater eras mihi.' »
"She joyed in ber flowers ; we plucked them and laid them
on ber coffin; they are withered now. Ah-eady the gardens
miss their mistress. It seems to me that the flowers have an
earthy and funereal smell. It will be better they bloom no more.
Her roses are scented with their mistress's death, her violets
bow their florets, and look at their nfistress's grave. The
gardens are lovely now, but I call them not gardens, but church-
yards ; for every parterre bemoans its absent lady. The flowers
may as well all die at once, as they will never share her smiles
again." °
"Now I bave finished. I bave been goaded on by the spirit
within me to fulfil this duty towards my mother. I bave done
it; I may bave been guilty of weakness ; I will never speak
agaln.
But how sweetly, at last, how sufficiently, does the
Son of the weeping eye and bleeding heart atone
(though in one short poem)for the omission of deeper
religious sentiment and of the spirit of unmurmuring
obedience !
Parvam piamque dura lubetner semitam
Grandi reaeque praefero,
Carpsit malignum sidus hanc lnodestiam,
Vinumque felle miscuit.
Hinc fremere totus et minari gesti%
Ipsis severus orbibus.
Tandem prehensa comiter lacernula
Susurrat aure quispiam,
« Haec fuerat olim potio Domini tui.
Gusto, proboque dolium."
CIIELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOHN DANVERS. 13I
May we date paraphrase it thus ?
" lXIy spirit sighs to valk with God,
To do His will, and kiss His rod,
A holy, humble path to tread
And curb my pride, and bend my head,
But rebel nature thvarts and shames
My prayers, my hopes, my holiest aires ;
And self, that traitor self malin,
Has dashed with bitterest gall my wine ;
And then I murmur, and complain
That God is harsb, and date arraign
His vill divine, His just decree,
The purpose of His acts with me,
Until I feel a gentle hand
Laid on my head, which bids me stand
And listen to a gentle voice--
' My child ! It was thy Saviour's choice !
He drank that cup in agony,
That bitter cup He drank for thee.'
I take the cup--I drink--I see--
The draught is sveetness now to me."
Herbert said he would never speak of lais mother
again. He kept his vow. There is hot the slightest
reference to her memory in any of his after poems,
writings, or letters. Once again, and only once, he
mcntioned her name. It was upon his deathbed--
" These eyes shall see my Master and Saviour Jesus,
and with Him see my dear mother."
Queen Mary said that CALAIS would be found
engraven on her heart. Herbert might have said--
" ]OTHER will be engraven on my heart." But did
he say so? He didnot say so. What did hesay?
He said
"JESU is IN tV HEART; I-IIS SACRED NAME
IS DEEPLY CARVED THERE. »
132 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE I[ERBERT.
The figure of that mother lies, with hands clasped
as in prayer, on the altar-tomb in Montgomery Church.
IL is evidently the living likeness of a lady in fulness
of youth and health, sweetness and beauty. 1 IL is the
only/,«rso,m ve have of Magdalen Herbert. Did her
son George, aller her filneral, take one long, last
pilgrimage to the tomb on which her elîfigy reposes?
Did he enter, ail silently and alone, the Lymore
chapel, and beud over the shr[ne, and take one long,
last look of that sweet familiar face, and wash iL with
tears, and kiss the cold cheek, and embrace the
marble frame, and kneel, and bow the head, and
say in meekest resignation--
U THE LORD GAVE, AND THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY.
]ï{LESSED ]gE THE NAME OF THE LORD. '3
SIR JOtlN DANVERS.
In 1628, a year aller the death of his wife Mag-
dalen, by whom he had no issue, Sir John Danvers,
then in his fortieth year, married Elizabeth Dauntesey
(who died in 1636, leaving several children), and with
hcr became possessed of the valuable manor of West
Lavington, \Vilts, where, aL most extravagant ex-
penditure, he formed plantations, terraces, and gardens
on the slope of a hill, of much larger extent, and of
much more elaborate and artificial design, than those
aL Chelsea.
His first wife, with her hlgh sense of justice and
honour, and wlth her knowledge of the world, had
Loyers of Herbert corne, and kiss the cold lips of the mother,
for the son's sake.
CIIELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOHN DANVERS. 133
kept his purse, and controllcd his reckless wastcful-
ness; but soon after her death he plunged into a
wild and prodigal career, and from I63o to 164o
was barassed by debts, and hunted by" creditors.
Discarded by" his brother, thc Earl of Danby, and his
family, stung by the disgrace, and in the base hope
of recovering his fortuncs, he threw himsclf openly
into the ranks of rcbellion, and, in 642, accepted a
commission in the Parliamcntary army.
The 'arl of Danby', an enthusiastic Royalist, "full
of honour, wounds, and days," dicd in I644; and
passing over his degraded brother, left his magnificent
estate partly" to his sister, but, in chief, to his nephew
Henry', John's eldest son. Sir John Danvers disputed
his brother's will, and induced the Commons to pass
a resolution that he was mulcted of his lawful
inheritance for his affection to Parliament. tIenry
died, "itdpatris, in I654, and in a noble and thought-
fui spirit, conveyed certain properties to trustees to
cancel his father's responsibilitics, and rescue him
from the fangs of the law.
In 648 Danvers married a third wife, Grace
Hewet, who bore a son. Clarendon paints Danvers'
character in very dark colours.
He was busy and mischievous in the county of
\Vilts in 645-47, sitting in committee at Falstone
House, near Salisbury, with Philip Earl of Pembroke,
Hungerford, Baynton, Ludlow, and other Parliament
leaders, to levy fines and exactions on the Royalists,
which they extorted with extreme severity. They
arrested and amerced (alnongst thousands of other
[34 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
sufferers), Edward Poore, of Herbert's village of
Bemerton, xvho in the profession of carrier to Oxford,
had offen conveyed, during the var, letters ad
provisions to the King's forces. Danvers allowed
himself to be nominated one of the Commissioners
to try the I(ing, assentcd to the sentence, and signed
the death-warrant, on which his naine stands the
scvcnth.
But afterwards, neglected and cashiered by the
Protector, he promoted one of the many murderous
machinations against him, was obliged to flee the
country, ad for a rime lay concealed. He is klown
to have returned to Chelsea; was left unmolested ;
and there died, April I6, I655.
Thomas Fuller, prebendary of Sarum (a friend
Hcrbert's xvhile living at Bemerton), author of the
IVartldes oy; E£la,cl, though a chaplain of the late
Kin, by the forbearance of Fairfax, and in consider-
ation of his piety and eloquece, is exercising a
cautious ministry in London.
He is a friend of John Danvers, though none but he.
He often preached in Chelsea Church, and he had
ministered the spiritual office at the deathbed ot" Sir
John's promising son, Henry, and had preached his
funeral sermon in Lavington Church. He now stands
beside the sicl-bed of the outcast father. He probes
his conscience to the very cote. He bids him confess
every sin, and crave in faith the sprinl]ing of the
Atoning Blood. John Danvers is dying. But there
is hope. Is this the last word that is breathed flom
CtIELSEA--PARENTALIA--SIR JOHN DANVERS. I35
the lips of the penitcnt man, " God be merciful to
me a sinner"
He was buried at Dauntesey, April 28, I655.
Probably the place of his burial was cautiously kept
secret; and thus, though his naine appeared in the
Act of Attainder, July I2, I66I, his body escaped
being exhumed, and hung in gemmaces, as was the
fate of the other regicides.
Danvers House and park at Chelsea descended to
the Marquis of \Vharton, and, at the beginning of
last century, were sold for building; a street of mean
pretension, called Danvers St., now occupies part of
the site. In 1822, the foundations of the old mansion
were laid open, and stones, pillars, capitals, &c.,
reappeared, covering a wide area.
The place must not be forgotten. It was the
home, for eighteen years, of the lnother of George
Iterbert.
CIIAI'TER IX.
DR. JOIIN DONNE, DEAN OF ST. PAULS.
JoIN DONNE, born 1573, at the age of elevcn was
entered at Hart Hall, Oxford ; and after three ycars
(leaving Oxford in 1587), studied three years at Cam-
bridge, but took no degree at either University, as
he could not then conscientiously subscribe the
obligatory oath; and in 159o became a member of
Lincoln's Inn. His friends were Romanists, and in
the faith of their Church he was educated, but at the
age of nineteen he
" .... began seriously to survey and consider the body of
divinity as it was then controverted between the Reformed and
Roman Church : and as God's blessed Spirit did then awaken
him to the searcb, and in that industry did never forsake him
(they be his own words) "--
he studied Bellarmine as the best defender of the
Roman cause, and after much consideration and long
prayer, he renounced all Roman error, and continued
to the end of his lire a faithful son of the Church of
England.
In 596 he accompanied the Earl of Essex in his
expedition to Cadiz and the Azores, and afterwards
DR. JOIIN DONNE. i37
travelled through Spain and Italy, but, through Ull-
avoidable obstacles, was prevented accomplishing his
purpose of visiting the Holy Land.
On his return to England he became Secretary to
the Lord Chancellor lïgerton, in whose home he lived
rive years ; and while there, in 16oo, privately married
/knne More, niece to Lady lïgel-ton ; she was sixteen
years of age, Donne twenty-seven. Her father, Sir
George More, was so transported with anger at the
marriage, that he gave the Chancellor no rest till he
had dismissed his secretary; and Donne wrote to
his young wife, who had been forcibly taken from
him--
«John Donne t Undone."
Anne Donne
Donne was thrown into prison, with Samuel Brook,
the clergyman who married them (afterwards Master
of Trinity College, Cambrid.e), and Christopher
Brook, his brother, who gave/knne away. After a
long and expensive lawsuit, which reduced his income
to the narrowest limits, he recovered his wife ; but the
young couple, pursued by the father's irreconcilable
resentment, suffered bitter privations. Without a
home, in vant of necessary food and clothing, and
with a family rapidly increasing, it was a piercing
sorrow to Donne's feeling heart, that his young and
elegant wife, brought up in the midst of refinement
and affluence, should be compellcd to bear part in
sufferings which he had not foreseen, and which he
could not now prevent.
138 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Sir George More knew their pinching difficulties,
and though be would hot contribute to their support,
be did request the Lord Cbancellor to restore his
secretary to his office. The Cbancellor repied
severely, that though he was unfeignedly sorry to
lose sucb an estimable friend, yet it was hot con-
sistent with lais dignity or disposition to discharge
and re-adroit servants at tbe suit of passionate
petitioners.
Dr. Morton, Bisbop of Durham, well axvare of
Donne's eminent abilities, offered to ordain him and
present him to a living at once, but Donne could
not overcome lais conscientious scruples of utter
umvortlfiness.
His family found a borne for a year or two in the
bouse of a kinsman, Sir Francis \Voolley, wbo shortly
before his death effected a reconciliation between Sir
George More and lais daughter, to whom her father
ruade an allowance of £8o a year. /kfterwards Donne
took a small bouse at Mitcham. He vrites--
"From my hosfiital ai 3[itcham.
"There is no person but myself well ; my wife iii, one child
dying, no physic, no money--not enough for a funeral. It is
now swing , every other tree blossoms, and I wither; I grow
older, and not better; my strenh diminisheth, and my load
grows heavier. I have either mending or dying on my side, but
if I do continue longer thus, I shall bave comfort in this, that
my blessed Saviour, in exercising His justice upon my two worldly
parts, my fortune and my body, reserves ail His mercy for my
soul."
About 16o3, Donne, witb lais family, visited Oxford,
where Magdalen Herbert and her children were tben
DR. JOHN DONNE. 139
residing, lXIagdalen Herbert, a widow, the mother of
ten children, sympathized with the trials and exigencies
of the young mother, a high-born lady like herself, at
the saine rime that she was rapt with admiration at
the husband's gigantic intellect. To her home in
Oxford they were ever welcome ; and there they met
Edward, Charles, and George, the boy of ten. It is
hot to be said what influence Donne's intercourse
then, and through an unbroken friendship of tventy-
eight years, had upon Herbert ; nor how far, in a later
day, Herbert's thoughts and language were impreg-
nated with the tone and nerve of Donne's character
and writings.
Donne's esteem fo:" Magdalen Herbert was en-
thusiastic and romantic. Her personal graces, her
maternal excellences, her sustained piety, her mature
wisdom, her friendship to his wife and family, elicit
his unbounded admiration--
« In this rime she proved one of his most bountiful benefactors,
when his necessities needed a daily supply for the support of
his vife and seven children."--\VALTON.
He writes to her from Mitcham, July I I, 16o7,
that her favours are everywhere; he enjoys then at
London; he finds them at Mitcham, such is her
goodness.
He encloses a gift of Divine Songs and Sonnets,
and returns the thanks of his wife and family to one
"to whom we owe all the good opinion that they
whom we most need have of us." In i6IO Oxford
conferred on him the honorary degree of M.A.
140 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERI3ERT.
In I612 he accompanied his noble friend, Sir
Rçbert Drury (who had given his family a refuge in
his mansion) to Paris.
His brilliant capacities had alrcady attracted the
attention of King James, and powerful friends at
Court solicited the royal favour for him, but the King
gave only one decided rcply, saying, " Mr. Donne
shall rcceive Church prefcrmcnt, or none." Donne
himself professed--" The King descended to a per-
suasion, almost to a solicitation of me, to enter into
Holy Orders"; yet he deferred the important step
for almost three years longer, while he applied himself
to an incessant study of textual divinity.
.A_t last "God moved his heart to cmbrace this holy
motion," and he was ordained dcacon, and soon after
priest, by Dr. King, 13ishop of London, I6I 5. James
appointed him chaplain, and on a visit to Cambridge
requested the Senate to confer on him the honour of
a D.D. degree. For reasons not given the Senate
was averse to the proposal, but in fear of offending
the King, they assented, though with so bad a grace,
that his naine was not rccordcd in the books of the
University.
Herbert was then at Trinity College, and thus the
early friendship between him and Donne would be
renewcd and strengthened.
During the first year after ordination Donne was
offered fourtcen livings.
In 6I 7 his deeply loved and deeply loving wife
died, at the age of thirty-thrce, leaving him seven
DR. JOIlN DONNE. i41
children, rive having died before hcr. Ilis grief xvas
great beyond expression. Night and day ho inoaned
her "who had long bcen the dclight of his eyes and
the companion of his youth; xvith whom he had
divided so many plcasant sorroxvs and contented
fears "--" his very soul was elemented of nothing but
sadness." He shut himself up in solitary retirement ;
and the first rime he left his house xvas to preach in
St. Clement's Church, Temple Bar, where his xvife had
bcen buried. His text was--"I ara the inan that
hath seen affliction " (Lam. iii. I).
He roused himself, and began to preach; was
elected Divinity Reader at Lincotn's Inn; and there
entered on that course of preaching which rendered
his serinons in some respects the noblest specimens
of pulpit oratory in the seventeenth century. King
James commissioned him to attend his daughter
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, on her journey through
the continent; and xvith him was associated a noble
young Englishman, Nicholas Ferrar, destined to
create a name and a work xvhich, though not widely
known, yet thrilt with emotions of admiration and
veneration many sympathetic hearts. On Donne's
return, after about a year's absence, the King, in 62:,
presented him to the Deaner}, of St. Paul's, and he
preached his glorious missionary sermon before the
Virginian Corporation, on Acts i. 8. He was then in
his fiftieth year.
In the next Parliament he was chosen Prolocutor
of Convocation. _At St. Paul's Cross, and elsewhere,
742 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
he continued to discourse rnagnificent homiletics to
transported audiences ; never strong in bodily health,.
but urgin himself to the discharge of his over-
vhelming duties, because he felt the time was short.
In I626, in his fifty-fourth year, a dangerous
consumptive siclness seized him, which continued
long, and threatened him with death ; on his sick-bed
ho wrote this solemn, penitential hymn--
A HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER.
XVilt Thou forgive that sin where I begun,
XVhich was my sin though it were done before ?
XVilt Thou forgive that sin through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore ?
XVhen Thou hast done Thou hast not done,
For I have more.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and ruade my sin their door ?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or tvo, but wallowed in a score ?
When Thou hast done Thou hast not done,
For I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when l've spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore :
13ut swear by Thyself that at my death Thy Son
Shall shine as He shines now, and heretofore ;
And having done that Thou hast done,
I fear no more.
On his recover¢
"As his strength increased, so did his thankfulness to Almighty
God, testified in his most excellent oo/e of Devotions, in which
the reader may see the most secret thoughts which possessed his
soul, a book which may be called a Sacred Picture of Spiritual
Ecstacies, meditations, disquisitions and prayers he writ on his
sick-bed."--WALTON.
DR. JOHN DONNE. i43
Not long before his death, Donne caused a number
of heliotropian stones to be engraved, and set in gold
as seals or rings, with the figure of Christ crucified
on an anchor, and these he distributed amongst his
dearest friends ; one he sent to Herbert, who acknow-
ledged it in the verses--
« In sacram anchoram piscatoris," &c.
"His dear friend and benefactor, Lady Magdalen Danvers,
could hOt be of that number, for she had put off mortality before
him."--,[A LTON.
_A.fter Herbert had been nominated to the rectory
of Foulstone, and it became known that scruples of
conscience and the overvhelming sense of personal
demerit opposed his acceptance of the living, letters
would soon reach him from the Deanery of St. Paul's,
from one who had passed through the saine spiritual
throes, who could and would successfully combat all
his anxious fears and hesitation, and bid him submit
to the yoke of the priesthood in the Name of the Lord.
In the providence of God Herbert is ordained
priest in I63o, and ]3emerton parsonage has received
its rector.
It was Lent, I63. Donne, though known to be
dying, was selected to preach on Jksh Wednesday,
before King Charles I., at Whitehall, and when, to
the amazemcnt of the assembled multitude, the Dean
of St. Paul's ascended the pulpit, they thought he
came not to preach mortification with a living voice,
but mortality by a dying body, for--
"His sickness had left him but so much flesh as did only cover
his bones."
144 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
His text was, "Unto God the Lord belong the
issues from death" (Ps. lxviii. 20).
In tones of awful solemnity, as if speaking from
the grave, yet with unfailinff powcr, he exceeded
bimself, and preachcd, as it was said, lais own funeral
sermon.
From the chapel he hastened to his house, which
he never left again a living man.
On the increase of lais income he had bien able to
requite most of his friends who had shown him
kindness when his fortunes were very low, and many
of them had suffered such change in estate, that his
remembrance of them was very" acceptable; he
supported his father-in-law in the necessities of his
old age. Besides--
« I bave quieted » (he said in a serious contemplation of the
goodness of God to hiln) "the conscience of 1.l.lany that bave
groaned under the burthen of a wounded spirit, whose prayers
I hope are available for me. I cannot plead innocency of life,
especially in llly youth, but I am to be judged by a merciful
God, who is not willing to sec what I have donc amiss. And
though of myself I have nothing to present to Him but sin and
misery yet I know He looks not upon me now as I am of
myself but as I am in my Saviour, and hath given me even
at this present time some testimonies of His Holy Spirit that I
ara ofthe number of His elect. I am therefore full of inexpressible
joy, and shall die in peace. Blessed be God that He is God,
only and divinely like Himself."--WaLTON.
His friends were in:portunate that he would allow
some monument to lais memory to be raised in St.
Paul's Cathedral; to which request he assented,
provided he himself might determine the character of
the memorial. The form it took was that of a figure
DR. JOHN DONNE. I45
of himself, drest in his shroud, painted rioin life, and,
after his death, it was sculptured in a single slab of
white marble, with an epitaph which he hilnself had
written, followed by this sentence--
Hic, licet in Occiduo cinere, adspicit Eu.t cujus Nomen est
ORIENS. »
It probably refers to Zech. ri. 2, rendered in the
Scptuagint, Tdi hl?t Kv'ptoç 7ravropdrop, 'Ioù
'AvaroX;/ 6"'otxa ar,.
His last words wcre, "Thy kingdom corne; Thy
will be done." Hc closed his own eyes, and composed
his hands and body. Hc died on Match 3 I, I63 I, and
was buried in a part of thc Cathcdral which he had
chosen some years belote, near which hc passed to his
daily dcvotions. He had dcsired to die in his pulpit.
His monument was almost thc only one that
escaped entire destruction whcn the Cathedral fell
in the Fire of London, and it lay in thc crypt
n_glectcd for more than txvo ccnturies.
This monument, a full-lcngth statue of the Dean, a
work of the highcst skill, exqu]sitely chisel!ed, is now
placed ercct in a niche in thc south aisle of thc
chancel of St. Paul's Cathcdral.
K
CHAPTER X.
WOODFORD--ÇORN ARO.-- 1627w1628-2 9.
INMEDIATELY after his mother's death, Herbert
resigned both his fellowship at Trinity College, and
his office of Public Orator in the University, and thus
determined all connection vith Cambridge.
In the year I6_7-28 he was seized with a sharp
quotidian ague, and, rightly judging that a change of
air would be the best medicine, accepted the invitation
of his brother, Sir Henry Herbert, to make a home in
his hospitable house at Woodford, Essex.
This house (since Chelsea was closed to them, and
there was but a cold welcome in Lord Herbert's cere-
monious household in London) was the congenial
place of rest and retreat for the brothers, sisters, and
intimate friends of the large family of Herbert.
Woodford is a village about nine miles from
London, in Epping Forest, famous for the purit¥ of its
air, and for the beauty and extent of the views around.
It is hot known what house Sir Henry Herbert occu-
pied ; probably it is destroyed. An old manor-house
once stood near the churchyard. The Church of
Herbert's rime is wholly swept away. There was a
mansion, named « Hearts," built in 6I 7 b¥ Sir H.
WOODFORD--CORNARO. 147
Handforth, Master of the Wardrobe to James I.,
where he is said often to have entertained the King
when hunting in the Forest. _An old gazetteer of
I75 I, speaking of \Voodford, states--
"H«re lizped .4[r. Herbert, Ztltthor of l)iT)te Poems "
and "herc," says Walton, "he enjoyed the company
of his beloved brothcr, Sir Henry Herbcrt, and other
friends there of that family."
" In his bouse he rcmaiu'd about twelve months, and then
became lais own physitian, and cur'd himself of his ague by for-
bearing drink and not eating any meat, no, hot lnutton, nora
hen, or pidgeon, unless they were salted ; and by such a constant
dyet he removd his ague ---- and itis tobe noted that in the
sharpest of his extreme fits he would often say, ' Lord, abate my
great affliction, or increase my patience; but Lord, I repine
hot ; I ana dumb, Lord, bcfore Thee, because Thou doest it.' »
--WALTON.
The following stanzas were probably vritten at
Woodford :
" Now I ara here, what Thou wilt do with me
None of my books will show :
I reade, and sigh, and wish I vere a tree,--
For sure then I should grow
To fruit or shade ; at least some bird would trust
Her houshold to me, and I should be just.
Yet, though Thou troublest me, I must be mcek ;
In weaknesse nmst be stout.
XVelI, I will change the scrvice, and go seek
Some other toaster out.
Ah, my deare God, though I aln clean forgot,
Let me hot love Thee, if I love Thee not."
a Archbishop Sharpe often quoted these lines-
"Ah, my dear God, &c."
He said, "Mr. Herbert was much dispirited when he wrote
them." They wcre thc last words the Archbishop uttered on
his deathbed.
THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
CORNARO.
To the adoption of the rig[d regimen referred to,
Herbert was probably led by reading a " Treatise on
Temperance and Sobriety," by Ludovico Cornaro, a
noble Venetian, born I467, who had been guilty of
excesses in his youth, and had shattered a fine con-
stitution, but took timely warning, abandoned his
vices, and lived to an honourable old age. At the
age of eighty-one, he wrote a tract to warn others,
and to tell the gratifying tale how his own health
had been recovered, and how it was preserved. This
tract Herbert translated into English, while (as is
most probable) in retirement at Woodford; but it
was not published till after his death, in I636.
Barnabas Oley states that Herbert translated it at
the request of a noble person, and, hot many months
before his death, sent a copy to some friends, who
were anxiously regulating their habits in the marrer
of drink and diet, and to whom the writer's example
proved of great benefit in an unimaginably short time.
Herbert left out large portions of the book, but
nothing appertaining to the main subject.
Cornaro's Treatise, as adapted by Iterbert, may
be thus condensed.
Cornaro had observed many of his friends, divers
worthy young men of noble disposition, who would
have been an ornament to the world, and a comfort
to their friends, undone by intemperance; while
he, at the age of eighty-one, was healthy and strong.
WOODFORD--CORNARO. 149
From thirty-five to forty he had suffered from so
many diseases, through surfeits in eating and drink-
ing, that he xvas fast draxving to thc grave. He
xvas fully persuaded excess caused ail his maladies,
and, encouraged by sensible physicians, he determincd
to reform his lire.
He at once set himself rules of almost total absti-
nence from flesh and wine; and in a few days lais
health was greatly improved ; and in less than a year
he xvas cured of all his infirmities. He found it
necessary to abstain from strong wines, raw lettuce,
fish, pork, sausages, cakes, and pastry. He never rose
from his meals with a fully satisfied appetite. IIe
avoided heats, cold, ill air, weariness, watchings,
hatred, melancholy, and all perturbations of the mind.
"They who keep a due guarcl over the two things
that enter the mouth" (he used to say), "surfer
little hurt from bodily discommodities and mental
troubles."
He soon found that this thing was from God, and
he rejoiced exceedingl¥ that he had gained the
victor¥. At the age of sevent¥ he was thrown out of
his coach, and dragged along b¥ the fury of the
horses, lais head and body being bruised severel¥, and
his arm and leg put out of joint. The doctors recom-
mended bleeding and purging, though the¥ foretold
immediate death ; but the heart¥ old man rejected all
their remedies, had his limbs set, and soon recovered.
His friends argued that it xvas against all reason
to suppose that old age could be sustained on such
I50 THE LIFE OF GEORGE ItERBERT.
simple food, for his whole day's susteJance consisted
only of bread, meat, eggs, twclve ounces cxactly
weighed.
Yielding to thcir importunities, he increased in a
slight measure the amount of his daily food, but with
this result, that he fell into melancholy and cho]er, a
terrible fever, and loss of reason, so that he was given
up for dead.
"Neverthcless," he says, "by the grace of God, I
cured myself, only by returning to my former diet,
and am confident that, under God, nothing helped me
but that fuie." He was then in his seventy-eighth
year.
"Wherefore," (he concludes,)
"an orderIy lire is the most sure way and ground of health, the
onIy medicine for many diseases. Instead ofphysic, a temperate
lire is to be embraced, so profitable, so virtuous, so holy, so
easy. My senses are in perfect vigour, especially my taste ; I
sleep well and quietly anywhere. ]3y temperance, and the
grace of God, I feel no sufferings in mind or body, whiIe I
see all around me, infifite numbers of young and oId over-
powered with miseries, which they have brought upon them-
selves. I ara eighty-three, and I have written a pleasant comedy,
full of pIayful wit and merriment; and if a Greek poet
(Sophocles) was praised, who at the age of seventy-three writ
a tragedy, how much more ara I to be commended, who, ten
years older, have written a comedy ? And lest any delight be
wanting to my old age, I daily behold a kind of immortality in
my posterity, for when I corne home from riding I find eleven
grandchildren of my own, all the sons of one father and mother,
ail in perfect health, and of good behaviour; I am delighted
with the music of their voices ; and I myself also sing, because
I have a clearer voice than ever I had in my lire. I have joy
and peace ; I am ever cheerful and good-tempered. I read and
writ ; 1 overlook my mansions and fatras ; I have made beautiful
WOODFORD--CORNARO. 1 I
gardens with streams running through them, and fountains
falling, truly delightful. I have drained a marsh, so that it is
perfectly healthy, and, as the ground is very fertile, lnany people
have settled there. I have built a Church, and given God a
House, and a congregation to worship in it--the memory of
which is exceedingly pleasant.
« Death is a terrible thing to them that lire in sin, and follow
their base appetites ; they are exposed to a thousand dangers
and death. But I hope when I shall corne to die, I shall find
acceptance in the grace of Jesus Christ."
Cornaro died at Padua, April 6, 566, having
entered the hundredth year of his lire. *
Under the combined influences of pure air and
abstemious diet, Herbert's agues were subdued, and
he never again complains of the visitation of these
painful maladies, from which he had suffered all his
life. But there was a fell traitor in his breast
which the sternest temperance could hOt exorcise
consumption.
A question of great interest in connection with
Woodford may now be considered--Was it at Wood-
ford that Herbert began to write the Temple ?
That he was well known at Cambridge as a poet of
rising power is evident, especially from those observ-
able words of Lord Bacon in the dedication of his
poems to him
« I thought that in respect of Divinitie and Poesie met I could
hOt make a better choice."
Herbert had therefore already written some very
well-known verses, of admitted merit, on some moral
and sacred subjects, which, multiplied under the pen
ADDENDA--Note F.
I52 THE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
of amanuenses, vould circulate freely, and, in a fcw
years, run from hand to hand.
The poem to vhich Lord ]3acon refers must be that
magnificent didactic poem, The Churc/z Porch, vhich,
for solid truth and vigorous morality, enforcing thc
duties and virtues of men towards themselves, to
socicty, to the Church, and to God, and drest in plain-
spoken English, and in sterling common sense, is
unparallclcd in English literature.
7"hc Churc/z l»orch was probably composed chiefly
at Cambridge, as also ttigrammata ttoIog«tica, and
some of the Lyrics, though they were corrected and
altered, and re-arranged, as it appears, almost to the
last days of Herbert's life. Of the Temple, as a
whole, it may be confidently assumed, hardly any of
the poems were composed till after his mother's death.
These immediately followed the 29arentalia. But it
is hardly possible to believe that the Parentalia and
the TemlNe vere vritten by the saine man. They were
both written by George Herbert, it is true; but the
)gareutalia are hardly Christian. Refer to the con-
siderate, yet pronounced, judgment on the Parentalia
by Oley, who held his friend in such profound esteem.
Then regard the gracious avowal of Richard Baxter
on the Temple--
"But I must confess, after ail, that next the Scripture Poems,
there are none so savoury to me as Mr. George Herbert's. I
know that Cowley and others far excel Herbert in wit and accu-
rate composure; but as Seneca takes with me above ail his
contemporaries, because he speaketh things by words feelingly
and seriously like a man that is past jest, so Herbert speaks to
WOODFORD--CORNARO. 1 5 3
God like a man that really believeth in God, and whose business
in the wofld is most with God ; heart-work and heaven-work
inake up his book."--(1681.)
In the seclusion and quietude of his brother's house
at Woodford, far, far from the City, the Court, and
the University, in his long silent walks and wander-
ings in the solitudes and recesses of the forest, God
met Herbert, and gave him another heart. Say
that his mother's death was his lire, the crisis of his
true awakening ; say it aroused those spiritual emo-
tions and affections, which too long had lain dormant,
smothered under the dust of books, and silenced
amidst the importunate clamours of worldly honour,
and the arrogant claires of society, till the rime of
God was come--the rime of his own soul--the rime
that must corne to every Christian--when, called by
the Holy Spirit ; called by his conscience ; called by
his mother's death ; called by the gradual obliteration
of all his worldly expectations; called by the pre-
monitions of approaching mortality; Herbert laid
down himself and his life at the feet of the Lord
Jesus, and received the absolving viaticum--
"TH¥ SINS BE FORGIVEN THEE ; GO IN PEACE."
The bonds are broken. The spirit of the poet is
free. He soars aloft, tte sees the Beatific Vision.
H becomes, in unreserved and unconditional sur-
render, a consecrated holocaust to the Holy Spirit.
He talks familiarly with God. He returns to earth,
exceedingly awed and humbled, but full of the spirit
TIlE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
of assurance and Divine infusion, to sing those songs,
no longer songs of earth ; nor of earthl¥ things, nor in
earthly words; but songs of wondrous spiritual illu-
mination; of appreciation and apprehension of the
things of God ; of heavenly aspiration and inspiration,
xvhich have been, through two hundred and sixty
years--are nmv, in unspent, nay, in increasing power
--and shall be, in ail coming rime, for the praise of
Jehovah, for the love, and joy, and edification, and
sanctification of the sons and daughters of the Lord
Ahnighty.
CHAPTER XI.
BAYNTON.
Ii'¢ I413, Sir John Rous, of Imber, Wilts, settled
the inanor of Baynton, in the parish of Edingdon,
near Westbury-under-the-Plain, with its chapel and
advowson, on his younger son John. This John
showed scant courtesies to the Rector of the rich
monastery of Edingdon, a toile distant ffom his home.
He was accused, in I428, of instigating the people
of Edingdon and Tinhead to combine in refusing to
rentier due offerings to the priest for churchings,
marriages, or services for the dead. In I45o, William
Ayscough, Bishop of Salisbury, pursued by some of
Jack Cade's crew to Edingdon, whither he had fled
for sanctuary, was dragged out of the Church, and
stoned to death on the Plain.
Rous was supposed to be, xvillingly or unwillingly,
the cause of this tragedy, and dreading the vengeance
of Rome, he purchased peace by conveying his manor
of I3aynton to the monastery of Edingdon.
After the dissolution, Baynton, xvith the rest of the
monastic property, passed through the families of
Seymour, Paulet, Baynton, and others.
I56 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
In 162o, Baynton Ilouse was occupied by Charles
Danvers, first cousin to the Earl of Danby. He had
rive sons, Henry, Edxvard, Charles, John, and Syl-
vester; and eight daughtcrs, Eleanor, Arme, Jane,
Elizabeth, llary', Joan, Lucy, and Grace. Walton
tells a pretty, romantic story--that Charles Danvers
had known George Herbert long and familiarly, and
that lais visible virtues had begot in him so much
love, that he had often expressed a xvish that Hcrbert
would marry onc of his daughters, but cspecially Jane,
lais favouritc ; and had personally said as much both
to lais daughter and to Herbert himself; so they fell
in love with each other unseen, and vere married the
third day after their first interview.
Sir John Danvers, of Chelsea, was first cousin to
Charles Danvers, of Baynton, and he had been married
to Herbert's mother eighteen ycars.
As Herbert was thus a connection of the Danvers
family, and as Charles Danvers had conceived so
profound an esteem for lais character, it would seem
to follow as a necessity that he must have been a
frequent and welcome guest at Baynton House, and
that he was well acquainted with ail the members
of the family. What Walton means may be, that
George Herbert and Jane Danvers became man
and wife three days after engagement. Itis likcly"
that they had been known to each other twenty
years. But the converse is possible, and Walton's
tale may bc quite truc.
They were married at Edingdon Church on
13AYNTON. 157
Match 5, 1628-9, at the altar in the chancel, which
since the Dissolution had been used as the Parish
Church. 1 Her father never witnessed the much-
desired union, for he died in I626, and was buried
at Edingdon.
Herbert wrote afferwards at Bemerton, in i632,
three years affcr his marriage--
"The Country Parson, considering that virginity is a higher
state than matrimony, is rather unmarried than married : if he
be married, the choice of his wife was ruade rather by his car
than his eye."
Walton believed that--
" .... his judgement not his affection, round out a wife for
hùn, whose humble and liberal disposition he preferred before
beauty, riches, and honour."
He had said in his poem 'Thanksgiving'--
:' I will not marry--or if she be mine,
She, and her children, shall be Thine."
She had no children.
They seem to bave spent the summer months of
629 with the vidowed mother at Baynton. -And at
Baynton we may believe many of the poems of the
]'em/'e were compose& There was a chapel near the
bouse, long abandoned to ruin. Some verses ofhis book
might have been written while he was praying and
meditating within those crumbling yet sacred walls.
The path to Edingdon Church, about a mlle distant,
lay through fields and green lanes.
The register of the year is not to be round in the parish
chest, but the date is given in the '«\Viltshire Collections," by
Aubrey and Jackson.
I58 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Day by day the saintly sojourncr at t3aynton
House, with lais tall, erect, attenuated figure, treads
that path. He enters the grand old Church. The
stately fabric, though so firm and massive, is surfer-
ing from the ravages of a hundred years of neglect.
Ail is empty, cold, desolate, and silent. With a
sad heart the man of God paces the solemn solitudes
of those vast and nisty aislcs. He kneels before
the altar, at vhich ho vas married. He agonizes
in prayer. I Ie fccls that the time is short. He asks,
that, before lais dcath, he may do some vork for thc
glory of God, for the honour of his Master Jcsus.
He plcads, as a year later he pleaded before the altar
in the chapel at Bcmerton. He continues lais prayer
late on till the vesper hour. He rises refreshed and
strengthened. His praycr is heard. From day to
day, fron week to week, fron month to month, as the
Spirit is upon bien, so he sings---sings us one of the
songs of Zion.
The mansion at t3aynton from vhich Herbert
married his wife, vas destroyed by tire about the
beginning of this century, while in the occupation of
the Longs of \Viltshire, and vas not rebuilt, lIasses
of carved stones yet lie in heaps. The two stone
pillars of the court, through which ttcrbert so often
passed, are iz sittt; and the old carria-e-xvay is
traceable through the field; the moats remain, and
the garden walls, and the grassy terrace, on which
he played bowls.
A magnificent chestnut tree, near the bouse, the
BAYNTON. 159
largest in Wiltshire, was probably growing in Herbert's
day. Most certainly he often stood on the high knoll
above the terrace, which commands a panoramic view
over hall the county of Wilts; while the surpassing
beauty of the scenery around, parterres, plantations,
groves, glades, fountains, lakes, park, meadows, and
woods, flanked by the hills of the Plain, clad with
coppices to the summit, all in the exquisite loveliness
of summer foliage, would fill with ecstacy the poet's
soul.
Henceforth, for his four last years, Herbert's life
vas wholly spent in Wiltshire, at Baynton, at
Dauntesey, at Wilton, and at Bemerton. It may be
granted that the largest number of his poems--the
most spiritual, the latest and best--were written in
\Viltshire. Wiltshire claims George Herbert as her
son. In Wiltshire he lived. In Wiltshire he died.
Father, mother, brothers, sisters, ail lie in separate,
sundered graves. George Herbert sleeps in XViltshire.
CHAPTER XII.
DAU N TESEY.-- 1629-- 1630.
WALTON implies that Herbert visited Dauntesey
3efore lais marriage with Jane Danvers; but Aubrey,
who knew North Wilts most intimatcly, and was a
relation of the Danvers family, says--
"He rnaried Jane, the third daughter of Charles Danvers,
of Baynton, in com. Wilts, Esq. When he »vas first maried he
lived a yeare or more at Dantesey House."
"His remove xvas to Dantesey, in XViltshire, a noble house,
which stands in a choice air. The owner of it then was the
Lord Danvers, Earl of Danby (elder brother to Sir John
Danvers, who had married Herbert's lnother), »vho lov'd Mr.
Herbert much, and alloxv'd him such an apartment in that house
as might best sute lXIr. Herbert's accommodation and liking.
And in this place, by a spare dyet, declining ail perplexing
studies, moderate exercise, and a chearful conversation, his
health xvas apparently improv'd to a good degree of strength."--
X,X,*ALTON.
Dauntesey is about rive mlles from Malmesbury,
on the Avon. It once belonged to Malmesbury
Abbey; afterxvards to the Dauntcsey, Stradling,
and Danvers familles; at the attainder of Sir John
Danvers, of Chelsea, it was forfeited to the Crown.
" Here is a stately Parke with admirable oaks ; the ground
too, good ; no better fatting ground in England."--AUBREY.
DAUNTESEY. I6I
The manor-house adjoins the Church; and though
the front bas been rebuilt, the rooms in the interior
of the mansion remain much as when Herbert and
lais wife resided in it. The Avon wanders through
the grounds; but whatevcr the air is, the country
is low and fiat, and could never have presentcd
scenery of much natural beauty. It is satisfactory
to know that Dauntesey, and his marriage, restored
Herbert's health. .A_ubrey speaks of lais person--
« He vas a very fine complexion and consumptive. »
Walton says--
"He was for his person of a stature inclining towards tallness ;
lais body was very strait, and so far froln being Culnbred with
too much flesh, that he was lean to an extremity. His aspect
was chearful, and his speech and motion did both declare him
a gentleman.
Of his wife, .A_ubrey observes-
« lXly kinsvoman was a handsome bona-roba, and generose."
Of their marriage, Walton believed that it was happy
to both parties,--
"their tempers and estates equal ; their affections mutual ;
and this mutual content and love and joy did receive a daily
augmentation."
Aubrey mentions in a note in lais Le¢¢ers that there
was a gentleman living at Dauntesey, an intimate
friend of Herbert's, who told hlm that--
" Mr. Herbert was a very good hand on the lute, and that he
sett his own lyricks or sacred pocms."
This sentence continues thc evidence to the fact
that Herbert had already written "Sacred Poems."
L
I(52 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Some poems were written at \Voodford (his
secluded asylum in the Forest), where he sojourned
a year; many at 13aynton, where he spent several
months, and where the beautics of nature, and tbe
hallowinK associations of Edingdon Church, would
stimulate divine musings; many at Dauntesey,
where he dwclt for more than a year, farther than
ever ff'oto the distractions of the world, and almost
under the shadow of the Parish Church.
The Church of St. James was in the park, only
twety yards from the mansion. Hcrbcrt would
spend much time in consecratcd communion in that
sactuary. Thc towcr was fal]inK, aad, probably
at Herbert's suKgestion, was rebuilt by the Earl
of Danby, in 63o ; the whole Chmch was restored
in I632.
As he prayed and meditated in the chancel, he
would sec, in the south window, four full-length
figures of S t 5Iagdalena, Katharina, Margarita, and
Dorothea with her basket of roses ; over each a scroll,
and letters in old text, "As PLEASE GOD SO BE
The north window presented, I. The picture of a
king supporting a child, and beneath, four lovely boys
i gowns, with the inscription
ANCTE FRIDISMUNDE ORA PRO NODIS.
II. The Virgin ; undeneath, Sir John Danvcrs,
senior, in armour, and on a labcl
SANCTA EI GENERIX SEMPE VIRGO [ARIA ORA PRO
NOBIS. »
DAUNTESEY. 16 3
III. Angelus Annuncians; underneath, Dame
Arme, praying,
*INTERCEDE PRO NOBIS AD DOMINUM. »
IV. Saint Arme, and below, four or rive girls, saying,
* SANCTA ANNA ORA PRO NOI3IS.
Standing in this Church, and looking upon these
windows, does Herbert write ?--
TO ALL ANGELS AND SAINTS.
Oh glorious spirits, who, after ail your bands,
See the slnooth face of God, without a frown
Or strict commands ;
Where ev'ry one is king, and bath his crown,
If not upon his head yet in his banals ;
Not out of envie or maliciousnesse
Do I forbear to crave your speciall aid :
I would addresse
IIy vows to thee lnost gladly, blessd Maid,
And Mother of my God» in my distresse :
Thou art the holy mine whence came the gold,
The great restorative for all decay
In young and old ;
Thou art the cabinet where the jewell lay ;
Chiefly to thee would I my soul unfold.
But now, alas ! I date not ; for my King,
Whom we do all joyntly adore and praise,
Bids no such thing ;
And where His pleasure no injunction layes--
»Tis your own case--ye never move a xx ing.
Ail worship is prerogative, and a flower
Of His rich crown from Whom lyes no appeal
At the last boute :
Therefore we dare not from His garland steal,
To make a posie for inferiour power.
I6 4 TtIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Although, then, others court you, if ye knoxv
Wbat's done on Earth, we shalI not rare the worse
Who do not so ;
Since we are ever ready to disburse,
If any one our Master's hand can shmv.
Then does he turn. and contemplate, in the north
aisle, the gorgeous altar-tornbs, and monuments of
the Danvers' family, ancestors of his wife, with their
effigies, escutcheons, crumbling bannerets, rusty helms,
and swords; and then retire, and indite one of his
grandest pieces ?m
CItURCH MONUMENTS.
WhiIe that my soul repairs to her devotion,
Here I intombe my flesh, that it betimes
May take acquaintance of this heap of dust,
To which the blast of Death's incessant motion,
Fed with the exhaIation of our crimes,
Drives all at last. Therefore I gladly trust
My bodie to this school, that it may learn
To spell his êlements, and finde his birth
Written in dustie heraldrie and lines ;
Which dissolution sure doth best disccrn,
Comparing dust with dust, and earth with earth.
These laugh at jeat and marble, put for signes,
To sever the good fellowship of dust,
And spoil the meeting : vhat shall point out them,
When they shall boxv, and kneel, and fall clown fiat
To kisse those heaps which nmv they bave in trust ?
Deare flesh, xvhiIe I do pray, learn here thy stemme
And true descent, that, when thou shalt grow fat,
And wanton in thy cravings, thou mayst know
That flesh is but the glasse which holds the dust
That measures all our rime ; which also shall
Be crumbledinto dust. Mark here below
How tame these ashes are, how free from Iust,
That thou mayst fit thyself against thy fall.
DAUNTESEV. I6 5
On the east side of the Earl of Danby's noble
monumcnt of white marble is inscribcd,
LAUS I)EO.
Sacred marble, safely keepe
His dust who under thee must sleepe,
Untill the graves againe restore
Theire dead, and time shal be no more ;
Meane while, if he which ail thinges weares
Doe ruine thee : or if the tears
Are shed for him dissolve thy ri-ame,
Thou art requited : for His faine,
His vertues, and His worth shal be
Another monument for thee.
G. H ERBERT.
This epitaph on Lord Danby must have been
written by Herbert belote the Earl's death, tte
survived Herbert more than twenty years.
"By the saine (Geo. Herbert), orator of the University of
Cambridge ; pinned on the curtaine of'he Picture of the old
John Danvers, who was both a handsome and a good
man.»----AUBREY.
Passe not by :
Search and you may
Find a treasure
Vorth your stay
Vhat makes a Danvers
Y¢ould you find ?
In a fayre bodie
A fayre mind.
Sr John Danvers' earthly part
Here is copied out by al :
But his heavenly and divine
In his progenie doth shine.
Had he only brought them forth
Know that much had been his worth.
Thers no monument to a sonne,
Read him there, and I have done."
As Herbert was only in his first year in 1594, when
Sir John Danvers, senior, died, he could only have
known his character by tradition.
It has been supposed that Herbert, in his poem on
Çonstancie, makes a reference to Sir John Danvers,
166 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE ttERBERT.
junior, his stepfather--and describes lais character.
13ut it cannot be--the poem is nota portrait of Sir
John Danvers in a single point--it may be intended
for Sir John Danvers, senior. So that the following
can be nothing but a false compliment. In the
dedication of the St«mrard of Eq«ta/iO,, by Philo-
Dcc,'eus, (647) to Sir John Danvers, is this passage--
" Lighting casually on the Poems of Mr. George Herbert,
lately deceased, (whose pious life and death have converted me
to a full belief that there is a St. George) and therein perusing
the description of a 'Constant Man,' it diverted my thoughts
unto yourself, having heard that the author in his life time had
therein designed no other title than your character in that
description."
From Dauntesey, after apparently a pleasant and
happy visit, with health partially recovered, Herbert
took his wife to her old home at 13aynton; and
Ptubrey lets him depart with this just and graceful
compliment
"'Tis an honour to the place, to have had the heavenly and
ingeniose contemplation of this good man, who was pious even
to prophesic. »
CHAPTER XIII.
WILTON.
IN the spring of I63O Herbert xvas sojourning at
13aynton, and was still undecided whether he should
seek admission to Priests' Orders, and undertake some
parochial charge. Then it was he wrote--
« I dare not, I, put forth my hand
To hold the Ark, although it seem to shake
Through th' old sinnes and new doctrines of our land ;
Onely, since God doth often vessels lnake
Of lowly matter for high uses meet
I throw me at His feet.
There will I lie, until my Maker seek
For some mean stuffe whereon to show His skill.
The.n is my rime."
Then was his time. 1ils Maker sought "for some
mean stuff whereon to show His skill."
The Rectory of Foulstone, or Fugglestone St.
Peter's-cum-Bemerton, near Wilton, had become
vacant through the nomination of Dr. Curie, late In-
cumbent, to the Bishopric of Bath and Wells. The
advowson belonged to the Earls of Pembroke, as
part of the possessions of the Abbey of Wilton,
granted by Henry VIII.to Sir William Herhert; but
I68 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
the presentation to the bcncfice, for this turn, by law,
fcll to the Crown.
William, Earl of Pembroke, dicd April Ioth of this
year (I63O), and was succeeded by his brothcr Philip,
alrcady Earl of Montgomcry.
To him, George Hcrbert, as a connection, a courtier,
a scholar, a poet, and a frequent guest at Wilton
House in Eart William's time, would be well known,
as also the fact that he now was in Holy Ordcrs, and
intcnded to dedicate himself more fully to the ministry
of the Church.
Earl l'hilip requested the King, Charles I., to bestow
thc bcncfice of Foulstone upon his kinsman, George
Herbert, and the King said, " Most willingly to Mr.
Herbert, if it be worth his acceptance," and a letter
was at once despatched to Baynton.
« But though Mr. Herbert had formerly put on a resolution
for the clergy; yet at receiving this presentation, the appre-
hension of the last great account that he was to mare for t.he
cure of so many souls, ruade him fast and pray often, and con-
sider for not less than a month ; in which time he had some
resolutions to decline both the priesthood and that living. And
in this time of considering 'he endured,' as he would often say,
such spiritual conflicts as none can think but only those that
have endur'd them.' "--X, VALTON.
Let us leave Herbert at 13aynton, while he spreads
Lord Pembroke's letter before the LORD, and fasts,
and prays, and inquires conccrning this thing--and
turn to Wilton House.
Philip, fourth Earl of Pembroke, was the son of
Henry, the second Earl, and Mary Sidncy, sister of
WI LTON. 169
Sir Philip Sidney; he -,vas the earliest English
favourite of King James the First.
In 6o7, at a horse-race at Croydon, Sir Philip
Herbert had been switched in the face by Ramsey,
a Scotchman. Either through co',vardice, or policy,
Herbert swallowed the insult. Had he drawn his
sword, a deadly affray ",vould have followed, as many
English and Scotch nobles vere present, and streams
of blood might have flowed on the spot. By his for-
bearance he saved the Union, and arrested a long
career of mutual animosities, which might have im-
perilled the peace of the nations for centuries. So,
nothing was spilt, but, according to the code of worldly
honour, the reputation of a gentleman; and if the
indignity was borne for the King's sake, Herbert richly
deserved all the honours which James showered upon
him--of Knight, Baron, Viscount Herbert of Shurland,
and Earl of lIontgomery. 1
On the death of King James, he continued in high
favour in the Court of Charles I., by whom he was
ruade Lord High Chamberlain, and who, as his father,
often honoured Wilton House with his presence;
little presaging the treachery of its owner.
"King Charles the first did love XVilton above all places.
He loved a trout above all fresh fish, and there are none better
in England than at Knoyle, and when he came to XVilton, as he
commonly did every summer, the Earl of Pembroke was wont
to senti for these trowtes for his majesties eating."--AUgRE¥.
King Charles ",vas at Wilton, or in Salisbury, in
March or April, 63o. So \Valton gives us to under-
The King gave him also Montgomery Castle, and Bowood
ia Vilts.
I70 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE tIERBERT.
stand; but there is hardly, suflîcient corroborative
evidence of the fact. Yet Walton probably rcceived
all the dctails of the Wilton episode, word by word,
from the lips of .A_rthur Woodnoth, who was present
in Wilton House on the occasion to xvhich Walton
refers, hot only as a friend of George Herbert's, but
of Lord Pembroke's also ; and therefore any questioa
about the perfect accuracy of .Valton's narrative must
be received with the greatest caution and reserve.
Arthur Woodnoth, a man of dceply" religicus
character, when in mature years, had conceived a
great desire to enter upon the clerical lire, and,
though dissuaded both by Ferrar and Herbert, had
engaged in some spiritual duties, even if he had not
actually been admitted into Deacons' Orders; but,
after a short trial, he round he did hot possess the
qualifications necessary for the pastoral office, and he
returned to his former active lire as a Christian
layman.
The summary of Walton's story is--That Arthur
Woodnoth, a friend of the Herbert family for nearly
forty years, who had gcnerously" aided by giffs and
personal care the reparation of Leighton Church,
and had probably been on a visit to the Ferrars in
Huntingdonshire, of which family he xvas a relative,
(Ferrar's mothcr being a Woodnoth,) extended his
journey westvard to Baynton in Wilts, with the
double purpose of reporting to the irebendary the
condition/nd growth in grace of Ferrar's community
at Gidding, and of the progress of the works at
WILTON. ! 7 I
Leighton Church ; and of congratulating him on his
late marriage.
Soon after Woodnoth's arrival at ]3ayton, the
important letter rioto Lord Pembroke was put hto
his hand, and Herbert's scruples and pcrplexitics
xvcre pourcd into his ear. Woodnoth knew the man.
He saw that the offer of the King xvas a call from
God, and must be obeyed.
His first act would be to vrite to Nicholas Ferrar,
to announce the presentation to Foulstone, to say
that the finger of God was evidentl¥ poiuting thither-
xvard, and to urge Ferrar to use his best endcavours
to induce his friend to accept it, and not to run
counter to God's l'rovidence.
.After "rejoicing some days as an eye-xvitness of
his health and happy marriage," Wooclnoth proposed
they should go at once to \Vilton House, xvhere they
understood King Charles was visiting.
Their course from ]3aynton would lie through
Tinhead, and over Bratton Downs, across the Plain
(vhere they would admire the herds of wild deer and
the flocks of bustards), to the third milestone from
Salisbury, when they xvould turn to the right towards
Wilton, and enter the park by the road on the east
side of Foulstone Church, the present avenue of grand
elms not being yet planted, nor the Great Arch erectcd.
Herbert thanked the Earl for his interest with the
King
«... but had hOt yet resolv'd to accept of the living, and
told him the reason why. But that night the earl acquainted
172 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Dr. Laud, (then ]3ishop of London, and after Archbishop of
Canterbury) with his kinsman's irresolution. And the bishop
did the ncxt day so convince Mr. Itcrbert ' that thc rcfusal of it
was a sin,' that a taylor was sent for, to corne spcedily from
Salisbury to \Vilton to take measure, and make him canonical
clothes against next day.»--\VALTON.
The difficulty in accepting this narrative in all its
details, as circumstantially correct, lies in these
propositions.
William Itevbert, late earl, dicd at ]3aynard's
Castle, in London, suddenly on April IO; tken fol-
lowed the preparations for lais pompous funeral, and
after some days he vas buried in Salisbury Cathedral.
It may be that the King came down privately to the
fineral, attended only by a few gentlemen of the
Court, and lais chaplain, Bishop Laud. Then Herbert
kissed hands, and received the deed of presentation?
But that deed (which is now in the Record Office) is
dated, hot at Wilton, but at Westminster; and its
date is .April I6. Earl William's funeral could hot
have taken place by that early da),.
The case may be that Earl Plfilip petitioned the
King to present George Herbert before his brother
died; that the King immediately assented, and, in
special courtesy to the noble family, had the deed
prepared in his Palace, and signed (as it is) with the
Privy Seal, " and either brought it dowll to Wilton
himself, or sent it to Earl Philip.
t DDENDA--INote G.
"-' "Teste Rege apud Westm., decimo sexto die Aprilis per
brevi de privato sigillo."
WILTON. I73
The document is addressed to the Reverend Fathcr
and lord in Christ, John, by Divine Permission, Bishop
of Salisbury, 1 commanding him to admit to the Parish
Church of " Fulston St. Peter's and Bemerton "--
"... dilectum nostrum in Christo Georgiuln Herbert in
Artibus Magistrum."
The usual order of words was--
" Clericum, et in artibus magistrum."
The word " Cericum" must mean "l»ri«st, '' and its
absence from the deed only significs that he was not
in "Priests' Orders." That hc was in " Dcacons'
Orders" is an absolute certainty, hot only from the
evidence already adduced in connection with Leighton,
but from the words of the instrument of Institution
now existing in the Diocesan Registry at Sarum.
For after ail his painful scruples had been silenced,
and he had exchangcd his satin doublet and silk
breeches for a canonical suit, serge cassock, black
stockings and fclt hat, and had put aside his jewels,
and silver-sheathed sword,
"being so habited, he went with his presentation to the learned
Dr. Davenant, who was then Bishop of Salisbury, and he gave
him institution immediately."
The deed of Institution runs thus
REGISTRUM IOANNIS DAVENANT EPIS.
"APRIL I630 ,
Fulston Sancti Petri et Berner- Vicesimo sexto die mensis
ton Rectorioe Institucio t Anno Domini et loco predictis
1 John Davenant, Trinity College, Cambridge ; entered at
Queen's at 5 years ; in 594 took A.M. ; in 597 became Fellow ;
ia 16o 9 Margarct Professor; in 64 President of Queen's.
I74 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
"Prefatus Reverendus Pater Georgiuln Herbert Diaconum
in Artibus Magistrum ad Rectoriam Ecclesioe Parochialis de
Fulston Sancti Petri et Bemerton in Comitatu \Viltes suoe Sarum
Diocesis jam legitime et de jure vacantem juxta presentationem
Illustrissimi in Christo Principis et Domini nostri domini
Caroli Dei Gratia Anglie Scorie et Hibernie Regis fidei defen-
soris etc. veri et indubitati dicte Rectorie per translacionem
ultimi incumbentis ibidem ad episcopatum Bathonie et Wellensis
(ut dicitur) patroni adlnisit ipsumque prestito per eum juramento
Corporali tare de supremitate quam allegiancia necnon de
simoniaca pravitate etc. et de Canonica obedientia etc. Rectoreln
instituit et investivit et de eadem in suis juribus mernbris etc.
Colnisitque sibi Curaln sive onus que vel quod etc. et Scriptum
fuit Archidiacono Saruln seu ejus Officiali pro ipsius induc-
tione uti moris est."
The doculnent above recited is interesting and
important.
Much more valuable in the eyes of them, to whom
every authentic relic of Herbert is dear, vill be his
subscription, wholly in his own hand, and bearing his
signature, appended to a black letter copy of the
(then) Forty Articles, now, after so many years, safely
preserved in the Diocesan Registry, Sarum.
"Ego Georgius Herbert Diaconus in Artibus Magister ad
Rectoriam de Fulston Sri l'etri & Bemmerton in comitatu
\Vilts Dioces Saruln adlnittendus et instituendus omnibus hisce
articulis singulisque in iisdem contentis volens et ex animo
subscribo et consensum meure iisdeln praebeo
26 ° die Apr 63o GEORGIUS HERBERT?
A clergyman iii Deacons' Orders cannot now be
collated to an incumbency, but deacons were admis-
sible to livings in the seventeenth century, perhaps from
the paucity of priests. The incumbent of 'Vhiteparish,
instituted next after Ilerbert, xvas only a deacon.
From the palace at Salisbury, and the presence of
WILTON. 175
Bishop Davenant, Herbert returned to Bcmcrton, and
in the affcrnoon of the saine day, April 26, I63o, was
inducted to the benefice of Foulstone in the chapel at
Bemerton. By whom was the service of induction
performed ? It might have been by Leonard Dicken-
son, Vicar of South Newton, or by one of the
Cathedral clergy, or most likely, by Richard Chandler,
Rcctor of Wilton. Of the words in which Walton
records the events of that ever-memorable institution
(related, of course, by Arthur Woodnoth to Walton)
it xvere sacrilege to alter, or omit a syllable.
"V'hen at his induction he was shut into Bemerton Church,
being left there alone to toll the bell, as the law requires him,
he staid so much longer than an ordinary time before he return'd
to those friends that staid e×pecting him at the church-door, that-
his friend, Mr. ,Voodnot, looked in at the church-window, and
saw him lie prostrate on the ground before the altar ; at which
time and place, as he after told Mr. \Voodnot, he set some rules
to himself for the future lnanage of his lire ; and then and there
ruade a vmv to labour to keep them."
Thus closed that solemn day, when Herbert was
both instituted and inducted, and took on himself the
cure of about three hundred souls.
_As the late rector had been non-resident, and the
parsonage house at Benerton was in partial ruin, it
was not fit even for temporary occupation. The two
fl-iends vould valk back through the Park to Wilton
House, where they would be right royally entertained.
But that eventful day is not yet over. Herbert and
Woodnoth have retired early from the Earl's festive
hall to their private chambers, and are in deep com-
176 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
munion, tterbcrt speaks, and in grave and carnest
words addresses his fliend--
"I now look back upon llly aspiring thoughts, and think my-
self more happy than if I had attain'd what then I so ambitiously
thirsted for. And I can now behold the cour with an impartial
eye, and see plainly that it is ruade up of fraud and titles and
flattery, and many other such empty imaginary painted plea-
sures ; pleasures that are so empty as not to satisfie when they
are enjoy'd ; but in God and His service is a fulness of all joy
and pleasure, and no satiety. And I will now use ail my en-
deavotlrs to bring my relations and dcpendants to a love and
reliance on Him, XVho never fails those that trust Him. But
above all, I will be sure to live well, because the vertuous life of
a clergyman is the most powerful eloquence to perswade ail that
see it to revercnce and love, and at least to desire to live Iike
him. And this I will do, because I know we live in an age that
hath more need of good examples than precepts. And I beseech
that God, \Vho hath honour'd me so much as to call me to serve
at His altar, that as by His special grace He hath put into my
heart these good desires and resolutions, so He will, by His
assisting grace, enable me to bring the saine to good effect ; and
that my humble and charitable life may so win upon others as
to bring glory to my Jesus, XVhom I have this day taken to be
my Master and Governor ; and ana so proud of His service, that
I will alwayes observe and obey and do llis will, and alwayes
call Him Jesus my Master; and I will alwayes contemn my
birth, or any title or digaity that can be conferr'd tapon me,
when I shall compare them with my title of being a priest, and
serving at the Altar of Jesus, my Master."
Herbert must have knovn \Vilton House very
familiarly, not only from his private visits there as a
kinsman, but often xvhen, in the retinue of the Court,
he had partaken of the brilllant receptions of King
James and his Queen by Earl \Villiam, when \Vilton
was in all its glory.
WlLTON. 77
"The situation of \Vilton House is incomparably noble. It
hath hOt only the most pleasant prospect of the gardons and
park, but ri-oto thence over a lovely flatt to the city of Salisbury,
where that lofly steeple cuts the horizon. The house is great
and august, but I attempt no furthcr description of the house,
gardens, and approaches, as falling too short of the greatness
and excellency of it."--AUg¥, 65o.
Morning prayer is said constantly in the chpel by
the resident chaplains. Then the gucsts roam at will
over ail that supcrb mansion. Herbert is now in the
noble Library, revelling amidst the rare books and
inanuscripts, art treasures and engravings, English
and foreign, collected at so great a cost by Lord
Henry and Lady Mary.
To Herbert of most interest is the « Whole Book of
Psalmes, done into English verse by Sir Philip Sidney
and the Countess of Pembroke his sister, writ curiously
and bound in crimson velvet and gold";and Lady
Mary's own religious verses, prayers, and translations.
Then he stands before this picture and thatHenry
VIII.; James I.; Sir P. Sidney; William, first Earl of
Pembroke, with the little dog at his fcet that starved
itself to death when its toaster died ; Earl Henry, and
Lady Mary; Robert, Earl of Essex ; Cardinal Wolsey;
Walsingham ; the Ministers of State, and the heroes
of Queen Elizabeth's reign; the last Abbess of
Wilton, and other famous portraits not to be found
now in Wilton House.
Herbert is nov in the Armoury; now in the
Gardens, amidst flowers, bowers, grottoes, and
fountains; now in the Park, wandering along the
M
178 T/lE LIFE OF GEORGE IlERBERT.
banks of thc river. ]3ut to-day hc is more than Mr.
Herbert, the honom-ed scion of the proud house of
Pcmbroke--hc is thc Reverend Gcorge Herbert,
Rcctor of Foulstone-cum-]3emeton; he is gone out,
with his friend, to male his first pastoral visitation,
his first pcrsonal acquaintance with the people wholn
he is soon to klow so wcll. IIis first visit is to the
parish Church of I;oulstone, neglcctcd, decayed--thei
to the few houscs near--thcn by the plcasant path
through the l'ark to Quidhampton, whcre the largest
lumber of people dwcll--thcn to ]3clnerton. I Ie
confers with Voodnoth about the repairs nceded
for chapcl and parsonage, takcs advantage of his
experience, and receives his promises of aid.
On April 29, the two friends returled to ]3aynton.
Herbert, arrayed in grave, black, clerical garb, im-
mediately after seeing and saluting his wife, said
"You are now a minister's wife, and must so far forget your
father's house as not to claire a precedence of any of your
parishioners; for you are to know that a priest's wife can
challenge no precedence or place but that which she purchases
by her obliging humility."
And she assured him she willingly accepted the
duties of ber new position, and would endeavour to
discharge them with all fidclity and humility.
The naine of Philip, fourth Earl of Pembroke,
cannot be remembered but with special intercst,
undcr the consideration that it was he who, by
God's Providence, was the instrument of introducing
Iqebert to "the bishopric of souls."
]ut neither the Earl's private nor public charactcr
WILTON. 79
xvill bear close scrutiny. Clarendon (though Ullwil-
lingly) is colnpelled to record that through the xveak-
ncss of lais understanding, and the miserable compli-
ance of lais nature, he became a tool of the Parliament,
who marie him Governor of the Isle of Wight, and
Chancellor of Oxford, and thus drove him into actual
rebellion, "which he never intended to do." In 649,
he sat in Parliament as a Commoner, and joined
Cromwell's Council of State. In lais old age, the
Cavaliers launched at his hoary head the most
merciless and vindictive lampoons.
Herbert xvas appointed chaplain to the Earl, and
reference by anticipation may be ruade to two other
chaplains.
John Earle, formerly at Westminster School, iii
I63I was presented by Philip, Earl of Pembroke, to
the rectory of Bishopstone, near Wilton, while Herbert
was working in the neighbouring parish of Foulstone.
He vas ejected by the Parliament, and took refuge
in Paris, when Hyde allowed him two hours in eating
his dinner, and two hours in projecting where to get
one. _A_fter the Restoration he was advanced to the
see of Sarum.
The name of another chaplain of Earl Philip is
noted here, not in any connection with Herbert, but
simply as an act of justice, and to record a strong
redeeming feature iu the character of that unworth¥
nobleman.
John Henry was a faithful servant of Charles I.,
much honoured by the King, for whom he waited
[O THE LIFE OF GEORGE I[ERBERT.
on lais way to exccntioh and who took sucb an
affectionate farewell of lais old fl-iend. A son had
been born in I63I. l'hilip, Earl of l'cmbroke, Lord
Chamberlain (equally cogfizant with the King of
the worth of the Henry family), stood godfather
to the child, and gave him his own naine. It is
to the Earl's honour that he remembered his godso
to his dying day. As the boy grew up in the
royal household, he became a playmate of the
young Stuart princes; at the age of tvelve was
sent to Westminster School ; and from lais diligence,
amiability, and intelligece, carried Dr. ]3usby's
affections by storm.
But all Philip Henry's love and veneration for his
toaster (which wee very great), and all that great
tcacher's influence and power in Scriptural instruc-
tion, in inculcation of the doctrines of the Church,
and lais wonted carefulness in preparing the boys for
Confirmation and Communion, went for nothing
agaist the home-lessons of the boy's mother. She
was a gentle, intellectual, pious woman, and if God
had her son's soul, and lais school-master had lais
mind, the mother had lais heart. She saturated him
with puritanic theology, taught him the Assembly's
Catechisms, took him with her to the Lectures, and
vowed him to the Nonconformist ministry, ttis
progress in class and conduct gratified his sponsor
and patron; but let the boy tell a schoolboy's tale
« Once being monitor of the chamber, and being sent forth to
seek one that had played truant, I found him out where hee had
WILTON. I81
hid himself; at his earnest request I promised I would say I
could not find him--which I wickedly did. Next morning
being examined by Mr. Ilusby where hee was, and whether hee
saw mee, hee sayd, Yes, he did. At which I wel remembre
Mr. Busby turned his eye towards mee, and sayd,
' Ka' «, rlm, ov ! '--' And you, my child
and whipt mee, which was the only time I felt the weight
of his hand, and I deserved it. He appointed me also a
Penitential copy of Latin verses, wch I ruade, and brought to
him. Then he gave mee sixpence, and received mee into his
favour."
Lord Pcmbroke attcndcd the cxamination in
Westminster School when l'hilip Henry was elected
off, gave him a liberal alloxvance while he was
at Oxford, and whcn he entered into public life,
appointed him his chaplain. As might be expected,
Henry's opinions were very tolerant, and only slightly
divergent from the faith of the Church; his piety
was sincere, his life spotless. He might bave had
promotion, but declined to receive episcopal ordina-
tion. Ho was thc fathcr of the commentator,
Matthew Ilcnry.
CIIAPTER XIV.
I?,EMERTON--VALD ESSO.-- 163o-- 63 3.
As the Rectory-house at Bemerton was unin-
habitable, Herbert must have ruade Baynton his
head-quarters for some months.
His predecessor had suffered the two Churches and
the parsonage-house to fall into decay. Ail these
Herbert had to repair, and partially to rebuild, at his
own cost, xvhile his income ri'oto the parish was
very small. He first restored the Parish Church at
Foulstone; then the chapel at Bemerton, and lastly
his parsonage. The old glebe-house at Bemerton
had to be raised almost from the foundation. « Here
he built a very handsome bouse of brick, and made
a good garden, and walks for the minister." The
roof would be thatched. There xvas a hall, in which
all the family and servants sat together, where, on a
large open hearth, ail the cooking xvas done; the
other parts of the house were, a small study on a
raised floor, close to the road, a scullery, and four or
rive small bed-rooms. On the mantel of the chimney
in the hall he e:xgraved--
BEMERTON--VALDESSO. 18 3
TO MY SUCCESSOR.
If thou chance for to find
A new house to thy mind,
And built without thy cost ;
Be good to the poor,
As God gives thee store,
And then my labor's not lost.
These works cost him £200, a large sure in those
days, and a heavy assessment on his contractcd
income. We must not wonder, therefore, that the
restoration of Leighton Church, which in addition he
had upon his hands, advanced but slowly.
John Davenant was ]3ishop of Sature from 1621
to I64, and in due course, Herbert should have bccn
ordained Priest on Trinity Sunday, 63o; but it
appears the Bishop did not ordain at thc Summer
Ember season.
George Herbert was ordained to the priesthood on
Sept. 19, 163o, being the Seventeenth Sunday after
Trinity, no doubt, in Sarum Cathedral, by t3ishop
Davenant ; Humphrey Henchman (Precentor of
Sature, and afterwards Bishop of that Ste), told
Walton he had laid his hand on Hcrbert's head, as
one of the co-ordaining priests.
The register of Institutions by 3ishop Davenant
is perfect up to 164o, but that of Ordinations ceases
with the year 16-5. After that date there is no
register of Ordinations, but a page and half of
parchment are left blank, evidcntly that the ordin-
ations from 1626 to 164o may be entered from
some other memorandum ; but the record was never
I8 4 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE tIERBERT.
ruade, and the certain date of Herlzert's ordination
to the priesthood remained a secret till the year
1893, the Tercentenary of lais birth.
In the month of April in that year, during the
observance of lais Tercentenary, a diligent search was
again ruade in the Sarum Registry; and though no
record of Ordination was round, yet some old rolls
of dusty crumbling papers xvere discovered, which
proved tobe subscriptions to the Articles of candidates
for Ordination in I63O; and on examination they
rendered up two documents of paramount interest--
one, the subscription of Herbert before Institution in
April I63o, and another (of far greater value) his
subscription before Ordination in September of the
smne year, both in lais autograph. The first was
printed in the last chapter; in the second Herbert
writes--
"Ego Georgius Herbert in Artibus Magister, Diaconus, ad
sacros Presbiteratus Ordines admittendus et instituendus om-
nibus hisce articulis animo in iisdem contentis volens et ex
singulisque subscribo et consensum meum iisdem praebeo
9 ° die Septenb 63 o AD GEORGIUS IqERI3ERT."
John Davenant, in 162, succceded to thc see of
Sarum on the death of lais brother-in-law, Robert
Townson, who left to his care fifteen nephews and
nieces, for whose sake he never married. In 68,
after a brilliant course at Cambridge, Davenant, with
other emincnt theologians, had been deputed by
James I. to represent the Church of England at the
Synod of Dort, and it was allowed that they dis-
charged their diflîcult duty with talent and dignity.
BEM ERTON--VALDESSO. 1 8 5
But the deliberations of the Council cvolcd so much
political cabal and theological acrimony, that the
results xvere alike disgraceful and injurious to the
cause which it was summoned to support ; and (read
in the history of all clerical convocations, ancicnt
and modern), justified the sweeping condemnation of
that father of the Church who said, " I ncver saw
any good in ccclesiastical councils."
Four bishops elect vcre vaiting for consccration,
when Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, accidentally
shot a keeper with a cross-bov, while aiming at a
dcer. Laud, clcct of St. Davids, and Williams of
Lincoln, expressed an insuper.able aversion to receive
the imposition of 2\bbot's hands, and thcy, and
Davenant for Sature, and Carey for Exeter, were
consecrated by commission.
The tone of the Bishop's (Davenant) temperament
lnay be gleaned from an anecdote told of his child-
hood; that once, when he had been guilty of peevish-
ness, and the servants tried to screen him by saying
it was not John, but some of his brothers, did cry,
he said in honest shame, " No, it vas none of my
brothers, but only John that did cry."
In Lent, 163o, Davenant had preached at Whitehall
in the presence of Charles I., and so offended him by
lais bold Calvinistic doctrine, that he was brought to
his knees belote the Privy Council, and warned never
more to offend.
The saine ycar Herbert came up for Institution to
Foulstone.
I86
TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT,
It xvas at a sad time when Herbert entered, as a
beneficed inculnbent, into the diocese of Saruln. Civil
and ecclesiastical rancour ran high; Salisbury was
agitated to its centre by political commotiols, and
was just taking breath after a calamitous scourging
by the plague.
Sir Henry Sherfield, Recorder of Salisbury, sud-
denly offended by a rude (he said grotesque) painting
of the Creation in St. Edmund's Church, in which
appeared representations of the Persons of the Holy"
Trinity, having obtained permission of the vestry to
destroy" it, rushed into the Church, and clambering
over the pews, and str.iking at the window with his
staff, fell, and broke his leg: thus, si, gtat««s Deo, he
was borne out of the Church, but the savage mob
effectually accomplished the work he had begun.
Notwithstanding his broken limb, the Star Chamber
dragged him to London, and an information was laid
against him, which he met in person by a very" able
and astute defence, allegiag in his vindication and
exculpation canons of ancient councils, opinions of
reverend doctors, and, especially, a pronounced judg-
ment of Bishop Da'enant himself. Yet he was
sentenced to imprisonment in the Fleet, to be fined
£5oo, and to acknowledge his-offence to the bishop.
This was in I629-3o. But though the Church
was gasping for breath hl her struggles with her
enemies, and the city was pressing hard upon the
Chapter to rob them of their ancient privileges, as
yet the Daily Services were continued, and Herbert
BEMERTON--VALDESSO. 18 7
often walked over from Bemcrton to soothe lais soul
vith the Cathedral music, of vhich he vas passionately
fond.
Belote the autumn of I63o , the parsonage of
lemerton vould have been rebuilt and furnished,
and the nev Rector vould be in residence. The text
of his first sermon vas, "Keep thy heart vith all
diligence" (Prov. iv. 3), in which he gave his parish-
ioners many sale and holy rules for the discharge of
a good conscience; he preached in a florid manner,
with great learning and eloquence, but told them that
in future his sermons would be more plain and
practical. He gave notice of an afternoon service
and catechizing, at which he hoped they vould be
constant. His text afterwards vas always taken
from the Gospel of the day. He explained the order
and meaning of confessions, prayers, psalms, lectures,
hymns, creeds, sacraments, holy days and seasons,
and shoved "that the vhole service of the Church
vas reasonable, and therefore an acceptable service to
God."
The household of the parsonage consisted of the
Rector, his wife, two nieces, and two or three maid-
servants, and two men. There xvas a glebe of six
acres, a garden, and orchard, and outbuildings, and a
very large barn, as the tithes xvere received in kind.
The parsonage vas separated from the Church only
by the breadth of the road, which was forty feet vide,
and as this narrow road was then the only highxvay
ri-oto Salisbury to the south-xvest of the county, the
I88 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
noise of passing vehicles was very annoying.
situation of the bouse was pleasant and healthy; it
looked south to the distant hills over a lawn (partly
orchard), which sloped down to the rivcr \Vily, a
swift, clear, though shallow stream, which furnished
mcans of efficient, natural drainage; it was sheltered
by Salisbury Plain on the north, and was abundantly
supplied with purest water from springs in the chalk.
The Ferrars' retreat at Gidding was fully de-
veloped, and in regular working order, when Herbert
came into residence at Bemcrton, and as the friends
continually corresponded, and as Ferrar's brother
signifies emplmtically that the schcme and purpose
of thcir rcligious undertakings, if hot orginated by
Herbcrt, yet wcre sanctioned and directed by him,
it might be supposed that Herbert would mould lais
household after Ferrar's model, and that Bemerton
would become a second Gidding. The Church was
very near, and there were two maidens to begin a
sisterhood. But it must be observed that Herbert's
weakly body could never have sustained the severity
of discipline to which Ferrar had inured himself;
that lais scant revenues would not support such
an establishment as Gidding; that it is uncertain
whether lais wife would or could take the place of
glother of such a community. But thus far he trod
in Ferrar's steps--with lais wife, nieces, and servants,
he said the Daily Prayers of the Church morning
and afternoon cvery day in the chapel, at ten and
four o'clock ; he induced many of his parishioncrs and
BEMERTON--VALDESSO, 18 9
people of the neighbourhood to join in the services,
and thc farmers wot,ld lcave their work in the fields,
"when Ir. I{erbert's saint's bell rung to prayers, that
they might also offer their devotions to God with
him, and would then return back to their plow."
Let it be remembered also that Herbert had a
parish of three hundred people to visit, the houses
lying in three separate hamlets, each a mlle apart.
He kept a Curate for the Mother Church at Foulstone,
who supplied the Rector's place at Bemerton when he
was absent. He went twice a week to the Cathe-
dral of Salisbury, feeling "that lais time spent in
prayer and Cathedral music elevated his soul, and
was lais heaven upon earth." "He did himself com-
pose anthems, and sung them to his lute"; and used
to sing and play in a musical society at Salisbury.
In one of lais walks through the pleasant meadows
between Salisbury and Bemerton, he overtook a
gentleman xvho xvas not of his parish, but whose
tenant paid him tithe, and Herbert humbly begged
to be excused if he asked him some account of his
faith; and he gave him such rules for sincerity and
practical piety, then and on other occasions, as caused
him to the end of lais lire to mention the naine of
Herbert with reverence, and to praise God that he
had ever known him.
In another of his Salisbury walks he met a neigh-
bouring minister, to whom, on his lamenting the
decay of piety and the general contempt of the
clergy, Herbert took occasion to say that he thought
t'.e.--" cart»" hot "plough."
190 TtIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
one cure for these distempers would be for the clerg)z
to keep the Ember weeks strictly, and to beg their
parishioners to join with them in fasting and prayers
for a more religious clergy; and another, for them-
selves to restore the duty of catechizing, which was
greatly" neglected, and on which the salvation .of the
ignorant so much depended; but principally, that the
clergy, especially dignitaries, should live blamelessly',
temperately, humbly, and charitably, and set good
êxamples for the respect and imitation of the people.
This, he said, would be a cure for the wickedness and
growing atheism of the age; and he added in words
of truth and cogency--
"My dear brother, till this be done by us, and done in earnest»
let no man expect a reformation of the laity : for 'tis not learn-
ing, but this--this only--that must doit : and till then the fault
must lie at out doors."
One day he came upon a poor man with a poorer
horse, which had fallen down under its load, and
having assisted both master and beast, went on his
way to meet his musical friends in Salisbury. Then
appearing "soyl'd, discompos'd, and begrimed, whereas
Mr. Herbert us'd tobe so trim and clean," he replied
to their surprise by saying that he would not villingly
pass one day of his lire without comforting a sad soul.
"And now," said he, "let's tune our instruments."
In the Priest to t/ce Te1le it must be considered
that Herbert himself is the Priest ; he sets down the
form and character of a true pastor, that he may have
a mark to aim at : and though he allows that he has
BE M ER TON--VA LDESSO. 19 I
set the mark very high, it is to be supposed that his
life at Bemerton reached that mark, and that the
Country Parson was the model of lais own daily life.
Barnabas Oley, speaking to his brother clergy, writes
of the t)ri«st to the
« The ensuing Work, lnethinks, is not a body of 37 chapters,
but a bill of 7 times 37 indictments against thee and inc, a
strange s2ecttlttltt sacerdolale."
As soon as Herbert awoke on Sunday, his thoughts
vere full of making most of the day : he prayed for a
peculiar blessing on himself, that he might do nothing
unworthy of that lIajesty before whom he was to
appear, but that all the services might be for ttis
glory, and for the edification of his flock: he be-
sought his Iaster that bow or whensoever He should
punish him, it might hOt be in lais ministry. He
made intercession for his people that the Lord
would be pleased to sanctify them all, that they
might corne with boly hearts and aveful minds into
the congregation. On entering Church, he adored
the invisible presence of the Ahnighty God, and
blessed the people. He composed himself with
all possible reverence to read the Divine Services;
lifting up heart, and hands, and eyes, before the
majesty of God, as presenting with himself the whole
congregation, vhose sins he brought to the heavenly
altar to be bathed in the sacred laver of Christ's
131ood. And knowing that his own devout manner
in the service vould best move lais people to reverence,
the tone of lais voice in prayer was humble, his words
I92 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERTo
slow and measured, as lais wholc soul was full of godly
fcar; and oftcn in lais serinons he exhorted then to
all possible rcvercncc in their bchav[our in the House
of Gocl ; to stand, sit, and knecl at the proper times
with all bccoming attention, man and child answering
"Amen," gently and pausably, and thinking what
they were saying; and if any of the gentry of the
parish made ita piece of state hot to corne to Church
at the beginning of the service, to their loss and the
disturbance of the congregation, he by no means
suffered it, but gently adlnonished them.
He preached constantly; the pulpit was his joy
and throne. He secured attention by all possible art
and earnestness, keeping a diligent eye upon lais
audience, and addressing sometimes the elder, some-
tilnes the younger, nov the poor, and now the rich,
saying, "This is for you," and "This is for you." He
lnade much use of anecdotes; and told them that
sermons were dangerous things, that none goes out of
Church as he came in, but ither better or worse, for
that by the Word of God we shall be judged.
The character of his sermon was hot learning, or
eloquence, but holiness. He often lnade apostrophes
to God, as, "O Lord, bless my people!" "O my
Master, let me be silent, and do Thou speak!"
and to the people"Oh, let us take heed what we
do! God knows whether I speak as I ought, or
you hear as you ought!" He usually preached for
an hour, and as none of his serinons have ever been
published, they were probably hot written.
BEMERTON--VALDESSO. I93
IIe magnified the \Vord of God exceedingly--
"The chier and top of the knowledge of the Countrey
P:trson consists in the book of books, the storehouse and maga-
zine of life and comfort--the Holy Scriptures. There he sucks
and lires. |11 the Scriptures he finds four things: precepts for
life, doctrines for knowledge, examples for illustration, and
promises for comfort. But for the understanding of these, the
means he useth, are first, a holy lire, remelnbering what his
Master saith that, if any do God's will, he shall know of the
Doctrine.' The second means is prayer ; he ever begins the
reading of the Scripture with solne short inward ejaculation, as
' Lord, open mine eyes that I may sec the wondrous things of
Thy law' (Ps. cxix. 8). The third means is a diligent collation
of Scripture with Scripture. The fourth means is Commenters
and Fathers, which the parson by no means refuseth ; he hath
one comlnent at least upon every book of Scripture."
"A_bove all things his chier delight was in the
t Ioly Scriptures, one leaf of which he professed he
would not part with for the whole world in exchange.
That was his wisdom, his comfort, his joy. Out of
that he took his motto,' Less than the least of all God's
mercies.' In that he found that substance, Christ;
and in Christ remission of sins ; yea, in His Biood he
placed the goodness of his good works."OLE¥.
Bemerton St. Andrew's is a chapelry annexed to
Foulstone St. Peter's. The chapel is of very small
size, a nave and chancel; will hold about sixty
people; is extremely simple, and exhibits scarcely
a single feature of archaic or ecclesiastical interest.
Aubrey calls it "a pitiful little chapell of ease to
Foughelston."
It is first mentioned in connection vith Foulstone
in I4o8, which probably is the year in which it
N
194 TtIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
was built. The chantry is utterly unworthy of the
rich .A_bbey of Wilton, to which it belonged. Itis
difiïcult to read its history, from the many changes
through which it has passed. The fabric is of the
fifteenth centur¥. There are windows of that date
in chancel and nave, all the test are later; the
chancel-roof and east window are recent and meagre.
.A_ll that remains of Herbert's work is probably the
south door, in good oak, and the Jacobean entrance.
The bell, which so often called him to prayer, hangs
in a modern wooden turret on the west gable; it
is of pre-Reformation date, called an Alphabet bell,
from bearing A, I3, C, D, E, F, G, in black-letter,
irregular characters.
In Aubrey's day--:
" In the chancell are many apt sentences of the Scripture.
At his wife's seate, ' 3[y Life is hid witl, Ckrist in God' (Coloss.
iii. 3). (He hath verses on this text in his Poemes.) Above in a
little windove blinded, within a veile (ill pointed), ' Thou arl my
hideingfilace' (Psahn x,xii. 7)-"
Herbert thus describes his own Church--
"The country parson hath a speciall care of his Church, that
all things there be decent, and befitting His Name by which it
is called. He takes order that all things be in good repair,
as walls plaistered, windows glazed, floore paved, seats whole,
firm and uniform; especially that the pulpit and desk, and
communion table, and font be as they ought, for those great
duties that are performed in them. Secondly, that the Church
be swept and kept clean without dust, or cobwebs, and at great
festivals strawd and stuck vith boughs, and perfumed with
incense. Thirdly, that there be fit and proper texts of Scripture
everywhere painted, and that all the painting be grave, and
reverend, not with light colours or foolish anticks. Fourthly,
CItURCH DUOR, ].EP,[ERTON.
[Page 794.
BEN ERTON--VALDESSO.
I95
that all the books appointed by Authority be there, and those
not tome or fouled, but whole and clean, and well bound ; and
that there be a fitting and sightly communion-cloth of fine linen,
with a handsome and seemly carpet of good and costly stuffe
or cloth, and ail kept sweet and clean in a strong and decent
chest, with a chalice and cover, and a stoop or flagon ; and a
basin for altos and offerings ; and a poor mall'S box conveniently
seated. »
There was no paten: the flattened cover of the
chalice served for such long after the Reformation.
The Commissioners of Eward VI. left to the parish
of " Bimmerton" a chalice of "vij. di." oz.
The small font, certainly in use in the chapel during
Herbert's incumbency, is worked into the bowl of
the new font in the IIemorial Church of St. John's,
Bemerton.
I Iaving read Divine Service twice fully, and
preached in the morning, and catechized in the after-
noon, he thought he had in some measure, according
to poor and frail man, discharged the public duties
of the congregation. The rest of the da), he spent
either in reconciling neighbours that were at vari-
ance, or in visiting the sick, or in exhortations to
some of his flock by themselves, whom his serinons
could not, or did not, reach. He considered that
every one is more awaked when we corne and say,
"Thou art the man." At night he thought it a very
fit time, suitable to the joy of the da),, either to
entertain some of his neighbours, or to be entertained
of them, when he took occasion to discourse of such
things as were both profitable and pleasant, and to
I96 THE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
raise up their minds to apprchend God's good bless-
ing to out Church and State. As he opened the day
with prayer, so he closed it, humbly beseeching the
_A_lmighty to pardon and accept his poor services, and
to improve them that he might grow therein.
"The Country Parson," he said," values catechiz[ng
highly." But the catechisms of the divines of the
seventeenth century differed very widely from that
ldnd of instruction given in these days to a few Sunday
School children. It was the afternoon sermon, care-
fully prepared on some part of the text of the Cate-
chism, but delivered orally in the form of question and
answer. Herbert required all the parishioners--old
and young, parents and children, masters and servants
--to be present, and exacted from all the doctrine of
the Catechism, that those who were hot well grounded
in the knowledge of religion might receive instruction,
and those who knew their Bibles well might advance
in holy learning.
Thus he catechized on the Creed--" How came
this world tobe ruade? Did it corne by chance ?
Who made it? Who is God? Did you see God
make if ? Then there are some things to be believed
which are not seen ; is this the nature of belief? Is
not Christianity full of such things as are hot to be
seen, but believed ?" He ruade his questions so
plain that, in virtue, they contained the answer, help-
ing and cheering the catechumens, and skilfully
drawing out of ignorant and simple souls the dark,
deep things of God. The parson once demanded,
13EMERTON--VALDESSO. 197
"Since man's misery is so great, xvhat is to be donc ? »
The person addressed could not tell. He asked
again, " What would you do if you had fallen into a
ditch ? " The fanfiliar illustration ruade the answer
so plain that he was ashamed, and could not but say
that he would get out as fast as he could.
He celebrated Holy Communion, if hot duly once
a month, at least rive or six times in the year--at
Christmas, Lent, Easter, Whitsuntide, before and
after Harvest, preceded by catechetical instruction,
and, after Ferrar's example, " suffered no one on the
day of Communion to want a good meal."
He thought children and youths should communi-
cate at an earlier age; that the time of their First
Communion should depend not so much on years, as
on understanding ; and that if they could distinguish
sacramental from common bread, they ought to receive
at xvhat age soever. He baptized, as his rule, only on
Sundays and festivals, taught the sponsors the honour
of the office they undertook, and exhorted Christians
to meditate offen on the great and glorious calling of
their baptism.
He justified work on the Lord's Day in cases of
extreme necessity in seed-time and harvest. He
instructed the Churchwardens to consider vhat a
great charge lay upon them, how honourable their
office was, it being the greatest honour of this world
to serve God and His Church, and that they should
aire to fulfil their duties faithfully.
13y the end of autumn, either on foot or lmrseback,
198 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
the Rector xvould have visited all the farms and
cottages in the parish, and ruade a personal acquaint-
ance with all the parishioners.
Fond of exercise, an expert rider, and mounted on
a noble steed, he would offen ride up the old Roman
way on the north of the Church to the Dovns, and
gallop many a toile over the wild, open, lonely Plain.
"These Plains," says _A_ubrey, writing in 168o, "doe
abound with hares, fallow deer, partridges, and
bustards; thcre are gray crows, as at Royston. They
are the most spacious Plaines in Europe, and the
greatest remaines that I can heare of.. of the smooth
primitive world, when it lay ail under water, ttere is
Nil nisi campus et aer,
and in winter indeed our air is cold and rawe.
On the one hand there would be a full view of the
crumbling walls of old Sarum ; to the east the grace-
ful spire of the Cathedral of Salisbury, rising 404
feet ; bcneath, rich meadovs and meandering streams,
and to the south-west the lordly tovers of Wilton,
and the grand tituber trees of the park.
The Rector of Bemerton would hot, vith his weak-
ncss of chest, cross the Downs in wild December
weather, with a strong, cutting north-east wind, ac-
companied by sleet and hall, driven in sheets over
the unbroken plateau, shepherds, flocks, and dogs all
crç)uching before the merciless blast. But see Master
and Mistress Herbert, and their two nieces, the
Mistresses Vaughan (as girls were called then), walk-
BEMERTON--VALDESSO. 199
in over the Downs in May; the air is balmy and
exhilaratin, like a breeze from the sea; the soli-
tude is awe-inspirin ; the turf is mossy and elastic ;
they are treading on a carpet of flowers--harebell,
centaury, campanula, scabious, milkworts, orchids,
meadow-sweet, and heather--
"Poets sing of the mountaln and of the sea, but no one sings
of the Downs--they sing for themselves--for neither mountain
nor sea is more full of music than their moving stillness, and
harmony of delicious silence."
Sometimes the Rector would ride through the ford
over the river to the rich meadows on the south, and
through Netherhampton over the hills to the high
lands above Wilton Park, "intermixt with boscages
than nothing can be more pleasant; and in summer
time doe excell Arcadia in verdant and rich turfe,"
and thence through the park back to Bemerton.
The first wife of Earl Philip, Lady Susan Vere,
died before Herbert came to Bemerton. In the year
63o, June 3rd, the Earl married for his second wife
Arme Clifford, widow of Richard Sackville, Earl of
Dorset. This noble lady, though she speaks of both
her husbands as "in their several kindes xvorthy
noblemen," says it xvas her misfortune to have crosses
and contradictions with them both--
"... so as in both their lifetimes the marble pillars of Knowle
in Kent, and \Vilton in \Viltshire, vere to me but the gay arbours
of anguish : I lived in both those great families as the river of
Roan or Rhodanus runs through the lake of Geneva rithout
mingling any part of its streams with that lake ; I ruade good
books and virtuous thoughts my companions."
200 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
During Herbert's short life at ]3emerton, who than
he xvould be more xvelcome to the lonely lady of
.Vilton Housc ?--as she would find in her faithful
chaplain a congcnial mind, and would appreciate at
their true value his lcarning, the sanctity of his
charactcr, and the divinity of his pocms. From
]3emerton, on Dec. Io, I63, he writes to the
Countess in London, apparently in acknowledgment
of a letter he had received froln her. He seems to
have sent her a cask of metheglin, or mead, made
(no doubt) from the honey of his own bees in the
garden at Bcmerton, and on her gracious acceptance
of the gift, intimates his wish to send her something
more worthy,--perhaps he means his poems. " In
the meantime," he adds, "a Priest's blessing, Madam,
can do you no hurt"--and then proceeds, in noble
xvords, to invoke hot the blessing of the priest, but
the blessing of her own mother, upon her
"Wherefore the Lord make good the blessing of your mother
upon you, and cause all ber wishes, diligence, prayers, and tears
to bud, blow, and bear fruit in your soul, to His glory, your own
good, and the great joy of, Madam, your most faithful servant
in Christ Jesu,
« GEORGE HERBERT. »
This lady vas married twenty years to Earl Philip,
but, owing to his opprobrious lifc, was compelled to
leave him; lac died in I549 , she in I675. Very rich,
and very gencrous, she dwelt in turn in ber six castles,
dispensing noble charities, restoring Churches, and
relieving the plundered clergy. Very pious, and very
learned, as Donne said, shc could discourse on all
BEM ERTON--VALDESSO.
201
subjects, from predestination to slca-silk. Shc dresscd
in black serge, and never tastcd wine or physic?
The Parish Church of Foulstone, a nave and chancel,
dedicated to St. l'cter, was built in the thirteenth
century, at the saine date, as it is of the saine charac-
ter, as Salisbury Cathedral. In Herbert's time, before
the alteration of the roads, it stood alone in its little
churchyard, surrounded by fields. The Curate prob-
ably lodged in the large farmhouse, the only house
(beside the labourers' cottages) in Foulstone hamlet.
The Communion Plate, delivered to the church-
wardens of"Ffoulstone" by Edward VI.'s commis-
sioners, was only a chalice of silver, an Elizabcthan
cup, date I58I. This is the chalice which was uscd
by Herbert. It was held in lais hands at Moly"
Communion; his lips touchcd its rira. The very fine
retottss; Elizabethan flagon, noxv at Foulstonc, vas
hot in use in Herbert's rime; it was given to the
parish by the Rev. John Hawes, Rector, I776.
The old road from Bemerton to Foulstone Church
tan through the Shrubbery, just insidc the present wall
of Wilton Park. Lord Pembroke, in 1826, obtaincd
an Act of Parliament to enclose the road ; and at the
saine time, he destroyed the Hospital of St. Giles,
and in its stead built some cottages at Foulstone.
The Hospital had been founded by Adeliza, queen
of Henry Il., II54, for Icpers--she herself, by tradi-
tion, being the "Leprosy Queen." It is hot known
whether Herbert was ever Master of the Hospital,
but there was a Chapel, in which service was
ADDEI'DA--Note H.
202 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
ministcred, and marriagc celebrated, as late as 17oo,
when John Dowse, clerk, was IV[aster, and the
revenues anaounted to £6 a year. There xvere then
no lepers, but four alms-people. Herbert might
frequently have ministered in St. Giles' Chapel, as it
xvas in his parish. Of old Wilton Church only- the
Chancel remains. Probably Herbert often preached
in the beautiful pulpit of fine carved vood erected
there in 1628.
The old path on which Hcrbert walked to Foulstone
Church is yet traceable within the walls of Wilton
Park, but other roadways, except those running im-
mediately through the hamlets of Bemerton and
Quidhampton, are so changed, and diverted from
their old course, that it is not likeIy Herbert's feet
ever trod upon any of them. Even the channels
of the rivcrs have been altered. A few cob walls
remain, and thcre are three very" old cottages in
a gardcn bclow the present road, into which he may
have entered.
During two hundred and sixty years, successive
alterations in the parsonage have left very" little of
Herbert's xvorks remaining. Some of the foundations
and lower courses of the thick walls are probably his ;
the hall, which had become divided, and formed part
of other rooms, has been restored pretty much to what
it was at the first ; the massive chimney mantel, a great
beam of solid rough oak, remains it sittt ; two other
ponderous beams may be of Herbert's work.
But Herbert's Bemerton is gone for ever. When
i
BEMERTON--VALDESSO. 203
Herbert lived at temerton it xvas a pretty rural
village, of twcnty cottages, lying on the sunny
southern slope of the Plain, quict and sequestercd,
a mlle from Salisbury, with a hundred simple in-
habitants. The disappointment is vcry great to
pilgrims, who corne from all parts of the world,
especially from ,a.merica, to visit Herbert's Church,
house, and village, temerton is now ahnost a suburb
of Salisbur¥; the parish is traversed by two railways;
long lines of ugly cottages, and huge, staring brick
buildings, run up in all directions, offend taste and
eye. The Church is modcrnized and deformcd ; but
you ma¥ still walk in what was Hcrbert's gardcn--
you may believe, if you like (and it is likcly), that
Herbert planted the aged medlar tree now growing
there. You may look upon, and rcad, his own hand-
writing in the registers. Thcrc is the river, there are
the hills, there is the Cathedral and spire, on which
Herbert gazed a thousand times--these are not
changed. And the very air around, and the heavens
above, and the earth beneath, are redolent with the
unexhausted perfume of Herbert's presence.
So thou mayest thus far soothe and satisfy thy
soul, and say, "Here certainly George Herbert lived;
that parsonage was Geore Herbert's home; some-
where within those walls George Herbert died; in
that humble Church George Herbert prayed and
preached ; under that plain stone beneath the altar,
George Herbert sleeps."
Thon go thou into that Church, kneel thou down
204 TtlE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
before that altar, as near George Herbert's grave as
thou mayest--and the Lord pity thee, if thou dost
not know what prayer to say over such a man's
grave, in such a place, at such a time.
The Country Parson of Bemerton was very exact
in the governing of lais house, making it a model for
lais parish. He knew the retaper and pulse of every
member of the family, and accordingly met their
vices, or advanced thcir virtues.
As he was just ill ail things, so was he to his wife
also; he gave her respect both before her servants
and others, and half at least of the government of
the bouse, yet nevcr so resigning the reins, but that
he sometimes looked hoxv things went, demanding
an account, but hot by the xvay of an account ; and
this he did the oftener or the seldomer, according as
he was satisfied of his wife's discretion.
Either his wife xvas religious, or night and day he
xvas XVilaning her to God. He required only three
things of her: first, that she should train up the
children and her maids in the fear of God, vith
prayers, and catechizing, and all religious duties;
secondly, that she should cure ail xvounds and sores
with ber mvn hands (and if she had hot brought
that skill with her, he took care she should learn it
of some religious neighbour) ; thirdly, that she should
so carefully control their exchequer that ail the house-
hold should be sufficiently fed and clothed, and that
her husband should hot be brought into debt.
The children in Bemerton parsonage were Dorothy
BEMERTON--VALDESSO. 205
and Magdalen, (daughters of John Vaughan and
Margaret, Herbert's sistcr,) sixteen and eighteen years
of age, who had been left orphans and without a
home, when their uncle George received them into
his house. He took these nicces under his peculiar
charge, and seasoned them with all piety, hot only
in words of prayer and reading, but in encouraging
them to visit the sick children in the parish, and tcnd
their wounds, and rclieve them with money of the[r
own saving, saying that money lent to God is laid
out at better interest than the best investments the
world can provide.
He felt it was his duty, as he knew it was for
his profit, to essay that his servants should be all
religious; for religious servants are faithful in their
worl;, and what they do is blessed by God. He
taught them that, after Religion, three things make
a perfect servant--Truthfulness, Dilfgence, and Clean-
liness. Herbert's family at ]3emerton was a school
of Religion. Those who could read had rimes for
reading ; those who could not read were taught. _AI1
in the household were either teachers, or learners ; all
had rime to pray. Even the very walls were not idle,
for texts were painted on them which might excite
thoughts of piety. He said--"In the house of a
preacher all are preachers."
There was a pretty, pious custom observed in
]3emerton Rectory, of all saying, when the candles
were brought in in the evening, "God send us the
light of hcaven."
206
TtlE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
He suffered hot a lie, or any sly, deceitflfl, cunnin,
zigzag ways in his house. This verse was rcpeated
in the cottages on thc l'lain--
"Fear God, my child, be brave and xvise,
And speak the truth, and tell no lies
For ]iars shall for ever dwell
"Vith devils in the hottest hell. »
And ail the family knew there was no forgiveness
for a fault, but confession.
Besides Family Prayer, and the Morning and
Evening Services at Church, he strictly enjoined every
one to be faithful in private prayers at morn and
even; he knew what prayers they said, and taught
them himself. He ruled the children more with love
than fear; the servants more with fear than love.
But the good old servant was as a child of the family.
The furniture of the Rectory was very plain, but
good and sweet; the fare of the table was simple,
frugal, but very good--a little mutton, beef, or veal;
and if any extra provisions were required for a
festival, or on the arrival of a guest, the barn, yard,
and orchard supplied them.
As Sunday was Herbert's day of exceeding joy,
Friday was a day of humiliation. He said, fasting, in
Scripture language, is an afflicting of our souls, and
bodily mortification is commanded of God, and a
religious fasting is useful, and ought to be observed;
but as meat xvas ruade for man, and not man for
meat, sickness, and sickliness also, break the obliga-
BEM ERTON--VALDESSO. 207
tion of fasting. He taught, with St. Augustine, that
the great tast is to abstain from sin.
His lire of uniform duty flowed on in even ride
from day to day, broken at times by the too frequent
and merely complimentary calls of neighbours, some-
rimes by a visit from the Bishop--
"He carries himself very respectfully as to all the fathers of
the Church, so especially to his own diocesan, honouring him
both in word and behaviour, and resorting to him in any
difficulty, either in his studies, or in his parish."
Somctimes ho was summoned to the palacc at
Salisbury, to consult with the 13ishop and clergy--
"He observes visitations, and being there makes due use of
them, as of clergy councils, for the benefit of the diocese."
And the clergy had need enough to take counsel
together, for a black storm was gathering which
was destined to sweep off Church, King, and Consti-
tution from the face of the land ; and in almost every
parish a turbulent party was rising, defiant alike of
civil and ecclesiastical order, and disloyal spirits were
now excited to fever-heat by the new canons sent
down by .A_rchbishop Laud, for the removal of the
Lord's Table into the Chancel of the Church. 13ishop
Davenant reported to the king that the clergy of
Sarum were generally conformable, and in a strife
between the Vicar and Churchwardens of Aldbourne
he decided that the Holy Table should be transferred
to the place where the _A_ltar formerly stood, though
in principle he was directly opposed to Laud.
The very Cathedral itself was an arena of angry
eo8
TI1E LIFE OF GEORGE tIERBERT.
strife. The Corporation had built a Chapel in the
nave where the mayoress and mistresses might sit,
and scorned the authority of the Bishop and Chapter.
Sometimes tIerbert was cheered with a long letter
from his "dear, deserving brother Ferrar," telling him
that the restoration of Leighton Church was nearly
completed, and that the establishment at Gidding,
the creation and result of their mutual prayers and
anxious consultations, had taken foot in a promising
ground, and was bearing much fruit. Then a dis-
quieting letter would reach him from his brother
Henry, vhich, after rccording his ovn advancement
in the Court of Charles I., would refer to the cold,
unloving behaviour of their eldest brother, noxv Baron
Herbert of Cherbury, and lately (I632) promoted to
a seat in the Council of \Var. That brother's book,
De léritate, published in Latin in I624, xvould have
long grieved and wounded his pious soul.
Sometimes in his walks in the parish the Rector
met xvith labouring çeople, xvhom he xvould take
home xvith him, and make them sit close to him at
his own table, and xvould carve for them, both for his
own humility and for their comfort; and to prevent
envy, he invited all his parishioners to his house in
turns, for he found that if any were overlooked they
thought themselves slighted, and xvhere such feelings
as these existed, there xvas no room for his doctrine
to enter. Yet he had to exercise discrimination, lest
his hospitality might be abused; but as, diligently
observing and teaching God's ways, he put before
BEM ERTONVAI.DESSO. 209
them as many encouragements as he could to piety,
virtue, and honour, that he might, if not in the best
way, yet in some way, win lais parish to God.
As soon as he rose any morn, he bethought himself
what good deeds he could do that day, counting
every day lost wherein he had not done some charit-
able deed. He strove that there should not be a
beggar or idle person in the parish, but that all who
could work should be in a competent way of gctting
their own livelihood, and the sick and aged be
assisted by the alms of their neighbours. Whenever
he gave an alms, and the poor soul laboured in
thanking him, he used to say, "Let me alone, and
say,' God be praised, God be glorified.'" So he would
often, before giving, make them say their prayers, or
the Creed, or the Commandments; for this, he said,
was to give like a clergyman and a Christian.
As chaplain to the Earl of Pembroke, it would
be his duty at rimes to take part in the services of
the Chapel in the House. He was kindly received
by the Earl, and with more gracious welcome by the
Lady Anne; and presuming on his position in the
family, under the character of a true pastor (as he
himself describes him), and considering his duty to
the lord and lady of the bouse, the guests and servants,
and their duty to Godward, he observed
"... what means of piety in the house were used; whether
daily prayers were said, grace, reading of Scripture, and other
good books; how Sundays, holy days, and fasts were kept;
how the children were bred up."
O
2IO TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
And as he round any defects in these, he faithfully
applied the remedy, taking aside the lord or lady,
and showing thcm that not a desire of meddling, but
an eamestness to do good, moved him to say thus
and thus.
The Earl, weak and vicious, must have frequently
needed the counsel and remonstrances of lais chap-
lain. It was a saying of those days, that noble-
men had no stotnach for a chaplain who would not
let them go down to hell in peace. .As the Earl's
private life saddened him, so the downward tend-
encies of his political life alarmed him. He could
hot but notice a growing distance and reserve
in the Earl's manner, and already sinister reports
were afloat that he had begun to waver in his loyalty,
and had received with favour the advances of the
Parliament. Herbert had a difficult duty to perform
towards his patron; and as pastor of a parish, and
anxious to carry out the rules of the Church amongst
lais people, he was grieved and harassed by the spirit
of insubordination on every side; )'et for the short
time he lived, his life was heroic, and his labours
of love, his saintly nature, lais faithful evangelical
doctrine so prevailed with his people, that he carried
his parish with him, and during his time Bemerton
was in fair repose.
He visited the parish chiefly in the afternoons : on
his arrival he blessed the dwelling, saying, "Peace be
to this house." He valued and exercised the com-
mission of blessing which God bas entrusted to the
]3EMERTONVALDESSO. 21 I
priesthood ; he maitltained that the clergyman should
never settle down to the conventional level of society,
nor join in mere complimentary conversation, but
ever remember his Master's honour, and on just
opportmfities mention the Naine of God with ail
becoming reverence, atd interpose a blessing. He
said also that clergymcn ought lot to negative God
i their lettcrs.
In his visits he administcrcd commendation, or
reproof, or charity, as he saw need. He inquired
whether all said praycrs, read Bibles, sung psalms;
hc heard the children read, and blessed all. He
disdained hot to enter the poorest cottage, though
he crept into it, and though it smelt never so loath-
somcly, for he said, "Both God is here, and those
for whom God died."
In visiting the sic](, and othcr sufferers, he minis-
tered consolation by setting before them God's
providential care, gencral and particular ; His
promises ; the examples of saints, of Christ Himself
perfecting out redemption no other way than by
sorrow; from the benefit of affliction in softenig
the heart, and from thc certainty of deliverance and
everlasting reward, if we faint hot ; he taught that the
Holy Sacramcnt was a sovereign medicine to out sin-
sicl souls, and that confession was neccssary in some
cases. He was a father to his flocl, and lept God's
watch, as if he had begotten the whole parish; and
affer many admonitions to offenders, he a long while
expected and walted God's hour of coming, which,
212
TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
as he could not determine concerning the last day,
so neither could he respecting the intermediate days
of a sinner's conversion.
If he found a man reading in a friend's Bible, he
provided him one of his own; if he saw another
giving a poor man a penny, he gave hitn sixpence,
or sent him a good book.
But Herbert's kindnesses extended far beyond the
limits of Bemerton. If there had been a tire, pre-
vailing sickness, or any other calamity in a neigh-
bouring parish, he at once exhorted his people to a
generous contribution, himself first giving liberally;
and as he was always ready to take a service for any
of the neighbouring clergy, so he welcomed to his
table the humblest curate, as if he were a great lord.
It was the Rector's aim to act hot only as the
Parson, but as the Parish Lawyer, and so the Peace-
maker of the parish ; with the assistance of his chief
parishioners, he himself settled all cases of dispute,
hot involving serious consequences, by amicable suits.
He was also the Parish Doctor, making his wife
his assistant, and his garden the surgery, and instead
of drugs for medicine, using herbs, and that with
better success than the apothecary; he esteemed
there is no spice comparable, for herbs, to rosemary,
thyme, savory, and mint ; nor for seeds, to fennel and
carraway. Accordingly for salves his wife sought
hot the druggist's shop in Salisbury, but preferred the
plants of her garden at Bemerton, and of the neigh-
bouring meadows, before all outlandish gums; and
BEMERTON--VALDESSO. 2 1 3
"surely," he said, "hyssop, valerian, mercury, adder's
tongue, verroxv, melilot, and St. John's xvort, made
into a salve, and elder, cmnomile; malloxv, comphrey,
and smallage ruade into a poultice, have donc rare
cures." But in adninistering medicine, he and his
family premised prayers, for that, said he, was to cure
like a parson, and raised the case fl'om the surgcry
to the Church.
In the quiet study-in the parsonage at Bemerton
sat the Rector, looking out on the Çhurch, as the sun
xvent down, and pondering sadly on the alanning
scenes he had seen that morning in Salisbury, tumult-
uous meetings of the citizens, armed mobs parading
the streets, if not connived at, unchecked by the
authorities, and threatening mischief to the Cathedral.
The infection bas reached Bemerton, and factious
preachers are active in sowing the seeds of rebellion
amongst his people. Next Sunday he must lovingly
xvarn them against sedition and heresy, and exhort
them to fear God and honour the King. And, if any
have already imbibed strange doctrines, and deserted
the Church, he labours with all possible diligence to
bring them back to the Common Faith. "The first
means he useth is prayer, beseeching the Father of
lights to open their eyes, and to give him poxver so
to fit his discourse to them, that it may effectually
pierce their hearts." His second means "is a very
loving and sweet usage of them," remembering
"Ecclesia odit errores, sed amat errantes."
2I 4 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
He visits them, shows them special courtesies, lowers
their tithes, pleads earnestly his unansverable argu-
ments, 1 haviug ever besides tvo great helps and
poverful persuaders on his side--the one, a strict,
religious life; the other, a humble and ingenuous
search after truth, which are tvo great lights able to
dazzle the eyes of the misled, while they consider
that God cannot be wanting to those in doctrine to
whom He is so gracious iii life.
The Country Parson is generally sad, because he
knovs nothing but the Cross of Christ, his mind
being defixed on it with those nails vherevith his
Master vas; or if he have any leisure to look off
from thence, he meets with tvo most sad spectacles,
sin and misery ; God dishonoured, and man afflicted.
But knowing that nature will not bear everlasting
droopings, and that instructions seasoned with cheer-
fulness enter sooner and root more deeply, he is at due
times innocently joyous.
As his Master was despised, and as vere the saints
of God, his brethren, he expects to bear this burden
as they; but to the utmost of his power, and especially
in the parish, he endeavours that he shall be respected,
as knowing that, vhere there is contempt, there is no
mind for instruction; and this he secures by his holy
and unblatneable lire, and by a courteous and affable
1 ,, George," said a peasant living on the Plain to his son, « I
ara dying : mind what I say ; thou stick to the Church ; chapels
may be good in their places ; howsomever the Church is nighest
to the kingdom of God."
BEMERTON--VALDESSO. 2 1 5
bchaviour to all, doing kindnesses, but expccting
none. IIe rcceivcs the darts of the unfriendly as on
rive shicldslI. In a way of lmmility, saying nothing
at all. II. In a way of unconcern, showing that
reproachcs touch him no more than a stone thrown
against heaven, where he is, and where he lives.
III. In a way of sadness, grieved at lais own, and
the sins of others, who continually break God's laws.
IV. In a way of doctrine, saying, "Alas! why do
you thus ? you hurt yourself, not ne." V. In a way
of triumph, glad that he is ruade conformable to his
Master's example.
Country people often think that nature governs
the world, and that, if they sow, they must reap,
and if they fodder the cattle, they must have milk.
tIcrbcrt would bave them disccrn the hand of God
in everything, and know that corn does not grmv
without His providential care, and without His
governing power the finest harvests corne to nothing.
Man xvould sit down at this world ; God bids him
sell, and purchase a better; j ust as when the father
has an apple in his hand, and a piece of gold under
it, and the child cornes, and with much effort obtains
the apple, when the father says, " Throw it away, my
child, and I will give you the gold ;" but the child,
utterly refusing, eats the apple, and is troubled with
worms.
It is necessary that every Christian should pray
twice a day, and four times on Sunday : without this
he cannot maintain hs soul in a Christian frame.
TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
Besides these, the godly have ever added some hours
of prayer, at three, six, nine o'clock, and at mid-
night, as the Spirit of God leads them. lut if it
happen through some emergent interruption, or for-
getfulness, a Christian omits his additionary prayer,
he must hot at once think God is angry, and subside
into perplexity, but persevere, and proceed cheerfully
in prayer, as if he had hot neglected it. But, ira
pious man, out of reverence to God's house, resolves
whenever he enters a Church to kneel down and pray,
blessing God, and when he cornes into Church, and
is going to pray, he sees a scoffer ready to deride hîm,
if, through shame or fear, he pretermits his prayer, he
does passing ill.
Repentance is the great virtue of the Gospel,
and one of the first steps of pleasing God, and
the essence of repentance consists in a true detest-
ation of the soul abhorring and renouncing sin,
and turning to God in truth of heart and newness
of life.
The Christian lires in a double state--I. When he
is assaulted by temptations fiorn within or rioto
without; 2. When the servant of God, freed for a
while from temptation, in a quiet sweetness seeks
how to please his God. Some are afraid that, though
there be a great Governor of all things, )'et that He
does hot regard them, and they may be creatures of
chance. For these cases Herbert had three argu-
ments--the first taken from Nature, the second from
the Scripture, the third from Grace.
BElXl ERTON--VALDESSO.
" I. From Ar, dure.--How could a house be built without a
builder ? How is it the winds and elcments rage, and yet thcre
is no dissolution of the world, not even of the scasons ? let thc
wcather be what it will, still we have bread. If you had been
at the Creation, and had seen God make the world, you would
have believed in a Divinity ; should you less believe, seeing the
preservation of all things in the world ? for preservation is a
creation, and a creation every moment.
" I I. From the ScriDtrt', where the evidence is overwhehn-
ing. The Jews yct lire ; they bave their own peculiar laws and
language; they observe the Mosaic rites to this day, and
believe the promises; their country is known; places, towns,
rivcrs, &c, are visited by travellers, but to thcm it has been an
impenetrable region, an inaccessible desert. As the Jews lire,
all the great wonders of old lire in them; and who can deny
the stretched-out arm of a mighty God ? It may be a just doubt
whether their living in their own land under so many miracles
was a greater miracle than their long-continued exile and inex-
tinguishable existence in other lands to this da),. It was also
intended by God that the Jews should be witnesses for Him,
(Isa. xliii. I2); and the destruction of Jerusalem, and their
dispersion in ail lands, were intended not only as a punishlnent
to them, but as a demonstration, to other nations, of God and
His power. A prophecy is a miracle sent to posterity that it
may not complain of want of miracles--a letter sealed and sent
--and while unopened, only paper ; but received and read, fidl
of power and life.
" III. From Grace. If in his dealing with the difficulties of
unsettled minds, the parson encounters those who do not so
much doubt a God, as whether He is their God, he plunges
them at once into the boundless ocean of the unspeakable riches
of God's love. As dust and ashes, He must love us, for He
created us, and the perfect artist loves his work. As sinful
creatures, He must love us more, because notwithstanding His
infinite hatred of sin, His love overcame that hatred ; and, with
an exceeding great victory, gave us love fox" love, even the Son
of His love, out of His bosom of love. So that man, which way
soever he turns, has two pledges of God's love ; the one in his
being, the other in his sinful being."
TIIE IAFE OF GEORGE ItERBERT.
Soon after Herbert was settled at Bemerton, as has
been noted, two nieces came to live under his roof,
the childrce of a dcceased sister, Margaret, married
to John Vaughan, of Llwydiarth. She had left three
daughters, Dorothy, Magdalen, and Katharine. The
patcrnal estate vcnt to heirs malc, and the children
were homeless. Lord Herbert of Cherbury had
written to George asking him to take charge of one
of the children, and but one, and which of the three
he chose; but he replied that he »vould have two, or
neither, as if he took one only, she would be coming
into a strange home, tender in knowledge, sense, and
age, where she knew no one but her uncle, who could
be no company for hcr; and she would hot be happy.
So the two eldcst came to 13emerton, Dorothy and
Magdalen, and it rejoiced their uncle's heart to see
they lived so lovingly--sleeping, eating, walking,
praying, working together. It seems that his brother,
Sir Henry Herbert, had consented to receive one of
these nieces, but George would hot allow them to be
separated.
But there was a third girl, Kate, the youngest, then
ill-instructed and neglected, (under the care of an in-
efficient governess,) whom also her uncle Henry once
thought of taking, and George suggests, in most
gentle words, that it would now be the truest kind-
ness to offer her a home: for she had no one to
receive her even in her holidays, or at Christmas and
Easter, "xvhich, ),ou knoxv," says her uncle, "is the
greatest encouragement to a child's lessons ail the
BEMERTON--VALDESSO. 2 19
year affer,"--except his cousin Bett should tale pity
on her; and, as she lived at a great distance, thcre was
a difficulty in sending her. But he does hot force the
poor friendless girl upon him. " ]ï)o," he says, "what
God shall put into your heart, and the Lord bless
all your purposes to His glory." /knd he gocs on to
xvrite, " Yet truly, if you take her hot, I ara thinkig
to do it, even beyond my strength." /knd her uncle
Henry did hot--but her uncle George did--tale the
orphan child.
Henry had insiuuated that adopted children, par-
ticularly re_lations, were ungrateful. George allowed
that generally the charge vas true. His fears also
(pehaps his provident wife) suggested--" You are
poorer now than you have been for many years ; you
have spent L2oo in building, and that to you, who
have nothing yet, is a very large sure." "I have
considered both objections," he replies; "yet I cannot
refuse; I forget all things, so I may do them good
who want it. Truly it grieves me to think of the
child hov destitute she is, and that in this necessary
time of education. I have a Judge to vhom I shall
stand or fall." So the lone]y child was welcomed
The incomes of the clergy were so reduced in value through
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by the extortions of grasp-
ing patrons, confiscations, alienations, non-payment of tithes,
and iniquitous leases, that the clergy had but a beggarly pro-
vision, and hot one living in seven would support an educated
man; some earned their bread by daily labour, and in Arch-
bishop Grindal's Visitation, in I575, many parishes of 800
people are mentioned as returning an income of only 8o a
year.
220
TtIE LIFE OF GEORGE /IER/3ERT.
to the hospitable home at Bemerton, to share her
sisters' love and her uncle's prayers.
It might have been about two years that the sisters
had been living at temerton, when in the autumn of
1632 , probably in the month of September, I)orothy,
the eldest sister, died. There is no record of her
death, nor of lier burial at ]3emerton, but she was of
age, had a little personal property, and made a will,
vhich was proved by her uncle on October 9, I63-" ;
but he, hot being able to attend the Prerogative
Court iii person through sickness, was sworn by com-
mission before Nathaniel Bostocke, clerk, his Curate.
He was advised by a friend to check his charities,
and husband his scanty income, because he had a
wife, and might have children, to provide for. ]3ut
his answer washe could hot see the danger of want
so far off, for charity bas the promise of this lire and
of that to corne, is the first of virtues, the covering of
sins, the fulfilling of the laxv, the life of faith; then
lifting his'cyes to heaven, he said--
"0 my God! as ail my tythes and church-dues are a
deodate, make me, 0 my God, so to trust Thy promise, as to
retum them back to Thee in distributing them to Thy poor
members that are in distress, or do but bear the image of Jesus
my blaster."
" Sir," said he to his friend, " my xvife bath a com-
petent maintenance secur'd her after my death."
Now fully established in his parish, he is carrying
out into daily exercise those duties which, with his
own pen, he declared tobe incumbent on the country
13EM ERTON--VALDESSO. 2 2 I
parson; he is in his thirt¥-eighth year, and has
spent half of that short, hol¥ life, the stor¥ of which,
çValton states, was almost incredible for its sanctity,
charit¥, humility, and all Christian graces, and which
deserved the eloquence of St. Chrysostom to com-
mend it; a lire which, "if related b¥ a pen like his,
there would be no need for this age to look back
into rimes past for the examples of primitive piet¥,
for the¥ might be ail found in the lire of George
IIerbert."
His brother Edward, though a man of chill¥, un-
sympathetic nature, yet could appreciate the goodness
of George's character, and wrote, aftcr his death--
" lXIy brother George was so excellent a scholar that he as
ruade Public Orator of the University in Cambridge, some of
whose English works are extant, hich though they be rare in
their kind, yet are far short of expressing those perfections he
had in the Greek and Latin tongues, and in all divine and
human literature ; his life was most holy and exemplary, inso-
much that about Salisbury, where he lived beneficed for many
(three) years, he was little less than sainted."
rchdeacon Oley thought that Herbert was like
David and the Psalm men, St. John, and Prudentius;
that Ferrar vas like Isaiah, St. Luke, and St. Chry-
sostom ; yet in their diversity they had such harmony
of souls as was admirable. Herbert, he said, measured
his time by his pulse, that natural watch which God
has set in each of us; his eminent temperance and
frugality enabled him to be liberal and beneficent;
his addresses were memorable at the sight of a grave
or tomb, vhere every bone rises up in judgment
22 THE LIFE OF GEOP, GE tlEP, BEP, T.
against lust and pride, and at the stroke of a passing
bell, when ancient charity used, he said, to run to
Church, and assist the dying soul with prayers and
tears.
" He saw neither father nor mother, child nor brother, birth
nor friends, but in Christ Jesus, chose the Lord for his portion,
and His service for his employment. He knew fifll well what
he did vhen he received Holy Orders, as appears expressly by
lais poems, Pricslhoo«t and ,4a'ot; and, by the unparalleled
vigilance which he used over his parish, ruade Ferrar say he
was a peer to the primitive saints, and more than a pattern to
his age."--O I.EV.
Dl'. Jolm Dotme died about a year affer Herbert
had been preselted to Foulstone. The gold ritg,
with a seal of Christ crucified on an anchor, which he
had setat to tterbert, was treasured up in I3emerton
l{ectory as a relic of inestimable value. /kfter
lterbcrt's dcath it was found folded up in a paper
with these verses in English--
"When my dear Friend could write no more,
He gave this Seal, and so gave o'er.
When Winds and \Vaves rise highest, I ara sure
This Anchor keeps my Faith, That me, secure."
It is hot lilcely that many of Herbert's poems were
written at I3emerton. Not at ]3emerton, because
it vas impossible that the author of those poems,
amidst his weighty secular and religious works, the
systematic, conscientious, and laborious visitation of
lais parish, his pcrsonal functions at Church, his home
This ring is religiously preserved in the hands of the Rev.
V. Ayerst, late of Ayerst Hall, Cambridge.
13EMERTON--VALDESSO. 2 2 3
duties, his writing, his reading, his protracted private
prayers ; it vas impossible that in Bemerton Rectory
he could secure that privacy, that solitude, those
opportunities of spiritual abstraction and concen-
tration, of clevation of soul, and communion with
God, which Herbert certainly did command, and
without which the T«mlIe could hOt have been
written.
Besides--and this consideration settles the question
--Iterbert told Duncon that the book was a picture
of the conflicts between God and his soul, belote
he submitted to the will of Jesus, and found perfect
freedom. Certainly that subjection was effected and
that freedom found before he came to Bemcrton.
Yet it is only reasonable to admit that some poems
were composed during the last two years of his life
and this verse points to some pause in pain during
his latest hours--
"And now in age I bud again,
After so many deaths I lire and write ;
I once more smell the dew and l-ain,
And relish versing."
The Couuty Parson xvas completed in 1632 ; this
must bave absorbed the good man's thoughts and
time for many an anxious month. Every line was
probably written in Bemerton Parsonage--and nothing
else, except a few poems, and at the close of the year,
lais Comments on Valdesso.
And it was enough ; lais work on earth was almost
done.
224
TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT,
VALDESSO.
BIention has just been ruade of Valdesso. Signior
Juan de Valdes, or John Valdesso, was a Spaniard
of noble family, a cavalier under the Emperor
Charles V. Growing old, and weary of wars and the
world, he intimated to the Emperor his wish to retire
into a quiet, contemplative life, because there ought
to be an interim between the business of the world
and the day of death. The emperor also, actuated
by the saine feelings, had entcrtained a resolution
of resigning his c,own ; and thcy both agreed on an
appointed day to rcceive the blessed Sacrament, and
having heard a solemn sermon from a devout friar
on the contempt of the world, the Emperor devolved
all his kingdoms upon his son Philip, and withdrew
into a convent.
Valdesso, who sympathized with "the Children of
Light" in their essay to introduce the princîples
of the Reformation into Spain, and had fallen under
the suspicion of the Inquisition, retired to Naples,
where he spent the short remainder of his lire in
devotional exerclses, and in congenial society.
died in 542.
In his retirement he wrote, in Spanish, "A
Hundred and Ten Considerations, treating of those
things which are most profitable, most necessary, and
most perfect in the Christian profession." Nicholas
Ferrar, having met with this book in his travels, and
greatly admiring it, translated it from an Italian copy
13EM ERTOIg--VALDESSO. 2 2 5
into English, and sent it to tIerbert, in the autumn of
1632, for his censure or approval.
Fcrrar sent lais I5ddesso to tIerbcrt. Ite se¢t it.
It might not have been necessary to se¢d it. There
was a probability that the friends would meet. There
might have been a rime xvhen Herbcrt would be at
Gidding, and Ferrar might put lZahlesso into his
hands. So deep was Herbert's affection--such a
longing he had to see lais friend, that he contemplated
exchanging lais living in Wiltshire for one of less
value in Huntingdonshire, that lais last days might be
near lais "dear brother." It was hot to be. It xvas
too late. Iterbert returncd lçht«sso with copious
notes, and these notes are of solemn value and
interest, as the last recorded expressions of Herbcrt's
religious sentiments, and they are accompanîed by
the last recorded letter he xvrote. Very lovlngly (it
is his oxvn expression) he addresses Ferrar as his
dear, deserving brother, and returns his 15rhl«sso with
many" thanks and some notes, "in xvhich," he says,
"perhaps you will discover some care, which I forbare
not in the midst of my griefes." We may surmise
what those griefs were from Walton's remark : "Thus
he continued till a consumption so weakened him as
to confine him to lais bouse."
Herbert adds--
"I would doe nothing negligously that you commit lmtO mee,
for your sake ; secondly, for the author's sake, wholn I conceive
to bave been a true servant of God, and to such and all that is
theirs I owe diligence ; thirdly, for the Curches sake, to whom
by printing it I would bave you consecrate it."
226 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
He allowed that there were some expressions in
Valdesso's Çatsid«ratias which he did not altogether
approve of, but he wished it by ail means tobe
publishcd for threc cmincnt things observable therein--
"First, that God in the midst of Popery should open the eyes
of one to understand and expresse so clearely and excellently
the intent of the Gospell in the acceptation of Christ's riglrteous-
nesse, a thing strangely buried and darkned by. the adversaries
and their great stumbling-block. Secondly, the great honour
and reverence which he everywhêre beares towards out deare
Mastêr and Lord, concluding every consideration almost with
His holy naine, and setting His merit forth so piously, for which
I doe so love him, that were there nothing else, I would print it,
that with it the honour of my Lord might be published. Thirdly,
the many pious rules of ordering out life about mortification and
observation of God's Kingdome within us, and the ork:,ng
thercof, of which he was a very diligent observer."
The substance of Herbert's annotations is
Holy Scriptures have hOt only an elementary use,
but a use of perfection, and are able to make the man
of God pcrfcct ; and David (though David) studied the
Word ail the day long, and Joshua was to meditate
thercin day and night. By trusting in the \Vord of
God, we trust in God. A general apprehension of
the promises of the Gospel by relation from others is
not that which filleth the heart with joy and peace
in bclicving, but the Spirit's bearing witness with our
spirit, rcvealing and applying tbe gcneral promises to
evcry one with such cfficacy that it mal¢es him godly,
rightcous, and sober ail lais life long. This Herbert
callcd belicving by revclation, and not by relation.
q-he Holy Scripturcs can never be exhausted. God
BEM ERTON--VALDESSO. 227
works b t' His \Vord, and ever in the reading of it.
I11 the Scripturcs are
"Doctrines--these ever teach more and more ;
l'rolnises--these ever comfort lnore and more."
.As the servant leaves hot the letter when he has
read it, but keeps it bi' hiln, and reads it again and
again ; so are ve to do with the Scriptures, and this
is the use of the Scriptures. The saints of God, in
all ages, have ever hcld in so precious estecln the
\Vord of God, as their joy, and crown, and treasure
on earth.
A man mat' not presume to merit, or justify
himself belote God, b t, any acts of religion; but he
ought to pray God, affectionately and fervently, to
send him the light of His Spirit, which ma t , be to
him as the sun to a traveller on his journey ; in the
meanwhile applying himself to the duties of true
piety and sincere religion.
Restraining motions are much more frequent to
the godly than inviting motions, because the Scripture
invites enough, as in that singular place, Phil. iv. S. A
man is to embrace all good; but because he cannot
do all, God often chooseth what he shall do, by
restraining him ff-oto what He would not have
him do.
Pious persons ought always to avoid occasions
of sins; but, in thc occasions of necessary duties,
God's Spirit will nortify them, and try them as gold
in the tire. The godly are chastened, but nut
punished.
228 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
To say that out Saviour prayed with doubtfulness
was more than Herbert could or would say ; but with
condition, or conditionally. He pra),ed as man, though
as God, He knew the event. Fear is given to Christ,
but hot doubt.
That the best of God's servants should have weak-
nesses is no way repugnant to the xvay of God's
Spirit in them, or to the Scriptures, or to themselves,
being still men, though godly men. Doubtless the
best faith in us is defective, and arrives not at the
point it should.
Out Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely perfected, and
shall ever continue out glorious Head, and all the
influences of out happiness shall descend from Him,
and out chier glory shall consist in that which He
saith, amongst the last words which He spake, in
John xvii. 24-
" Father, I will, that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be
with Me where I ana, that they also may behold the glory, which
Thou hast given Me before the foundation of the world."
Through the winter of 632 Herbert grew weaker
day by day, suffering from fever, as we!l as consump-
tion. He walked on the dry paths in the garden and
orchard, when it was fair weather, even in December,
and continued, though in a low voice, to take Matins
and Evensong in the Chapel, only a few steps from
his front door. But one day, his wife, observing that
the exertion of reading gave him an evident pain
in the chest, and that he walked home with greater
BEMERTON. 229
difficulty, earnestly begged him not to take the
service again.
I le was obliged to confess that wealmess was indced
overcoming him ; but, said he, " My life cannot be
better spent than in the service of my Master, Jesus,
who has donc and suffered so much for me." " How-
ever," he added, warned by symptoms which he could
not misunderstand, " I will hot be wilful ; though my
spirit is willing, my flesh is weak ; and therefore Mr.
Bostocke shall read the prayers to-morrow, and I
will be only a hearer of them, till this mortal shall
put on immortality." Nathanicl Bostocke, the Curate,
was a holy and learned man, and an old friend. But as
there were services to be provided for in two Churches,
and as Herbert could no longer take part in parochial
ministrations of any" kind, it seems that another
Clergyman, a Ir. Itayes, was engaged.
Herbert, as yet, was not so ill but that he was
able to attend Church, and xvent once more, at the
beginning of the new year, to Salisbury Cathedral.
But towards the middle of January I63e-3, his
strength decayed rapidly. He took his last walk into
the garden; stood for the last time on the bank of
the river; looked for the last time on its crystal
waters; lifted lais eyes for the last rime to the Cathe-
dral; and then returned to his home, never to leave
it again.
He is obliged to lay aside all his books ; he can
neither read, nor continuously write, now; but ever
and anon he takes into lais hand a small, unbound
230 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERP, ERT.
duodecimo volume in manuscript--and reads--and
writes--and pauses, absorbed in deep thought--and
ponders and turns over many leaves--and reads again
and writes, but only a fcv vords at a time. He
can yet sit in the hall, and look out into the orchard,
and enjoy the transient gleam of sunshine; but the
vinds hmvl, and the ShOW falls, and the distant hills
are scarcely visible through the mist, and nmv lais wife,
and nov Magdalen and Kate read comforting Scrip-
turcs, and sing lais favourite hymns ; and he takes his
lute, and fain xvould play a godly tune, but his fingers
tremble, and his voice quavers, and his heart throbs,
and he bows his head in resignation, and says--
"God has broken into my study, and struck off my chariot
wheels. I have nothing worthy of God."
At last he is confined to his chamber.
About a month before he died, a stranger, a
clergyman, came to the Rectory, and announced
himself to Mrs. Herbert as Edmund Duncon, a friend
of Nicholas Ferrar's, to whom he seems to have been
on a visit at Gidding Hall, and who on hearing of
Herbert's sickness, had commissioned him to repair
with all haste to Bemerton Rectory to ascertain lais
friend's condition, and to assure him of the earnest
prayers of all the Gidding community on his behalf.
He round Herbert lying on a pallet, prostrate in
the grasp of relentless disease, weak in spirit as in
body'; but, on seeing the stranger, he raised himself,
saluted him cheerfully, and with all the animation
BEMERTON. 23 I
he could exert, inquired for the health of his brother
Ferrar, and his dcar fliends at Gidding. Duncon
gladdened the soul of the dying man b¥ assuring
him of tbeir welfare, and of their umvcaried devotion
in the Divine Offices, (in xvhich he xvas ever faithfully
remembered,) xvhen Herbert suddenly chaned the dis-
course, and said, "Sir, I see by your habit that you
are a priest, and I desire you to pray xvith me."
Duncon said, " Most certanly.--what prayers shall !
use ? " I4erbert at once replicd, " ç'h, sir, thc praycrs
of rny mother, the Church of Enlandno other
prayers are equal to themnone to themnone to
them."
And Duncon was probably procceding to say the
Evening Prayer, rightly concludlng that the lovcd,
accustomcd office vould be a so|ace to the soul of the
dying priest, but he could not bear it, and stopped
him, and said, "At this rime I beg )-ou to pray only
the Litany; for I ara xveak and faint." The Litany
was accordingly said, xvith the prayers for the sick and
dying, and affer some further anxious questions askcd
and answcred, in reference to Leighton and Gidding,
" Mrs. Herbert providcd iIr. Duncon a plain supper,
and a clean Iodging, and he betook himself to bed."
Next morning he was obliged to go to Bath.
Forty years affer that solemn evening scene, Isaac
Wa|ton, in his eightieth year, xvas in conversation
with Edmund Duncon, then rector of Ftiern t3arnet
in Middlesex, and their thoughts turnhg upon
tIerbert, Duncon repeated the details of that memor-
-'32
TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
able interview, and said he was so impressed by the
rcverential looks, dignity, meelness, and humility, and
thc dcep sloit'ituality of the thoughts and words of the
dying saint, that all he then saw and heard was still
fresh and vivid in his recollection.
Duncon returned from 13ath rive days affer, and
round lais sick friend much weaker. At the ter-
mination of a short interview, and on Duncon's
cxpressing his intention to rcturn at once to Gidding,
I[crbert spoke in slow, solcrnn words--
"Sir, I pray you give my brother Ferrar an account of the
decaying condition of lny body, and tell him 1 beg him to con-
tilme his daily prayers for me. And let hiln know that I have
consider'd that God Olfly is what He would be, and that I ana,
by His grace, become nov so like Him as to be pleased with
what pleaseth Him, and tell him that I do hOt repine at my
want of health; and tell him my heart is fixed on that place
where truc joy is only to be round, and that 1 long to be thcre,
and do wait for my appointcd change with hope and patience."
And hav[ng said this, he laid lais hand on a little
paper-covered book lying on his bed, and putting it
into Duncon's hands, with a sweet humility, and a
calm, thoughtful look, bowed his head, and pro-
ceeded
" Sir, I pray you deliver this little book to my dear brother
Ferrar, and tell him he shall find in it a picture of the many
spiritual conflicts that have past betwixt God and my soul,
bcfore I could subject naine to the will of Jesus my Master, in
whose service I have now round perfect freedom. Desire him
to read it, and then, if he can think it may turn to the advan-
rage of any dejected poor soul, let it be ruade publick ; if hOt,
let him burn it, for I and it are less than the least of God's
mercies."
IEM ERTOIq. 233
Solemnized, and affec.ted, charged with the com-
mission of thc dying servant of his God, bearing in
lais hands the manuscript of The Tcmlle--a treasure
of xvhich neither he knew then, nor the Church or
the world since has known, the value--Duncon de-
parted on his return to Gidding. But before he left
Bemcrton, Arthur Woodnoth, alarmed by serious
reports which reached him in London, hurried into
Wiltshire, and arriving at Bemerton, remained there
till Herbert died. Hcrbert lived about three xveeks
longer. It was now the second xveek in February
I632- 3 .
It added to ]3ishop Davenant's melancholy fore-
bodings and overpowering solicitudes, that the most
brilliant light in \Viltshire ",vas about to be
tinguisbed, that the best clergyman in lais distracted
diocese was about to die.
Charged with holding heterodox doctrine, Bishop
Davenant used to say that St. Augustine, Thomas
Aquinas, and Padre Paolo (the famous historian of
the Council of Trent) were on his side ; and (it was
said for him after his death) to them might be
added Hooker, \Vhitgift, Bancroft, Hall, Sanderson,
Beveridge, Horsley, the Articles of the Church of
England, and Fénélon.
Honoured and venerated by all parties, of his
learning, catholicity, bencvolence, personal holiness,
and of the exemplary discharge of his episcopal
duties, there can be no question.
]3ishop Davenant visits Herbert on his death-bed
234 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
--honoured, and appreciated, and desired exceed-
ingly, would these visits be. Such consolations of
Holy Scripture, such prayers, such blessings, wou]d
strengthcn him upon the bed of languishing; such
congenial ministrations would tcach each other how
to die. The 13ishop died in I64 a, uttering with his
last breath these words--
"Tantum relligio potuit suadere malorum."
During the last weeks of Herbert's life, Arthur
Woodnoth nevcr lcft him, and was witness of his
daily dccay, until he closcd lais eyes in death. As
at intcrvals he spoke, and often, as lais strcngth
allowed, though in short, broken sentences, it was
natural lais fiiend should take notcs, and record, and
treasure up his last words
"I now look back upon the pleasures of my life past, and see
the content I bave taken in beauty, in wit, and musick, and
pleasant conversat!on : how they are now ail past by me like a
dream, or as a shadbw that returns hOt, and are ail become
dead to me, or I to them."
"I see that as my father and generation bath done before
me, so I also shall now suddenly (with Job) 'make my bed also
in the dark,' and I praise God, I ara prepar'd for it; and I
praise Him that I ara hot to learn patience now I stand in
such need of it, and that I bave practised mortification, and
endeavour'd to die dayly that I might hot die eternally."
"My hope is that I shall shortly leave this valley of tears,
and be free from ail fevers and pain ; and which will be a more
happy condition, I shall be free from sin, and all the temp-
rations and anxieties that attend it ; and this being past, I shall
dwell in the new Jerusalem, dvell there with men ruade perfect,
.dvell where these eyes shall see my Master and Saviour Jesus,
and vith Him see my dear mother, and relations, and friends."
"t3ut I must dye, or hot corne to that happy place. And
this is my content, that I aih going daily towards it, and that
BEMERTON. 235
every day that I bave liv'd bath taken a part of my appointed
rime from lne, and that I shall lire the less time for having liv'd
this, and the day past."
These, and like expressions, he uttered offcn.
They may be said tobe his enjoyment of" heaven
bcfore he enjoyed it.
The short and gloomy days of" February pass on.
The Rector stills survives. I-le lies and hears the little
tinkling bell of" the chapel; and still the Curate
/ninister the Daily Morning and Evening l'rayer;
and Mrs. Herbert, and Magdalen and Kate Vaughan,
and _&rthur Woodnoth, and the nurse, and servants
(Elizabeth, and Ann, and Margaret, and Sarah) in
turn, and William the gardener, and the people in the
villages, and occasionally, it may be, some of the
noble family from Wilton House, and clcrgy ri-oto
the parishes around, all awed by the shadow of
death hovering over Chapel and home, corne as
they can; and as he is too ill to bear visits in his
bedroom from them all, they enter into the little
sanctuary, and bend the knce, and say the " Praycr
for a Sick Person when there appcareth small hope
of Recovery," and the " Commendatory Prayer for a
Sick Person at the Point of Departure."
On the Sunday before his death he rose suddcnly
from his bed, and asking for his lute, took it into his
hand, and said
« My God, my God,
My musick shall find Thee,
And every string
Shall bave his attribute to sing."
236 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
Thon, having tuncd the instrument, he played and
sang his own hynm on "Sunday "--
« The Sundayes of lnan's lire,
Thredded together on Time's string,
Make bracelets to adorn the wife
Of the eternal, glorious King :
« On Sundayes hea'en's dore stands ope ;
Blessings are plentifid and rire,
More plentifid than hope."
Thus he continucd meditating, and praying, and
singing, and rejoicing until the day of his death.
On the day he died, pale, and sunken in face, and
reduced in his bodily frame to the very extremity of
debility, his spirit calm, his thoughts collected, he
lay silent a while (as his custom was), and as they
listened, they heard him murmur--and pause--and
speak again, as in pulses
" I am sorry I have nothing to present to my mercifid God,
but sin and miser3; But the first is pardoned--and a few
hours voill now put a period to the latter--for I shall suddenly
go hence, and be no more seen."
Arthur Woodnoth whispered that God was not
unrighteous to forget his labours of love, as in restor-
ing Leighton and the other churches, and in the
many acts of mercy he had donc for his Master's
sake. He made answer: "They be good works if
they be sprinkled with the Blood of Christ ; but not
otherwise."
After a while he became very restless. His soul
seemed weary of being forced to abide so long in its
earthly tabernacle. His pain increased, and as his
wife and nieces stood weeping round his bed, with
BEMERTON--VALDESSO. 2 3 7
lais friend and Curate, (sympathizing with sufferings
xvhich they could hot alleviate, and looking on that
face which they could hOt behold much longer,) a
paroxysm seized and shook hil'fl ; lais form trembled
with agony; he looked dismayed, and could scarcely
breathe, a/_rld when lais wife, in agitation and alarm,
anxiously inquired what xvas the cause of the con-
vulsion, he said, "I have passcd a conflict xvith my
last enemy, and bave overcome him by thc mcrits of
my Master Jcsus." 1
Exhausted under this trial, he remained solale rime
silcnt, with his eyes closed, till hearing lais wife and
the girls sobbing and crying immoderately, he lookçd
up and said, "Jane, and my children, I calmot endure
your tears; if you love me, go into the ncxt room,
and pray evcry one alone for me; for nothing but
your lamentations will make my death uncomfortable."
« To which request"
(says \Valton, in tender words)
"their sighs and tears would hot surfer them to make any reply ;
but they yielded him a sad obedience, leaving only with him
Mr. Woodnoth and Mr. Bostocke."
Of the death-bed of a saint, of later date, it is related--
"She replied--'Yes--it is heaven! It is magnificent.' She
stopped. The light of her eyes faded. A cold, grey hue over-
spread her face. A look of unutterable horror clenched her
lips; her brows contracted ; ber eyes half closed, and glanced
quiveringly sideways, as though dreading, )'et being obliged to
meet, some terrible objcct. Thank God ! the distortion l,asted
but an instant. Turning her head slowly, with a dignified ex-
pression, she said, in a voice imperial in its firmness, regal in
its triumph---' Get thee--behind me--Satan.'"
238 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
As soon as they had lcff him, he said to Nath.
Bostocke, " Pray, sir, open that door, then look into
that cabinet, in which you may easily find my last
will, and put it into my hand." He did so, and
Herbert took the will, and delivered it into the hand
of Arthur \Voodlmth, saying--
" My old friend, I hem deliver you my last will, in which you
will find that I have ruade you my sole executor for the good of
lny wife and neeces ; and I dcsire you to shew kindness to them,
as they shall need it. I do not desirc you to be just, for I know
you will be so for your own sake. But I charge you by the
religion of out friendship, to be careful of them."
His good fi-iend solemnly promised that he would
faithfiflly execute all his wishes to the utterrnost of
his power. Then said he, "I ara now ready to die."
Then a pause, and then the last words" Lord, for-
sake me hot, now my strength faileth me."" Lord,
grant me mercy, for the merits of my Jesus."" And
now, Lord, receive my soul."
"And with those words he breathed forth his divine soul
without any apparent disturbance, Mr. Woodnot and lXlr.
Bostock attending his last breath, and closing his eyes."
He died on Friday, February 24th, I632- 3.
The funeral took place at ]3emerton on the Saturday
week following. As he wished, he was sung into his
grave.
"He was buryed (according to his owne desire), with the
singing service for the buriall of the dead by the singing lnen of
Sarum. Dr. Lambroke (attorney) then assisted as a chorister
boy : my uncle, Th. Danvers, was at the funeral."--A.IBRE¥.
The neighbouring clergy bore the coffin.
BEMERTON. 239
Dr. I Iumpht-ey Henchman, when Bishop of London,
si»eaking of tterbert, said to \Valton--"I laid my
hand on Mr. Herbert's head, and, Mas! within less
than three years, lent my shoulder to carry my dear
friend to his grave."
« He lyes in the chancell (of Bemerton Church) under no
large, nor yet very good marble grave-stone, without any
inscription."
The stone is a slab of Purbeck marble, and, it is
said, once bore a cross, but the surface is now so
much decayed, it cannot be detccted.
Herbert's burial is thus entered in the Register--
«Mr. George Herbert, Esq., Parson of Fuggleston and
Bclnerton, was buried 3 day of March, 632."
Jane Herbert "continued his disconsolate widow
about six years, till time and conversation had so
moderated her sorrows, that she became the happy
wife of Sir Robert Cook, of Highnam, in the county
of Gloucester" (\Valton). By ber he had three sons,
who all died young, and one daughter, Jane. He
died in I643. She lived twenty years in her second
widowhood, died in 1663, and was buried at Highnmn,
in a private burying-ground attached to the chapel
of Highnam Court, afterwards desecrated, and now
included in the lawn.
Herbert left many papers, both in lïnglish and
Latin, all which, by his will, passed into his widow's
possession, and which she intended to make public
240 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERI3ERT
as Walton supposed. But let us hear what Aubrey
says, who was better able than Walton to ascertain
the truth on this point.
" He also writt a folio in Latin, w ch because the parson of
Highnam (chaplain of Highnam Court) could hot read, his
widowe, (then wife to Sr Robert Ceoke,) condemned to the uses
of good houswifry. This account I had from Mr. Arnold Cooke,
one of S r Robert Cooke's sonnes, whom I desired to ask his
mother-in-law (stepmother)for Mr. G. Herbert's MSS."
"'Tis pitie," exclMms the indignant chronicler,
"that those papers should fall into the merciless
hands of women, and be put under pies."
With whatever writings of her husband's she had
preserved, she must have taken also his books and his
pictureto Highnam Court. /kmongst the books which
Herbert most highl¥ valued, would be the Harmony
in folio which Ferrar had sent him. This and ever¥
other memorial of him left at Highnam, perished
in the flames, when the house was plundered and
burnt by the Parliamentarian troops, in 645.
The l'ricst to the Te¢tqle xvas published in I652.
Woodnoth entrusted the manuscript to .A_rchdeacon
Oley, who put it into the hands of Edmund Duncon
«This good man (writes Oley) transmitted it freely to the
stationer who first printed it, merely upon design to benefit the
clergie, and in them the Church of England."
Oley wrote the "Prefatory View" prefixed to the
first edition in 652.
Ednund Duncon, Rector of Friern Barnct in 1652 ,
BEMERTON. 24I
died in I673, aged seventy-two; on a tablet to his
memory, affixed to the east wall of the cht, rch, are
the lines--
" Dormit in hoc tumulo fidelis Pastor Jesus,
Cujus Mors docuit Vivere, Vita Mori."
I{ EBERT'S XVILL.
I terbert's will was proved in the Prcrogative Court
of Canterbury, in London, by Arthur XVoodnoth,
on Match 2, 1632-3 .
The testator commends his soul and body to
Almighty God that made them, and thus disposes of
his goods.
He leavcs lais money, books, and household stuff to
lais wife. He bequeaths--
To the poor of the parish, £2o.
,, Mr. Hays, the Comment of Lucas 13rugensis upon the
Scripture, and his half-year's wages aforehand.
,, Mr. Bostocke, St. Augustine's works, and his half-year's
wages aforehand.
,, Elizabeth, her double wages and three pounds.
,, Ann, thirty shillings.
,, Margaret, twenty shillings.
,, William, twenty nobles.
,, John, twenty shillings.
,, Sara, thirteen shillings and fourpence.
All over a,td above lheir waffes.
He appoints Arthur Woodnoth sole executor, to
whom he bequeaths twenty pounds, fifteen of which
Q
242 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
are to be bestowed on Leighton Church, and rive are
for himself. I[e requests that Sir John Danvers will
be pleased to act as overseer of his will.
The witnesses are Nathaniel Bostockeand Elizabeth
Burden.
He appends to his will a list of his deceased niece's
legacies.
Dorothy Vaughan had become possessed of the
right to £7oo, in the hands of Mr. Thotnas Lawley,
a merchant of London ; and this sure of £7oo she
left to her uncle, George Herbert, subject to the
payment of the following legacies
£
To her Sister, Magdalen Vaughan ...... oo
,, her Sister, Catharine Vaughan ...... oo
,, Mr. George Herbert ......... oo
,, Mrs. Beatrice Herberl: ......... 40
, Mrs. Jane Iterbert ......... o
,, Mrs. Danvers ............ 5
,, Amy Danvers ............
,, Mrs. Arme Danvers .........
,, ,, Mary I)anvers .........
,, ,, Michel ......... ...
,, , ElizabethDanvers(Mr. Henry Danvers'wife)
,, thê Poor of the parish ......... 20
,, My Lord of Cherbury ......... o
,, Mr. Bostocke ............ 2
,, Elizabeth Burden ............
,, Mary Gifford ............ o
,, Arme Hibbert ............ o
,, \Villiam Scuce ............
,, Mrs. Judith Spenccr ......... 5
,, Mary Owens ............ 2
,, Mrs. Mary Lawly ............ 2
,, Mr. Gardener ............ o
o o
o o
o o
o o
o o
o o
1o o
o o
o o
o o
o o
o o
o o
o o
lo o
IO o
1o o
o o
o o
o o
1o o
o o
Io o
BEMERTON. -"43
Herbert's will, a holograph, is preserved ii1 the strong
room of the Probate Registry, Somcrset 1ïIouse,
London. It is writtcn on two pages of a small-sized
folio sheet of paper, bronzed with age. The first
part is written carefulIy, as was his wont, the latter
part imperfectly and hurriedly, as though the writer
had been weak and tired. It is hot dated; but a
subscription affirms the date of proof.
It is a solemn reflection that this will is the identical
document which Hcrbert held in his hands a few
minutes before his death, which he delivered to
A.rthur XVoodnoth, which is all in lais handwriting,
and which may be now seen and handled by devout
loyers of Itcrbert, exactly as he wrote it, two hundrcd
and sixty years ago.
H ERP, ET'S PICTURE.
There must have been a portrait of tlcrbert at
Bemerton, as he speaks in his poems of his picture.
This would be a full-sized oil-painting.
« This on my ring,
This by lny picture, in my book I write :
' Lesse then the least
Of all Thy mercies is my posie still.' "--The Posle.
This picture probably was taken by Lady Cool,:
to her new home at Highnam, where it might have
perished in the flames, when the Court was fired by
the rebels.
Vandyke was knighted by Charles I., in I632, while
Herbert was at Bemerton. _As Vilton House was
ADDENDA--Note l.
244 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
crowdcd with portraits by this great toaster (it was
said thcre wcre more Vandykes at XVilton than in all
the other gallcries of the vorld together), many of
thcm mght have been paitated at \Vilton House vhile
Vandyke was residing there, atd George Herbert's
might have becn amongst them. That unique ad
spledid collection was sold to meet the necessities
of Philip Herbert, the Fifth Earl. If Herbert's
portrait xvere at XVilton, it went xvith the test.
There is a portrait somewhere, floating on society,
(vllich has bee lately sceau,) beautifully painted,
xvith arched ose, full grey eye, dark hair and dress,
collar atd tassel tie, on panel, xvith the naine, "Mr.
Herbert," on the back. This may be the Vandyke,
wbich is supposed to have been sold at Wilto ; or it
may be the ]3emerton paitating (also a Vandyke),
saved (if any treasure could be saved) by loving
lands, at tbe demolition of Highnam.
No picture of George Herbert could be round for
Exhibition i the National Portrait Gallery in i867.
There is, in Salisbury, a portrait, a small oval,
(said to be of Herbert,) in private hands. It is
drawn with most exquisite softtess ad finish on
parchment or vellum, xvith blacklead pencil, evidently
by a toaster hand. It bears the naine of Robert
White. It may be accepted as his genuine vork.
Robert White was born in Lodon, in 645 ; he
became very distinguished for his portraits, which he
engraved on copper, from the lire, with remarkable
delicacy and fidelity. He was no less celebrated for
BElXIERTON. 245
his portraits in lead-pencil on vellum, xvhich he also
engraved on plates. He had a most wonderful power
of fixing the expression of a face. ttis pictures are
much valued in this day, and realize such high prices
that it has been said they are enough to stir him in
his grave.
In the first edition of Walton's Lire of t[erbo't,
67o , there is a portrait, engraved by R. White.
The engraving, in all probability, is taken from the
Salisbury portrait, which has descended from Isaac
Walton, was once in his hands, was engraved by
R. White at his request, and is thus endorsed by him
as authentic.
The present possessor of the Salisbury portrait
rcceived it from a relative who once lived in the
family of the Rev. Itenry Hawes, Rector of Foul-
stone-cum-Bemerton, who gave a portrait of Isaac
Walton, by Huysman, to the National Gallery. I[awes
married the eldest daughter of William Hawkins, of
the Close, Sarum, who was a son of Dr. \V. Hawkins,
Prebendary of Winchester, and Arme, daughter of
Isaac Walton. Thus are traced the history and
warranty of the Salisbury portrait.
There is another portrait, published in the Lcisrre
//o1" for July I873, of exceedingly pleasant expres-
sion, taken from an engraving of which nothing is
known. Both these pictures look to the dexter.
There is yet another portrait of Herbert, xvhich
bears mark of originality. It is a fine copper-plate,
looking to the sinister, in an oval, under a garland
24( TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HER]3ERT.
of wheat-ears, ticd with a ribbon. To th[s is the
subscription--
Rev. GEO. HERBERT, A.13.,
Author of the l?ivi« P«wms, etc.
It bears no engravcr's naine. It first appeared in
the GoseL f««t7[e, pub. 779.
The question may yct bc asked,--If, as [t seems
probable, all these engravins had their origin from
White's pencil-drawings, from what original painting
did White male his draft ?
White, born in 1645, never sav Herbert, xvho d[ed
in I633. The portrait of Herbert (painted by Van-
dyke or other), once in his study at Bemerton, and
aftetnvards in his wife's possession, might have bee
entrusted by her to .Valton, and by him to Vh[te to
be engraved. Or perhaps the .Vilton painting was
the original from vhich .Vhite worked.
]3ut ail this is mere conjecture.
The presert J3ishop of Salisbury bas a portrait
which he bought at a sale at Amesbury on the Plain;
it is in oils, on canvas, and bears the inscription on
the back
" REV. G. HERBERT 64. »
The authorities of the British lXuseum thought it
vcak in art.
1 ADDENDA.--Note J.
CI/AI'TER XV.
NICtIOLAS FERRAR--VlRGINIAN PLANTATION.
\VALKELINE DE FERRARIIS came into England
xvith William the Conqueror. To Henry de Ferrariis,
the second of the naine, William granted many goodly
lordships. The family threw out man)," branches.
Some were ennobled, some founded religious houses.
Nicholas Ferrar, senior, a vealthy merchant of
London, married Mary Wodenoth, or \Voodnoth, of
an ancient Cheshire house. Nicholas Ferrar, junior,
of blessed memory, was their third son, born Feb.
2, 592-3 ; and born again of vater and the Holy
Ghost, on Feb. 28, a day he ever esteemed as more
honourable than the day of his birth.
Nicholas Ferrar, the father, carried his commercial
enterprizes ti3 the East and West Indies, and to the
chier trading ports in the xvorld. He xvas associated
with Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, Sir \Valter
Raleigh, Sir Thomas and Hugh Middleton, and other
great spirits of the day, in their daring enterprises
by land and sea ; and as a man of deeply religious
nature, it was ever his aire that God should be highly
248 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE tlERBERT.
honoured in all his mercantile speculations ; and that
whenever a door was set open in heathen lands,
thereat the Church should enter, and take possession
of the country in the naine of the Lord.
Under spiritual parents, environed by all sacred
associations, young Nicholas grev in the grace of
holy childhood. At the age of six or seven he xvas
confirmed ; and without the knowledge of lais friends,
presented himself a second time before the Bishop,
and was confirmed again.
One night he was much troubled in mind, and
could hot rest; he arose, and went down to the
garden, and kneeling on the grass, entreated God,
with all a child's sincerity, to grant him the truc fear
of His Naine, and to teach him the knowledge of His
Will. Sweet consolations floxved into his innocent
soul that night, so that, to the end of life, he used to
say, that then God promised to keep him ever under
the impulses of the Holy Spirit ; and he, on his part,
promised to serve God, heart and soul, all his days.
Especially the child loved the Holy Bible. "The
Bible "(writes his brother)," was the book in the world
to him dear and precious." His mind was a store-
house oftexts, psalms, and hymns, which lais memory
held so fast, that they ministered to him spiritual
pabulum, when, afterwards, he travelled much, had
little leisure to read, and suffered long sicknesses in
foreign lands. In his fourteenth year, x6o6, he was
admitted at Clare Hall, Cambridge, of which College
_Augustin Linsell (afterwards Bishop of Hereford)
NICIIOLAS FERRARmVIRGINIAN PLANTATION. 249
vas tutor, who in a short time, astonished at his rapt
rcligious nature, lais encrgy in study, and lais intcl-
lcctual ability, exclailned--
"God keep him in a right mind ! for if he should turn schis-
matie or hcretic, he would make work for ail the world. »
From a child he never vas in perfect health, and
at Cambridge he suffered much from agues, a kind of
intermittent fcvcr, accompanied with cold fits and
shivcring. For change of air, he oftcn rode to Bournc,
nine mlles from Cambridge, where lais sister Susannah,
lnarricd to Jolm Collctt, resided ; and thcre assistcd
in the education of hcr large family, to whom through
life lac provcd a spiritual fathcr, and who aftcrwards
nobly repaid him by thcir faithful adhcsion to him at
Gidding.
It must havc becn sickness indeed which kept him
in his bed while the rive a.lJl, bell was ringing for
praycrs in the College chapel, and it was said his
rooms might be known by the first candle lighted in
the morning, and the last put out at night.
While Ferrar vas at Clare Hall, George Herbert
came up to Cambridge. They were nearly of the
same age---both born in 1592- 3. Ferrar entered Clare
Hall in 16o6; Herbert, Trinity Collcge, in 16o8- 9.
Ferrar lcft Cambridge in 1613. They parted--but
though their paths in aftcr life lay far divergcnt, and
it is confidcntly stated that they never looked on
each othcr's faces again but once, in their wholc lives,
a noble fricndship, begun thus early, vas sustaincd
250 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
and cemented by regular correspondence, and as time
flowed on was deepened by mutual affection, and
kindred religious sympathies, till, twenty years after,
Herbert, ff-oto his death-bcd at Bemerton, committed
The Temple into Ferrar's care; and Ferrar, from his
holy retreat at Gidding, sent forth The T«»t2le on its
spiritual mission throughout the world.
As Ferrar's health did not improve at Cambridge,
he was recommended to cease all study, and spend
some months in foreign travel.
Before he left Cambridge he wrote to his parents--
"There is nothing more certain than death, nor more uncer-
tain than the time vhet; if God keep me hot, I knmv death
will entrap me in some of the dangers to which I shall now
hazard myself. If the good Lord God be merciful to me, and
bring me safe home again, I will all the days of my life praise
His holy Naine, and exhort others ; yea, in His holy sanctuary
will I serve Him, and shall account the lowest place in His
bouse more honourable than the greatest crown in the world.
If Goal take me from you now, be of good comfort, and be hot
grieved at my death, which I undoubtedly hope shall be to me
the beginning of eternal happiness ; and I shall be delivered
from those continual combats and temptations which afflict my
poor souk Goal will preserve me to the end, I know, and give
me grace that I shall lire in His faith, and die in His fear, and
rise in His power, and reign in His glory."
Ferrar left England, in 63, in the suite of the
t'rincess ZElizabeth, landed at Flushing, travelled on
through Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Leipsig, to
Vienna and other towns, and then bent his course
towards Italy. But as the plague was prevailing in
some ofthe German States, he was put into quarantine ;
and as it happened to be during the forty days of
NICHOLAS FERRAR--VIRG1NIAN PLANTATION. 25!
Lent, he ruade it a time of extra religious lnortification,
though he was ever most temperate in food, and
abstained from all wine and strong liquor. He used
to ascend a mountain covered with thyme and rose-
mary, and there, with a book or two, he met his God
in the closest wals of his mind. To serve and please
his Maker was the travail of his soul ; and he needed
hot many books, who had the New Testament, in a
manner, by heart, tIaviug spent the day in rcading,
mcditation, and prayer, hc camc down in the evening
to an early supper of fish and oil.
_As he was travelling over tle _Alps by a narrow
pass, which wound round the projecting precipices,
an ass, that had broken ff'oto its driver, came rushing
down a decline, laden with a log of tituber, and
threatened to sweep him and his mule into the abyss.
He instantly called aloud upon God for preservation,
when "the ass tripled, and the log swayed, and he
passed lu safety. He alighted from his mule, fell fiat
on the rock, aud ruade a devout acknowledgment of
God's mercy, while the guide and driver looked on in
amazemen% crossing themselves fervently, and crying,
"27Iir«colo .t th'acolo .t "
While at Cambridge he had studied medicine,
and had been elected to the Physic Fellowship at
Clare Hall, vhich he still held; and his simple
lharmacopceia, and his habit of rigid abstinence, did
him good service in combating and conquering a
furious fever, which assailed him at Padua. Here,
in I615, among the crowd of students of every
252 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
civilized nationality, he noticed a pale-faced stranger
desperately rnelancholy, whom he addressed in sym-
pathizing tones, and round hirn to be a young English
gentlernan, who had, unhappily, killed his antagonist
in a duel, and was so taunted by his sin, and hunted
by his conscience, that he had fled from home, and
was running he knew hot whither. It was a good
hour for this man of the lacerated soul when he rnct
his syrnpathetic countryrnan. Ferrar brought him
to his knees, to his Bible, and to his God; and so
faithfully applied the promises and cornforts of the
Cross, that the sad heart had faith to be healed,
and the wan face smiled with the assurance of
pardon.
Having visited Rorne and Venice, he xvent to lIar-
seilles, where he was again laid low in lever, travelled
through Spain on foot, took ship at St. Sebastian,
and landing safe at ]3over, knelt on the sand, and
rendcred thanks to God for His abounding mercies.
He had been absent about rive years ; and brought
home a far better constitution than he had carried
abroad. He was in his twenty-sixth year.
During his travels he had rnade himself toaster
of the Dutch, German, French, Italian, and Spanish
languages, had acutely scrutinized the laws, custorns,
and policy of the nations; had observed with a
watchful and critical eye the services, ritual, and
dogrnas of the Churches and Sects, and returned to
his native land with the absolute conviction that the
forrn of Government and the constitution of England
NICHOLAS FERRAR--VIRGINIAN PLANTATION. 253
werc the best thc world has ever scen ; and that thc
Clmrch of England was the croxvn and jcwel of ail
thc Churches.
In lais journeys he had accumulated a vast store
of books of poetry, history, and general literature in
various languages; but the treasures which he most
valued were books and manuscripts chiefly on the
Spiritual Life, xvith rare and precious paintings, illu-
minations, and prints on Scripture subjccts.
TtlE PLANTATION IN VIRGINIA.
The hospitable mansion of the Ferrars in London
had welcomed, for many months, a large number of
the leading men in England, statesmen, clergy,
soldiers, sailors, citizens, in prolonged and anxious
deliberations on the expediency, the duty, the
necessity, of founding an English colony" in the
Western \Vorld. As the project unfolded itself, the
eyes of ail looked towards a district on the east coast
of the new Continent, discovered by" Sir .Valter
Raleigh, and named by him, Virginia, in honour of
Queen Elizabeth.
It was a grand design, and worthy of the noble
souls who gave it birthmto open to the merchants of
England the unknown wealth of a new world; to
furnish employment for the younger sons of English
families ; but, above ail, to plant the Gospel among
the swarming Indian populations, who had never
heard the name of the Lord Jesus.
254 TtlE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
In I606, a charter was obtained from King James
I., and a company constituted, under the title of the
« Governour and Corporation of the Colony of
Virginia"; in truth (and so intended from the rirst)
to be an advanced missionary outpost of the Church
of England--money was left by xvill, and endowmcnts
vere lodgcd with the Company, "for «r«asilzff
]«iJdom of or Lotit ad Sa'iour esz«s Christ." The
very words of the patent were that the undertaking
now entered on-
"... lnay, by the providence of God, hereafter tend to the
glory of the Divine Majesty, in propagating the Christian
Religion to such people as yêt lived in darkness, and miserable
ignorance of the truc knowledge and worship of God."
The first detachment of colonists landed on the coast
of North _A_merica on _A_pril 26, 6o7, accompanied by
a brave, holy chaplain, the Rev. Robert Hunt, who,
as soon as a small congregation could be gathcred
together, administered Holy Communion on the shore.
On the bank of a river they raised a few huts, (with
a thatched Church in the midst,) which they dignified
by the naine of James Tovn, and proceeded to
cultivate the land.
But unexpected evils presented themselves. They
had to defend their settlement from the treachery and
hostility of the Indians on every side ; they suffered
grievously from sickness, rires, and vant of food ; and
so pressing xvere their necessitics, and so hopeless
their condition, that in 6Io they determined to break
up the.colony and return to England.
NICIIOLAS FERRAR--VIRGINIAN PLANTATION. 255
Just as they xvere oll the point of setting sail, a
convoy arrived from England ; they returned to their
abandoned Church to thank God for His Providence ;
re-occupied their houses, worled their plantations
with renewed courage; and be;.ng largely reifforced
by frcsh immigralts, plallted a nev settlelnet, called
Henrico, on the opposite side of the river, and nov
started, as it seemed, on a career of peace and
prosperity.
The enterprise was gencrousl)r supported in
England, and the settlement, xvhich included the
Somers Islands (afterwards called the I3ermudas),
ruade such satisfactory progress on Christian lines,
that it promised to become a pioneer of the Church
for the conversion of the Western H.emisphere.
Clergy" were sent out ; schools endowed ; Churches
built ; Bibles and books provided ; and a college was
founded, for the support of which the Corporation set
apart Io,ooo acres of land.
A constitution was drafted for the colony, on a
solid and liberal basis ; it guaranteed a representative
Council, independent of the Corporation in England,
xvith liberty in religious organization, in trade, in
laws ; and equal civil rights with all Englishmen.
"The London company merits the fame of having acted as
the successful friend of liberty in America : it reflects glory on
the Earl of Southampton, Sir Edwin Sandys, and the patriot
party of England, who, unable to establish guaranties of a liberal
administration at home, were careful to connect popular freedom
so intimately with the lire, prosperity, and state of society in
Virginia, that they rever could be separated."--BANCROFT,
Ht:sl. Utit. States.
256
TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
When young Ferrar returned to London, he round
the Court of thc Virginian Company meeting weekly
in the large hall of his fathcr's house; and, being
there introduced to Sir Edwin Sandys, the very soul
of the noble scheme, to the Marquis of Hamilton, the
Earls of Southampton and Pembroke, the arch-
bishops and bishops, noblemen and merchants, and
other energetic members, his spirit was fired with
enthusiasm, and he entered ardently into an under-
taking so congenial to his religious nature; as he
saw with an eagle eye the possibility, hOt only of
founding another England in another world, but of
bringing in a whole continent into the Kingdom of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The ability and practical sense of young Ferrar
xvere soon detected ; he was elected on the Committee,
and shortly became their secretary. He was now in
his element. He inspired the proceedings of the
Court with something of his own earnestness and zeal ;
suggested beneficial changes for the comforts of the
settlers ; advised more generous grants of land ; sent
out ships in larger numbers, and better victualled;
established free schools; and took care that clergy
and teachers should accompany each party of
emigrants, and lay out each district after the model
of an English parish.
One of the chaplains, named .Vhitaker, laboured so
strenuously, that Ferrar designated him the "Apostle
of Virginia."
It was the year I6I 9. Ferrar rather wished to
NICItOLAS FERRAR--VIRGINIAN PLANTATION. 257
return to Cambridge, as up to this time he retained
his felloxvship ; he was offcred also the l'rofessorship
of Geometry in Gresham College; but the urgent
entreaties of his parents and friends induced him to
remain in London, and hold himself unfettered for
his great duties in the Virginian Court.
In April 162o, Nicholas Ferrar, senior, died. He
left £3oo towards founding a College in Bermuda for
the education of the Indian converts. The sons had
given grants of land for schools ; and if the Virginian
Plantation had continued under the Company's control,
Nicholas Ferrar would probably have taken Holy
Orders, and have gone out to Virginia, to ministcr to
the colonists, as vell as to be a missionary to the
heathen. The Church, planted in ail its integrity,
would have grown up xvith the colony ; Ferrar, in due
time, would have been consecrated first 13ishop of
Virginia ; he vould have founded a colonial hierarchy,
and so multiplied diocesan and parochial mechanisms,
that the Church would have met the immigrants on
their arrival at their nexv home with the open arms
of a Christian welcome ; with unimpeachable, evan-
gelical teaching ; with that liberty of Church order
in which the Virginian Court acquiesced, and which
the irritable and irritated temper of the seventeenth
century demanded ; so that even the Puritans, noxv in
so great numbers, fleeing across the Atlantic from a
Church and government xvhich had no sympathy vith
them, might have taken shelter under the broader
shadow of the Church in America, might have grown
258 THE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERTo
in her care and love, and might thus have saved the
savage, and shamefid, and needless sunderance of
the young Republic from thc Church and people of
the Fathcrland.
/k lIr. Copeland is mentioned by naine as doing
grand work in the Somers Islands, with whom Ferrar
frequently conferred on the best means of evangelizing
the people.
But the next mail from _America brought terrible
tidings. The Indians, jealous of the increasing numbcr
of the English colonists, though living among them as
fliends, attacked Henrico on the night of Friday,
Match 22, 62o, and relentlessly" massacred every soul
they could find, to the number of 340. This was an
awful blow to the colony. But it rose calmly" and
quickly from the crushing catastrophe, as with
augmented energy, and, protected by a cordon of
forts, it drove the Indians into the distant prairies,
and threw out new plantations on every side.
_A heavier calamity, charged with fatal consequences,
was ready-to rail. Spain took alarm at the rapid
growth of the new colony, established, in such a rich
soil, under the chartcr of the King of England ;
directed by eminent and potential men; and evi-
dently, though under such admirable administration,
yet professing and practising a semi-republican policy.
t3esides, it brought England too near to the Spanish
colonies in the West Indies and Mexico. Gondomar,
the Spanish ambassador, received instructions from
his King to use his great influence in the English
NICIIOLAS FERRAR--VIRGINIAN PLANTATION. 259
Court by inflaming the mind of King James agailst
the Virginian coloy; to is[nuatc into his car (too
ready to listen) that they were founding, undcr his
sanction, a veritable republic in _America; and
that the Virginian Company in England was but a
seminary for a seditious parliament. The Court
was flcoded w[th Spanish gold, which was ravenously
swallowed by English statesmen, and a dark Spanish
faction closed round the English throne. James's
suspicions and jealousies were thoroughly aroused,
and though he was well aware that hundreds of the
best and noblest men in the land, and the chier
companies in the kingdom, were, by a legal incor-
poration, engaged in one of the most magnificent
adventures the world had ever seen, in his caprice
and pusillanimity he abandoned their cause, and
watched for an opportunity to annul their patent.
Just at this rime, too, in an evil hour, began the
negotiat[ons for the Spanish match, the marriage
of Prince Charles with the Infanta of Spain, which
rendered the Kig and Prince more hostile tha
be'ore ; for Gondemar represented to James, that as
long as the llantation exlsted, while the interests
of his toaster vere so seriously imperilled, and his
protests rejected; while soldiers were sent out to
-America, and privateers, no better than pirates,
infested the seas, flying the English flag, no further
propositions in reference to the marriage could be
entertained at Madrid.
_At a special Court, in I622, Ferrar was appointed
260 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Deputy Governor of the Virginian Company; and,
harassed and persecuted by the enemies of the cause,
ail his energies and abilities were called into exercise
to compete with the formidable opposition arrayed
against them. He was dragged again and again to
defcnd the Company before the Privy Council. The
Lord Treasurer, Cranfield, a paid creature of Spain,
told him hotly "that his interest and advice might
prevail vith the Company to lay dovn the patent ";
to whom he replied in dignified words--
"A very considerable nulnber of the English nobility and
gentry, besides all the planters, were engaged upon the Royal
word, under the troad Seal : they had ventured their estates,
and many of them their lives, upon the most religious account,
and the most honourable action in its kind that England ever
undertook ; that nov they had brought the plantation, if not to
perfection, yet into a very flourishing condition."
In I69 the colonists amounted to 6o0 ; within three
years they reached 3500. But the cabal, weighted
heavily vith Spanish pistoles, and supported by the
undisguised sympathy of the King and Prince, was
too strong. James believed Cranfield, that under his
government the colony would yield a larger revenue
to the Crown. The Crown lawyers were said to have
detected a flav in the patent; the Court had ex-
ceeded its powers in appointing a Governor; and
the sentence of the t,[ing's ]3ench was that the
charter of the company of English merchants trading
to Virginia was null and void. James at once can-
celled the patent under the Great Seal.
Thus the doom of Virginia was sealed. Thus a
NICHOLAS FERRAR--VIRGINIAN PLANTATION. 26I
Continent was lost to England; and thus was
blighted that splendid experiment, xvhich promised
so tnuch for the glory of the British Empire, and
furnished an opportunity of colonizing a continent
on principles of justice, religion, and liberty. But a
door into a new world was now set wide open, colonies
settled all along the American seaboard, and far into
the interior, in rapid succession, and immigrants pourcd
in by thousands from all parts of Europe.
Alter the return of Prince Charles, baftled irl his
matrilnonial speculations, the feverish intrigues excited
by the emissaries of Spain cooled and subsided, and
a current of counter influences set in.
In the Parliament of 1624, in which Nicholas Ferrar
had a seat, the Lord Treasurer Cranfield, Earl of
Middlesex, was impeached on a charge of peculation.
Ferrar brought up the indictment in a speech of great
eloquence, which, it was said, gave the accused peer
his death-wound ; but he afterwards bitterly regretted
the severity of his arraignment, and " his too free
speeches against the will of his Prince." Cranfield
was deprived of his office, and degraded ; and both
Houses of Parliament (from the evidence which came
out on his trial) were so satisfied with the admirable
management of the Plantation, and of the advantages
which must accrue to England ffoto Virginia, as a
centre of commercial enterprize ; as a safety-valve for
the escape of the surplus population ; and as a military
station from which they might control the rapacity
of the Spaniard, that they were proceeding to re-
THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
establish the Company and colony by an Act of
Parliament, when a message reached them fron the
King that
"he had, and would take it into his serious consideration
and care, and by the next parliament they should all see it, he
would make it one of his rnasterpieces, as, he said, it »vell
deserved to be. »
Whether James sav his error, and in good faith
intended to issue a new patent, cannot be told, for
his death followed immediately; and forthwith the
Home Government of the day, at the point of the
bayonet, claimed the appointment of governors over
the several provinces; galled the settlers by vex-
atious imposts; framed codes of law on the frigid
imperial archetype, alien to the spirit and necessities
of a yomg people; and contemptuously rejected all
their appeals for a share in the Representation. The
Church was gagged and strangled: the cry of the
faithful for bishops and clergy disregarded; till in
the next century the fatal rupture came, and the
daughter drew the sword, and rose in ber indignant
might, and struck the mother, and swept ber armies,
and all ber civil and ecclesiastical polities, and every"
detested Britisher, off the face of the land.
Ferrar's public lire is closed: and he receives an
urgent sulnmons to hasten to the rescue of his family,
which through unexplained engagements of his eldest
brother John (though without any imputation on his
honour), had become involved in such responsibil[ties
NICHOLAS FERRAR--VIRGINIAN PLANTATION. 263
as threatened to overwhchn, and consume, the xvhole
estate; and it demanded all the wealth, visdom,
and experience of the younger brother to effect an
extrication and a just liquidation. After weeks of
umvearied effort, the threatened catastrophe vas
averted, and the estate, solvent and substantially un-
injured, discharged every obligation. The family were
so impressed with the conviction that nothing but the
grace of God, directiug the sagacity and vigour of
their good relative, could bave accomplished such a
deliverance, that, from that time, members of the
family used to meet on the last day of every month,
to join in a solemn thanksgiving for this mercy ; the
memorial of vhich vas regularly observed from the
year I625, long affer Ferrar's death in i637, till
September 1657.
In 1625 a grievous plague visited London, and the
next house being iufected, Ferrar removed his mother
to her daughter's house in Cambridgeshire, xvhile he
xvithdrew to Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire, a
manor xvhich his mother had purchased the year
belote, with a viexv of carrying into execution a project
of a remarkable character xvhich had long been rever-
ently revolved in the mind both of mother and son.
The parish of Little Gidding xvas very small, and
lay secluded, and had become depopulated, there
being in it only a large old manor-house falling into
ruins, a cottage, and a small Church, desecrated, and
used as a barn.
As soon as Mrs. Ferrar heard that her sons had
264 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
escaped the plague a,ad reached Gidding, she rode
over from Bourne, and being welcomed by thcm, who
knelt to receive her blessing, vas requested to enter
the house, and rest.
"Not so," said she, "yonder I see the Church : let us tïrst go
thither to give God thanks that He has brought me to this good
place, and has restored me my sons."
She vas told she could not enter the Church, as it
was fillcd with hay. But, as it was said of Monica,
St. Augustine's mothcr, that txvice a day she came to
the House of God, and would hot have omitted her
oblation at the altar, though a lion and dragon stood
in her path,--so this devout soul forced her xvay over
the obstacles, knelt, and prayed, and wept, and prayed
again, vithin the sacred precincts; and, on leaving,
ordered all the tradesmen employed in the repairs
of the mansion to cease working, and proceed im-
mediately to cleanse the Church ; nor would she leave
the spot till the work vas begun, and a partial
purification at once had been effected, vhen she
withdrev to the house (where there was scarcely one
dry room fit to receive her), protesting that since God
had redeemed her and her children from death, she
would give herself no rest till His House vas rendered
worthy of His service and honou'. It was the year
I626; Ferrar vas thirty-three years of age; his
mother seventy-three.
In about a month, the house being in sufficient
repair, the whole Collett family and other relatives
renoved to Gidding for thcir permanent home, forn-
NICtIOLAS FERRAR--VIRGINIAN PLANTATION. 265
ing a household of nearly thirty persons ; and as the
dreaded epidemic was extending all over the kingdom,
and it was rightly deemed a season of deep humilia-
tion, the minister of the next parish, Steeple Gidding,
said daily the Common Prayer and Litanies in the
restored Church, ever attended by a large and reverent
congregation; and these services were continued
through ail that unhealthy summer, and through the
long winter.
At Easter, I626, the plague having ceased, lIrs.
Ferrar returned to London to take final leave of
hcr home. During this sojourn, Ferrar, feeling he
ought to obtain the commission of the Church to
arm him with sufficient authority to carry out his
projected schemes, and upon the earnest persuasion
of his mother and friends, determined to enter upon
the Diaconate; and after a week of solemn religious
exercises, he was ordained in the early morning of
Trinity Sunday, by Dr. Laud, Bishop of St. David's,
in Henry VII.'s chapel, in Westminster Abbey, no
person being present but Dean Linsell, his old
Cambridge tutor, who, after the service, told the
Bishop he had laid his hands on the head of such a
man as he had never ordained before, or would ordain
again. In the evening he came to his mother, and
prayed her attention. He then drew out of his bosom
a roll of vellum, and read to her the solemn vow which
he had made to God--
"That since God had so often heard his humble petitions, and
had delivered him out of many lnOSt eminent dangers of soul
266 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
and body, and now lad brouglt his family out of most desperate
calamities, wlereinto they might bave fallen, if His mercy had
not been infinite, he slould nov set himself to serve Him"--I
and tben informed her of his ordination that morning.
His mother, some time silent, and tenderly weeping,
threv her arms round his neck, and devoutly blessed
him, praying God to grant him long lire, that he
might be filled with God's Holy Spirit more and more,
to His greater glory, and the good of her and her
family ; adding--
"I will also, by the help of God, set myself with more care
and diligence than ever to serve out good Lord God, as is all
our duties to do, in all we may."
When it became known in the Court and City that
Ferrar had taken Holy Orders, the Earl of Pembroke
and the Marquis of Hamilton, and other patrons,
offered him at once preferment, one saying that if he
would but corne and live in his house as his friend, he
would alIow him oo a year, only for his company.
These offers he courteously declined: his deter-
mination was, he said, to spend his lit'e, rime, and
talents in the spiritual oversight of his house; and
never to aire at any higher order in the minlstry.
I,ITTLE GIDDING.
Returning to Gidding in the grace of ordination,
and under the commission of the Church, Ferrar
" En ! cruore Tuo lotum
Tibi me jarn dedo roture."
NICItOLAS FERRAR--GIDDING. 2( 7
proceeded to put into execution the great design
which he and his mother had been so long devoutly
elaborating, viz. the founding of a Religious Com-
munity of both sexes, chiefly of the members of their
own large family, who should live together under
some monastic rule, in the pale and faith of the
Church of England, affer the model of the Christian
con-vents in their day of primitive purity and
picty.
But in refcrcnce to him--GEORGE HERP, ERT--
whose honoured naine is borne on the title-page of
this book, and in connection with the develop-
ment of Ferrar's project at Gidding, there
a very significant passage in Ferrar's lire by his
brothcr. Nicholas Ferrar, his mother, brother, and
family--
"considering that it was their part in some measure to shov
their more and more than thankfulness to God, and that in a
more than ordinary vay than was practised by most, in such
a lnanner as was pleasing to God, and agreeable to the doctrine
of the Church of England, and to the laws of the land--with the
advice, consent, and approbation of religious, grave, learned
divines, and among the rest upon the invitation of that vorthy
servant of Christ, Mr. George Herbert, his most entire friend
and brother (for so they styled each other),"
agreed to form the confratcrnity at Gidding IIall.
Ferrar's lire finds so prominent a place in this
volume onlv because he xvas intimately connected
with George Herbert; but that connection assumes
a character of far intenser interest if it appears that
Herbert was the ruling spirit in influencing and
268 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
encouraging Ferrar in his proposed undeltaking. He
acted (says John Ferrar), " upon the INVITATION of
that worthy servant of Christ, Ml. George Herbert "-
and though at filst sight it may seem that this sentence
refers especially to the subject of the " lVatcltes,"
(afterwards mentioned) it is evident from the extracts
to follov that" the invitation" applies to Ferrar's work
as a whole. In his prayer when he had heard of
I Icrbert's last sickness, at the saine rime that he
ilnplores his life, he thanks God that He " ad »mde
Itim a gcat /telC "--" altd fttrtheratce of tire best thiugs
ttlltO¢tgltS"--"A FURTIIERANCE OF TIIE BET TtlINGS."
Thcse words have a meaning--they suggest these
intcrrogations--
Was it Herbert's proposal, in the first place, which
presented to Ferrar's mind the design of a religious
retreat? John Ferrar says it was on Herbert's
iuvitatiou. How far aftersvards did Herbert's counsel
and influence go in determining the frame, the order,
the character and tone, the studies, the teaching, the
vork, the rites and services, of the new cornmunity ?
Ferrar himself tcstificd in the presence of God that
Herbert had bccn " a shtgttlar benefit "" a great help "
" a cotoEort "--" a fitrtlzerazce of ottr fiffth, amlof ottr
best tlzizgs." Was it on Herbert's persuasion that
Ferrar was ordained ? How much of the success of
Ferrar's holy work at Gidding may be assigned to the
inspiration of his dear brother Herbert ? God knoveth.
But therc is evidcnce enough to show that Herbert's
pervading and stimulating presence was continually
NICIIOLAS FERRAR--GIDDING. 269
there; for the lire of Ferrar's saintly household at
Gidding is but the counterpart of the spirit and
teaching of T/te Temple and T/te Çoulttr 3, tgarson,
worked out in daily duties.
There is much difficulty in accepting the uniform
testitnony of several witncsses of unimpeachable credi-
bility, that the two friends rarely, if ever, met after
Ferrar had left Cambridge. His brother says--" Thcy
hcld intercourse of letters, though otherwise, as I take
it, they but once had personal confcrence." Olcy--
"They sav not each other in many years, I think,
scarcely ever, but at the University." Walton--" This
holy friendship was long maintained without any
interviev, but only by loving and endearing letters."
Itis a singular and romantic case--but it shows the
abiding power of Christian correspondence to purify
and perfect Christian friendship.
\Vas it that Ferrar and Herbert received Deacons'
Orders in the saine year; and that then, as
clergymcn, they were drawn together in the bonds
of the Lord, and that Christianly corrcspondence
became more frequent, and that heavenly fricnd-
ship more fully cemented ?
But if Herbert was largely instrumental in the
establishing of the Gidding Home, vhy did he not
himself at once undertake some pastoral charge, and
thus fulfil his ordination vows? .Vas he idle, as
regards actual religious lire, for the few years after he
became a Deacon ? From the death of King James,
in 1625, vhen all his expectations in political life
270 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
expired, he sank into abso]utc seclusion, living, as it
would appcar, a laytnan's lire. \Ve ste him only hcre
and thcre, at intcrvals. But is it certain that ho is
living a lay lire, all forgctful that he is a clergyman ?
--No. Conceivc, if )rot/ vill, that (through an over-
whehning sense of unworthiness) he would not
engage in thc cure of souls, or ever take any service
in Churcb, and that he discharged the duties of his
prebendal stall iii Lincoln Cathcdral by deputy.
But is he hot under thc Deific afftatus? And vere
hot his poems vritten chiefly during the years 627,
I628, I629, and 63o ? And was he not well employed,
vas he hot faithfully fulfilling a Deacon's duties, while
composing the poems of T]w îemile at Woodford,
13aynton, Dauntesey, Wilton, or ]3emerton, as usefully,
as honourably employed, as much for the glory of
God, as Ferrar vas, in working out his heavenly
problem in Huntingdonshire?
]3oth the Church and mansion at Gidding required
such substantial repairs that it was tvo years belote
they were finishcd, and the economy of the whole
establishment set in systematic motion.
For the Church (which was a very small, plain
building of brick) were provided a new font, and
lectern, both of brass, frontals and pendants of green
cloth, for week days; for Sundays and Festivals, of
rich blue, fringed with silver lace; an altar-cloth of
b]ue taffety; new silver Communion vessels, silver
candlesticks, and an organ. On the flagon was
inscribed
NICHOLAS FERRARGIDDING.
"\Vhat Sir Edwyn Sandys bequeathed
To
The remembrance of freindhip
l Iis freind hath consecratcd
To
The Honour of God's Service
1629."
Part of the largest upper room in the house was
appropriated for a general Oratory, where was an
organ--the other part as Mrs. Ferrar's chamber, where
she usually sat with the younger children, and where
the elder girls worked embroidery. The school-
masters, three in number, and the boys, had rooms
on one side, and the women and girls on the other;
Ferrar's own rooms being so arranged that he could
exercise oversight over the whole household.
On the ground-floor was the parlour, or dining-
hall, waiting-rooms, the surgery, and other small
rooms, each of which could receive four alms-women.
For the children of the family, a large dovecote was
converted into a school-room (into which, soon after
they were settled, the children of the parishes round
were admitted); one of the masters taught English
and Latin; the second, writing and arithmetic; the
third, music and singing. Thursday and Saturday
afternoons were holidays, when the boys practised
manly games,--racing, leaping, vaulting, and archery.
Ferrar himself took the religious instruction, which
important task absorbed many hours every day, gave
daily catechetical lectures, and required that goodly
272 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE llERBERT.
portions of Holy Scripture should be learned by
heart, especially the Psalms.
The year after the Ferrars came to Gidding, John
Ferrar's only daughter was born. His mother and
brother wished her to be named Virginia, in remem-
brance of the Plantation, in which they still felt a
fond interest, that in speaking to the child, looking
on her, and hearing others calling her by her name,
they might be reminded to pray for the colony. So
the little maiden was christened "Virginia," and they
all loved her better for her name.
The household consisted of Nicholas, and his
mother; John Ferrar, his wife and family; John
Collett, wife and children; some children as boarders,
the masters, servants, and alms-women. Ferrar's
family and relatives seem to have assented to his
wishes and rules with remarkable unanimity.
Bishop Hacket relates that Archbishop Williams,
on lais visitation, found at Little Gidding--
CA Congregation of Saints, not walking after the Flesh, but
after the Spirit ; a Family of the Farrars, the Mother with Sons
and Daughters, other branches of the Kindred, with Servants
fit tobe about them, collected into a House of their own at
Giding aforesaid, purposing and covenanting between them-
selves to lire in as strict a way, according to the Gospel of
Christ, as good rules could chalk out, and human Infirlnity
undergo. Their House, fit for their Contemplation, stood alone.
The Church was so near, that it was next to the Pale of their
Yard: the casier for theln that frequented it so often. The
Tythes had been impropriated, but were restored back again by
the Mother, to the use of the Rector, then her ovn Son, and to
the succeeding Rectors, by a finn deed. They kept much at
home: their times of Prayer and Watching requir'd it. Yet
N ICHOLA.q FERRAR--GIDDI NG. 273
Visits, perhaps once a month, they ruade abroad. Their Apparel
had much of it, for Linnen and \Voollen, spun at home. They
gave no Entertainment, but to the Poor, whom they instructed
first and then relieved, not with Fragments, but with the best
they had. Their business was either Prayers or Work ; nothing
came between them : the Devil had less Power to telnpt them,
that he never found them idle. Their diet at meals was soon
drest, as they sat hOt long at them; their bread was coarse,
their drink small. Ahns and Fasting, Prayers and \Vatching,
with Reading and Singing Psahns, were continually in their
Practice; there was no Intermission day nor night. By night
they kept watch in the House of the Lord, and two by turns did
supply the Office for the test. Their Scope was to be ready
like wise Virgins with Oil in their Lamps, when the Bridegrooln
came. This was the hardest part of their discipline that they
kêpt Centinel at all Hours and Seasons, to expect the second
coming of the Lord Jesus. God be glorified for such, whose
Prayers were powerful and incessant to pierce the Heavens.
The whole Land was better for their Sanctity. The whole
X.Vorld was better for their Contempt of the \Vorld."
A brass plate on the front-door bore these words,
"FLEE FROM EVIL, AND DO GOOD, AND DWELL
FOR EVERMORE." Scripture texts met the eye at
every turn, in the corridors, and on the walls, and
preached perpetual Sermons.
lXIrs. Ferrar had drawn up a short address, which she
wished to be read by the many visitors to the House,
and it was "approved of by several judicious divines,
but particularly by Mr. Herbert, who advised it to
be engraved in brass, and so hung up that it might
be seen of all." Herbert's advice was followed, and
the tablet affixed to the wall of the Parlour, but i
gave fise to "so much censure and speculation," that
when the t3ishop paid his last friendly visit, he
advised it should be removed.
s
274 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
On wcek days, the family rose af four o'clock in
summer, rive o'clock in winter ; the Mother was called
at rive. Jkfter private prayer in their chambers (the
importance and blessing of which Ferrar inculcated
continually, notwithstanding the Scrvices in Church),
thcy met in the Oratory at six a.m. ; said the Psalms
for the bout; heard a portion of the Gospcls, or of
the Harmony read ; repeated texts, and sang a hymn.
The ever-rccurring Services, though very so]emn,
and never hurried (for, as St. Francis de Sales said,
" Httrry is t/te dcatlz of 2Pra3,eG" ) were so arranged,
that the whole OfficeCollect, Lection, Psalm or
Hymn--seldom exceedcd a qumoEer of an hour.
Then at seven a.m. they went to Church for Marins.
On their return they held another short service in
the Oratory, and then took their breakfast.
At eight a.m. the children went to school, while
relays of the elders observed the services in the
Oratory, allotted for every hour ; others attended to
their domestic duties. At ten a.m. they all met in
the Church for Litany. .A_t eleven they dined, and,
while the tables were being laid, the organ often
played, and they sung as they worked. During
dinner, two boys, and four girls, in turn read pleasant
and instructive books, not religious. Recreation was
permitted till one o'clock. Instruction was given till
three p.m. Evensong was said in the Church at four.
Supper was served at rive or six p.m., and diversions
followed, within or without doors, according to the
season of the year. At eight p.m. all the household
NICHOLAS FERRAR--GIDDING.
275
assembled in the Oratory, sung, and prayed. The
children knelt, and asked their grandmother's and
parents' blessing; and all retire&
On Sundays, a large number of children from all
the villages round assembled, soon after eight a.m., in
the School-house, received religious instruction, and
learned the Psalms. The parents of these children,
and the clergy of their parishes, protested that a
mighty change was wrought, not only in the children,
but on the men and women, who heard the children
reading and repeating Scripture at home. The very
streets and doorways resounded with the sacred
poetry of David's harp.
Ferrar, undcrstanding the science of healing, ruade
his knowledge useful in ministering to the sickness
of the household, and of all the neighbouring villages.
The daughters of the community kept all manner
of salves, oils, and balsams, and cordial waters of
their own distilling; none of them were nice of
dressing with their own hands poor people's wounds,
were they never so offensive ; and, together xvith helps
to the body, they were expert in ministering counsels
and comforts in the sickness of the soul; and they
never wanted patients.
There were nine or ten girls who were very clever
and curious in sewing, and embroidering in gold,
silver, and silk, and working in wools; these madc
their needles and knitting-pins serve to the uses of
the Church, and to the relief of the needy.
To the four daughters of John Collett, who were
27£; TItE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
grown to women's estate, was assigned the whole
regulation of domestic want and supply. Each had
care of the house for a month, when her accounts
were balanced to a farthing, and passed on to the
next sister in charge.
Seven daughters, and one granddaughter (who
bore thc names of the Chier, the Patient, the Cheerful,
the Affcctionate, thc Submiss, the Obedient, the
Modcrate), formcd a Gisterhood, for the performance
of some special duties.
One particular duty to wh[ch many of the Gidding
maidens and boys were early apprenticed, and which
makes their naine famous, was the binding of books,
sonne ofthem folios of the largest size. An adept in
this art was brought from Cambridge, who taught
members of the whole family bookbinding, giiding,
lettering, &c. ; and their books remain to this hour
in adnirable condition. The principal work they
prepared, and this under Ferrar's constant direction,
was a huge Harmony, or Concordance, of the Gospels,
formed by cutting out printed copies of all the
passages in the Four Evangelists referring to any
particular narrative or subject, pasting them xvith
extreme carefulness on large sheets of paper, and
binding them in thick covers of astonishing strength.
Ofthese Harmonies, twelve or fourteen were prepared ;
most ofvhich are still in existence. Some (as that
magnificent copy presented to King Charles I.,) bound
in coloured velvet, and elaborately gilded, illustrated
with exquisitely beautiful prints, required more than
NICHOLAS FERRAR--GIDI)ING. 277
a year to finish them, and cost £Ioo. One of these
ttarmonies was sent as a present to George tIcrbcrt,
who, in lais letter of thanks, calls it "an inestimable
jewel."
On Sundays, the household rose at the usual hour
of four or rive, came to the Chamber, which was ap-
propriately adorned, (and whcre, in winter, a good
tire was brightly burning,) the children rcpeated
texts, and after the Office all retired to their rooms,
till the nine o'clock bell called them to Church.
Having sung a hymn with the organ, they all walked
in procession to Church, (only forty paces from their
door ;) the masters and scholars in cassocks; John
Ferrar and John Collett; Nicholas, in surplice and
stole, leading his mother ; the ladies, the girls, and
servants, dressed in black, with veils. All bowed on
entering. The boys, during prayer, lmelt on the
altar-step. Only Matins was said.
.A_fier the Service, the Psalm-children repeated
their lessons, received their rewards, and accom-
panied the family to Church at IO.3O , when the Vicar
of Steeple Gidding, having held service in lais own
Church, came, attended by a few of his parishioners,
to preach. Ferrar (though apparently instituted as
Rector) never preached, but only read the Prayers,
and the Ante-Communion Service. Holy Communion
xvas celebrated on the first Sunday in the month, and at
Festivals. Affer Church, the Sunday School children,
a hundred in number, had dinner, and were dismissed
to their several parishes.
278 TtlE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Al'ter dinner, the famil¥ separated; some of the
inmates for rcading in their own rooms; some for
sacred music, some for quiet walks in the garden,
orchard, or fields.
At two o'clock the¥ walked across the meadows (a
quarter of a mile) to Steeple Gidding Church, for full
service and sermon. On their return, after a short
once in the Oratory, the¥ all again separated for
Sunda¥ rest, and Sunda¥ recreation. Fcrrar used
to sa¥--
"Sunday is a day of test, not of pleasure. God blessed the
day, and sanctified it; they must go together. If we would
bave it happy, we must make it holy."
The Ferrars paid few visits ; the¥ were too busy,
and too earnest, to waste lire in compliments. The¥
received ail visitors, but hot to sojourn. The¥ were
offen visited, as b¥ friends, so b¥ enemies, cIerg¥,
scholars, and others, attracted b¥ the faine of the
"Arlninian Nunncry." A Roman priest said, that if
Ferrar lived to make himself known to the world, he
would give their Church their hands full to answer
him, and iii a different way than Luther had donc.
But whoever came, it made no difference; ail the
varied works of the Home, the onces in the Oratory,
and all the services in the Church went on in the
same order and course.
As Herbert heard fl-om Ferrar, and from Arthur
Woodnoth, and others, how the work at Gidding was
proceeding, and as he saw that the subject of their
many united prayers was taking dcep foot, and
NICIIOLAS FERRAR--GIDDING. 279
expanding, and bcaring much fruit, he suggested--it
was a thought worthy of Hcrbcrt--that the Lord
might be scrved also in the watches of thc night.
The world, looking upon Gidding with a stalle of
pity and astonishment, would say, "What, is hot
their life alrcady sufficicntly consumed in religious
duties ?"
Herbcrt's proposal was--"to those of the family
who should, of thcir own free will, and choice, approvc
of thc thing"--that evcry night two should watch
from ninc at night till one in the morning, the mcn
in their Oratory, the womankind in theirs ; that they
should distinctly and carefully say ail David's Psalms
over in these four hours, one watcher saying one verse,
and the other another, interchangeably-, by way of
responsal. Almost the whole family, and even thc
scrvauts, could repcat thc Psaltcr from memory.
For a change in the monotony of thc night service,
the watchcrs might chant the Psalms, and an organ
was so placed, and tuned so low, that it should not
disturb thc slumbering family.
At one o'clock a.11z, some one knockcd at Fcrrar's
door, bidding him " Goocl morrow," when he arose,
and went into his study. At that hour he constantly
rose for many years.
His nights of watching were at first two in a week,
but afterwards three ; he would allow othcrs to watch
but once a week. _A very large proportion of the
family cordially assented to the proposal, and each
vied with others who should bc the watcher of thc
2O TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE ItERBERT.
night. Fcrrar oftcn had two of thc boys as his
companions; and, in the warm nights of summer,
they kept the watch at Church; and waited, and
prayed, and read, and sung till the morning sun
arose, and the first bell rang for Marins in the Oratory.
Thus the tire of God never went out on the altar of
the Lord.
Ferrar's health, and strength, and powers of en-
durance, both mental and bodily, had never been
so great as in the last seven y'ears of lais life, when
he was most ascetic in his devotional habits. For
sleep, food, and exercise, he reserved six hours of
the day; in mental and spiritual labours he spent
eighteen.
Their life at Gidding, their rules, prayers, watchings,
mortifications, studies, and charities, excited the
wonder of all, the malevolence of many. Some called
them Romanists, others Puritans.
" Ferrar used to express, out of his pure affection to God's
honour and worship, a hearty detestation of the Roman Mass,
saying that such a sacrifice profaned the very place where it was
celebrated, and that he would pull down a room which was so
polluted."--OLE¥.
He verily" did believe the Pope to be Anti-Christ.
.A_t the end of a book he found written" Praise be
to God, and the blessed Virgin .A_nnunciata." He
wrote"Soli Deo Gloria." Though he honoured the
persons of Puritans who were pious and learned, and
always spoke of them with much Christian respect,
yet he would bewail their mistakes, which, like mists,
led them, in some points, into the errors of Rome.
NICIIOLAS FERRAR--GII)DING.
IIe was singularly skilful in dealing with xvounded
consciences (as hc hilnself had suffcrcd sevcre tclnpta-
tions in carly age), assisting thcm in their distrcss
with most affectionate solicitude, till they were be-
gotten anew to God.
A former chapter has rehcarscd how grcat xvas the
interest vhich Ferrar and his friends took in the
renovation of Leighton Church.
How often must they have trodden the rive milcs
bctwecn G idding and Leighton--how many visits
the two brothers and Arthur Woodnoth must have
paid to the Church--how anxiously they must bave
urged on the lingering xvork--and hoxv exceedingly
must Ferrar have rejoiced, when, about a year after
his "dear brothcr" was laid to rest under the altar
at Bemerton, he set his seal to the assured reality of
a complete restoration.
Reference has been made to Herbert's Notes on
Valdesso. Ferrar had prepared an edition of Vald«sso
for the press with Herbert's notes and letters, but he
died belote it was published. It appeared in t638 ,
the year after Ferrar's death.
On Friday, Feb. 24, Joshua Mapletoft (who had
married Susannah Collett, Ferrar's niece), came to
Gidding, and reported that Herbert was dying,
past hope of recovery. It was very grievous news
indeed, for though they knew he had been very ill,
and Ferrar had commissioned his friend, Edmund
Duncon, to hasten to 13elnerton, and had constantly
remembered his necessities at the throne of grace,
282
TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
yet they apprehended no such immediate danger.
The godly community was at once sunmolled, and in
these, and other prayers, commended his soul to the
mercies of God.
"0 most mighty God, and lnerciful Father, we most humbly
beseech Thee, if it be Thy good pleasure, to continue to us that
singular benefit which Thou hast given us in the friendship of
Thy servant, our dear brother, who now lieth on the bed of
sickness. Let him abide with us yet awhile for the furtherance
of our faith ; yet awhile spare him, that he may lire to Thy
honour, and our comfort. Thou hast made him a great help,
and filrtherance of the best things amongst us. 0 Lord, we
beseech Thee, restore us our dear brother, by restoring him to
health. »
They afterwards understood that Herbert died
about the hour xvhen Mr. Mapletoft arrived at
Gidding.
When Edmund Duncon returned fi'om Bemerton
he put into Ferrar's hands the "little book" which
tlerbcrt had committed to his care on his death-
bed
"the which when N. F. had many and many a time read
over, and embraced, and kissed again and again, he said he
could hot sufficiently admire it as a rich jewel, and most worthy
to be in the hands and hearts of ail truc Christians, that feared
God, and loved the Church of England."--J. FERRAR.
And Walton adds--
"Mr. Ferrar vould say--there was in it the picture of a divine
soul in every page ; and that the whole book was such a har-
mony of holy passions as would enrich the world with pleasure
and piety."
The poems were witten by George Hcrbert.
NICHOLAS FERRAR--GIDDING.
Whether those poems should ever be set on their
consecrated career, and be read by an admiring
vorld, depended absolutely on tire judgment and
determination of Nicholas Ferrar
"... if he can think the little book may turn to the advan-
tage of any dejected poor soul, let it be ruade publick."
"THANK GOD," cry a million of rejoicing voices ;
"TtIANK GOD! Ferrar thought that the little book
might turn to the advantage of some poor, dejected
souls--he thought that it would enrich the world
xvith pleasure and piety." And The Temple was
published. And the world was enriched with pleasure
and piety?
" It is a book, in which by declaring his ovn spiritual con-
flicts, he hath comforted and raised many a dejected and discom-
posed soul, and charmed them into sweet and quiet thoughts ;
a book, by the frequent reading thereof, and the assistance of
that Spirit that seemed to inspire the author, the reader may
attain habits of peace and piety, and all the gifts of the Holy
Ghost and Heaven ; and may, by still reading, still keep those
sacred rires burning upon the altar of so pure a heart, as shall
free it from the anxieties of this world, and keep it fixed upon
things that are above.'--WALTON.
Very soon after the author's death, Ferrar had
a copy of çaoed Poems amt Private jacul«tions
drafted--this would be done at Gidding, and we
may well conceive whose fait fingers were engaged in
the transcript--and submitted to the Vice-Chancellor
x ,, \Vhat Father of a Church can you rehearse
That gain'd more souls to God, 'twixt Prose and Verse ?"
2q 4 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
of Cambridge Univcrsity" for liccnce. That official
objcctcd to thc lines on "Thc Church glilitant"--
"Rcligion stands on tip-toc in out land,
Readie to passe to the American strand »-
but Ferrar strcnuously opposed the omission, until
the Vice-Chancellor yieldcd, and said--
"I knew Mr. Herbert well, and know that he was a divine
poet ; but I hope the world will hOt take him to be an inspired
p,'ophet, and therefore I license the whole book."
It was pr[nted without the change of a syllable.
Herbert's giS. bears the naine only of Sacred to«ms
aml )grA,«te Ej«c«datious ; Ferrar prefixed the title,
The Te»ttVe; he also wrote the Preface.
A few copies of the book, without date, were in
circulation within two or three months after Herbert's
death. The first edition (for the public) was printed,
at Cambridge, by the University printers, 1633;
another the saine year; others in 1634, 1635, 1638,
I64, 1656, 66o, 1667; the Ioth in 1674. .Vl:en
XValton wrote Herbel't's ZoEe in I67O, more than
twenty thousand copies had been sold.
"Well-thumbed and worn are the few copies of those earlier
editions that have corne down to us. Lowly hands handled,
1-owly hea,ts received the devout teaching ; and I do hOt doubt
Th« T«»tlble helped many and many a pilgrim Zionward to sing,
where perhaps only sobs and groans had fallen."--GROSaRT.
Nicholas Ferrar is worthy to be commemorated
ttmong the great Christian heroes of the English
nation.
I. Because he was grandly instrumental in further-
NICHOLAS FERRAR--GIDDING. 285
ing the endeavour to bring the Trans-Atlantic world
under the dominion of the Lord Jesus.
II. Because he bravely essayed the effort to reani-
mate "a little sanctuary" in the Church of England
after the pure model of old Christian consecrated lire
--and succeeded--" He being dead, yet speaketh,"
and gives his naine and work for a sign and an
exemplar, " r, çtoxP[crr " " ^ " 1
,xa,, of this day.
III. Because to him--to him alone--George
tlerbert entrusted the Sacred Deposit of lais Poems
--by his decision these l'oems were preserved for
God and the Clmrch. The names of Iterbert and
Ferrar must be linked together iii imperishable union.
In 1634, nine years after coming to Gidding, the
holy mother of the Society died at the age of eighty-
three.
Nicholas Ferrar continued lais life of austerity and
devotion, rather advancing than decaying in spiritual
vigour ; but,. saddened and alarmed at the shadows of
portentous gloom which were over-casting the land,
he trembled for the future of Church and State, and
often warned the children to prepare for the COlning
distress.
It was upon the 2nd of November, 1637, that
he first felt veak and faint, though he officiated at
Church as usual ; but the same day he sent to lais
f,iend, the minister of Great Gidding, to ask him to
take the service, " for I know," said he, " that I shall
not be able to perform my part there any more."
1 Bishop Andrewes' DevolioJts.
286
TtlE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
They asked him why he so confidently expected
death. He answered that in former sicknesses he
had a strong desire to live, and prayed God to spare
his life, which God had hitherto done, when all hope
was passed ; and he added--
"I lnay say to the glory of His great Name, I never earnestly
set myself to beg anything of God, but He fulfilled the petition
of His most unworthy servant ; but now, and of late, I do hOt
find in my heart any inclination to beg longer life of God. But
I do hot forbid you to ask God to spare me, though I know I
shall die ; and I fully submit myself to the blessed will of ny
good Lord, to do for lne for life or death, as He knows best for
I/le. »
Next day he rose, but could hot leave his chamber,
and had praycrs thcre, though the family wcnt to
thcir regular services at Curch. Saturday night,
Nov. 4, he was removed into another room, and after
two or three days wishcd to be laid on a pallet on
the floor--from vhich he nevcr rose.
On Sunday he received the blessed Sacrament with
great devoti.on and joy; and often ehorted the
family to adhere steadfastly to the Church of Eng-
land, to continue in the good old vay
« and rely upon God, and serve Him in sincerity of devotion,
both in souls and bodies ; for He will have both, as He ruade
both."
A clergyman spoke of his good works ; but he cut
him off instantly--
"\Vhat speak you of such things? I am to ask my God
forgiveness for my great neglect in my duty."
In heavenly counsels to ail, he passed the days and
nights, grmving weak and faint, but without pain, and
ICIIOLAS FERRAR--GIDDING. 287
with all lais scnses perfect, tte had lingcred a xvcary
month, humbly crying for release and test, when the
next Communion Sunday came round, and he desired
the minister that (aftcr he had celebratcd in Church)
he xvould give him " that heavcnly food that vas his
only sta¥, strength, and joy." Bcfore he received, ho
ruade a most solcmn and comfortable confession of
lais faith, according to thc Church of England, acknoxv-
ledging his salvation to depcnd onl¥ upon the infinite
mercies of his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; and
then desired absolution. The divine said, "Shall
I give it you in the xvords of the book ? .... Aye,
aye," said he, "nothing botter, nothing better." .And
his pious expressions of thankfulness xvere such as
the minister said he had never heard the like, or
should hear again. He was asked how he felt. He
said, " Blessed be God, I ara very well ; but I hope
to be better ere long" ; or sometimes," Pretty well, I
thank my God--and you ; and I shall be better."
On the last day of his life, Sunday, Dec. 3, the
clergy who waited on him, having left the room for
awhile, supposing him to have fallen int6a sweet sleep,
he begged them to be called to say the prayers for
" A Dying Man." He lay still for half-an-hour, then
rose on his bed, lifted up his hands and eyes, and cried
with great animation, "0 what a blessed change!
What do I see? 0 corne, let us sing unto the Lord,
sing praises to the Lord, and lnaguify His holy name
together. I have been at a great feast. 0 magnify
the Lord with me !"
288 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE ItERBERT.
One of his nieces asked--" At a feast, dear father ? "
"Aye," he said, "at a feast--the Great King's feast."
While all stood silent and hesitated to speak, expect-
ing he might say more, he lay down calmly, drew his
hands under the clothes, slmt his eyes, and did not
move. _As one of the clergy kneeling round lais pallet
was praying that God vould send His angels to carry
his soul to heaven, he opened his lips, gave one sigh,
and breathed no more.
At the instant of his spirit's departure the clock
struck one--the very hour at which for so many years
lac had risen for lais first dcvotions. So it was said,
" He ended the Sabbath here on earth to begin the
everlasting Sabbath in heaven."
He died on Monday, Dec. 4, I637, and was buried
on the following Thursday, in a grave he had chosen
at the west end of the Church, by Robert Mapletoft
(brother of Joshua), aftcn,ards Mastcr of Pembroke
Hall, Cambridge, and Dean of Ely, who preached his
funeral sermon.
The storln, which Ferrar so much dreaded, fell on
his old home in I646, but the family, forewarned,
had time to escape. The soldiers and mob wrecked
Church and mansion ; with the woodwork of the organ
they roasted several sheep ; the plate, provisions, and
whatever part of the furniture could be removed, they
carried off; the booksChurch I3ooks and Bible, the
Harmony in daily use, and the huge folios of Ferrar's
lXISS, they made into a bonfire.
NICIIOLAS FERRAR--GIDDING. 289
Yet the next year, 1647, some of the family returned
and re-occupied the old home, and were not after-
wards seriously molcsted. Good old Mr. Groose, the
Vicar of Great Gidding, had not bcen ejected from
lais living, and, as far as the evil rimes would allow,
he ministered to them in things divine.
John Ferrar died in 1657 ; Susanna Collett imme-
diately after him. Virginia--"ever making sunshine
in the shady place"mdied in 668, Virginia still in
life and nature, as in naine. Some descendants of
the Ferrars xvere residents in the IIall in 1753 . A
grassy mound now only marks its site. The Church
is standing still.
The original copy of Hcrbcrt's Pocms, transmittcd
by him to Ferrar, and religiously preserved through
successive years, in the family', must certainly be in
existence, and may yet be discovered in some dusty
library of the Colletts or Mapletofts.
T
CHAPTER XVI.
BROTIIERS AND SISTERS OF IIERI3ERT.
IIERBERT had six brothers and thrce sisters.
Edward, the cldcst brothcr, was born in 583, and
christened by the samc clergyman who had married
lais parents, and afterwards, in I598, married him.
He lived in his grandmother's home till lais ninth
year, was then sent to school, and at the age of
twelve was entered at University College, Oxford.
In a few months he was called home by his father's
death, in 1597 ; and while very young, and apparently
without being much consulted in the matter, married
lais cousin, Mary Herbert. During the early years of
their marriage they lived with lais mother in Oxford ;
and after about a four years' residence there, removed
to London, and kept, he says--
"... a greater family than either becmne llly lnother's
widow's estate, or for such beginners as we were, especially as
six brothers and three sisters were to be provided for, my father
having ruade either no will, or such an imperfect one that it was
hot proved."
At his mother's desire Edward undertook the
management of the family property, and so divided
BROTIIERS AND SISTERS OF HERBERT. 29I
it that (his mother retaining the leases and goods,
which were valuable) he could assure to his six
brothers s£3o each a year for their lives, and to
the three sisters £ooo apiece on their marriage.
Edward Herbert spent his time between London
and Montgomery Castle. Curiosity took him to
Court, where Queen Elizabeth, noticing the tall, dark,
handsome youth, and hearing who he was, and that
he xvas married, gave him her hand to Mss, and
said, "'Tis pity he has married so young."
He was knighted by James I., and travelled on the
continent, making friends and enemies everywhere
by" his gallantry; and relying on his great animal
strength and muscle, and upon his perfect skill in the
use of the rapier, sent challenges on the slightest
affront, and fought duels right and leff.
After his return to England, in 68, by Bucking-
ham's influence he was accredited ambassador to
France.
It is allowed that he proved a faithful minister,
and upheld the dignity and interests of England at
the French Court, though he round, as in England,
that the statesmen were in the pay of Spain, and the
influence of the Spaniard so potent that he seemed
to affect a universal monarchy.
Complaints having been lodged against him by the
French ambassador, he xvas recalled; but so com-
pletely exonerated himself belote the King that he
was confirmed in his office, and sent back to France
without instructions.
292 TtIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERP, ERT.
Sir Edward Herbert had favoured the earler
proposal for a union between the royal familles of
France and England ; and had protested vehemently
before the French Court against the merciless edicts
for the extermination of the Huguenots, and thus
roused a spirit which threatened a breach both
with France and Spain, xvhen James suddenly
superseded him; and, though on his return to
England, in 1624, he ruade him an Irish peer, and
Charles, in I6 9, raised him to the English peerage
by the title of Baron Herbert of Cherbury, he
received no further substantial recognition from
the Crown, and settled down in disappointment and
irritation.
The right of the Herberts to l'Iontgomery Castle
had been disputed by William, Earl of Pembroke;
and, in I6O6, James had settled the debate by taking
the property (originally a royal fiel') into the possession
of the Crown ; then he conferred it on Philip Herbert,
and created him Earl of Montgomery. Philip Herbert
held it till 16I 3, when he restored it to Sir Edxvard
Herbert on the payment of 5oo, but retained the
title.
As war with the Parliament grew imminent, Lord
Herbert joined the King at York in 64o, and
uttered bold counsels against conceding any of the
unlawful demands of the Parliament on the Crown ;
but, fearing for his noble castle, he gradually with-
drew into a neutrality ; and Prince Rupert, who was
then in command at Shrewsbury, suspecting that he
I]ROTIIERS AND SISTERS OF HERBERT. 293
vas veering round to the Parliament, peremptorily"
commanded his attendance; the courtly" nobleman
put in the plea--
"I humbly crave to tell your Highnes that though I have the
anabition to kisse your most valourous and princely hands, yet
because I am newly entered into a course of physic, I do humbly
desire to be excused for the presente."
In less than a fortnight iXlontgomery Castle was
attacked by the Parliamentary troops under Middle-
ton, who easily" carried the outworks, as Herbert
nade no defcnce, having but I5O tncn, and under
promise that no attack would be ruade till after parley
next day, sick and infirm, and half blind, he xvent
to bed; when, in the middle of the night, Middleton
burst into his bed-chamber, and forced him to sign
an immediate surrender. Only his daughter Beatrice
was with him. Lord Byron, advancing with 4ooo
Royalists to recover the fortress, was attacked b¥
Fairfax, and utterly route&
Lord Hcrbert retired to London, sank into obllvion,
and died out like an extinguished torch, under the
ban of extreme weakness, treachery, and impiety.
He submitted to the Parliament, begged for, and
received a pension of L2o a veek, and vas appointed
Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall, and Lord Warden
of the Stannaries. Fearing lest a post of such
strength and importance as lIontgomery Castle
should agai fall into the hands of the King, Crom-
well's Council decided that the fortress should be
dismantled, but in consideration of its owner being
294 THE LIFE OF GEORGE tIERBERT.
an adherent to their party, it is stated that they voted
Lord I Icrbert a satisfactory indemnification.
In I643 Lord Herbcrt wrote to his brother Henry
that his debility was great. " I feel myself groving
older in this year than in fifty-nine before." All the
brothers and sisters vere dead, except I Icnry, to
vhom he says--" Itere I must rcmember that, of all
us, there remain but you and I to brothcr it."
While in France he had written a book, De Veritate
l"Ot! disth««iz;ttr a c,«latioe. Ite says Grotius
read it, and recommended that it should be published ;
but this, and all other similar statements of Lord
Herbert's, must be received with qualifications. Not
quite persuaded in his own conscience, one fine day
(such is his tale), his window being open tovards the
south, he knelt and took his manuscript in his hands,
and said devoutly
"O Thou Eternal God, Author of the light which nov shines
upon me, and Giver of all inward i]luminations, I do beseech
Thee of Thy infinite goodness to pardon a greater request than
a sinner ought to make ; I ana not satisfied enough whether I
sha]l publish this book 29, lZ«ritale; if it be for Thy glory, I
beseech Thee give me some sign from heaven ; if not, I shall
suppress it."
He had no sooner spoken these words than (as
he affirms) a gentle noise came from heaven (such as
he had never heard on earth), which he took for a
sign; and printed his book, in I624. It is vritten
in Latin, and has never been translated into English ;
and it is a pity it ever should be; it is simply
pagan.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF IIERBERT. 29
Those who have read if, say it is like its author,
unintelligible.
Baxter, Locke, and others, confuted his opinions.
Culverwell, a Fellow of Enunanuel College, Cam-
bridge, in his Lig/t of 2Vature, classes him with writers
« who have arrived at the full perfection of error, have a
powder plot against the Gospel, and could very compendiously
behead all Christian religion at one blow."
Kortholt arraigns him as one "De tribus Impostori-
bus magnis--viz. E. tterbert, T. Hobbes, I3. Spinoza."
Herbert professed to believe only in Natural Religion,
and yet with "a cunning incredulity in his own un-
beliefs," he believed he received a personal, miraculous
revelation from heaven.
In his [cmoi»s, vhich vere written at the age of
sixty, and after De Veritate, thoughts occasionally
occur which seem to evidence a soul feeling after God
and truth. As the following
"At my age, past threescore, it vill be fit to recollect my
former actions, and examine what has been donc well or ill ; to
the intent I may reform what is donc amiss, and so make
peace with God."
"The proper object of hope, faith, and love, is God only,
upon vhom they were never placed in vain, or remained long
unrequited."
"None can justly hope for union vith the Supreme God,
unless, by a serious repentance, he expiates and emasculates his
faults, and for the rest, trusts_in the mercy of God, his Creator,
Redeemer, and Preserver."
" He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge, over which
he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven."
In Paris, the Spanish Ambassador had wished for an
interview on Sunday. Herbert replied: "It is a day
296 TItE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
I give wholly to devotion"--nevertheless his code of
false honour allowed him, if challenged, to fight a
duel on the Lord's Day.
In an epitaph xvritten for himsclf he expresses an
assurance that
"His immortal Sol.Il should find above
With his Creator, l'eace, Joy, Faith, and Love !"
Aubrey relates that on his death-bed he sent for
Archbishop Usher, and would have received the Holy
Communion, but on his answering, with some in-
difference, the questions proposed to him respecting
his faith in that Sacrament, the prelate declined to
administer. He kept a chaplain, had prayers con-
stantly twice a day, and on Sundays heard one of
Slnith's serinons. He died at his house in Queen
Street, St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, Aug. 20, I648, and
was buried in the chancel of the parish Church.
Richard, first-born son of Lord Herbert, even during
his father's lifetime, showed himselfa resolute Cavalier.
In 1639, he commanded a troop of horse against the
Scots, and during the war in England, led a fifil
regiment of foot, and a squadron of cavalry, at his own
charge ; and, amidst ail the casualties of the protracted
strife, replenished his levies with brave Welshmen
from his native hills, until his master's cause vas
hopelessly crushed, and out of 2800 soldiers, whom he
had accoutred, only thirty vounded men were left.
The apostacy of the father never shook the son's
fidelity ; and the King, to his dying hour, appreclated
BROTIIERS AND SISTERS OF HERBERT. 297
Colonel Herbert's devotion and love. In 1648, on
his father's death, he succeeded to the property, and
to the heavy fines and sequestrations laid upon it.
Himself, his son Edward, and lais uncle Henry, all
refused fo qualify for a Parliamentary pension, and
suffercd accordingly.
On June 16, 1649, the Parliament ordered Mont-
gomery Castle to be demolished, but Lord Herbert
was allowed to destroy his own castle, to employ lais
own worktnen, and sell the wreckage for his profits.
Itis other bouses were plundered ; and his wife, Mary,
daughter of the Earl of Bridgewatcr, and ber little
children, were obliged to tramp from place to place
on foot. He died on May 13, 655, in London, but is
buried in Montgomery Curch.
Richard Herbert, second son of Richard and
Magdalen, after being xvell educated, followed a
soldier's lire on the continent, continued there many
years in battle and bloodshed; was wounded in
several duels ; carried the scars of twenty-four sword-
cuts in lais body; died, and was buried, at_ Bergen-op-
Zootrlo
William also girt the warrior's sword upon him,
joined in duels and wars in Denmark; afterwards
scenting tierce carnage in the Netherlands, went
thither, and died.
Charles, the fourth son, born I592, xvas admitted
Scholar of XVincbester College in I6O3; Under-
_o98
THE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
graduate of New College, Oxford, in I6I I ; Fellow of
New College, I613;where he died in I6I 7 , aged
twenty-five, "after he had given," writes lais brother
Edward, "great hopes of himsclf every way."
GEORGE was the fiffh son.
Henry', baptized in Montgomery Church, July 7,
I594, was educated in France, ",vas knighted by
James I. at Wilton in I623, and ruade Master of the
Revels; in I627, obtained sole possession of the fine
estate at Ribbesford, which had been granted by the
Crown conjointly to himself, Edward, and George;
was inflexibly attached to Charles I., but compounding
in a very large amount, remained unmolested by the
Parliament. He left MS. Prayers and _Ieditatious in
Ohl Age, died in I673, and was buried in St. Paul's,
Covent Garden.
Thomas, the youngest son, born after lais father's
death, baptized May I5, I597, attended Sir Edward
Cecil, as page, at the age of eleven, went to sea, and
when the captain of his ship was killed, took the com-
mand, and won the fight; fought at Algiers; com-
manded in the fl.eet which brought Prince Charles
from Spain ; but, disappointed of promotion, withdrew
from public life, died in London, and was buried in
St. Martin's, near Charing Cross.
Elizabeth, eldest daughter, and second child of the
BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF IIERBERT. 299
Ilcrbcrt family, baptized Nov. IO, 583, was marricd
to Sir Henry Joncs, of Albcmarles, had one son and
two daughters, languished for fourteen ycars in
atrophy, and, reduccd to extrcme maccration, dicd in
London, and was buricd in a church ncar Chcapside.
Margaret was married in I6O6 to John Vaughan,
of Llwydiarth; they had three daughters, Dorothy,
Magdalen, and Katharine; the mother died in
623 : the fathcr before her ; Dorothy died in I632.
Katharine was married to Theophilus Tuer.
Frances, the youngest daughter, was married to Sir
John 13rown of Lincoln, who had several children
by ber.
Of the seven sons of Richard and Magdalen
Herbert, no descendant survives in the male line.
The Herberts of Cherbury exist only in female
branches. The ]3arony of Herbert of Cherbury has
often been re-created ; it now rests in the Earldom of
Powis, created in I748, restored in I8ç4, and is at this
rime held by the fourth earl of that naine. To him
the site of Montgomery Castle belongs.
CHAPTER XVII.
ISAAC WALTON--BISIIOP KEN--OLEY.
TO Isaac Walton we owe the Lift" of G,',,rge
I]erb«rt. That is enough. "To me," says the
Englishman, especially the English Churchman," that
is sufficient praise." He is proud that his Church and
country begat such a man as George Herbert. He is
thankful that Isaac Walton lived to vrite such a life.
" God be blessed," he exclaims, "that such a divine
as Herbert lived, and that such a biographer as
Walton wrote."
George Herbert and Walton were born in the
saine year. Herbert died early in the reign of Charles
I. Walton passed through all the terrible rimes of
the Great Rebellion, lived under the Usurpat'.on,
triumphed at the Restoration, saw the Plague of
London, the Fire of London, and survived till the
end of the reign of Charles II. Walton was in his
ninety-first year at death, Herbert in his fortieth.
Walton was born at Stafford, in 593. He was a
gentleman by birth, and was well educated; he
frequent b, quotes Latin authors, whose works had
ISAAC WALTON.
(From tke fictur in tire .V*tional Gcllery.)
[_Page. 3oo.]
ISAAC WALTON--BISItOP KEN--OLEV. 3OI
never been translated ; was familiar with the Fathers,
and was thoroughly grounded in a pious and orthodox
faith. His father died when he was two years old.
He began business in the twenty-first year of his age,
trading as a Hamburg linen merchant, probably
wholesale, (as many gentlemen were wont,) on the
Exchange. A_fterwards he removed into Fleet Street,
and ten years later into Chancery Lane. He moved
among his own classes, in a vcry superior position in
society, and affccted much the fl-iendship of scholars
and dignified clergy, by whom, for his honourable
character as a gentleman, and holy life as a Christian,
he was held in great esteem.
In I626 Walton married Rachel Flood (great niece
to Archbishop Cranmer), who died in I64o, having
borne seven children, none of whom passed the
years of youth. He was passionately fond of angling,
wrote a quaint book on the art, and might be said to
be the " Father of English Anglers."
He lived in the parish of St. Dunstan's-in-the-East,
and thus became intimately acquainted with the
Vicar, John Donne, with xvhom he formed sincerest
friendship ; whose powerful, pathetic serinons roused
him to a devout consecration of his soul and substance
to God ; and xvhose life he afterwards wrote in such a
masterly measure, with such strength of sentiment
and style, that it xvas then said by the bcst critic of the
tilne, that he had hOt seen a life xvritten with more
advantage to the subject, or reputation to the writer
--a testimony to Walton's consummate art in paint-
302 TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
ing the man to the lire, to be followed, in tbis day, by
a much higher commendation--
"Donpze's Lire by \Valton stands, and is likely to remain for
ever, the masterpiece of English biography."--NEW BtOG. DICT.
Walton became an author unconsciously and unin-
tentionally ; Sir tIenry Wotton, a most intimate friend
of Walton's, had meditated writing a lire of Dr. Donne,
who died in I63I , ald had asled Walton to assist him ;
but Wotton dying bcfore it was completed, Walton
uldertool to finish it, and published it in 164o.
Walton's verses also show that he was no mean poet.
Having secured a competency by his successes in
merchandise, he left his residence in London, and
retired to a cottage on the Dove.
In 1646, he took for his second wife, Arme Ken,
sister of Thomas Ken, afterwards ]3ishop of Bath and
Wells, then a boy of nine years; Isaac was then
fifty-three; .Arme, thirty-six. Their childrel were
Isaac and _/knne ; thc mother died in 1662, when her
brother, Thomas Ken, was twenty-five.
Walton's heart, in every pulsation, beating steady
and true to the cause of his Church and Country,
groaned under the tyrannies and miseries of Re-
publican rule; he joiled, as opportunity offered, in
the services of the prosclibcd Liturgy, and aided and
sheltered the persecuted clergy.
.After the battle of Worcester, in 165 I, Charles Il.,
in his flight, entrustcd his diamond George to Colonel
]31agge (the father of Margaret Godolpbin), wbo, in
dread of being immediately çaptured, hid the precious
ISAAC WALTON--BISHOP KENOLEY. 303
jewel under a heap of chps. Captured he was, and
committed to the Tower. 13ut the jealously-guarded
secret was whispered into one faithful ear af ter another,
until it reached Isaac Walton ; be watched for a favour-
able hour to attempt the rescue of the treasure from
its lowly resting-place; he recovered it, and held it
in trusty custody, till Colonel 131agge, fortunately
cscaping from the Tower, received the George from
Walton, and restored it into the King's own hand. 1
Thomas Ken's mother died when he was nine
years old. His sister Anne was twenty-seven years
older than her brother, and she was endowed with
graces and powers, which qualified her to take the
place of a mother to the cbild ; and after his father's
death, in 165 I, lais sister's house (then in London, but
soon after, in their beautiful retreat in the country)
would become his natural home. Here now he first
cornes in actual touch with his saintly brother-in-law,
Isaac Walton, forty-four years his senior; and his
manliness and sincerity, his simple-mindedness and
matured Christianity, would powerfully affect the
noble boy of fourteen. He sent him to Winchester
School. Nor would the benefit be little which Ken
would receive by mingling freely with Walton's per-
sonal friends--the best men, scholars, divines of the
day--Usher, Sheldon, Hall, Ashmo!e, Hales of Eton,
Morley, and many others.
And how would ,Valton rivet the boy's attention
as he spoke, hour by hour, of Donne's mighty
1 Ashmole's _l-[is[. of Or,?crofNtc Gaffer, p. 2:8.
304
THE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT.
sermons--of the Ferrar family, and their holy work at
Gidding--most of all, when he talked to him of George
Herbert, and of his short, heavenly life at ]3emerton.
Then would he show him the copy of Icrbert's
lo«»zs, given him by Nicholas Ferrar himself, and
bound by the Gidding maidens (onc of the few un-
dated volumes struck off in I632 for personal friends).
And as Walton had conceived so high an opinion of
T/tc TcIlqVc, and as it was in lais heart and memory, as
well as in lais hands, he would rcpcat the verses to
the boy, and encourage hiln to rcad, to learn, and to
rcpeat them, until Thomas Kcn was saturated with
the spirit of George Hcrbert.
Walton was just then collecting materials for his
Life ofI«rbcrt; young Ken would assist in "making
copy." Just thcn too (1652) Tbe Countr 3, larsou was
published. Walton would put the book at once into
Ken's hands (as already dedicated to God and the
ministry), and the youth would pore over thosc pages
of divine wisdom, and meditatc on that exemplar,
which he afterwards so faithfully endeavoured to
reproduce in lais own life.
Assuming that the early lessons of Bishop Andrewes,
his sermons, and his holy friendship in later life, did
stamp their distinctive impress upon Herbert's nature
and principles; concedc also that the influence o
lt«rb«rt'ç Life, Itcrbcrt's loems, and Cutty 19arsot,
(prescntcd and inculcated by his brother's example
and encomiums), did create, direct, and actuate, the
life of the future Bishop of Bath and Wells ; that as
ISAAC WALTON--BIStIOP KEN--OLE¥. 305
Bishop Andrewcs, in his lire and charactcr, was re-
produced in George Herbert, so George Herbert, in
his lire and character, was reproduced in Bishop Ken.
.Valton would introduce his brother betimes to
Bishop Morley, who ruade him his Chaplain, and a
Prebendary of Winchester. Thus Walton may be
affectionately remembered as having laid the found-
ation of the clcrical lire of Bishop Ken.
/kfter the dcath of his wife, and after his daughtcr
was married, and his son, and Ken, ordained, }Valton
seems to have lived in the houses of his friends. He
was resident at Farnham Castle, the palace of 13ishop
Morley, of Winchester, when he wrote the Lire of
Herbert; it was published, with the Lire of Hookr,
in I67O ; and later in the saine year came forth a
volume containing the lires of Donne, "Votton,
I looker, and Herbert, with a portrait of each. Of
Herbert's Lire, Walton allows that though it was not
written hastily, the reader may find in it some faults,
mistakes, and double expressions; he intended to
review it, but had hot the opportunity. His last
piece of biography, the Lire oflishop Sattd«rson, was
written in 1677 , when he had passed his eighty-third
year. He died at .Vinchester, during the hard frost,
on Dec. 15, I683 , aged ninety, in the house of
Prebendary Hawkins, his son-in-law ; and was buried
in XVinchester Cathedral.
Dr. Donne gave to a few valued friends a signet-
ring, set in a heliotrope, with a carving of Christ
crucified on an anchor; one of them was given to
u
306 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
Walton. Walton left it to Ken, who wore it all his
lire, and with it sealed his will.
,Valton's only son, Isaac, a man like his father, of
meek and holy retaper, was B..A_., of Christ Church,
Oxford; Rector of Poulshot, near Devizes; and
Canon of Sature. Ho never married. He left a few of
his father's books to the Sature Cathedral Librarym
Joscfihzts, 2Voz«dl's Çat«chAwz, Sibb«s' ])'ruised Reecl
and Sod's CaJoEict, Cowlc.v, FletcheG Camclcjt, Travds,
2Vat«tral Iistoy, &c. &c. ; most of them have the
father's name in autograph; in one, The ]dettrzbtg
17acbslider, by Dr. Sibbes, is written a distich in
Walton's hand, with difficulty legiblem
"Of this blest man let this just praise be given,
Heaven vas in him before he was in heaven.
IZAAK "VALTON."
Bishop /<en, after his deprivation, spent some rime
with his nephew, at Poulshot Rectory. He was visit-
ing there at the rime of the great storm of Nov. 27,
7o3. Thus he writes
"Las night there was here the most violent wind that ever I
knew ; the bouse shaked ail night. We ail rose, and cailed the
family to prayers, and by the goodness of God we were safe
anfidst the storm.
"The bouse being searched ye following day ye workmen found
yt ye beame v supported ye roof over my head was shaken
out to yt degree yt it had but halfe an inch hold. But at the
Palace at Wells a stack of chinmeys was thrown down which
killed Bishop Kidder and his wif:. '
ISAAC WALTON--BISHOP KEN--OLEç. 307
]3ARNABAS OLE¥.
This good man's name ought tobe remembered in
the Life of Gcooee H«rbert.
He was a most laborious tutor of Clare Hall,
Cambridge, and knev Herbert xvell while at Trinity
College, and became a most devoted admirer of his
after-life and writings. He left some brief melnorials
of him.
He was Vicar of Great Gransden, I Iuntingdonshire
for fifty-three years; _A_rchdeacon of Ely, and Pre-
bendary of Worcester.
Ejected during the Commonwealth from all his
prefcrments, after the Restoration he restored lais
Church, built a school and almshouses, rebuilt lais
parsonage, left six godly books for his parishioners to
read, six leather buckets for use in case of firc, and
an acre of freehold land to enlarge the Common.
He was the means of instituting a weekly Commu-
nion in \Vorcester Cathedral.
" I'ma told" (says a letter of Feb. 2_% 1685) , "that
this dag your friend, Mr. Barnabas Oley, is to be
buried, ttis parishioners are already sensible of their
loss of that reverend and eminentl¥ worth¥ good
nlan,
CIIAPTER XVIII.
THE CIIAINED LIBRARY
THE first edition of Walton's Life of Gorge
Ierbert contains, on the last page, the following
paragraph--
"... by them (the late rebels) was also burnt or destroyed a
choice library vhich Mr. Herbert had fastned vith chains in a
fit room in Montgomery Castle, being by him dedicated to the
succeeding Herberts that should become the owners of it."
This passage was withdrawn from the later editions,
probably because Walton had received some intima-
tion that the Librar¥ was not destroyed.
Man)" years ago some old books were discovered in
a cupboard in the parish school-room of Cherbury,
Salop, all mutilated in their covers, but here and
there was a volume which retained a little brass eyelet,
as though it had been chained ; but not a single chain
remained.
Years after, a heap of iron chains, in small links, also
was discovered hidden in the roof of the house. The
chains were re-attached to the books, which were re-
paired, removed to the Vicarage, and placed in a cabinet.
Most
Lcxvis.
written
TIIE CHAINED LIBRARY. 309
of the bools bear the naine of Edward
Twelve or fourteen bave the Herberts' names
in them, most frcquently that of Henry
Herbert.
Edward Lewis was Vicar of Chcrbury from I629 to
I677. He was a pronounced Puritan, and therefore
exposed to the persecution of the Cavaliers, xvho once
dragged hiln out of his pulpit, and threw him into
prison.
Cherbury is only four mlles from Montgomcry.
\Vhcn the Parliamcnt decrecd, in I649, that the Castle
should be dismantled, and the carcase was granted to
Richard, second Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Edward
Lewis, a godly man and a scholar, and knowing the
value of bools, seeing that the Library in the Castle
xvas in danger, seems to have corne forward, and
pleaded to Lord Herbert for its preservation. Lord
Herbert would be too glad for the Library to find a
friendly home, and xvould readily accede to Lewis's
proposal that the bools should be removed to
Cherbury, and put into lais charge.
The volumes in the present library are chiefly on
Puritan and controversial divilfity, and must have
been added by Lewis. Others are before his rime.
One of the most valuable is a folio of C«ua'r, 1598,
with the autograph tïd. tfcrbevt, probably the first
Baron; anotheris a folio of Jewel's "Defence," 157o,
bearing the scarcely" legible naine of Georff« tfcrba't.
Usher's Annals is dated /-emy t-cr3«rt, I657, A?ril
ye 28, and again "E.,: libris t-en, tter3ert." Those
3IO TIIE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
books vhich formed the Library collected by Gcorge
Herbert would be some of these yet remaining
Ainsworth's Annotations
Andrewes' Serinons
Aresius's Problems
Arminius's Works
Augustine's Works
Beza's Works
In one of the old
Calvin's Institutes
Chrysostom
Davenant on Colossians
]ïrasmus
JewePs Works
Septuagint, &c. &c.
volumes these lines are written m
Misterious God thy thorough pearcinge eye
Views our black deeds lockd in nightes treasurie.
The air is thy Register where we 1
\Vith our owne breath pen our owne historie.
Our thoughts are caracters to thee more cleare
Then to man's opticke mountaines can appeare :
Who then can scape when our deeds night displais,
Our words our breath, our thoughts our hart betraies.
Lord, none, except thy grace inspire us soe
Our deeds, vows, thoughts onlie froln thee may flowe.
]3 EATRIX HERBERT.
Seek God therefore.
CHAPTER XIX.
PASSIO DISCERPTA--LUCUS.
Tll: Rev. T. Jones, Fellmv and Tutor of Jesus
Collcge, Oxford, having beën ejected from his living
in Glamorganshire by the _Act of Uniformity, founded
a Nonconformist College in South Wales; and,
during the last century, many men were educated
in this College (then located at Carmarthen), who
afterwards took Orders, and became beneficed clergy
in the Church of England. One of these, the Rev.
John Jones, Vicar of Sheephill, Herts, showed his
gratitude to the place of his education by many
bequests ; and in 1729, he bequeathed to the trustees
of Dr. \Villiams's Library, vhich was in connection
with the College, a great number of IISS., pamphlets,
and printed books.
Dr. Daniel Williams, a learned and wealthy
Presbyterian minister (born 644--died 1716 ), left
his large library for the benefit, in the first instance,
of the Nonconforming communities; secondly, for
the-use of the public.
312 THE LIFE OF GEORGE IIERBERT,
Additional contributions were ruade, through
succeeding years, of rare books and manuscripts,
classical, ecclesiastical, theological, historical, biogra-
phical, &c., till the collection assumed the character
of a large and important library. Amongst the
books bequeathed by John Jones, of Sheephill, is a
manuscript volume of Hcrbert's poems.
It is a book of unspeakablc intercst. It is a small
duodccimo, bound in brown calf, with a line of gold
round the border, and a double line of toolin,
probably the work of the Gidding sistcrs. It bas no
title, but John Jones haslabelled it, "MSS. of Mr.
Gco. IIcrbcrt." On the first blank page is the
following note--
"Don Ini Jones Cler. a Museo V. CI. D. H. M. Venantodun,
qui ob. 73o. ''
"A gift to John Jones, clerk, from the library of that learned
man Dr. Henry lIapletoft, Huntingdon, who died, 73 o.
On the next blank leaf is written, in pencil, in an
old man's large script--
"This book came originally from thc family of Little Gidding,
and was probably bound there. Q whether this be not the
manuscript copy that was sent by Mr. Herbert a little before
his death to lIr. Nic. Ferrar. »
It is not the book of which, on lais deathbed,
Hcrbert said to Duncon, " I pray you deliver this
little book to my dear brother Ferrar"--for it does
not contain half of the Poems in The Tcm;e; and
it contains Poems which are not in Thc TcȢtle.
PASSIO DISCERPTA--LUCUS. 3 1 3
The history of this precious little volume may be--
That it was an early copy of Herbert's verses, Èglish
and Latin, and was perhaps intended for publica-
tion; till it was superseded by the collection of twice
as many poems, wholly Èglish, contained in the
manuscript sent to Ferrar. The smaller book was,
perhaps, found by the widow amongst Herbert's
papers, and by her sent to Ferrar, who had it bound,
and preserved at Gidding. It was saved (as so small
a book might easily be) from the sacking of Gidding
Ilali, passed into the possession of some of the family
of the lXlapletofts, by one of whom it was given to
John Jones. It must be remembered that Joshua
lXlapletoft married Susanna Collett, Ferrar's niece;
they had sons, John, Samuel, and Peter; John was
Ferrar's godson, born I63 ; in lais old age, in I715,
he is known to have had many Gidding books in his
possession.
The giS. in the Williams' Library" contains two
sets of poems : the first, in Ènglish ; the second, part
in Latin. All the English poems are written in fait,
secretary hand of the time of Charles I., sparsely
corrected and annotated by Herbert himself, by
whom the leaves are foliated, except the first three.
AI1 the Latin poems are in Herbert's autograph, and
by him foliated to the I29th leaf, except three at the
beginning; there are onl.y one or two corrections in
them.
In The T«»zp[e are 6o poems; the English
314 TtlE LIFE OF GEORGE HERI3ERT.
poems in the Williams volume are eighty in number.
Amongst these last are six new poems; all the
others are included in The Temtle, as published by
Ferrar. But the variations between the two copies
are very many, and very suggestive, and important;
often extremely beautiful, throwing a fresh and fuller
sense on passages sufficiently clear, and lighting up
expressions of subtle thought and obscurity.
The study of these various readings is intensely
interesting, and Herbert's Te»qle cannot be vell
understood, or worthily appreciated, unless it is read
with his own variations, emendations, and additions,
as rendered in the Williams manuscript. 1
The Latin Poems in the Williams manuscript, all
written by Herbert's hand, are divided into two
parts--I. PASSO DISCERPTA; I I. Lucus.
PAsSIO DISCERPTA may mefln " lIeditations Oll
the several subjects of the Passion." It is wholly
x The volume of Herbert's Poems in the \Villiams Library
was discovered by Dr. Alexander B. Grosart, who in his
edition of I«rbert's Poelfcal lVork has compared the hitherto-
accepted text with the variations in the Williams manuscript,
and has produced a book which puts the Church under infinite
obligation, and of which it is impossible to speak in terres of
adequate praise.
His appreciation of the subject and genuine love of the work,
his patient labour and critical discrimination, his lnasterly
erudition and range of reading, demand unbounded admiration.
No other edition of Herbert's Poems will ever be needed. It
deserves tobe printed in letters of gold.
PAS.IO DISCERPTA--LUCUS. 1 5
dcvoted to divine contemplations. The subjects
are--
THE DYING LORD THE 13ENITENT THIEF
,, BLOODY SWEAT CHRIST ASCENDING
,, (THE S&ME) CROSS
» PIERCED SIDE CHRIST ON THE CROSS
» SPITTING AND E- THE NAILS
VILINGS . ]OWED HEAD
» CROWN OF THORNS DARKENED SUN
» REED AND [OCKERY » OPENED TOMBS
. ]LOWS ,, EARTHQUAKE
. SCOURGING » RENT VEIL
,» PARTED RAIMENT ,, RENT ROCKS
THE SYMPATHY OF EARTH WITH CHRIST.
THE
Thcse are some of the devout thoughts containcd in
thcm--
"O Christ, as the spear opened a passage to Thy
Heart, I pray that Thou wouldest ever keep open a
way to my heart."
"0 Christ, Crown and Hope of a vorld scourged
xvith crime, when my sins cry for vengeance, and
the rod is ready to fall; in remembrance of Thy
scourging, smite me gently, and sometimes let the
shaclow only of Thy rod fall on me."
"\Vhen Thou, O Christ, wert nailed to the tree,
Thou didst bequeath Thy garments to Thine enemies
what is Thy bequest to Thy friends ?THYSELF."
"Zaccheus climbed the fig-tree that he might see
Thee passing by. Now Thou dost climb the Cross
that we may look up to Thee by faith, and be
healed."
316 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
" Here to Thy Cross I cling with panting joy;
and while from its drenched timbers the drops distil
which heal a dying world, lét some drops rail on me,
and clcanse my soul. ]3ut--O Lord ! let this stream
always flow, that Thy pcrpetual presence may prevent
the rcturn of sin."
"The nails fastcn Thce to the Cross--but the nails
and the Cross fastcn Thce to my soul."
"Whilst Thou, my Lire, art lying dcad, slceping
saints awake to lire. One Man is bound; a multitude
of souls is set free. Thou livest in them. Iï)eath is
alive. The Cross has opened many tombs."
"The torn veil reveals the hidden Godhead. _A_ll
nations--not only one city--all the earth, all hearts
are the Lord's. Mysterious ceremonies are abolished.
The new world rejoices in heavenly nuptials. God
is everywhere--the Lamb--the -A_ltar--the Priest."
"When Christ died, the rocks were shattered. Si
brcaks everything but man's heart. Yet a broken
heart is a treasure, dear to God."
LATIN POEMS BY GEOKGE [[ERBERT WHOI.LY IN HIS OWN HANDWRITING.
[-Page 3z7,]
PASSIO DISCERPTA--LUCUS. 3 I7
LUCUS.
The Lucs is "A Collection of Poems on Various
Subjects," sacred, moral, and secular, thirty-five in
nl.lmb2r.
The sacred pieces are--'lIan, an Image of God';
' Fatherland ' ; ' St. Stephen' ; ' Simon lIagus' ;
'Scripture'; 'Washing the Disciples' Feet'; 'St.
Lukc'; 'The Tribute Money'; 'Christ Aslecp in
the Temple' ; ' The Shadow of St. Petcr' ; ' Martha
and IIary-' ; ' Affliction' ; ' Angels' ; ' A Reasonable
Sacrifice' ; ' St. Thomas' ; 'A Christian's Triumph
over Dcath' ; ' St. John' ; ' To the Lord'--and these
inculcate many wise and holy lessons.
"Man is an image of God, but in stone. Thou,
who canst make marble wecp, surfer hot my heart to
be barder than stone."
"As flames ascend tovards heaven, so m- praycrs
and aspirations, urging my" soul continually, will lift
it to God, if I faint hot."
"We draw fire out of flints. Stephen drcw hcaven
out of stones."
"Will you buy Christ with money? The Lamb
was once sold for us. He bought us vith His Precious
]31ood. Will you buy heaven ? Calculate the price
of one star. The only coin dear to Christ is a soul
in vhich the image of God brightly shines."
"What spirit is this that dwells within me, and
318 THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
stirs my soul with dcepest emotion ? Is it that as I
was sitting at my garden-door a falling star shot into
my breast; or as I was eatin honey, I svallowed
the queen bee ? No--I ara hOt scorchcd by star, or
stun by bee. But it is thou, O blcssed Book, which
hast pierced my heart, has penetrated its inncrmost
recesses, and dragged from their dark labyrinths my
lurking sins. Vqhat wisdom, and power, and grace
are thine !"
"O Lord, Thou didst once walk on the sea. The
waves of trouble are now dashing over my hcad. If
I may not valk on the waters, surfer me to corne
to Thee lhrough the waters."
"What dost thou say, Death?Thou boastest
exultingly of thy invincible power, and of thy
unsparing murders. How shall I meet thee in the
dread encounter? I bave no bow, no sword, no
spear, no shield, no weapon of war for this battle.
Ah! but I have the LAMB, and the CROSS."
"Why is it that in England we have so few wars,
while other lands are deluged with blood ? She is in
thc midst of the seas, yet she is not overwhelmed by
the waves ; the sea is the cause of shipwreck, but our
watery wall is out defence."
"The secret of England's happiness and great-
ness is her ReligionThou, Lord, walkest upon our
waters."
"0 Christ, my glory, my" sweetness surpassing all
earthly joys! Crown of mg heart, the battle and
PASSIO DISCERPTA--LUCUS. " 319
peace of my soul! O let me see Thee! O how
often have I cried, 'Let me see Thee!' I ara dying
of prayer. O my Lire, let me see Thee--Thee, who
givest sight to the blind. It is sight only to see
Thee. O save me from sinning by showing me
Thysel f !"
GLORY" TO GOD ALONE.
i ADDENDA--Note K.
ADDENDA
NOTE A.--Page 42.
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL.
THE Captain of Vestminster School in the years I843-44
has kindly furnished additional details and corrections.
'* The forty Qteen's (or King's) Scholars had their speciai place in
the Abbey, and aiways when attending the services wore surplices."
" Behind the partition at the upper end of the Schooi in which was
the semicircular apse which the ' Shell' Form occupied, was the Rod
Room (hot/?ir«h--we did hot know such a word), in which spare rods
were stored for use as required ; there were always four rods kept, with
the ends projecting in the drawer.of the Monitors' Table, which was
placed about halfway down the side of the School, at wh:ch sat the
Captain and the three Monitors. Each Monitor took if in turns to be
'Monitor of School,' ' of Chamber,' or 'Station,' i.e. The Fieids, or
of Great Dean's Yard. The Captain, or Monitor, on addressing the
Head Master in School aiways carried a rod ; and if the Head Master
had occasion to use the rod, he received it from the hand of the
' Monitor of the School.' The administration of discipline by the rod
was always performed publickly in the School."
"The friend ah-eady in College was called in School phraseology the
'Iare. ' The minor candidates' nalnes used to be given in on the first
Saturday in Lent ; the Challenges began on the foiiowing Monday ; the
boy at the bottom of the list, and the one next above hiln, presented
themselves at the Head Master's table, the two ' heips' being seated at
the side to 'slaug' each one for his own ' man,' i. e. to argue on his be-
hall on any doubtfui question. The iower boy 'cltalleuged' the one
next above him, and tried to ' tutu,' i. e. displace him ; then it became
the place of the ' tur»ed' boy to 'challenge' the boy who had
'turttcd' him, and so they went on tiii the number of questions was
exhausted ; then the boy who was left at the head ' challeng'ed' the boy
next above hiln, and so on through the whole list. The saine thing
comlnenced at the bottom again. In the morning was a Greek 'chal.
latge,' in the aftel'noon a Latin ' cltallenge' ; each boy setting his opponent
two lines of Greek or two lines of Latin, and two words in each to
parse, and asking grammatical questions on each word ; if the lower
324 ADr)ENDA.
boy made a mistake, or asked a 'bad' question, he was 'once back,"
and the next ' right ' correction or ' good question ' only ruade him even,
he did not ' tutu' his opponent. Three ' once backs' following stopped
the ' ckallotge,' and the next boy was called up. The first ' challeuge'
(Greek) was 'unlimited,' L e. any number of questions might be asked.
The longest contest I tan recollect was my own with a boy named
Williams, wbieh lasted four bours or Bore, and I know I was very
pleased to find myself at the top, and at the end, and still hot ex-
hausted. Tbe Head Boy was ' chaired' on a ladder: he was carried
three rimes rouud Little Dean's and Great Dean's Yard, passing
throtlgh the Cloisters, the whole School following, shouting, and knock-
ing and singing at the doors to call out the residents to sec the suc-
cessful boy on the ladder ; a rime of great excitement and pleasure to
every one in the School, except la the Boy on lice laddeG as I can testify
from experience."
NOTE B.--Page 43-
BISHOP HACKET ON WESTMINSTER SCHOOL.
OF Dr. Ire]and, Bishop Hacket says he "owed him a
perpetual gratitude." Of Westminster School itself Hacket
"would speak with the greatest respect possible, that it was 2Itsarum
domiciliutn, Virtutis o[flcina, Nbile docDqnw et pietatis
the most famous nursery of learning and learned men who did excel in
ail vocations, being of opinion that more learned scholars had been
bred at Westminster School since the foundation thereof than in any
other seminary of learning in England or elsewhere, that one school
furnlshing two entire colleges of great size in Cambridge and Oxon."
--BIsttoI' PLUME'S Lire
NOTE C.--Page 53.
IEMORIAL OF HERBERT.
NETI-tER the University of Cambridge, nor Trinity College,
has ever erected any memorial worthy of ber great son. In
I85 an oration on the " Praise of GEORGE HERBERT" was
delivered in the Hall of Trinity College by an underaduate,
named Benson, who afterwards became Archbishop of
Canterbury. The interest thus excited in Herbert's memory
was embodied in the construction of a window in the ante-
chapel of Trinity College, a compartment of which displays
ADDENDA 325
a group of figures repr¢senting the family at Bethany, among
which the likeness of Herbert appears.
The Church of St. John's, at Bemerton, was built by
subscription in memory of H¢rbert.
NOTE D.--Page 55.
ÇOLI,EGE LIFE AT ÇAMBRIDGE IN THE SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY.
'A FELLOW of a College was expected to have two or three
Chamber fellows who shared his bcdroom with him. In I598 there
were o less than seventy members of the College a«ammadatedin twenty-
eight chambers. Windows were unglazed or closed with woodea
shutters ; the floors either clay or tiled ; the walls and ceilings were
unplastered. At only four or rive Colleges was there any tire-place in
the Hall, and the barbaric braziers, in which charcoal, and afterwards
coke, was burned, were actually the only heating apparatus known in
the immense halls of Trinity and St. John's within the last twenty
years. At Christ's the Fellows were provided with napkins ; if they
wiped their fingers on the table-cloth they were fined a penny : no forks
were in use, hot even the iron prongs which we remember in out young
days. The oldest piece of furniture in the Hall was the stocks set up
for the correction of the undergraduates who should have been guilty of
the enormityof bathing in the Cam, or other grave offence. A lavatory
was provided in the College Hall with a towel eight or ten yards long."
--CANON JESSOPP.
The following account of College Lire in Cambridge from x6x8 to
I62o (and therefore during Herbert's residence at Trinity College) s
taken from the Di-ry of SoN D'Ews. "The usual dinner was -t
x a.m., but an hour earlier in Vacation. The amusements were the
tennis-court, howling-green, football on Trinity Green, near Neville's
Corner, Olympic Gaines on the Gog l\Iagog Hills, including hull-baiting,
running, jumping, shooting, and vrestling, shovel graa, boating, pitch-
ing the bar, cards, and the Latin Play in the College Hall. Bathing
in the Cam was strictly forbidden (but some Colleges had baths in the
gardens), but angling was allowed. The freshmen had to go through
the disagreeable ceremonial of 'saltitg' in Hall, when the Senior
Sophisters as fathers, and the freshmen as sons, burlesqued the public
exercises of the Schools, those who did ill being compelled to drink
salted beer at a cost of 3s. 4d. The Standard studies were Logic,
Ethies and Physics, taught from the treatises mostly of Protestant
foreign divines ; ciassical subjects were subordinate, and reserved for
the evening ; catechising in the Chapel, Lectures of the Margaret Pro-
326 ADDENDA.
fessor, and sermons fitrnished the course of Divinity. Public exercises,
extempore disputations between commencing bachelors, and ail oppo-
nents in the Schools, and the Common Place or Latin Dissertation on
philosophy, and declamations in the College Chapel, read by Under-
graduates, sharpened their wits. The old Chronicles supplied history,
The Faery Queen of Spenser, the Satires of Wither, and the formation
of Common Place books, relieved the graver studies. Sports were
permitted on Sundays ; a fish dinner only was allowed on Fridays.
When James I. visited Cambridge in I6I 4 an enactment was made
against the wearing by the students of strange «7eccadivelas,' vast bands,
large cuffs, shoe-roses, tufts and locks, and tops of hair."--M. WALL-
COTT.
"At Oxford, and I believe at Cambriktge, the rod was frequently
used by the Tutors and Deans; and Dr. Porter of Trinity College, I
knew right well whipt his pupil with his sword by his side."--I.
AUBREY.
1NOTE E.--Page 69.
HERP, ERT'S CONTEMPORARIES AT CAMBRIDGE.
CAMP, RDGE men in Herbert's rime, from 16o 9 to 1627,
were, amongst the Undergraduates of Trinity College--
PALItER, the Greek Scholar,
CHAUICEV, Head of Harvard College,
Bishop FERN,
Dtr»ORT, Professor of Greek,
RANDOLPH poet,
Archbishop STERNE,
Sir THOS. HERaRT,
PLL, mathematician,
with multitudes of old XVestminster boys coming down
every year; and among the Masters, Tutors, and Fellows
of Trinity College were--
NEVILLE, " a very splendid and sumptuous governor,"
"a magnificent Master" (Hacket),
StSOl, Fellow,
RICHARDSON, Master, and one of the Translators of
the Bible,
Sir R. CREOHTO, Orator, Bishop of Bath and
Wells,
LORD BACON
ADDENDA. 327
Sir R. NAUNTON,
MARQUIS of EXETER,
EARL of ESSEX,
Sir R. FILMER,
Sir R. COVTON,
Sir R. SVELtAr,
Sir E. CoIv.,
OvwRaLL, Bishop of Norwich, and one of the Trans-
lators of the 13ible,
HARRISON, Vice Master, whom IIacket calls
lissDnus,' one of the Translators of the Bible,
THORNDIKE, Fellow, Orator,
JOHN, first LORD ]]VRON, Lieutenant of the Tower,
whose brilliant cavalry charge chiefly contributed
to the victory of Roundway Down,
cure cceleris multis nobilibus.
In other Colleges at Cambridge conversant with Herbert
were--
WLeIAMS, Fellow of St. John's, Archbishop of York,
who preferred eleven Trinity men, and Herbert
among them to office in his diocese,
HALe, Emmanuel, Bishop of E×eter,
JEFFERmS, Canon of Canterbury,
DAVENANT, Master of Queen's, Bishop of Salisbury
(6z-4), who ordained Herbert Priest,
IORE, eminent Platonist,
] ICKLETH WAITE, preacher,
MORTON, 'out holy _Polycartus' (Hacket), Bishop of
Durham,
SENHOUSE, Bishop of Carlisle,
HOZ.DSWORTH, Master of St. John's and Emmanuel,
COLLONS, Provost of King's,
H.Rwv, discoverer of circulation of the blood,
WREN, Bishop of Hereford,
OLEV, Archdeacon,
cure ccei. mult. nob.
328 &DDENDA.
NOTE F.--Page 15 .
CORNARO.
"THI hcavy train of infirmities which had ruade great inroads on my
constitution was my motive for renouncing intemperance to which I
had been greatly addicted ; I had fallen into different kinds of disorders,
as pains in my stomach, cholic and gout, attended by a slow fever and
a perpetual thirst. God be praised, I now enjoy perfect health, but ara
very scrupulous to observe all the important rules of sobrlety ; and to
avoid melancholy, hatred, and other violent passions.
" Some of the youngest children I always play with ; ,and indeed
children from three to rive years are only fit for play : the rest I make
companions of. They sing and play on various instrmnents ; and I
sing myself too, and bave a better voice, clearer and louder than ever
in my lire ; my voice is grown melodious, that I chant my prayers
aloud, morning and night, instead of whispering them, as was my
custom ; and I believe I shall die chanting my prayers ; as the thought
of death gives me no uneasiness, for I ara bound to believe I shall be
saved by the most sacred BIood of Christ."--LuDOVlCO CORNARO.
NOTE G.--Page 72.
KING CHARLES I. AND HERP, ERT'S POEMS.
THUS King Charles I. and Herbert met. This would be
in the month of April, in the year I63o. Little did the
monarch think that a day would corne when that man's
poems would minister a solemn requiem to his dying soul.
Herbert diêd about two and a half years aft£r ; Charles was
beheaded on January 3 o, 1649. During the King's im-
prisonment the few days belote execution, as Sir Thomas
Herbert relates, the books he had reserved, and read, to
prepare him for death, were his Bible, Prayer Book, GEORGE
]-[ERBERT'S POEMS, and a few other books. The King's
copy of Herbert's Poems was a slender duodecimo volume,
bound in blue morocco, delicately ruled and ornamented
with rich gold tooling ; it is to be believed it was bound at
Little Gidding, and given to the King by Ferrar; it is
noted that "his 'rbert showed »tuch hamlh)tg." It is still
in existence.
ADDENDA. 39
NOTE H.--Page 2o.
THE LADY ANNE CLIFFORD COUNTESS OF DORSET
PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY.
BmHOV R.«INBOW, in the sermon preached at the funeral
of the Countess, says--
"She rebui}t or restored six houses of her own, and seven of God's
IIouses. She retired to her own superb estates in the North, and
removing from castle to castle she diffused p}enty and happiness around
her ; her house was a School for the young, a Retreat for the aged, an
Asylum for the persecuted, a College for the learned, and a Pattern
for ail.
"Yet here I may be bold to te}l you something to wonder at, that
she much neglected, and treated very harshly, one servant, and a very
ancient one, who served ber from her cradle, from her birth, very
faithfully, which usage her servants as well as her friends and children
much repined at--and this servant was her body--who was a servant
most obsequious to ber mind, and served her for fur score and six
years. Iler chamber was her Oratory : the Psalms for the Day were
never onfitted ; she much delighted in that Iloly Book ; it was ber
companion, and persons may be guessed by their companions. She
took particular delight in one chapter, the eighth of Romans, vhich
she used to repeat every Lord's Day withottt fail ; and truly she could
hardly find a better cordial in any one chapter in ail the HoL¥
SCRIPTURES." She died on March 22, 676, after four days' illness ;
her last utterance was, ' I thank God, I am very well.'
"Exceedittff lemherale itt ber ]giet was ske, nez)er drank wDte, when
she z,as last eighty years of age, exceibtittg sometimes a litlle winelass
of sack »tia-ed wilk wa&'r ; nor did she er;er lake k.l,sic iu kcr lire, as I
bave oflen heard ber say."--WmTTKER.
NOTE I.--Page 243.
POSY.
HrRBrRT uses " Posy " several times in his poems with
different meanings.
In the 'Thanksgiving' it seems to mean a " Bunch of
Flovers," in ' Lire' it certainly is a "Nosegay ; "in ' Miserie'
it is a motto on a ring, as elsewhere--
" ly rittgs shall be enffravat wilk ]wly ibosies."
33 ° ADDENDA.
The old gold rings were so large and wide that they
would adroit verses and sentences engraved upon and
within-them.
Herbert sings sweetly and piously in ' The Posie '--
" Let wits eontest,
And with their words and posies windows fill ;
' Lesse than [he least
Of all Thy »mcies' is my posie still.
«' This on my ring,
This by my picture, in my book I write,
Whether I sing
Or say, or dictate, this is my delight.
" Invention, test ;
Comparisons, go play ; wit, use thy will ;
' Lesse l]tan the least
Of all God's mercies ' fs 0' 2#osy stilL "
Sir John Evans explains--" Posy = poesy, verses inseribed
with a nosegay; also a brief, poetical motto or legend,.
frequently engraved on a ring," and gives these interesting
specimens--
"May you lire."
VIVAS IN DEO."
"May you lire in God."
' ACCIPE» DULCIS, MULTIS ANNIS. »
" Accept it, dear, for many a year. '»
On a gold Sicilian ring--
** GLORIA IN EXCELSIS
" Glory to God in the highest."
Especially were rings given as love-tokens-
" I give it tilee
My love to be."
" A token sent
With true intent,"
AI)DENDA.
«« My heart and I
Until I die."
33
" *ou never knew
A heart more true."
" If love you bear
For me this wear."
" Like this my love
Shall endless prove."
" Many are the stars [ see,
Yet in my eyes no star like thee.'"
Ail I refitse,
And thee I choose."
" I bid adieu
To ail but you."
" God be a guide
To thee, my bride-"
«' God's glft thota art
My dearest heart."
«' Goal decreed,
And we agreed."
*' Ail that I desire of thee
Is to fear God, and to love me."
" Remember Him who died for thec,
And al'ter Him, remember me."
" I do rejoice
In thee, my choice."
*« ANIMAM DEO, COR SPONS.ZE DEDI. »
" I gave my soul to God above,
I gave my heart to ber I love."
" I like, I love, I ana content ;
I ruade my choice and don't repent."
332 ADDENDA.
NOTE J.--Page 246.
BEMERTON.
AN American writer (quoted in Duyckunch's Z
George Herbert, New York) describes Bemerton, in 839, as
"a collection of houses and haystacks heaped together over a meadow.
A rudely-kept cart-track led down to the little irregular street of
thatched houses inclosed in farmyards, that ruade up all the pretensions
of the parish. It was humble, to be sure, but it was picturesque. The
thatch was a graceful covering to the windows and gables, like a heavy
eyebrow. The church was a little, pinched, old-fashioned, stone build-
ing, the noisy bell ringing, and the old people crowding the porch.
"It stands at a triangular corner of the road, fenced off from the
footpath by grey, sunken tombstones.
"There was no spire, but a short ventilated kind of chimney, out of
which the bell twanged its coarse tones with a cracked, nasal utterance.
" Within, the appearance was hot less curioas ; it was the most
diminutive of parish churches. The preacher's sounding-board pro-
jected from the very caves of the springing roof, and left no space for
tiptoe eloquence.
"The clerk, condensed between the smallest compass, seemed to
bolster up both Reading Desk and Pulpit. The congregation may
have numbered fifty persons. The clergyman preached a practical
sermon worthy of Herbert himself."
In 83z an article in the Saturday 3[agazhte records--
"I saw the Rectory which tIerbert rebuilt, and the lines fie inscribed
over tlte Hall clti»mey-iece. There were many cottages around, which
from the style of their building had most probably witnessed his tender
care for those committed to his charge, when he soothed their sufferings,
reproved the profligate, and pointed the penitent to the way of Peace.
« The altar was raised by a platform of wood, and the pavement
entirely concealed. There was no chancel ; but within the small semi-
circle of rails which enclosed the Lord's Table his ashes rest against
the Day of the Great Assize. The old clerk had not even heard of the
name of Herbert."
In i85o one writes--" It is painful to contrast the white-
wash and unpainted deal of the House of God with the rich
furniture and hangings of the adjoining Rectory."
"I walked from Salisbury," writes Mr. F. A. Arnold in 86o, "vhen
a lane suddenly diverging from the high road brought me somewhat
abruptly into the little village of Bemerton, and disclosed a scene vhich
in ifs fair, simple, pastoral feeling could not have materially varied
ADDENDA. 333
flore the actual scenery of more than two centuries ago. Right before
me was the little church. The edifice is very oid, and is now disused
for Divine Service (x86o). The parsonage is a long, iow house of duil
and uninviting exterior, strongly contrasting with the interior, and very
pretty grounds, for in the garden oranges were blooming in the miid,
open air. The lawn slopes down to a broad, shailow stream, and
Herbert has been represented as an angler both in print and pieture,
but on no authority. Across the broad bare fields arose in the purple
haze the Cathedrai spire. At some distance the noble woods of Wilton,
and far away to the rear extends Salisbury Plain. The house was in
the greater part rebuiit by Herbert, but is so changed by alterations
and additions tbat it must be very difficuit to point out with any exact-
ness the extent of the structure of his time. Of the inscription over
the ' mantel of the chimney' not a trace remains."
In I86O the chapel was fast passing from decay into
ruin ; some portion of the wall had already fallen, and no
service was held except at the Parish Church at Foulstone.
In 1865-6 solne effort was ruade to stay its total destruc-
tion, and some restoration effected, but in bad taste, of
impeffect character, and at a mean cost.
In i895-6 the little edifice, dear to the hearts of so many
thousands of Christians, underwent a careful, reverent, and
generous reparation.
A new roof of oaken tituber replaced the deal roof of the
chancel. The nave is laid in oak blocks, the chancel floor
is covered in Sicilian marbles; the altar-step is of Devon-
shire marble, worked out in a mosaic of grapes and vine-
leaves. A stone slab under the altar with crosses was
covered by tiles, but bas been placed in position. The walls
have been boarded to the height of the window-sills with
old oak panelling. A new font of Anstey stone, with many
other costly offerings, was given at the dedication. Bemerton
Chapel would now satisty the soul of Herbert, who ruled that
«' the Coupt¢ry tgarson hat/t a seciall care of/frs Chtcrc, tat
ai1 thizg.s be dece«t a«d beflt/izg. r-fis Arame by z«,lzh-h it is called."
]-IERBERTS GRAVE.
Researches ruade at the late restoration of Bemerton
Church profess to cast a doubt on the place of Herbert's
334 ADDENDA.
burial. Arthur Woodnoth, who was present at the funeral,
gave Walton, either by word of mouth or in writing, the
information that ".l/'r. 35rerbert OE,as buried in his own
Churc/z under /he aZ[a; ai«d coz,er'd ,i[]z a gra«,estopte «cilAt-
out any inscriNan." John Aubrey furnishes a second eye-
witness--" _He (Herbert) lies it the c/tanell uner a larKe nor
yct very good marne graz,esfone
uncle, Tlzos. 13anv,rs, c,as at tire funeraL" Sir R. C.
Hoare adds a third testimony--"/'r. George Irerbert,
_Parsopt of Tuffffleslote and tTemerton, was buried on the 2Vorlh
side of the al/af, but no ttOJlUletL" Hoare was a friend of
Archdeacon Coxe, Rector of I3emerton, froln wholn he
would receive information about Herbert's grave through a
tradition of only 155 years.
From the late discovery of the old stone slab, under the
altar, it is hot probable that Herbert's grave was dug
immediately under the Lord's Table. Walton's expression,
under the a/far, may well include the north side of the altar ;
and there no doubt Herbert was buried. It is said that
abortive efforts were made to identify his grave; and ail
tombs in the chancel were opened.
We are by no means justified in "izvadfng the secrels of
the grave"--it jars with decency and religion, and gratifies
only a morbid and indelicate curiosity. The imprecation
on Shakespeare's tomb at Stratford-on-Avon might well
have protectcd Herbert's tomb at Bemerton.
' Good friend, for Jesu's sake forbear
To dig the dttst inclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones."
GEORGE HERBERTS PRAVER BEFORE SERMON.
O Almighty and ever-living Lord God, Majesty and
Power and Brightnesse and Glory, how shall we date to
appear before Thy Face who are contrary to Thee in all we
call Thee! for we are darknesse and weaknesse and filthi-
ADDENDA. 335
nesse and shame. Misery and sin fill our days; yet art
Thou out Creatour, and we Thy work. Thy Hands both
ruade us, and a]so ruade us lords of all Thy creatures, giving
us one world in ourselves, and another to serve us; then
didst Thou place us in Paradise, and wert proceeding still
on in Thy favours untill we interrupted Thy counsels,
disappointed Thy purposes, and sold out God, out glorious,
out gracious God, for an apple.
0 write it ; 0 brand it on out foreheads for ever; for an
apple once we lost out God, and still lose tlim for no
more--for lnoney, for meat, for diet. But Thou, Lord, art
patience and pity and sweetnesse and love; therefore we
sons of men are not consumed. Thou hast exalted Thy
mercy above all things, and hast ruade out salvation, not
our punishlnent, Thyglory ; so that then where sin abounded,
not death, but grace super-abounded ; accordingly when ve
had sinned beyond any help in heaven or earth, then Thou
saidst, "Zo ! Z co»«e." Then did the Lord of life, unable
of Himselfe to die, contrive to do it. He took flesh, He
wept, He died; for His enemies He died, even for those
that derided Him then, and still despise Him. Blessed
Saviour, many waters could llOt quench Thy love, nor no
pit overwhelme it. But though the streams of Thy Blood
were currant through darknesse, grave and hell, yet by these
Thy confticts and seemingly hazards Thou didst arise
triumphant, and therein mad'st us victorious.
Neither doth Thy love yet stay here ; for this word of
Thy rich peace and reconciliation Thou hast cornmitted,
not to thunder or angels, but to silly (weak) and sinful men,
even to me, pardoning lny sins, and bidding me go feed
the people of Thy love.
Blessed be the God of heaven and earth who onely doeth
wondrous things. Awake, therefore, my lute, and my viol ;
awake, all my powers, to glorify Thee. We praise Thee, we
bless Thee, we magnifie Thee for ever; and now, O Lord,
in the power of Thy victories, and in the wayes of Thy
336 ADDENDA.
ordinances, and in the truth of Thy love, lo ! we stand here,
beseeching Thee to blesse Thy word wherever spoken this
day throughout the universall Church. O make it a word
of power and peace, to convert those who are hot yet Thine,
and to confirme those that are; particularly bless it in this
Thine own Kingdom, which Thou hast ruade a land of light,
a storehouse of Thy treasures and mercies. O let hot out
foolish and unworthy hearts rob us of the continuance of
this Thy sweet love; but pardon out sins, and perfect what
Thou hast begun. "_Ride on £ord, because of the ,orcl of
lrulh and meeknesse and righleousltesse, a,td Thy righl /rand
slmll teach Thee terrible lhings." Especially blesse this
portion here assembled togcther, with Thy unworthy
servant speaking unto them. Lord Jesu, teach Thou me,
that I may teach them ; sanctifie and inable all my powers,
that in their full strength they may deliver Thy message
reverently, readily, faithfully, and fruitfully. O make Thy
word a swift word, passing from the car to the heart, from
the heart to the life and conversation; that as the rain
returns hOt empty, so neither may Thy word, but accomplish
that for which it is given. O Lord, hear ; O Lord, forgive ;
O Lord, hearken ; and do so for Thy Blessed Son's sake, in
whose sweet and pleasing words we say, "OUR FaWnR,
çC, ''
HERBERT'S PRAYER AFTER SERBION,
Blessed be God and the Father of ail mercy, who con-
tinueth to pour His benefits upon us. Thou hast elected
us, Thou hast called us, Thou hast justified us, sanctified
and glorified us ; Thou wast born for us, and Thou livedst
and diedst for us ; Thou hast given us the blessings of this
life, and of a better. O Lord, Thy blessings hang in
clusters, they corne trooping upon us, they break forth like
mighty waters on every side. And now, Lord, Thou hast
fed us with the bread of lire; so ma did eat augels'food.
O Lord, bless it; O Lord, make it health and strength unto
us ; still striving and prospering so long within us, untill out
ADDNDA. 337
obedlence reach Thy measure of Thy love who hast done
for us as much as may be. Grant this, dear Father, for
Thy Son's sake, our only Saviour, to Whom with Thee and
the Holy Ghost, three Persons, but one most glorious
incomprehensible God, be ascribed ail honour, glory, and
praise, ever. AraEN.
NOTE K.--I'age 39"
CHARACTER OF HERBERT)S POEMS.
FOR Cowper's and Baxter's opinions of Herbert's Poems,
see pp. 47 and 5-"-3 ; for Walton's, p. 283 ; for Ferrar's, p.
282.
Coleridge wrote thus of Herbert--
"Having mentioned the name of HERBERT, that model of a man, a
gentleman, and a clergyman, let me add that the quaintness of some
of his thoughts, hot of his diction, than which nothing can be more
pure, manly and unaffected, has blinded modern readers to the general
merits of his poems, which are for the most part exquisite. Herbert is
a true poet, but a poet sui generi«, the merits of whose poems will
never be felt without a sympathy with the mind and character of the
man. To appreciate the T«mp/e it is hot enough that the reader
possess a cultivated j udgment, a classical taste, or even poetic sensibility,
unless he be likewise a Christian, and both a zealous and orthodox, a
devout and devotional Christian. But even this will not suffice. He
must be an affectionate and dutiful chiid of the Church, and from habit,
conviction, and a constitutional predisposition to ceremoniousness, in
piety as in manners, find her forms and ordinances aids to religion, not
sources of formality."
"The first that with any success attempted a diversion of the foul
and overflowing stream of love-verse was the blessed man, Mr. George
Herbert, whose holy life and verse gained many converts--of whom I
am least."--IlENRY VAUGHAN.
I)r. Grosart makes the remark
' I have been specially struck with the absence of so much as one
hearty sentence about tIerbert, or quotation from him by a divine of
his own Church ; it is a simple matter of fact that the only approaches
to adequate critical estimates of G. Herbert have been from the hearts
and pens of Nonconformists. Witness the Essays of our own day
Y
338 ADDENDA.
Dr. S. Brown, Dr. G. Macdonald, Professor Nichol, and George
Gilfillan, as compared with the jejune and captious notice of Keble." x
Herbert is quoted by Dr. Bryan, in his Jgwelling wilh
God, in 67o ; so by Matthew Henry, often in lais Com-
menlary, as in Gen. xix. ; St. Mark iv. ; St. John xix., where
he says--
" Our devout poet, Mr. George Herbert, in lais poem called the Dal,,
very affectingly brings in out Saviour, when IIis side was pierced, thus
speaking to His disciples-
' If ye bave ao,thht ff to send or write,' &c."
"The Atonement was his favourite doctrine, and how heavily docs
he lean ail his weight on the hope of the Cross. The 7"empl« is a
' Prayer Book in verse.' /'qow like a seraph he casts his crown at God's
feet, and covers his face with his wings in awful adoration. Now he
looks up in God's face with the happy gratitude of a child, and mur-
murs out his thanksgiving. Now he sighs and prays, and besieges
Heaven for mercy, pardon, peaee, graee, joy, with 'groanings that
cannot be uttered.' We find too a perpetua! undersong of praise.
The mere devotion of the Tem;ble, in its depth and truth, commends
itself to Christians, as next the Psalms, TtIE FINEST COLLECTION OF
ARDENT AND HOLY BREATHINGS TO BE FOUND IN THE WORLD ;
and there is never wanting the em2hle music, now wailing melodiously,
now moving in bright, lively, bird-like measures, now uttering loud
poeans and crashes of victorious sound. It has been truly said of
Ilerbert that ' he is inspired by the Bible, as its vaticinations were
inspired by God.' It is to him not only the ' Book of God,' but the
'God of books.'"Dm S. GILFILLAN.
"To testifie his (Herbert's) independence upon all others,
and to quicken his diligence in this kinde, he used in his
ordinary speech when he ruade mention of the blessed
naine of out Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to adde 'My
Master.' Next God he loved that which God Himself
bath magnified above all things, that is, His Word ; so he
bath been heard to make solemne protestation that he would
not part with one leafe thereof for the whole world."
NICHOLAS IERRA R.
1 ,, Herbert's fmdt is a constant flutter of his fancy for ever hover]ng round and
round his thenm."--Rev. Jo KEBLE, Prelectioucs Acad«ticee» xx. xu.
ADDENDA. 339
ON BIR. G.EORGE ttERBERT'S BOOKE INTITULED Tl:IE TEMPI E
OR SACRED POEMS..¢é'2// fO eZ g(ll[lCïdOlllglll.
" KNOW )'OU, Faire, on what you looke ?
Divinest love lyes in this booke,
Expecting fier from your faire eyes
To kindle this his sacrifice.
When your hands untie these strings,
Think you've an angell by the wings ;
One that gladly would be nigh
To waite upon each nmrning sigh,
To flutter in the balmy aire
Of your well-perfumed praier ;
These white plumes of his he'll lend you,
Which every day to Heaven will send )'ou,
To take acquaintance of each spheare,
And all your smooth-faced kindred there ;
And though Herbert's naine doe owe
These devotions, Fairest, know
While I thus lay them on the shrine
Of your white hand, they are naine."
CRAWSHAW. 1646.
"From such men as GEORGE HERBERT corne the hidden
watercourses of thought and action that irrigate the world
with ever fresh supplies of life and vigour, by innumerable
unnoticeable rills, preserving its morality from corruption
and stagnation. It is to men of this metal that England
owes her greatness."--C]ristian 2emembrancer.
"Herbert, ' the iboet of God's love and man's devotion,' has
a hold upon the heart of Protestant Christendom through-
out the world, irrespective of sect or countr),. Churchman
himself, of a severe standard, hë bas yet by his writings
drawn to him millions of ail those who love the Lord Jesus
and His Gospel.
" His poems are read and sung by Christian pilgrims of
thls day more than over ; he has more hearts that love him
than any other writer in any age of the Church ; ho is more
34o ADDENDA.
often quoted than any poet; hc is prcsent in English homcs
as a living man, vcncratcd as a saintly companion and
fliend, leading us into the vcry shrine and prcscnce of
God.
"Thc rclnembrancc of Gcorgc Hcrbcrt and his Poems
will bc chcrishcd as long as the English language and
English Church shall last."
"With honourcd, thricc honourcd Gcorgc Hcrbcrt
waiting, with my hand on thc lock I shrink froln opcning
thc door. Herc cornes a poet indccd! and how am I to
show him due honour? In George Hcrbcrt thcre is poctry
enough and to sparc ; it is thc houschold bread of his bcing.
Gcorgc Hcrbcrt offcrs us mcasurc of truth prcssed down
and running over. In cvcry song hc sings a spiritual fact
will bc found its fundamcntal life. With a conscience
tender as a child's, and a heart as loving as a woman's, his
intellect is none the less powerful. No writer like hi»t bas
shown sucl a love fo God, such a childlike confidence in Him.
The divine mind of Herbert was in the main bent upon
discovering God everywhere. His use of homeliest imagery
for highest thought is in itself enough to class him with the
highest kind of poets. He has an exquisite feeling of
lyrical art. Amongst the keener delights of the life which
is at the door, I look for the face of George Herbert.
THANK GOD FOR GEORGE HERBERT. n
2ltglal«d's Anthott.DI. [ACDONALD.
LUCUS, NO. XXV.
AD DOMINUM.
Christe, decus, dulced0, et centuln circiter Hybloe,
Cordis apex, animoe pugnaque paxque meoe ;
Quin sine, te cernam ; quoties jam dixero, cernam ;
Immoriarque oeulis, O mea vita, tuis.
Si licet ilnmoriar ; vel si tua visio vita est,
Cur sine te, votis ilnlnoriturus, ago ?
ADDENDA.
Ah, cernam ; Tu, qui crecos sanare solebas,
Cure te non videam, mene videre putas ?
Non video, certum est jurare ; aut si hoc vetuisti,
lrevenias vultu non facienda tuo.
34
TO THE LORD.
"CHRIST, glory, sweetness, Hybla of the mind,
Heart's crown, where my soul's strife and peace I find ;
Nay, let me, let me see Thee oft, I say,
And on Thine eyes expire, my life,--I prayd
If I may die ; or if lire is right born,
Why, soon to die with prayers, live I forlorn ?
Thou, who didst cure the blind, ah, let me see
Dost deem it sight when I behold hOt Thee ?
I swear I see hOt ; if Thou forbidd'st this,
With Thine own face prevent me--and 'ris bliss."
CANON WILTON.
GLORY TO GOD .'kLONE.
INDEX.
AIIOT, Archbp. of Canterbury,
23, 72 , 185
Abergavenny Church, I I
Adeliza, Queen, 2Ol
Aglionby, Dr., 23
Alban's, Viscount St., Sir F.
Bacon, 68, 72, 74--78, II4, I52
Aldbourne Church, 207
Alstree, Dr., 43
Andrewes, 13p., 33--37, 83--86,
89, 94, 304, 305
Arme, St., I63
nthusa, 25
Anti- Tami-Cami-Calegoria, 94
Aquinas, Thomas, 233
Ashmole, Dr., 303
Aubrey, John, 74, Ix4, x6I, 66,
239, 296
Augustine, St., 25, 233, 264
Avon, River, 16I
Ayscough, Bp., 55
Bancroft, Archbp., 233
Bancroft's History, 255
lasilicon 1)oron, 64
Baxter, Richard, 52, 295
Baynard's Castle, 72
BAYNTON, I55--I59 , I68
BEMERTON, I43, I75, 8»z46
Bermudas Islands, 255 , 257
Bernard, King of ltaly, 7
Beveridge, Bp., 233
Black Hall, 2
Blagge, Colonel, 3o2
Bodley, Sir Thomas, 23
Bostocke, Nathaniel, 229, 24I
osvorth, Battle of, I
Boutne, 249, 264
Boyscot, Ferdinand, P, aron of, 78
Bratton Downs, 171
Brett, Dr., 23
Bromley, Sir Thomas, 2o
]3rook, Dr. Samuel, 37
,, Christopher,
Buckingham, Duke of, 64, SI
lusby, Dr., 44, 8o, 8
Byron, Lord, 293
Cade, Jack, I55
Cana, River, 52 , 66--69, 70
CAMBRIDGE, 49--92
Camden, 87
Carey, Bp., 85
Charlemagne, 7
Charles, Prince of Wales, 56, 8,
259
Charles I., King of England, 9 o,
43, 68, 276
Charles II., King of England, 87,
302
CHELSEA, I 2--'35
Childebrand, 7
Christina, Princess of France, 8
Chrysostom, St., 25, 22
Church 2Ionumenls, 164
Church 19orch, 52
Cicero, 39
Clare Hall, Cambridge, 248 , 251
Clarence, Duke of, 8
Clarendon, I33, I79
Clarke, Dr. Adam,
Clifford, Arme, Countess of Pem-
broke, 99, 2o% 2o 9
Collett, John, 249 , 272 ,
344
INDEX.
Collett, Susanna, 2S9
Colonna, Don Charles De, 78
Conlber, Dr., 54
Cook, Si," Robert, 239
Copeland, Mr., Rev., 258
Cornwall, Duchy of, 293
Corporation of Bedford Level, 69
,, ,, Virginia, 253--262
Coventry, Sir Thomas, 72
Cowley, Abraham, 69, 152
Cowper, William, 39, 46--4S, I2S
Cranfield, Lord Treasurer, 26o,
261
Cranmer, Archbp., 3Ol
Croydon, 169
Culvervell, Dr., 295
Curie, Dr., 167
Danby, Earl of, 51, 133, 156, 160,
165
Danvers, Charles, of Baynton, 156
,, Si," John, 56, 59, 112--
II 5, 132--135
,, Jane, 156
,, Thomas, 238
,, St., Chelsea, 135
Dauntesey, 135 , 16o--166
,, Elizabeth, 132
Davenant, Bp., t73 , I83--1S6 ,
233
Devereux family, 2o
l)e l'itate, 208, 294
Donne, Dr., ce, 114, 119--126 ,
136--145 , zoo, 2ee, 3Ol, 305
Dorothea, 5t., 162
Dort, Synod of, 184
Dowse, J., Rev., 202
Dowsing, William, 53
Drake, Sir Francis, 247
Drury, Sir Robert, 14o
Duncon, Edmund, Rev, 3o--33
4 o, 241, 282
Duport, Dean, 94
Earle, 13p., I79
Edgcot Hill, 8
Edingdon, 155--157
Edmund's» St., Church, Salisbury,
I86
Edward the Confessor, 28
Edward I.» King of England, z 4
Edward III., King of Englnd, 32
Edward IV., King of England, IO
Egerton, Lord Chancellor, 137,
138
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, 60,
141
Eizabeth, Queen of England, :'9,
$6, 253 , 291
Elnber Wecks, I9O
England's Religion, 318
EPIGRAMMATA APOLOGETICA 93
--IOO, 152
Èping Forest, 146
Ercall, High, I6
Essex, Robert, Earl of, I77
Evelyn, John, 4I
Eyton, Salop, I6
Fairclough, Dr., 23
Fairfax, Sir Thomas, I34
Falstone House, I33
Fell, Dr., 43
Fénélon, Archbp., 233
Ferrar, John, III, 267, 272, 289
,, Nicholas, 89, lO4--111,
171,225, 247--289
,, Virginia, 272, 2S9
Fitzherbert, Herbert, 7
,, Matthew, 7
,, Peter, 7
Flood, Rachel, 3or
Foulstone or Fugglestone Rectory,
t68, 193
Rectors of, 32o
Fridismund, St., t62
Fulke, Greville, Lord Brooke, 68
Fuller, Thomas, Dr., 134
Gara, Sir David, 8
,, Gwladys, 8
Geoge, The, 3o2
GIDDI1NG, LITTLE, 104, 170 , 263,
266289
Steeple, 265, 278, 2S9
Giles, St., Itospital of, 2or
,, St., in Fields, 29, 296
Godolphin, Margaret, 3o2
Gondemar, Count, 258 , 259
Gransden, Great, 307
Gray Family, 20
Gresham College, 257
IN I)EX.
345
Grindal, Archbp., 219
Groose, Rev. Mr., eS 9
Grosart, I)r. A. B., 314
Grotius, z94
Ilacket, 13p., 33, 43, 5 o, 58, 70,
"2_72
I lales of Eton, 3o3
llall, Bp., 24, 233, 303
Hamilton, Marquis of, 89
Ilandforth, Sir II., 147
IIarding, Dr., 23
lttrlech Castle, 9
Harmar, Dr., 23
llawes, Rev. II., 245
tlawkins, Sir John, 247
,, Prebendary, 305
,, Dr. W., 245
Ileath, Sir Robert, 73
lleber, Bp., "7
IIenchman, llp., 239
l lenrico, 255, 258
llenry I., King of England, 7
,, III., King of England, I4
,, V., King of England, 7
,, VI., King of England, 8
,, VIII., King of Egland,
I I, 20, 28
» Prince of Wales, 56
tlerberts, Countsde Vernmndois, 7
IIERBERT, FAMILY OF, 7
,, Arms of, 13
,, Beatrix, 293 , 3o
,, Charles, brother of
George, 297
,, Edward, of Mont-
gomery, I I
,, Edward, Lord Cher-
bury, 2, 55, 9 o, 208,
22, 29o--296
», Elizabeth, 74, 298
Frances, 299
birth, 15 ; Oxford, 21--27 ;
Westminster School, -"8--48 ;
Cambridge, 49---92 ; Leighton,
ol ; Deacon, 1o 3 ; Parentalia,
127 ; Woodford, 147 ; married,
56; Dauntesey, 16o; Foul-
stone, 173 ; Priest, IS 3 ; writes
tg'icst go lhe TetlG 223 ;
l'ahlcsso, 226 ; is sick, 230 ;
ives MSS. of Poems to Duncon,
"32; gives will to Woodnoth,
238 ; dies, 238 ; is buried, 239
IIERBRT, IIenry, 63, 9 o, 108,
208, 294, 298, 309
,» Magdalen, family of,
19 ; Oxford, 2 ;
married to Sir J.
I)anvers, 5I, 112 ;
dies at Chelsea, 116
,, Margaret, 218, 299
,, Mary, of St. Gilians, 21
,, ,, Lady Cherbury,
297
,, Richard, of Colebrook,
,, ,, of Mont-
gomery, 11
,, ,, father of
George, 12»
17
,, William, brother of
George, 297
,, Richard, brother of
George, 297
,, Thomas, 298
,, Richard, second Lord
Cherbury, 296, 309
,, "William, of Raglan,
first Earl of
Pelnbroke, 7
--I 3
,, », first Ead of
Pembroke,
second Cre-
ation, I68 172
llewet, Grace, I33
Highgate, 77
Ilighnam Court, 239
I lildegardis, 7
Holland, Dr., 23
Hooker, Rev. R., 233
Z-foaker, Lire af 305
llorsley, Bp., 233
Howson, Dr., 23
Huguenots, 292
Hunt, Rev. Robert, -%4
Hutton, Dr., 23
Huysman, 245
346
INDEX.
huber, 155
lreland, Dr., 37, 43
Isabella, Arch-Duchess of Austria,
79
James I., Kiug of England, 43,
56, 64, 67, 87, 89, 90,
14o, 147, 169, 177, 254,
z6o, z6z
j anaes Town, 254
John, King of England, 7
Joues, Rev. J., 3II, 312
Sir Henry, 299
Jewell, Bp., 87
Katharina, St., 162
Ken, Aune, 3oz
KEN, Bp., 302-306
Kidder, Bp., 306
Kilby, Dr., 23
King, Bp. of Chichester, 43
,, Bp. of London, 14o
King's College Chapel, Cambridge,
5 z
Kuox, John, 93
Knoyle, 169
Kortholt, 295
Laud, Archbp., 37, 172, IS5, 207,
265
Lavington, West, I32, I34
LEIGHTON BROMESWOLD OR
ECCLESIA, 9z, IO1--I I I
Lelaud, IOI
Lennox, Duke of, 89, lOZ, I IO
Lewis, Rev. Edward, 309
Ley, James, Lord Chief Justice, 73
LIBRARY, THE CHAINED, 308 --
31o
Lincoln Cathedral, IOI
Lincoln's Inn, 14I
Linsell, Bp., 248, 265
Locke, 295
Longs of Wilts, I58
Lotus, 314, 317
Lymore Chapel, 17
Magdalena, St., I6z
Malmesbury, I6o
Mapletoft, Rev. Joshua, 2SI
Mapletoft, Dr. Henry,
Robert, Dean, zS8
MarCha, Earls of, 18
Margarita, St., 162
Mary, St., the Virgin, 16I
,, Queen of Eugland, 131
Melville, Andrew, Dr., 93
Middleton, General, 293
,, Sir Thomas, 247
Sir Hugh, 247
Milton, John, 55, 71
Monica, 25, 264
Montague, Henry, Lord Treasurer,
73
IONTGOMERY» I I» 12 14--20 ,
z9z, z97
Earl of, 168, 169
More, Anne, 137
,, Sir George, 37, 138
Morley, Bp. of Winchester, 3o3,
3o5
Motion, Bp. of Durham,
Mitcham, 38, 139
Naunton, Sir Robert, 67, 71
Nazianzen, St. Gregory, 25
Netherhampton, I99
Nethersole, Sir Francis, 59, 60
Nevile, Dr., 5 °
New College, Oxford, 298
Newmarket, 58
Newport, blargaret, zo
Sir Richard, 19
,,
Nonna, 25
Nowell, Dr., 3 °
"Nunnery Arminian," z78
OLEY, BARNABAS, Archdeacon, 20,
148, 19I, 306
Osney, Abbot, 3
Owen, Dr., 44
OXFORD, 21--27
Padua, 151 , 251
Paolo Padre, 33
PARENTALIA, II9, 127--132 , i52
Parry, Bp., 87
PASSO DSCERTA, 3 1--316
Paul's, St., Cathedral, 144
Pembroke, Anne, Countess of, 99,
200, 209
INDEX.
Pembroke, tlenry, Earl of, 168,
177
,, Philip IV., Ead of, x33,
168, I78-- 18I ,
292
,, ,, V., Erl of, 242
,, William, Earl of, first
Creation, 7
--II
,, ,, first Ear
of, second
Creation
II, 177
,, ,, third Erl of,
65, 86, lO6,
172, 256,
266
Pepin, King of Italy, 7
Perin, Dr., 23
Philo-Decoeus, 166
Pierson, Dr., 43
Poore, Edward, 134
Pope, The, 280
Poulshot, 306
Powis, Earl of, 299
Powys, Upper, 20
Prudentius, 221
Puritans, 257 , 28o
Quentin, St., Battle of, Il
Quidhampton, 178 , 202
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 247
Ramsey, Viscount tIaddington,
169
Ravis, Dr., 23
Raynolds, Dr., 23
Ribbesford, 298
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, 32
Richardson, Dr., Master of Trinity,
59
Richmond, Duke of, 89
Ridley, Bp., 70
Rous, Sir J., 155
Rupert, Prince, 292
Sales de, St. Francis, 274
Salisbury Plain, 198
Sanderson, Bp., 233, 305
Sandys, Sir Edward, 255 , 271
Savile, Sir H., 23
347
Seneca, 152
Sharpe, Archbp., 147
Sheldon, Archbp., 303
Sherfield, Sir Henry, 186
Shrewsbury School, 86
5hurland, Philip Herbert, Viscount
of, I69
Sibbes, Dr., 3o6
Sidney, Sir H., 86
,, Mary, Countess of Pem-
broke, 168, 177
Sir Philip, 86, 87, I77
Smith, Dr., 23
Somers Isles, 255
Sophocles, 15o
Southampton, Earl of, 255 , 256
South, Dr., 45
Southey, 39, 46
Spain, Infanta of, 259
Spinoza, 295
Stafford, Lord, 8
Stannaries, Lord Warden of the,
293
Star Chamber, The, 186
Stow, 28
Sturt, J., 246
Tinhead, 55, I71
Tintern Abbey, I I
Thomas, Bp. of St. Asaph, 86
Thompson, Dr., 23
Thorndike, Herbert, Prebendary
88, II 5
To ai1 4nffels and Sain/s," 163
Townson, Bp., 184
Trinity College, Camb., 49--54
Troutbeck, Dr., 23
Usher, Archbp., 296 , 303
VALDESSO, 224--228
Vandyke, Sir Antony, 243
Vaughan, Margaret, 205
Vere, Susan, Countess of Pembroke,
199
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham,
64
Virginian Plantation, I41, 53--
262
Walsingham, Sir Francis, I77
348
INDEX
WALTON, ISAAC, tS, 77, t25, t26,
244, 30O--3 °6
Isaac, Junior, 3o6
Warwick, Earl of, 8
XVenwynwyn, 19
Westbury-under-the-Plain, I55
x.Vestmhlster,
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL, 28--48
Wllitaker, Rev. Mr., 256
White, Robert, 244, 245
Whitehall, Chapel of, 143, t85
Whiteparish, t74
Vqhitford llugh, 86
Rectory of, 86, $7
Whitgift, Archbp., 233
Wight, Isle of, 179
Williams» Archbp., IOl, I85, 272
Vqilliams, Dr. D., 31!
"t.'VILTON tIousE, 67--t8I, 243,
298
Old Church, 202
Wily River, 188
Winchester School, 27, 297, 303
Winifred, mother of Bp. Hall, 25
Wiseman, Sir, 45
Wolsey, Cardinal, 77
WOODFORD, 146--154
Woodnoth, Arthur, lO6, 7 O, 233--
238
Mary, 247
Woo,ille, Elizabeth, Queen, 32
Woolley, Sir Francis, I38
,Vorcester, ]3attle of, 3o2
Wotton» Sir Henry, 3o2, 3o5
INDEX TO ADDENDA.
IEMERTON, 332
Benson, Archbishop, 324
Charles I. and Herbert's Poems,
328
Clifford, Lady Anne, 329
College Lire at Cambridge, 325
Cornaro, 328
Crawshaw, 339
Ferrar, Nicholas, 338
Gilfillan, Dr., 338
Grosart, Dr., v, 337
Hacket Bishop, 324
llerbert, George, Character of
Poems, 337 ; Contemporaries at
Cambridge, 326 ; His Grave,
333 ; Meoorial of, 324 ; Prayers
of, 334.
Ireland, Dr., 324
Keble, Rev. J., 338
Lucus, No. XXV., 340
Macdonald, Dr., 34 °
Matthew llenry, 338
Posy, 329
Westminster School, 323
Wilton, Canon, iv, 341
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The Bible : lts Evldences Characterlstlcs» and Effects.
A Lecte by the late Right Rev. Bishop PsY, D.D.
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The Origin of the World according to Revelation and
Science. A Lectu by the late Right Rev.
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How I psed throngh Scepttcim tnto Faith.
A Story tod an Almshouse. Post 8vo ........ Par
the Origln of the Laws of Nature.
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at la Narval Theolo ?
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