itttljeCttpofiamgork
THE LIBRARIES
THE
LIVES
OF
DR JOHN DONNE, SIR HENRY WOTTON,
MR. RICHARD HOOKER, MR. GEORGE HERBERT,
AND
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON.
BY
IZAAK WALTON:
WITH
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR AND HIS WRITINGS,
BY THOMAS ZOUCH, D.D., F.L.S.,
PREBENDARY OF DURHAM.
A NEW EDITION, WITH ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES, ETC.
These were honourable men in their generations. — Ecchis. xliv. 7.
NEW YORK :
WILEY AND PUTNAM, 161 BROADWAY.
1846.
W!1
7 --
There are no colours in the fairest sky,
So fair as these : the feather whence the pen
Was shaped, that traced the lives of these good men,
Dr opt from an angeVs wing : with moistened eye,
We read of faith, and purest charity,
In Statesmen, Priest, and humble Citizen.
Oh ! could we copy their mild virtues, then
What joy to live, what blessedness to die I
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 seen — like stars on high,
Satellites burning in a lucid ring,
Around meek Walton's heavenly memory !
Wordsworth.
V/ivW/^^
William Osboun. Printer, T. B. Smith, Stereotyper,
Tribune Buildings. 216 William Street.
CONTENTS.
Life of Izaak Walton, by Thomas Zouch
Dedication to Dr. Morley, Bishop of Winchester
Epistle to the Reader
Introduction to the Life of Dr. Donne
Life of Dr. Donne ......
Epitaph by Dr. Corbet .....
Elegy by Dr. King
Elegy by Izaak Walton ....'.
Life of Sir Henry Wotton ....
Elegy by Cowley ......
Introduction to the Life of Mr. Richard Hooker
Life of Mr. Richard Hooker ....
Epitaph by Sir William Cowper
Appendix to the Life of Mr. Richard Hooker
Letter of jMr. George Cranmer
Introduction to the Life of Mr. George Herbert
Life of Mr. George Herbert ....
His Letter to Nicholas Farrer
Dedication to the Life of Dr. Robert Sanderson
Preface . . . - .
Life of Dr. Robert Sanderson
Dr. Pierce's Letter
Dr. Barlow's (Bishop of Lincoln) Letter
Index
PAGE
1
43
45
49
53
116
117
119
125
176
181
183
238
239
244
255
257
309
313
315
317
373
376
379
ENGLISH PUBLISHER'S ADVERTISEMENT.
MDCCCXLV.
In offering this edition of Walton's Lives to the pubUc it
need only be observed, that it is founded upon the one which
Mr. Major, with his usual taste in embellishing the Text of
Walton, put forth some years back.
The Notes which were then collected at the end of the
work, are now brought to the foot of the page, with some
few alterations and additions. It is hoped that this volume,
while it may assume the character of a Library Book, is
thus rendered, in itself, a complete pocket companion to the
admirer of the exquisite simplicity of the pure old English
Author and the incomparable men he commemorates.
The collation of the text is thus referred to in the former
edition ;
" Life of Dr. Don7ie, originally prefixed to the first volume
" of his Sermons, 1640, Fol. Second Edition, alone, 1658,
" 12mo. Life of Sir Henri/ Wottoti, attached to the Reliquiae
'•'.Wattonianse, 1651, 12mo., other editions, 1654, 1672, 1685.
"Life of Richard Hooker, First Edition, 1665, small oc-
" tavo ; Second ditto, attached to the Ecclesiastical Pohty,
" 1666, Folio. Life of George Herbert, First Edition with
" his Letters, 1670, 12mo. ; the Memoir was afterwards at-
' tached to his Temple, Poems, <fcc. in the edition of 1679.
viii ENGLISH PUBLISHER'S ADVERTISEMENT.
" Life of Dr. Robert Sandemon^ the first separate edition
" by Walton, was printed in Octavo, in 1678, together with
"several of the Prelate's Tracts, Cases of Conscience, a
" Sermon by Hooker, and two Letters on the subject of the
" Memoir. Of Collections of the first four of these Lives,
" there were four editions ; the first of which was published
" in 1670, and the last in 1675, both in Octavo. The latter
" of these has been used for revising the text of the follow-
" ing pages ; and the Publisher has been kindly favoured by
" Mr. William Upcott of the London Institution with the
" use of a Presentation copy of it, having all the typogra-
" phical errors corrected by Walton's own pen ; whilst upon
" the fly-leaf is written,
' Ffor my Cozen M"'". Wiliams, Iz. Wa?
" The Publisher has also to acknowledsre the kindness of
'' Francis Martin, Esq. Windsor Herald, and Joseph Hasle-
" wood, Esq. ; the former for the favour of a copy of Walton's
'• first edition of his collected Memoirs, and the latter for
" that of the original impression of the Life of Sir Henry
" Wotton."
In addition to the above it is necessary only to state that
the complete Life of Walton by Zouch has been prefixed to
the present Edition by the American Publisher.
SOME ACCOUNT
OF THE
LIFE AND WRITINGS OF IZAAK WALTON.
BY THOMAS ZOUCH, D.D., F.R.S.,
rUEBENDARY OF DURHAM.
I PRESENT not to the reader the history of a wise statesman, an
adventurous soldier, or a profound philosopher. Yet I trust, that
he will experience no small degree of satisfaction from contem-
plating the virtues of a private citizen ; who, though he arrogates
not to himself the splendour of high descent, or the pride of super-
fluous wealth, deserves our approbation and regard. Isaac, or,
as he usually wrote his name, Izaak Walton, adorned with a
guileless simplicity of manners, claims from every good man the
tribute of applause. It was his ambition (and surely a more
honourable ambition cannot be excited in the human breast) to
commend to the reverence of posterity the merits of those excel-
lent persons, whose comprehensive learning and exalted piety will
ever endear them to our memories.
The important end of historical knowledge is a prudent appli-
cation of it to ourselves, with a view to regulate and amend our
own conduct. As the examples of men strictly and faithfully
discharging their professional duties, must obviously tend to in-
vigorate our efforts to excel in moral worth, the virtuous char-
acters, which are so happily delineated in the following pages,
cannot fail, if considered with serious attention, of producing the
most beneficial and lasting impressions on the mind.
The life of the author of this biographical collection was little
diversified with events. He was born of a respectable family, on
2
9 LIFE AND WRITINGS
the ninth day of August, 1593, in the parish of St. Mary's, in the
town of Stafford. Of his father no particular tradition is extant.
From his mother he derived an hereditary attachment to the
Protestant religion, as professed in the church of England. She
was the daughter of Edmund Cranmer, Archdeacon of Canter-
bury, sister to Mr. George Cranmer, the pupil and friend of Mr.
Richard Hooker, and niece to that first and brightest ornament of
the Reformation, Dr. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canter-
bury. No vestiges of the place or manner of his education have
been discovered j nor have we any authentic information con-
cerning his first engagements in a mercantile life. It has indeed
been suggested, that he was one of those industrious young men,
whom the munificence of Sir Thomas Gresham, the founder of
the Royal Exchange, had placed in the shops which were erected
in the upper buildings of his celebrated Burse. However this
may be, he soon improved his fortune by his honesty, his frugali-
ty, and his diligence. His occupation, according to the tradition
still preserved in his family, was that of a wholesale linen-draper,
or Hamburgh merchant.
The writers of the Life of Milton have, with the most scrupu-
lous attention, regularly marked out the different houses succes-
.sively inhabited by the poet, " as if it was an injury to neglect any
place, that he honoured by his presence." The various parts of
London, in which Izaak Walton resided, have been recorded with
the same precision. It is sufficient to intimate, that he was for
some years an inhabitant of St. Dunstan's in the West. With Dr.
John Donne, then vicar of that parish, of whose sermons he was
a constant hearer, he contracted a friendship, which remained
uninterrupted to their separation by death. This his parishioner
attended him in his last sickness, and was present at the time that
he consigned his sermons and numerous papers to the care of Dr.
Henry King, who was promoted to the see of Chichester in 1641.
He married Anne, the daughter of Thomas Ken, Esq. of Fur-
nival's Inn ; a gentleman, whose family, of an ancient extraction,
was united by alliance with several noble houses, and had pos-
sessed a very plentiful fortune for many generations, having been
known by the name of the Kens of Ken-Place, in Somersetshire.
She was the sister of Thomas Ken, afterward the deprived Bishop
OF IZAAK WALTON.
of Bath and Wells. If there be a name to which I have been ac-
customed from my earliest youth to look up with reverential awe,
it is that of this amiable prelate. The primitive innocence of his
life, the suavity of his disposition, his taste for poetry and music,
his acquirements as a polite scholar, his eloquence in the pulpit (for
he was pronounced by James the Second to be the first preacher
among the Protestant divines), these endearing qualities ensure to
him our esteem and affection. But what principally commands
our veneration, is that invincible inflexibility of temper, which
rendered him superior to every secular consideration. When
from a strict adherence to the dictates of conscience he found
himself reduced to a private station, he dignified that station by
the magnanimity of his demeanour, by a humble and serene pa-
tience, by an ardent but unaffected piety.
In 1643, Mr. Walton, having declined business, retired to a
small estate in Staffordshire, not far from the town of Stafford.
His loyalty made him obnoxious to the ruling powers ; and we
are assured by himself, that he was a sufferer during the time of
the civil wars. In 1643 the Covenanters came back into Eng-
land, marching with the Covenant gloriously upon their pikes and
in their hats, with this motto, " For the Crown and Covenant of
both Kingdoms." " This," he adds, " I saw, and suffered by it.
But when I look back upon the ruin of families, the bloodshed,
the decay of common honesty, and how the former piety and
plain dealing of this now sinful nation is turned into cruelty and
cunning ; when I consider this, I praise God, that he prevented me
from being of that party, which helped to bring in this Covenant,
and those sad confusions that have followed it." He persevered
in the most inviolable attachment to the royal cause. In many of
his writings he pathetically laments the afflictions of his sover-
eign, and the wretched condition of his beloved country, involved
in all the miseries of intestine dissensions. The incident of his
being instrumental in preserving the lesser George, which belong-
ed to Charles the Second, is related in " Ashmole's History of the
Order of the Garter."
We may now apply to him what has been said of Mr. Cowley :
*' Some few friends, a book, a cheerful heart, and innocent con-
science, were his companions." In this scene of rural privacy
4 LIFE AND WRITINGS
he was not unfrequently indulged with the company of learned and
good men. Here, as in a safe and peaceful asylum, they met with
the most cordial and grateful reception. And wc are informed by
the Oxford antiquary, that, whenever he went from home, he re-
sorted principally to the houses of the eminent clergymen of the
church of England, of whom he was much beloved. To a man
desirous of dilating his intellectual improvements, no conversation
could be more agreeable, than that of those divines, who were
known to have distinguished him with their personal regard.
The Roman poet, of whom it has been remarked, that he made
the happiest union of the courtier and the scholar, was of plebeian
origin. Yet such was the attraction of his manners and deport-
ment, that he classed among his friends the first and most illustri-
ous of his contemporaries, Plotius and Varus, PoUio and Fus-
cus, the Visci and the Messalee. Nor was Isaak Walton less for-
tunate in his social connexions. The times in which he lived
were times of gloomy suspicion, ot danger and distress, when a
severe scrutiny into the public and private behaviour of men es-
tablished a rigid discrimination of character. He must therefore
be allowed to have possessed a peculiar excellency of disposition,
who conciliated to himself an habitual intimacy with Usher, the
Apostolical Primate of Ireland, with Archbishop Sheldon, with
Morton, Bishop of Durham, Pearson of Chester, and Sanderson
of Lincoln, with the ever-memorable Mr. John Hales of Eton, and
the judicious Mr. Chillingworth ; in short, with those who were
most celebrated for their piety and learning. Nor could he be
deficient in urbanity of manners or elegance of taste, who was
the companion of Sir Henry Wotton,* the most accomplished gen-
* " My next and last example shall be that undervaluer of money, the late
Provost of Eton College, Sir Henry Wotton, a man with whom I have often
fished and conversed ; a man, whose forcign employments in the service of this
nation, and whose experience, learning, wit, and clieerfiilness, made his com-
pany to bs esteemed one of the delights of mankind." — {Complete Angler. P.
I. Ch. I.)
In Sir Henry Wotton's verses, written by him as he sat fishing on the bank
of a river, he probably alludes to Walton himself, who often accompanied him
in liis innocent amusement :
" There stood my friend with patient skill,
Attending of his trembling quill."
OF IZAAK WALTON.
tiemaii of his age. The singular circumspection which he ob-
served in the choice of his acquaintance, has not escaped the no-
tice of Mr. Cotton. " My father Wahon/' says he, " will be
seen twice in no man's company he does not like ; and likes none
but such as he believes to be very honest men ; which is one of
the best arguments, or at least of the best testimonies I have, that
I either am, or that he thinks me one of those, seeing I have not
yet found him v/eary of me."
Before his retirement into the country, he published the Life of
Dr. Donne. It was originally appended to " LXXX Sermons,
preached by that learned and reverend divine, John Donne, Doc-
tor in Divinity, late Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's,
London, 1640." He had been solicited by Sir Henry Wotton, to
supply him with materials for writing that Life. Sir Henry dy-
ing in 1639, before he had made any progress in the work, Izaak
Walton engaged in it. This, his first essay in biography, was by
more accurate revisals corrected, and considerably enlarged in
subsequent editions. Donne has been principally commended as
a poet : — Walton, who, as it has been already remarked, was a
constant hearer of his sermons, makes him known to us as a
preacher, eloquent, animated, affecting. His poems, like the sky
bespangled with small stars, are occasionally interspersed with
the ornaments of fine imagery. They must, however, be pro-
That this amiable and excellent person set a high value on the conversation
of his humble friend, appears from the following letter :
" JVrr WORTHY FRIEND,
" Since I last saw you, I have been confined to my chamber by a quotidian
fever, I thank God, of more contumacy than malignity. It had once left me,
£is I thought, but it was only to fetch more company, returning with a surcrew
of those splenetic vapours, that are called hypocondrical ; of which most say
the cure is good company, and I desire no better physician than yourself I
have in one of those fits endeavoured to make it more easy by composing a
short hynm ; and since I have apparelled my best thoughts so lightly as in
verse, I hope I shall be pardoned a second vanity, if I communicated it with
such a friend as yourself; to whom I wish a cheerful spirit, and a thankful
heart to value it, as one of the greatest blessings of our good God ; in whose
dear love I leave you, remaining
" Your poor friend to serve you,
"H. WOTTON."
(Reliquim Wottoniancs, p. 361. 4th edit.)
LIFE AND WRITINGS
nounced generally devoid of harmony of numbers^ or beauty of
versiticafion. Involved in the language of metaphysical obscurity,
they cannot be read but with fastidiousness. They abound in
false thoughts, aifected plirases, and unnatural conceits. His ser-
mons, though not without that pedantry which debases the wri-
tings of almost all the divines of those times, are often written
with energy, elegance, and copiousness of style. Yet it must be
confessed, liiat all the wit and eloquence of the author have been
unable to secure them from neijlect.
An instance of lilial gratitude and affection occurs in a letter
from Mr. John Donne, junior, to Mr. Izaak Walton, thanking him
for writing his father the Dean's Life.
''Sir,
" I send this book rather to witness my debt, than to make any
payment. For it would be incivil in me to offer any satisfaction
for that that all my father's friends, and indeed all good men, are
so equally engaged. Courtesies that are done to the dead being
examples of so much piety, that they cannot have their reward in
this life, because lasting as long, and still (by awakening the like
charity in others) propagating the debt, they must expect a retri-
bution from him, who gave the first inclination.
" 2. And by this circle. Sir, I have set you in my place, and in-
stead of making you a payment, I have made you a debtor ; but
'tis to Almighty God, to whom I know you will be so willingly
committed, that I may safely take leave to write myself,
" Your thankful servant,
"JO. DONNE.
" From my house in Covent-Garden, )
24th June, 1640." \
It is difficult to discover what correspondence subsisted between
our biographer and the writer of the preceding letter, who, having
been admitted to the degree of doctor of laws in the university of
Padua, was incorporated in that degree at Oxford, in 1638. In a
will which was printed in 1662, Dr. John Donne, junior, be-
queathed all his father's writings, with his " Common-Place Book,"
to Izaak Walton, for the use of his son, if he should be brought
OF IZAAK WALTON.
up a scholar. That he was a clergyman, and had some prefer-
ment in the diocese of Peterborough, we learn from a letter writ-
ten to him by Dr. John Towers, Bishop of Peterborough, his dio-
cesan ; wherein his lordship thanks hirn for the first volume of
his father's sermons, telling him, that his parishioners may pardon
his silence to them for a while, since by it he hath preached to
them and to their children's children, and to all our English par-
ishes, for ever. Anthony Wood, although he describes him as a
man of sense and parts, is unfavourable to his memory. He rep-
resents him as no better than " an atheistical buffoon, a banterer,
and a person of over-free thoughts, yet valued by Charles the
Second." With a sarcasm not unusual to him, he informs his
reader, that Dr. Walter Pope •' leads an epicurean and heathenish
life, much like to that of Dr. Donne, the son." Bishop Kennet,
in his " Register," p. 3^18, calling him, by mistake. Dr. John
Downe, names him as the editor of " A Collection of Letters made
by Sir Toby Matthews, knight," with a character of the most ex-
cellent lady, Lucy, Countess of Carlisle, by the same author ; to
which are added several letters of his own to several persons of
honour, who were contemporary with him, London, 1660, 8vo. I
cannot but observe, that he neither consulted the reputation of his
father, nor the public good, when he caused the " Biathanatos" to
be printed. If he was determined, at all events, to disregard the
injunctions of parental authority, would it not have been more ex-
pedient to have committed the manuscript to the flames, rather
than to have encountered the hazard of diffusing certain novel
opinions, from which no good consequences could possibly arise ?
For though those effects did not actually follow, which are men-
tioned by an industrious foreign writer, who tells us, that on the
first publication of this work, many persons laid violent hands on
themselves ; yet the most remote probability of danger accruing
from it should have induced him entirely to have suppressed it.
But to return from this digression.
The narrative of the vision in this Life of Dr. Donne hath sub-
jected the author to some severe animadversions. Let it how-
ever be remembered, that he probably related the matter with
cautious and discreet fidelity, as it was really represented to him.
The account is not inserted in the earlier editions of Dr. Donne's
LIFE AND WRITINGS
Life. Hence we may presume, that the strictest and most severe
inquiry was made before its introduction. Plutarch is not es-
teemed a credulous writer ; yet he has given a full and circum-
stantial history of the appearances that presented themselves to Dion
and to Brutus. And in modern times Dr. Doddridge, a most sed-
ulous examiner of facts, and of all men the least liable to credu-
lity and weakness of understanding, published a relation of an
extraordinary vision. Let it be remarked that, according to the
opinion of a medical writer of great eminence, a discriminating
symptom of human insanity is " the rising up in the mind of images
not distinguishable by the patient from impressions upon the
senses." To a momentary delusion, originating from some bod-
ily disorder, we may safely attribute the visions or false percep-
tions, of which many authentic descriptions have been transmitted
to us ; and we may easily suppose that Dr. Donne, separated from
his beloved wife and family, whom he had left in a very distress-
ful situation, must have sufi'ered the most poignant anxiety of
mind, and of course much indisposition of body.
When the first years of man have been devoted to " the dili-
gence of trades and noiseful gain," we have no reason to hope
that his mind will be replenished by study, or enriched with
literature. In the lucrative, as well as in the political life, men
are tempted to assume some of those habits or dispositions, which
are not entirely consistent with the principles of justice or honour.
An eagerness to amass wealth, not seldom extinguishes every
other affection. But it was not thus vv^ith Izaak Walton. Firm
and uncorrupted in his integrity, he no sooner bade farewell to
his commercial concerns, than he gave the most convincing
proofs of his attention to the most laudable pursuits. He had
already written the Life of one friend. He now undertook to
exhibit a testimony of respect to the memory of another. In
1651, he was the editor of " Reliquioe Wottonianse, or a Collec-
tion of Lives, Letters, Poems, with Characters of sundry Person-
ages, and other incomparable Pieces of Language and Art, by the
curious pencil of the ever-memorable Sir Henry Wotton, Knt,
late Provost of Eaton College." Tliis collection is dedicated " to
Lady Mary Wotton, relict of the last Lord Wotton, and to her
three noble daughters." These ladies communicated to him
OF IZAAK WALTON.
many original letters, written by tiieir illustrious relation. After
the Dedication follows " Tho Life of Sir Henry Wotton." In the
succeeding editions, the volume is inscribed to the Right Honour-
able Philip, Earl of Chesterfield, Lord Stanhope of Shelford, and
great nephew to Sir Henry Wotton. This nobleman, accompa-
nying his mother, the Lady Catharine Stanhope, into Holland,
where she attended the Princess of Orange, daughter to Charles
the First, had his education along with William, Prince of Orange,
afterward advanced to the throne of England, and became very
serviceable in promoting the restoration of the royal family. He
loved the memory, and imitated the virtues of his generous uncle.
By a life of strict temperance he attained to a great age. He
died, January 28, 1713. It is proper to observe, that a later
edition of the " Reliquiae Wottonianse," namely, that of 1685, is
enriched with Sir H^enry Wotton's Letters to Lord Zouch, who
was eminent among his contemporaries as an able statesman and
an accomplished scholar.*
" The Church Plistory of Great Britain," compiled by Dr.
Thomas Fuller, whose writings, though far from being without
blemish, are of inestimable value, was first published in 1655.
A conversation, seasoned with much pleasantness and innocent
jocularity, is said to have passed between the author and his
* A contemporary writer has thus delineated the characters of Dr. Donne
and Sir Henry Wotton. — " To speak it in a word, the Trojan Horse was not
fuller of heroic Grecians, than King James's reign was full of men excellent
in all kinds of learning. And here I desire the reader's leave to remembei'
two of my old acquaintance : the one was Mr. John Donne, who, leaving Ox-
ford, lived at the Inns of Court, not dissolute, but very neat ; a great visitor of
ladies, a great writer of conceited verses, until such time as King James, taking
notice of the pregnancy of his wit, was a means that ho took him to the study
of divinity, and, thereupon proceeding Doctor, was made Dean of St. Paul's,
and became so rare a preacher, that he was not only commended, but even
admired by all that heard him. The other was Henry Wotton (mine old ac-
quaintance also, as having been fellow pupils and chamber-fellows in Oxford
divers years together.) This gentleman was employed by King James in em-
bassage to Venice : and indeed the kingdom afforded not a fitter man for
matching the capaciousness of the Italian wits ; a man of so able dexterity
with his pen, that he hath done himself much wrong, and the kingdom more,
in leaving no more of nis writings behind him." — (Sir Richard Baker's Chron-
icle of the Kings of England, London, 1684.)
10 LIFE AND WRITINGS
ever cheerful and friendly acquaintance, Mr. Izaak Walton, upon
the general character of this work. Walton having paid him a
visit, it was asked by Fuller, who knew how intimate he was
with several of the bishops and ancient clergy, first, What he
thought of the History himself, and then, what reception it had
met with among them. Walton answered, that he thought " it
should be acceptable to all tempers ; because there were shades in
it for the warm, and sunshine for those of a cold constitution ;
that with youthful readers the facetious parts would be profitable
to make the serious more palatable ; while some reverend old
readers might fancy themselves in his History of the Church, as
in a flower garden, or one full of evergreens." " And why not,"
said Fuller, " the Church History so decked as well as the Church
itself at a most holv season, or the tabernacle of old at the Feast
of Boughs ?" " That was but for a season," said Walton ; " in
your Feast of Boughs, they may conceive, we are so overshadow-
ed throughout, that the parson is more seen than his congregation,
and this sometimes invisible to its old acquaintance, who may
wander in the search, till they are lost in the labyrinth." '' Oh !"
says Fuller, '• the very children of our Israel may find their way
out of this wilderness." " True," returned Walton, " as indeed
they have here such a Moses to conduct them."
His next work was " The Life of Mr. Richard Hooker," which
first appeared in 1662. It was composed at the earnest request
of Dr. Sheldon, then Bishop of London ; and v/ith the express
purpose of correcting some errors committed by Dr. Gauden, from
mere inadvertency and haste, in his account of " that immortal
man," as he has been emphatically styled, " who spoke no lan-
guage but that of truth dictated by conscience." Gauden seems
to have been extremely deficient in his information, and, dying
soon afterward, had no opportunity of revising and amending his
very imperfect and inaccurate memoir. This was followed by
" The Life of Mr. George Herbert," usually called •' the Divine
Herbert," in 1670. In 1678, he concluded his biographical la-
bours with '• The Life of Dr. Robert Sanderson." Previous to the
publication of this last work he received the following interesting
letter from Dr. Thomas Barlow, then Bisliop of Lincoln, who had
been for many years the intimate friend of Dr. Sanderson du-
OF IZAAK WALTON. 11
ring his residence at Oxlbrdj and after his retirement into the
country.
" My worthy friend. Mr. Walton,
" I am heartily glad, that you have undertaken to write the
Life of that excellent person, and, both for learning and piety,
eminent prelate, Dr. Sanderson, late Bishop of Lincoln ; because
I know your ability to know, and integrity to write truth. And
sure I am, that the life and actions of that piqus and learned prel-
ate will afford you matter enough for his commendation, and the
imitation of posterity. In order to the carrying on your intended
good work, you desire my assistance, that I would communicate
to you such particular passages of his life, as were certainly
known to me. 1 confess I had the happiness to be particularly
known to him for about the space of twenty years ; and, in Oxon,
to enjoy his conversation, and his learned and pious instructions
while he was Regius Professor of Divinity there. Afterwards,
when (in the time of our late unhappy confasions) he left Oxon,
and was retired into the country, I had the benefit of his letters;
wherein, with great candour and kindness, he answered those
doubts I proposed, and gave me that satisfaction, which I neither
had, nor expected from some others of greater confidence, but less
judgment and humility. Having in a letter named two or three
books, writ (' ex professo') against the being of any original sin ;
and that Adam, by his fall, transmitted some calamity only, but
no crime to his posterity ; the good old man was exceedingly
troubled, and bewailed the misery of those licentious times, and
seemed to wonder (save that the times were such) that any should
write, or be permitted to publish any error so contradictory to
truth and the doctrine of the church of England, established (as
he truly said) by clear evidence of Scripture, and the just and
supreme power of this nation, both sacred and civil. I name not
the books nor their authors, which are not unknown to learned
men (and I wish they had never been known), because both the
doctrine and the unadvised abettors of it are, and shall be, to me
apocryphal.'^
* The writer principally alluded to in this part of the Letter, was the excel-
lent Dr. Jereniy Taylor, Bishop of Down and Conner.
12 LIFE AND WRITINGS
*' Another little story I must not pass in silence, being an argu-
ment of Dr. Sanderson's piety, great ability, and judgment as a
casuist. Discoursing with an honourable person"^ (whose piety I
value more than his nobility and learning, though both be great,)
about a case of conscience concerning oaths and vows, their na-
ture and obligation ; in which, for some particular reasons, he
then desired more fully to be informed ; I commended to him Dr.
Sanderson's book, ' De Juramento ;' which having read with
great satisfaction, he asked me, ' if I thought the doctor could be
induced to write Cases of Conscience, if he might have an hon-
orary pension allowed him, to furnish him with books for that pur-
pose.' I told him 'I believed he would;' and, in a letter to the
Doctor, told him what great satisfaction that honourable person,
and many more, had reaped by reading his book, ' De Juramen-
to;' and asked him, ' whether he would be pleased, for the bene-
fit of the church, to write some tract of Cases of Conscience.'
He replied, ' that he was glad that any had received benefit by
his books;' and added further, 'that if any future tract of his
could bring such benefit to any, as we seemed to say his former had
done, he would willingly, though without any pension, set about
that work.' Having received this answer, that honourable person
before mentioned, did, by my hands, return fifty pounds to the
good Doctor, whose condition then (as most good men's at that
time were) v/as but low ; and he presently revised, finished, and
published that excellent book, ' De Conscientia ;' a book little in
bulk, but not so if we consider the benefit an intelligent reader
may receive by it. For there are so many general propositions
concerning conscience, the nature and obligation of it explained,
and proved with such firm consequence and evidence of reason,
that he who reads, remembers, and can with prudence pertinently
apply them ' hie et nunc' to particular cases, may, by their light
and help, rationally resolve a thousand particular doubts and
scruples of conscience. Here you may see the charity of that
honourable person in promoting, and the piety and industry of the
good Doctor, in performing that excellent work.
" iVnd here I shall add the judgment of that learned and pious
* Robert Boyle, Esq.
OF ISAAK WALTON. 13
prelate concerning a passage very pertinent to our present pur-
pose. Wlien he was in Oxon, and read his public lectures in the
schools as Regius Professor of Divinity, and by the truth of his
positions and evidences of his proofs gave great content and satis-
faction to all his hearers, especially in his clear resolutions of all
difficult cases which occurred in the explication of the subject
matter of his lectures ; a person of quality (yet alive) privately
asked him. ' what course a young divine should take in his stud-
ies to enable him to be a good casuist V His ansvv-er was, ' that,
a convenient understanding of the learned languages, at least of
Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and a sufficient knowledge of arts and
sciences presupposed, there were two things in human literature,
a comprehension of which would be of very great use, to enable
a man to be a rational and able casuist, which otlierwise was
very difficult, if not impossible : 1. A convenient knowledge of
moral philosophy; especially that part of it which treats of 'the
nature of human actions : To know, '' quid sit actus humanus
(spontaneus, invitus, mixtus), unde habeat bonitatem et malitiam
moralem ? an ex genere et objecto, vel ex circumstantiis ?" How
the variety of circumstances varies the goodness or evil of human
actions ? How far knowledge and ignorance may aggravate or
excuse, increase or diminish, the goodness or evil of our actions ?
For every case of conscience being only this — " Is this action
good or bad ?" " May I do it, or may I not ?" — he who, in these,
knows not how and whence human actions become morally good
and evil, never can (' in hypothesi') rationally and certainly de-
termine, whether this or that particular action be so. 2. The
second thing, which,' he said, ' would be a great help and advan-
tage to a casuist, was a convenient knowledge of the nature and
obligation of laws in general ; to know what a law is ; what a
natural and positive law ; what is required to the " latio, dispen-
satio, derogatio, vel abrogatio legis;" what promulgation is ante-
cedently required to the obligation of any positive law ; what ig-
norance takes off the obligation of a law, or does excuse, diminish,
or aggravate the transgression : for every case of conscience be-
ing only this — " Is this lawful for me, or is it not ?" and the law
the only rule and measure by which I must judge of the lawful-
ness or unlawfulness of any action, it evidently follows, that he,
14 LIFE AND WRITINGS
who, in these, knows not the nature and obligation of laws, never
can be a good casuist, or rationally assure himself or others of
the lawfulness or unlawfulness of actions in particular.'
" This was the judgment and good counsel of that learned and
pious prelate ; and having, by long experience, found the truth
and benefit of it, I conceive I could not, without ingratitude to
him and want of charity to others, conceal it. Pray pardon this
rude and, I fear, impertinent scribble, which, if nothing else, may
signify thus much, that I am willing to obey your desires, and
am, indeed, " Your affectionate friend,
''■ THOMAS LINCOLN."
London, May 10, 1678.
Among the literary characters of the sixteenth century, none
appears with more transcendent lustre than that of Sir Henry
Savile, a magnificent patron of merit, and a complete gentleman.
He seems to have traversed the whole range of science, being
equally celebrated for his knowledge of ancient and modern
learning. The life of this illustrious scholar would be a valu-
able acquisition to the republic of letters. That it was actually
compiled by Mr. Izaak Walton, we have every reason to con-
clude. Dr. King, Bishop of Chichester, in his letter to him, da-
ted November 17, 1664, tells him, that " he has done much for
Sir Henry Savile, the contemporary and friend of Mr. Richard
Hooker." It is seriously to be regretted, that the most diligent
inquiry after this work has hitherto proved unsuccessful.
Among those whom Sir Henry Savile honoured with his friend-
ship was Mr. John Hales of Eton. Mr. Anthony Farringdon,
an eminent preacher, and a man of extensive learning and ex-
emplary piety, had collected materials with a view to write the
life of this incomparable person. On his demise, his papers were
consigned to the care of Mr. Izaak Walton, by Mr. William Ful-
man, of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, who had proposed to
finish the work, and on that occasion had applied for the assistance
of our biographer. The result of this application is not known.
Fulman's collection of manuscripts, written with his own hand,
was deposited in the archives of the library of his college, and
Wood laments that he was refused access to them. It is unne-
OF IZAAK WALTON. 15
cessary to add, that the Life of Mr. Hales, by Mr. Dcs Maizeaux,
was published in 1716.
Angling had been long a favourite diversion in England. Alex-
ander Novvell, Dean of St. Paul's, the composer of " that good,
plain, unperplexed catechism, which is in our good old Service
Book," was a lover of, and most experienced proficient in this de-
lightful art. It was his custom, besides his fixed hours of private
and public prayer, to spend a tenth part of his time in this amuse-
ment, and also to bestow a tenth part of his revenue, and usually
all his fish, among the poor, saying, that " charity gave life to
religion." An elegant Latin poem, written by Dr. Simon
Ford, was inscribed to Archbishop Sheldon, who, in his younger
years, being fond of this diversion, is said to have acquired a
superior skill in taking the umber or barbel, " a heavy and a
dogged fish to be dealt withal." Dr. Donne is called "a great
practitioner, master, and patron of angling." And we learn
from good authority, that Mr. George Herbert loved angling;
a circumstance that is rather to be believed, " because he had
a spirit suitable to anglers, and to those primitive Chris-
tians who are so much loved and commended." Let not
ttiese remarks provoke the chastisement of censure. Let them
not be condemned as nugatory and insignificant. Amidst our
disquietudes and delusive cares, amidst the painful anxiety, the
disgustful irksomeness, which are often the unwelcome at-
tendants on business and on study, a harmless gratification is not
merely excusable, it is in some degree necessary. In the skilful
management of the angle, Izaak Walton is acknowledged to bear
away the prize from all his contemporaries. The river which he
seems principally to have frequented for the purpose of pursuing
his inoffensive amusement, was the Lea, which, rising above the
town of Ware in Hertfordshire, falls into the Thames a little be-
low Blackwall ; "unless we will suppose that the vicinity of the
New River to the place of his habitation might sometimes tempt
him out with his friends, honest Nat and R. Roe, whose loss he
so pathetically mentions, to spend an afternoon there." In his
tract of " The Complete Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Rec-
reation," he has comprised the clearest and fullest instructions
16 LIFE AND WRITINGS
for the attainment of a thorough proficiency in the art. James
Duport, the Greek Professor at Cambridge, who was far from
being a novice in the use of the rod, disdained not, on this occa-
sion, to address our author in a beautiful Latin Iambic Ode, of
which the following classic version will not be unacceptable to
the reader.
" Hail, Walton ! honoured friend of mine,
Mighty master of the line !
Whether down some valley's side
You walk to watch the smooth stream glide,
Or on the flowery margin stand
To cheat the fish with cunning hand,
Or on the green bank, seated still,
With quick eye guard the dancing quill ;
Thrice happy sage ! who, distant far
From the wrangling forum's war,
From the city's bustling train.
From the busy hum of men.
Haunt some gentle stream, and ply
Your honest crafts, to lure the fry :
And while the world around you set
The base decoy and treacherous net,
Man against man, th' msidious wile.
Or, the rich dotard to beguile,
Bait high with gifts the smiling hook
All gilt with Flattery's sweetest look ;
Arm'd for the innocent deceit.
You love the scaly brood to cheat.
And tempt that water-wolf, the pike,
With ravening tooth his prey to strike.
Or in the minnow's living head
Or in the writhed brandling red
Fix your well-charged hook, to gull
The greedy perch, bold-biting fool.
Or with the tender moss-worm tried
Win the nice trout's speckled pride.
Or on the carp, whose wary eye
Admits no vulgar tackle nigh,
Essay your art's supreme address.
And beat the fox in sheer finesse.
The tench, physician of the brook.
Owns the magic of your hook.
OF IZAAK WALTON. 17
The little gudgeon's thoughtless haste
Yields a brief yet sweet repast,
And the whisker'd barbel pays
His coarser bulk to swell your praise.
Such the amusement of your hours,
While the season aids your powers ;
Nor shall my friend a single day
Ere pass without a line away.
Nor these alone your honours bound.
The tricks experience has found ;
Sublimer theory lifts your name
Above the fishers simple fame,
And in the practice you excel
Of what none else can teach as well,
And wield at once with equal skill
The useful powers of either quill.
With all that winning grace of style,
What else were tedious, to beguile,
A second Oppian, you impart
The secrets of the ansflinof art :
Each fish's nature, and how best
To fit the bait to every taste,
Till, in the scholar that you train.
The accomplish'd master lives again.
And yet your pen aspires above
The maxims of the art you love ;
Though virtues, faintly taught by rule.
Are better learnt in angling's school,
Where Temperance, that drinks the rill,
And Patience, sovereign over ill.
By many an active lesson bouglit,
Refine the soul, and steel the thought.
Far higher truths you love to start.
To train us to a nobler art,
And in the lives of good men give
That chiefest lesson, how to live ;
While Hooker, philosophic sage,
Becomes the wonder of your page.
Or while we see combined in one
The wit and the divine in Donne ;
Or while the poet and the priest.
In Herbert's sainted form confest,
Unfold the temple's holy maze
That awes and yet invites our gaze :
3
18 LIFE AND WRITINGS
Worthies these of pious name
From your portraying pencil claim
A second life, and strike anew
With fond delight the admiring view.
And thus at once the peopled brook
Submits its captives to your hook,
And we, the wiser eons of men,
Yield to the magic of your pen,
While angling on some streamlet's brink
The muse and you combine to think."
In this volume of " The Complete Angler," which will be al-
ways read with avidity, even by those who entertain no strong
relish for the art which it professes to teach, we discover a copi-
ous vein of innocent pleasantry and good humour. The scenes
descriptive of rural life are inimitably beautiful. How artless
and unadorned is the language ! The dialogue is diversified with
all the characteristic beauties of colloquial composition. The
songs and little poems, which are occasionally inserted, will
abundantly gratify the reader, who has a taste for the charms of
pastoral poesy. And, above all, those lovely lessons of religious
and moral instruction, which are so repeatedly inculcated through-
out the whole work, will ever recommend this exquisitely pleas-
ing performance. It was first printed in 1653, with the figures
of the fishes very elegantly engraved, probably by Lombart, on
plates of steel ; and was so generally read as to pass through five
editions during the life of the author. The second edition is da-
ted in 1655, the third in 1661 ; and in 1668 the fourth appeared
with many valuable additions and improvements. The lovers of
Angling, to whom this treatise is familiar, are apprized, that the
art of fishing whh the fly is not discussed with sufficient accura-
cy ; the few directions that are given, having been principall}'-
communicated by Mr. Thomas Barker, who has written a very
entertaining tract on the subject. To remedy this defect, and to
give lessons how to angle for a trout or grayling in a clear stream,
a fifth and much improved edition was published in 1676, with
a second part by Charles Cotton, of Beresford, in Staffordshire,
Esq. This gentleman, who is represented as the most laborious
trout-catcher, if not the most experienced angler for trout and
OF IZAAK WALTON. 19
grayling that England ever had, to testify his regard for Mr.
Walton, had caused the words,
« PISCATORIBUS SACRUM
5?
with a cipher underneath, comprehending the initial letters of both
their names, to be inscribed on the front of his fishing-house.
This little building was situated near the banks of the river Dove,
which divides the two counties of Stafford and Derby. Here Mr.
Walton usually spent his vernal months, carrying v/ith him the
best and choicest of all earthly blessings, a contemplative mind, a
cheerful disposition, an active and a healthful body. So beaute-
ous did the scenery of this delightful spot appear to him, that, to
use his own words, " the pleasantness of the river, mountains,
and meadows about it, cannot be described, unless Sir Philip Sid-
ney, or Mr. Cotton's father were again alive to do it."
In the latter years of the reign of Charles the Second, the vio-
lence of faction burst forth with renovated fury. The discon-
tents of the Nonconformists were daily increasing ; while Popery
assumed fresh hopes of re-establishing itself by fomenting and
encouraging the divisions that unhappily subsisted among Protes-
tants. A tract, entitled " The Naked Truth, or the True State
of the Church," was published in 1675, and attributed to Dr.
Herbert Croft, Bishop of Hereford. Eager to accomplish a union
of the Dissenters with the Church of England, and to include
them within its pale, this prelate hesitated not to suggest the ex-
pediency of proposing several concessions to them, with respect
to the rites and ceremonies then in use, and even to comply with
their unreasonable demand of abolishing Episcopacy. It may be
easily presumed, that these proposals met with no very favoura-
ble reception. They were animadverted upon with much spirit
and ability, in various publications. In the mean time, animosi-
ties prevailed without any prospect of their termination. From
fanaticism on one side, and from superstition on the other, real
danger was apprehended. Those who exerted themselves in
maintaining the legal rights and liberties of the established church,
were denominated " Whigs." Most of them were persons emi-
nent for their learning, and very cordially attached to the estab-
20 LIFE AND WRITINGS
lished constitution. Others, who opposed the Dissenters, and
were thought to be more in fear of a republic, than a Popish suc-
cessor, were distinguished by the name of " Tories." At this
critical period, Izaak Walton expressed his solicitude for the real
welfare of his country, not with a view to embarrass himself in
disputation, — for his nature was totally abhorrent from contro-
versy,— but to give an ingenuous and undissembled account of
his own faith and practice, as a true son of the Church of Eng-
land. His modesty precluded him from annexing his name to
the treatise, which he composed at this time, and which appeared,
first, in 1680, under the title of " Love and Truth, in two mod-
est and peaceable Letters, concerning the Distempers of the pres-
ent Times ; written from a quiet and conformable Citizen of Lon-
den, to two busy and factious Shopkeepers in Coventry. ' But
let none of you suffer as a busy-body in other men's matters.'
1 Pet. iv. 15. 1680." The style, the sentiment, the argumenta-
tion, are such as might be expected from a plain man, actuated
only by an honest zeal to promote the public peace. And if we
consider that it was written by him in the 87th year of his age, a
period of life when the faculties of the mind are usually on the
decline, it will be scarce possible not to admire the clearness of
his judgment, and the unimpaired vigour of his memory. The
real purport of this work, which is not altogether unapplicable to
more recent times, and which breathes the genuine spirit of be-
nevolence and candour, is happily expressed in the author's own
words to the person whom he addresses in the second letter.
" This I beseech you to consider seriously ; and, good cousin,
let me advise you to be one of the thankful and quiet party ; for
it will bring peace at last. Let neither your discourse nor prac-
tice be to encourage or assist in making a schism in that church,
in which you were baptized and adopted a Christian ; for you
may continue in it with safety to your soul ; you may in it study
sanctification, and practise it to what degree God, by his grace,
shall enable you. You may fast as much as you will ; be as hum-
ble as you will ; pray both publicly and privately as much as you
will ; visit and comfort as many distressed and dejected fam-
ilies as you will ; be as liberal and charitable to the poor as you
think fit and are able. These, and all other of those undoubted
OF IZAAK WALTON. 21
Christian graces that accompany salvation, you may practise ei-
ther publicly or privately, as much and as often as you think fit ;
and yet keep in the communion of that church, of which you
were made a member by your baptism. These graces you may
practise, and not be a busy-body in promoting schism and fac-
tion ; as God knows your father's friends, Hugh Peters and John
Lilbourn did, to the ruin of themselves and many of their disci-
ples. Their turbulent lives and uncomfortable deaths are not, I
hope, yet worn out of the memory of many. He that compares
them with the holy life and happy death of Mr. George Herbert,
as it is plainly, and, I hope, truly writ by Mr. Izaak Walton, may
in it find a perfect pattern for an humble and devout Christian to
imitate. And he that considers the restless lives and uncomfort-
able deaths of the other two (who always lived, like the salaman-
der, in the fire of contention), and considers the dismal conse-
quences of schism and sedition, will (if prejudice and a malicious
zeal have not so blinded him that he cannot see reason) be so con-
vinced, as to beg of God to give him a meek and quiet spirit ; and
that he may, by his grace, be prevented from being a busy-body,
in what concerns him not."
Such admonitions as these could only proceed from a heart
overflowing with goodness ; a heart, as was said concerning that
of Sir Henry Wotton, " in which peace, patience, and calm con-
tent did inhabit."
His intercourse with learned men, and the frequent and
familiar conversations which he held with them, afforded him
many opportunities of obtaining several valuable anecdotes rela-
tive to the history of his contemporaries. The following literary
curiosity is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford :
" For your friend's queries this :
" I only knew Ben Jonson ; but my lord of Winton knew him
very well, and says he was in the sixth, that is, the uppermost
form in Westminster school, at which time his father died, and
his mother married a bricklayer, who made him (much against
his will) help hiin in his trade ; but in a short time, his school-
master, Mr. Camden, got him a better employment, which was to
attend or accompany a son of Sir Walter Raleigh's in his travels.
22 LIFE AND WRITINGS
Within a short time after their return, they parted (I think not in
cool blood) and with a love suitable to what they had in their
travels (not to be commended). And then Ben began to set up
for himself in the trade by which he got his subsistence and fame,
of which I need not give any account. He got in time to have a
hundred pounds a year from the king, also a pension from the
city, and the like from many of the nobility and some of the
gentry, which was well paid, for love or fear of his railing in
verse or prose, or both. My lord told me, he told him he was (in
his long retirement and sickness, when he saw him, which was
often) much afflicted, that he had profaned the Scripture in his
plays, and lamented it with horror ; yet that, at that time of his
long retirement, his pension (so much as came in) was given to
a woman that governed him (with whom he lived and died near
the Abbey in Westminster) ; and that neither he nor she took
much care for next week ; and would be sure not to want wine ;
of which he usually took too much before he went to bed, if not
oftener and sooner. My lord tells me, he knows not, but thinks
he was born in Westminster. The question may be put to Mr.
Wood very easily upon what grounds he is positive as to his
being born there ; he is a friendly man, and will resolve it. So
much for brave Ben. You will not think the rest so tedious as 1
do this.
" For your second and third queries of Mr. Hill, and Billings-
ley, I do neither know nor can learn any thing worth telling you.
"For your two remaining queries of Mr. W^arner, and Mr.
Harriott, this :
" Mr. Warner did long and constantly lodge near the water-
stairs, or market, in Woolstable. Woolstable is a place not far
from Charing-Cross, and nearer to Northumberland-house. My
lord of Winchester tells me, he knew him, and that he said, he
first found out the circulation of the blood, and discovered it to
Dr. Harvey (who said that it was he himself that found it), for
which he is so memorally famous. Warner had a pension of
forty pounds a year from that Earl of Northumberland that lay
so long a prisoner in the Tower, and some allowance from Sir
Thomas Aylesbury, and with whom he usually spent his summer
OF IZAAK WALTON. 23
** »^ ■■■■Ml 111 ■ l-l I ■ I, I..I MM I. ■ IIWIM I fc.— ^— ■ I
in Windsor Park, and was welcome, for he was harmless and
quiet. His winter was spent at the Woolstable, where he died in
the time of the parliament of 1640, of which or whom he was no
lover.
" Mr. Harriott, my lord tells me, he knew also ; that he was a
niore gentle man than Warner. That he had a hundred and
twenty pounds a year pension from the said Earl (who was a
lover of their studies), and his lodgings in Sion-house, where he
thinks or believes he died.
" This is all I know or can learn for your friend ; which
I wish may be worth the time and trouble of reading it.
" Nov. 22, '80. J. W.
" I forgot to tell, that I heard the sermon preached for the
Lady Danvers, and have it; but thank your friend."
A life of temperance, sobriety, and cheerfulness, is not seldom
rewarded with length of days, with a healthful, honourable, and
happy old age. Izaak Walton retained to the last a constitution
unbroken by disease, with the full possession of his mental
powers. In a letter to Mr. Cotton, from London, April 29, 1676,
he writes : " Though I be more than a hundred miles from you,
and in the eighty-third year of my age, yet I will forget both, and
next month begin a pilgrimage to beg your pardon." He had
written the life of Dr. Sanderson, when he was in his eighty-fifth
year. We find him active with his pen, after this period, at a
time when, " silvered o'er with age," he had a just claim to a
writ of ease. On the ninetieth anniversary of his birth-day, he
declares himself in his will to be of perfect memory. In the very
year in which he died, he prefixed a Preface to a work edited by
him : " Thealma and Clearchus, a Pastoral History, in smooth
and easy verse ; written long since by John Chalkhill, Esq., an
acquaintant and friend of Edmund Spenser." Flatman, who is
known both as a poet and a painter, hath in such true colours de-
lineated the character of his much-esteemed friend, that it would
be injurious not to transcribe the following lines :
24 LIFE AND WRITINGS
"to my worthy friend, MR. IZAAK WALTON,
" ON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS POEM.
" Long had the bright Thealma lay obscure ;
Her beauteous charms, that might the world allure,
Lay, like rougli diamonds in the mine, unknown,
By all the sons of fully trampled on,
Till your kind hand unveiled her lovely face,
And gave her vigour to exert her rays.
Happy old man ! whose worth all mankind knows,
Except himself; who charitably shows,
The ready road to virtue and to praise,
The road to many long and happy days,
The noble arts of generous piety,
And how to compass true felicity ;
Hence did he leara the art of living well ;
The bright Thealma was his oracle :
Inspired by her he knows no anxious cares,
Through near a century of pleasant years :
Easy he lives, and cheerful shall he die.
Well spoken of by late posterity,
As long as Spenser's noble flames shall bum,
And deep devotions throng about his urn ;
As lonof as Chalkhill's venerable name
With noble emulation shall inflame
Ages to come, and swell the rolls of fame.
Your mcmorj' shall for ever be secure,
And long beyond our short -hved praise endure ;
As Phidias in Minerva's shield did live,
And shared that immortality he alone could give."
The classic reader, when he recollects the story of Phidias, will
easily acknowledge the propriety of the encomium passed on Mr.
Walton, who secured immortal fame to himself, while he con-
ferred it upon others. That divine artist, having finished his fa-
mous statue of Minerva, with the most consummate exquisiteness of
skill, afterwaixl impressed his own image so deeply on her buck-
ler, that it could not be effaced without destroying the whole work.
The beauties of" Thealma and Clearchus," and the character
of the author, are not unaptly described in the editor's own lan-
guage. He intimates in the Preface, that " the reader will find
what the title declares, a Pastoral History, in smooth and easy
OF IZAAK WALTON. 25
verse ; and will in it find many hopes and fears finely painted
and feelingly expressed. And he will find the first so often dis-
appointed, when fullest of desire and expectation ; and the latter
so often, so strangely, and so unexpectedly relieved by an unfore-
seen Providence, as may beget in him wonder and amazement."
He adds, that " the reader must here also meet with passions
heightened by easy and fit descriptions of joy and sorrow ; and
find also such various events and rewards of innocent truth and
undissembled honesty, as is like to leave in him (if he be a good-
natured reader) more sympathizing and virtuous impressions than
ten times so much time spent in impertinent, critical, and needless
disputes about religion." Mr. Chalkhill died before he had per-
fected even the fable of his poem. He was a man generally
known in his time, and as well beloved ; for he was humble and
obliging in his behaviour, a gentleman, a scholar, very innocent
and prudent ; and indeed his whole life was useful, quiet, and
virtuous. So amiable were the manners, so truly excellent the char-
acter of all those, whom Izaak Walton honoured with his regard.
When Leoniceni, one of the most profound scholars in Italy, in
the fifteenth century, was asked by what art he had, through a
period of ninety years, preserved a sound memory, perfect senses,
an upright body, and a vigorous health, he answered, " by inno-
cence, serenity of mind, and temperance." Izaak W^alton, hav-
ing uniformly enjoyed that happy tranquillity, which is the natural
concomitant of virtue, came to the grave in a full age, " like as a
shock of corn cometh in his season."
" So would I live, such gradual death to find,
Like timely fruit, not shaken by the wind,
But ripely dropping from the sapless bough ;
And dying, nothing to myself would owe.
Thus, daily changing, with a duller taste
Of lessening joys, I by degrees would waste ;
Still quitting ground by unperceived decay,
And steal myself from life and melt away."
Dryden.
He died during the time of the great frost, on the fifteenth day
of December, 1683, at Winchester, in the prebendal house of Dr.
William Hawkins, hi* son-in-law, whom he loved as his own son.
26 LIFE AND WRITINGS
It was his express desire, that his burial might be near the place
of his death, privately, and free from any ostentation or charge.
On the stone which covers his remains within the cathedral of
that city these lines are yet extant.
" Here resteth the body of
MR. ISAAK WALTON,
Who died the 15th of Deer. 1683.
" Alas ! he 's gone before,
Gone to return no more.
Our panting breasts aspire
■ * After their aged sire,
Whose well-spent life did last
Full ninety years and past.
But now he hath begun
That which will ne'er be done,
Crowned with eternal bliss,
We wish our souls with his.
VOTIS MODESTIS SIC FLERUNT LIBERI."
He survived his wife many years. She died in 1662, and was
buried in our Lady's Chapel, in the Cathedral of Worcester. In
the north wall is placed a small oval monument of white marble,
on which is the following inscription, written, no doubt, by her
affectionate husband.
" Ex terris
D. +
S. +. M
Here lyeth buried so much as
could die of ANA, the wife of
ISAAC WALTON,
who was
a woman of remarkable prudence
and of the primitive piety : her great
and general knowledge being adorned
with such true humility, and blest
with so much Christian meekness as
made her worthy of a more memorable
Monument.
She died (alas that she is dead)
the 17th of April, 1662, aged 52.
Study to be like her."
OF IZAAK WALTON. 27
He had one son, Isaac, who never married, and a daughter
Anne, the wife of Dr. William Hawkins, a prebendary in the
church of Winchester, and rector of Droxford in Hampshire.
Dr. W^illiam Hawkins left a son William, and a daughter Anne.
The latter died unmarried. The son, who was a serjeant at law,
and author of the well-known treatise of " The Pleas of the
Crown," lived and died in the Close of Sarum. He published a
short account of the life of his great uncle in 1713, and also his
works in 1721, under the title of " The Works of the right
reverend, learned, and pious Thomas Ken, D. D., late Lord
Bishop of Bath and Wells. 4 vols." These works include only-
Ken's poetical compositions, which do not merit any great enco-
mium, though they are written in a strain of real piety and devo-
tion. This William Hawkins had a son and three daughters, the
eldest of whom, Mrs. Hawes, relict of the Rev. Mr. Hawes,
rector of Bemerton, is the only surviving person of that gene-
ration.
I have omitted to enumerate among the friends of our biogra-
pher. Dr. George Morley, Bishop of Winchester, and Dr. Seth
Ward, Bishop of Salisbury. To be esteemed, to be caressed by
men of such comprehensive learning and extraordinary abilities,
is honourable indeed. They were his choicest and most confi-
dential companions. After the Restoration, he and his daughter
had apartments constantly reserved for them in the houses of
these two prelates. Here he spent his time in that mutual recip-
rocation of benevolent offices, which constitutes the blessedness
of virtuous friendship. He experienced many marks of favour
from the Bishop of Winchester, of whose kindness to him he has
signified his remembrance in the ring bequeathed at his death,
with this expressive motto, "a mite for a million." It was
doubtless through his recommendation, that Ken obtained the
patronage of Dr. Morley ; who, having appointed him his chap-
lain, presented him to the rectory of Woodhay, in Hampshire ;
and then preferred him to the dignity of a prebendary in the ca-
thedral church of Winton.
The worthy son of a worthy father had no cause to complain
that his merit was unnoticed, or unrewarded. Mr. Izaak Walton,
junior, was educated at Christ Church in Oxford. Whilst he was
28 LIFE AND WRITINGS
Bachelor of Arts he attended his uncle, Mr. Ken, to Rome, where
he was present at the jubilee appointed by Pope Clement the
Tenth in 1675. On this occasion Ken was wont to say, " that he
had great reason to give God thanks for his travels ; since, if it
were possible, he returned rather more confirmed of the purity of
the Protestant religion than he was before." During his resi-
dence in Italy, that country, which is justly called the great
school of music and painting, the rich repository of the noblest
productions of statuary and architecture, both ancient and modern,
young Mr. Walton indulged and improved his taste for the fine
arts. On his return to England, he retired to the university of
Oxford to prosecute his studies. Having afterward accepted an
invitation from Bishop Ward, to become his domestic chaplain, he
was preferred to the rectory of Polshot, near Devizes in Wilt-
shire, and elected a canon of Salisbury. He afforded much
assistance to Dr. John Walker, when engaged in his " History of
the Sufferings of the Clergy," communicating to him a variety of
materials for that excellent work. He possessed all the amiable
qualities that adorned the character of his father, a calm philan-
thropy, a genuine piety, an unaffected humility. It was at the
house of this his nephew, that Dr. Ken was upon a visit, when a
stack of chimneys fell into his bed-chamber, Nov. 27, 1703,
without doing him any harm ; whilst Dr. Kidder, his immediate
successor in the see of Bath and Wells, was unfortunately killed
with his lady by a similar accident, during the same storm, in his
palace at Wells. Mr. Walton, junior, died in 1716. His re-
mains lie interred at the feet of his friend and patron, Bishop
Ward, in the cathedral of Salisbury.
It would be highly improper to ascribe to Mr. Izaak Walton
that extent of knowledge, which characterizes the scholar. Yet
those who are conversant in his writings will probably entertain
no doubt of his acquaintance with books. His frequent refer-
ences to ancient and modern history, his seasonable applications
of several passages in the most approved writers, his allusions to
various branches of general science, these and other circum-
stances concur in confirming the assertion, that though he did not
partake of the benefits of early erudition, yet in maturer age, he
enlarged his intellectual acquisitions, so as to render them fully
OF IZAAK WALTON. 29
proportionate to his opportunities and abilities. The fruits of his
truly commendable industry he has generously consecrated to
posterity. Deprived of the advantage of a learned education, he
hath with great fidelity preserved the memory of those, who were
'• by their knowledge of learning meet for the people, wise and
eloquent in their instructions, honoured in their generations, and
the glory of their times,'"' each of whom, in his edifying pages,
"being dead yet speaketh." He may be literally said "to have
laboured not for himself only, but for all those that seek wisdom."
How interesting and affecting are many of his narratives and
descriptions ! The vision of ghastly horror that presented itself
to Dr. Donne, at the time of his short residence in Paris ; the
pleasant messages which Sir Henry Wotton and the good-natured
priest exchanged with each other in a church at Rome, during the
time of vespers ; the domestic incidents which excited the tender
commiseration of Mr. Edwin Sandys and Mr. George Cranmer,
while they visited their venerable tutor at his country parsonage
at Drayton Beauchamp ; the affectionate and patient condescen-
sion of Mr. George Herbert, compassionating the distresses of the
poor woman of Bemerton ; the interview of Dr. Sanderson and
Mr. Izaak Walton, accidentally meeting each other in the streets
of London ; these and numberless other .similar passages will al-
ways be read with reiterated pleasure.
We shall indeed be disappointed, if we expect to find in the
following volume the brilliancy of wit, the elaborate correctness
of style, or the ascititious graces and ornaments of fine composi-
tion. But that pleasing simplicity of sentiment, that plain and
unaffected language, and, may I add, that natural eloquence, which
pervades the whole, richly compensates the want of elegance, and
rhetorical embellishment. Truth is never displayed to us in more
grateful colours, than when she appears, not in a garish attire, but
in her own native garb, without artifice, Avithout pomp. In that
garb Izaak Walton has arrayed her. Deeply impressed with the
excellence of those exemplary characters which he endeavours
to portray, he speaks no other language than tliat of the heart,
and thus imparts to the reader his own undisguised sentiments, so
friendly to piety and virtue. Assuredly, no pleasure can be
placed in competition with that, which results from the view of
30 LIFE AND WRITINGS
men sedulously adjusting their actions with integrity and honour.
To accompany them, as it were, along the path of life, to join in
their conversation, to observe their demeanour in various situa-
tions, to contemplate their acts of charity and beneficence, to at-
tend them into their closets, to behold their ardour of piety and de-
votion ; in short, to establish, as it were, a friendship and famili-
arity with them ; tliis, doubtless, must be pronounced a happy
anticipation of that holy intercourse, which will, I trust, subsist be-
tween beatified spirits in another and a better state.
Those parts of this volume are more peculiarly adapted to af-
ford satisfaction, improvement, and consolation in which is re-
lated the behaviour of these good men at the hour of death.
Here we find ourselves personally and intimately interested. " A
battle or a triumph," says Mr. Addison, "are conjunctures, in
which not one man in a million is likely to be engaged ; but
when we see a person at the point of death, we cannot forbear
being attentive to every thing he says or does ; because we are
sure, that some time or other, we shall ourselves be in the same
melancholy circumstances. The general, the statesman, or the
philosopher, are perhaps characters which we may never act in ;
but the dying man is one whom, sooner or later, we shall certainly
resemble." Thus, while these instructive pages teach us how to
live, they impart a lesson equally useful and momentous — how to
die. When I contrast the death-bed scenes, which our author
has described, with that which is exhibited to us in the last illness
of a modern philosopher, who at that awful period had no
source of consolation but what he derived from reading Lucian
and other books of amusement, discoursing cheerfully with his
friends on the trifling topics of common conversation, playing at
his favourite jgrame of whist, and indulging his pleasantry on the
fabulous history of " Charon and his boat," without one single
act of devotion, without any expression of penitential sorrow, of
hope, or confidence in the goodness of God, or in the merits
of a Redeemer ; when this contrast, 1 say, is presented to my
view, it is impossible not to adopt the language of the prophet,
" Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be
like his."
Is it necessary to add, that we are here presented with two
OF IZAAK WALTON. 31
pleasing portraits of female excellence, in the mother and in the
wife of Mr. George Herbert ? In the first were united all the
personal and mental accomplishments of her sex. The enlight-
ened piety of the latter, her native humility, her truly christian
charity, exhibit her as a perfect model of every thing good and
praiseworthy, while her marriage with Mr. Herbert, though at-
tended with some unusual circumstances, proves incontestably,
that an union, originating from " good sense, from inclination, and
from an equality of age, of dignity, and of fortune," can seldom
fail of being attended with happiness.
It is said of Socrates, that all who knew him loved him ; and
that if any did not love him, it was because they did not know
him. May we not affirm the same of that worthy person, who is
the subject of this memoir ? Such was the sweetness of his
temper, so affectionate was the regard which his friends professed
for him, that, in their epistolary correspondence, though they were
far superior to him in rank and condition of life, they usually ad-
dressed him in the language of tenderness and soothing endear-
ment, styling him, "Good Mr, Walton;" "Honest Isaac;"
"Worthy Friend;" "Dear Brother;" " Most Ingenious Friend."
No one better deserved these kind appellations. Let it always be
recorded to his honour, that he never retracted any promise, when
made in favour even of his meanest friend. Neal, in his " Historv
of the Puritans," introduces an erroneous quotation from " Wal-
ton's Life of Mr. Hooker." Dr. Warburton, in his notes on that
history (Warburton's Works, Vol. VII. p. 895,) commenting
upon this quotation, speaks of " the quaint trash of a fantastical
life-writer." Is it possible to suppose that an epithet, more adapt-
ed to the asperity of fastidious censure, than to the cool and de-
liberate judgment of candid and equitable criticism, should be
justly applied to a man of real merit, who strenuously exerted
himself in promoting the cause of religion, as well by his writings
as by his exemplary conduct ?
The corporation of Stafford have publicly pronounced him their
worthy and generous benefactor. Of his singular munificence
to the poor inhabitants of this his native town, we find several
instances in his life-time. And, at his death, he consigned some
bequests of considerable value to be appropriated to their use.
32 LIFE AND WRITINGS
In an ancient inscription yet extant, it is said of a Roman citi-
zen, that he knew not how to speak injuriously, — " Nescivit mal-
edicere." We may observe of Izaak Walton, that he was igno-
rant how to write of any man with acrimony and harshness.
This liberality of disposition will ever recommend him to his read-
ers. Whatever are the religious sentiments of the persons,
whom he introduces to our notice, how widely soever they differ
from his own ; we discover not, in his remarks, the petulance of
indiscriminate reproach, or the malignancy of rude invective.
The mild spirit of moderation breathes almost in every page. I
can only lament one instance of severity, for which, however,
several pleas of extenuation might readily be admitted.
He is known to have acquired a relish for the fine arts. Of
paintings and prints he had formed a small, but valuable collec-
tion. And we may presume, that he had an attachment to and a
knowledge of music. His affection for sacred music may be in-
ferred from that animated, I had almost said, that enraptured lan-
guage which he adopts, whenever the subject occurs to him.* It
will be easy recollected, that Ken, his brother-in-law, whose morn-
ing, evening, and midnight hymns, endear his memory to the de-
vout Christian, began the duties of each day with sacred melody.
And that between men perfectly congenial in their sentiments and
habits of virtue, a similarity of disposition in this instance should
prevail, is far from being an unreasonable suggestion. That he
had an inclination to poetry, we may conclude from his early in-
timacy with Michael Drayton, " the golden-mouthed poet ;" a man
of an amiable disposition, of mild and modest manners, whose po-
ems are much less read than they deserve to be. It is needless
to remark, that on the first publication of a work it was usual for
the friends of the author to prefix to it recommendatory verses.
Izaak Walton, whose circle of friends was very extensive indeed,
often contributed his share of encomium on these occasions. To
* " He that at midnight, when the very labourer sleeps securely, should hear,
as I have often done, the sweet descants, the natural rising and falling, the
doubling and redoubling of the nightingale's voice, might well be lifted above
earth, and say, Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints in heaven,
when thou affbrdest bad men such music upon earth ?" — {Complete Angler,
P. I. Ck L)
OF IZAAK WALTOxM. 33
his productions of this kind no other commendations can be
allowed, than that they were sincere memorials of his grateful
and tender regard. It must however be added, that he never de-
based his talents by offering the incense of adulation at the shrine
of infamy and guilt. The persons, whom he favoured with these
marks of his attention, were not undeserving of praise. Such,
for instance, was William Cartwright, who, though he died in the
thirtieth year of his age, was the boast and ornament of the uni-
versity of Oxford, as a divine, a philosopher, and a poet. Dr.
Fell, Bishop of Oxford, declared him to be, " the utmost man can
come to ;" and Ben Jonson was wont to say of him, " My son
Cartwright writes all like a man." And here an opportunity
presents itself of ascertaining the author of " The Synagogue, or
the Shadow of the Temple," a collection of sacred poems, usually
annexed to Mr. George Herbert's "Temple." Mr. Walton has
addressed some encomiastic lines to him, as his friend • and in
" The Complete Angler," having inserted from that collection, a
little poem, entitled "The Book of Common Prayer," he expressly
assigns it, and of course the whole work, to a reverend and learned
divine, Mr. Christopher Harvey, •' that professes to imitate Mr.
Herbert, and hath indeed done so most excellently ;" and of whom
he adds pleasantly, " you will like him the better, because he is a
friend of mine, and I am sure no enemy to angling."
Faithfully attached to the church of England, he entertained
the highest veneration for her discipline and doctrines. He had
not been an inattentive spectator of the rapid progress of the sec-
taries, hastening from one degree of injustice to another, until
a universal anarchy consummated the ruin of our ecclesiastical
constitution. In his last will he has announced an ingenious and
decided avowal of his religious principles, with a design, as it has
been conjectured, to prevent any suspicions that might arise of his
inclination to Popery, from his very long and very true friendship
with some of the Roman communion. But a full and explicit
declaration of his Christian faith, and the motives which enforced
his serious and regular attendance upon the service of that church
in which he was educated, are delivered with great propriety and
good sense, in his own words. For thus he writes in a letter to
one of his friends. " I go so constantly to the church service to
4
34 LIFE AND WRITINGS
adore ^, and worship my God, who hath made me of nothing, and
preserved me from being worse than nothing. And this worship
and adoration I do pay him inwardly in my soul, and testify it
outwardly by my behaviour ; as, namely, by my adoration, in my
forbearing to cover my head in that place dedicated to God, and
only to his service ; and also, by standing up at profession of the
creed, which contains the several articles that I and all true Chris-
tians profess and believe ; and also my standing up at giving glory
to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, and confessing
them to be three persons, and but one God.
" And, secondly, I go to church to praise my God for my cre-
ation and redemption ; and for his many deliverances of me from
the many dangers of my body, and more especially of my soul,
in sending me redemption by the death of his Son, my Saviour ;
and for the constant assistance of his holy spirit : a part of which
praise I perform frequently in the Psalms, which are daily read
in the public congregations.
" And, thirdly, I go to church publicly to confess and bewail
my sins, and to beg pardon for them, for his merits who died to
reconcile me and all mankind unto God, who is both his and my
Father ; and, as for the words in which I beg this mercy, they be
the litany and collects of the church, composed by those learned
and devout men, whom you and I have trusted to tell us which is
and which is not the written word of God, and trusted also to
translate those Scriptures into English. And, in these collects,
you may note, that I pray absolutely for pardon of sin, and for
grace to believe and serve God. But I pray for health and peace
and plenty, conditionally ; even so far as may tend to his glory
and the good of my soul, and not further. And this confessing
my sins, and begging mercy and pardon for them, I do in my
adoring my God, and by the humble posture of kneeling on my
knees before him. And, in this manner, and by reverend sittino-
to hear some chosen parts of God's word read in the public as-
sembly, T spend one hour of the Lord's day every forenoon, and
half so much time every evening. And since this uniform and
devout custom of joining together in public confession and praise
and adoration of God, and in one manner, hath been neglected,
the power of Christianity and humble piety is so much decayed,
OF IZAAK WALTON. 35
that it ought not to be thought on but with sorrow and lamenta-
tion ; and I think, especially by the Nonconformists."
The reasons which he has assigned for his uninterrupted atten-
tion to the discharge of another duty will afford satisfaction to
every candid reader. " Now for preaching, I praise God, I un-
derstand my duty both to him and my neighbour the better, by
hearing of sermons. And though I be defective in the perfonis-
ance of both (for which I beseech Almighty God to pardon me),
yet I had been a much worse Christian, if I had not frequented
the blessed ordinance of preaching ; which has convinced me of
my many sins past, and begot such terrors of conscience, as have
begot in me holy resolutions. This benefit, and many other like
benefits, I and other Christians have had by preaching ; and God
forbid that we should ever use it so, or so provoke him by our
other sins, as to withdraw this blessed ordinance from us, or turn
it into a curse, by preaching heresy and schism ; which too many
have done in the late time of rebellion, and indeed now do in
many conventicles ; and their auditors think such preaching
is serving God, when God knows it is contrary." Such were
the rational grounds on which he founded his faith and practice.
No excuse is pleaded for again noticing the opportunities of
improvement, which he experienced from his appropriated inti-
macy with the most eminent divines of the church of England.
Genuine friendship exists but among the virtuous. A friend is
emphatically styled " the medicine of life," the sovereign remedy
that softens the pangs of sorrow, and alleviates the anguish of the
heart. We cannot therefore sufficiently felicitate the condition
of Izaak Walton, who imbibed the very spirit of friendship ; and
that with men renowned for their wisdom and learning, for the
sanctity of their manners, and the unsullied purity of their lives.
"If," to use the words of one of his biographers, " we can en-
tertain a doubt that Walton was one of the happiest of men, v/e
show ourselves ignorant of the nature of that felicity, to which
it is possible even in this life for virtuous and good men, with the
blessing of God, to arrive."
The features of the countenance often enable us to form o
judgment, not very fallible, of the disposition of the mind. In
lew portraits can this discovery be more successfully pursued
36 LIFE AND WRITINGS
than in that of Izaak Walton. Lavater, the acute master of
physiognomy, would, I think, instantly acknowledge in it the de-
cisive traits of the original ; — mild complaisance, forbearance,
mature consideration, calm activity, peace, sound understanding,
power of thought, discerning attention, and tjecretly active friend-
ship. Happy in his unblemished integrity, happy in the appro-
bation and esteem of others, he in wraps himself in his own vir-
tue. The exultation of a good conscience eminently shines forth
in the looks of this venerable person.
Candida semper
Gaudia, et in vultu curarum ignara voluptas."
Racket, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, used this motto,
"Serve God, and be cheerful." Our biographer seems to have
adhered to this golden maxim during the whole tenour of his life.
His innocence and the inoffensive plainness of his manner, his
love of truth, his piety, and the unbiassed rectitude of his con-
duct diffused over his mind a serenity and complacency which
never forsook him. Let no one, however elevated in rank or
station, however accomplished with learning, or exalted in genius,
esteem himself undervalued, when it shall be pronounced con-
cerning him, that his religious and moral qualities are placed in
the balance, or compared with those of Izaak Walton.
COPY OF WALTON'S WILL.
" August the ninth, one thousand six hundred
eighty-three.
" In the Name of God, Amen, I Izaac Walton the elder, of
Winchester, being, this present day, in the ninetieth year of my
age, and in perfect memory, for which praised be God ; but con-
sidering how suddenly I may be deprived of both, do therefore
make this my last Will and Testament as followeth : And first, I
do declare my belief to be, that there is only one God, who hath
made the whole world, and me, and all mankind ; to whom I shall
OF IZAAK WALTON. 37
give an account of all my actions, which are not to be justified,
but I hope pardoned, for the merits of my Saviour Jesus : And
because the profession of Christianity does, at this t;me, seem to
be subdivided into Papist and Protestante, I take it, at least, to be
convenient to declare my belief to be, in all points of faith, as the
Church of England now professeth ; and this I do the rather, be-
cause of a very long and very true friendship with some of the
Roman Church. And for my worldly estate (which 1 have nei-
ther got by falsehood or flattery, or the extreme cruelty of the
law of this nation), I do hereby give and bequeath it as followeth :
First, I give my son-in-law, Doctor Hawkins and to his wife ; to
them I give all my title and right of or in a part of a house and
shop in Paternoster- row, in London, which I hold by lease from
the lord bishop of London for about fifty years to come. And I
do also give to them all my right and title of or to a house in
Chancery Lane, London, wherein Mrs. Greinwood now dwelleth,
in which is now about sixteen years to come : 1 give these two
leases to them, they saving my executor from all damage con-
cerning the same. And I give to my son Izaak all my right and
title to a lease of Norington farme, which I hold from the lord
bishop of Winton : And I do also give him all my right and title
to a farme or land near to Stafford, which I bought of Mr. Walter
Noell ; I say, I give it to him and his heirs for ever ; but upon the
condition following, namely ; if my son shall not marry before he
shall be of age of forty-and-one years, or, being married, shall
dye before the said age, and leave no son to inherit the said farme
or land, or if his son or sons shall not live to attain the age of
twenty-and-one years, to dispose otherways of it, — then I give the
said farme or land to the towne or corporation of Stafford, in
which I was borne, for the good and benefit of some of the said
towne, as I shall direct, and as followeth ; (but first note, that it
is at this present time rented for twenty-one pound ten shillings a
year, and is like to hold the said rent, if care be taken to keep
the barn and housing in repair;) and I would have, and do give
ten pound of the said rent, to bind out, yearly, two boys, the sons
of honest and poor parents, to be apprentices to some tradesmen
or handy-craft men, to the intent the said boys may the better af-
terward get their own living. And I do aLqo give five pound
38 I.1FE AND WRITINGS
yearly, out of the said rent, to be given to some maid servant,
that hath attained the age of twenty and one years, not less, and
dwelt long in one service, or to some honest poor man's daughter,
that hath attained to that age, to be paid her at or on the day of
her marriage ; and this being done, my will is, that what rent
shall remain of the said farme or land, shall be disposed of as fol-
loweth : first, I do give twenty shillings yearly, to be spent by the
major of Stafford and those that shall collect the said rent and dis-
pose of it as I have and shall hereafter direct ; and that what
money or rent shall remain undisposed of, shall be imployed to
buy coals for some poor people, that shall most need them, in the
said towne ; the said coals to be delivered the first weeke in Janu-
ary, or in every first week in February ; I say then, because I
take that time to be the hardest and most pinching times with
poor people ; and God reward those that shall do this without par-
tiality, and with honesty and a good conscience. And if the said
major and others of the said towne of Stafford shall prove so neg-
ligent, or dishonest, as not to imploy the rent by me given as in-
tended and exprest in this my will, which God forbid, — then I
give the said rents and profits of the said farme or land, to the
towne, and chief magistrates or governors, of Ecleshall, to be dis-
posed of by them in such manner as I have ordered the disposal
of it by the towne of Stafford, the said farme or land being near
the towne of Ecleshall. And I give to my son-in-law, Dr. Haw-
kins, whom I love as my own son ; and to my daughter, his wife;
and my son Izaak ; to each of them a ring, with these words or
motto ; " Love my memory, I. W. obiit :"
to the Lord Bisliop of Winton a ring, with this motto ; " A mite
for a million, L W. obiit :" and to the friends
hereafter named, I give to each of them a ring with this motto :
" A friend's farewell, L W. obiit ." And
my will is, the said rings be delivered within forty days after
my death ; and that the price or value of all the said rings shall
be thirteen shillings and fourpence a piece. I give to Dr. Haw-
kins, Doctor Donne's Sermons, which I have heard preacht, and
read with much content. To my son Izaak, I give Doctor Sibbs
his " Soul's Conflict;" and to my daughter his " Bruised Reed,"
desiring them to read them so as to be well acquainted with them.
OF IZAAK WALTON. 39
And I also give unto her all my books at Winchester and Droxford,
and whatever in those two places are, or I can call mine, except a
trunk of linen, which I give to my son Izaak : but if he do not
live to marry, or make use of it, then I give the same to my
grandaughter, Anne Hawkins. And I give my daughter Doctor
Hall's Works, which be now at Farnham. To my son Izaak I
give all my books, not yet given, at Farnham Castell ; and a
deske of prints and pictures ; also a cabinett near my bed's head,
in which are some little things that he will value, though of no
great worth. And my will and desire is, that he shall be kind to
his aunt Beachame, and his aunt Rose Ken ; by allowing the first
about fifty shillings a year, in or for bacon and cheese, not more,
and paying four pounds a year towards the boarding of her son's
d3'et to Mr. John Whitehead : for his aunt Ken, I desire him to be
kind to her according to her necessitie and his own abilitie ; and
I commend one of her children, to breed up as I have said I in-
tend to do, if he shall be able to do it, as I know he will ; for they
be good folke. I give to Mr. John Darbyshire the Sermons of
Mr. Anthony Farringdon, or of Dr. Sanderson, which my execu-
tor thinks fit. To my servant, Thomas Edgill, I give five pound
in money, and all my cloths, linen and woollen, except one suit
of cloths, which I give to Mr. Holinshed, and forty shillings if the
said Thomas be my servant at my death ; if not, my cloths only.
And I give my old friend, Mr. Richard Marriott,* ten pounds
in money, to be paid him within three months after my death;
and I desire my son to shew kindness to him if he shall neede,
and my son can spare it. And I do hereby will and declare my
sou Izaak to be my sole executor of this my last will and testa-
ment ; and Dr. Hawkins to see that he performs it ; which I
doubt not but he will. I desire my burial may be near the place
of my death, and free from any ostentation or charge, but pri-
vately. This I make to be m}'- last will (to which I shall only add
the codicil for rings), this sixteenth day of August, one thousand
six hundred eighty-three. Izaak Walton. Witness to this will.
The rings I give, are as on the other side. To my brother
John Ken ; to my sister, his wife ; to my brother, Doctor Ken ;
* Bookseller, and his Publibher.
40 LIFE AND WRITINGS OF IZAAK WALTON.
to my sister Pye ; to Mr. Francis Morley ; to Mr. George Ver-
non ; to his wife ; to his three daughters ; to Mistris Nelson ; to
Mr. Richard Walton ; to Mr. Palmer ; to Mr. Taylor ; to Mr.
Thomas Garrard ; to the Lord Bishop of Sarum ; to Mr. Rede,
his servant ; to my cousin Dorothy Kenrick ; to my cousin Levvin ;
to Mr. Walter Higgs ; to Mr. Charles Cotton ; to Mr. Richard
Marryot : 22. To my brother Beacham ; to my sister, his wife ;
to the lady Anne How ; to Mrs. King, Doctor Phillips's wife ; to
Mr. Valentine Harecourt ; to Mrs. Eliza Johnson ; to Mrs. Mary
Rogers ; to Mrs. Eliza Milward ; to Mrs. Dorothy WoUop ; to
Mr. Will. Milward, of Clirist-church, Oxford ; to Mr. John Dar-
byshire ; to Mr. Undevill ; to Mrs. Rock ; to Mr. Peter White ;
to Mr. John Lloyde ; to my cousin Creinsell's Widow ; Mrs.
Dalbin must not be forgotten : 16. Izaak Walton. Note, that
several lines are blotted out of this will, for they were twice re-
peated, and that this will is now signed and sealed this twenty
and fourth day of October, one thousand six hundred eighty-three,
in the presence of us : Witness, Abraham Markland, Jos. Tay-
lor, Thomas Crawley.
WALTON'S LIVES.
TO THE
5
RIGHT HONOURABLE AXD REVEREND FATHER IN GOD,
GEORGE.
LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER,
AND PRELATE OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER
OF THE GARTER*
BIY LORD,
I DID some years past, present you with a plain relation of the
Life of Mr. Richard Hooker, that humble man, to whose memory,
Princes and the most learned of this nation, have paid a reverence
at the mention of his name. And now, with Mr. Hooker's, I pre-
sent you also, the Life of that pattern of primitive piety, Mr.
George Herbert; and with his the Life of Dr. Donne, and your
friend Sir Henry Wotton, all reprinted. The two first were writ-
ten under your roof: for which reason, if they were worth it,
you might justly challenge a Dedication. And indeed, so you
* Dr. George Morley, distinguislied by his unshaken loyalty and attachment
to Charles I. was, at the Restoration, first made Dean of Christ-church, and
then Bishop of Worcester. In 1662 he was translated to the see of Winchester.
Though nominated one of the Assembly of Divines, he never did them the hon-
our, nor himself the injury, to sit among them. During his absence from his
native country, he endeared himself to several learned foreigners, particularly
to Andrew Rivettus, Heinsius, Salmasius, and Bochart. He constantly at-
tended the young exiled King ; but not being permitted to follow him into
Scotland, he retired to Antwerp, where for about three or four years he read
the service of the Church of England twice every day, catechized once a week,
and administered the connnunion once a month to all the English in the town
who could come to it ; regularly and strictly observing all the parochial duties
of a clergyman, as he did afterwards at Breda for four years together. He
died in 1684. .
44 DEDICATION.
might of Dr. Donne's, and Sir Henry Wotton's : because, if I
had been fit for this undertaking, it would not have been acquired
learning or study, but by the advantage of forty years friendship,
and thereby, with hearing and discoursing with your Lordship,
that hath enabled me to make the relation of these Lives passable
— if they prove so — in an eloquent and captious age.
And indeed, my Lord, though these relations be well-meant
sacrifices to the memory of these worthy men ; yet I have so lit-
tle confidence in my performance, that I beg pardon for super-
scribing your name to them : and desire all that know your Lord-
ship, to apprehend this not as a Dedication, — at least by which
you receive any addition of honour ; — but rather as an humble,
and more public acknowledgement, of your long-continued, and
your now daily favours to,
My Lord,
Your most affectionate,
and most humble servant,
IzAAK Walton.
TO THE READER.
_ Though the several introductions to these several lives have
partly declared the reasons how, and why I undertook them,
yet since they are come to be reviewed, and augmented, and re-
printed, and the four are now become one book,* I desire leave to
inform you that shall become my reader, that when I sometimes
look back upon my education and mean abilities, it is not without
some little wonder at myself, that I am come to be publicly in
print. And though I have in those introductions declared some
of the accidental reasons that occasioned me to be so, yet let me
add this to what is there said, that by my undertaking to collect
some notes for Sir Henry Wotton's writing the Life of Dr. Donne,
and by Sir Henry Wotton's dying before he performed it, I be-
came like those men that enter easily into a lawsuit or a quarrel,
and having begun, cannot make a fair retreat and be quiet, when
they desire it. — And really, after such a manner, I became en-
gaged into a necessity of writing the Life of Dr. Donne, contrary
to my first intentions ; and that begot a like necessity of writing
the Life of his and my ever-honoured friend, Sir Henry Wotton.
And having writ these two lives, I lay quiet twenty years,
without a thought of either troubling myself or others, by any
new engagement in this kind ; for I thought I knew my unfitness.
But, about that time, Dr. Gaudenj" (then Lord Bishop of Exeter)
* He had not then written the life of Bishop Sanderson.
t Dr. John Gauden, born at Mayland in Essex, educated at St. John's Col-
lege, Cambridge, was Dean of Booking, and Master of the Temple, in the be-
ginning of the reign of Charles I. In 1660 he was made Bishop of Exeter,
and from thence promoted to Worcester in 1662, in which year he died, aged
57 years.
It must be owned, that he was one of the Assembly of Divines in 1643, and
that he took the covenant ; to which, however, he made some scruples and
objections, so that his name was soon struck out of the list. He abandoned the
cause of the Parliament as soon as they relinquished their first avowed prin-
ciples of reforming only, instead of extirpating Episcopacy and Monarchy.
46 EPISTLE TO THE READER,
published the Life of Mr. Richard Hooker (so he called it), with
so many dangerous mistakes, both of him and his books, that dis-
coursina of them with his Grace Gilbert, that now is Lord Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, he enjoined me to examine some circum-
stances, and then rectify the Bishop's mistakes, by giving the
world a fuller and truer account of Mr. Hooker and his books
than that bishop had done ; and I know I have done so. And let
me tell the reader, that till his Grace had laid this injunction
upon me, I could not admit a thought of any fitness in me to un-
dertake it ; but when he twice had enjoined me to it, I then
declined my own, and trusted his judgment, and submitted to his
commands ; concluding, that if 1 did not, I could not forbear
accusing myself of disobedience, and indeed of ingratitude, for his
many favours. Thus I became engaged into the third life.
For the life of that great example of holiness, Mr. George Her-
bert, I profess it to be so far a free-will offering, that it was writ
chiefly to please myself, but yet not without some respect to pos-
terity : For though he was not a man that the next age can for-
get, yet many of his particular acts and virtues might have been
neglected, or lost, if I had not collected and presented them to the
imitation of those that shall succeed us : For I humbly conceive
writing to be both a safer and truer preserver of men's virtuous
actions than tradition ; especially as it is managed in this age.
And 1 am also to tell the reader, that though this life of Mr. Her-
bert was not by me writ in haste, yet I intended it a review before
it should be made public ; but that was not allowed me, by
reason of my absence from London when it was printing : so that
the reader may find in it some mistakes, some double expressions,
and some not very proper, and some that might have been con-
tracted, and some faults that are not justly chargeable upon me,
but the printer ; and yet I hope none so great, as may not, by this
confession, purchase pardon from a good-natured reader.
And now I wish, that as that learned Jew, Josephus, and others,
so these men had also writ their own lives ; but since it is not the
fashion of these times, I wish their relations or friends would do
it for them, before delays make it too difHcult. And I desire this
the more, because it is an honour due to the dead, and a generous
debt due to those that shall live and succeed us, and would to
EPISTLE TO THE READER. 47
them prove both a content and satisfaction. For when the next
age shall (as this does) admire the learning and clear reason
which that excellent casuist Dr. Sanderson (the late Bishop of
Lincoln) hath demonstrated in his sermons and other writings ;
who, if they love virtue, would not rejoice to know, that this good
man was as remarkable for the meekness and innocence of his
life, as for his great and useful learning ; and indeed as remark-
able for his fortitude in his long and patient suffering (under them
that then called themselves the godly party) for that doctrine
which he had preached and printed in the happy days of the na-
tion's and the church's peace ? And who would not be content to
have the like account of Dr. Field,* that great schoolman, and
others of noted learning ? And though I cannot hope that my
example or reason can persuade to this undertaking, yet I please
myself, that I shall conclude my preface with wishing that it were
so.
I. W.
* Dr. Richard Field, Chaplain to James I. and Dean of Gloucester, died
Nov. 21, 1616, — the friend of Mr. Richard Hooker, and one of the most learned
men of his age. He was the author o( a work entitled " Of the Church ; fol.
1610." — James I. when he first heard him preach, said, " This is a Field for
God to dwell in." — With the same allusion Fuller calls him that learned divine,
" whose memory smelleth like a Field that the Lord hath blessed." — Anthony
Wood mentions a manuscript, written by Nathaniel Field, Rector of Stourton,
in Wiltshire, containing "' some short Memorials concerning the Life of that
Rev. Divine, Dr. Richard Field, Prebendary of Windsor," &c. The feature
which peculiarly marked his disposition, was an aversion to those disputes on
the Arminian points, which then began to disturb the peace of the church, and
from which he dreaded the most unhappy consequences. It was his ambition
to conciliate, not to irritate.
INTRODUCTION
TO
THE LIFE OF DOCTOR DONNE;
AS ORIGINALLY TREFIXED TO THE FIRST COLLECTION
OF HIS SERMONS IN 1640.
If that great master of language and art, Sir Henry Wotton, the late Pro-
vost of Eton College, had lived to see the publication of these Sermons, he had
presented the world with the Author's life exactly written ; and 'twas pity he
did not, for it was a work worthy his undertaking, and he fit to undertake it :
betwixt whom and the Author there was so mutual a knowledge, and such a
friendship contracted in their youth, as nothing but death could force a separa-
tion. And, though their bodies were divided, their affections were not ; for that
learned Knight's love followed his friend's fame beyond death and the forgetful
grave ; which he testified by entreating me, whom he acquainted with his de-
sign, to enquire of some particulars that concerned it, not doubting but my
knowledge of the Author, and love to his memory, might make m)^ diligence
useful : I did most gladly undertake the employment, and continued it with
great content, till I had made my collection ready to be augmented and com-
pleted by his matchless pen : but then death prevented his intentions.
When I heard that sad news, and heard also that these Sermons were to be
printed, and want the Author's life, which I thought to be very remarkable ;
indignation or grief — indeed I know not which — transported me so far, that I
reviewed my forsaken collections, and resolved the world should see the best
plain picture of the Author's life, that my artless pencil, guided by the hand of
truth, could present to it.
And if I shall now be demanded, as once Pompey's poor bondman was,*
*' the grateful wretch had been left alone on the-sea shore, with the forsaken
" dead body of his once glorious lord and master ; and was then gathering the
" scattered pieces of an old broken boat, to make a fimeral pile to bum it ;
" which was the custom of the Romans — Who art thou, that alone hast the
" honour to bury the body of Pompey the Great?" So, who am I, that do
thus officiously set the Author's memory on fire ? I hope the question will
* Plutarch.
5
50 INTRODUCTION.
prove to have in it more of wonder than disdain ; but wonder indeed the reader
may, that I, who profess myself artless, should presume with my faint light to
show forth his life, whose very name makes it illustrious ! But, be this to the
disadvantage of the person represented : certain I am, it is to the advantage
of the beholder, who shall here see the Author's picture in a natural dress,
which ought to beget faith in what is spoken : for he that wants skill to deceive,
may safely be trusted.
And if the Author's glorious spirit, which now is in heaven, can have the lei-
sure to look down and see me, the poorest, the meanest of all his friends, in the
midst of his officious duty, confident I am, that he will not disdain this well-
meant sacrifice to his memory : for, whilst his conversation made me and many
others happy below, I know his humility and gentleness were then eminent ;
and, I have heard divines say, Ihose virtues that were but sparks upon earth,
become great and glorious flames hi heaven.
Before I proceed further, I am to entreat the reader to take notice, that
when Doctor Donne's Serjnons were first printed, this was then my excuse for
daring to write liis life ; and I dare not now appear v/ithout it.
THE LIFE OF DR. JOHN DONNE
LATE DEAN OF ST. PAUl's CHURCH, LONDON.
THE LIFE OF DR. JOHN DONNE,
LATE DEAN OF ST. PAUL S CHURCH, LONDON
Master John Donne was born in London, in the year 1573,
of good and virtuous parents : and, though his own learning and
other multiplied merits may justly appear sufficient to dignify
both himself and his posterity ; yet the reader may be pleased to
know, that his father was masculinely and lineally descended
from a very ancient family in Wales, where many of his name
now live, that deserve, and have great reputation in that country.
By his mother he was descended of the family of the famous
and learned Sir Thomas More,"^ sometime Lord Chancellor of
England : as also, from that worthy and laborious Judge Rastall,f
who left posterity the vast Statutes of the Law of this nation most
exactly abridged.
* Fuller, in his Church History, b. x. p. 112, mentions these circumstances
most probably from the present work ; since he concludes his notice of Donne
by saying, that his " life is no less truly than elegantly written, by my worthi-
ly respected friend Mr. Izaak Walton, whence the Reader may store himself
with further information." In the first two editions of the life of Donne, there
is no separation between the Introduction and Memoir ; and no year mention-
ed for his time of birth.
''' William Rastall, or Rastell, was an eminent Printer of London, and the
son of John Rastall and Elizabeth, the sister of Sir Thomas More. He was
bom and educated in London, and about 1525, at the age of 17, was sent to
Oxford, after which he entered of Lincoln's Inn, and became an excellent law-
yer. On the change of religion in England he went to Louvain, being a zeal-
ous Catholic ; but on the accession of Mary he returned and filled several offi-
ces of great repute, of which one was Justice of the Common Pleas. In the
reign of Elizabeth he again returned to Louvain, and died there August 27th,
1565. There are several works ascribed to him, of which it is doubtful if he
were the author ; but the " abregement of the Statutys," alluded to in the text,
was first published by him in 8vo. in 1533.
54 THE LIFE OF
He had his first breeding in his father's house, where a private
tutor had the care of him, until the tenth year of his age ; and,
in his eleventh year, was sent to the university of Oxford ; hav-
ing at that time a good command both of the French and Latin
tongue.* This, and some other of his remarkable abilities, made
one then give this censure of him ; That this age had brought
forth another Picus Mirandula ;f of whom story says, that he was
rather born, than made wise by study.
There he remained for some years in Hart-Hall, having, for
the advancement of his studies, tutors of several sciences to at-
tend and instruct him, till time made him capable, and his learn-
ing expressed in public exercises, declared him worthy to receive
his first degree in the schools, which he forbore by advice from
his friends, who, being for their religion of the Romish persuasion,
were conscionably averse to some parts of the oath that is always
tendered at those times, and not to be refused by those that ex-
pect the titulary honour of their studies.
About the fourteenth year of his age, he was transplanted from
Oxford to Cambridge ; where, that he might receive nourishment
from both soils, he staid till his seventeenth year ; all which time
he was a most laborious student, often changing his studies, but
endeavouring to take no degree, for the reasons formerly nnen-
tioned.
About the seventeenth year of his age he v*^as removed to Lon-
don, and then admitted into Lincoln's Inn, with an intent to study
the Lav/ ; where he gave great testimonies of his wit, his learn-
ing, and of his improvement in tliat profession ; which never
served him for other use than an ornament and self-satisfaction.
His father died before his admission into this society ; and, be-
* It is quaintly said in tlie first edition that he had " a command of the
French and Latine tongues, when others can scarce speak their owne."
t John Picus, Prince of Mirandula, a Duchy in Italy, now the property of
the Dukes of Modena, was born Feb. 2 1th, 14G3. lie is said to have under-
stood twenty-two languages at the age of 18 ; and at 24 he discoursed on every
branch of knowledge. The death of his friend Lorenzo de' Medicis, so much
affected him, that he resigned his sovereignty to his nephew, and died in re-
tirement at Florence, Nov. 17th, 1494. His works were chiefly Controversial
Theology, witli some familiar Epistles. Ilrs name docs not occur in Vv''a!ton's
first edition.
DR. JOHN DONNE. 55
ing a merchant, left him his portion in money. (It was £3,000.)
His mother, and those to whose care he was committed, were
watchful to improve his knowledge, and to that end appointed him
tutors both in the mathematics, and in all the other liberal sci-
ences, to attend him. But with these arts, they were advised to
instil into him particular principles of the Romish Church ; of
which those tutors professed, though secretly, themselves to be
members.
They had almost obliged him to their faith ; having for their
advantage, besides many opportunities, the example of his dear
and pious parents, which was a most powerful persuasion, and
did work much upon him, as he professeth in his preface to his
Pseudo-]\Iartyr,* a book of which the reader shall have some ac-
count in what follows.
He was now entered into the eighteenth year of his age ; and
at that time had betrothed himself to no religion, that might give
him any other denomination than a Christian. And reason and
piety had both persuaded him, that there could be no such sin as
Schism, if an adherence to some visible Church were not neces-
sary.
About the nineteenth year of his age, he, being then unre-
solved what religion to adhere to, and considering how much it
concerned his soul to choose the most orthodox, did therefore, —
though his youth and health promised him a long life — to rectify
all scruples that might concern that, presently lay aside all study
of the Law, and of all other sciences that might give him a de-
nomination ; and began seriously to survey and consider the body
of Divinity, as it vv^as then controverted betwixt the Reformed and
the Roman Church. And, as God's blessed Spirit did then
awaken him to the search, and in that industry did never forsake
liim — they be his own wordsj — so he calls the same Holy Spirit
* " I had a longer work to do than many other men : for I was first to blot
out certaine impressions of the Romane religion and to wrestle both against the
examples and against the reasons, by which some hold was taken, and some
anticipations early layde upon my conscience, both by persons who by nature
had a power and superiority over my will, and others who by their learning and
good life seemed to me justly to claime an interest for the guiding and rectify-
ing of mine understanding in these matters."
t In !::.5 Preface to Pseudo-Martyr.
56 THE LIFE OF
to witness tliis protestation ; that in that disquisition and search,
he proceeded with humility and diffidence in himself; and by that
which he tooiv to be the safest way ; namely, frequent prayers,
and an indifferent affection to both parties ; and indeed, Truth
had too much light about her to be hid from so sharp an enqui-
rer ; and he had too much ingenuity, not to acknowledge he had
found her.
Being to undertake this search, he believed the Cardinal Bel-
larmine* to be the best defender of the Roman cause, and there-
fore betook himself to the examination of his reasons. The cause
was weighty, and wilful delays had been inexcusable both to-
wards God and his own conscience : he therefore proceeded in
this search with all moderate haste, and about the twentieth year
of his age, did show the then Dean of Gloucester"]' — whose name
my memory hath now lost — all the Cardinal's works marked with
many weighty observations under his own hand ; which works
were bequeathed by him, at his death, as a legacy to a most dear
friend.
About a year following he resolved to travel ; and the Earl of
Essex going first the Cales,^ and after the Island voyages, the
* One of tlio most celebrated coutroversiul writers of his time ; he was born
ill Tuscany in 1542, and became a Jesuit in 1560. Until 1576, he was 'a
teacher of Divinity in the Low Countries, but he then commenced reading con-
troversial Lectures at Rome ; and with such success, that Sixtus V. sent him
with his Legate into France, to assist in the event of any religious dispute. In
1599, Clement VIIL created him a Cardinal, and he resided in the Vatican
from 1605 till 1621, when he left it in declining health, and died in the House
of the Jesuits, Sept. 17th. His work alluded to, is entitled " Dlsputationes de
Controversiis Christiancz Fidei, advcrsus sui temporis HcEreiicos" Cologne,
1610, 4 vol. fol.
t Dr. Anthony Rudde, a native of Yorkshire, and Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge ; died Bishop of St. David's in 161.3-14.
t This was an expedition consisting of a fleet of 150 sail, with twenty-two
Dutch ships, and seven thousand soldiers ; Charles Howard, Earl of Notting-
ham, being Lord High Admiral, and the Earl of Essex, General of the Land
forces. On June 21st, the Spanish squadron was destroyed, and Cadiz taken,
with an immense treasure and stores ; in addition to wliich the inhabitants re-
deemed their lives at the price of 520,000 ducats. The Island voyage was
also an expedition to oppose the King of Spain invading Ireland, in 1597; and
it consisted of 120 sail, and 6,000 land forces under the Earl of Essex. It waa
DR. JOHN DONNE. :,7
first anno 1593, llie second 1597, he took tlie advantage of
those opportunities, waited upon his Lord.ship, and was an eye-
witness of those happy and unhappy employments.
But he returned not back into England, till he had staid some
years, first in Italy, and then in Spain, where he made many use-
ful observations of thosvO countries, their lav/s and manner of gov-
ernment, and returned perfect in their languages.
The time that he j^^pont in Spain, was, at his first going into
Italy, designed for travelling to the Holy Land, and for viewing
Jerusalem and the Sepulchre of our Saviour. But at his being
in the furthest parts of Italy, the disappointment of company, or
of a safe convoy, or the uncertainty of returns of money into
those remote parts, denied him that happines.^ which he did often
occasionally mention with, a deploration.
Not long after his return into England, that exemplary pattern
of gravity and wisdom, the Lord Eilesmere,* then Keeper of the
Great Seal, the Lord Chancellor of England, taking notice of his
learnin:^, laniruagcs. and otlier abilities, and much affectin;! his
person and behaviour, took him to be his chief Secretary ; sup-
posing and intending it to be an introduction to some more weighty
employment in the State ; for which, his Lordship did often pro-
test, he thought him very fit.
Nor did his Lordshio in this time of Master Donne's attendance
i.
upon him, account iiim to be .so much his servant, as to forget he
his iiiteiitioii first to lidve destroyed tlie .ships preparing, and then sailing to the
Azores, or Western Islands, to have waited for, and captured the Spanish India
Fleet. This scheme, however, failed, througii contrary winds, storms, and a
dispute between the Earl of Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh.
* Sir Thomas Ellesmere of Tatton in the County of Chester, Knight, the
natural son of Sir Richard Egerton of Ridley, was born about 1540, and wa.s
entered of Brazen Nose College, Oxford, at the age of 17, whence he removed
to Lincoln's Inn. On June 28th, 1581, he was made Solicitor-General, and
was soon afterwards knighted ; in April, 1594, he was appointed Master of tho
Rolls: and in 1596, he received the Great Seal, and was sworn of the Privy
Council. In 1604, James I. created him Baron of Ellesmere and Lord Chan-
cellor, which office he held till the age of 76, when he addressed two paihelic
letters to the King for his dismissal. The Sovereign first created him Viscount
Brackley, and then received the Seals from him in person upon his death -bed.
He died at York House in the Strand, March 15tli, 1617.
r.
8 THE LIFE OF
was his friend ; and, to testify it, did always use him with much
courtesy, appointing liini a place at his own table, to which he
esteemed his company and discourse to be a great ornament.
He continued that employment for the space of five years, be-
ing daily useful, and not mercenary to his friend. During which
time, he, — 1 dare not say unhappily — fell into such a liking, as,
— with her approbation, — increased into a love, with a young
gentlewoman that lived in that family, who was niece to the Lady
Ellesmere, and daughter to Sir George More,* then Chancellor of
the Garter and Lieutenant of the Tower.
Sir George had some intimation of it. and, knowing prevention
to be a great part of wisdom, did therefore remove her with much
haste, from that to his own house at Lothesley, in the County of
Surrey ; but too late, by reason of some faithful promises which
were so interchangeably passed, as never to be violated by either
party.
These promises Vv'ere only known to themselves ; and the friends
of both parties used much diligence, and many arguments, to kill
or cool their affections to each other : but in vain ; jfor lovef is a
flattering mischief, that hath denied aged and wise men a fore-
sight of those evils that too often prove to be the children of that
blind father, a passion, that carries us to commit errors with as
much ease as whirlwinds move feathers, and begets in us an un-
wearied industry to the attainment of what we desire.- And such
an industry did, notwithstanding much watchfulness against it,
* Sir George was the only son and heir of Sir WiUiam More, and was born
Nov. 28th, 1552 ; educated at Exeter College, Oxford, whence he removed to
the Inns of Court. About 1597, he was knighted, in IGlO, was made Chan-
cellor of the Garter, and in 1615, Lieutenant of the Tower. He frequently
sat in Parliament for the Borough of Guildford, and he died Oct. IGth, 1632.
His sister, the Lady Ellesmere, was the eldest daughter of Sir William More,
and was bora April 28th, 1552. She was thrice married, the last of her hus-
bands being Chancellor Egerton ; and the second Sir John Wolley of Pirford,
Knt. Losely House, the seat of the More family, is situate in the Hundred of
Godalming, and County of Surrey, about two miles south-west of Guildford.
It consists of a main body, facing the north, and one wing extending northward
from its western extremity ; the whole being built of the ordinary country stone.
t This fine passage on the rashness of youthful passion was not inserted till
Vv'al ton's second edition.
DR. JOHN DONNE. 59
bring them secretly together, — I forbear to tell the manner how
— and at last to a marriage too, without the allowance of those
friends, whose approbation always was, and ever will be, neces-
sary, to make even a virtuous love become lawful.
And, that the knowledge of their marriage might not fall, like
an unexpected tempest, on those that were unwilling to have it
so ; and that pre-appre.hensions might make it the less enormous
when it was known, it was purposely whispered into the ears of
many that it was so, yet by none that could affirm it. But, to put
a period to the jealousies of Sir George, — doubt often begetting
more restless thounjhts than the certain knowled^re of what we
fear — the news was, in favour to Mr. Donne, and with his allow-
ance, made known to Sir George, by his honourable friend and
neighbour Henry, Earl of Northumberland ;* but it was to Sir
George so immeasurably unwelcome, and so transported him,
that, as though his passion of anger and inconsideration might ex-
ceed theirs of love and error, he presently engaged his sister, the
Lady Ellesmicre, to join with him to procure her lord to discharge
Mr. Donne of the place he held under his Lordship. This re-
quest was follovved Vvith violence ; and though Sir George were
remembered, that errors might be over punished, and desired
therefore to forbear, till second considerations might clear some
scruples ; yet he became restless until his suit was granted, and
the punishment executed. And though the Lord Chancellor did
* Henry Percy, nintli Earl of Northumberland, bom in April, 1564 ; suc-
ceeded to the title in June, 1565. In 1568, he was one of those gallant young
noblemen who hired ships at their own charge, and joined the fleet despatched
against the Spanish Armada ; and in 1593, he was made Knight of the Garter.
He was greatly attached to the House of Stuart, and was active in the in-
terests of James I. ; but as one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot was
related to his Lordship, he was prosecuted, fined £.30,000. by Sir Edward Coke
in the Sar-Chamber, and sentenced to imprisonment in the Tower during life.
The Earl's fine was reduced to £20,090. and his liberty restored after fifteen
years confinement, in July, 1621. He died, Nov. 5th, 1632. Wood calls him
" a learned man himself, and the generous favourer of all good learning ;" du-
ring his imprisonment he allowed salaries for eminent scholars to attend upon
him, and he also enjoyed the converse of Sir Walter Raleigh, then a prisoner
in the Tower. He had a peculiar talent for mathematics ; and on account of
his love for the occult .sciences, he was sometimes entitled Henry the Wizaid.
GO THE LIFE OF
not, at Mr. Donne's dismission, give iiim such a commendation as
the great Emperor Charles the Fifth did of his Secretary, Eraso,
when lie parted witli liim to his son and successor, Philip the
Second, saying, " That in his Eraso, he gave to him a greater gift
than all his estate, and all the kingdoms wliich he then resigned to
him :" yet the Lord Chancellor said, " He parted with a friend,
and such a Secretary as was fitter to serve a king than a sub-
ject."
Immediately after his dismission from his service, he sent a
sad letter to liis wife, to acquaint lier witli it : and after the sub-
scription of iiis name, writ,
John Bonne, An7ic Donne, Un-done ;
And God knows it proved too true ;* for this bitter pliysic of Mv.
Donne's dismission, was not enough to purge out all Sir George's
choler ; for he was not satisfied till Mr. Donne and his sometime
com-pupil in Cambridge, that married him, namely, Samuel
Brooke, I wlio was after Doctor in Divinity, and Master of Trinity
College — and his brother Mr. Christopher Brooke, sometime Mr.
Donne's chamber-fellow in Lincoln's Inn, who gave Mr. Donne
his wife, and witnessed the marriage, were all committed to three
several prisons.
Mr. Donne was first enlarged, who neither gave rest to his
body or brain, nor to any friend in whom he might hope to have on
* The passage beginning " and though the Lord Chancellor" — down lo —
" it proved loo true," is not entire in either of Walton's first two editions.
t Son of Robert Brook, an eminent merchant, and Lord Mayor of York, in
1582 and 1595. He was admitted of Trinity College in Cambridge, in 159(1,
and Sept. 2Gth, 1612, was ohosen Divinity Professor in Gresham College, being
then Chaplain to Prince Henry. In 1615, he was made D.D. ; m 1618, Rec-
tor of St. Margaret's Lotlibun^', in London; in 1629, Master of Trinity Col-
lege ; and Archdeacon of Vv^ells, in 1631, in v.'hich year he died. Of his wri-
ting there remains one Latin di-scourse, and a Latin Pastoral, called Milanthe,
acted before King James at Cambridge. Christopher Brook was a Benciu-r
and Summer Reader at Lincoln's Inn, and is much commended as a poet by
Ben Jonson, Drayton, &:-c. He wrote an Elegy to the never-dying memory
of Henry, Prince of Wales, Lond. 1613, 4to. ; and he also published a voluma
of Eclogues, Lond. 1614. In Dr. Donne's Poo'i s are two addressed to this gen-
tleman, " the Storme." and " the Calmc."
DR. JOHN BONNE. Gl
interest, until he bad procured an enlargement for his two impris-
oned friends.
He was now at liberty, but his days were still cloudy : and be-
ing past these troubles, others did still multiply upon him ; for his
wife was, — to her extreme sorrov/ — detained from him ; and though
wiih Jacob* he endured not a hard service for her, yet he lost a
good one, and was forced to make good his title, and to get pos-
session of her by a long and restless suit in law ; which proved
troublesome and sadly chargeable to him, whose youth, and trav-
el, and needless bounty, had brought his estate into a narrow
compass.
It is observed, and most truly, that silence and submission are
charming qualities, and work most upon passionate men ; and it
proved so witli Sir George ; for these, and a general report of
Mr. Donne's merits, together with his winning behaviour, — wliich,
when it would entice, had a strange kind of elegant irresistible
art ; — these, and time had so disnassionated Sir George, that as
the world had approved his daughter's choice, so he also could
not but see a more than ordinary merit in his new son ; and this
at last melted him into so much remorse, — for love and anger arc
so like agues, as to have hot and cold fits ; and love in parents,
though it may be quenched, yet is easily re-kindled, and expires
not till death denies mankind a natural heat, — that he laboured
his son's restoration to his place ; usin^; to that end, both his own
and his sister's power to her lord : but with no success ; for his
answer was, " That though he was unfeignedly sorry for what he
had done, yet it was inconsistent with his place and credit, to dis-
charge and re-admit servants at the request of passionate peti-
tioners."
Sir George's endeavour for Mr. Donne's re-admission, vras by
all means to be kept secret: — for men do more naturally reluct
for errors, than submit to put on those blemishes that attend their
visible acknowledgement — But, however, it was not long before
Sir George appeared to be so far reconciled, as to wish their hap-
piness, and not to deny them his paternal blessing, but yet refu-
* The first edition has this alhision to Genesis, chap. xxix. ; and similar ref-
erences placed in the margin.
6:3 THE LIFE OF
seel to contribute any means that might conduce to their live-
lihood.
Mr. Donne's estate was the greatest part spent in many and
chargeable travels, books, and dear-bought experience : he out of
all employment that might yield a support for himself and wife,
who had been curiously and plentifully educated ; both their na-
tures generous, and accustomed to confer, and not to receive,
courtesies : these and other considerations, but chieflv that his
wife was to bear a part in his sufferings, surrounded him with
many sad thoughts, and some apparent apprehensions of want.
But his sorrows were lessened and his wants prevented, by the
seasonable courtesy of their noble kinsman, Sir Francis Wolly,*
of Pirford, in Surrey, who intreated them to a cohabitation with
him ; where they remained with much freedom to themselves,
and equal content to him, for some years ; and as their charge
increased — she had yearly a child, — so did his love and bounty.
It hath been observed by wise and considering men, that wealth
hath seldom been the portion, and never the mark to discover good
people ; but that A^lmighty God, who disposeth all things wisely,
hath of his abundant goodness denied it — he only knows why — to
many, whose minds he hath enriched with the greater blessings
of knowledge and virtue, as the fairer testimonies of his love to
mankind : and this was the present condition of this man of so
excellent erudition and endowments ; whose necessary and daily
expences, were hardly reconcileable with his uncertain and nar-
row estate. Which I mention, for that at this time, there was a most
generous offer made him for the moderating of his worldly cares ;
the declaration of which shall be the next employment of my pen.
God hath been so good to his Church, as to afford it in every
* Or Wolley, only son of Sir John WoUey, Knight, Dean of Carlisle, and
Latin Secretary to Queen Elizabeth : was born March 18th, 1582-83, and was
a Member of Merton College, Oxford. In 1600, he represented the borough
of Haslemere, in Parliament, and was afterwards knighted, but he died un-
married in the flower of his age in 1610. He was buried in the same grave
with his father, and the Lady Egerton his mother, in the church of Pirford, in
Surrey; but in 1614, their bodies were all removed, and re-interred under a
beautiful monument of black and white marble, bearing their effigies, and a
Latin Epitaph, in St. Paul's Cathedral, which was destroyed in the great fire.
DR. JOHN DONNE. G3
age, some such men to serve at his altar, as have been piously
ambitious of doing good to mankind ; a disposition, that is so like
to God himself, that it owes itself only to Him, who takes a plea-
sure to behold it in his creatures. These times* he did bless
with many such ; some of which still live to be patterns of apos-
tolical charity, and of more than human patience. I have said
this, because I have occasion to mention one of them in my fol-
lowing discourse ; namely, Dr. Morton,f the most laborious and
learned Bishop of Durham ; one that God hath blessed with
perfect intellectuals and a cheerful heart at the age of 94 years —
and is yet living : — one, that in his days of plenty had so large a
heart, as to use his large revenue to the encouragement of learn-
ing and virtue, and is now — be it spoken with sorrow — reduced to
a narrow estate, which he embraces without repining ; and still
shows the beauty of his mind by so liberal a hand, as if this were
an age in which to-morrow were to care for itself. I have taken
a pleasui'e in giving the reader a short, but true character of this
* 1648.
t Thomas Morton is supposed by his friend and biographer Dr. John Bar-
wick, to have been descended from the famous Cardinal Morton, Bishop of Ely.
He was born at York, March 20th, 1564, and was educated there and at Hal-
ifax, where one of his schoolfellows was the notorious Guy Fawkes. In 1582,
he Vv'as entered of St. John's College, Cambridge, where he read Lectures ou
Logic ; and on account of his skill in dii^puting with the Romish recusants, he
was selected to be chaplain to the Earl of Huntingdon, then Lord President of
the North. In 1602, holding a Rectory about four miles from York, he dis-
tinguished himself by his fearless and charitable exertions whilst the Plague
was in that City ; often visiting the Pest-House there, and carrying provisions
to the poor unattended by a single domestic. In 160.3, he went as Chaplain
with the English Embassy to Denmark ; in 1606, he became D.D. and Chap-
lain to James I. ; he was made Dean of Gloucester by the King, June 22nd,
1607, and was removed to Winchester in 1609. Early in 1616, Dr. Morton
W£is made Bishop of Chester ; in which Diocese he used many efforts to con-
ciliate the Nonconformists. In 1618, he was again translated to the See of
Lichfield and Coventrj^, in which situation he detected the supposed witchcraft
of the Boy of Bilson ; and on July 2nd, 1632, he was advanced to the Bishop-
ric of Durham. Dr. Morton suffered much during the Rebellion, and was ex-
pelled from his Palace, but he waS' at length taken into the protection of Sir
Christopher Yelverton, to whose son he became Tutor ; and at whose seat in
Northamptonshire he died, Sept. 22nd, 1659, having been 44 years a Bishop,
and being in the 95th year of his age.
64 THE LIFE OF
good man, my friend, from whom I received this following rela-
tion.— He sent to Mr. Donne, and intrcated to borrow an liour of
his time for a conference the nfext day. After their meeting, there
was not many minutes passed before he spake to Mr. Donne to this
purpose : " Mr. Donne, the occasion of sending for you, is to pro-
pose to you what I have often revolved in my own thought since I
last saw you: which nevertheless, I will not declare but upon
this condition, that you shall not return me a present answer, but
forbear three days, and bestow some part of that time in fasting
and prayer ; and after a serious consideration of what I shall
propose, then return to me with your answer. Deny me not, Mr.
Donne ; for, it is the effect of a true love, which I would gladly
pay as a debt due for yours to me."
Tliis request being granted, the Doctor expressed himself thus :
"Mr. Donne, I know your education and abilities; 1 know
your expectation of a state-employment ; and I kno'.v your fitness
for it ; and I know too the many delays and contingencies that
attend court-promises: and let me tell you, that my love, begot
by our long friendship and your merits, hath prompted mo to
such an inquisition after your present temporal estate, as makes
me no stranger to your necessities ; which I know to be such as
your generous spirit could not bear, if it were not supported with
a pious patience. You know I have form.erly persuaded you to
v/ave your court-hopes, and enter into holy orders ; which I now
again persuade you to embrace, with this reason added to my
former request : The King hath yesterday made me Dean of
Gloucester, and I am also possessed of a benefice, the profits of
which are equal to those of my deanery ; I will think my deanery
enough for my maintenance, — who am, and resolved to die, a
single man — and will quit my benefice, and estate you in it, —
which the Patron is willing I shall do — if God shiall incline your
heart to embrace this motion. Remember, Mr. Donne, no man's
education or parts make him too good for this employment, which
is to be an ambassador for the God of glory ; that God, who, by
a vile death, opened the gates of life to mankind. Make me no
present answer ; but remember your promise, and return to me
the third day with your resolution."
At the hearing of tliis, Mr. Donne's faint breath and perplexed
DR. JOHN DONNE. G5
countenance, gave a visible testimony of an inward conflict : but
he performed his promise, and departed without returning an
answer till the third day, and then his answer was to this effect :
" My most worthy and most dear friend, since I saw you, I
have been faithful to my promise, and have also meditated much
of your great kindness, which hath been such as would exceed
even my gratitude ; but that it cannot do; and more I cannot re-
turn you ; and I do that with an heart full of humility and thanks,
though I may not accept of your offer; but. Sir, my refusal is not
for that I think myself too good for that calling, for which Kings,
if they think so, are not good enough : nor for that my education
and learning, though not eminent, may not, being assisted with
God's grace and humility, render me in some measure fit for it:
but I dare make so dear a friend as you are, my confessor: some
irregularities of my life have been so visible to some men, that
though I have, I thank God, made my peace with him by peniten-
tial resolutions against them, and by the assistance of his grace
banished them my affections ; yet this, which God knows to be
so, is not so visible to man, as to free me from their censures,
and it may be that sacred calling from a dishonour. And be-
sides, v/hereas it is determined by the best of casuists, that God's
glory should be the first end, and a maintenance the second mo-
tive to embrace that calling ; and though each man may propose
to himself both together, yet the first may not be put last without
a violation of conscience, which he that searches the heart will
judge. And truly my present condition is such, that if I ask my
own conscience, whether it be reconcileable to that rule, it is at
this time so perplexed about it, that I can neither give myself nor
you an answer. You know, Sir, who says, ' Happy is that man
whose conscience doth not accuse him for that thing which he
does.'* To these I might add other reasons that dissuade me ;
but I crave your favour that I may forbear to express them, and
thankfully decline your offer."
This was his present resolution, but the heart of man is not in
his own keeping ; and he was destined to this sacred service by
* Romans xiv. 22. The modem translation is, " Happy is he that con-
dcmneth not himself in that which he doeth."
6
CG THE LIFE OF
an Iiiglier hand ; a liand so poweiTul, as at last forced him to a
comph'ancc : of which I shall give the reader an account, befi^re
I shall give a rest to my pen.*
Mr. Donne and his wife continued with Sir Francis Wolly till
his death : a little before which time. Sir Francis was so happy
as to make a perfect reconciliation betwixt Sir George, and his
forsaken son and daughter; Sir George conditioning by bond, to
pay to Mr. Donne 800/. at a certain day, as a portion with his
wife, or 20/. quarterly for their maintenance, as the interest for
it, till the said portion was paid.
Most of those years that he lived with Sir Francis, he studied
the Civil and Canon Laws ; in which he acquired such a perfec-
tion, as was judged to hold proportion with many, who had made
that study the employment of their whole life.
Sir Francis being dead, and that happy family dissolved, Mr.
Donne took for himself a house in Mitciiara, — near to Croydon in
Surrey — a place noted for good air and choice company : tliere his
wife and children remained ; and for himself ho took lodgings in
London, near to White-hall, whither his friends and occasions
drew him very often, and where he was as often visited, by many
of the Nobility and others of this nation, who used him in their
councils of greatest consideration, and with some rewards for his
better subsistence.
Nor did our own Nobility only value and favour him, but his
acquaintance and friendship was sought for by most Ambassadors
of foreign nations, and by many other strangers, whose learning or
business occasioned their stay in this nation.
He was much importuned by many friends to make his con-
stant residence in London ; but he still denied it, having settled
his dear wife and children at Mitcham, and near some friends
that were bountiful to them and him ; for tiiey, God knovv's, need-
ed it: and that you may the better now judge of the then present
condition of his mind and fortune, I shall present you with an cx-
tractf collected out of some few of his many letters.
* TliC proposal of Dr. Morton to -".Ir. Donne, l)eginnin;T at tlie words " It
hath been," down to " a rest to my pen," was not in the first edition.
t As these epistles are not to be found entire in the printed collection of his
correspondence, published by Dr. Donne, Junior, under the title of " Letters to
DR. JOHN DONNE. 67
" And the reason why I did not send an answer to your
last week's letter, was, because it then found nie under too crreat
a sadness ; and at present 'tis tiius with me : There is not one
person, but myself, well of my family : I have already lost half a
child, and, with that mischance of hers, my wife is fallen into
such a discomposure, as would afllict her too extremely, but that
the sickness of all her other children stupilies her : of one of which,
in good faith, I have not much hope : and these meet with a for-
tune so ill-provided for physic, and such relief, that if God should
ease us with burials, I know not how to perform even that : but I
flatter myself with this hope, that I am dying too; for I cannot
waste faster than by such griefs. As for,
From my Hospital at Mitcham.
Aug. 10. JOHN DONNE."
Thus he did bemoan himself: and thus in other letters.
• " For, we hardly discover a sin, when it is but an omis-
sion of some good, and no accusing act : with this or the former,
I have often suspected myself to be overtaken ; which is, with an
over-earnest desire of the next life : and, though I know it is not
merely a weariness of this, because 1 had the same desire when I
went with the tide, and enjoyed fairer hopes than I now do ; yet
I doubt worldly troubles have increased it : 'tis now Spring, and
all the pleasures of it displease me ; every other tree blossoms,
and I witlier : I grow older, and not better; my strength dimin-
isheth, and my load grows heavier ; and yet, I would fain be or
do something ; but that I cannot tell what, is no wonder in this
time of my sadness ; for to choose is to do ; but to be no part of
any body, is as to be nothing : and so I am, and shall so judge
myself, unless I could be so incorporated into a part of the world,
scverall Persons of ricncur," 1651, 1654, they were therefore most probably
copied from the orighials. Dr. Zouch quotes a passage from another of Dr.
Donne's letters, wherein he says, " I write from the fireside in my parlour, and
in the noise of three gamesome cliildren, and by the side of her, whom because
1 have transplanted into such a wretched fortune, I must labour to disgui.so
tbat from her by all such honr; t devices, as giving lier my company and dis-
course."
G8 THE LIFE OF
as by business to contribute some sustentation to the whole. This
I made account ; I began early, when I understood the study of
our Laws; but was diverted by leaving that, and embracing the
worst voluptuousness, an hydroptic immoderate desire of human
learning; and lanfruaijes : beautiful ornaments indeed to men of
great fortunes, but mine was grown so low as to need an occupa-
tion ; which I thought I entered well into, when I subjected my-
self to such a service as I thought might exercise my poor abili-
ties : and there I stumbled, and fell too ; and now I am become
so little, or such a nothing, that I am not a subject good enough
for one of my own letters. — Sir, I fear my present discontent,
does not proceed from a good root, that I am so well content to be
nothing, that is, dead. But, Sir, though my fortune hath made
me such, as that 1 am rather a sickness or a disease of the world,
than any part of it, and therefore neither love it nor life ; yet I
would gladly live to become some such thing as you should not
repent loving me : Sir, your own soul cannot be more zealous for
your good, than I am; and God, who loves that zeal in me, will
not sulFer you to doubt it : You would pity me now, if you saw
me write, for my pain hath drawn my head so much awry, and
holds it so, that my eye cannot follow my pen. I therefore re-
ceive you into my prayers with mine own weary soul, and com-
mend myself to yours. I doubt not but next week will bring you
good news, for I have either mending or dying on my side : but,
if I do continue longer thus, I shall have comfort in this, that my
blessed Saviour in exercising his justice upon my two worldly
parts, my fortune and my body, reserves all his mercy for that
which most needs it, my soul ! which is, I doubt, too like a por-
ter, that is very often near the gate, and yet goes not out. Sir, I
profess to you truly, that my loathness to give over writing now,
seems to myself a sign that I shall write no more.
Your poor friend, and
God's poor patient,
Sept. 7. JOHN DONNE.
>5
By this you have seen a part of the picture of his narrow for-
tune, and the perplexities of his generous mind ; and thus it con-
tinued with him for about two years, all which time his family
DR. JOHN DONNE. 69
remained constantly at Mitcham ; and to which place he often re-
tired himself, and destined some days to a constant study of some
points of controversy betwixt the English and Roman Church,
and especially those of Supremacy and Allegiance : and to that
place and such studies, he could willingly have wedded himself
during his life :* but the earnest persuasion of friends became at
last to be so powerful, as to cause the removal of himself and fami-
ly to London, where Sir Robert Drewry,-)- a gentleman of a very
noble estate, and a more liberal mind, assigned him and his wife an
useful apartment in his own large house in Drury Lane, and not
only rent free, but was also a cherisher of his studies, and such a
friend as sympathized with him and his, in all their joy and sorrows.
At this time of Mr. Donne's and his wife's living in Sir Robert's
house, the Lord Hay, was, by King James, sent upon a glorious
embassy to the then French King, Henry the Fourth ; and Sir
Robert put on a sudden resolution to accompany him to the French
Court, and to be present at his audience there. And Sir Robert
put on a sudden resolution, to solicit Mr. Donne to be his com-
* The passage containing these letters " having settled his dear wife," to
" the earnest persuasion of friends," is not in either of the first two editions of
this life.
t He was a celebrated member of the Family of Drury, of Hawsted, in Suf-
folk, eldest son of Sir William Drur^', who was killed in a duel in France in
1589. In 1591, Sir Robert attended the Earl of Essex to the unsuccessful
siege of Rouen, where he was knighted, when he could not have exceeded the
age of 14. He married when he came of age, Anne daughter of Sir Nicholas
Bacon of Redgrave, in Suffolk ; by whom he had a daughter Dorothy, who
died in 1610, and to whose memory Dr. Donne composed two poems, " An
Anatomie of the World," and " The progresse of the Soulc." In March 1610,
he built, and liberally endowed an Alms-house for Widows at Hawsted, and
m 16] 2, he went to Paris, when Dr. Donne, as it is shewn by his letters, ac-
companied him. There seems to be some error concerning the time when Wal-
ton states that Dr. Donne went into France, since the Lord Hay was not sent
Ambassador there till July 1616, and beside the dates of Donne's letters. Sir
Robert Drury died April 2nd, 1615. His Latin Epitaph from Hawsted Church
is given by Sir John CuUum in his History of Hawsted, and he supposes it
might have been composed by Dr. Donne. Drury-House, supposed to have
been erected by the father of this Sir Robert, stood at the lower end of Drury
Lane, and upper end of Wych Street. It was afterwards the seat of William
Earl of Craven. The remains of Craven House were taken down in 1809,
and the Olympic Theatre erected on a part of its site.
70 THE LIFE OF
panion in that journey. And this desire was suddenly made
known to his wife, who was then with child, and otherwise under
so dangerous a habit of body, as to her health, that she professed
an unwillingness to allow him any absence from her ; saying,
"Her divining soul boded her some ill in his absence ;" and
therefore desired him not to leave her. This made Mr. Donne
lay aside all thoughts of the journey, and really to resolve against
it. But Sir Robert became restless in his persuasions for it, and
Mr. Donne was so generous as to think he had sold his liberty,
when he received so many charitable kindnesses from him ; and
told his wife so ; who did therefore, with an unwillingness, give a
faint consent to the journey, v/hich was proposed to be but for
two months ; for about that time they determined their return.
AVithin a few days after this resolve, the Ambassador, Sir Robert,
and Mr. Donne, left London ; and were the twelfth day got all
safe to Paris. Two days after their arrival there, Mr. Donne
was left alone in that room, in which Sir Robert, and he, and
some other friends, had dined together. To this place Sir Robert
returned within half an hour ; and as he left, so he found, Mr.
Donne alone ; but in such an ecstacy, and so altered as to his
looks, as amazed Sir Robert to behold him ; insomuch that he
earnestly desired Mr. Donne to declare what had befallen him in
the short time of his absence. To which Mr. Donne was not
able to make a present answer : but after a long and perplexed
pause, did at last say, " I have seen a dreadful vision since I saw
you : I have seen my dear wife pass twice by me through this
room, with her hair hanging about her shoulders, and a dead child
in her arms : this I have seen since I saw you." To which Sir
Robert replied, " Sure, Sir, you have slept since I saw you ; and
this is the result of some melancholy dream, which I desire you
to forget, for you are now awake." To which Mr. Donne's reply
was : " I cannot be surer that I now live, than that I have not
slept since 1 saw you : and am as sure, that at her second appear-
ing, she stopped, and looked me in the face, and vanished." —
Rest and sleep had not altered Mr. Donne's opinion the next day :
for he then affirmed this vision with a more deliberate, and so
confirmed a confidence, that he inclined Sir Robert to a faint be-
lief that the vision was true. — It is truly said, that desire and
DR. JOHN DONNE. 71
doubt have no rest ; and it proved so with Sir Robert ; for he im-
mediately sent a servant to Drewry-house, with a charge to has-
ten back, and bring liim word, whether Mrs. Donne were alive ;
and if alive, in what condition she was as to her health. The
twelfth day the messenger returned with this account — That he
found and left Mrs. Donne very sad, and sick in her bed ; and
that after a long and dangerous labour, she had been delivered of
a dead child. And, upon examination, the abortion proved to be
the same day, and about the very hour, that Mr. Donne affirmed
he saw her pass by him in his chamber.
This is a relation that will beget some wonder, and it well
may ; for most of our world are at present possessed with an
opinion, that Visions and Miracles are ceased. And, though it is
most certain, that two lutes being both strung and tuned to an
equal pitch, and then one played upon, the other, that is not
touched, being laid upon a table at a fit distance, will — like an
echo to a trumpet — warble a faint audible harmony in answer to
the same tune ; yet many will not believe there is any such thing
as a sympathy of souls ; and I am well pleased, that every
Reader do enjoy his own opinion. But if the unbelieving, will
not allow the believing Reader of this story, a liberty to believe
that it may be true ; then I wish him to consider, many wise men
have believed that the ghost* of Julius Ccesar did appear to Bru-
tus, and that both St. Austin, and Monica his mother, had visions
in order to his conversion. And though these, and many others
— too many to name — have but the authority of human story, yet
the incredible Reader may find in the Sacred story,"f that Samuel
did appear to Saul even after his death — whether really or not, I
undertake not to determine. — And Bildad, in the Book of Job,
says these words ;:{: " A spirit passed before my face ; the hair
of my liead stoop up ; fear and trembling came upon me, and
* The whole of this narrative-, &c. concerning Dr. Donne's vision, beginning
" At this tiine," down to " many of the NobiHty," is wanting in the earher edi-
tions as well as in the collection of 1 670 : and it has been supposed that he did
not sooner insert it that he might have time to ascertain its truth. The ac-
count of the visions of St. Austin and Monica, will be found in Wats's translation
of St. Augustine's Confessions, Book iii. Chap. 11 ; and Book viii. Chap. 12.
t 1 Sam. xxviii. 14. X Job. iv. 13-16.
72 THE LIFE OF
made all my bones to shake." Upon which words I will make
no comment, but leave them to be considered by the incredulous
Reader ; to whom I will also commend this following considera-
tion : That there be many pious and learned men, that believe
our merciful God hath assigned to every man a particular Guard-
ian Angel, to be his constant monitor, and to attend him in all his
dangers, both of body and soul. And the opinion that every
man hath his particular Angel, may gain some authority, by the
relation of St. Peter's miraculous deliverance out of prison,* not
by many, but by one Angel. And this belief may yet gain more
credit, by the Reader's considering, that when Peter after his en-
largement knocked at the door of Mary the mother of John, and
Rhode, the maid-servant, being surprised with joy that Peter was
there, did not let him in, but ran in haste, and told the disciples
• — who were then and there met together — that Peter was at the
door ; and they, not believing it, said she was mad : yet, when
she again affirmed it, though they then believed it not, yet they
concluded, and said, " It is his Angel."
More observations of this nature, and inferences from them,
might be made to gain the relation a firmer belief: but I forbear,
lest I, that intended to be but a relator, may be thought to be an
engaged person for the proving what was related to me ; and yet
I think myself bound to declare, that though it was not told me
by Mr. Donne himself, — it was told me — now long since — by a
Person of Honour, and of such intimacy with him, that he knew
more of the secrets of his soul, than any person then living :
and 1 think he told me the truth; for it was told with such cir-
cumstances, and such asseveration, that— to say nothing of my
own thoughts — I verily believe he that told it me, did himself be-
lieve it to be true.
I forbear the Reader's further trouble, as to the relation, and
what concerns it ; and will conclude mine,, with commending to
his view a copy of verses given by Mr. Donne to his wife at the
time he then parted from her. And I beg leave to tell, that I
have heard some critics, learned both in languages and poetry,
say. that none of the Greek or Latin poets did ever equal them.
* Acts xii. 7-10. lb. 13-15.
DR. JOHN DONNE. 73
A VALEDICTION, FORBIDDING TO MOURN.
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls, to go.
Whilst sonie of their sad friends do say,
The breath goes now, and some say, No :
So let us melt, and make no noise.
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,
' Twere profanation of our joys,
To tell the laity our love.
Moving of tV earth, brings harms and fears
Men reckon ivhat it did or meant :
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.
Dull sublunary lovers'' love —
Whose soul is sense — cannot admit
Absence, because that doth remove
Those things which elemented it.
But we, by a love so far refn'd,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind.
Care not hands, eyes, or lips to miss.
Our two souls therefore, ichich are one^ —
Though I must go, — endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If we be two ? ice are two so
As stiff tjvi7i- compasses are two :
Thy soul, the fix\l foot, makes no show
To move, but does ifth' other do.
74 THE LIFE OE
And ihou<j;h tlmie in the centre sit,
Yet, lohen my other far does roam,
Thine leans and hearkens after it.
And grows erect as mine comes home.
Such ivilt thou be to me, ivho must,
Like til' other foot, obliquely run :
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And me to end where I begun.
I return from my account of tlie vision, to tell tiie Reader, that
both before Mr. Donne's going into France, at his being there,
and after his return, many of the Nobility and others that were
powerful at Court, were watcliful and solicitous to the King for
some secular employment for him. The King had formerly both
known and put a value upon his company, and had also given
him some hopes of a state-employment ; being always much
pleased when Mr. Donne attended him. especially at his meals,
where there were usually many deep discourses of general learn-
ing, and very often friendly disputes, or debates of religion, be-
twixt his Majesty and those divines, whose places required their
attendance on him at those times ; particularly the Dean of the
Chapel, who then was Bishop Montague* — the publisher of the
learned and eloquent Works of his Majesty — and the most Rev-
erend Doctor Andrews,^ the late learned Bishop of Winchester,
who was then the King's Almoner.
^ Jauiey, liftli sou to Sir Edward, and brother to Edward, tirst Lord Mon-
tague of Boughlou, iu the County of Northampton, was usually called " King
James's Ecclesiastical Favourite." He was educated iu Christ Church Col-
lege, Cambridge, and in 1G08, was made Bishop of Bath and Wells ; when he
repaired the Abbey Church of Bath, at a great expense, through the represen-
tations of Sir John Harrington. In 1616, he was translated to the Bishopric
of Winchester, and died in his 4I)th year in 1618, being buried in the Abbey
at Bath.
+ Launcelot Andrews, a Prelate of most eminent virtues, bom in London iu
1565, and educated at Merchant Tailors School, and Pembroke Hall, Cam-
bridge, of which he became Fellow. He attracted great attention at the Uni-
versity by his Lectures on the Commandments, and his skill in Cases of Con-
science. Henry Earl of Huntingdon made him his Chaplain when he wa.-.
DR. JOHN DONNE. 75
About this time there grew many disputes, that concerned the
Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance, in which the King had ap-
peared, and engaged himself by his public writings now extant:
and his Majesty discoursing with Mr. Donne, concerning many
of the reasons which are usually urged against the taking of those
Oaths, apprehended such a validity and clearness in his stating
the questions, and his answers to them, that his Majesty com-
manded him to bestow some time in drawing the arguments into
a method, and then to write his answers to them ; and, having
done that, not to send, but be his own messenger, and bring them
to him. To this he presently and diligently applied himself, and
within six v/eeks brought them to him under his own hand wri-
ting, as they be now printed; the book bearing the name of
Pseudo-Martyr, printed anno 1610.
When the King had read and considered that book, he persua-
ded Mr. Donne to enter into the Ministry ; to which, at that time,
he was, and appeared, very unwilling, apprehending it — such was
his mistaken modesty — to be too weighty for his abilities : and
though his Majesty had promised him a favour, and many persons
of worth mediated with his Majesty for some secular employment
fbi' him, — to which his education had apted him — and particularly
the Earl of Somerset,* when in his greatest height of favour ;
President of the North — where he made several converts to the Protestant
faith — and he was also patronized by Secretary Walsingham. Queen Eliz-
abeth made him one of her Chaplains in Ordinary, and was so much pleased
with his preaching, that she appointed him Prebendary and Dean of West-
minster, and Bishop of London at the death of Dr. Bancroft. Dr. iVndrews
was also in great favour with James I. who promoted him to the See of Chi-
chester in 1605, and in 1609, to that of Ely. In 1618, he was translated to
Winchester, and he died at the Episcopal Palace in Southwark, Sept. 25th,
1626, being buried under a splendid monument in St. Saviour's Church. Bishop
Andrews was one of the translators of King James's Bible, and he is said to
have known fifteen modern languages.
* Robert Carr, a Scots gentleman, had been page to King James I, be-
fore he came to England, he was introduced to the King at a tilting, in
1611, by Lord Hay, when the accidental breaking of his leg by a fall from his
horse, at once broughf him into favour. On his recovery, he was knighted ;
the King himself taught him the Latin tongue, made him Lord of his Bod-
chamber, and, soon after, Lord Treasurer of Scotland. In 1612 he was cre-
ated Vitcount Rocliester, a Member of the Privy Council, and a Knight of the
76 THE LIFE OF
Avho being then at Theobald's* with tlic King, where one of the
Clerks of the Council died that night, the Earl posted a messen-
ger for Mr. Donne to come to him immediately, and at Mr. Donne's
coming, said, '•' Mr. Donne, to testify the reality of my affection,
and my purpose to prefer you, stay in this garden till I go up to
the King, and bring you word that you are Clerk of the Council :
doubt not my doing this, for I know the King loves you, and know
the King will not deny me." fBut the King gave a positive de-
nial to all requests, and, having a discerning spirit, replied, '' 1
know Mr. Donne is a learned man, has the abilities of a learned
Divine, and will prove a powerful preacher; and my desire is to
prefer him that way, and in that way I will deny you nothing for
lum."
After that time, as he professeth,:]: " the King descended to a
persuasion, almost to a solicitation, of him to enter into sacred Or-
ders :" which, though he then denied not, yet he deferred it for
almost three years. All which time he applied himself to an in-
Garter ; at first, he conducted himself with moderation ; but becoming enam-
oured of that infamous woman Frances Howard, afterwards Countess of Es-
sex, she was divorced from her husband to be married to him, November 5th,
1613 ; he was created Earl of Somerset, and the following July, Lord Cham-
berlain. The excellent Sir Thomas Overbury having vainly endeavoured to
prevent the above marriage, drew upon himself the anger of both parties, and
by their intrigues he was committed to the Tower, where he was poisoned Sept.
15th, 1G13. This was not discovered until 1615, when the Lieutenant of the
Tower, and four others, v.'ere tried, and executed ; and though sentence was
also passed upon the Earl and Countess, they were pardoned, but banished the
Court, and, the former died in July, 1645.
* The house at Theobald's, near Waltham in Essex, was bnilt by the Lord
High Treasurer Burghley, in the reign of Elizabeth. '' A place, than which,
as to the fabric, nothing can be more neat, and as to the gardens, walks, and
wildernesses about it, nothing can be more pleasant.'" James I. was so much
delighted with its situation, that he gave the manor of Hatfield Regis in ex-
change for it to Lord Cecil, afterwards created Earl of Salisbury. He died at
this his favourite palace, March 27, 1627. This noble and beautiful edifice
was plundered and destroyed by the rebels in 1651.
t The passage in the text beginning, " And though His Majesty" down to
" but the King gave a positive denial" — was not inserted until the second edi-
tion.
t In his Book of Devotions.
/
DR. JOHN DONNE. 77
cessant study of Textual Divinity, and to the attainment of a
greater perfection in the learned languages, Greek and Hebrew.
In the first and most blessed tinries of Christianity, when the
Clergy were looked upon with reverence, and deserved it, wlien
they overcame their opposers by high examples of virtue, by a
blessed patience and long-suffering, those only were then judged
worthy the Ministry, whose quiet and meek spirits did make them
look upon that sacred calling with an humble adoration and fear
'to undertake it ; which indeed requires such great degrees of hu-
mility, and labour, and care, that none but such v/ere then thought
worthy of that celestial dignity. And such only were then sought
out, and solicited to undertake it. This I have mentioned, because
forwardness and inconsideration, could not. in Mr. Donne, as in
many others, be an argument of insufficiency or unfitness ; for
he had considered long, and had niany strifes within himself con-
cerning the strictness of life, and competency of learning, required
in such as enter into sacred Orders ; and doubtless, considering
his own demerits, did humbly ask God with St. Paul, " Lord who
is sufficient for these things ?" and with meek Moses, " Lord,
who am I ?" And sure, if he had consulted with flesh and blood,
he had not for these reasons put his hand to that holy plough. But
God, A\ho is able to prevail, v/restled with him, as the Angel did
v/ith Jacob, and marked him ; marked him for his own ; marked
him vvith a blessing, a blessing of obedience to the motions of his
blessed Spirit. And then, as he had formerly asked God with Mo-
ses, " Who am I ?" so now, being inspired with an apprehension
of God's particular mercy to him. in the ICing's and others solici-
tations of him, he came to ask King David's thankful question,
" Lord, who am I, that thou art so mindful of me!" So mindful
of me, as to lead me for more than forty years through this v/ilder-
ness of the many temptations and various turnings of a dangerous
life : so merciful to me, as to move the learnedest of Kings to
descend to move me to serve at the altar ! So merciful to me,
as at last to move my heart to embrace tins holy motion ! Thy
motions I will and do embrace: and I now say v.ith the blessed
Virgin, "Bo it with thy servant as seemeth best in thy sight :"
and so, Blessed Jesus, I do take the Cup of Salvation, and will
call upon thy Name, and will preach thy Gospel.
78 THE LIFE OF
Such sirifos as these St. Austin liad,* when St. Ambrose-]- en-
deavoured his conversion to Christi;inity : with which he confess-
eth he acquainted his friend Alipius. Our learned author, — a
man fit to v^rite after no mean copy — did the like. And declar-
ing his intentions to his dear friend Dr. King,:): then Bishop of
London, a man famous in his generation, and no stranger to Mr.
Donne's abilities, — for he had been Chaplain to the Lord Chan-
cellor, at the time of Mr. Donnyp's being his Lordship's Secretary
— tliat reverend man did receive the news with much gladness ;
and, after some expressions of joy, and a persuasion to be constant
in liis pious purpose, he proceeded with all convenient speed to
ordain liim first Deacon, and then Priest not long after.
* Augnstin, the f:!.mous Bishop of Hippo, and usually called " the great Doe-
tor of Africa," was born in 359, and died in 430. The carelessness and levit^''
of the earlier period of his life v.'ere in sonic measure compensated by the un-
bounded charity, the piety and zeal which he displayed after his conversion to
the true faith. This conversion it attributed partly to the affecting discom-ses
of St. Ambrose, whose lectures he was induced to attend tlirough mere curi-
osity, and partly to the tears and tender entreaties of his mother Monica. He
hath so freely acknowledged and censured the impropriety of his former con-
duct, in his books of Confessions, that it is justly deemed "tyranny to trample
on him that prostrates himself." Erasmus, who hath written his life, exhibits
litm as the most finished pattern of goodness — " quasi Deus voluerit in Augus-
tino tanquam in una tabula vividum quoddam exemplar Episcopi repraisentare
omnibus virtutum numeris absolutum."
t Bishop of Milan, from the persuasive powers of his eloquence, and the
charming sweetness of his language, called " the Mellifluous Doctor." The
eftects which his discourses produced on St. Augustin are described in Confes-
sionum, lib. v. cap. 14.
t John King was born at Wornal in Bucks, about 1559, educated in West-
minster School, and sent to Christ-Church in 1576. _ He was chaplain to Queen
Elizabeth, arch-deacon of Nottingham in 1590, doctor of divinity in IGOl, deau
of Christ-Church in 1605, and Bishop of London in 1611. Besides his " Lec-
tures upon Jonali," printed in 1594, he published several sermons. He was so
constant in preaching, after he was a bishop, that he never missed a Sunday,
when his health permitted. He died March 30, 1621, and was iiitened in St.
Paul's Cathedral. Soon after, the papists reported, that he died a member of
their church, in a pamphlet entitled " The Bishop of London his Legacy;"
but the falsity of this story was sufficiently exposed by his son Henry, in a
sermon at St. Paul's Cross, Nov. 25, 1621, and by Bishop Godwin, in the ap-
pendix to his " Commentarius de Prsesulibus Anglioe." He is afterwards no-
tired in the Life of Dr. Sandorsnn.
DR. JOHN DONNE.
Now the English Church had gained a second St. Austin ;* for
I think none was so like him before his conversion, none so like
St. Ambrose after it : and if his youth had the infirmities of the
one, his ao;e had the excellencies of the other : the learninfi; and
holiness of both.
/And now all his studies which had been occasionally diffused,
were all concentered in Divinity. Now he had a new calling, new
thoughts, and a new employment for his wit and eloquence.
Now, all his earthly affections were changed into Divine love ;
and all the faculties of his ovv'n soul were engaged in the conver-
sion of others ; in preaching the glad tidings of remission to re-
penting sinners, and peace to each troubled soul. To these he
applied himself with all care and diligence : and now such a
change was wrought in him, that he could say with David, " O
how amiable are thv Tabernacles, O Lord God of Hosts !" Now
he declared openly, " that when he required a temporal, God
gave him a spiritual blessing." And that " he was now gladder
to be a door-keeper in the House of God, than he could be to en-
joy the noblest of all temporal employments.'' .
Presently after he entered into his holy profession, the King
sent for him, and made him his Chaplain in Ordinary, and prom-
ised to take a particular care for his preferment.
And, though his long familiarity with scholars and persons of
greatest quality, was such, as might have given some men bold-
ness enough to have preached to any eminent auditory ; yet his
modesty in this employment was such, that he could not>be per-
suaded to it, but went usually accompanied with some one friend
to preach privately in some village, not far from London ; his first
Sermon being preached at Paddington. This he did, till his Maj-
esty sent and appointed him a day to preach to him at White-
hall ; and, though much were expected from him, both by his
Majesty and others, yet he was so happy — which few are — as to
satisfy and exceed their expectations : preaching the Word so, as
showed his own heart was possessed with those very thoughts and
joys that he laboured to distil into others : a preacher in earnest ;
weeping sometimes for his auditory, sometimes with them ; al-
ways preaching to himself, lilie an angel from a cloud, but in
none ; carrying some, as St. Paul was, to heaven in holy raptures.
80 THE LIFE OF
and enticing others by a sacred art and courtship to annend their
lives : here picturing a Vice so as to make it ugly to those that
practised it ; and a Virtue so as to make it be beloved, even by
those that loved it not ; and all this with a most particular grace
and an unexpressible addition of comeliness.
There may be some that may incline to think — such indeed as
have not heard him — that my affection to my friend hath trans-
ported me to an immoderate commendation of his preaching. If
this meets with any such, let me entreat, though I will omit many,
yet that they will receive a double witness for what I say ; it be-
ing attested by a gentleman of worth, — Mr. Chidley,"^ a frequent
hearer of his Sermons — in part of a Funeral Elegy writ by him
on Dr. Donne ; and is a knov.n truth, though it be in verse.
Each altar had his jire
He kept his love, hut not his ohject ; wit
He did not banish, hut transplanted it ;
Taught it both time and place, and brought it home
To piety which it doth best become.
% :■« H; * * * *
For say, had' ever pleasure such a dress ?
Have you seen crimes so shaped., or loveliness
Such as his lips did clothe Religion in ?
Had not reproof a beauty passing Sin ?
Corrupted Nature sorroio'd that she stood
So near the danger of becoming good.
And, when he prcacVd, she ivish^d her ears exe?npt
From p)iety, that had such power to tempt.
How did his sacred Jlaitery beguile
Men to amend ?
More of this, and more witnesses, might be brought ; but I for-
bear and return. "I"
* John Chndleigh, ]M.A. of "Wadham College, Oxford, and eldest son of Sir
John Chndleigh, Bart, of Ashton, in Devonshire.
t The cliaracter of Dr. Donne's Sermons is faithfnlly delineated by his son
in tiie Dedication of them to Charles I. " Tiiey who have been conversant
in the works of the holiest men of all times, cannot but acknowledge in thef;o
DR. JOHX DONNE. S!
That Summer, in tho very same month in v»'hich he entered
into sacred Orders, and was made the King's Chaplain, his Maj-
esty then going liis Progress, was entreated to receive an enter-
tainment in the University of Cambridge : and Mr. Donne attend-
ing his Majesty at that time, his Majesty was pleased to recom-
.mend him to the University, to be made Doctor in Divinity : Doc-
tor Harsnett'^ — after xVrchbishop of York — was then Vicc-Chan-
cellor, who, knowing him to be the author of that learned book
the Pseudo-Martyr, required no other proof of his abilities, but
proposed it to the University, who presently assented, and ex-
pressed a gladness, that they had such an occasion to entitle him
to be theirs. f
the same spirit with which Ihey writ ; reasonable demonstrations every where
ia the subjects comprehensible by reason : As for those things which cannot bd
comprehended by our reason alone, they are no where made easier to faith
than here ; and for the other part of our nature, which consists in our passions
and in our affections, they are here raised and laid, and governed and disposed,
in a manner, according to the will of the author. The doctrine itself which
is taught here is primitively Christian ; the Fathers are every where consulted
with reverence, but apostolical writings only appealed to as the last Rule of
Faith. Lastly, such is tho conjuncture here of zeal and discretion, that whilst
it is the main scope of the author in these Discourses, that glory be given to
God, this is accompanied every vv^here with a scrupulous care and endeavour,
that peace be likewise settled amongst men."
* Samuel Harsnett, born at Colchester in 1561, and admitted of King's Col-
lege, Cambridge, in Sept. 1576, whence he removed to Pembroke Ilall, of
which he was elected Fellow in 1583, and Master in 1605. In the same year,
and again in 1614, he was Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge ; in 1609, he was
made Bishop of Chichester, whence he was translated to the Sec of Norwich
in 1C19, and to the Archbishopric of York in 1628. In Nov. 1629, Dr. Ilais-
nett was made a Privy Councillor, and he died May 25th, 1631. He was one
of the best writers of his time, and his publicatior.s consist of a Sermon at Paul'-s
Cross, and a Controversial tract on Demoniacal Possession. Le Neve states
that he gave up his Mastership in Cambridge, rather than stand the result of
an enquiry into 57 articles which were brought against him.
t The circumstance of Dr. Donne being made D.D. at Cambridge, is related
in a different manner in two letters written by Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley
Carleton. In one, dated March 16th, 1614, he writes, " I had almost forgot-
ten, that almost all the Courtiers went forth Masters of Arts at the King's
being there ; but few, or no Doctors, save only Younge, which v/as done by a
mandate, being son to Sir Peter, the King's schoolmaster. The Vice-Chan-
rcllor and University were exceeding strict in that point, and refused m.iny I:n-
82 THE LIFE OF
His abilities and industry in his profession were so eminent,
and he so known and so beloved by persons of quality, that within
the first year of his entering into sacred Orders, he had fourteen
advowsons of several benefices presented to him : but they were
in the country, and he could not leave his beloved London, to
which place he had a natural inclination, having received both his
birth and education in it, and there contracted a friendship with
many, whose conversation multiplied the joys of his life : but an
employment that might affix him to that place would be welcome,
for he needed it.
Immediately after his return from Cambridge, his wife died,*
leaving him a man of a narrow, unsettled estate, and — having bu-
ried five — the careful father of seven children then living, to
whom he gave a voluntar}'- assurance, never to bring them under
the subjection of a step-mother ; which promise he kept most
faithfully, burying with his tears, all his earthly joys in his most
dear and deserving wife's grave, and betook himself to a most re-
tired and solitary life.
In this retiredness, which was often from the sisjht of his dear-
est friends, he became crucified to the world, and all those vani-
ties, those imaginary pleasures, that are daily acted on that restless
portunities of great men ; among whom was Mr. Secretarj', that made great
means for Mr. Weslfield ; but it would not be ; neither the King's intreaty for
John Dun would prevail : yet the}"- are threatened with a mandate, which, if
it come, it is like they will obey ; but they are resolved to give him such a
blow withal, that he were better without it." In another letter, of nearly the
same date, he writes thus. — '• John Donne, and one Cheke, v/ent out Doctors
at Cambridge with much ado, after our coming away, by the King's express
mandate ; though the Vice-Chancellor and some of the Heads called them
openly Filios nociis et tenehrioues, that sought thus to come in at the window,
when there was a fair gate open. But the worst is, that Donne had gotten a
reversion of the Deanery of Canterbury, if such grants could be lawful ; where-
by he hath purchased himself a great deal of envy, that a man of his sort should
seek, -per saltum, to intercept such a place from so many more worthy and an-
cient Divines."
* His wife died, Aug. 15th, 1617, on the seventh day after the birth of her
twelfth child. We find in Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting that Nicholas
Stone the sculptor received fifteen pieces for her monument in St. Clements
Danes ; it stood on the north side of the Chancel, and the inscription may be
seen^n Stiype's edition of Stowe's Survey.
DR. JOHN DONNE. 83
stage ; and they were as perfectly crucified to him. Nor is it liard
to think — being, passions may be both changed and heightened by
accidents — but that that abundant affection which once was be-
tv/ixt him and her, who had long been the delight of his eyes, and
the companion of his youth ; her, with whom he had divided so
many pleasant sorrows and contented fears, as common people
are not capable of; — not hard to think but that she being now re-
moved by death, a commeasurable grief took as full a possession
of him as joy had done ; and so indeed it did ; for now his very
soul was elemented of nothing but sadness; now grief took so full
a possession of his heart, as to leave no place for joy : If it did,
it-was a joy to be alone, where, like a pelican in the wilderness,
he might bemoan himself vv^ithout witness or restraint, and pour
forth his passions like Job in the days of his affliction : '• Oh that
1 might have the desire of my heart ! Oh that God would grant
the thing that I long for !" For then, as the grave is become her
house, so I v.'ould hasten to make it mine also ; that v/e two miglit
there make our beds together in the dark. Thus, as the Israel-
ites sat mourning by the rivers of Babylon, when they remember-
ed Sion ; so he gave some ease to his oppressed heart by thus
venting his sorrows : thus he began the day and ended the night ;
ended the restless night and began the weary day in lamentations.
And thus he continued, till a consideration of his nev/ engage-
ments to God, and St. Paul's " Woe is me, if I preach not the
Gospel !" dispersed those sad clouds that had then benighted his
hopes, and now forced him to behold the light.
His first motion from his house, was to preach where his belov-
ed wife lay buried, — in St. Clement's Church, near Temple Bar,
London, — and his text vv^as a part of the Prophet Jeremy's Lam-
entation : " Lo, I am the Man that have seen affliction."
And indeed his very words and looks testified him to be truly
such a man ; and they, with the addition of his sighs and tears,
expressed in his Sermon, did so work upon the affections of his
hearers, as melted and moulded them into a companionable sad-
ness ; and so they left the congregation ; but then their houses pre-
sented them with objects of diversion, and his presented him witli
nothing but fresh objects of sorrow, in beholding many helpless
84 THE LIFE OF
children, a narrow fortune, and a consideration of the many cares
and casualties that attend their education.'*'
In this time of sadness he was importuned by the grave Bench-
ers of Lincoln's Inn — who were once the companions and friends
of his youth — to accept of their Lecture, which, by reason of Dr.
Gataker's removal from thence,f was then void ; of which he ac-
cepted, being most glad to renew his intermitted friendship with
those whom he so much loved, and where he had been a Saul, —
though not to persecute Christianity, or to deride it, yet in his ir-
regular youth to neglect the visible practice of it, — there to be-
come a Paul, and preach salvation to his beloved brethren.
And now his life was a shinins; lio;ht among; his old friends : now
he gave an ocular testimony of the strictness and regularity of
it : now he might say, as St. Paul adviseth his Corinthians, " Be
ye followers of me, as I follow Christ, and walk as ye have me
for an example ;" not the example of a busy body, but of a con-
templative, a harmless, an humble and an holy life and conversa-
tion.
The love of that noble Society was expressed to him many
ways ; for, besides fair lodgings that were set apart, and newly
furnished for him with all necessaries, other courtesies were also
* III the first edition of Donne's Life, the passage beginning " In this retired-
ness," down to " attend their education," is wanting.
t Dr. Zouchj in his note upon this passage, originally pointed out an error
concerning Dr. Donne's immediate predecessor as Divinity Reader at Lincoln's
Inn : for he states, that Mr. Thomas Gataker quitted that Society for the Rec-
tory of Rotherhithe in 1611, six years before Dr. Donne was chosen there.
Upon referring to Coxe's Manuscript Digest of the Records of Lincoln's Inn,
it is ascertained that Dr. Gataker was elected Preacher in the 44th of Eliz.
IGOI ; that he was succeeded by Dr. Holloway, in the ICth of James I. 1G12 ;
that Dr. Donne became Lecturer in the 14th of James I. 1616 ; that in the
17th of that Sovereign, 1619, he went on his German Embassy; and that in'
his 20th year, 1622, he was succeeded at Lincoln's Inu by Mr. Preston.
Thomas Gataker, a learned Divine, was born in London, in 1574, and was
educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. He was celebrated for a Treatise
" Of the Nature and Use of Lots ;" and, being of the Parliamentary party,
was one of the Assembly of Divines in 1642, though his own conduct was
moderate, and heprotestedagainst the violence of others, and especially against
the King's trial. He died in 1654, and was also the author of some excellent
Annotations on the Scriptures, and some Tracts against William Lilly.
DTI. JOHN DONNE. Sf.
daily added ; indeed so many, and so freely, as if they meant, their
gratitude should exceed his merits : and in this love-strife of desert
and liberality, they continued for the space of two years, he
preaching faitli fully and constantly to them, and they liberally
requiting him. About which time the Emperor of Germany died,
and the Palsgrave, who had lately married the Lady Elizabeth,
the King's only daughter.* was elected and crowned King of Bo-
licmia, t!)o unhappy beginning of many miseries in that nation.
King James, whose motto — Beati pacijici — did truly speak the
very thoughts of his heart, endeavoured first to prevent, and after
to compose, the discords of that discomposed State : and, amongst
other his endeavours, did then send the Lord Hay.f Earl of Bon-
* This unfortunate Princess, from her amiable and enga^in;^ manners, was
called '• The Queen of Hearts." She was born in Scotland, Ang. 19th, 159G ;
and was married to Frederick V. Count Palatine of the Rhine, &c. on Valentine's
day, Feb. 14th, 1612, on which occasion Dr. Donne wrote an Epithalamium.
She left England, April lOth of the same year ; and on the death of the Em-
peror Matthias, March 20th, 1619, the States of Bohemia rejected his cousin
and adopted son, Ferdinand II. from being their King, and offered their crown
to the husband of Elizabeth. Ferdinand, being elected Emperor of Germany,
in the following August, marched his forces against Frederick, took from him
his Palatinate, and forced him to fly into the Low Countries. He died of a
fever at Tuentz, Nov. 29th, 1632, and his Queen continued at the Hague until
after the Restoration, v/hen she returned to Eno-land, with William first Earl
of Craven, to whom it is supposed she was married, and died Feb. 13th, 1661.
t Sir James Hay was born at Pitcorthic, in Fife, and came with James to
England in 1603. In June 1615, he v.'as made Baron Hay of Sauley, in
Yorkshire: in July 1616, he went Ambassador io France; in March 1617,
he was made a Privy Councillor ; and in July 1618, Viscount Doncastcr. He
departed on his embassy in May 1519, and returned in the January following:
after which, in 1622, he was again sent as Ambassador to France, and his ser-
vices revv^rded by his being created Earl of Carlisle. He died at Whitehall,
April 25th, 1636, and was buried in St. Paul's. His embassy to Ferdinand
v/as very costly, but entirely useless ; and Rapin doubts if he even once saw
tb.e Emperor. Lord Clarendon has given a very fine portrait of this nobleman ;
in which he states him to have been a person well qualified by his breeding in
France, and study in human learning, to entertain the King, and by his grace-
fulness and affability to excite a jjarticuiar interest in him. He was a man of
the greatest expense in his own person, and in his famous Ante-Suppers, of
any of his time ; and after having spent 400,000/. received of the crov/n, lie
died, leaving literally nothing behind him but the reputation of a fine gentle-
man, and an accomplished courtier. '
80 THE LIFE OF
caster, his Ambassador to those unsettled Princes ; and, by a spe-
cial command from his Majesty, Dr. Donne was appointed to assist
and attend that employment to the Princes of the Union ; for
which the Earl was most glad, who had always put a great value
on him, and taken a great pleasure in his conversa.tion and dis-
course : and his friends at Lincoln's Inn were as glad ; for they
feared that his immoderate study, and sadness for his wife's death,
v.ould, as Jacob said, " make his days few," and, respecting his
bodily health, "evil" too; and of this there were many visible
signs.
At his going, he left his friends of Lincoln's Inn,* and they
him, with many reluctations ; for, though he could not say as St.
Paul to his Ephesians, " Behold, you, to whom I have preached
the Kingdom of God, shall from henceforth see my face no more ;"
yet he, believing himself to be in a consumption, questioned, and
they feared it : all concluding that his troubled mind, with the
help of his unintermitted studies, hastened the decays of his weak
body. But God, who is the God of all wisdom and goodness,
turned it to the best ; for this employment — to say nothing of the
event of it — did not only divert him from those too serious studies
and sad thoughts, but seemed to give him a nev/ life, by a true
occasion of joy, to be an eye-witness of the health of his most
dear and most honoured mistress, the Queen of Bohemia, in a
foreign nation ; and to be a witness of that gladness which she
expressed to see him : who, having formerly known him a cour-
tier, was much joyed to see him in a canonical habit, and more
glad to be an ear-witness of his excellent and powerful preaching.
About fourteen months after his departure out of England, he
returned to his friends of Lincoln's Inn, with his sorrows mode-
rated, and his health improved ; and there betook himself to his
constant course of preaching.
About a year after his return out of Germany, Dr. Careyf was
» " A Sermon of Valediction at my going into Gerinauy, at Lincoln's Inne,
April 18, 1619."
In the margin of the first edition of Donne's Life, there is at the preceding
sentence reference to Genesis xlvii. 9.
t Valentine Carey, Master of Christ's College in Cambridge, and Dean of
St. Paul's, is said to have been born in Northumberland, and descended of tlie
DR. JOHN DONNE. 87
made Bisliop of Exeter, and by his removal the Deanery of St.
Paul's being vacant, the King sent to Dr. Donne, and appointed
him to attend him at dinner the next day. When his Majesty
was sat down, before he had eat any meat, he said after his plea-
sant manner, '• Dr. Donne, I have invited you to dinner ; and,
though you sit not down with me, yet 1 will carve to you of a
dish that I know you love well ; for, knowing you love London, I
do therefore make you Dean of St. Paul's ; and, when I have
dined, then do you take your beloved dish home to your study,
say grace there to yourself, and much good may it do you."
Immediately after he came to his Deanery, he employed work-
men to repair and beautify the Chapel ; sufTering as holy David
once vowed, '•' his eyes and temples to take no rest, till he had
first beautified the house of God."*
The next quarter following, when his father-in-law, Sir George
More, — whom time had made a lover and admirer of him — came
to pay to him the conditioned sum of twenty pounds, he refused
to receive it ; and said — as good Jacob did, when he heard his
beloved son Joseph was alive, " ' It is enough;' You have been
kind to me and mine : I know your present condition is such as
not to abound, and I hope mine is, or will be such as not to need
it : I will therefore receive no more from you upon that contract ;"
and in testimony of it freely gave him up his bond.
Immediately after his admi.ssion into his Deanery, the Vicarage
or St. Dunstan in the West,f London, fell to him by the death of
Dr. White,:]: the advowson of it having been given to him long
noble family of Hunsdon. He was consecrated Bishop of Exeter, Nov. 18th,
1G21, and he died June 10th, 1626, and v.^as buried in St. Paul's.
* The first edition of this life has a reference here to Psalm cxxxii. 4, 5 ; and
in the next paragraph to Genesis, xl. v. 23.
t Izaak Walton was an inhabitant of thi;5 parish, and thus became intimate-
ly acquainted with Dr. Donne.
t Dr. Thomas White, born in Bristol, and entered a Student, of Magdalen
Hall, Oxford, about 1566. He was well known and much esteemed as a
preacher, being minister o*" St. Gregory's, near St. Paul's, in London, and af-
terward Rector of St. Dunstan's in Fleet-Street. In 1585, he was made a
Canon of St. Paul's ; in 1590, Treasurer of Salisbury ; in 1591, a Canon of
Christ Church, Oxford; and in 1593, a Canon of St. George's Windsor. His
only publications were Sermons ; but Ins charities to Bristol, and to Sion Col-
88 THE LIFE OF
before bv his honourable friend Richard Earl of Dorset,* then
the patron, and confirmed by his brother the late deceased Ed-
ward, both of them men of much honour.
By these, and another ecclesiastical endowment which fell to
him about tlie same time, given to him formerly by the Earl of
Kentj'l^ he was enabled to become charitable to the pooi-, and kind
to his friends, and to make such provision for his cliildren, that
they were not left scandalous, as relating to their, or his profes-
sion and quality.
The next Parliament, wliich was within that present year, he
was chosen Prolocutor to the Convocation, and about that time
was appointed by his Majesty, his most gracious master, to preach
very many occasional Sermons, as at St. Paul's Cross, and other
places. All which employments he performed to the admiration
of the representative body of the whole Clergy of this nation.
He was once, and but once, clouded with the King's displeasure,
and it was about this time ; which was occasioned by some
malicious vvhisperer, who had told his Majesty that Dr. Donne
had put on the general humour of the pulpits, and was become
lege, London, and his foundation of a Lecture on Moral Philosophy at Oxford,
have better preserved his memory. He died March 1st, 1623.
* Richard Sackville, third Earl of Dorset, was born March 28th, 1589, at
the Charter-house in London ; and Feb. 27th, 1608-9, was married to Anno,
daughter and heir of the famous George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, his father
having died two days before. He died on Easter Sunday, March 28th, 1624 ;
and his lady, in a manuscript history of her life, has given him the character
of an amiable man, a scholar, a soldier, a courtier, and a gentleman. His
brother Edward, fourth Earl of Dorset, v.'as born in 1590 ; and having been
accomplished both by study and travel, was early distinguished for his eminent
abilities. In 1613, he was involved in a qxiarrel with the Lord Bruce, which ter-
minated in a duel, when the latter was killed near Antwerp. In 1620, he was
made a Knight of the Bath, and in 1625, one of the chief Commanders sent
to assist the King of Bohemia, and Kniglit of the Garter. He adhered to the
Royal cause throughout the Civil Wars, and took the King's murder so much
to heart, as never after to leave his dwelling, but died July 17th, 1652, at Dorset
House, in Fleet Street, London.
t The Earl of Kent, was Henry Grey, ninth Earl of his family, who mar-
ried Elizabeth, second daughter,. and co-heir of Gilbert Talbot, Earl of Shrews-
bury : and who died without issue at his house in White Friars, Loudon, Nov.
21st, 1639.
DR. JOHN DONNE. 89
busy in insinuating a fear of the King's inclining to Popery, and
a dislike of his government ; and particularly for the King's then
turning the evening Lectures into Cateciiising, and expounding
the Prayer of our Lord, and of the Belief, and Commandments.
His Majesty was the more inclinable to believe this, for that a
person of Nobility and great note, betwixt whom and Dr. Donne
there had been a great friendship, was at this very time discarded
the Court — I shall forbear his name, unless I had a fairer occa-
sion— and justly committed to prison ; which begot many rum.ours
in the common people, who in this nation think they are not vvise,
unless they be busy about what they understand not, and espe-
cially about religion.
The King received this news with so much discontent and rest-
lessness, that he would not suffer the sun to set and leave him
under this doubt ; but sent for Dr. Donne, and required his
answer to the accusation ; which was so clear and satisfactory,
that the Kina; said, " he was right glad he rested no longer under
the suspicion."' When the King had said this, Doctor Donne
kneeled down, and thanked his Majesty, and protested his answer
v/as faithful, and free from all collusion, and therefore, " desired
that he might not rise, till, as in like cases, he always had from
God, so he might have from his Majesty, some assurance that he
stood clear and fair in his opinion." At which the King raised
Ijim from his knees with his own hands, and " protested he
believed him ; and that he knew he was an honest man, and
doubted not but that he loved him truly." And, having thus
dismissed him, he called some Lords of his Council into his cham-
ber, and said with much earnestness, " My Doctor is an honest
man ; and, my Lords, I was never better satisfied with an ansvv-er
tlian he hath now made me ; and I always rejoice v/hen I think
that by my means he became a Divine."
He was made Dean in the fiftieth year of his age ; and in his
fifty-fourth year, a dangerous sickness seized him, which inclined
him to a consumption : but God, as Job thankfully acknowledged,
preserved his spirit, and kept his intellectuals as clear and perfect,
as v.'hen that sickness first seized his body ; but it continued long,
and threatened him with death, which he dreaded not.
90 THE LIFE OF
III this distemper of body, his dear friend. Dr. Henry King,* —
then chief Residentiary of that Church, and late Bishop of Chi-
chester— a man generally known by the Clergy of this nation,
and as generally noted for his obliging nature, visited him daily ;
and observing that his sickness rendered his recovery doubtful, he
chose a seasonable time to speak to him to this purpose.
" Mr. Dean, I am, by your favour, no stranger to your temporal
estate, and you are no stranger to the offer lately made us, for the
renewing a lease of the best Prebend's corps belonging to our
church ; and you knov/ 'twas denied, for that our tenant being
very rich, offered to find at so low a rate as held not proportion
with his advantages : but I will either raise him to an higher sum,
or procure that the other Residentiaries shall join to accept of
what was offered ; one of these, I can and will by your favour do
without delay, and without any trouble either to your body or mind :
I beseech you to accept of my offer, for I knov/ it will be a con-
siderable addition to your present estate, which I know needs it."
To this, after a short pause, and raising himself upon his bed,
he made this reply :
" My most dear friend, I most humbly thank you for your many
favours, and this in particular ; but in my present condition I
shall not accept of your proposal ; for doubtless there is such a
sin as sacrilege ; if tliere w^ere not, it could not have a name in
scripture : and the primitive clergy were watchful against all ap-
pearances of that evil ; and indeed then all christians looked upon
it with horror and detestation, judging it to be even an open defi-
ance of the power and providence of Almighty God, and a sad
presage of a declining religion. But instead of such christians,
who had selected times set apart to fast and pray to God, for a
* Henr)^ King was born in 1591, at Wornal in Bucks, and educated at
Westminster, whence he was elected a student of Christ-Church, Oxford, in
1608. Having taken the degrees in Arts he " became a most florid preacher,"
says Wood, and successively Chaplain to James I., Arch-Deacon of Colchester,
Residentiary of St. Paul's, Canon of Christ-Church, Chaplain to Charles I.,
Doctor of Divinity, and Dean of Rochester, from which he was advanced to
the Bishopric of Chichester in 1641, which he held till the time of his death in
1669. He turned the Psalms into verse (12nio. 1651, and 1654), being dis-
gusted with the old translation, and published in 1657 a small volume of
" Poems, Elegies, Paradoxes, and Sonnets,"
DR. JOII2N DONNE. 91
])ious clergy, which they then did obey, our times abound v.iih
men that are busy and litigious about trifles and church-ceremo-
nies, and yet so far from scrupling sacrilege, that they make not
so much as a qutere v/liat it is : but I thank God I have ; and
dare not now upon my sick bed, when Almighty God hath made
me useless to the service of the church, make any advantages out
of it. But if he shall again restore me to such a degree of health,
as again to serve at his altar, I shall then gladly take the reward
which the bountiful benefactors of this church have designed me ;
for God knows my children and relations will need it. In which
number, my mother, — whose credulity and charity has contracted
a very plentiful to a very narrow estate — must not be forgotten.
But Dr. King, if I recover not, that little worldly estate that I
shall leave behind me — that very little, when divided into eight
parts — must, if you deny me not so charitable a favour, fall into
your hands, as my most faithful friend and executor ; of whose
care and justice I make no more doubt, than of God's blessing,
on that winch I have conscientiously collected for them ; but it
shall not be augmented on my sick-bed ; and this I declare to be
my unalterable resolution."
The reply to this was only a promise to observe his request.*
AVithin a fev/ days his distempers abated ; and as his strength
increased, so did his thankfulness to Almighty God, testified in his
most excellent Book of Devotions, which he published at his re-
covery ; in which the reader may see the most secret thoughts
that then possessed his soul, paraphrased and made public : a book,
that may not unfitly be called a Sacred Picture of Spiritual Ec-
stasies, occasioned and appliable to the emergencies of that sick-
ness ; which book, being a composition of Meditations, Disquisi-
tions, and Prayers, he writ on his sick-bed ; herein imitating the
holy Patriarchs, who were wont to build their altars in that place
where they had received their blessings.
This sickness brought him so near to the gates of death, and he
* The account of Bishop King's offer to Dr. Donne, from the words, " In
this distemper," to " observe his request," was not inserted until the second
edition of this life. In the first edition the following scriptural references ap-
pear on the margin: Genesis xii. 7^8 ; xxviii. 18 ; I Corinthians xv. .31 ; Job
XXX. 15 ; vii. 3.
92 THE LIFE OF
saw the grave so ready to devour him, that he would often say,
his recovery was supernatural : but that God that then restored
his health, continued it to him till the fifty-ninth year of his life :
and then, in August 1030, being with his eldest daughter, Mrs.
Harvey, at Abury Hatch, in Essex, he there fell into a fever,
which, with the help of his constant infirmity — vapours from the
spleen — hastened him into so visible a consumption, that his be-
holders might say, as St. Paul of himself, '• He dies daily ;" and
he might say v/ith Job, " My welfare passeth away as a cloud, the
days of my affliction have taken hold of me, and weary nights
are appointed for me."
Reader, this sickness continued long, not only weakening, but
wearying Inm so much, that my desire is, he may now take some
rest ; and that before I speak of his death, thou wilt not think it
an impertinent digression to look back with me upon some obser-
vations of his life, which, whilst a gentle slumber gives rest to his
spirits, may, I hope, not unfitly exercise thy consideration.
His marriage was the remarkable error of his life ; an error,
which, though he had a wit able and very apt to maintain para-
doxes, yet he was very far from justifying it: and though his
wife's competent years, and other reasons, might be justly urged
to moderate severe censures, yet he would occasionally condemn
himself for it: and doubtless it had been attended with an heavy
repentance, if God had not bles.sed them with so mutual and cor-
dial affections, as in the midst of their sufferings made their bread
of sorrow taste more pleasantly, tlian the banquets of dull and
low-spirited people.
The recreations of his youth were poetry, in which he Vv^as so
happy, as if nature and all lier varieties had been made only to
exercise his sharp wit and high fancy ; and in those pieces which
were facetiously composed and carelessly scattered, — most of
them being written before the twentieth year of his age — it may
appear by his choice metaphors, that both nature and all the arts
joined to as.sist him with their utmost skill.
It is a truth, that in his penitential years, viewing some of those
pieces that had been loosely — God knows, too loosely — scattered
in his youth, he wished they had been abortive, or so short-lived
that his own eves had witnessed their funerals : hut, though he
DR. JOHN DONNE. 93
was no friend to them, he was not so fallen out with heavenly
poetry, as to forsake that ; no, not in his declining age ; witnessed
then by many divine Sonnets, and other high, holy, and harmo-
nious composures. Yea, even on his former sick-bed he wrote
this heavenly Hymn, expressing the great joy that then possessed
his soul, in the assurance of God's favour to him when he com-
posed it :
AN HYMN
TO GOD THE FATHER.
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it ivere done before ?
Wilt thou forgive that sin through lohich I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore ?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sin, ivhich I have icon
Others to sin, and made my sin their door ?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two ; — 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 Fve spun
My last thread, I shall j^erish on the shore ;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
Shall shine as he shines noio, and heretofore ;
And having done that, thou hast done,
I fear no more.
I have the rather mentioned this Hymn, for that he caused it to
be set to a most grave and solemn tune, and to be often sung to
the organ by the Choristers of St. Paul's Church, in his own hear-
ing ; especially at the Evening Service ; and at his return from
his customary devotions in that place, did occasionally say to a
Dl THE LIFE OF
friend, '• the words of tiiis Hymn have restored to me the same
thoughts of joy th.at possessed my soul ia my sickness, when I
composed it. And, O the power of church-music ! that harmony
added to this Hymn lias raised tiie affections of my heart, and
quickened my graces of zeal and gratitude ; and I observe that 1
always return from paying this public duty of prayer and praise
to God, with an unexpressible tranquillity of mind, and a willing-
ness to leave the world.''
Afier this manner did the Disciples of our Saviour, and the
besi of Christians in tliose ages of the Church nearest to his time,
offer their praises to Almighty God. And the reader of St. Au-
gustine's* life may there find, that towards his dissolution he wept
abundantly, that the enemies of Christianity had broke in upon
them, and. profaned and ruined their Sanctuaries, and because
their Public Hymns and Lauds were lost out of their Churches.
And after this manner have many devout souls lifted up their
hands, and offered acceptable sacrifices unto Almighty God,
where Dr. Donne offered his, and now lies buried.
But now, Oh Lord ! how is that place become (1G56) deso-
late !t
* St, Augustine died after the Goths and Vandals had with great cruelty
and slaughter, over-run the greatest part of his native country of Africa ; in
v/hich only three cities of any eminence were preserved from their fury, Hippo,
liis own city being one, though it was besieged by them for fourteen months.
According to his prayer he was delivered out of their hands hy the mercy of
God, who took him to himself during the siege.
t By the votes of both Houses, passed in the Long Parliament, Sept. lOtli,
11th, 1642, for tlie abolishing of Bishops, Deans, and Chapters, "the very
foundation of this famous Cathedral," says Sir William Dugdale, '•' was utterly
shaken in pieces. In the following year, the famous Cross in the Church-yard,
which had been for many ages the most noted and solemn place for the gravest
Divines and greatest scholars to preach at, was pulled down to the ground : the
stalls in the choir were taken away, as also part of the pavement torn up, and
the monuments demolished or defaced. The scalTolds erected for repair of the
Church were given to the soldiers, who dug pits in several places in the fabric,
for sawing up the timber ; even where some reverend Bishops and other per-
sons of quality lay interred : and afterwards the body of the Church was fre-
quently converted into a horse-quarter for soldiers, though a part of the choir
was separated by a brick wall as a preaching place, the entrance to which was
at the uppermost window on the north bide eastwards.
DU. JOHN JJONiNE. 05
Before- 1 proceed further, 1 think fit to inforni the Reader, that
not long before his deatli he caused to be drawn a figure of tlie
body of Christ extended upon an Anchor, like tliose which paint-
ers draw, when they would present us with the picture of Christ
crucified on the Cross : his varying no otherwise, than to afHx
him not to a Cross, but to an Anchor — the emblem of Hope ; —
this he caused to be drawn in little, and then many of those fig-
ures thus drawn to be engraven very small in Helitropium* stones,
and set in gold ; and of these he sent to many of his dearest
friends, to be used as seals, or rings, and kept as memorials of
him, and of his affection to them.
His dear friends and benefactors. Sir Henry Goodier,"j" and Sir
Robert Drewry, could not be of that number ; nor could the
Lady Magdalen Herbert,:}: the mother of George Herbert, for
* The gem named Heliotropium by the ancients is supposed to be the mod-
cm bloodstone.
t The son and heir of Sir William Goodier, of Monkskirby, in Warwick-
shire, Knight, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to King James I. He once
enjoyed, in succession, the Manor of Baginton, in the above county ; but not
being so fortunate in estate, by following the Court, he alienated the Lordship
to his brother-in-law, Sir Henry Rainsford, of Clifford, in Gloucestershire. He
married his cousin Frances, the daughter of Sir Henry Goodier, a great sup-
porter of, and sufferer for, Mary Queen of Scotland ; and he left four daugh-
ters, of whom, Lucy, the eldest, was married to Sir Francis Nethersole, and
W^eever, in his Ancient Funerall Monuments, gives this epitapli to his memory ;
" An ill yeare of a Goodyer vs bereft.
Who, gon to God, much lacke of him here left ;
Full of good gifts, of body and of minde,
V/ise, comely, learned, eloquent, and kinde."
t Lady Magdalen Herbert, was the daughter of Sir Richard Newport, and
Margaret, youngest daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Bromley, one of the
Privy Council, and Executor to Henry VHI. She was married to Richard
Herbert, Esq. and was the mother of George Herbert, in whose life Walton
dilates on her character, and Edward Lord Herbert, of Cherbury. She survived
her husband, who died in 1597, and, says the latter of her sons, " gave rare tes-
timonies of an incomparable piety to God, and love to her children: as being
most assiduous and devout in her daily, both public and private, prayers ; and
tio careful to provide for her posterity, that though it were in her power to give
her estate, which was very great, to whom she would, yet she continued still
unmarried, after she lived ino::;t virtuously and lovingly with her husband-
96 THE LIFE OF
they had put olT mortality, and taken possession of the grave be-
fore him : but Sir Henry Wotton, and Dr. Hall/'= the then late
deceased Bishop of Norwich, were ; and so were Dr. Duppa,!
Bishop of Salisbury, and Dr. Henry King, Bishop of Chichester
— lately deceased — men, in whom there was such a commixture
of general Learning, of natural Eloquence, and Christian Humil-
ity, that they deserve a commemoration by a pen equal to tlieir
own, which none have exceeded.
And in this enumeration of his friends, though many must be
She, after liis death, erected a fair monument for him in Montgomery Church,
brought up her cliildren carefully, and put them in good courses for making
tiieir fortunes ; and briefly was that woman Dr. Donne hath described her, in
his Funeral Sermon of her printed." She died, July, 11th, 1627, and was
buried at Chelsea.
* Joseph Hall was born at Bristow Park, in the County of Leicester, 1574,
and having received a school education at his native place, was sent at the age
of 15 to Emanuel College, Cambridge, where he was distinguished as a wit,
a poet, and a rhetorician. In 1612 he took the degree of D.D., was present-
ed to the Deanery of Worcester in 1616 ; promoted to the see of Exeter in
1627 ; and in 1641 translated to Norwich. A few weeks afterwards, he was
sent to the Tower with twelve other Prelates, for protesting against any Laws
passed in Parliament during their forced absence from the House, and he was
not released until June, 1642. He suffered much from the Puritans during
the following year, they plundered his house, despoiled his Cathedral, seques-
tered his estate, and reduced him to poverty, though he still continued to
preach occasionally. He died at Higham, near Norwich, Sept. 8th, 1656.
Full of the spirit of Juvenal and Persius, he is considered as the first of our
satirical poets. He introduces his celebrated work, " Virgidemiarum" with
these lines
'•' I first adventure, follow me who list,
And be the second English Satirist."
t Dr. Bryan Duppa was born at Lewisham, March, 10th, 1588, and edu-
cated at Westminster, whence he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, in
1605. In 1638, he was appointed Tutor to Prince Charles and the Duke of
York, and about the same time was made Bishop of Chichester, whence he
was translated to Salisburj'- in 1641, He attended Charles I. in the Isle of
Wight, and is supposed to have assisted in writing the Eikon Busilike. After
remaining with the King till his martyrdom, he lived in retirement at Richmond
until the Restoration, when he was made Bishop of Winchester, and Lord
Almoner. He died at Richmond, March 26th, 1662 ; when he was visited by
Charles II. who received his last benediction kneeling.
DR. JOHN DONNE. 97
omitted, yet tliat man of primitive piety, Mr. George Herbert, may
not : I mean that Geororc Herbert, who was the author of " The
Temple, or Sacred Poems and Ejaculations." A book, in which
by declaring his own spiritual conflicts, he hath comforted and
raised many a dejected and discomposed soul, and charmed them
into sweet and quiet thoughts : a book, by the frequent reading
whereof, 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 fires 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. Betwixt this George
Herbert and Dr. Donne, there was a long and dear friendship,
made up by such a sympathy of inclinations, that they coveted
and joyed to be in each other's company ; and this happy friend-
ship was still maintained by many sacred endearments ; of which
that which folio weth may be .some testimony.
TO MR. GEORGE HERBERT;
SENT HIM WITH ONE OF MY SEALS OF THE ANCHOR AND CHRIST.
A Sheaf of Snakes used heretofore to be my Seal, which is the
Crest of our poor family.
Qui prius assuetus serpentum falce tabellas
Signare, hsec nostree symbola parva domus,
Adscitus domui Domini
Adopted in God's family, and so
My old coat lost, into neiu Arms I go.
The Cross, my Seal in Baptism, spread below.
Does by that for tn into an Anchor grow.
Crosses grow Anchors, bear as thou shouldst do
Thy Cross, and that Cross grows an Anchor too.
But he that makes our Crosses Anchors thus,
Is Christ, who there is crucified for us.
Yet with this I may my first Serpents hold ; —
God gives new blessings, and yet leaves the old —
8
98 THE LIFE OF
The Serpent, may, as wise, ray paiiern he ;
My poison, as he feeds on dust, thaVs me.
And, as he rounds the earth to murder, sure
He is my death ; hut on the Cross, my cure.
Crucify nature then ; and then implore
All grace from him, crucified there hefore.
When all is Cross, and that Cross Anchor groivn
This Seal's a Catechism, not a Seal alone.
Under that little Seal great gifts I send.
Both 7corks and pray'rs, p)ato?is and fruits of a friend.
O f may that Saint that ridxs on our Great Seal,
To you that hear his name, large hounty deal.
John Donne.
IN SACRAM ANCHORUM PISCATORIS
GEORGE HEPwBERT.
Uuod Crux nequibat fixa clavique addili, —
Teiiere Christum scilicet ne ascenderet,
TuivG Christum
Although the Cross could not here Christ detain,
When naiVd untoH, hut he ascends again ;
Nor yet thy eloquence here keep him still,
But only whilst thou speaWst — this Anchor will :
Nor canst thou he content, unless thou to
This certain Anchor add a Seal ; and so
The water and the eartli hoth unto thee
Do owe the symhol of their certainty.
Let the world reel, we and all our^s stand sure,
This holy cahle'sfrom all storms secure.
George Herbert.
I return to tell the reader, that, besides these verses to his dear
Mr. Herbert, and that Hymn tliat I mentioned to be sung in the
choir of St. Paul's Church, he did also shorten and beguile many
sad hours by composing other sacred ditties ; and he writ an
Hvmn on his death- bed, which bears this title :
DR. JOHN DONNE. .09
AN HYMN TO GOD,. MY GOD, IN MY SICKNESS.
March 23, 1630.
'i
Since I ar.i coming to thai holy room,
' Where, iviih ihy Choir of Saints, for evermore
I shall he 7nade thy rausic, as I come
1 tune r.iy instrument here at the door,
And., vshai I must do then, think here before.
Since my P/iyjicians by ihclr loves are grown
Cosmographers ; and I their maj), 7vho ly^^.
Flat on this bed.
So, in his -pv^yle icrapt, receive my Lord. !
By these his thorns, give me his other Crown ;
And, as io other sonis I preached ihy word
Be this my text, my sermon io inine own
'•' That he may raise ; therefore the Lord throws down.''
"J
-*
If these fall under the censure of a soul, wliose too much mix-
ture with earth makes it unfit to judge of these high raptures and
illuminations, let liim know, that many holy and devout men have
thought the soul of Prudentiusf to bo most refined, when, not
many days before his death, " he charged it to present his God
each morning and evening v/ith a new and spiritual song ;" jus-
tified by the example of King David and the good King Hezekiah,
who, upon the renovation of his years paid his thankful vows to
Almighty God in a royal hymn, which he concludes in these
* In the first editicu of Donne's Life, the passage contained between " /
fear no mon;,'' and the title of this Hymn, together with the verses of tho
Hymn, were omitted ; but they were inserted m the second edition, with the
exception of the latter verses.
t Clemens Aurelius Prudentius, a Christian Poet, born in Spain in the year
348. He was brought up to the Law, of which he became a Judge ; but ho
was also a soldier, and enjoyed an office of rank in the Court of the Emperor
Ilonorius. His verses were not v/ritten until he was advanced in years : and
Gyraldas observes, mdior nmnino Christianus est qudm Pnetn.
100 THE LIFE OF
words ; " The Lord was ready to save ; therefore I will sing my
songs to the stringed instruments all the days of my life in the
Temple of my God."
The latter part of his life may be said to be a continued study ;
for as he usually preached once a week, if not oftener, so after his
Sermon he never gave his eyes rest, till he had chosen out a new
Text, and that night cast his Sermon into a form, and his Text
into divisions ; and the next day betook himself to consult the
Fathers, and so commit his meditations to his memory, which was
excellent. But upon Saturday he usually gave himself and his
mind a rest from the weary burthen of his week's meditations,
and usually spent that day in visitation of friends, or some other
diversions of his thoughts ; and would say, " that he gave both his
body and mind that refreshment, that he might be enabled to do
the work of the day following, not faintly, but with courage and
cheerfulness."
Nor was his age only so industrious, but in the most unsettled
days of his youth, his bed was not able to detain him beyond the
hour of four in a morning ; and it was no common business that
drew him out of his chamber till past ten ; all which time was
employed in study ; though he took great liberty after it. And
if this seem strange, it may gain a belief by the visible fruits of
his labours ; some of which remain as testimonies of what is here
written ; for he left the resultance of 1400 Authors, most of them
abridged and analysed with his own hand : he left also six score
of his Sermons, all written v/ith his own hand ; also an exact and
laborious Treatise concerning self-murder, called Biathanatos ;*
wherein all the Laws violated by that act are diligently sur-
veyed, and judiciously censured : a Treatise written in his
younger days, which alone might declare him then not only per-
fect in the Civil and Canon Law, but in many other such studies
and arguments, as enter not into the consideration of many that
labour to be thought great clerks, and pretend to know all things.
* The original Manuscript is now in tlie Bodleian Library at Oxford, having
been presented to it in 1642, by Sir Edward Herbert, to whom Dr. Donne gave
it with a dedicatory letter. The account of Dr. Donne's arrangement of liis
Sermons, was not inserted until the second edition of his Life.
DR. JOHN DONiNE. 101
Nor were these only found in his study, but all businesses that
passed of any public consequence, either in this or any of our
neighbour-nations, he abbreviated either in Latin, or in the lan-
guage of that nation, and kept thern by him for useful memorials.
So he did the copies of divers Letters and Cases of Conscience
that had concerned his friends, with his observations and solutions
of them ; and divers other businesses of importance, all particu-
larly and methodically digested by himself.
He did prepare to leave the world before life left him ; making
his Will when no faculty of his soul was damped or made defec-
tive by pain or sickness, or he surprised by a sudden apprehen-
sion of death : but it was made with mature deliberation, express-
ing himself an impartial father, by making his children's portions
equal ; and a lover of his friends, whom he remembered with lega-
cies fitly and discreetly chosen and bequeathed. I cannot forbear
a nomination of some of them ; for methinks they be persons that
seem to challenge a recordation in this place ; as namely, to his
brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Grimes, he gave that striking clock,
which he had long worn in his pocket ; to his dear friend and
executor, Dr. King, — late Bishop of Chichester — that Model of
Gold of the Synod of Dort,* with which the States presented him
at his last being at the Hague ; and the two pictures of Padre
Paolo and Fulgentio,"]" men of his acquaintance when he travelled
* This famous national Convocation was made to examine into certain doc-
trines of Arminius, which were disputed in Holland. It met at Dort, Nov. 13th,
1618, and the States General allowed 100,000 francs for its expenses. The
States General directed a gold medal to he struck in commemoration of the
Synod. On one side is represented the Assembly of the Synod, with this in-
scription, " ASSERTA RELIGIONE." On the reverse, a mountain, on the
summit of which is a temple, to which men are ascending along a very steep
path. The four winds are blowing with great violence against the mountain.
Above the temple is written the word JEHOVAH, in Hebrew characters.
The inscription is " ERUNT UT MONS SION. ClODCXIX." These
winds are intended to represent those who at that time much disturbed the
tranquillity of the church.
t Paul Sarpi, commonly called Fath.cr Paul, was born at Venice, Aug. 14th,
1552, and was a member of the Order of Servitcs. Although he is said to have
been a pattern of humility, he was an excellent Divine, Tilathematician, and
Natural Philosopher ; and to him are attributed several discoveries in Anatomy.
Being made Procurator General of his Order, he resided at Ron^e, leaving his
lOa TiiE LIFE Ui-
Italy, and of great note in that nation for their remarkable learn-
ing.— To his ancient friend Dr. Brook, — that married him —
Master of Trinity College in Cambridge, he gave the picture of
the Blessed Virgin and Joseph. — To Dr. WinnilF who succeeded
him in the Deanery — he gave a picture called the Skeleton. — To
the succeeding Dean, who was not then known, he gave many
necessaries of worth, and useful for his house ; and also several
pictures and ornaments for the Chapel, with a desire that they
might be registered, and remain as a legacy to his successors. —
To the Earls of Dorset and Carlisle he gave several pictures ;
and so he did to many other friends ; legacies, given rather to ex-
press his affection, than to make any addition to their estates : hut
unto the poor he was full of charity, and unto many others, who,
by his constant and long continued bounty, might entitle them-
selves to be his alms-people : for all these he made provision, and so
largely, as, having then six children living, might to some appear
more than proportionable to his estate. I forbear to mention any
more, lest tlse Reader may think I trespass upon his patience :
but I Vvdll beg his favour, to present him with tlie beginning and
end of Ins Will.
property in the hands of ?. person who abused his trust, and ',vho, to avoid de-
tection, advised Paolo to remain in Rome for the sake of promotion. His an-
swer was, that ho held the dignities cf that Court in abomination ; and the
letter eontaininjr the passage being betrayed to the Pope, Paolo was regarded
as a heretic. His exertions on behalf of Venice, caused him to be cited to
Rome, and after the Pope and the Venetian States were reconciled, the de-
fendors of the latter were marked as objects of vengeance, on whicl! aceomit,
his life was attempted in 1G07. Hi^J famous History of iliC Council of Trent
Vvas written in the seclusion to v.diich he then retired, and he died Jan. 14th,
1G22.
]\I. Fulgentio, was a Ivlinoritc, and the friend ilud Biograph.crof Father Paul,
hid Life of h!m was pr.blished in English, in lG51,8vo. He wascelebrafed for
t!ie dignity and freedom with which he preached the pure Word of God ; and
Pope Paul V. said of his Discour.ses, " Ho has indeed some good Sermons, but
bad ones withal: he stands too miic!) upon Scripture, which is a book tiial if
any man v/ill keep clo.se to, he w'lW quite ruin the CatlioHc faitli." Father
Fulgentio h.'id v/rilteu in tlio Venetian cojiircversy against the Poj)e, bnt v/as
induced by the Nuncio to vi^it Rouic, on promise of safe conduct. Ilj was at
liist received with favour, and even with fe.'tivity, but lie v/as afterwards burned
in the field of Flora.
DR. JOll.N UiJiNiXK. 103
" In the namo of the blessed and glorious Trinity, Amen. I
John Donne, by the mercy of Christ Jesus, and by the calling oi"
tl]c Church of" England, Priest, being at this time in good health
and perfect understanding, — praised be God therefor — do here-
by make my last Will and Testament in manner and form fol-
lovv'ing.
" First, I give my gracious God an entire sacrifice of body and
soul, v/ith my most humble thanks for that assurance which his
blessed Spirit imprints in me no'«v of the Salvation of the one,
and the R.esurrection of the other ; and for that constant and
cheerful resolution, v*'!iich tlie same, spirit hath established in me,,
to live and die in the Religion nov/ professed in the Church of
England. In expectation of that Resurrection, I desire my body
may be buried — in the most private manner that may be — in
that place of St. Paul's Church, London, that the now Residen-
tiaries have at my recjuest designed for that purpose, &c. — And
this my last Will and Testam.ent, made in the fear of God, —
v.-hose mercy I hum.bly beg, and constantly rely upon in Jesu.i
Christ — and in perfect love and charity v.-ith all the world —
vvhose pardon I ask, from the lov/est of my servants, to the high-
est of my superiors — v/ritlen all v.itii rnv ov.'n hand, and mv
name subscribed to every page, of which there are five in num-
ber.*
"Sealed December 13, 1G30."
Nor vvas this blessed sacrifice of Charity expressed only at his
death, but in his life also, by a cheerful and frequent visitation of
any friend vvhose mind v/as dejected, or his fortune necessitous ;
he was inquisitive after the wants of prisoners, and redeemed
many from prison, that lay for their fees or small debts : he. was
a continual giver to poor scholars, both of this and foreign na-
tions. Besides what he gave v/itli his own hand, he usually sent
a servant or a discreet and trusty friend, to distribute his charity
to all tlie P.nsons in London, at all the festival times of the year,
especially at the Birth and Resurrection of our Saviour. He
gave an hundred pounds at one time to an old friend; whoni ho
-* Thu conimencemenl and coziclusioii of Dr. Donne's Wii! were not iuscrt-
• •! iinti! Ihe second edltieii ui his Life ; as weil as tlie account of his friend
who had fallen ittto embarrassed circumstances.
104 THE LIFE OF
had known live plentifully, and by a too liberal heart and care-
lessness became decayed in his estate ; and when the receiving
of it was denied, by the gentleman's saying, " He wanted not ;"
— for the reader may note, that as there be some spirits so gener-
ous as to labour to conceal and endure a sad poverty, rather than
expose themselves to those blushes that attend the confession of it ;
so there be others, to whom Nature and Grace have afforded such
sweet and compassionate souls, as to pity and prevent the dis-
tresses of mankind ; — which I have mentioned because of Dr.
Donne's reply, whose answer was ; " I know you want not what
will sustain nature ; for a little will do that ; but my desire is,
that you, who in the days of your plenty have cheered and raised
the hearts of so many of your dejected friends, would now re-
ceive this from me, and use it as a cordial for the cheering of
your own :" and upon these terms it was received. He was an
happy reconciler of many differences in the families of his friends
and kindred, — which he never undertook faintly ; for such under-
takings have usually faint effects — and they had such a faith in
his judgment and impartiality, that he never advised them to any
thing in vain. He was, even to her death, a most dutiful son to
his Mother, careful to provide for her supportation, of which she
had been destitute, but that God raised him up to prevent her ne-
cessities ; who having sucked in the religion of the Roman
Church with the mother's milk, spent her estate in foreign coun-
tries, to enjoy a liberty in it, and died in his house but three
months before him.
And to the end it may appear how just a steward he was of
his Lord and Master's revenue, I have thought fit to let the reader
know, that after his entrance into his Deanery, as he numbered
his years, he, at the foot of a private account, to which God and
iiis Angels were only witnesses with him, — computed first his
revenue, then what was given to the poor, and other pious uses ;
and lastly, what rested for him and his ; and having done that,
he then blessed each year's poor remainder with a thankful pray-
er ; which, for that they discover a more than common devotion,
the Reader shall partake some of them in his own words :
So all is that remains this year — [1624-5]
')ii. joii;. DOiN'ME lOi
Deo Opt. Max. bcn'-gno hrgHori, li vie, ct ab Lis quibus hccc a me
resercuntui', Gloj-iti et gralla in ccternum. Amen.
Translated thus.
To God all (xood, all Great, the benevolent Bestovver, by me
. and by them, fbr wiiom, by me, tiiese sums are laid up, be glory
and grace ascribed for ever. Amen.
So that tliis yca:', [1620] God hath blessed nic and mine
v/itli : —
^I^ilUjjliccUcc sunt super nos miser icordicc tuce, Domiiie.
Tk AN SLATED THUS.
Thy mercies, Oh Lord • are niultiplied upon us.
Da, ponmie, lit qucs. ex im?nensd hoiiltate taa nobis eiargir^^dig-
ncitus sis, ill quoruincunqiie maniis devenerinl, in titani semper
cedanl iiloriain. A7iieit.
Tk ANSLATKl > THU S .
Grant, Oh Lord ! that what out of thine mtinibe bounty Thou
liast vouchsafed to lavisli upon us, into whosoever hands it may
devolve, mav" always bo imoroved to thy 2;lorv. Amen.
Injuie horiiin sex annorum manet : [1628-9]
Quid hcJjco quod non acceyi a Domino ? Largiiur ciiaui id
quai largUus est sua iierum fiant, bono eorum usu ; uL quemadmo-
duni nee ojjidis hujus inundi, nee loei in quo me posuit dignitatis
nec^servis, nee egcnis, in tolo hujus anni curriculo mihi consdus
sunt vie d.efuisse ; iia et liberi, quibus quce supersunt, supersunt,
grato aniiRo ea accipiant, et beneficiini authorem recognoscanl.
Amen.
Translated thus.
At the end of these six years remains : —
What have I, which I have not received from the Lord t He
bestows, also, to the intent that what he hath bestowed may re-
vert to Him by the proper use of it : that, as I have not consciously
been wanting to myself during the whole course of the past year,
either in discharging my secular duties, in retaining the dignity
106 THE LIFE OF
of my station, or in my conduct towards my servants and the
poor, — so my children for whom remains whatever is remaining,
may receive it with gratitude, and acknowledge the beneficent
Giver. Amen.
But I return from my long digression.
We left the Author sick in Essex, where he was forced to
spend much of that Winter, by reason of his disability to remove
from that place ; and having never, for almost twenty years, omit-
ted his personal attendance on his Majesty in that month, in which
he was to attend and preach to him ; nor having ever been left
out of the roll and number of Lent Preachers, and there being
then — in January, 1630, — a report brought to London, or raised
there, that Dr. Donne was dead ; that report gave him occasion
to write the following letter to a dear friend :
'' Sir,
" This advantage you and my other friends have by my fre-
quent fevers, that I am so much the oftener at the gates of Heav-
en ; and this advantage by the solitude and close imprisonment
that they reduce me to after, that I am so much the oftener at my
prayers, in which I shall never leave out your happiness ; and I
doubt not, among his other blessings, God will add some one to
you for my. prayers. A man would almost be content to die, —
if there were no other benefit in death, — to hear of so much sor-
row, and so much good testimony from good men, as I, — God be
blessed for it — did upon the report of my death : yet I perceive it
went not through all ; for one writ to me, that some, — and he
said of my friends, — conceived I was not so ill as I pretended,
but withdrew myself to live at my ease, discharged of preaching.
It is an unfriendly, and, God knows, an ill-grounded interpreta-
tion ; for I have always been sorrier when I could not preach,
than any could be they could not hear me. It hath been my de-
sire, and God may be pleased to grant it, that I might die in the
pulpit ; if not that, yet that I might take my death in the pulpit ;
that is, die the sooner by occasion of those labours. Sir, I hope
to see you presently after Candlemas ; about which time will fall
my Lent Sermon at Court, except my Lord Chamberlain believe
DR. JUiLN DONNE. 1U7
me to be dead, and so leave me out of the roll : but as lono- as I
live, and am not speechless, I would not willingly decline that
service. I have better leisure to write, than you to read ; yet I
would not willingly oppress you with too much letter. God so
bless you and your son, as I wish to.
Your poor friend, and Servant
in Christ Jesus,
J. DONXE."
Before that month ended, he was appointed to preach upon his
old constant day, the first Friday in Lent : he had notice of it,
and had in his sickness so prepared for that employment, that as
he had long thirsted for it, so he resolved his weakness should not
hinder his journey ; he came therefore to London, some few days
before his appointed day of preaching. At his coming thither,
many of his friends — who with sorrow saw his sickness had left
him but so much flesh as did only cover his bones — doubted his
strength to perform that task, and did therefore dissuade him from
undertaking it, assuring him however, it was like to shorten his
life : but he passionately denied their requests, saying " he would
not doubt that that God, who in so many weaknesses had assi-sted
him with an unexpected strength, would now withdraw it in his
last employment ; professing an holy ambition to perform that sa-
cred work." And when, to the amazement of some beholders, he
appeared in the pulpit, many of them thought he presented himself
not to preach mortification by a living voice, but mortality by a
decayed body, and a dying face. And doubtless many did se-
cretly ask that question in Ezekiel.'^ " Do these bones live ? or
can that soul organize that tongue, to speak so long time as the
sand in that glass will move towards its centre, and measure out
an hour of this dying man's unspent life ? Doubtless it cannot."
And yet, after some faint pauses in his zealous prayer,, his strong
desires enabled his weak body to discharge his memory of his
preconceived meditations, which were of dying; the Text being,
'•' To God the Lord belong the issues from death." Many that
then saw his tears, and heard his faint and hollow voice, profess-
* Chap, xxxvii. 3.
J
10b THE LIFE Ol^'
, ing they thought the Text propheticully chosen, and that Dr.
Donne had preached his own Funeral Sermon.*
Being full of joy that God had enabled him to perform this de-
sired duty, he hastened to Iris house ; out of which lie never
moved, till, like St. Stephen, " ho was carried by devout men to
his grave."
The next day after his Sermon, liis strength being much
wasted, and his spirits so spent as indisposed him to busmess or to
talk, a friend that had often been a witness of his free and face-
tious discourse asked him, " Whv are you sad ?" To whom he
replied, v/ith a countenance so full of cheerful gravity, as gave
testimony of an inu'ard tranquillit}^ of mind, and of a soul willing
to take a farewell of this world ; and said,
" I am not sad ; tut most of the niglit past I have entertained
myself with many thoughts of several friends that have left me
here, and are gone to that place from which the}' shall not re-
turn ; and that within a few days I also shall go hence, and be no
more seen. And my preparation 'iox tliis change is become my
nightly meditation upon my bed, W'hich my infirmities have novv'
made restless to me. But at this present time, I v/as in a serious
contemplation of the providence and goodness of God to me ; to
mc, v.'ho am less than the least of his mercies : and lookins: back
upon my life past, I nov/ plainly see it was his hand that [)re-
vcnted me from all temporal employment ; arid tliat it was his
will I should never settle nor thrive till I entered into the Minis-
try ; in v/hich I have now lived almost twenty years — I hope to
his glory, — and by which, I most humbly thank liim, I have been
enabled to requite most of those friends which showed me kind-
ness when my fortune was very lov/, as God knows it was : — aiid,
— as it hath occasioned the expression of my gratitude — I thank
God most of them have stood in need of my requital. I havf>
lived to be useful and comfortable to my good Father-in-lav/, Sir
George More, v,-hose patience God hatii been pleased to exercise
with many temporal crosses; I have maintained my own Mother,
* This discourse was piiiited at London in 1633, in 4to., under the quaint
title of " Death's Duel, or a Consolation to tlie Soule against the Dying Life
aiici Living Death of the Body." Tlie text is from Fs. Ixviii. 20. It is the
last ditsco'ji-io in ihi- third vohimc of Dr. Donne's Sennons. '
Dii. joiiM i;oN:\r:. luu
whom it hath pleased God, after a plentiful fortune in her younger
days, to bring to great decay in her ver}'- old age. I have quieted
the consciences of many, that have groaned under the burthen
of a wounded spirit, whose prayers I hope arc available for me.
I cannot plead innocency of life, especially of ray youth ; but I
am to be judged by a merciful God, who is not willing to sec
what 1 have done amiss. And though of myself I have no-
thing to present to him but sins and misery, yet I know he
looks not upon mo now as I am of myself, but as I am in my
Saviour, and hath given me, even at this present time, some
testimonies by his Holy Spirit, t.hat I am of the number of his
Elect, : I am therefore full of inexpressible joy, and shall die in
peace.''
I must here lock so far back as to tell the reader t!iat at his first
return out of Essex, to preach his last Sermon, his old friend and
Physician, Dr. Fox — a man of great vrorth — came to him to con-
sult his health ; and that after a sight of liim, and some queries
concerning his distempers, he told him, '• Tiiat by cordials, and
drinking milk twenty days together, there was a probability of
his restoration to health ;" but he passionately denied to drink it.
Nevertheless, Dr. Fox, who loved him most entirely, v.-earied him
Avith solicitations, till he yielded to take it for ten days : at the
end of which time he told Dr. Fox, " lie had drunk it more to
satisfy him, tlian to recover his health ; and that he would not
drink it ten days longer, upon the best m.oral assurance of having
twenty years added to his life ; for he loved it not ; and was so
far from, fearing Death, which to others is the King of Terrors,
that he longed for the day of his dissolution. I
It is observed, that a desire of frjory or commendaiion is rooted
in tiie very nature of man ; and that those of the severest and
most mortified lives, though they may become so Immble as to
banish self-flattery, and such weeds as naturally grow there ; yet
ihey have not been able to kill this desire of glory, but that like
our radical heat, it will both live and die v/ith us ; and many
think it should do so ; and we want not sacred examples to justify
the desire of having our njemory to outlive our lives, which I men-
tion, because Dr. Donne, by the persuasion of Dr. Fox, easily
no THE LIFE OF
yielded at this very time to have a monument made for'him ; but Dr.
Fox undertook not to persuade him how, or what monument it
should be ; that was left to Dr. Donne himself.
A monument being resolved upon, Dr. Donne sent for a Carver
to make for him in wood the figure of an Urn, giving him direc-
tions for the compass and height of it ; and to bring with it a board
of the just height of his body. " These being got, then with-
out delay a choice Painter was got to be in readiness to draw
his picture, which was taken as followeth. Several charcoal
fires being first made in his large study, he brought with him into
that place his winding-sheet in his hand, and having put off all his
clothes, had this sheet put on him, and so tied with knots at his
head and feet, and his hands so placed as dead bodies are usually
fitted, to be shrouded and put into their coflin or grave. Upon
this Urn he thus stood, with his eyes shut, and with so much of
the sheet turned aside as might show his lean, pale, and death-
like face, which was purposely turned towards the East, from
whence he expected the second coming of his and our Saviour
Jesus." In this posture he was drawn at his just heiglit ; and
when the picture was fully finished, he caused it to be set by his
bed-side, wliere it continued and became his hourly object till his
death, and was then given to his dearest friend and executor Dr.
Henry King, then chief Residentiary of St. Paul's, who caused
him to be thus carved in one entire piece of white marble,* as it
now stands in that Church ; and by Dr. Donne's own appoint-
ment, these words were to be affixed to it as an epitaph :
* In the account-book of Nicholas Stone, are contained several particulars
concernincr Dr. Donne's nrionument. " In 1631," observes he, " I made a
tonibe for Dr. Donne and selte it up in St. Paul's London, for the which I
was payed by Doctor Mountford tlie sum of 1201. I took 60Z. in plate, in
part of payment." Another entry refers to a workman employed by Stone
npon the same effigy. " 1631, Humphrey Mayor finislit the statue for Dr.
Donne's monument, 8Z." The figure was erected within the choir in the
south aisle, against the south east pier of the central tower of St. Paul's ; and
it stood in a niche of black marble, which was surmounted by a square tablet,
hnno" with garlands of fruit and leaves, having over it the arms of the Dean-
ery, impaling Donne.
DR. JOHN DOxNNE. Ill
JOHANNES DONNE,
SAC. THEOL. PROFESS.
POST VARIA STUDIA, Q.UIBUS AB ANNIS
TENERRir.IIS FIDELITER, NEC INFELICITER
INCUBUIT ;
INSTINCTU ET IMPULSU SP. SANCTI, MONITU
ET HORTATU
REGIS JACOBI, ORDINES SACROS AMPLEXUS,
ANNO SUI JESU, MDCXIV. ET SUiS ^TATIS XLII.
DECANATU HUJUS ECCLESI.E INDUTUS,
XXVII. NOVEMBRIS, MDCXXI.
EXUTUS MORTE ULTIMO DIE MARTII, MDCXXXI.
HIC LICET IN OCCIDUO CINERE, ASPICIT EUM
CUJUS NOMEN EST ORIENS.
And now, having brought him through the many labyrinths and
perplexities of a various life, even to the gates of death and the
grave ; my desire is, he may rest, till I have told my Reader that
I have seen many pictures of him, in several habits, and at sever-
al ages, and in several postures : and I now mention this, because
I have seen one picture of him, drawn by a curious hand, at his
age of eighteen, with his sword, and what other adornments might
then suit with the present fashions of youth and the giddy gaities
of that age ; and his motto then was
How much shall I be changed.
Before I am changed .'*
* " Antes mtierta que rrmdadaP These words are supposed by a Spanish
author to have been originally written on the sand by a lady promising fidelity
to her lover. The following lines were composed by Mr. Izaak Walton, and
inscribed under the print taken from this picture, and prefixed to an edition of
Dr. Donne's Poems in 1G39.
*' This was for youth, strength, mirth, and wit, that time
Most count their go'den ajre, but was not thine.
Thine was thy later years, so much refin'd
From youth's dross, mirth and wit, as thy pure mind
Ji2 THE LIFE OF
And if that young, and his now dying picture vvorc at this time
set together, every beholder might say. Lord ! hov/ much is Dr.
Donne already clianged, before he is changed ! And the view of
them might give my Reader occasion to ask himself with some
amazement, " Lord ! how much may I also, that am nov/ in
health, be changed before I am changed ; before this vile, this
changeable body shall put off mortality !" and therefore to prepare
for i'. — But tins is not v/rit so much for my Reader's memento,
as to tell him, that Dr. Donne would often in his private discourses,
and often publicly in his Sermons, mention the many changes both
of his body and mind ; especially of his mind from a vertiginous
giddiness ; and v/ould as often say, " His great and niost blessed
change v/as from a temporal to a spiritual employment ;" in
which he v/as so happy, that he accounted the former part of his
life to be lost ; and the beginning of it to be, from his first enter-
ing into Sacred Orders, and serving his most merciful God at his
altar. '^'
Upon Monday, after the drawing tliis picture, he took his last
leave of his beloved study ; and, being sensible of his hourly de-
cay, retired himself to his bed-ohamber ; and that v/cek sent
at several times for many of his most considerable friends, '.'.'itii
whom he took a solemn and deliberate farewell, commending to
their considerations some sentences useful for the renulation of
their lives ; and then dismissed them, as good Jacob did iiis sons,
with a spiritual benediction. The Sunday follovv'ing, ho appoint-
ed his servants, that if there were any business yet undone, that
concerned him or themselves, it should be prepared against Sat-
, urday next ; for after that day he would not mix Ins thoughts v^itli
-any thing that concerned this world ; nor ever did ; but, as Job,
.so he " waited for the appointed day of his dissolution."
Thonglit (like the angels) nothing but the pruise
Of thy Creator, in those last best dayy.
Witness this book thy emblem, which begins
With love, but ends with sighs and tears for sins."
* The whole of the passage, from the words, " I must here look back,"'
down to " at his altar," were not inserted until the second edition of Donne's
Life, nor was the paragraph contaiuiug the Epitaph ; and several less unpor-
taat variations in the text occur b;Hvveen that place and the end.
DR. JOHN DONNE. 113
And now he was so happy as to have nothing to do but to die,
to do which, he stood in need of no longer time ; for he had studi-
ed it long, and to so happy a perfection, that in a former sickness
he called God to witness* " He was that minute ready to deliver
his soul into his hands, if that minute God would determine his
dissolution." In that sickness he begged of God the constancy to
be preserved in that estate for ever ; and his patient expectation
to have his immortal soul disrobed from her garment of mortality,
makes me confident, that he now had a modest assurance that his
prayers were then heard, and his petition granted. He lay fifteen
days earnestly expecting his hourly change ; and in the last hour
of his last day, as his body melted away, and vapoured into spirit,
his soul having, I verily believe, some revelation of the beatifical
vision, he said, " I were miserable if I might not die;"' and after
those words, closed many periods of his faint breath by saying
often, " Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." His speech,
which had long been his ready and faithful servant, left him not
till the last minute of his life, and then forsook him, not to serve
another master — for who speaks like him, — but died before him ;
for that it was then become useless to him, that now conversed
with God on Earth, as Angels are said to do in Heaven, only by
thoughts and looks. Being speechless, and seeing Heaven by that
illumination by which he saw it, he did, as St. Stephen, " look
stedfastly into it, till he saw the Son of Man standing at the right
hand of God his Father;" and being satisfied with this blessed
sight, as his soul ascended, and his last breath departed from him,
he closed his own eyes, and then disposed his hands and body into
such a posture, as required not the least alteration by those that
came to shroud him. t
Thus variable, thus virtuous was the life : thus excellent, thus
exemplary was the death of this memorable man.
He was buried in that place of St. Paul's Church, which he had
appointed for that use some years before his death ; and by which
he passed daily to pay his public devotions to Almighty God —
who was then served twice a day by a public form of prayer and
praises in that place : — but he was not buried privately, though
* In his Book of Devotions written then.
9
114 THE LIFE OF
ho desired it; for, beside an unnumbered number of others, many-
persons of Nobility, and of eminence for Learning, who did lovo
and honour him in his life, did shew it at his death, by a volun-
tary and sad attendance of his body to the grave, where nothing
v/as so remarkable as a public sorrow.
To which place of his burial some m.ournful friend repaired,
and, as Alexander the Great did to the grave of the famous
iVchilles, so they strewed his with an abundance of curious and
costly flov/ers ; which course, they, — who were never yet knov/n,
— continued morning and evening for many days, not ceasing, till
the stones, that were taken up in that Church, to give his body
admission into the cold earth — now his bed of rest, — were again
by the Mason's art so levelled and firmed' as they had been for-
merly, and his place of burial undistinguishable to common view.
The next day after his burial, some unknown friend, some one
of the many lovers and admirers of his Virtue and Learning,
writ this Epitaph vvith a coal on tlie wall over his grave : —
Reader ! I am to let thee know,
Donne'' s Body only lies beloio ;
For, could the grave liis Soul comprise.
Earth would be richer than the Skies /
Nor was this all the honour done to his reverend ashes ; for, as
there be some persons that v/ili not receive a reward for that for
whicli God accounts himself a debtor; persons that dare trust
God with their charity, and v/ithout a witness ; so there was by
some grateful unknov»'n friend, that thought Dr. Donne's memory
ought to be perpetuated, an hundred marks sent to his faithful
friends* and Executors, towards the making of his Monument.
It was not for many years knov/n by whom ; but, after the death
* Dr. King and Dr. Mountford.
Ur. Thomas Moualfort, a Residentiary of St. Puul's, died Feb. 27, 1G32.
It appears from Strype's Life of Whitgift, tliat this pei-sou was suspended for
ImvJng clandestinely married Edward, Earl of Hertford, and Frances Pranel,
widow of Ifcnry Pranel, Esq. without bans or license. Upon his subiuission
and earnest desire to be absolved, he obtained absolution from ArchbJ.^iop
Wliitsift himself.
DR. JOHN DO.NNE. 115
of Dr. Fox, it was known that it was he that sent it ; and he lived
to see as lively a representation of his dead friend, as marble can
express : a statue indeed so like Dr. Donne, that — as his friend
Sir Henry Wotton hath expressed himself, — '• It seems to breathe
faintly, and posterity shall look upon it as a kind of artificial mir-
acle."
^ He was of stature moderately tall ; of a str^ght and equally,
proportioned body, to which all his words and actions gave an un-
expressible addition of comeliness.
The melancholy and pleasant humour were in him so contem-
pered, that each gave advantage to the other, and made his com-
pany one of the delights of mankind.
His fancy was unimitably high, equalled only by his great wit;
both being made useful by a commanding judgment.
His aspect was cheerful, and such as gave a silent testimony
of a clear knowing soul, and of a conscience at peace with itself.
His melting eye shewed that he had a soft heart, full of noble
compassion : of too brave a soul to offer injuries, and too much a
Christian not to pardon them in others.
He did much contemplate — especially after he entered into his
sacred calling — the Mercies of Ali;nighty God, the Immortality of
the soul, and the Joys of Heaven : and would often say in a
kind of sacred ecstacy, — " Blessed be God that he is God, only
and divinely like himself."
lie was by nature highly passionate, but more apt to reluct at
the excesses of it. A great lover of the offices of humanity, and
of so merciful a spirit, that he never beheld the miseries of man-
kind without pity and relief.
He v/as earnest and unv/earied in the search of knowledge,
with which his vigorous soul is now satisfied, and employed in a
continual praise of tliat God that first breathed it into his active
body : that body, which once was a Temple of the Holy (^host,
and is nov/ beconie a small quantity of Christian dust : —
But I shell see it re-animated.
{. W.
Feb. 15, 1689.
116 THE LIFE OF
AN EPITAPH,
WRITTEN BY
DOCTOR CORBET,* LATE BISHOP OF OXFORD,
* ON HIS FRIEND DR. DONNE.
He that would write an Epitaph for tliee, ^
And write it well, must first begin to be
Such as thou wert ; for none can truly know
Thy life and worth, but he that hath liv'd so :
He must have Wit to spare, and to hurl down.
Enough to keep the gallants of the town.
He must have Learning plenty ; both the Laws, '
Civil and common, to judge any cause.
Divinity, great store, above the rest.
Not of the last edition, but the best. ^
He must have Language, Travel, all the Arts,
Judgment to use, or else he wants thy parts.
He must iiave friends the highest, able to do,
Such as Mecasnas and Augustus too.
He must have such a sickness, such a death.
Or else his vain descriptions come beneath.
He that would wq-ite an Epitaph for thee,
Should first be dead: — let it alone for me.
* Dr. Ricliard Corbet, an eminent Divine and Poet, born at Ewei! in Sur-
rey, and educ'dted at Westminster, Avhence he removed to Clirist Church Col-
lege, Oxford, in 1597-98. Upon entering into Holy Orders, he was made
Chaphiin in Ordinary to King James I. ; and in July 1630, he was consecrated
Bishop of Oxford. In April 1G32, he wus translated to tlie See of Norwich,
and he died July 28th, 1635. He was, according to Aubrey, a very convivial
man, and in his younger years, one of tjie most celebrated wits of the Uni-
versity, and his volume of Poems is both a rare and meritorious production.
DR. JOHN DONNE. 117
TO THE MEMORY OF
MY EVER-DESIRED FRIEND DOCTOR DONNE.
AN ELEGY
BY H. KING, LATE BISHOP OF CHICHESTER.
To have liv'd eminent, in a degree
Beyond our loftiest thoughts, that is, like Thee ;
Or t' have had too much merit is not safe.
For such excesses find no epitaph.
At common graves we have poetic eyes
Can melt themselves in easy elegies ;
Each quill can drop his tributary verse,
And pin it, like the hatchments, to the hearse ;
But at thine, poem or inscription —
Rich soul of wit and language — we have none.
Indeed a silence does that tomb befit.
Where is no herald left to blazon it.
Widow 'd Invention justly doth forbear
To come abroad, knowing thou art not there :
Late her great patron, whose prerogative
Maintain'd and cloth'd her so, as none alive
Must now presume to keep her at thy rate,
Tho' he the Indies for her dower estate.
Or else, that awful fire which once did burn
In thy clear brain, now fallen into thy urn.
Lives there, to fright rude empirics from thence,
Which might profane thee by their ignorance.
Whoever writes of thee, and in a style
Unworthy such a theme, does but revile
Thy precious dust, and wakes a learned spirit,
Which may revenge his rapes upon thy merit :
For, all a low-pitched fancy can devise
Will prove at best but hallow'd injuries.
118 THE L'iFE OF
Thou like the dying swan didst lately sing,
Thy mournful dirge in audience of the King ;
When pale looks and faint accents of thy breath,
Presented so to life that piece of death.
Tliat it v/as fear'd and proplicsy'd by all
Thou thither cam'st to preach thy funeral.
Oh ! had'st thou in au elegiac knell
Run«T out unto the world thine own farewell
And in thy liigli victorious numbers beat
The solemn measures of thy griev'd retreat,
Thou might'st the Poet's service now have miss'd
As well as then thou didst prevent the Priest ;
And never to the world beholden be,
So much as for an epitaph for thee.
I do not like the omce : nor is't fit
Thou, who didst lend our age sucii sums of wit,
Should'st now re-borrow from her bankrupt mine
That ore to bury thee which first was thine :
Rather still leave us in thy debt ; and know-.
Exalted soul, more glory 'tis to owe
Thy memory what we can never pay,
Than with embased coin those rites defray.
Commit we then TJiee to Thyself, nor blame
Our drooping loves, that tims to thine own fame
Leave Thee executor, iiince but thine ov/n
No pen could do thee justice, nor bays crovrn
Thy vast deserts ; save that v/e nothing can
Depute, to be thy ashes' guardian.
So Jewelieis no art or uietal trust.
To f(»rm the diamond, but the diamond's dust.
H. K
DR. JOHN DONNE. 119
AN ELEGY ON DR. DONNE,
BY IZAAC WALTON.
Our Donne is decid ! and we may sighing say,
\Yc had that man, where language chose to stay.
And shew her utmost power. I would not praise
Tliat, and his great wit, which in pur vain days
Make oLhers proud ; hut as these serv'd to unlock
That cabinet his mind, v.'here such a stock
Of knowledge was repos'd, that I lament
Our just and general cause of discontent.
And I rejoice I am not so severe,
But as I write a line, to weep a tear
For his decease ; such sad extremiities
Can miake such men as I write elegies.
And wonder not ; for v/hen so great a loss
Falls on a nation, and they slight tlie cross,
God hath rais'd Prophets to av/aken them
From their dull lethargy ; witness my pen.
Not us'd to upbraid the world, though nov/ it must
Freely and boldly, for the cause is just.
Dull ago ! Oh, I would spare thee, but thou'rt worse :
Thou art not only dull, but hast a curse
Of black ingratitude: if not, couldst thou
Part witii this matchless man, and make no vow
For thee and tiiine successively to pay
Some sad remembrance to his dying day ?
Did his youth scatter Poetry, wherein
Lay Love's Philosophy ? was every sin
Pictur'd in his sharp Satires, made so foul,
That some have fear'd sin's shapes, and kept their soul
Safer by reading verse ; Did he give days.
Past marble monuments, to those whose praise
120 THE LIFE OF
^
He would perpetuate ? Did be — I fear
Envy will doubt — these at his twentieth year ?
But, more niatur'd, did his rich soul conceive
And in harmonious holy numbers weave
A Crown of Sacred Sonnets,* fit t' adorn
A dying martyr's brow, or to be worn
On that blest head of Mary Magdalen,
After she wip'd Christ's feet, but not till then ;
Did he — fit for such penitents as she
And he to use — leave us a Litany,")"
Which all devout men love, and doubtless shall,
As times grow better, grow more classical ?
Did he write Hymns, for piety and wit,
Equal to those great grave Prudentius writ ?
Spake he all Languages ? Knew he all Laws ?
The grounds and use of Physic ; but, because
'Twas mercenary, wav'd it ? went to see
That happy place of Christ's nativity ?
Did he return and preach him ? preach him so.
As since St. Paul none ever did? they know —
Those happy souls that heard him — know this truth.
Did he confirm thy ag'd ? convert thy youth ?
* "La Corona." a poem, written by Dr. Donne, and consisting of seven holy
sonnets, the first line of each sonnet beginning with the last line of the prece-
ding one, the poem beginning and ending with the same line — namely
" Deigne at my hands this crown of prayer and praise."
The snbjects are — Annunciation — Nativitie — Temple-crucifying — Resurrection
— Ascen.'^ion.
t A poem so called, written by Dr. Donne, who, in a letter to his friend, Sir
Henry Goodyere, gives this account of it. " Since my imprisonment in my
bed I have made a meditation in verse, which I call a Litany. The word, you
know, imports no other than supplication ; but all churches have one form of
supplication by that name. Amongst ancient annals, I mean some 800 years,
I have met two Litanies in Latin verse, which gave me not the reason of my
meditatious ; for in good faith I thought not upon them, but they give me a
defence, if any man to a Layman and a Private impute it as a fault to take
Buch divine and publique names to his own little thoughts." {Letters, ^c. p. 32.)
DR. JOHN DONNE. 121
Did he these wonders ? and is his dear loss
Mourn'd by so few ? few for so great a cross.
But sure the silent are ambitious all
To be close mourners of his funeral.
If not, in common pity they forbear
By repetitions to renew our care :
Or knowing grief conceiv'd and hid, consumes
Man's life insensibly, — as poison's fumes
Corrupt the brain,— take silence for the way
T' enlarge the soul from these walls, mud and clay, —
Materials of this body — to remain
With him in heaven, where no promiscuous pain
Lessens those joys we have ; for with him all
Are satisfied with joys essential.
Dwell on these joys, my thoughts ! Oh ! do not call
Grief back, by thinking on his funeral.
Forget he loved me : waste not my swift years,
Which haste to David's seventy, fill'd with fears
And sorrows for his death : forget his parts,
They find a living grave in good men's hearts :
And, for my first is daily paid for sin.
Forget to pay my second sigh for him :
Forget his powerful preaching ; and forget
I am his convert. Oh my frailty ! let
My flesh be no more heard ; it will obtrude
This lethargy : so should my gratitude,
My vows of gratitude should so be broke
Which can no more be, than his virtues, spoke
By any but himself: for which cause, I
Write no encomiums, but this elegy ;
W^hich, as a free-will offering, I here give
Fame and the world ; and parting with it, grieve
I want abilities fit to set forth
A monument, as matchless as his worth.
IZ. WA.
April 7, 1631.
THE LIFE OF SIR HENRY ¥OTTON, KNIGHT,
LATE PROVOST OF ETON COLLEGE.
THE LIFE OF SIR HENRY WOTTON
Sir Hexry Wottox — whose life I now intend to write — was
born in the year of our Redemption 1568, in Bocton-Hall, — com-
monly called Bocton, or Boughton-Place, or Palace, — in the Par-
ish of Bocton Malherbe,* in the fruitful country of Kent. Boc-
ton-Hall being an ancient and goodly structure, beautifying and
beincr beautified by the Parish Church of Bocton Malherbe ad-
joining unto it, and both seated within a fair Park of the Wottons,
on the brow of such a hill, as gives the advantage of a large pros-
pect, and of equal pleasure to all beholders.
But this House and Church are not remarkable for any thing
so much, as for that the memorable Family of the Wottons have
so long inhabited the one, and now lie buried in the other, as ap-
pears by their many monuments in that Church : the Wottons be-
ing a family that hath brought forth divers persons eminent for
wisdom and valour; whose heroic acts, and noble employments,
both in England and in foreign parts, have adorned themselves
* A parish situate five miles westward from Charing, and about a mile and
a half south of Lenham, almost in the very centre of the county. The pres-
ent state of this once princely mansion, is extremely ruinous, but some frag-
ments of its former splendour are yet remaining in the fine oaken staircase,
and in the first story of the house, where there is an immense apartment with
carved wainscot walls coloured in partitions, having a ceiling also divided into
pannels, and painted in water-colours. This part of the building is now inhab-
ited by a farmer, but much of its ancient character is lost by the principal
front being modernized, the large apartments divided, and the arched door-
ways, bay-windov.s, &.c. being blocked up ; though a very fine specimen of the
latter, formed of octangular panes, is yet perfect. Several dates cut in ston^,
principally of the sixteenth century, are still remaining on the ruins. The
Church of Bocton Malherbe, dedicated to St. Nicholas, stands nearly in the
centre of the Parish ; on the eastern side of the Hall ; and within the rude
dwarf v.-all of flints which surrounds the building of Bocton Place.
126 THE LIFE OF
and this nation; which they have served abroad faithfully, in the
discharge of their great trust, and prudently in their negociations
with several Princes; and also served at home with much honour
and justice, in their wise managing a great part of the public
affairs thereof, in the various times both of war and peace.
But lest I should be thought by any, that may incline either to
deny or doubt this truth, not to have observed moderation in the
commendation of this Family ; and also for that I believe the
merits and memory of such persons ought to be thankfully record-
ed, I shall offer to the consideration of every Reader, out of the
testimony of their Pedigree and our Chronicles, a part — and but
a part — of that just commendation which might be from thence
enlarged, and shall then leave the indifferent Reader to judge
whether my error be an excess or defect of commendations.*
Sir Robert Wotton, of Bocton Malherbe, Knight, was born
about the year of Christ 1460 : he, living in the reign of King
Edward the Fourth, was by him trusted to be Lieutenant of
Guisnes, to be Knight Porter, and Comptroller of Calais, where
he died, and lies honourably buried.
Sir Edward Wotton of Bocton Malherbe, Knight, — son and heir
of the said Sir Robert — was born in the year of Christ 1489, in
the reign of King Henry the Seventh ; he was made Treasurer
of Calais, and of the Privy Council to King Henry the Eighth,
who offered him to be Lord Chancellor of England ; but, saith
Holinshed,j" out of a virtuous modesty, he refused it.
Thomas Wotton of Bocton Malherbe, Esquire, son and heir
of the said Sir Edward, and the father of our Sir Henry, that oc-
casions this relation, was born in the year of Christ 1521. He
was a gentleman excellently educated, and studious in all the
Liberal Arts ; in the knowledge whereof he attained unto a great
perfection ; who, though he had — besides those abilities, a very
noble and plentiful estate, and the ancient interest of his prede-
* Hollingshed informs us that the family of the Wottons was very ancient,
and that " Some persons of that snrname for their singularities of wit and
learning, for their honour and government in and of the realm, about the prince
and elsewhere, at home and abroad, deserve such commendations, that they
merit niveo signari lapillo.^'
t la his Chronicle.
SIR HENRY VVUTTON. 127
cessors — many invitations from Queen Elizabetii to change his
country recreations and retirement for a Court, ofiering him a
Kniu^hthood, — she was then with him at his Bocton Hall — and that
to be but as an earnest of some more honourable and more prof-
itable employment under her ; yet he humbly refused both, being
"a man of great modesty, of a most plain and single heart, of an
ancient freedom, and integrity of mind." A commendation which
Sir Henry Wotton took occasion often to remember with great
gladness, and thankfully to boast himself the son of such a fa-
ther; from whom indeed he derived that noble ingenuity that was
ahvays practised by himself, and which he ever both commended
and cherished in others. This Thomas was also remarkable for
hospitality, a great lover and much beloved of his country ; to
which may justly be added, that he was a cherisher of learning,
as appears by that excellent Antiquary Mr. William Lambarde,*
in his Perambulation of Kent.
This Thomas had four sons, .Sir Edward, Sir James, Sir John,
and Sir Henry.
Sir Edward was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, and made Comp-
troller of Her Majesty's Household. ''He v>'as," saith Camden,
'• a man remarkable for many and great employments in the State,
durin.T her rei<xn, and sent several tim.es Ambassador into foreign
nations. After her death, he was by King James made Comp-
trolier of his Household, and called to be of his Privy Council,
and by him advanced to be Lord Wotton, Baron of Merley in
Kent, and made Lord Lieutenant of that County."
Sir James, the second son, may be numbered among the mar-
tial men of his age, who was, in the thirty-eighth of Queen Eliza-
beth's reign — with Robert, Earl of Sussex, Count Lodowick of
* William Luir.barde, an eminent Lav/yei- and Antiquary, was the son of
au Alderman of London, and was born Oct. 18th, 1536. In 1556, he entered
Lincoln's Inn, and studied the law under Lawrence Nowel!, brother to the
Dean ol" St. Faui's. In 1597, he was made Keeper of the Rolls by Chancel-
lor Egerton ; and in 1600, Queen Elizabeth appointed him to be Keeper of the
Records in the Tower. He died Aug. 19th, 1601, and his principal works are
a collection and Latin Translation of the Saxon Laws, a Discourse of the
English CourtLi of Justice, another on the Office of Justices, and the Peram-
hululion of K'jnt.
128 THE LIFE OF
Nassau, Don Christophoro, son of Antonio, King of Portugal, and
divers other gentlemen of nobleness and valour — knighted in the
field near Cadiz in Spain, after they had gotten great honour
and riches, besides a notable retaliation of injuries, by taking that
town.
Sir John, being a gentleman excellently accomplished, both by
learning and travel, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, and by
her looked upon with more than ordinary favour, and with inten-
tions of preferment ; but death in his younger years put a period
to his growing hopes.
Of Sir Henry my following discourse shall give an account.
The descent of these fore-named Wottons was all in a direct
line, and most of them and their actions in the memory of those
with whom we have conversed ; but if I had looked so far back
as to Sir Nicholas Wotton, who lived in the reign of King Richard
the Second, or before him upon divers others of great note in their
several ages, I might by some be thought tedious ; and yet others
may more justly think me negligent, if I omit to mention Nicho-
las Wotton, the fourth son of Sir Robert, whom I first named.
This Nicholas Wotton was Doctor of Law, and sometime Dean
both of York and Canterbury ; a man whom God did not only
bless with a long life, but with great abilities of mind, and an in-
clination to employ them in the service of his country, as is testi-
fied by his several employments,* having been sent nine times
Ambassador unto foreign Princes; and by his being a Privy
Councillor to King Henry the Eighth, to Edward the Sixth, to
Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, who also, after he had been,
during the wars between England, Scotland, and France, three
several times — and not unsuccessfully — employed in Committees
for settling of Peace betwixt this and those kingdoms, " died,"
saith learned Camden, " full of commendations for wisdom and
piety." He was also, by the Will of King Henry the Eighth,
made one of his Executors, and Chief Secretary of State to his
son, that pious Prince, Edward the Sixth. Concerning which
Nicholas Wotton I shall say but this little more ; that he refused
— being offered it by Queen Elizabeth — to be Archbishop of Can-
* Camden in his Britannia.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 129
terbury,* — and that he died not rich, though he lived in that time
of the dissolution of Abbeys.
More might be added ; but by this it may appear, tliat Sir
Henry Wotton was a branch of such a kindred, as left a stock of
reputation to their posterity : such reputation as might kindle a
generous emulation in strangers, and preserve a noble ambition
"in those of his name and family, to perform actions worthy of
their ancestors.
And that Sir Henry Wotton did so, might appear more per-
fectly than my pen can express it, if of his many surviving friends,
some one of higher parts and employments, had been pleased to
have commended his to posterity ; but since some years are now
past, and they have all — I know not why — forborne to do it, my
gratitude to the memory of my dead friend, and the renewed request
of somef that still live solicitous to see this duty performed ;
these have had a power to persuade me to undertake it ; which
truly I have not done but with distrust of mine own abilities; and
yet so far from despair, that I am modestly confident my humble
language shall be accepted, because I shall present all readers
with a commixture of truth, and Sir H!enry Wotton's merits.
This being premised, I proceed to tell the reader, that the
Father of Sir Henry Wotton was twice married ; first to Eliza-
beth, the daughter of Sir John Rudstone, Knight ; after whose
death, though his inclination was averse to all contentions, yet
necessitated he was to several suits in Law ; in the prosecution
whereof, — v/hich took up much of his time, and were the occa-
sion of many discontents, — he vv^as by divers of his friends ear-
nestly persuaded to a re-marriage ; to whom he has often an-
swered, " That if ever he did put on a resolution to marry, he
was seriously resolved to avoid three sorts of persons : namely,
Those that had children ;
Those that had Law-suits ;
And those that were of his kindred.
And yet, following his own Law-suits, he met in Westminster-
* Holinshed.
t Sir Edward Bysshe, Ciarencieux King of Arms, Mr. Charles Cotton, a5:d
Mr. Nic. Oudert, sometime Sir Henry Wotton's servant.
10
130 THE LIFE OF
Hall with Mrs. Eleonora .Morton, Widow to Robert Morton, of
Kent, Esquire, who was also engaged in several suits in Law :
and he observing her comportment at the time of hearing one of
her causes before the Judges, could not but at the same time both
compassionate her condition, and affect her person ; for the tears
of lovers, or beauty dressed in sadness, are observed to have in
them a charming eloquence, and to become very often too strong
to be resisted : which I mention, because it proved so with this
Thomas Watton ; for although there were in her a concurrence
of all those accidents, against which he had so seriously resolved,
yet his affection to her grew then so strong, that he resolved to
solicit her for a wife, and did, and obtained her.
By her — who was the daughter of Sir William Finch, of East-
well, in Kent, — he had only Henry his youngest son. His
Mother undertook to be tutoress unto him during much of his
childhood ; for whose care and pains he paid her each day with
such visible signs of future perfection in Learning, as turned her
employment into a pleasing trouble ; which she was content to
continue, till his Father took him into his own particular care,
and disposed of him to a Tutor in his own house at Bocton.
And when time and diligent instruction had made him fit for a
removal to an higher form, — which was very early, — he was sent
to Winchester-school : a place of strict discipline and order, that
so he might in his youth be moulded into a method of living by
rule, which his wise father knew to be the most necessary v/ay
to make the future part of his life both happy to himself, and use-
ful for the discharge of all business, whether public or private.
And that he might be confirmed in this regularity, he was, at
a fit age, removed from that School, to be a Commoner of New.
College in Oxfbrd ; both being founded by William Wickham,
Bishop of Winchester.
There he continued till about the eighteenth year of his a"-e,
and WHS then transplanted into Queen's College : where, within
that year, he was by the chief of that College, persuasively en-
joined to write a play for their private use ; — it was the Tragedy
of Tancredo — which was so interwoven with sentences, and for
he method and exact personating those humours, passions and
dispositions, which he proposed to represent, so performed, that
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 131
the gravest of that society declared, he had, in a sliglit employ-
ment, given an early and a solid testimony of his future abilities.
And though there may be some sour dispositions, which may think
thi< not worth a memorial, yet that wise Knight, Baptista Guari-
ni,* — whom learned Italy accounts one of her ornaments, —
thought it neither an uncomely nor an unprofitable employment
for his age.
But I pass to what will be thought more serious.
About the twentieth year of his age he proceeded Master of
Arts ; and at that time read in Latin three Lectures de Oculo ;
wherein he having described the form, the motion, the curious
composure of the Eye, and demonstrated how of those very many,
every humour and nerve performs its distinct office, so as the God
of Order hath appointed, without mixture or confusion; and all
this to the advantage of man, to whom the Eye is given, not only
as the body's guide, but whereas all other of his senses require
time to inform the soul, this in an instant apprehends and warns
him of danger ; teacning him in the very eyes of others, to discov-
er Wit, Folly, Love, and Hatred. After he had made these ob-
servations, he fell to dispute this Optic question. " Whether we
see by the emission of the beams from within, or reception of the
species from without ?" And after that, and many other like
learned disquisitions, he, in the conclusion of his Lectures, took a
fair occasion to beautify his discourse with a commendation of the
blessing and benefit of '• Seeing ; — by Vvhich we do not only dis-
cover Nature's secrets, but, with a continued content — for the eye
is never weary of seeing — behold the great Light of the World,
and by it discover t])c fabric of the Heavens, and both the order
and motion of the Celestial Orbs ; nay, that if the Eye look but
downward, it may rejoice to behold the bosom of the Earth, our
common mother, embroidered and adorned with numberless and
various flowers, v.hich man sees daily grovv up to perfection, and
then silently moralise his own condition, who, in a short time, —
* All eminent Italian Poet, born at Ferrara, in 1537, made Professor of
Belles Lettres in 1563. and subsequently entertained by the Grand Duke Al-
ji!-.onso II., who employt-d him on several embassies. In 1565, he published
his famous poem " 11 Pa.slor Fido :"' and lie died at Venice, Oct. 7th, 1612.
132 THE LIFE OF
like those very flowers — decays, withers, and quickly returns
again to that Earth, from which both had their first being."
These were so exactly debated, and so rhetorically heightened,
as, among other admirers, caused that learned Italian, Albericus
Gentilis,* then Professor of the Civil Law in Oxford, to call him
" Henrice mi Ocelle ;" which dear expression of his was also
used by divers of Sir Henry's dearest friends, and by many other
persons of note during his stay in the University.
But his stay there was not long, at least not so long as his friends
once intended ; for the year after Sir Henry proceeded Master of
Arts, his Father — whom Sir Henry did never mention without
this, or some like reverential expression ; as, " That good man my
Father," or, " My Father, the best of men ;" — about tliat time,
tliis good man changed this for a better life ; leaving to Sir Hen-
ry, as to his other younger sons, a rent-charge of an hundred
marks a year, to be paid for ever out of some one of his Manors,
of a nmch greater value.
And here, though this good man be dead, yet I v/ish a circum-
stance or two that concerns him, mav not be buried without a re-
latioa ; which 1 shall undertake to do, for that I suppose they may
so much concern the Reader to know, that I may promise myself
a pardon for a short digression.
In the year of our Redemption 1553, Nicholas Wotton, Dean of
Canterbury, — whom I formerly mentioned, — being then Ambas-
sador in France, dreamed that his Nephev/, this Thomas Wotton,
v/as inclined to be a party in such a project, as, if he were not
suddenly prevented, would turn both to the loss of his life, and
ruin of his Family.
Doubtless the good Dean did v>^ell know that commion Dreams
are but a senseless paraphrase on our v/aking thoughts, or of the
business of the day past, or are the result of our over-engaged
* A very celebrated Italian Lawyer, born at Ancona in 1550, and educated
at Perugia. About 1572, he left his country Vv'ith his father and brotlier, tliey
being of the reformed religion, and whilst the two former settled in Germany,
he came into England, and v/as admitted of New Inn Hall, Oxford, in 1380,
through the patronuge of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, then Chancellor
of that University. In 1587, Queen Elizabeth made him Professor of Civil
Law, and it is suj)posed that he died at O.xford, about April 1611.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 133
affections, when we betake ourselves to rest ; and knew that the
observation of them may turn to silly superstitions, as they too
often do. But, though he might know all this, and might also be-
lieve that prophecies are ceased ; yet doubtless he could not but
consider, that all dreams are not to be neglected or cast away
without all consideration ; and did therefore rather lay this Dream
aside, than intend totally to lose it ; and dreaming the same again
the night following, when it became a double Dream, like that of
Pharaoh, — of which double Dreams the learned have made many
observations, — and considering that it had no dependence on his
waking thoughts, much less on the desires of his heart, then he
did more seriously consider it ; and remembered that Almighty
God was pleased in a Dream to reveal and to assure Monica,* the
Mother of St. Austin, "That he, her son, for whom she wept so
bitterly and prayed so much, should at last become a Christian :"
This, I believe, the good Dean considered : and considering also
thai Almighty God, — though the causes of Dreams be often un-
known— hath even in these latter times also by a certain iilumi-
nation of the Soul in sleep, discovered many things that human
wisdom could not foresee ; upon these considerations he resolved
to use so prudent a remedy by way of prevention, as might intro-
duce no great inconvenience either to himself or to his Nephew.
And to that end he wrote to the Queen, — 'twas Queen Mary, —
and besought her, " That she would cause his Nephew, Thomas
Wotton, to be sent for out of Kent ; and that the Lords of her
Council might interrogate him in some such feigned questions, as
micfht give a colour for his commitment into a favourable prison ;
declaring that he would acquaint her Majesty with the true rea-
son of his request, when he should next become so happy as to see
and speak to her Majesty."
It was done as the Dean desired : and in prison I must leave
Mr. Wotton, till I have told the Reader what followed.
At this time a marriage was concluded betwixt our Queen
Mary, and Philip, King of Spain ; and though this was concluded
with the advice, if not by the persuasion, of her Privy Council, as
having many probabilities of advantage to this nation ; yet divers
* St. Austin's Confession.
134 THE LIFE OF
persons of a contrary persuasion did not only declare against it,
but also raised forces to oppose it : believing — as they said — ^^it
would be a means to bring England to be under a subjection to
Spain, and make those of this nation slaves to strangers.
And of this number, Sir Thomas Wyat, of Boxley- Abbey in
Kent, — betwixt whose family and the family of the Wottons there
had been an ancient and entire friendship, — v/as the principal
actor ; who having persuaded many of the Nobility and Gentry
— especially of Kent — to side with him, and he being defeated,
and taken prisoner, was legally arrainged and condemned, and
lost his life : so did the Duke of Suffolk and divers others, espe-
cially many of the Gentry of Kent, who were there in several
places executed as Wyat's assistants.
And of this number, in all probability, had Mr. Wotton been,
if he had not been confined ; for though he could not be ignorant
that " another man's Treason makes it mine by concealing it,"
yet he durst confess to his Uncle, when he returned into England,
and then came to visit him in prison, '■' That he had more than an
intimation of Wyat's intentions;" and thought he had not con-
tinued actually innocent, if his Uncle had not so happily dreamed
him into a prison ; out of which place when he was delivered by
the same hand that caused his commitment, they both considered
the Dream more seriously, and then both joined in praising God
for it ; " That God who ties himself to no rules, either in pre-
venting of evil, or in showing of mercy to those, whom of good
pleasure he hath chosen to love."
And this Dream was the m.ore considerable, because that God,
who in the days of old did use to speak to his people in Visions,
did seem to speak to many of this Family in dreams; of which
I will also give the reader one short particular of this Thomas
Wotton, whose Dreams did usually prove true, both in foretelling
things to come, and discovering things past ; and the particular
is this. — This Thomas, a little before his death, dreamed that the
University Treasury was robbed by Townsmen and poor Scholars,
and that the number was five ; and being that day to write to his
son Henry at Oxford, he thought it v/orth so much pains, as by a
postscript in his letter to make a slight enquiry of it. The letter
— which was writ out of Kent, and dated three days before —
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 135
came to his son's hands the very morning after the night in which
the robbery was committed ; and when the City and University
were both in a perplexed inquest of the thieves, then did Sir
Henry Wotton show his Father's letter, and by it such light was
given of this work of darkness, that the five guilty persons were
presently discovered and apprehended, without putting the Uni-
versity to so much trouble as the casting of a figure.*
And it may yet be more considerable that this Nicholas and
Thomas V/otton should both — being men of holy lives, of even
tempers, and much given to fasting and prayer — foresee and fore-
tell the verv days of their own death. Nicholas did so, beino^
then seventy years of age, and in perfect health. Thomas did
the like in the sixty-fifth year of his age ; who being then in Lon-
don,— where he died, — and foreseeing his death there, gave direc-
tion in what manner his body should be carried to Bocton ; and
though he thought his Uncle Nicholas worthy of that noble mon-
ument which he built for him in the Cathedral Church of Canter-
bury ; yet this humble man gave direction concerning himself, to
be buried privately, and especially without any pomp at his fune-
ral. This is some account of this family, v/hich seemed to be
beloved of God.
But it may now seem more than time, that I return to Sir
Henry Wotton at Oxford ; where, after his Optic Lectui-e, he
was taken into such a bosom friendship with the learned Albericus
Gentilis, — whom I formerly named, — tliat, if it had been possible,
Gentilis v.-ould have breathed all his excellent knowledge, both of
the Mathematics and Law, into the breast of his dear Harry, for
so Gentilis used to call him : and though he was not able to do
that, yet there was in Sir Henry such a propensity and connatu-
ralness to the Italian language, and those studies whereof Gentilis
was a great master, that the friendship between them did daily
increase, and proved daily advantageous to Sir Henry, for the
* Of the robbery here mentioned, no account whatever is recorded in the
annals of the University.
Judicial AslroIog:y was much in use long after this time. Its predictions
were received v/ith reverential av/e ; and men, even of the most enliglifcned
understandings, Vv^ere inclined to believe that the conjunctions and oppositions
of the planets had no little influence in the affairs of the vrorld.
136 THE LIFE OF
improvement of him in several sciences during his stay in the
University.
From which place, before I shall invite the reader to follow
him into a foreign nation, though I must omit to mention divers
persons that were then in Oxford, of memorable note for learning,
and friends to Sir Henry Wotton ; yet I must not omit the mention
of a love that was there begun betwixt him and Dr. Donne, some-
time Dean of St. Paul's ; a man of whose abilities I shall forbear
to say any thing, because he who is of this nation, and pretends
to learning or ingenuity, and is ignorant of Dr. Donne, deserves
not to know him. The friendship of these two I must not omit to
mention, being such a friendship as was generously elemented ;
and as it was begun in their youth, and in an University, and
there maintained by correspondent inclinations and studies, so it
lasted till age and death forced a separation.
In Oxford he stayed till about two years after his Father's
death ; at which time he was about the twenty-second year of
his age ; and having to his great wit added the ballast of learning,
and knowledge of the Arts, he then laid aside his books, and
betook himself to the useful library of travel, and a more general
conversation with mankind ; employing the remaining part of his
youth, his industry, and fortune, to adorn his mind, and to pur-
chase the rich treasure of foreign knowledge : of which both for
the secrets of Nature, the dispositions of many nations, their
several laws and languages, he v.-as the possessor in a very large
measure ; as I shall faithfully make to appear, before I take my
pen from the following narration of his life.
In his travels, which was almost nine years* before his return
into England, he stayed but one year in France, and most of that
in Geneva, where he became acquainted with Theodore Beza,t —
* Or rather, six years. The writers of the Biographia Britamiica explain
the mistake by supposing that the tail of the 1) should be turned upwards to
make it 6. It appears from a letter to Lord Zouch, dated July 10, 1592, that
he had been abroad three years. He probably returned in 1595, as he was
appointed Secretary to the Earl of Essex, after his return, in 1596, when he
was in the 27th or 28th year of his age.
t One of the most celebrated promoters of the Reformation, born at Vezelai,
a small town of Nivernais, in France, June 2-lthj 1519. He was educated
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 137
then very aged ; — and with Isaac Casaubon,* in whose house, if
I be rightly informed, Sir Henry Wotton was lodged, and there
contracted a most worthy friendship with that man of rare learn-
ing and ingenuity.
Three of the remaining eight years were spent in Germany,
ihe other live in Italy, — the stage on which God appointed he
should act a great part of his life ; — where, both in Rome, Ven-
ice, and Florence, he became acquainted with the most emi-
nent men for learning and all manner of Arts; as Picture,
Sculpture, Chemistry, Architecture, and other manual Arts ; even
Arts of inferior nature ; of all which he was a most dear lover,
and a most excellent judge.
He returned out of Italy into England about the thirtieth year
of his age, being then noted by many both for his person and
comportment : for indeed he was of a choice shape, tall of stat-
ure, and of a most persuasive behaviour ; which was so njixed
with sweet discourse and civilities, as gained him much love from
all persons with whom he entered into an acquaintance.
And whereas he was noted in his youth to have a sharp wit,
and apt to jest ; that, by time, travel, and conversation, was so
polished, and made so useful, that his company seemed to be one
of the delights of mankind ; insomuch as Robert Earl of Essex
under the famous Reformer Melchior V/olmar, from whom he derived his
Protestant principles. He was not in orders, though he held some church pre-
ferments, but in 1548 he resigned them, retired to Geneva, married and ab-
jured Popery. In 1549, he was made Greek Professor at Lausanne, and in
1556, published his Translation of the new Testament, and his Defence of
the burning of Servetus. He was a powerful assistant to Calvin, and after his
death became head of the reformed party. He died Oct. I3tli, 1605, having
given great encouragement to the Puritans, though his letters to Vvhitgift
evince a high regard for the Church of England.
* Isaac Casaubon, the best Grecian of his time, was born at Geneva, Feb.
18th, 1559, and at the age of twenty-three, became Greek Professor there.
About 1597, he read Lectures on the Belles Lettres, at Geneva, and in 1600,
at Paris; when Henry IV. of France made him his Librarian, though lie
vainly endeavoured to draw him from the Pro! estant faith. In October, IGIO,
he came to England with Sir Henry Wotton, and was received with great dis-
tinction by King James I., who preferred him in the C'hurclj, and gave him a
pension. He died July 1st, 1614, and v>?as buried in Westminster Abbey, where
Bishop Morton erected a monument to him.
138 THE LIFE OF
— then one of the darlings of Fortune, and in greatest favour
with Queen Elizabeth — invited him first into a friendship, and,
after a knowledge of his great abilities, to be one of his Secreta-
ries ; the other being Mr. Henry Cuflfe,* sometime of Merlon Col-
lege in Oxford, — and there also the acquaintance of Sir Henry
Wotton in his youth, — Mr. CuiTe being then a man of no common
note in the University for his learning ; nor, after his removal
from that place, for the great abilities of his mind, nor indeed foi
the fatalness of his end.
Sir Henry Wotton, being now taken into a serviceable friend-
ship with the Earl of Essex, did personally attend his counsels
and employments in two voyages at sea against the Spaniard,
and also in that — which was the Earl's last — into Ireland ; that
voyage, wherein he then did so much provoke the Queen to an-
ger, and worse at his return into England ; upon whose immove-
able favour the Earl had built such sandy hopes, as encouraged
him to those undertakings, which, with the help of a contrary fac-
tion, suddenly caused his commitment to the Tower.
Sir Henry Wotton observing this, though he was not of that
faction — for the Earl's followers were also divided into their sev-
eral interests — which encouraged the Earl to those undertakino-s
which proved so fatal to him and divers of his confederation, yet,
knowing Treason to be so comprehensive, as to take in even cir-
cumstances, and out of them to make such positive conclusions,
as subtle Statesmen shall project, either for their revenge or
safety ; considering this, he thought prevention, by absence out
of England, a better security, than to stay in it, and there plead
his innocency in a prison. Therefore did he, so soon as the
Earl was apprehended, very quickly, and as privately, glide
through Kent to Dover, without so much as looking toward his
native and beloved Bocton ; and was, by the help of favoura-
ble winds, and liberal payment of the mariners, within sixteen
* This unfortunate wit and scholar, was born at Hinton St. George, in Som-
ersetshire, about 15G0, and entered of Trinity College, Oxford, in 1576, from
which he was expelled for some sarcasms on the Founder. His learning and
abilities being very considerable, he was received into Merton College, and he
was made Greek Professor; but his restless disposition induced him to follow
the Earl of Essex to Cadiz.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 139
hours after his departure from London, set upon the French
shore ; where he heard shortly after, that the Earl was ar-
raigned, condemned, and beheaded ; and that his friend Mr.
CufFe was hanged, and divers other persons of eminent quality
executed.
. The times did not look so favourably upon Sir Henry Wotton,
as to invite his return into England : having therefore procured
of Sir Edward Wotton, his elder brother, an assurance that his
annuity should be paid him in Italy, thither he went, happily re-
newing his intermitted friendship and interest, and indeed his
great content in a new conversation with his old acquaintance in
that nation, and more particularly in Florence, — which City is
not more eminent for the Great Duke's Court, than for the great
recourse of men of choicest note for learning and arts, — in which
number he there met with his old friend Signior Vietta, a gentle-
man of Venice, and then taken to be Secretaiy to the Great
Duke of Tuscany.
After some stay in Florence, he went the fourth time to visit
Rome, where, in the English College he had very many friends ;
— their humanity made them really so, though they knew him to
be a dissenter from many of their principles of religion ; and
having enjoyed their company, and satisfied himself concerning
some curiosities that did partly occasion his journey thither, he
returned back to Florence, where a most notable accident befel
him ; an accident that did not only find new employment for his
choice abilities, but did introduce him to a knowledge and interest
with our King James, then King of Scotland ; which I shall pro-
ceed to relate.
But first I am to tell the Reader, that though Queen Elizabeth,
or she and her Council, v/ere never willincr to declare her sue-
cessor ; yet James, then King of the Scots, was confidently be-
lieved by most to be the man upon whom the sweet trouble of
Kingly government would be imposed ; and the Queen declining
very fast, both by age and visible infirmities, those that were of
tlie Romish persuasion in point of religion, — even Rome itself,
and those of this nation, — knov/ing that the dealli of the Queen
and the establishing of her successor, Vvcre taken to bo critical
days for destroying or establishing the Protestant religion in this
140 THE LIFE OF
nation, did therefore improve all opportunities for preventing a
Protestant Prince to succeed her. And as the Pope's Excommu-
nication of Queen Elizabeth, had both by the judgment and prac-
tice of the Jesuited Papist, exposed her to be vvarrantably de-
stroyed ; so, if we may believe an angry adversary, a secular
Priest* against a Jesuit — you may believe, that about that time
there were many endeavours, first to excommunicate, and then to
shorten the life of Kin^ James.
Immediately after Sir Henry Wotton's return from Rome to
Florence, — which was about a year before the death of Queen
Elizabeth, — Ferdinandf the Great Duke of Florence, had inter-
cepted certain letters, that discovered a design to take away the
life of James, the then King of Scots. The Duke abhorring this
fact, and resolving to endeavour a prevention of it, advised with
his Secretary Vietta, by what means a caution might be best
given to that King ; and after consideration it was resolved to be
done by Sir Henry Wotton, whom Vietta first commended to the
Duke, and the Duke had noted and approved of above all the
English that frequented his Court.
Sir Henry was gladly called by his friend Vietta to the Duke,
who, after much profession of trust and friendship, acquainted
him with the secret ; and being well instructed, dispatched him
into Scotland with letters to the King, and with those letters such
* Watson in his Quodiibets.
William Watson, a secular priest, wrote a " Decacordon of ten Qnodlibet-
ieal Questions," in which he discloses the character and conduct of the Jesuits;
txhibiting in proper colours their arts of equivocation and mental reservation.
Yet tiiis man, so acute in discerning the errors of others, was hanged in IL'OS,
for High Treason, along with William Clark, a Popish priest, and George
Brook, brother to Lord Cobham, for conspiring the death of James L He had
deceived his accomplices by instructing them, " That the King, before his cor-
onation, was not an actual but a pohtical king, and tlierefore no treason could
be committed against him."
t First of that name of tlie House of Medicis, was intended for tlie Church,
and was created a Cardinal by Pius IV. in 15G3. In 1587, on the death of
his elder brother, PVancis-Maria, Duke of Tuscany, be resigned the purple, at
the age of 52, and married Catherine of Lorraine, daughter of the Duke
Charles II. He died Feb. 22nd, 1608-9, having governed with great mildness,
being a wise and domestic Prince.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 141
Italian antidotes against poison, as the Scots till then had been
strangers to.
Having parted from the Duke, he took up the name and lan-
guage of an Italian ; and thinking it best to avoid the line of
English intelligence and danger, he posted into Norway, and
through that country towards Scotland, where he found the King
at Stirling. Being there, he used means, by Bernard Lindsey,
one of the King's Bed-chamber, to procure him a speedy and
private conference with his Majesty ; assuring him, '- That the
business which he was to negociate was of such consequence, as
had caused the Great Duke of Tuscany to enjoin him suddenly
to leave his native country of Italy, to impart it to his King."
This being by Bernard Lindsey made known to the King, the
King, after a little wonder— mixed with jealousy — to hear of an
Italian Ambassador, or messenger, required his name, — which
was said to be Octavio Baldi, — and appointed him to be heard
privately at a fixed hour that evening.
When Octavio Baldi came to the Presence-chamber door, he
was requested to lay aside his long rapier — which, Italian-like,
he then wore ; — and being entered the chamber, he found there
with the King three or four Scotch Lords standing distant in sev-
eral corners of the chamber : at the sight of whom he made a
stand ; which the King observing, " bade him be bold, and deliver
his message ; for he would undertake for the secrecy of all that
were present." Then Did Octavio Baldi deliver his letters and
his message to the King in Italian ; which when the King had
graciously received, after a little pause, Octavio Baldi steps to
the table, and whispers to the King in his own language, that he
was an Englishman, beseeching him for a more private confer-
ence with his Majesty, and that he might be concealed during
his stay in that nation ; which was promised and really per-
formed by the King, during all his abode there, which was about
three months ; all which time was spent with much pleasantness
to the King, and with as much to Octavio Baldi himself, as that
country could afford ; from which he departed as true an Italian
as he came thither.
To the Duke at Florence he returned with a fair and grateful
account of his employment ; and within some few months after
142 THE LIFE OF
his return, tliere came certain news to Florence, that Queen
Elizabeth was dead : and James, King of the Scots, proclaimed
Kins: of Eno^land. The Duke knowing travel and business to be
DO O
the best schools of wisdom, and that Sir Henry Wotton had been
tutored in both, advised him to return presently to England, and
there joy the King with his new and better title, and wait there
upon Fortune for a better employment.
When King James came into England, he found amongst other
of the late Queen's officers, Sir Edward, who was, after Lord
Wotton, Comptroller of the House, of whom he demanded, " If
he knew one Henry Wotton, that had spent much time in foreign
travel ?" The Lord replied he knew him well, and that he was
his brother. Then the King, asking where he then was, was an-
swered, at Venice or Florence ; but by late letters from thence
he understood he would suddenly be at Paris. " Send for him,"
said the King, '' and when he shall come into England, bid him
repair privately to me." The Lord Wotton, after a little wonder,
asked the King, " If he knew him ?" To which the King answer-
ed, " You must rest unsatisfied of that till you bring the gentle-
man to me."
Not many months after this discourse, the Lord Wotton brought
liis brother to attend the King, who took him in his arms, and bade
him welcome by the name of Octavio Baldi, saying, he was the
most honest, and therefore the best dissembler that he ever met with :
and said, " Seeing I know you neither want learning, travel, nor
experience, and that I have had so real a testimony of your faith-
fulness and abilities to manage an ambassage, I have sent for you
to declare my purpose ; which is, to make use of you in that kind
hereafter." And indeed the King did so, most of those two and
twenty years of his reign ; but before he dismissed Octavio Baldi
from his present attendance upon him, he restored him to his old
name of Henry Wotton, by which he then knighted him.
Not long after this, the King having resolved according to his
Motto — Beati pacijici — to have a friendship with his neighbour
Kingdoms of France and Spain ; and also, for divers weighty
reasons, to enter into an alliance with the State of Venice, and to
that end to send Ambassadors to those several places, did propose
the chpjce of these employments to Sir Henry Wotton ; who,
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 143
considering tiie smallness of his own estate, — which he never
took care to augment, — and knowing the Courts of great Princes
lo be sumptuous, and necessarily expensive, inclined most to that
of Venice, as being a place of more retirement, and best suiting
with his genius, who did ever love to join with business, study
and a trial of natural experiments ; for both which, fruitful Italy,
that darling of Nature, and cherisher of all arts, is so justly
famed in all parts of the Christian world.
Sir Henry having, after some short time and consideration, re-
solved upon Venice, and a large allowance being appointed by
the King for his voyage thither, and a settled maintenance during
his stay there, he left England, nobly accompanied through
France to Venice, by gentlemen of the best families and breeding
that this nation afforded : they were too many to name; but these
two, for the following reasons, may not be omitted. Sir Albertus
Morton*, his Nephew, who went his Secretary ; and William
Bedel,y a man of choice learning, and sanctified wisdom, who
v/ent his Chaplain.
And though his dear friend Dr. Donne — then a private gentle-
man— was not one of the number that did personally accompany
him in this voyage, yet the reading of this following letter, sent
by him to Sir Henry Wotton, the morning before he left England,
may testify he wanted not his friend's best wishes to attend him.
SIR,
After those reverend papers, whose soul is
Our good and great King^s lov\l hand and feared name :
* The son of George Morton, of Esture, in Kent, elected Scholar of King's
College, Cambridge, in 1602. After his employment under Sir H. Wotton, he
was thrice agent in Savoy, Secretary to the Lady Elizabeth, in Heidelberg,
and agent for the King to the Princes of the Union. He also became a Clerk
of the Council, and was knighted in 1671. He died in the Parish of St. Mar-
garet, Westminster, about November 1625, having been elected a Burgess in
Parliament for the University of Cambridge ; and he left a widow and one son.
t William Bedel, an excellent Prelate, was born at Black Notley, in Essex,
and educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, of which he became Fellow, in
1593. Much of his memoirs is given in the text ; he died Feb. 7th, 1641, in
the house of an Irish Minister, whither the rebels had conveyed him. In his
life by Bishop Burnet, is an interesting account of his Irish translation of the
Scriptures.
144 THE LIFE OF
By which to you he derives much of his,
And, how he may, makes you almost the sa?ne :
A taper of his torch ; a copy writ
From his original, and a fair beam
Of the same warm and dazzling Sun, though it
Must in another sphere his virtue stream :
After those learned payers, which your hand
Hath stored with notes of use and pleasure too :
From, which rich treasury you may cojnmand
Fit matter whether you will write or do :
After those loving papers which friends send
With glad grief to your sea-ward steps farewell,
And thicken on you now as prayers ascend
To Heaven on troops at a good jnan^s passing-bell :
Admit this honest paper, and allow
It such an audience as yourself would ask ;
What you would say at Venice, this says now,
And has for nature what you have for task.
To swear much love ; nor to be changed before
Honour alone will to your fortune fit ;
Nor shall I then honour your fortune more.
Than I have done your honour wanting wit.
But His an easier load — though both oppress —
To want, than govern greatness ; for we are
In that, our own and only business ;
In this, we must for others^ vices care.
' Tis therefore well your spirits now are placed
In their last furnace, in activity.
Which fits them ; Schools, and Courts, and Wars overpast
To touch and taste in any best degree.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 145
For mc / — if there he such a thing as I —
Fortune — if there he such a thing as she —
Finds that I hear so well her tyranny^
That she thinks nothing else so fit for me.
But though she part us, to hear my oft prayers
For your increase, God is as near me here :
And, to send you what I shall heg, his stairs
In length and ease are alike every where.
J. Donne.*
Sir Henry Wotton was received by the State of Venice with
much honour and gladness, both for that he delivered his ambas-
sage most elegantly in the Italian language, and came also in
such a juncture of time, as his master's friendship seemed useful
for that Republic. The time of his coming thither was about the
year 1604, Leonardo Donate being then Duke ; a wise and re-
solved man, and to all purposes such — Sir Henry Wotton would
often say it — as the State of Venice could not then have wanted ;
there having been formerly, in the time of Pope Clement the
Eighth, some contests about the privileges of Churchmen, and the
power of the Civil Magistrates ; of vv^hich, for the information of
common readers, I shall say a little, because it may give light to
some passages that follow.
About the year 1603, the Republic of Venice made several in-
junctions against lay-persons giving lands or goods to the Church,
without licence- from the Civil Magistrate ; and in that inhibition
they expressed their reasons to be, " For that when any goods or
land once came into the hands of the Ecclesiastics, it was not
subject to alienation : by reason whereof — the lay-people being
at their death charitable even to excess, — the Clergy grew every
day more numerous, and pretended an exemption from all public
service and taxes, and from all secular judgment ; so that the
burden grew thereby too heavy to be born by the Laity."
* In the first edition of this Life, the whole of the passages from " And
though his dear friend," to " Sir Henry Wotton was received," are wanting.
11
146 THE LIFE OF
Another occasion of difference was, that about this time com-
plaints were justly made by the Venetians against two Clergy,
men. the Abbot of Nervesa, and a Canon of Vicenza, for commit-
ting such sins as I think not fit to name : nor are these mentioned
with an intent to fix a scandal upon any calling ; for holiness is
not tied to Ecclesiastical Orders, — and Italy is observed to breed
the most virtuous and most vicious men of any nation. These
two having been long complained of at Rome in the name of the
State of Venice, and no satisfaction being given to the Venetians,
they seized the persons of this Abbot and Canon, and committed
them to prison.
Tlie justice or injustice of such, or the like power, then used
by the Venetians, had formerly had some calm debates betwixt
the former Pope Clement the Eighth,* and that Republic : I say,
calm, for he did not excommunicate them ; considering, — as I
conceive, — that in the late Council of Trent, it was at last — after
many politic disturbances and delays, and endeavours to preserve
the Pope's present power, — in order to a general reformation of
those many errors, which were in time crept into the Church, de-
clared by that Council, " That though discipline and especial
Excommunication be one of the chief sinews of Church-covern-
ment, and intended to keep men in obedience to it ; for which end
it v/as declared to be very profitable ; yet it was also declared,
and advised to be used with great sobriety and care, because ex-
perience had informed them, that when it was pronounced unad-
visedly or rashly, it became more contemned than feared." And,
though this was the advice of that Council at the conclusion of it,
which was not many years before this quarrel with the Vene-
* Originally named Hippolito Aldobrandini, was born at Fano, 1536, studied
at Ferrara and Bologna, was made Cardinal by Si.xtus V., and in Januarv
1592, succeeded Innocent IX. as Pontiff'. He converted Henry IV. of France,
with many more to the Roman faith, and advanced Bellarmine, Baronius, and
other learned men to be Cardinals. After a reign of piety, moderation, and
wisdom, he died in March 1605; and was succeeded by Leo XI. v.'ho lived
only twenty-nine days after. His successor was Camillo Borghese, commonly
called Pope Paul V. He was born at Rome, in 1552, and being an eminent
Doctor of the Civil Law, he rose rapidly in the Papal favour, until he was
created Cardinal by Clement VIII. He died at Rome, in January, 1G21.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 147
tians ;* yet this prudent, paiient Pope Clement dying, Pope Paul
the Fifth, who succeeded Iiim, — though not immediately, yet in
the same year, — being a man of a much hotter temper, brought this
difference with the Venetians to a much higher contention ; ob-
jecting those late acts of that State to be a diminution of his just
power, and limited a time of twenty-four days for their revocation ;
threatening if he were not obeyed, to proceed to the Excommuni-
cation of the Republic, who still offered to shew both reason and
ancient custom to warrant their actions. But this Pope, contrary
to his predecessor's moderation, required absolute obedience with-
out disputes.
Thus it continued for about a year, the Pope still threatening
Excommunication, and the Venetians still answering him with fair
speeches, and no cjmpliance ; till at last the Pope's zeal to the
Apostolic See did make him to excommunicate the Duke, the
whole Senate, and all their dominions, and, that done, to shut up
all their Churches; charging the whole clergy to forbear all sa-
cred offices to the Venetians, till their obedience should render
them capable of Absolution.
But this act of the Pope's did but the more confirm the Vene-
tians in their resolution not to obey him : and to tiiat end, upon
the hearing of the Pope's interdict, they presently published, by
sound of trumpet, a Proclamation to this effect :
" That whosoever hath received from Rome any copy of a
papal Interdict, published there, as well against the Law of God,
as against the honour of this nation, shall presently render it to
the Council of Ten, upon pain of Death. And made it loss of
estate and Nobility, but to speak in behalf of the Jesuits."
Then was Duado their Anibassador called home from P.ome,
and the Inquisition presently suspended by order of the State :
and the flood-gates being thus set open any man that had a pleas-
ant or scoffing wit, might safely vent it against the Pope, either by
free speaking, or by libels in print ; and both became very pleas-
ant to the people,*}"
* This passage from the wordsj " I say, calm," Sec was not in the first edi-
tion.
t From " But this act of the Pope's" to " very pleasant to tlie people," did
not appear in the first edition.
148 THE LIFE OF
Matters tlius heightened, the State advised with Father Paul, a
holy and learned Friar, — tlie author of the " History of the Coun-
cil of Trent," — whose advice was, "Neither to provoke the Pope,
nor lose their own right:" he declaring publicly in print, in the
name of the State, " That the Pope was trusted to keep two keys,
one of Prudence and the other of Power : and that, if they were
not both used together. Power alone is not effectual in an Excom-
munication."
And thus these discontents and oppositions continued, till a re-
port was blown abroad, that the Venetians were all turned Prot-
estants ; which was believed by many, for that it was observed
that the English Ambassador was so often in conference with the
Senate, and his Chaplain Mr. Bedel, more often with Father Paul,
whom the people did not take to be his friend : and also, for that
the Republic of Venice was known to give commission to Greg-
ory Justiniano, then their Ambassador in England, to make all
these proceedings known to the King of England, and to crave a
promise of his assistance, if need should require : and in the
mean time they required the King's advice and judgment ; which
was the same that he gave to Pope Clement, at his first coming to
the Crown of England ; — that Pope then moving him to an union
with the Roman Church ; — namely, " To endeavour the calling
of a free Council, for the settlement of peace in Christendom ;
and that he doubted not but that the French King, and divers
other Princes, would join to assist in so good a work ; and, in
the mean time, the sin of this breach, both with his and the Ve-
netian dominions, must of necessity lie at the Pope's door."
In this contention — which lasted almost two years — the Pope
grew still higher, and the Venetians more and more resolved and
careless ; still acquainting King James with their proceedings,
which was done by the help of Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Bedel,
and Padre Paulo, whom the Venetians did then call to be one of
their consulters of State, and with his pen to defend their just
cause ; which was by him so performed, that the Pope saw plainly
he had weakened his power by exceeding it, and offered the Ve-
netians absolution upon very easy terms; which the Venetians
still slighting, did at last obtain by that which was scarce so
much as a shew of acknowledging it : for they made an order,
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 149
that in that day in wiiich they were absolved, there should be no
public rejoicing, nor any bonfires that night, lest the common
people might judge, that they desired an absolution, or were ab-
solved for committing a fault.
These contests were the occasion of Padre Paulo's knowledge
and interest with King James ; for whose sake principally, Padre
Paulo compiled that eminent History of the remarkable Council
of Trent ; which history was, as fast as it was written, sent in
several sheets in letters by Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Bedel, and
others, unto King James, and the then Bishop of Canterbury, into
England, and there first made public, both in English and the
universal language.
For eight years after Sir Henry Wotton's going into Italy, he
stood fair and highly valued in the King's opinion ; but at last
became much clouded by an accident, which I shall proceed to
relate.
At his first going Ambassador into Italy, as he passed through
Germany, he stayed some days at Augusta ; where having been
in his former travels well known by many of the best note for
learning and ingeniousness, — those that are esteemed the virtuosi
of that nation, — with whom he passing an evening in merriments,
was requested by Christopher Flecamore to write some sentence
in his Albo ; — a book of white paper, which for that purpose
many of the German gentry usually carry about them : — and
Sir Henry Wotton consenting to the motion, took an occasion,
from some accidental discourse of the present company, to write
a pleasant definition of an Ambassador in these very words :
'- Legatiis est vir bonus, peregre missus ad inentiendiim Reipiih-
Ucce, causa. ^'
Which Sir Henry Wotton could have been content should have
been thus Englished :
" An Ambassador is an honest man, sent to lie abroad for the
good of his country."
But the word for lie — being the hinge upon which the conceit
was to turn — was not so expressed in Latin, as would admit — in
the hands of an enemy especially — so fair a construction as Sir
150 THE LIFE OF
Henry thought in English. Yet as it was, it slept quietly among
other sentences in tliis Aibo, almost eight years, till by accident
it fell into tlie hands of Jasper Scioppius,* a Romanist, a man of
a restless spirit and a malicious pen ; who, with books against
King James, prints this as a principle of that religion professed
by the King, and his Ambassador Sir Henry Wotton, then at Ven-
ice ; and in Venice it was presently after written in several glass-
windows, and spitefully declared to be Sir Henry Wotton's.
This coming to the knowledge of King James, he apprehended
it to be such an oversight, such a weakness, or worse, in Sir
Henry V\'^otton, as caused the King to express much wrath against
him : and this caused Sir Henry Wotton to write two apologies,
one to Velserusf — one of the chiefs of Augusta — in the univer-
sal language, which he caused to be printed, and given and scat-
tered in the most remarkable places both of Germany and Italy,
as an antidote against the venomous books of Scioppius ; and
another Apology to King James ; which v/ere both so ingenious,
so clear, and so choicely eloquent, that his Majesty — who was a
pure judge of it — could not forbear at the receipt thereof, to de-
clare publicly, " That Sir Henry Wotton had commuted suffi-
ciently for a G-reater offence. "
And nov/, as broken bones well set become stronger, so Sir
Henry Wotton did not only recover, but was much more con-
firmed in his ]\iajesty's estimation and favour than formerly he
had been.
And, as that man of great wit and useful fancy, his friend Dr.
Donne, gave in a Will of his — a Will of conceits — his Reputa-
tion to his Friends, and his Industry to his Foes, because from
* A learned writer, born in Germany about 1576, who turned Romanist in
1599, on reading the Annals of Baronius. He recommended the extirpation
of Protestants to the CathoHc Princes, and wrote with much rancour against
King James, ScaHger, Casaubon, &c. Towards the end of liis life he pre-
tended to projihecy, and sent some of his predictions to Cardinal Mazarine,
who disregarded tliem. He died in 1G49, at Padua.
t Mark Velser, or Welser, was born at Augsburg, June 20, 1558, of a noble
and ancient German family. He pursued his studies at Rome under the cele-
brated Muretus, and upon his return into his native city, having acquired great
reputation at the bar, became one of its first magistrates, and was very learn-
ed himself, and a great patron of learned men. He died in 1614.
SIR HENRY WOTTOX. 151
thence he received both : so those friends, that in this time of trial
laboured to excuse this facetious freedom of Sir Henry Wotton's,
were to him more dear, and by him more highly valued ; and
those acquaintance, that urged this as an advantage against him,
caused him bv this error to srovv both more wise, and — which is
the best fruit error can bring forth — for the future to become more
industriously v/atchful over his tongue and pen.
I have told you a part of his employment in Italy ; where, not-
withstandinfy the death of his favourer, th.e Duke Leonardo Do-
nato,* \A\o had an undissembled affection for him, and the mali-
cious accusation of Scioppius, yet his interest — as though it had
been an entailed love — was still found to live and increase in all
the succeeding Dukes during his employment to that State, which
was almost twenty years ; all which time he studied the disposi-
tions of those Dukes, and the other Consulters of State ; well
knowing that he who negociates a continued business, and neg-
lects the study of dispositions, usually fails in his proposed ends.
But in this Sir Henry Wotton did not fail ; for, by a fine sorting
of lit presents, curious, and not costly entertainments, always
sweetened by various and pleasant discourse — with which, and
his choice application of stories, and his elegant delivery of all
these, even in their Italian language, he first got, and still pre-
served, such interest in the State of Venice, that it was observed
— such was either his merit or his modesty — they never denied
him any request.
But all this shows but his abilities, and his fitness for that em-
ployment : it will therefore be needful to tell the Reader, what
use he made of the interest which these procured him : and
tiiat indeed was rather to oblige others than to enrich him.self : he
still endeavouring that the reputation of the English might be
maintained, both in the German Empire and in Italy ; where
many gentlemen, whom travel liad invited into that nation, re-
ceived from him cheerful entertainments, advice for their beha-
viour, and, by his interest, shelter or dediverance from those acci-
dental storms of adversity which usually attend upon travel.
And because these things may appear to the Reader to be but
* Doge of Venice from IGOG to July, 1612.
152 THE LIFE OF
generals, I shall acquaint him with two particular examples ; one
of his merciful disposition, and one of the nobleness of his mind ;
which shall follow.
There had been many English Soldiers brought by Command-
ers of their own country, to serve the Venetians for pay against
the Turk ; and those English, having by irregularities, or im-
providence, brouglit themselves into several galleys and prisons.
Sir Henry Wotton became a petitioner to that State for their lives
and enlargement ; and his request \vas granted : so that those —
which were many hundreds, and there made the sad examples of
human misery, by hard imprisonment and unpitied poverty in a
strange nation — were by his means released, relieved, and in a
comfortable condition sent to thank God and him, for their lives
and liberty in their own country.
And this I have observed as one testimony of the compassionate
nature of him, wlio was, during his stay in those parts, as a city
of refuge for the distressed of this and other nations.
And for that which I offer as a testimony of the nobleness of
his mind, I shall make way to the Reader's clearer understanding
of it, by telling him, that beside several other foreign employ-
ments, Sir Henry Wotton was sent thrice Ambassador to the Re-
public of Venice. And at his last going thither, he was employed
Ambassador to several of the German Princes, and more particu-
larly to the Emperor Ferdinando the Second ; and that his em-
ployment to him, and those Princes, was to incline them to
equitable conditions for the restoration of the Queen of Bohemia
and her descendants, to their patrimonial inheritance of the Pal-
atinate.
This was, by his eight months' constant endeavours and at-
tendance upon the Emperor, his Court and Council, brought to a
probability of a successful conclusion, without bloodshed. But
there were at that time two opposite armies in the field ; and as
they were treating, there was a battle fought,* in the managery
whereof there w ere so many miserable errors on the one side, — so
Sir Flenry Wotton expresses it in a dispatch to the King — and so ad-
vantageous events to the Emperor, as put an end to all present hopes
* Tlie battle of Prague.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 153
of a successful treaty ; so that Sir Henry, seeing the face of peace
altered by that victor}-, prepared for a removal from that Court;
and at his departure from the Emperor, was so bold as to remem-
ber him, " That the events of every battle move on the unseen
wheels of Fortune, which are this moment up, and down the next :
•and therefore humbly advised him to use his victory so soberly,
as still to put on thoughts of peace." Which advice, though it
seemed to be spoken with some passion, — his dear mistress the
Queen of Bohemia,''' being concerned in it — was yet taken in
good part by the Emperor ; who replied, " That he would con-
sider his advice. And though he looked on the King his master,
as an abettor of his enemy, the Palsgrave ; yet for Sir Henry
himself, his behaviour had been such during the manage of the
Treaty, that he took him to be a person of much honour and mer-
it; and did therefore desire him to accept of that Jewel, as a tes-
* The phrase " his dear mistress" compels the appearance here of his well
known verses " to the most illustrious Princesse, the Ladie Elizabeth."
'• You meaner beauties of the night,
That poorly satisfy our eyes
?vIore by your number than your light,
You common people of the skies,
What are you when the sun shall rise?
You curious chanters of the wood,
Tliat wurble forth dame Nature's lays,
Thinking your voices understood
By your weak accents ; what's your praiae,
When Philomel her voice shall raise ;
You violets that first apjiear,
By your pure purple mantles known,
Like the proud virgins of the year.
As if the spring were all your own.
What are you when the rose is blown ?
So when my mistress shall be seen.
In form and beauty of her mind,
By virtue first, then choice a Queen,
Tell me, if she were not design'd
The eclipse and glory of her kind ?"
154 THE LIFE OF
timony of his good opinion of him :" which was a jewel of Dia-
monds of more value than a thousand pounds.
This Jewel was received with all outward circumstances and
terms of honour by Sir Henry Wotton. But the next morning, at
his departing from Vienna, he, at his taking leave of the Countess
of Sabrina — an Italian Lady, in whose house the Emperor had
appointed him to be lodged, and honourably entertained — acknowl-
edged her merits, and besought her to accept of that Jewel, as a
testimony of his gratitude for her civilities ; presenting her with
the same that was given him by the Emperor : which being sud-
denly discovered, and told to the Emperor, was by him taken for
a high affront, and Sir Henry Wotton told so by a messenger.
To which he replied, " That though he received it with thankful-
ness, yet he found in himself an indisposition to be the better for
any gift that came from an enemy to his Royal Mistress, the
Queen of Bohemia ;" for so she was pleased he should always call
her. Many other of his services to his Prince and this nation
might be insisted upon ; as namely, his procurations of privileges
and courtesies with the German Princes, and the Republic of
Venice, for the English Merchants : and what he did by di-
rection of King James with the Venetian State, concerning the
Bishop of Spalato's* return to the Church of Rome. But for the
particulars of these, and many more that I meant to make known,
1 want a view of some papers that might inform me, — his late
Majesty's Letter-Office having now suffered a strange alienation,
— and indeed I want time too ; for the Printer's press stays for
what is written : so that I must haste to bring Sir Henry Wotton
in an instant from Venice to London, leaving the reader to make
up what is defective in this place, by the small supplement of the
Inscription under his Arms,t which he left at all those houses
* Marcus Antonius de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalatro, in Dalmalia, and
ill the territory of Venice, was born at Arba, about 15G1. He came to Eng-
land with Mr. Bedel, in 1617, and, on professing himself a convert to the Prot-
estant faith, was made Dean of Windsor. He was, however, persuaded by the
Ambassador Gondamar, to return to Rome, and his former religion : but though
the promise of a Cardinal's hat was held out to him, he was seized by the In-
quisition, and died in prison, in 1625.
t A painted shield, with the titles of the Ambassador written below it, called
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 155
where he rested, or lodged, when he returned from his last Em-
bassy into England.
Henricus Wottonius Anglo- Cantianus, Thomas optimi viri films
natu minimus, a Serenissimo Jacobo I. Mag. Brit. Rege, in eques-
trem titulum adscitus, ejusdemque ter ad Rempiihlica?n Venetam Le-
gatus Ordtnarius, semel ad ConfoRderatarum Provinciarum Ordines
in Juliacensi negotio. Bis ad Carolum Emanuel, Sabaudias Du-
cem ; semel ad Unitos Superioris Germanise Principes in Conven-
tii Heilbrunensi. poslremo ad Arcliiducem Leopold um, Ducem
Wittembergensem, Civitates LnperiaJes, Argentinam, Ulmamque,
et ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum Secundum, Le-
gatus Extraordinarius, tandem hoc didicit,
Animas jieri sapientiores quiescendo.
To London he came the year before King James died ; who
having, for the reward of his foreign service, promised him the
reversion of an office, vvhich was fit to be turned into present
money, which he wanted, for a supply of his present necessities ;
and also granted him the reversion of the Master of the Rolls
place, if he outlived charitable Sir Julius CEEsar,* who then pos-
sessed it, and then grown so old that he was said to be kept alive
beyond Nature's course, by the prayers of those many poor which
he daily relieved.
But these were but in hope ; and his condition required a pres-
ent support : for in the beginning of these employments he sold
to his elder brother, the Lord Wotton, the rent-charge left by his
good father ; and — which is worse — was now at his return in-
debted to several persons, whom he was not able to satisfy, but by
a Lodcrinsr Scutcheon, was commonly hung over the door of the house in which
the Envoy resided ; a custom derived probably from the ancient times of chiv-
alry, when the knights who were to appear in a tournament suspended their
arms at the windows of their dwellings.
* An eminent Civilian, descended from a very ancient Italian family, and
born at Tottenham, in Middlesex, in 1557, his father being Physician to the
Queens Mary and Elizabeth. He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford ;
but he took his D.C.L. degree at Paris. In 1563 he was made Master of the
Requests, Judge of the Admiralty, and Master of St. Catherine's Hospital ;
King James I. knighted him, made him Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
Master of the Rolls. He died in 1636.
156 THE LIFE OF
the King's payment of hia arrears, due for his foreign employ-
ments. He liad brought into England many servants, of which
some were German and Italian Artists : this was part of his con-
dition, \vi\o had many times hardly sufficient to supply the occa-
sions of the day : for it may by no means be said of his providence,
as himself said of Sir Philip Sidney's wit, " That it was the very
measure of congruity," he being always so careless of money, as
though our Saviour's words, " Care not for to-morrow," wej e to
be literally understood.
But it pleased the God of Providence, that in this juncture of
time, the Provostship of his Majesty's College of Eton, became
void by the death of Mr. Thomas Murray,* for which there were,
as the place deserved, many earnest and powerful suitorsf to the
King. And Sir Flenry, v/ho had for many years — like Sisyphus
— rolled the restless stone of a State-employment, knowing experi-
mentally that the great blessing of sweet content was not to be
found in multitudes of men or business, and tliat a College was
the fittest place to nourish holy thoughts, and to afford rest both to
his body and mind, which his agC'— being now almost threescore
years — seemed to require, did therefore use his own, and the in-
terest of all his friends to procure that place. By which means,
and quilting the King of liis promised reversionary offices, and a
piece of honest policy, — which I have not time to relate, — he got
a grant of it from his Majesty.
And this was a fair satisfaction to his mind ; but money was
wanting to furnish him with those necessaries which attend re-
moves, and a settlement iti such a place ; and, to procure that, he
wrote to his old friend Mr. Nicholas Pey,:}: for his assistance. Of
which Nicholas Pey I shall here say a little, for the clearing of
some passages that I shall mention hereafter.
* He was a native of Scotland,. Tutor and Secretary to Prince Charles. His
zeal in opposing the marriage of the Prince with the Infanta of Spain, occa-
sioned his imprisonment for sometime, along v.'ith Dr. George Hackwell, Arch-
deacon of Surrey, the author of " A Discourse against the Spanish Match."
He died April 1, 1G23.
t Among other unsuccessful candidates at this time was the great Lord Ba-
con, as appears from a letter written by him to Mr. Secretary Conway, dated
Gray's Inn, March 25, 1623.
t One of the Clerks of t!ic Kitchen.
r^
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 157
He was in his youth a Clerk, or in some such way a servant to
the Lord Wotton, Sir Henry's brother ; and by him, when he was
Comptroller of the King's Household, was made a great officer in
his Majesty's house. This and other favours being conferred upon
Mr. Pey — in whom there was a radical honesty — were always
.thankfully acknowledged by him, and his gratitude expressed by
a willing and unwearied serviceableness to that family even till
his death. To him Sir Henry Wotton wrote, to use all his interest
at Court, to procure five hundred pounds of his arrears, for less
would not settle him in the College ; and the want of such a sum
" wrinkled his face with care ;" — 'twas his own expression, — and,
that money being procured, he should the next day after find him
in his College, and " Invidice, remedium''' writ over his study door.
This money, being part of his arrears, was by his own, and
the help of honest Nicholas Pey's interest in Court, quickly pro-
cured him, and he as quickly in the College ; the place^ where
indeed his happiness then seemed to have its beginning / the Col-
lege being to his mind as a quiet harbour to a sea-faling man
after a tempestuous voyage ; where, by the bounty of the pious
Founder, his very food and raiment were plentifully provided for
him in kind, and more money than enough ; where he was freed
from all corroding cares, and seated on such a rock, as the waves
of want could not probably shake : where he might sit in a calm,
and, looking down, behold the busy multitude turmoiled and toss-
ed in a tempestuous sea of trouble and dangers ; and — as Sir
William Davenant has happily expressed the like of another per-
son—
Laugh at the graver husiness of the State,
Which speaks men rather icise than fortunate.
Being thus settled according to the desires of his heart, his first
study was the Statutes of the College ; by which he conceived
himself bound to enter into Holy Orders, which he did, being made
Deacon with all convenient speed. Shortly after which time, as
he came in his surplice from the Church-service, an old friend, a
per.son of quality, met him so attired, and joyed him of his new
habit. To whom Sir Henry Wotton replied, " I thank God and the
158 TPxE LIFE OF
King, by whose goodness I now am in this condition ; a condition
which that Emperor Charles the Fifth seemed -to approve ; who,
after so many remarkable victories, when his glory was great in
the eyes of all men, freely gave up his Crown, and the many cares
that attended it, to Philip his Son, making a iioly retreat to a
Cloisteral life, where he might, by devout meditations, consult
with God, — which the rich or busy men seldom do — and have
leisure both to examine the errors of his life past, and prepare for
that great day, wherein all flesh must make an account of their
actions : and after a kind of tempestuous life, I now have the like
advantage from him, ' that makes the outgoings of the morning to
praise him ;' even from my God, whom I daily magnify for this
particular mercy of an exemption from business, a quiet mind,
and a liberal maintenance, even in this part of my life, when my
age and infirmities seem to sound me a retreat from the pleasures
of this world, and invite me to contemplation, in which I have
ever taken the greatest felicity."
And now to speak a little of the employment of his time in the
College. After his customary public Devotions, his use was to
retire into his Study, and there to spend some hours in reading
the Bible, and Authors in Divinity, closing up his meditations
with private prayer ; this was, for the most part, his employment
in the forenoon. But when he was once sat to dinner, then no-
thing but cheerful thoughts possessed his mind, and those still
increased by constant company at his table, of such persons as
brought thither additions both of learning and pleasure : but some
part of most days was usually spent in Philosophical conclusions.
Nor did he forget his innate pleasure of Angling, which he would
usually call, " his idle time not idly spent ;" saying often, " he
would rather live five May months than forty Decembers."
He was a great lover of his neighbours, and a bountiful enter-
tainer of them very often at his table, where his meat was choice,
and his discourse better.
He was a constant cherisher of all those youths in that School,
in whom he found cither a constant diligence, or a genius that
prompted them to learning ; for whose encouragement he was —
beside many other things of necessity and beauty — at the charge
of setting up in it two rows of pillars, on which he caused to be
SIR HENRY WOTTOX. 159
choicely drawn the pictures of divers of the most famous Greek
and Latin Historians, Poets, and Orators ; persuading them not
to neirlect Rhetoric, because ••' Ahnio-htv God has left mankind
atfections to be wrought upon :" And he would often say, "That
none despised Eloquence, but such dull souls as were not capable
of it." He would also often make choice of some observations
out of those Historians and Poets ; and would never leave the
School, without dropping some choice Greek or Latin apophthegm
or sentence, that might be worthy of a room in the memory of a
growing scholar.*
He was pleased constantly to breed up one or more hopeful
youths, which he picked out of the School, and took into his own
domestic care, and to attend him at his meals : out of whose dis-
course and behaviour, he gathered observations for the better
completing of his intended work of Education : of which, by his
still striving to make the whole better, he lived to leave but part
to posterity.
He was a great enemy to wrangling disputes of Religion ; con-
cerning which I shall say a little, both to testify that, and to show
the readiness of his wit.
Having at his being in Rome made acquaintance with a
pleasant Priest, who invited him one evening to hear their Vesper
music at Church ; the Priest seeing Sir Henry stand obscurely in
a corner, sends to him by a boy of the Choir this question, writ
in a small piece of paper ; " Where w^as your religion to be
found before Luther ?" To which question Sir Henry presently
underwrit, " My Religion was to be found then, where yours
is not to be found now, in the written word of God."'
The next Vesper, Sir Henry went purposely to the same Church,
and sent one of the Choir boys with this question to his honest,
pleasant friend, the Priest : -' Do you believe all those many thou-
sands of poor Christians were damned, that were excommunicated
because the Pope and the Duke of Venice could not agree about
their temporal powder ? even those poor Christians that knew not
why they quarrelled. Speak your conscience." To which he
underwrit in French, '■ Monsieur, excusez-moi."
* This paragraph was uot in the first edition, neither was the one beginning
" The next Ves'per."
160 THE LIFE OF
To one that asked him, " Whether a Papist may be saved V
he replied, " You may be saved without knowing tliat. Look to
yourself."
To another, whose earnestness exceeded his knowledge, and was
still railing against the Papists, he gave this advice : " Pray, Sir,
ibrbear till you have studied the points better : for the wise
Italians have this Proverb ; ' He that understands amiss con-
cludes worse.' And take heed of thinking, the farther you go
from the Church of Rome, the nearer you are to God."
And to another that spake indiscreet and bitter words against
Arminius, I heard him reply to this purpose :
" In my travel towards Venice, as I passed through Germany,
I rested almost a year at Leyden, wliere I entered into an ac-
quaintance with Arminius,* — then the Professor of Divinity in
that University, — a man much talked of in this age, which is
made up of opposition and controversy. And indeed, if I mistake
not Arminius in his expressions, — as so weak a brain as mine is
may easily do, — then I know I differ from him in some points ;
yet I profess my judgment of him to be, that he was a man of
most rare learning, and I knew him to be of a most strict life, and
of a most meek spirit. And that he M-as so mild appears by his
proposals to our Master Perkinsf of Cambridge, from whose book,
' Of the Order and Causes of Salvation' — which first was writ in
Latin — Arminius took the occasion of writing some queries to him
concerning the consequents of his doctrine ; intending them, 'lis
said, to come privately to Mr. Perkins' own hands, and to receive
from him a like private and a like loving answer. But Mr.
Perkins died before these queries came to him, and 'tis tiiought
Arminius meant them to die with him ; for though he lived long
* James Arminius, born in 15G0, at Oudewater, studied at Leyden, Geneva,
and Padua. Being employed to answer Theodore Beza on Predestination, he
became a convert to tlie very tenets he was endeavouring to refute ; and the
principal features of his persuasion were, a denial of election, a belief in the
free-will of man to attain salvation, and an idea that Christians may fall away,
and be lost. The violent disputes in wliich these principles involved him,
preyed upon his spirits, and brought on an illness, of which he died in 1609.
t Mr. William Perkins, was of Christ College in the University of Cam-
bridge, where lie died in 1602. He was minister of St. Andrew's parish, in
Cambridge, and had the character of a learned, pious, and laborious preacher.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 161
after, I have heard he forbore to publish them : but since his
death his sons did not. And 'tis pity, if God had been so pleased,
that Mr. Perkins did not live to see, consider, and answer those
proposals himself; for he was also of a most meek spirit, and of
great and sanctified learning. And though, since their deaths,
many of high parts and piety have undertaken to clear the con-
troversy ; yet for the most part they have rather satisfied them-
selves, than convinced the dissenting party. And, doubtless,
many middle-witted men, which yet may mean well, many schol-
ars that are in the highest form for learning, which yet may
preach well, men that are but preachers, and shall never know,
till they come to Heaven, where the questions stick betwixt
Arminius and the Church of England, — if there be any, — -will
yet in this world be tampering with, and thereby perplexing the
controversy, and do therefore justly fall under the reproof of St.
Jude, for being biisy-bodies, and for meddling with things they
understand not."
And here it offers itself — I think not unfitly — to tell the Reader,
that a friend of Sir Henry Wotton's being designed for the em-
ployment of an Ambassador, came to Eton, and requested from
him some experimental rules for his prudent and safe carriage in
his negociations ; to whom he smilingly gave this for an infallible
aphorism ; " That, to be in safety himself, and serviceable to his
country, he should always, and upon all occasions, speak the truth,
— it seems a State paradox — for, says Sir Henry Wotton, you
shall never be believed ; and by this means your truth will secure
yourself, if you shall ever be called to any account ; and it will
also put your adversaries — who will still hunt counter — to a loss
in all their disquisitions and undertakings."
Many more of this nature might be observed ; but they must
be laid aside : for I shall here make a little stop, and invite the
Reader to look back with me, whilst, according to my promise, I
shall say a little of Sir Albertus Morton, and Mr. William Bedel,
whom I formerly mentioned.
I have told you that are my Reader, that at Sir Henry Wot-
ton's first going Ambassador into Italy, his Cousin, Sir Albertus
Morton, went his Secretary : and I am next to tell you, that Sir
Albertus died Secretary of State to our late King ; but cannot,
12
162 THE LIFE OF
am not able to express the sorrow that possessed Sir Henry Wot-
ton, at his first hearing the news that Sir Albertus was by death
lost to him and tliis world. And yet the Reader may partly guess
by these following expressions : the first in a letter to his Nicho-
las Pey, of which this that foUoweth is a part.
" And, my dear Nich. when I had been here almost a fort-
night, in the midst of my great contentment, I received notice of
Sir Albertus Morton his departure out of this world, who was
dearer to me than mine own being in it : what a wound it is to
my heart, you that knew him, and know me, will easily believe :
but our Creator's will must be done, and unrepiningly received
by his own creatures, who is the Lord of all Nature and of all
Fortune, when he laketh to himself now one, and then another,
till that expected day, wherein it shall please him to dissolve the
whole, and wrap up even the Heaven itself as a scroll of parch-
ment. This is the last philosopliy tliat we must study upon earth ;
let us therefore, that yet remain here, as our days and friends
waste, reinforce our love to each other ; which of all virtues, both
spiritual and moral, liath the highest privilege, because death
itself cannot end it. And my good Nich." &;c.
This is a part of his sorrow thus expressed to his Nich. Pey:
the other part is in this following Elegy, of which the Reader
may safely conclude it was too hearty to be dissembled.
TEARS
WEPT AT THE GRAVE OF SIR ALBERTUS MORTON,
BY HENRY WOTTON.
Silence, in truth would speak my sorrow hest,
For deepest wounds can least their feelings tell :
Yet, let me harrow from mine own unrest,
A time to bid him., luhor.i I lov^d, farewell.
Oh, my unhappy lines ! you that before
Have served my youth to vent some wanton cries,
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 163
And now, congeaVd with griefs can scarce implore
Strength, to accent, " Here my Alhertus UesJ^
This is that sahle stone, this is the cave
And loomh of earth, that doth his corse embrace:
While others sing his^ praise, let me engrave
These bleeding numbers to adorn the place.
Here will I imint the characters of woe ;
Here will I pay my tribute to the dead ;
And here my faithful tears in showers shall jlow,
To humanize thejiints on which I tread.
iVIiere, though I mourn my matchless loss alone,
And none between my iveakness judge and me ;
Yet even these pensive walls allow my moan,
Whose doleful echoes to my plaints agree.
But is he gone ? and live I rhyming here,
As if some Muse icould listen to my lay ?
When all distun'd sit waiting for their dear.
And bathe the banks where he was wont to play.
Dwell then in endless bliss with happy souls,
Discharg' d from Nature^ s and from Fortune^ s trust ;
Whilst on this fuid globe my hour-glass rolls,
And runs the rest of my remaining dust.
IT. W.
This concerning his Sir Alhertus Morton,
And for what I shall say concerning Mr. William Bedel, I must
prepare the Reader by lolling liim, that when King James sent
Sir Henry Wotton Ambassador to the State of Venice, he sent
also an Ambassador to the Kin<T of France, and another to the
King of Spain. With the Ambassador of France went Joseph
Hall, late Bishop of Norwich, whose many and useful works
speak his great merit: with the Ambassador to Spain went James
Wadsworth ; and with Sir Henry Wotton went William Bedel.
164 THE LIFE OF
These three Chaplains to these three Ambassadors were all
bred in one University, all of one College,* all beneficed in one
Diocese, and all most dear and entire friends. But in Spain, Mr.
Wadsworth met with temptations, or reasons, such as were so
powerful as to persuade him — who of the three was formerly ob-
served to be the most averse to that Religion that calls itself Cath-
olic— to disclaim himself a member of the Church of England,
and to declare himself for the Church of Rome, discharging
himself of his attendance on the Ambassador, and betaking him-
self to a monasterial life, in which he lived very regularly and so
died.'|-
When Dr. Hall, the late Bishop of Norwich, came into Eng-
land, he wrote to Mr. Wadsworth, — it is the first Epistle in his
printed Decades, — to persuade his return, or to shew the reason
of his apostacy. The letter seemed to have in it many sweet
expressions of love ; and yet there was in it some expres-
sion that was so unpleasant to Mr. Wadsworth, that he chose
rather to acquaint his old friend Mr. Bedel with his motives; by
which means there passed betwixt Mr. Bedel and Mr. Wadsworth,
divers letters which be extant in print, and did well deserve it ; for
in them there seems to be a controversy, not of Religion only, but
who should answer each other with most love and meekness ;
which I mention the rather, because it too seldom falls out to be
so in a book -war.
There is yet a little more to be said of Mr. Bedel, for the
greater part of which the Reader is referred to tiiis following let-
ter of Sir Henry Wotton's, written to our late King Cimrles the
First :
" May it please Your most Gracious Majesty,
" Having been informed that certain persons have, by the good
wishes of tlie Archbishop of Armagh, been directed hither, with a
most humble petition unto your Majesty that you will be pleased
to make Mr. William Bedel — now resident upon a small benefice
in Suffolk — Governor of your College at Dublin, for the good of
* Emaiinel College in Cambridoje.
1 lie had been appointed to teach the Infanta English, when the match
between her and Prince Charles was supposed to be concluded.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 165
that Society ; and myself being required to render unto your
Majesty some testimony of the said William Bedel who was long
my Chaplain at Venice, in the time of my first employment there,
I am bound in all conscience and truth — so far as your Majesty
will vouchsafe to accept my poor judgment — to affirm of him, that
I think hardly a fitter man for that charge could have been pro-
pounded unto your Majesty in your whole kingdom, for singu-
lar erudition and piety, conformity to the rites of the Church,
and zeal to advance the cause of God, wherein his travails
abroad were not obscure in the time of the Excommunication
of the Venetians.
" For it may please your Majesty to know, that this is the man
whom Padre Paulo took, I may say, into his very soul, with whom
he did communicate the inwardest thoughts of his heart ; from
whom he professed to have received more knowledge in all Di-
vinity, both scholastical and positive, than from any that he had
ever practised in his days ; of which all the passages were well
known to the King your Father, of most blessed memory. And
so, with your Majesty's good favour, I will end this needless
office ; for the general fame of his learning,, his life and Chris-
tian temper, and those religious labours which himself hath
dedicated to your Majesty, do better describe him than I am able.
Your Majesty's
Most humble and faithfnl servant,
H. WoTTON.''
To this letter I shall add this : that he was — to the great
joy of Sir Henry Wotton — made Governor of the said college ;*
and that, after a fair discharge of his duty and trust there he was
thence removed to be Bishop of Kilmore.f In both places his
life was so holy, as seemed to equal the primitive Christians : for
as they, so he kept all the Ember-weeks, observed — besides his
private devotions — the canonical hours of prayer very strictly,
and so he did all the Feasts and Fast-days of his mother, the
Church of England. To which I may add, that his patience and
charity were both such, as shewed his aflections were set upon
things that are above ; for indeed his whole life brought forth the
* Aug. 1627. t Sept. 3, 1629.
166 THE LIFE OF
fruits of the spirit ; there being in him such a remarkable meek-
ness, that as St. Paul advised his Timothy in the election of a
Bishop, '•' That he have a good report of those that be without ;"*
so had he : for those that were without, even those that in point
of Religion were of the Roman persuasion, — of which there were
very many in his Diocese, — did yet — such is the Power of visible
piety — ever look upon him with respect and reverence, and testi-
fied it by a concealing, and safe protecting him from death in the
late horrid rebellion in Ireland, v/hen the fury of the wild Irish
knew no distinction of persons : and yet, there and then he was
protected and cherished by those of a contrary persuasion ; and
there and then he died, not by violence or misusage, but by grief
in a quiet prison (1629). And with him was lost many of his
learned writings which were thought worthy of preservation ; and
amongst the rest was lost the Bible, which by many years labour,
and conference, and study, he had translated into the Irish tongue,
with an intent to have printed it for public use.
More might be said of Mr. Bedel, who, I told the Reader, was
Sir Henry Wotton's first Chaplain ; and much of his second
Chaplain, Isaac Bargrave,t Doctor in Divinity, and the late
learned and hospitable Dean of Canterbury ; as also of the merits
of many others, that had the happiness to attend Sir Henry in his
foreign employments : but the Reader may think that in this di-
gression I have already carried him too far from Eton College, and
therefore I shall lead him back as gently and as orderly as I may to
that place, for a further conference concerning Sir Henry Wotton.
Sir Henry Wotton had proposed to himself, before he entered
into his Collegiate life, to write the Life of Martin Luther, and in
it the History of the Reformation, as it was carried on in Ger-
many : for the doing of which he had many advantages by his
several Embassies into those parts, and his interest in the several
Princes of the Empire ; by whose means he had access to the
* 1 Tim. iii. 7.
t Dean of Canterbury, born at Bridge, in Kent, in 1586, and educated at
Clare Hall, Cambridge. He was fined lOOOZ. at the commencement of the
Civil Wars, for being a member of the Convocation; and, in 1642, Colonel
Sandys, whom he had saved from execution, threw him into the Fleet, which
canned his death in January. ]G43.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 167
Records of all the Hans Towns, and the knowledge of many secret
passages that fell not under common view ; and in these he had
made a happy progress, as was well known to his worthy friend Dr.
Duppa, the late reverend Bishop of Salisbury. But in the midst
of this design, his late Majesty King Charles the First, that knew
the value of Sir Henry Wotton's pen, did, by a persuasive loving
violence — to which may be added a promise of 500/. a year —
force him to lay Luther aside, and betake himself to write the
history of England ; in which he proceeded to write some short
characters of a few Kings, as a foundation upon which he meant
to build ; but for the present, meant to be more large in the story
of Henry the Sixth, the Founder of that College, in which he
then enjoyed all the worldly happiness of his present being. But
Sir Henry died in the midst of this undertaking, and the footsteps
of his labours are not recoverable by a more than common dili-
gence.*
This is some account both of his inclination and the employ-
ment of his time in the College, where he seemed to have his
youth renewed by a continual conversation with that learned so-
ciety, and a daily recourse of other friends of choicest breeding
and parts ; by which that great blessing of a cheerful heart was
still maintained : he beinir always free, even to the last of his
days, from that peevishness which usually attends age.
And yet his mirth was sometimes damped by the remembrance
of divers old debts, partly contracted in his foreign employments,
for which his just arrears due from the King would have made
satisfaction : but being still delayed with Court-promises, and
finding some decays of health, he did, about two years before his
death, out of a Christian desire that none should be a loser by him,
make his last Will ; concerning which a doubt still remains,
namely, whether it discovered more holy wit, or conscionable
policy. But there is no doubt but that his chief design, was a
Christian endeavour that his debts might be satisfied.
And that it may remain as such a testimony, and a legacy to
those that loved him, I shall here impart it to the reader, as it was
found written with his own hand.
• * The passages from, " for I shall here make a little stop" in page 148 to
Ibis place wore not, in the first edition.
168 THE LIFE OF
" In the name of God Almighty and All-merciful, I Henry
Wotton, Provost of his Majesty's College by Eton, being mindful
of mine own mortality, which the sin of our first parents did bring
upon all flesh, do by this last Will and Testament thus dispose of
myself, and the poor things I shall leave in this world. My Soul
I bequeath to the Immortal God my Maker, Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, my blessed Redeemer and Mediator, through his all
sole-sufficient satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, and ef-
ficient for his elect ; in the number of whom I am one by his
mere grace, and thereof most unremoveably assured by his Holy
Spirit, the true eternal Comforter. My body I bequeath to the
earth, if I shall end my transitory days, at or near Eton, to be
buried in the Chapel of the said College, as the Fellows shall dis-
pose thereof, with whom I have lived — my God knows — in all
loving affection ; or if I shall die near Bocton Malherbe, in the
County of Kent, then I wish to be laid in that Parish-Church, as
near as may be to the sepulchre of my good father, expecting a
joyful resurrection with him in the day of Christ."
After this account of his faith, and this surrender of his soul to
that God that inspired it, and this direction for the disposal of his
body, he proceeded to appoint that his Executors should lay over
his grave a marble stone, plain, and not costly : and considering
that time moulders even marble to dust, — for — *Monuments them-
selves must die ; therefore did he — waving the common way — ■
think fit rather to preserve his name — to which the son of Sirach
adviseth all men — by a useful Apophthegm, than by a large enu-
meration of his descent or merits, of both which he might justly
have boasted ; but he was content to forget them, and did choose
only this prudent, pious sentence to discover his disposition, and
preserve his memory.
It was directed by him to be thus inscribed ;
Hie jacet hujus Sententice j)rimus Author :
DISPUTANDI PRURITUS ECCLESIARUM SCABIES.
Nomen alias gucere.
* Juven. Sat. x. 146.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 169
Whicli may be Englished thus :
Here lies the first Author of this sentence :
THE ITCH OF DISPUTATION WILL PROVE
THE SCAB OF THE CHURCH.
Inquire his Name elsewhere. ^
And if any shall object, as I think some have, that Sir Henry
Wotton was not the first author of this sentence : but that this, or
a sentence like it, was long before his time ; to him I answer,
that Solomon says, " Nothing can be spoken, that hath not been
spoken ; for there is no new thing under the sun." But grant,
that in his various reading he had met with this, or a like sentence,
yet reason mixed with charity should persuade all Readers to be-
lieve, that Sir Henry Wotton 's mind was then so fixed on that
part of the communion of Saints which is above, that an holy
lethargy did surprise his memory. For doubtless, if he had
not believed himself to be the first author of what he said, he
was too prudent, first to own, and then expose it to public view and
censure of every critic. And questionless it will be charity in
all Readers to think his mind was then so fixed on Heaven, that
a holy zeal did transport him ; and that, in this sacred ecstacy,
his thoughts were then only of the Church Triumphant, into
which he daily expected his admission ; and that Almighty God
was then pleased to make him a Prophet, to tell the Church Mil-
itant, and particularly that part of it in this nation, where the
weeds of controversy grow to be daily both more numerous and
more destructive to humble piety ; and where men have con-
sciences that boggle at ceremonies, and yet scruple not to speak
and act such sins as the ancient humble Christians believed to be
a sin to think; and where, our reverend Hooker says, "former
simplicity, and softness of spirit, is not now to be found, because
Zeal hath drowned Charity, and Skill, Meekness." It will be
good to think, that these sad changes, have proved this Epitaph to
be a useful caution unto us of this nation ; and the sad effects
thereof in Germany have proved it to be a mournful truth.
170 THE LIFE OF
This by way of observation concerning his Epitaph ; the rest
of his Will follows in his own words :
" Further, I the said Henry Wotton, do constitute and ordain to
be joint E.xecutors of this my last Will and Testament, my two
grand-nephews, Albert Morton, second son to Sir Robert Morton,
Knight, late deceased, and Thomas Bargrave, eldest son to Dr.
Bargrave, Dean of Canterbur\^, husband to my right virtuous and
only Niece. And I do pray the foresaid Dr. Bargrave, and Mr.
Nicholas Pey, my most faithful and chosen friends, together v.-ith
Mr. John Harrison,* one of the Fellows of Eton College, best
acquainted with my books, and pictures, and other utensils, to be
Supervisors of this my last Will and Testament. And I do pray
the foresaid Dr. Bargrave, and Mr. Nicholas Pev, to be solicitors
for such arrearages as shall appear duo unto me from his Maj-
esty's Exchequer at the time of my death ; and to assist my fore-
named Executors in some reasonable and conscientious satisfac-
tion of my creditors, and discharge of my legacies now specified ;
or that shall be hereafter added unto this my Testament, by any
Codicil or Schedule, or left in the hands, or in any memorial with
the aforesaid Mr. John Harrison. And first, to my most dear
Sovereign and Master, of incomparable goodness, — in whose gra-
cious opinion I have ever had some portion, as far as the interest
of a plain honest man — I leave four pictures at large of those
Dukes of Venice, in whose time I u^as there employed, with their
names written on the back side, which hang in my great ordinary
Dining room, done after the life by Edoardo Fialetto : likewise a
table of the Venetian College, where Ambassadors had their au-
dience, hanging over the mantle of the chimney in the said room,
done by the same hand, which containeth a draught in little, well
resembling the famous Duke Leonardo Donato, in a time which
needed a wise and constant man. Item. The picture of a Duke
of Venice, hanging over against the door, done either by Titiano,
or some other principal hand, long before my time. Most humbly
* Elected Fellow of Eton College, October 28tli, 1636. lie was proba-
bly that "learned and emuient Divine," whom Anthony "Wood mentions as
the Author of *' A Vindication of the Holy Scriptures, or the Manifestation of
Jesus Christ, the true Meiisiah already come." Loud. 1656. 8vo.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 171
beseeching his Majesty, that the said pieces may remain in some
corner of any of his houses, for a poor memorial of his most
humble vassal.
*' Item. I leave his said Majesty all the papers and negociations
of Sir Nich. Throgmorton,* Knight, during his famous employ-
ment under Queen Elizabeth, in Scotland, and in France ; which
contain divers secrets of State, that perchance, his Majesty will
think fit to be preserved in his Paper-Office, after they have been
perused and sorted by Mr. Secretary Windebank, with whom I
have heretofore, as I remember, conferred about them. They
were committed to my disposal by Sir Arthur Throgmorton, his
Son, to whose worthy memory I cannot better discharge my faith,
than bv assio-nincr them to the highest place of trust. Item. 1
.< o o or
leave to our most gracious and virtuous Queen Mary, Dioscorides,
with the plants naturally coloured, and the text translated by
Matthiolo, in the best language of Tuscany, whence her said Maj-
esty is lineally descended, for a poor token of my thankful devo-
tion, for the honour she was once pleased to do my private Study
with her presence. I leave to the most hopeful Prince, the pic-
ture of the elected and crowned Queen of Bohemia, his Aunt, of
clear and resplendent virtues, through the clouds of her fortune.
To my Lord's Grace of Canterbury nov/ being, I leave my pic-
ture of Divine Love, rarely copied fi'om one in the King's gal-
leries, of my presentation to his Majesty ; beseeching him to re-
ceive it as a pledge of my humble reverence to his great wisdom.
And to the most worthy Lord Bishop of London, Lord High
Treasurer of EnMand, in true admiration of his Christian sim-
plicity and contempt of earthly pomp, I leave a picture of He-
raclitus bewailiniz, and Democritus lauo;hincr at the world : most
humbly beseeching the said Lord Archbishop his Grace, and the
Lord Bishop of London, of both whose favours I have tasted in
my life-time, to intercede v.'ith our most gracious Sovereign after
* An eminent Statesman and Ambassador in the Court of Elizabetli, whose
daughter Sir Walter Raleigh married, fie was imprisoned in the Tower, as
a party in Wyatt's insurrection, but was acquitted for want of evidence ; and
being greatly esteemed by Secretary Walsingham, he was employed in Em-
bassies, both to France and Scotland. He died in February, 1571, being ta-
ken ill in the house of Treasurer Cecil, and not without suspicion of poison.
172 THE LIFE OF
my death, in the bowels of Jesus Christ, that out of compassionate
memory of my long services, — wherein I more studied the public
honour than mine own utility, — some order may be taken out of
my arrears due in the Exchequer, for such satisfaction of my
creditors, as those whom I have ordained Supervisors of this my
last Will and Testament shall present unto their Lordships, with-
out their further trouble : hoping likewise in his Majesty's most
indubitable goodness, that he will keep me from all prejudice,
which I may otherwise suffer by any defect of formality in the
demand of my said arrears. To for a poor addition to his
Cabinet, I leave, as emblems of his attractive virtues and obli-
ging nobleness, my great Loadstone, and a piece of Amber, of
both kinds naturally united, and only differing in degree of con-
coction, which is thought somewhat rare. Item. A piece of
Chrystal Sexangular — as they grow all — grasping divers several
things within it, which I bought among the Rhoetian Alps, in the
very place where it grew ; recommending most humbly unto his
Lordship, the reputation of my poor name in the point of my
debts, as I have done to the forneamed Spiritual Lords, and am
heartily sorry that I have no better token of my humble thank-
fulness to his honoured person. Item. I leave to Sir Francis
Windebank, one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State,
— whom I found my great friend in point of necessity, — the four
Seasons of old Bassano, to hang near the eye in his Parlour, — be-
ing in little form, — which I bought at Venice, where I first
entered into his most worthy acquaintance.
" To the above-named Dr. Bargrave, Dean of Canterbury, I
leave all my Italian Books not disposed in this Will. I leave to
him likewise my Viol de Gamba, which hath been twice with me
in Italy, in which country I first contracted with him an unre-
moveable affection. To my other Supervisor, Mr. Nicholas Pey,
I leave my Chest, or Cabinet of Instruments and Engines of all
kinds of uses : in the lower box whereof, are some* fit to be be-
queathed to none but so entire an honest man as he is. I leave
him likewise forty pounds for his pains in the solicitation of my
arrears ; and am sorry that my ragged estate can reach no fur-
* In it were Italian locks, pick-locks, screws to force open doors, and many
things of worth and rarity, that he had gathered in his foreign travel.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 173
iher to one that hath taken such care for me in the same kind,
during all my foreign employments. To the Library of Eton
College, I leave all my Manuscripts not before disposed, and to
each of the Fellows a plain Ring of Gold, enamelled black, all
save the verge, with this motto within, " Amor unit o?nnia.''
■ " This is my last Will and Testament, save what shall be
added by a Schedule thereunto annexed, written on the First of
October, in the present Year of our Redemption, 1637, and sub-
scribed by myself, with the testimony of these Witnesses,
Henry Wotton."
Nich. Oudert,
Geo. Lash."
And now, because the mind of man is best satisfied by the
knowledge of events, I think fit to declare, that every one that
was named in his Will did gladly receive their legacies : by
which, and his most just and passionate desires for the payment
of his debts, they joined in assisting the Overseers of his Will ;*
and by their joint endeavours to the King, — than whom none was
more willing — conscionable satisfaction was given for his just
debts.
The next thing wherewith I shall acquaint the Reader is, that
he went usually once a year, if not oftener, to the beloved Bocton
Hall, where he would say, " He found a cure for all cares, by
the cheerful company, v/hich he called the living furniture of that
place ; and a restoration of his strength, by the connaturalness of
that which he called his genial air."
He yearly went also to Oxford. But the Summer before his
death he changed that for a journey to Winchester College, to
which School he was first removed from Bocton, And as he re-
turned from Winchester towards Eton College, said to a friend,
his companion in that journey ; '•' How useful was that advice of
a holy Monk, who persuaded his friend to perform his customary
devotions in a constant place, because in that place we usually
meet with those very thoughts which possessed us at our last
* The Will is recorded in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, in the vol-
ume marked Coventry, Article 8: it was proved Jan. 18th, 1639-40, before
Sir Henry Marten.
174 THE LIFE OF
being there ! And I find it thus far experimentally true, that at
my now being in that School, and seeing that very place where
I sat when I was a boy, occasioned me to remember those very
thoughts of my youth which then possessed me : sweet thoughts
indeed, that promised my growing years numerous pleasures,
without mixtures of cares : and those to be enjoyed, when time —
which I therefore thought slow-paced — had changed my youth
into manhood. But age and experience have taught me that
those were but empty hopes ; for I have always found it true, as
my Saviour did foretell, ' sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.'
Nevertheless, I saw there a succession of bovs usins the same
recreations, and, questionless, possessed with the same thoughts
that then possessed me. Thus one generation succeeds another,
both in their lives, recreations, hopes, fears, and death."
After his return from Winchester to Eton, which was about
five months before his death, he became much more retired and
contemplative : in which time he was often visited by Mr. John
Hales,* — learned Mr. John Hales, — then a Fellow of that Col-
lege, to whom upon an occasion he spake to this purpose : " I
have, in my passage to my grave, met with most of those joj'^s of
which a discoursive soul is capable ; and been entertained with
more inferior pleasures than the sons of men are usually made
partakers of: nevertheless, in this voyage I have not always
floated on the calm sea of content j but have often met with cross
* Mr. John Hales, of Eton, coinmonly called " the Ever-Memorable," and
" the Walking Library," from his extensive erudition, was Greek Professor of
the University of Oxford, and was born at Bath in the year 1584. He en-
tered Corpus Christi College at the age of 15, whence he was elected a Fel-
low of Merton in 1606, Sir Henry Saville having discovered his prodigious
talents. In 1613, he left Oxford for a Fellowship at Eton ; and in 1618, he
attended Sir Dudley Carleton, the Ambassador of James I. to the Synod of
Dort, of the proceedings of which, he v/rote a faithful and regular narrative in
a series of Letters. In 1638, Archbishop Laud made him one of his Chap-
lains : and, in the following year, a Canon of Windsor ; he suffered much from
his attachment to the Royal cause, and v.'as obliged to sell his collection of
books at a low price, notv.'ithstanding which, and the assistance of some
friends, he died in extreme distress at Eton, on the 19th of May, 1656.
The passage concerning Mr. Hales is wholly omitted in the first edition of
the Life of Wotton.
SIR HEx\RY WOTTON. 175
winds and storms, and with many troubles of mind and tempta-
tions to evil. And yet, though I have been, and am a man com-
passed about with human frailties, Almighty God hath by his
grace prevented me from making shipwreck of faith and a good
conscience, the thought of which is now the joy of my heart, and
I most humbly praise him for it : and I humbly acknowledge that
it was not myself, but he that hath kept me to this great age, and
let him take the glory of his great mercy. And, my dear friend,
I now see that I draw near my harbour of death ; that harbour
that will secure me from all the future storms and waves of this
restless world ; and I praise God I am willing to leave it, and
expect a better ; that world wherein dwelleth righteousness ; and
I long for it !"
These and the like expressions, were then uttered by him at
the beginning of a feverish distemper, at which time he was also
troubled with an Asthma, or short spitting : but after less than
twenty fits, by the help of familiar physic and a spare diet, this
fever abated, yet so as to leave him much vv^eaker than it found
him ; and his Asthma seemed also to be overcome in a good de-
gree by his forbearing tobacco, which, as many thoughtful men
do, he also had taken somewhat immoderately. This was his
then present condition, and thus he continued till about the end
of October, 1639, which was about a month before his death, at
which time he again fell into a fever, which though he seemed to
recover, yet these still left him so weak, that they, and those other
common infirmities that accompany age, were wont to visit him
like civil friends, and after some short time to leave him, — came
now both oftener and vvith more violence, and at last took up their
constant habitation with him, still weakening his body and abating
his clieerfulness ; of both which he grev/ more sensible, and did
the oftener retire into his Study, and there made many papers
that had passed his pen, both in the days of his youth and in the
busy part of his life, useless, by a fire made there to that purpose.
These, and several unusual expressions to his servants and friends,
seemed to foretell that the day of his death drew near ; for which
he seemed to those many friends that observed him, to be well
prepared, and to be both patient and free from all fear, as several
of his letters writ on this his last sick-bed may testify. And thus
176 THE LIFE OF
he continued till about the beginning of December following, at
which time he was seized more violently with a Quotidian fever ;
in the tenth fit of which fever, his better part, that part of Sir
Henry Wotton which could not die, put off mortality with as
much content and cheerfulness as human frailty is capable of,
being then in great tranquillity of mind, and in perfect peace with
God and man.
And thus the circle of Sir Henry Wotton's life — that circle
which began at Bocton, and in the circumference thereof did first
touch at Winchester School, then at Oxford, and after upon so
many remarkable parts and passages in Christendom — that circle
of his Life was by Death thus closed up and completed, in the
seventy and second year of his age, at Eton College ; where, ac-
cording to his Will, he now lies buried, with his Motto on a plain
Grave-stone over him -{dying worthy of his name and family,
worthy of the love and favour of so many Princes, and persons
of eminent wisdom and learning, worthy of the trust committed
unto him, for the service of his Prince and Countryj
And all Readers are requested to believe, that he was worthy
of a more worthy pen, to have preserved his Memory, and com-
mended his Merits to the imitation of posterity.
Iz. Wa.
AN
ELEGY ON SIR HENRY WOTTON,
WRIT BY
MR. ABRAHAM COWLEY.
What shall we say, since silent now is he,
Who when he spoke all things would silent be ?
Who had so many languages in store,
That only Fame shall speak of him in more.
Whom England now no more return 'd, must see ;
He's gone to Heaven, on his fourth embassy.
SIR HENRY WOTTON. 177
On earth he travell'd often, not to say,
He'd been abroad to pass loose time away ;
For m whatever land he chanced to come.
He read the men and manners ; brhiging home
Their wisdom, learning, and their piety,
As if he went to conquer, not to see.
So well he understood the most and best
Of tongues that Babel sent into the West ;
Spoke them so truly, that he had, you'd swear,
Not only liv'd, but been born every-where.
Justly each nation's speech to him was known,
Who for the world was made, not us alone :
Nor ought the language of that man be less,
Who in his breast had all things to express.
We say that learning's endless, and blame Fate
For not allowing life a longer date,
He did the utmost bounds of Knowledge find,
And found them not so large as was his mind :
But, like the brave Pellean youth, did moan,
Because that Art had no more worlds than one.
And when he saw that he through all had past,
He died — lest he should idle grow at last.
A. Cowley.
13
THE LIFE OF MR. RICHARD HOOKER,
THE AUTHOR OF THOSE LEARNED BOOKS OF THE
LAWS OF ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY.
INTRODUCTION.
I HAVE been persuaded, by a friend whom I reverence, and ought to obey,
to write the Life of Richard Hooker, the happy Author of Five — if not
jnore — of the eight learned books of " The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.'"
And though I have undertaken it, yet it hath been with some unwillingness :
because I foresee that it must prove to me, and especially at this time of my
acre, a work of much labour to enquire, consider, research, and determine
what is needful to be known concerning him. For I knew him not in his life,
and must therefore not only look back to his death, — now sixty-four years past
— but almost fifty years beyond that, even to his childhood and youth ; and
gather thence such observations and prognostics, as may at least adorn, if not
prove necessary for the completing of what I have undertaken.
This trouble I foresee, and foresee also that it is impossible to escape cen-
sures ; against which I will not hope my v/ell-meaning and diligence can pro-
tect me, — for I consider the age in wliich I live — and shall therefore but in-
treat of my Reader a suspension of his censures, till I have made known un-
to him some reasons, which I myself would now gladly believe do make me in
some measure fit for this undertaking: and if these reasons shall not acquit me
from all censures, they may at least abate of their severity, and this is all I
can probably hope for. My reasons follow.
About forty year past — for I am now past the seventy of my age — I began
a happy affinity with William Cranmer, — now v/ith God, — grand-nephew un-
to the great Archbishop of that name ; a family of noted prudence and reso-
lution ; with him and two of his sisters I had an entire and free friendship :
one of them was the wife of Dr. Spencer,* a bosom friend and sometime
com-pupil with Mr. Hooker in Corpus Christi College in Oxford, and after
President of the same. I name them here, for that I shall have occasion to
mention them in the following discourse, as also George Cranmer, their broth-
er, of whose useful abilities my Reader have a more authentic testimony than
my pen can purchase for him, by that of our learned Camden and others.
This William Cranmer and his two fore-named sisters had some affinity,
and a most familiar friendship, with Mr. Hooker, and had had some part of
* A native of Suffolk, one of the Clerks of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Greek
Reader. He entered into Orders, became a noted Preacher, Chaplain to James I., and a
great admirer of Richard Hooker and the famous Dr. John Reynolds, the latter of whom
he succeeded as Master of his College. About four years after Hooker's death, he pub-
lished the Five Books of Ecclesiastical Polity, with a Preface ; and dying on April 3rd,
1614, was buried at Oxford.
PART. II. '^
182 INTRODUCTION.
their education with him in his house, when he was parson of Bishop's-Boume
near Canterbury ; in which City their good father then Uved. They had, I
say, a part of their education with him as myself, since that time, a happy
cohabitation with them ; and having some years before read part of Mr.
Hooker's works with great hking and satisfaction, my affection to them made
me a diligent inquisitor into many things that concerned him ; as namely, of
his persons, his nature, the management of his time, his wife, his family, and
the fortune of him and his. Which enquiry hath given me much advantage
in the knowledge of what is now under my consideration, and intended for the
satisfaction of my Reader.
I had also a friendship with the Rev. Dr. Usher,* the late learned Arch-
bishop of Armagh ; and with Dr. Morton, the late learned and charitable
Bishop of Durham ; as also the learned John Hales, of Eton" College ; and
with them also — who loved the very name of Mr. Hooker — 1 have had many
discourses concerning him ; and from them, and many others that have now
put off mortality, I might have had more informations, if I could then have
admitted a thought of any fitness, for what by persuasion I have now iinder-
taken. But though that full harvest be irrecoverably lost, yet my memory
hath preserved some gleanings, and my diligence made such additions to them,
as I hope will prove useful to the completing of what I intend : in the discov-
ery of which I shall be faithful, and with this assurance put a period to my
Introduction.
* The illustrious Primate of Ireland, born in Dublin, Jan. 4th, 1580. He was the first
Student of Trinity College, in 1593, and in 1620, he was made Bishop of Meath, whence
he was translated to Armagh, in 1625. In the Irish Rebellion, he lost every thing but his
library, which he conveyed to England, where he died in retirement, March 21st. 1655-56
f
/
THE LIFE OF MR. RICHARD HOOKER.
It is not to be doubted, but that Richard Hooker was born at
Heavy-tree, near, or within the precincts, or in the City of Exe-
ter; a city which may justly boast, that it was the birth-place of
him and Sir Thomas Bodley ; as indeed the County may, in which
it stands, that it hath furnished this nation with Bishop Jewel, Sir
Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, and many others, memorable
for their valour and learning. He was born about the year of
our Redemption 1553, and of parents that were not so remarka-
ble for their extraction or riches, as for their virtue and industry,
and God's blessing upon both ; by which they were enabled to
educate their children in some degree of learning, of which our
Richard Hooker may appear to be one fair testimony, and that na-
ture is not so partial as always to give the great blessings of
wisdom and learning, and with them the greater blessings of vir-
tue and government, to those only that are of a more high and
honourable birth.
His complexion, — if we may guess by him at the age of forty —
was sanguine, with a mixture of choler ; and yet his motion was
slow even in his youth, and so was his speech, never expressing
an earnestness in either of them, but an humble gravity suitable
to the aged. And it is observed, — so far as enquiry is able to look
back at this distance of time, — that at his being a school-boy he
was an early questionist, quietly inquisitive, " why this was, and
that was not, to be remembered 1 why this was granted, and that
denied ?" This being mixed with a remarkable modesty, and a
sweet serene quietness of nature, and with them a quick appre-
hension of many perplexed parts of learning, imposed then upon
him as a scholar, made his Master and others to believe him to
have an inward blessed divine light, and therefore to consider him
to be a little wonder. For in that, children were less pregnant,
184 THE LIFE OF
less confident and more malleable, than in this wiser, but not
better, age.
This meekness and conjuncture of knowledge, with modesty
in his conversation, being observed by his School master, caused
him to persuade his parents — who intended him for an appren-
tice— to continue him at school till he could find out some means,
by persuading his rich Uncle, or some other charitable person, to
ease them of a part of their care and charge ; assuring them,
that their son was so enriched with the blessings of nature and
grace, that God seemed to single him out as a special instrument
of his glory. And the good man told them also, that he would
double his diligence in instructing him, and would neither expect
nor receive any other reward, than the content of so hopeful and
happy an employment.
This was not unwelcome news, and especially to his Mother,
to whom he was a dutiful and dear child, and all parties were so
pleased with this proposal, that it was resolved so it should be.
And in the mean time! his Parents and Master laid a foundation
for his future happiness, by instilling into his soul the seeds of
piety, those conscientious principles of loving and fearing God,
of an early belief, that he knows the very secrets of our souls ;
that he punisheth our vices, and rewards our innocence ; that we
should be free from hypocrisy, and appear to man what we are to
God, because first or last the crafty man is catched in his own
snare. These seeds of piety were so seasonably planted, and so
continually watered with the daily dew of God's blessed Spirit,
that his infant virtues grew into such holy habits, as did make
him grow daily into more and more favour both with God and
man ; which, with the great learning that he did after attain to,
hath made Richard Hooker honoured in this, and will continue
him to be so to succeeding generations./
This good School master, whose name I am not able to recover,
— and am sorry, for that I would have given him a better memo-
rial in this humble monument, dedicated to the memory of his
scholar, — was very solicitous with John Hooker, then Chamber-
Iain of Exeter, and uncle to our Richard, to take his Nephew
into his care, and to maintain him for one year in the University,
and in the mean time to use his endeavours to procure an admis-
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 185
sion for liim into some College, though it were but in a mean
degree ; still urging and assuring him, that his charge would not
continue long ; for the lad's learning and manners were both so
remarkable, that they must of necessity be taken notice of; and
that doubtless God would provide him some second patron, that
would free him and his Parents from their future care and
charge.
These reasons, with the affectionate rhetoric of his good Mas-
ter, and God's blessing upon both, procured from his Uncle a
faithful promise, that lie would take him into his care and charge
before the expiration of the year following, which was performed
by him, and with the assistance of the learned Mr. John Jewel ;*
of whom this may be noted, that he left, or was about the first of
Queen Mary's reign expelled out of Corpus Christi College in
Oxford, — of which he was a Fellow, — for adhering to the truth
of those principles of Religion, to which he had assented and
given testimony in the days of her brother and predecessor,
Edward the Sixth ; and this John Jewel having within a short
time after, a just cause to fear a more heavy punishment than
expulsion, was forced, by forsaking this, to seek safety in another
nation ; and, with that safety, the enjoyment of that doctrine and
worship for which he suffered.
' But the cloud of that persecution and fear ending with the life
of Queen Mary, the affairs of the Church and State did then look
more clear and comfortable ; so that he, and with him many
others of the same judgment, made a happy return into England
about the first of Queen Elizabeth ; in which year this John
Jewel was sent a Commissioner or Visitor, of the Churches of the
Western parts of this kingdom, and especially of those in Devon-
* Dr. John Jewel, was born in the Parish of Berry Narber, in Devon, May
24th, 1522. He was educated at Merton, and Corpus Christi Colleges, Ox-
ford, and in the reign of Edward VI. he publicly professed tlie Reformed Re-
ligion. During the reign of Mary he remained abroad ; but on the accession
of Elizabeth, he returned, and was made Bishop of Salisbury, in 1559. In his
controversy with the Roman Catholics, he published his famous " Apology for
the Church of England," which was translated into several languages, although
it was greatly opposed by the Papists. His fatigues abroad, and his incessant
study, so much impaired his constitution, that he died, Sept. 23rd, 1571.
186 THE LIFE OF
shire, in which County he was born ; and then and there he
contracted a friendship with John Hooker, the Uncle of our
Richard.
About the second or third year of her reign, this John Jewel
was made Bishop of Salisbury ; and there being always observed
in him a willingness to do good, and to oblige his friends, and now
a power added to his willingness ; this John Hooker gave him a
visit in Salisbury, and besought him for charity's sake to look
favourably upon a poor nephew of his, whom Nature had fitted
for a scholar ; but the estate of his parents was so narrow, that
they were unable to give him the advantage of learning ; and
that the Bishop would therefore become his patron, and prevent
him from being a tradesman, for he was a boy of remarkable
hopes. And though the Bishop knew men do not usually look
with an indifferent eye upon their own children and relations, yet
he assented so far to John Hooker, that he appointed the boy and
his School master should attend him, about Easter next following,
at that place : which was done accordingly ; and then, after some
questions and observations of the boy's learning, and gravity, and
behaviour, the Bishop gave his Schoolmaster a reward, and took
order for an annual pension for the boy's parents ; promising also
to take him into his care for a future preferment, which he per-
formed : for about the fifteenth year of his age, which was anno
1567, he was by the Bishop appointed to remove to Oxford, and
there to attend Dr. Cole,* then President of Corpus Christi College.
Which he did ; and Dr. Cole had — according to a promise made
to the Bishop — provided for him both a Tutor — which was said to
be the learned Dr. John Reynolds,-]- — and a Clerk's place in that
* Dr. William Cole, 1599, exchanged with Dr. Reynolds the Presidentship
of Corpus Christi College for the Deanery of Lincoln, which he did not long
enjoy. He fled into Germany in the time of Queen Mary, and Anthony
Wood names him as one of the exiles of Geneva engaged with Miles Cover-
dale, in a new translation of the Bible.
t He was professor of Divinity in Oxford, and died May 21st, 1607. It has
been said that he was brought up in the Romish faith, and that he was after-
wards a strong supporter of the Puritans ; but Fuller supposes that it was only
for the sake of giving satisfaction to some of the more tender conscienccB of the
Nonconformists, since the virtue of Reynolds was almost proverbial.
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 187
College : which place, though it were not a full maintenance, yet,
with the contribution of his Uncle, and the continued pension of
his patron, the good Bishop, gave him a comfortable subsistence.
And in this condition he continued unto the eighteenth year of
his age, still increasing in learning and prudence, and so much
in humility and piety, that he seemed to be filled with the Holy
Ghost ; and even like St. John Baptist, to be sanctified from his
mother's womb, who did often bless the day in which she bare
him.
About this time of his age he fell into a dangerous sickness,
which lasted two months; all which time his Mother, having
notice of it, did in her hourly prayers as earnestly beg his life of
God, as Monica the mother of St. Augustine did, that he might
become a true Christian ; and their prayers were both so heard
as to be granted. Which Mr. Hooker would often mention with
much joy, and as often pray that " he might never live to occasion
any sorrow to so good a mother ; of whom he would often say,
he loved her so dearly, that he would endeavour to be good, even
as much for her's as for his own sake.''
As soon as he was perfectly recovered from this sickness, he
took a journey from Oxford to Exeter, to satisfy and see his good
Mother, being accompanied with a countryman and companion
of his own College, and both on foot ; which was then either
more in fashion, or want of money, or their humility made it so :
but on foot they went, and took Salisbury in their way, purposely
to see the good Bishop, who made Mr. Hooker and his companion
dine with him at his own table : which Mr. Hooker boasted of
with much joy and gratitude when he saw his mother and friends :
and at the Bishop's parting with him, the Bishop gave him good
counsel, and his benediction, but forgot to give him money ; which,
when the Bishop had considered, he sent a servant in all haste to
call Richard back to him : and at Richard's return, the Bishop
said to him, " Richard, I sent for you back to lend you a horse,
which hath carried me many a mile, and, I thank God with much
ease ;" and presently delivered into his hand a walking-staff, with
which he professed he had travelled through many parts of Ger-
many. And he said, " Richard, I do not give, but lend you my
horse : be sure you be honest, and bring my horse back to me at
188 THE LIFE OF
your return this way to Oxford. And I do now give you ten
groats, to bear your cliarges to Exeter ; and here is ten groats
more, which I charge you to deliver to your Mother and tell her
I send her a Bishop's benediction with it, and beg the continuance
of her prayers for me. And if you bring my horse back to me,
I will give you ten groats more, to carry you on foot to the
College: and so God bless you, good Richard."
And this, you may believe, was performed by both parties.
But, alas ! the next news that followed Mr. Hooker to Oxford
was, that his learned and charitable patron had changed this for a
better life. Which happy change may be believed, for that as
he lived, so he died, in devout meditation and prayer ; and in both
so zealously, that it became a religious question, "Whether his
last ejaculations or his soul, did first enter into Heaven ?"
And now Mr. Hooker became a man of sorrow and fear : of
sorrow, for the loss of so dear and comfortable a patron ; and of
fear for his future subsistence. But Dr. Cole raised his spirits
from this dejection, by bidding him go cheerfully to his studies,
and assuring him, he should neither want food nor raiment, —
which was the utmost of his hopes, — for he would become his
patron.
And so he was for about nine months, and not longer ; for about
that time this following accident did befall Mr. Hooker.
Edwin Sandys* — sometime Bishop of London, and after Arch-
* One of the Translators of the Bible, born at Hawkshead in Westmoreland
in 1519, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he embraced
the Protestant faith. He was committed to the Tower and Marshalsea for
having preached in favour of Lady Jane Grey ; and on his release he left the
kingdom, till the accession of Elizabeth, by whom he was made Bishop of
Worcester. In 1570, he was translated to London, in 1576 to York, and in
1588, he died : his sermons are still admired, and a most virtuous character is
given him by Fuller. His son, Sir Edward Sandys, Prebendary of York, was
born about 1561, and is well known as the author of the tract entitled, '•' Eu-
ropae Speculum," a view of the State of Religion in the Western Parts of the
World. He thus describes the various contrarieties of the state and church of
Rome. " What pomp, what riot, to that of their Cardinals? What severity
of life comparable to that of their Hermits and Capuchins? Who wealthier
than their Prelates? who poorer by vow and profession than their Mendicants?
On the one side of the street, a cloister of Virgins : on the other a stye of cour-
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 189
bishop of York — had also been in the days of Queen Mary, forced,
by forsaking this, to seek safety in another nation ; where, for
some years. Bishop Jewel and he were companions at bed and
board in Germany ; and where, in this their exile, they did often
eat the bread of sorrow, and by that means they there began such
a friendship, as lasted till the death of Bishop Jewel, which was
in September, 15'71. A little before which time the two Bishops
meeting, Jewel had an occasion to begin a story of his Richard
Hooker, and in it gave such a character of his learning and man-
ners, that though Bishop Sandys was educated in Cambridge,
where he had obliged, and had many friends ; yet his resolution
was, that his son Edwin should be sent to Corpus Christi College
in Oxford, and by all means be pupil to Mr. Hooker, though his
son Edwin was not much younger than Mr. Hooker then was:
for the Bishop said, "I will have a Tutor for my son, that shall
teach him learning by instruction, and virtue by example : and
my greatest care shall be of the last ; and, God willing, this
Richard Hooker shall be the man into whose hands I will commit
my Edwin." And the Bishop did so about twelve months, or not
much longer, after this resolution.
And doubtless, as to these two, a better choice could not be
made ; for Mr. Hooker was now in the nineteenth year of his
age ; had spent five in the University ; and had, by a constant,
unwearied diligence, attained unto a perfection in all the learned
languages ; by the help of which, an excellent tutor, and his un-
intermitted studies, he had made the subtilty of all the arts easy
and familiar to him, and useful for the discovery of such learning
as lay hid from common searchers. So that by these, added to
tezans, with public toleration. This day all in masks, with all looseness and
foolery : to-morrow all in processions, whipping themselves till the blood follow.
On one door an excommunication throwinor to Hell all transgrressours : on an-
other a Jubilee, or full discharge from all transgressions. Who learneder in all
kinds of sciences than their .Jesuits ? what thinj; more igrnorant than their ordi-
nary mass-priests ? What prince so able to prefer his servants and followers
as the Pope, and in so great multitude ? Wlio able to take deeper or readier
revenge on his enemies? What pride equal unto his, making Kings kiss his
pantofle ? What humility greater than his, shriving himself daily on his knees
to an ordinary priest ?"
190 THE LIFE OF
his great reason, and his restless industry added to both, he did
not only know more of causes and effects ; but what he knew, he
knew better than other men. And with this knowledge he had a
naost blessed and clear method of demonstrating what he knew, to
the great advantage of all his pupils, — which in time were many,
— but especially to his two first, his dear Edwin Sandys, and his
as dear George Cranmer ; of which there will be a fair testimony
in the ensuing relation.
This for Mr. Hooker's learning. And for his behaviour, amongst
other testimonies, this still remains of him, that in four years he
was but twice absent from the Chapel prayers ; and that his be-
haviour there was such, as shewed an awful reverence of that
God which he then worshipped and prayed to ; giving all outward
testimonies that his affections were set on heavenly things. This
was his behaviour towards God ; and for that to man, it is observa-
ble that he was never known to be angry, or passionate, or ex-
treme in any of his desires ; never heard to repine or dispute with
Providence, but, by a quiet gentle submission and resignation of
his will to the wisdom of his Creator, bore the burthen of the day
with patience ; never heard to utter an uncomely word : and by
this, and a grave behaviour, which is a divine charm, he begot an
early reverence unto his person, even from those that at other
times and in other companies, took a liberty to cast off that strict-
ness of behaviour and discourse that is required in a Collegiate
life. And when he took any liberty to be pleasant, his wit was
never blemished with scoffing, or the utterance of any conceit
that bordered upon, or might beget a thought of looseness in his
hearers. Thus mild, thus innocent and exemplary was his beha-
viour in his College ; and thus this good man continued till his
death, still increasing in learning, in patience, and piety.
In this nineteenth year of his age, he was, December 24, 1573,
admitted to be one of the twenty Scholars of the Foundation; be-
ing elected and so admitted as born in Devon or Hantshire ; out
of which Counties a certain number are to be elected in vacancies
by the Founder's Statutes. And now as he was much encouraged,
so now he was perfectly incorporated into this beloved College,
which was then noted for an eminent Library, strict Students,
and remarkable Scholars. And indeed it may glory, that it had
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 191
Cardinal Poole,* but more that it had Bishop Jewel, Dr. John
Reynolds, and Dr. Thomas Jackson, f of that foundation. The
first famous for his learned Apology for the Church of England,
and his Defence of it against Harding.:}: The second, for the
learned and wise manage of a public dispute with John Hart, of
the Romish persuasion, about the Head and Faith of the Church,
and after printed by consent of both parties. And the third, for
his most excellent " Exposition of the Creed," and other treatises ;
all such as have given greatest satisfaction to men of the greatest
learning. Nor was Dr. Jackson more note-M'orthy for his learn-
ing, than for his strict and pious life, testified by his abundant
love, and meekness, and charity to all men.
And in the year 1576, February 23, Mr. Hooker's Grace was
given him for Inceptor of Arts ; Dr. Herbert Westphaling,§ a
man of note for learning, being then Vice-Chancellor : and the
Act following he was completed Master, which was anno 1577,
his patron Dr. Cole, being Vice Chancellor that year, and his dear
friend, Henry Sav.ile|l of Merton College, being then one of the
* The name of this well known English Cardinal is omitted in the later edi-
tions.
t Dr. Jackson, was born at Wilton on the Wear, in Durham, in 1579, and
was educated at Queen's and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford. He was made
Prebendary of Winchester in 1G.35, and Dean of Peterborough, in 1638 ; he
died in 1640, and his principal work is a " Commentary on the Creed."
X Dr. Thomas Harding, educated at Winchester school, became Fellow of
New College, Oxford, in 1536. He was the first King's Hebrew Professor iu
that University and in the reign of King Edward VI. he displayed great zeal
for the Reformed Religion. Under Queen Mary he abandoned his principles,
and obtained considerable preferment ; a Prebend in the Church of Winches-
ter, and the Treasurership of Salisbury. On the accession of Queen Eliza-
beth he adhered to the religion to which he had recently conformed, and fled
beyond sea to Louvain, where he distinguished himself by writing against
Bishop Jewel's " Challenge." He had been Chaplain to the Duke of Suffolk,
father of Lady Jane Grey.
§ A man of great piety of life, and such gravity, that he was scarcely ever
seen to laugh. He was a native of Westphalia, in Germany: was Canon of
Christ Church, Vice Chancellor of the University, and in 1585-86, was conse-
crated Bishop of Hereford.
II Sir H. Savile was born at Over Bradley, near Halifax iu Yorkshire, In^'ov.
30th, 1547, and was entered of Merton College, Oxford. He was Greek and
Mathematical Preceptor to Queen Elizabeth, and was one of the Translatorsi
192 THE LIFE OF
Proctors. 'Twas that Henry Savile, that was after Sir Henry
Savile, Warden of Merton College, and Provost of Eton ; he
which founded in Oxford two famous Lectures ; and endowed
them with liberal maintenance.
It was that Sir Henry Savile that translated and enlightened
the History of Cornelius Tacitus, with a most excellent Comment ;
and enriched the world by his laborious and chargeable collecting
the scattered pieces of St. Chrysostom, and the publication of them
in one entire body in Greek ; in which language he was a most
judicious critic. It was this Sir Henry Savile that had the hap-
piness to be a contemporary and familiar friend to Mr. Hooker -,
and let posterity know it.
And in this year of 1577, he was so happy as to be admitted
Fellow of the College ; happy also in being the contemporary
and friend of that Dr. John Reynolds, of whom I have lately spo-
ken, and of Dr. Spencer ; both which were after, and successively
made Presidents of Corpus Christi College : men of great learning
and merit, and famous in their generations.
Nor was Mr. Hooker more happy in his contemporaries of his
time and College, than in the pupilage and friendship of his Ed-
win Sandys and George Cranmer ; of whom my Reader may
note, that this Edwin Sandys was after Sir Edwin Sandys, and
as famous for his " Speculum Europse," as his brother George for
making posterity beholden to his pen by a learned relation and
comment on his dangerous and remarkable Travels ; and for his
harmonious translation of the Psalms of David, the Book of Job,
and other poetical parts of Holy Writ, into most high and elegant
verse. And for Cranmer, his other pupil, I shall refer my Reader
to the printed testimonies of our learned Mr. Camden, of Fynes
Moryson'" and others.
'• This Cranmer," says Mr. Camden in his Annals of Queen
of the Bible, under James I. who knighted him in 1604. He died Feb. 1 9th,
1621-22.
* Mr. Morrison, Secretary to Lord Monntjoy, and author of " Au Itinerary,
containing his ten Years Travels through the twelve Dominions of Germany,
Bohmerland, Switzerland, Denmark, Poland, England, Scotland, and Ireland ;
divided into three Parts. London, 1617." Fol. Published after his death,
and originally written in Latin.
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 193
Elizabeth, — " whose Christian name was George, was a gentle-
man of singular hopes, the eldest son of Tliomas Cranmer, son
of Edmund Cranmer, the Archbishop's brother : he spent much
of his youth in Corpus Christi College in Oxford, where he con-
tinued Master of Arts for some time before he removed, and then
betook liimself to travel, accompanying that worthy gentleman
Sir Edwin Sandys into France, Germany, and Italy, for the space
of three years ; and after their happy return, he betook himself
to an employment under Secretary Davison, a Privy Councillor of
note, who, for an unhappy undertaking, became clouded and pit-
ied : after whose fall, he went in place of Secretary with Sir
Henry Killegrew in his Embassage into France : and after his
death he was sought after by the most noble Lord Mountjoy, with
whom he went into Ireland, where he remained, until, in a battle
against the rebels near Carlingford, an unfortunate wound put an
end both to his life, and the great hopes that were conceived of
him, he being then but in the thirty-sixth year of his age."
Betwixt Mr. Hooker and these his two Pupils, there was a sa-
cred friendship ; a friendship made up of religious principles, which
increased daily by a similitude of inclinations to the same recre-
ations and studies ; a friendship elemented in youth, and in an
university, free from self-ends, wiiich the friendships of age usu
ally are not. And in this sweet, this blessed, this spiritual amity,
they went on for many years : and as the holy Prophet saith, " so
thev took sweet counsel together, and walked in the house of
God as friends." By which means they improved this friendship
to such a degree of holy amity, as bordered upon heaven : a friend-
sliip so sacred, that when it ended in this world, it began in that
next, where it shall have no end.
And, though this world cannot give any degree of pleasure
equal to such a friendship; yet obedience to parents, and a desire
to know the affairs, manners, laws, and learning of other nations,
that they might thereby become the most serviceable unto their
own, made them put off* their gowns, and leave the College and
Mr. Hooker to his studies, in which he was daily more assiduous,
still enriching his quiet and capacious soul with the precious learn-
ing of the Philosophers, Casuists, and Schoolmen; and with them
the foundation and reason of all Laws, both Sacred and Civil ;
194 THE LIFE OF
and indeed with such other learning as lay most remote from the
track of common studies. And, as he was diligent in these, so he
seemed restless in searching the scope and intention of God's Spirit
revealed to mankind in the Sacred Scripture : for the understand-
ing of which, he seemed to be assisted by the same Spirit with
which they were written ; He that regardeth truth in the inward
parts, making him to understand wisdom secretly. And the good
man would often say, that " God abhors confusion as contrary to
his nature ;" and as often say, " That the Scripture was not writ
to beget disputations and pride, and opposition to government ; but
charity and humility, moderation, obedience to authority, and
peace to mankind ;" of which virtues, he v\^ould as often say,
"no man did ever repent himself on his death-bed." And that
this was really his judgment, did appear in his future writings,
and in all the actions of his life. Nor was this excellent man a
stranger to the more light and airy parts of learning, as Music
and Poetry ; all which he had digested and made useful ; and
of all Vt'hich the Reader will have a fair testimony in what will
follow.
In the year 1579, the Chancellor of the University was given
to understand, that the public Hebrew Lecture was not read ac-
cording to the Statutes ; nor could be, by reason of a distemper,
that had then seized the brain of Mr. Kingsmill, who was to read
it ; so that it lay long unread, to the great detriment of those that
were studious of that language. Therefore the Chancellor writ
to his Vice-Chancellor, and the University, that he had heard
such commendations of the excellent knowledge of Mr. Richard
Hooker in that tongue, that he desired he might be procured to
read it : and he did, and continued to do so till he left Oxtord.
Within three months after his undertaking this Lecture, —
namely in October 1579, — he was, with Dr. Reynolds and others
expelled his College ; and this Letter, transcribed from Dr. Rey-
nolds his own hand, may give some account of it.
To Sir Francis Knolles.
" I am sorry, Right Honourable, that I am enforced to make
unto you such a suit, which I cannot move, but I must complain
of the unrighteous dealing of one of our College : who hath taken
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 195
upon him, against all law and reason, to expel out of our house both
me and Mr. Hooker, and three other of our fellows, for doing that
which by oath we were bound to do. Our matter must be heard
before the Bishop of Winchester, with whom I do not doubt but
we shall find equity. Howbeit, forasmuch as some of our adver-
saries have said that the Bishop is already forestalled, and will
not give us such audience as we look for ; therefore I am hum-
bly to beseech your Honour, that you will desire the Bishop, by
your letters, to let us have justice ; though it be with rigour, so it
be justice : our cause is so good, that I am sure we shall prevail
by it. Thus much I am bold to request of your honour for Cor-
pus Christi College sake, or rather for Christ's sake ; whom I be-
seech to bless you v.^ith daily increase of his manifold gifts, and the
blessed graces of his Holy Spirit.
Your Honour's in Christ to command,
John Reynolds."
London, October 9, 1579.
This expulsion was by Dr. John Barfoote, then Vice-president of
the College, and Chaplain to Ambrose Earl of Warwick. I cannot
learn the pretended cause ; but, that they were restored the same
month is most certain.*
I return to Mr. Hooker in his College, where he continued his
studies with all quietness, for the space of three years ; about
Vv'hich time he entered into Sacred Orders, being then made Dea-
con and Priest, and, not long after, was appointed to preach at St.
Paul's Cross.f
* The laler editions of the Life of Hooker omit the account of this expul-
sion.
t A pulpit cross formed of limber, covered with lead, and mounted upon
stone steps, which stood in tlie midst of the Church-yard of the Cathedral ; in
wliich Sermons were preached by eminent Divines every Sunday in the fore-
noon, when the Court, the Magistrates of the City, and a vast concourse of
people usually attended. There is notice of its use so early as 1259, but it
was not finished in the form here exhibited, until 1449, by Kemp, Bishop of
London, and it was finally destroyed by order of Parliament, in 1643. The
Corporation of London ordained that all ministers who came from a distance
to preach at this Cross, were to have lodgings and provision for five days ; and
the Bishop of London gave them notice of their place of residence.
196 THE LIFE OF
In order to which Sermon, to London he came, and immediate-
ly to the Shunamite's House ; which is a House so called, for
that, besides the stipend paid the Preacher, there is provision
made also for his lodging and diet for two days before, and one
day after his Sermon. This house was then kept by John Church-
man, sometime a Draper of good note in Watling-street, upon
whom poverty had at last come like an armed man, and brought
him into a necessitous condition ; which, though it be a punish-
ment, is not always an argument of God's disfavour ; for he was
a virtuous man. I shall not yet give the like testimony of his
wife, but leave the Reader to judge by what follows. But to this
house Mr. Hooker came so wet, so weary, and weather-beaten,
that he was never known to express more passion, than against a
friend that dissuaded him from footing it to London, and for finding
him no easier an horse, — supposing the horse trotted when he did
not ; — and at this time also, such a faintness and fear possessed
him, that he would not be persuaded two days rest and quietness,
or any other means could be used to make him able to preach his
Sunday's Sermon : but a warm bed, and rest, and drink proper
for a cold, given him by Mrs. Churchman, and her diligent at-
tendance added unto it, enabled him to perform the office of the
day, which was in, or about the year 1581.
And in this first public appearance to the world, he was not so
happy as to be free from exceptions against a point of doctrine
delivered in his Sermon ; which was, " That in God there were
two wills ; an antecedent and a consequent will : his first will,
That all mankind should be saved ; but his second will was.
That those onlv should be saved, that did live answerable to that
degree of grace which he had offered or afforded them." This
seemed to cross a late opinion of Mr. Calvin's, and then taken for
granted by many that had not a capacity to exam.ine it, as it had
been by him before, and hath been since by Master Flenry Mason,
Dr. Jackson, Dr. Hammond, and others of great learning, who
believe that a contrary opinion intrenches upon the honour and
justice of our merciful God. How he justified this, I will not un-
dertake to declare ; but it was not excepted against — as Mr.
Hooker declares in his rational Answer to Mr. Travers — by John
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 197
Elmer,* then Bishop of London, at this time one of his auditors,
and at last one of his advocates too, when Mr. Hooker was ac-
cused for it.
But the justifying of this doctrine did not prove of so bad con-
sequence, as the kindness of Mrs. Churchman's curing him of his
late distemper and cold ; for that was so gratefully apprehended
by Mr. Hooker, that he thought him.self bound in conscience to
believe all that she said : so that the good man came to be per-
suaded by her, "that he was a man of a tender constitution ; and
that it was best for him to have a wife, that might prove a nurse
to him ; such a one as might both prolong his life, and make it
more comfortable ; and such a one she could and would provide
for him, if he thought fit to marry." And he, not considering
that " the children of this world are wiser in their generation than
the children of light;" but, like a true Nathaniel, fearing no
guile, because he meant none, did give her such a power as
Eleazar was trusted with, — you may read it in the book of Gen-
esis,— when he was sent to choose a wife for Isaac ; for even so
he trusted her to choose for him, promising upon a fair summons
to return to London, and accept of her choice ; and he did so in
that, or about the year following. Now, the wife provided for
him was her daughter Joan, who brought him neither beauty nor
portion : and for her conditions, they were too like that wife's,
which is by Solomon compared to a dripping house : so that the
good man had no reason to " rejoice in the wife of his youth ;"
but too just cause to say with the holy Prophet, '• Wo is me that
I am constrained to have my habitation in the tents of Kedar !"
This choice of Mr. Hooker's — if it were his choice — may be
wondered at : but let us consider that the Prophet Ezekiel says,
" There is^a wheel within a Vv'heel ;" a secret sacred wheel of
Providence, — most visible in marriages, — guided by his hand,
that " allows not the race to the swift," nor " bread to the wise,"
nor good wives to good men : and He that can bring good oujt of
* The excellent Aylmer, was born at Ayjmer-Hall, in Norfolk, in 1521, and
was Tutor to Lady Jane Grey ; he left England, during the reign of Mary,
and went to Zurich. He returned on Elizabeth's accession, and was made
Bishop in 1576, strictly governing the Puritans throughout his Prelacy. He
died iu 1594.
P/.llT. ;!. 3
198 THE IFE OF
evil — for mortals are blind to this reason — only knows why this
blessing was denied to patient Job, to meek Moses, and to our
as meek and patient Mr. Hooker. But so it was ; and let the
Reader cease to wonder, for affliction is a divine diet ; which
though it be not pleasing to mankind, yet Almighty God hath
often, very oflen, imposed it as good, though bitter physic to those
children, whose souls are dearest to him.
And by this marriage the good man was drawn from the tran-
quillity of his College ; from that garden of piety, of pleasure, of
peace, and a sweet conversation, into t!ie thorny wilderness of a
busy world ; into those corroding cares that attend a married
Priest, and a country Parsonage ; which was Drayton-Beauchamp
in Buckinghamshire, not far from Aylesbury, and in tlie Diocese
of Lincoln ; to which he was presented by John Cheney, Esq. —
then Patron of it — the 9th of December, 1584, where he behaved
himself so as to give no occasion of evil, but as St. Paul adviseth
a minister of God — " in much patience, in afflictions, in anguish-
es, in necessities, in poverty and no doubt in long-suffering ;" yet
troubling no man with his discontents and wants.
And in this condition he continued about a year ; in which time
his two pupils, Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer, took a jour-
ney to see their tutor; where they found him with a book in his
hand. — it was the Odes of Horace, — he being then like humble
and innocent Abel, tending his small allotment of sheep in a com-
mon field ; which he told his pupils he was forced to do then, for
that his servant was gone home to dine, and assist his wife to do
some necessary household business. But when his servant re-
turned and released him, then his two pupils attended him unto
his house, where their best entertainment was his quiet company,
which was presently denied them : for Richard was called to
rock the cradle ; and the rest of their welcome was so like this,
that they staid but till next morning, which was time enough to
discover and pity their tutor's condition ; and they having in that
time rejoiced in the remembrance, and then paraphrased on
many of the innocent recreations of tlieir younger days, and
other like diversions, and thereby given him as much present
comfort as they M'ere able, they were forced to leave him to the
company of his wife Joan, and seek themselves a quieter lodging
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 199
for next night. But at their parting from him, Mr. Cranmer
said, " Good tutor, I am sorry your lot is fallen in no better
ground, as to your par.sonage ; and more sorry that your wife
proves not a more comfortable companion, after you have wearied
yourself in your restless studies." To whom the good man re-
plied, '•' INIy dear George, if Saints have usually a double share
in the miseries of this life, I, that am none, ought not to repine at
what my wise Creator hath appointed for me : but labour — as in-
deed I do daily — to submit mine to his will, and possess my soul
in patience and peace."
At their return to London, Edwin Sandys acquaints his father,
who was then Archbishop of York, v/ith his Tutor's sad condition,
and solicits for his removal to some benefice that might give him
a more quiet and a more comfortable subsistence ; which, his fa-
ther did most willingly s^rant him v.iien it should next fall into his
power. And not long after this time, which was in the year
158.5, Mr. Alvey, — !\Iaster of the Temple, — died, who was a man
of a strict life, of great learning, and of so venerable behaviour,
as to gain so high a degree of love and reverence from all men,
that he was generally known by the name of Father Alvey.
And at the Temple-reading, next after the death of this Father
Alvey, he, the said Archbishop of York being then at dinner
with the Judges, the Reader, and the Benchers of that Society,
met with a general condolement for the death of Father Alvey,
and with a high commendation of his saint-like life, and of his
irrcat merit both towards God and man ; and as thev bewailed
his death, .so they wished for a like pattern of virtue and learn-
ing to succeed him. And here came in a fair occasion for the
Bishop to commend Mr. Hooker to Father Alvey's place, which he
did with .so effectual an earnestness, and that seconded v/ith so
many other testimonies of his worth, that Mr. Hooker was sent
for from Drayton-Beauchamp to London, and there the Master-
ship of the Temple proposed unto him by the Bishop, as a greater
freedom from his country cares, the advantages of a better society,
and a more liberal pension than his country Parsonage did afford
him. But these rea.sons were not powerful enough to incline him
to a willing acceptance of it: his wish was rather to gain a better
country living, where he might see God's blessings spring out of
§00 THE LIFE OF
the earth, and be free from noise, — so he expressed the desire of
his heart, — and eat that bread which he might more properly call
his own, in privacy and quietness. But, notwithstanding this
aversencss, he was at last persuaded to accept of the Bishop's
proposal ; and was by *Patent for life, made Master of the Tem-
ple the 17th of March, 1585, he being then in the 34th year of
iiis age.
x\nd here I shall make a stop ; and, that the Reader may the
better judge of what follows, give him a character of the times
and temper of the people of this nation, when Mr. Hooker had
his admission into this place ; a place which he accepted, rather
than desired : and yet here he promised himself a virtuous quiet-
ness, that blessed tranquillity which he always prayed and la-
boured for, that so he might in peace bring forth the fruits of
peace, and glorify God by uninterrupted prayers and praises.
For this he always thirsted and prayed : but Almighty God did
not grant it ; for his admission into this place was the very begin-
ning of those oppositions and anxieties, which till then this good
man was a stranger to ; and of which the Reader may guess by
what follows.
In this character of the times, I shall by the Reader's favour,
and for his information, look so far back as to the beginning of
the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; a time, in which the many pre-
tended titles to the Crown, the frequent treasons, the doubts of her
successor, the late Civil War, and the sharp persecution for Re-
ligion that raged to the effusion of so much blood in the reign of
Queen Mary, were fresh in the memory of all men ; and begot
fears in the most pious and wisest of this nation, lest the like
days should return again to them, or their present posterity. And
the apprehension of these dangers, begot a hearty desire of a
settlement in the Church and State ; believing there v.'as no other
* This you may find in the Temple Records. William Krmslead was mas-
ter of the Temple at the Dissolution of the Priory, and died 2 Eliz. (1559).
Richard Alvey, Bat. Divinity, Pat. 13 Febr. 2 Eliz. Magister, sive Custos
Domus et EcclesicB Novi Tcmpli, died 27 Eliz. (1585).
Richard Hooker succeeded that year by Patent, in termiuis, as Alvey had
it, and he left it 33 Eliz. (1591).
That year Dr. Balgey succeeded Richard Hooker.
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 201
probable way left to make them sit quietly under their own vines
and fig-trees, and enjoy the desired fruit of their labours. But
time, and peace, and plenty, begot self-ends: and these begot ani-
mosities, envy, opposition, and unthankfulness for those very bless-
ings for which they lately thirsted, being then the very utmost of
their desires, and even beyond their hopes.
This was the temper of the times in the beginning of her
reign ; and thus it continued too long ; for those very people that
had enjoyed the desires of their hearts in a Reformation from the
Church of Rome, became at last so like the grave, as never to be
satisfied, but were still thirsting for more and more ; neglecting
to pay that obedience, and perform those vows, which they made
in their days of adversities and fear : so that in short time there
appeared three several interests, each of them fearless and rest-
less in the prosecution of their designs: they may for distinction
be called, the active Romanists, the restless Non-conformists, —
of which there were many sorts, — and the passive peaceable
Protestant. The counsels of the first considered and resolved on
in Rome ; the second both in Scotland, in Geneva, and in divers
selected, secret, dangerous Conventicles, both there, and within
the bosom of our own nation ; the third pleaded and defended
their cause by established laws, both Ecclesiastical and Civil :
and if they were active, it was to prevent the other two from de-
stroying what was by those known Laws happily established to
them and their posterity.
I shall forbear to mention the very many and dangerous plots
of the Romanists against the Church and State ; because what is
principally intended in this digression, is an account of the opin-
ions and activity of the Non-conformists : against whose judg-
ment and practice Mr. Hooker became at last, but most unwil-
linglv, to be ensraged in a book-war ; a war which he maintained
CD » ' DO '
not as against an enemy, but with the spirit of meekness and
reason.
In which number of Non-conformists, though some might be
sincere, well-meaning men, whose indiscreet zeal might be so
like charity, as thereby to cover a multitude of their errors;
yet of this party there were many that were possessed with a
high degree of spiritual wickedness : T mean with an innate rest-
202 THE LIFE OF
less pride and malice ; I do not mean the visible carnal sins of
gluttony and drunkenness, and the like, — from which, good Lord,
deliver us ! — but sins of a higher nature, because they are more
unlike God, who is' the God of Love, and mercy, and order, and
peace ; and more like the Devil, who is not a glutton, nor can be
drunk, and yet is a Devil : but 1 mean those spiritual wickednesses
of malice and revenge, and an opposition to government : men
that joyed to be the authors of misery, which is properly Iiis
work that is the enemy and disturber of mankind ; and thereby
greater sinners than the glutton or drunkard, though some will
not believe it. And of this party there were also many, whom
prejudice and a furious zeal had so blinded, as to make them nei-
ther to hear reason, nor adhere to the ways of peace : men, that
were the very dregs and pest of mankini ; men whom pride and
self-conceit had made to over-value their ov/n pitiful crooked wis-
dom so much, as not to be ashamed to hold foolish and unman-
nerly disputes against those men whom they ought to reverence,
and those laws which they ought to obey ; men, that laboured
and joyed first to find out the faults, and then speak evil of Gov-
ernment, and to be the authors of confusion ; men, whom com-
pany, and conversation, and custom had at last so blinded, and
made so insensible that these were sins, that like those that per-
ished in the gainsaying of Korah, so these died without repenting
of these spiritual wickednesses ; of which the practices of Cop-
pinger and Hacket* in their lives, and the death of them and
their adherents, are, God knows, too sad examples, and ought to
be cautions to those men that are inclined to the like spiritual
wickednesses.
And in these times, which tended thus to confusion, there were
also many of these scruple-mongers, that pretended a tenderness
of conscience, refusinjy to take an oath before a lawful Maijis-
trate : and yet these very men in their secret Conventicles did
covenant and swear to each other, to be assiduous and faithful in
* Two v.'retched fanatics, the fii'st died in prison and the second was hanged
in 1591, his followers called him " the supreme Monarch of the w^orld from
whom all Princes of Europe hold their sceptres," " to be a greater prophet
than Moses or John Baptist, even Jesus Christ, who was come with his fan in
his hand to judge the world."
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 203
using their best endeavours to set up the Presbyterian doctrine
and discipline ; and both in such a manner as they themselves
had not yet agreed on ; but up that government must. To which
end there were many that wandered up and down and were ac-
tive in sowing discontents and sedition, by venomous and secret
•murmurings, and a dispersion of scurrilous pamphlets and libels
against the Church and State ; but especially against the Bishops ;
by which means, together with venomous and indiscreet sermons,
the common people became so fanatic, as to believe the Bishops
to be Antichrist, and the only obstructors of God's discipline !
and at last some of them were given over to so bloody a zeal,
and such other desperate delusions, as to find out a text in the
Revelation of St. John, that Antichrist was to be overcome by
the sword. So that those very men, that began with tender and
meek petitions, proceeded to admonitions : then to satirical re-
monstrances : and at last — having, like Absalom, numbered who
was not, and who was, for their cause — they got a supposed cer-
tainty of so great a party, that they durst threaten first the
Bishops, and then the Queen and Parliament, to all which they
were secretly encouraged by the Earl of Leicester, then in great
favour with her Majesty, and the reputed cherisher and patron-
general of these pretenders to tenderness of conscience ; his de-
sign being, by their means, to bring such an odium upon the
Bishops, as to procure an alienation of their lands, and a large
proportion of them for himself: which avaricious desire had at
last so blinded his reason, that his ambitious and greedy hopes
seemed to put him into a present possession of Lambeth-House.
And to these undertakings the Non-conformists of this nation,
were much encouraged and heightened by a correspondence and
confederacy with that brotherhood in Scotland ; so that here they
became so bold, that one* told the Queen openly in a sermon,
* Edward Dering, a Puritan Divine, and a native of Kent, educated at
Clirist College, Cambridge. He was suspended from his Lectureships on ac-
count of his non -conformity, but he is commended as a truly religious man,
whose pure and virtuous life was followed by a happy death, in 157G. He
wrote some Sermons, and a Defence of Bishop Jewel's Apology for the
Church.
204 THE LIFE OF
"She was like an untamed heifer, that would not be ruled by
God's people, but obstructed his discipline."' And in Scotland
ihey were more confident ; for there* they declared her an Athe-
ist, and grew to such an height, as not to be accountable for any
thing spoken against her, nor for treason against their own King,
if it were but spoken in the pulpit ; showing at last such a diso-
bedience to him, that his mother being in England, and then in
distress, and in prison, and in danger of death, the Church denied
the King their prayers for her ; and at another time, when he
had appointed a day of Feasting, the Church declared for a gen-
eral Fast, in opposition to his authority.
To this height they were grown in both nations, and by these
means there was distilled into the minds of the common people
such other venomous and turbulent principles, as were inconsis-
tent with the safety of the Church and State : and these opinions
vented so daringly, that, beside the loss of life and limbs, the gov-
ernors of the Church and State were forced to use sucii other
severities as will not admit of an excuse, if it had not been to pre-
vent the gangrene of confusion, and the perilous consequences of
it ; which, without such prevention, would have been first confu-
sion, and then ruin and misery to this numerous nation.
These errors and animosities were so remarkable, that they
begot wonder in an ingenious Italian, who being about this time
come newly into this nation, and considering them, writ scoffingly
to a friend in his own country, to this purpose ; " That the com-
mon people of England were wiser than the wisest of his nation •
for here the very women and shop-keepers v/ere able to judge of
Predestination, and to determine what laws were fit to be made con-
cerning Church-government ; and then, what were fit to be obeyed
or abolished. That they were more able — or at least thought
so — to raise and determine perplexed Cases of Conscience, than
the wisest of the most learned Colleges in Italy ! That men of
the slightest learning, and the most ignorant of the common people,
were mad for a new, or super, or re-reformation of Religion ; and
that in this they appeared like that man, who would never cease
to whet and wliet his knife, till tliere was no steel left to make i
* Vide JJiahop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland.
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. '205
useful." And he concluded his letter with this observation,
" That those very men that were most busy in oppositions, and
disputations, and controversies, and finding out the faults of their
governors, had usually the least of humility and mortification, or
of the power of godliness.''
And to heighten all these discontents and dangers, there was
also sprung up a generation of godless men ; men that liad so
long given way to their own lusts and delusions, and so highly
opposed the blessed motions of His Spirit, and the inward light of
their own consciences, that they became the very slaves of vice,
and had thereby sinned themselves into a belief of that which they
would, but could not believe, into a belief, which is repugnant
even to human nature ; — for the Heathens believe that there are
many Gods ; — but these had sinned themselves into a belief that
there was no God ! and so, finding nothing in themselves but
what was worse than nothing, began to wish what they were not
able to hope for, namely, '•' That they might be like the beasts
that perish !'' and in wicked company — which is the Atheist's
sanctuary — v/ere so bold as to say so : thougli the worst of man-
kind, when he is left alone at midnight, may wish, but is not then
able to think it : even into a belief that there is no God. Into
this wretched, this reprobate condition, many had then sinned
themselves.
And now, when the Church was pestered with them, and with
all those other fore-named irregularities ; when her lands were
in danger of alienation, her power at least neglected, and her
peace torn to pieces by several schisms, and such heresies as do
usually attend that sin: — for heresies do usually out-live their
first authors ; — when the common people seemed ambitious of
doing those very things that were forbidden and attended with
most dangers, that thereby they might be punished, and then ap-
plauded and pitied : when they called the spirit of opposition a
tender conscience, and complained of persecution, because they
wanted power to persecute others : when the giddy multitude raged,
and became restless to find out misery for themselves and others ;
and the rabble would herd themselves together, and endeavour to
govern and act in spite of authority: — in this extremity of fear,
and danger of the Church and State, when, to suppress the grow-
h'jg the life of
ing evils of both, they needed a man of prudence and piety, and
of an high and fearless fortitude, they were blest in all by John
Whitgift, his being made Archbishop of Canterbury ; of whom
Sir Henry Wotton — that knew him well in his youth, and had
studied him in his age, — gives this true character ; " That he
was a man of reverend and sacred memory, and of the primitive
t<imper : such a temper, as when the Church by lowliness of spirit
did flourish in highest examples of virtue." And indeed this man
proved so.
And though I dare not undertake to add to this excellent and
true character of Sir Flenry Wotton ; yet I shall neither do right
to this discourse, nor to my Reader, if I forbear to give him a
further and short account of the life and manners of this excellent
inan ; and it shall be short, for I long to end this digression, that
I may lead my reader back to Mr. Hooker where we left him at
the Temple.
John Wiiitgift was born in the County of Lincoln, of a family
that was ancient ; and noted to be both prudent and affable, and
gentle by nature. He was educated in Cambridge ; much of his
learning was acquired in Pembroke Hall, — where Mr. Bradford*
the Martyr was his tutor ; — from thence he vv^as removed to Peter
House ; from thence to be Master of Pembroke Hall ; and from
thence to the Mastership of Trinity College. About which time
the Queen made him her Chaplain ; and not long after Prebend
of Ely, and then Dean of Lincoln ; and having for many years
past looked upon him with much reverence and favour, gave him
a fair testimony of both, by giving him the Bishoprick of Wor-
cester, and — which was not with her a usual favour — forgivinof
him his first fruits ; then by constituting him Vice-President of
the Principality of Wales. And having experimented his wis-
dom, his justice, and moderation in the manage of her affairs in
both these places, she, in the twenty-sixth of her reign, 1583,
o)ade him Archbishop of Canterbury, and, not long after, of her
Privy Council ; and trusted him to manage all her Ecclesiastical
affairs and preferments. In all which removes, he was like the
* A mild and beneficent man burned by the Papibts at Smithfield, July 1,
1555.
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 207
Ark, which left a blessing on the place where it rested ; and in
all his employments was like Jehoiada, that did good unto Israel.
These were the steps of this Bishop's ascension to this place of
dignity and cares : in which place — to speak Mr. Camden's very
words in his Annals of Queen Elizabeth — ■' he devoutly conse-
crated both his whole life to God, and his painful labours to the
good of his Church."
And jvet in this place he met with many oppositions in the
regulation of Church affairs, which were much disordered at his
entrance, by reason of the age and remissness of Bishop Grindal,*
his immediate predecessor, the activity of the Non-conformists,
and their chief assistant the Earl of Leicester ; and indeed by
too many others of the like sacrilegious principles. With these
he was to encounter ; and though he wanted neither courage, nor
a good cause, yet he foresaw, that without a great measure of the
Queen's favour, it was impossible to stand in the breach, that had
been lately made into the lands and immunities of the Church, or
indeed to maintain the remaining lands and rights of it. And
therefore by justifiable sacred insinuations, such as St. Paul to
Agrippa, — "Agrippa, believest thou? I know thou believest,"
he wrought himself into so great a degree of favour with her, as,
by his pious use of it, hath got both of them a great degree of fame
in this world, and of glory in that into v/hich they are now both
entered.
His merits to the Queen, and her favours to him were such,
that she called him " her little black husband," and called " his
servants her servants :" and she saw so visible and blessed a sin-
cerity shine in all his cares and endeavours for the Church's and
for her good, that she was supposed to trust him with the very
secrets of her soul, and to make him her confessor ; of which she
gave many fair testimonies ; and of which one was, that " she
* Edmund Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury, born in 1519, at Hinsing-
liam, in Cumberland, and educated at Cambridge. He resided at Strasburg,
till the accession of Elizabeth, who nominated him to the See of London,
whence, in 1570, he was translated to York, and in 1575, to Canterbury.
His indulgence to the Puritans procured him the Queen's displeasure, and for
some time he was sequestered and confined to his house, but in 1582 he re-
signed his office, and died .July 6th, 1583.
i>08 THE LIFE OF
would never eat flesh in Lent, without obtaining a license from
her little black husband :" and would often say " she pitied him
because she trusted him, and had thereby eased herself by laying
the burthen of all her Clergy-cares upon his shoulders, which lie
managed with prudence and piety."
1 shall not keep myself within the promised rules of brevity in
this account of his interest with her Majesty, and his care of the
Church's rights, if in this digression I should enlarge to particu-
lars ; and therefore my desire is, that one example may serve for a
testimony of both. And, that the Reader may the better under-
stand it, he may take notice, that not man}^ years before his being
made Archbishop, there passed an Act, or Acts of Parliament, in-
tending the better preservation of the Church-lands, by recalling a
power which v.as vested in others to sell or lease them, by lodging
and trusting the future care and protection of tliem only in the
Crown : and amongst many that made a bad use of this power or
trust of the Queen's, the Earl of Leicester was one ; and the Bish-
op having, by his interest with her Majesty, put a stop to the
Earl's sacrilegious designs, they two fell to an open opposition
before her ; after v/hich they both quitted the room, not friends in
appearance. But the Bishop made a sudden and seasonable re-
turn to her Majesty,— for he found her alone — and spake to l;er
with great humility and reverence, to this purpose.
"I beseech your Majesty to hear me with patience, and to be-
lieve that your's and the Church's safety are dearer to me than
my life, but my conscience dearer than both : and therefore give
me leave to do my duty, and tell you that Princes are deputed
nursing Fathers of the Church, and owe it a protection ; and
therefore God forbid that you should be so much as passive in
her ruin, when you may prevent it ; or that I should behold it
without horror and detestation ; or should forbear to tell your Maj-
esty of the sin, and danger of Sacrilege. And though you and
myself were born in an age of frailties, when the primitive piety
and care of the Church's lands and immunities are much decay-
ed ; yet. Madam, let me beg that you would first consider that
there are such sins as Profaneness and Sacrilege : and that, if
there were not, they could not have names in Holy Writ, and par-
ticularly in the Now Testament. And I beseech you to consider,
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 209
that though our Saviour said, ' He judged no man ;' and, to tes-
tify it, would not judge nor divide the inheritance betwixt the two
brethren, nor would judge the woman taken in adultery ; yet in
this point of the Church's rights he was so zealous, that he made
himself both the accuser, and the judge, and the executioner too,
to punish these sins : witnessed, in that he himself made the whip
to drive the profaners out of the Temple, overthrew the tables of
the money-changers, and drove them out of it. And I beseech
you to consider, that it was St. Paul that said to those Christians
of his time that were offended with Idolatry, and yet committed
Sacrilege : ' Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit Sacri-
lege V supposing, I think, Sacrilege the greater sin. This may
occasion your Majesty to consider, that there is such a sin as Sac-
rilege ; and to incline you to prevent the Curse that will follow
it, I beseech you also to consider, that Constantino, the first Chris-
tian Emperor, and Helejia his Mother ; that King Edgar, and
Edward the Confessor ; and indeed many others of your prede-
cessors, and many private Christians, have also given to God, and
to his Church, much land, and many immunities, which they
might have given to those of their own families, and did not ; but
gave them for ever as an absolute right and sacrifice to God : and
with these immunities and lands they have entailed a curse upon
the alienators of them : God prevent your Majesty and your suc-
cessors from being liable to that Curse, which will cleave unto
Church-lands as the leprosy to the Jews.
" And to make you, that are trusted with their preservation, the
better to understand the danger of it, I beseech you forget not,
that, to prevent these Curses, the Church's land and power have
been also endeavoured to be preserved, as far as human reason
and the law of this nation have been able to preserve them, by
an immediate and most sacred obligation on the consciences of
the Princes of this realm. For they that consult Magna Charta
shall find, that as all your predecessors v/ere at their Coronation, so
you also were sworn before all the Nobility and Bishops then pres-
ent, and in the presence of God, and in his stead to him that
anointed you, to maintain the Church-lands, and the rights belong-
ing to it ; and this you yourself have testified openly to God at the
holy Altar, by laying your hands on the Bible then lying upon it.
^10 THE LIFE OF
And not only Magna Charta, but many modern Statutes have de-
nounced a Curse upon those that break Magna Charta ; a Curse
like the leprosy, that was entailed on the Jews : for as that, so
these Curses have, and will cleave to the very stones of those
buildings that have been consecrated to God ; and the father's sin
of Sacrilege hath, and will prove to be entailed on his son and
family. And now, Madam, what account can be given for the
breach of this Oath at the Last Great Day, either by your Maj-
esty, or by me, if it be wilfully, or but negligently violated, I
know not.
" And therefore, good Madam, let not the late Lord's exceptions
against the failings of some few Clergymen prevail with you to
punish posterity for the errors of the present age ; let particular
men suffer for their particular errors ; but let God and his Church
have their inheritance : and though I pretend not to prophecy,
yet I beg posterity to take notice of what is already become visi-
ble in manv families ; that Church-land added to an ancient and
just inheritance, hath proved like a moth fretting a garment, and
secretly consumed both : or like the Eagle that stole a coal from
the altar, and thereby set her nest on fire, which consumed both
her young eagles and herself that stole it. And though I shall
forbear to speak reproachfully of your Father, yet I beg you to
take notice, that a part of the Church's rights, added to the vast
treasures left him by his Father, hath been conceived to bring an
unavoidable consumption upon both, notwithstanding all his dili-
gency to preserve them.
*' And consider, that after the violation of those laws, to which
he had sworn in ]\Iagna Charta, God did so far deny him his re-
straining grace, that as King Saul, after he was forsaken of God,
fell from one sin to another ; so he, till at last he fell into greater
sins than I am willing to mention. Madam, Religion is the foun-
dation and cement of human societies ; and when they that serve
at God's Altar shall be exposed to poverty, then Religion itself
will be exposed to scorn, and become contemptible ; as you may
already observe it to be in too many poor Vicarages in this nation.
And therefore, as vou are bv a late Act or Acts of Parliament,
entrusted with a great power to preserve or waste the Church
lands ; yet dispo.se of them, for Jesus' sake, as you have promised
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 211
to men, and vowed to God, that is, as the donors intended : let
neither falsehood nor flattery beguile you to do otherwise ; but
put a stop to God's and the Levite's portion, I beseech you, and
to the approaching ruins of his Church, as you expect comfort at
the Last Great Day, for Kings must be judged. Pardon this
affectionate plainness, my most dear Sovereign, and let me beg to
be still continued in your favour ; and the Lord still continue you
in His."
The Queen's patient hearing this affectionate speech, and her
future care to preserve the Church's rights, which till then had
been neglected, maj-^ appear a fair testimony, that he made her's
and the Church's good the chiefest of his cares, and that she also
thought so. And of this there were such daily testimonies given,
as begot betwixt them so mutual a joy and confidence, that they
seemed born to believe and do good to each other ; she not doubt-
ing his piety to be more than all his opposers, which were many ;
nor doubting his prudence to be equal to the chiefest of her Coun-
cil, who were then as remarkable for active wisdom, as those
dangerous tunes did require, or this nation did ever enjoy. And
in this condition he continued twenty years ; in which time he
saw some flowings, but many more ebbings of her favour towards
all men that had opposed him, especially the Earl of Leicester :
so that God seemed still to keep him in her favour, that he might
preserve the remaining Church-lands and immunities from Sacri-
legious alienations. And this good man deserved all the honour
and pov.'er with which she gratified and trusted him ; for he was
a pious man, and naturally of noble and grateful principles : he
eased her of all her Church-cares by his wise manacre of them :
he gave her faithful and prudent counsels in all the extremities
and dangers of her temporal affairs, which were very many ; he
lived to be the chief comfort of her life in her declinini? ao;e. and
to be then most frequently with her, and her assistant at her pri-
vate devotions ; he lived to be the greatest comfort of her soul
upon her death-bed, to be present at the expiration of her last
breath, and to behold the closing of those eyes that had long
looked upon him with reverence and affection. And let this also
bo added, that he was the Chief Mounier at her sad funeral ; nor
let this be forgotten, that, within a few hours after her death, he
212 TIIK LIFE OF
was the happy proclaimer, that King James — her peaceful suc-
cessor— was heir to the Crown.
Let me beg of my Reader to allow me to say a little, and but
a little, more of this good Bishop, and I shall then presently lead
him back to Mr. Hooker ; and because I would hasten, I will
mention but one part of the Bishop's charity and humility ; but
this of both. He built a large Alms-house near to his own Pal-
ace at Croydon in Surrey, and endowed it with maintenance for
a Master and twenty-eight poor men and women ; which he
visited so often, that he knew their names and dispositions ; and
was so truly humble, that he called them Brothers and Sisters :
and whensoever the Queen descended to that lowliness to dine
vv'ith him at his Palace in Lambeth, — which was very often, — he
would usually the next day shew the like lowliness to his poor
Brothers and Sisters at Croydon, and dine with them at his Hos-
pital ; at which time, you may believe there was joy at the table.
And at this place he built also a fair Free-school, with a good
accommodation and maintenance for the Master and Scholars.
Which gave just occasion for Boyse Sisi, then Ambassador for the
P'rench King, and resident here, at the Bishop's death, to say,
" the Bishop had published many learned books ; but a Free-
scliool to train up youth, and an Hospital to lodge and maintain
aged and poor people, were the best evidences of Christian learn-
ing that a Bishop could leave to posterity." This good Bishop
lived to see King James settled in peace, and then fell into an
extreme sickness at his Palace in Lambeth ; of which when the
King had notice, he went presently to visit him, and found him in
his bed in a declining condition and very weak ; and after some
short discourse betwixt them, the King at his departure assured
him, " He had a great affection for him, and a very high value
for his prudence and virtues, and would endeavour to beg his life
of God for tlie good of his Church." To which the good Bishop
replied, -^ Pro Ecdesia Dei! Pro Ecdesia Deif which were
the last words he ever spake ; therein testifying, that as in his
life, so at his death, his chiefest care was of God's Church.
This John Whitgift was made Archbishop in the year 1583.
In which busy place he continued twenty years and some months ;
and in which time you may believe he had many trials of his
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. JJ13
courage and patience: but his motto was " Vlncit qui patitur ;''
and he made it good.
Many of his trials were occasioned by the then powerful Earl
of Leicester, who did still — but secretly — raise and cherish a
faction of Non-conformists to oppose him ; especially one Thomas
Cartwright, a man of noted learning, sometime contemporary with
the Bishop in Cambridge, and of the same College, of which the
Bishop had been Master : in which place there began some emu-
lations,— the particulars I forbear, — and at last open and high
oppositions betwixt them ; and in which you may believe Mr.
Cartwright was most faulty, if his expulsion out of the University
can incline you to it.
And in this discontent after the Earl's death, — which was
1588, — Mr. Cartwright appeared a chief cherisher of a party that
were for the Geneva Church-government; and, to effect it, he
ran himself into many dangers both of liberty and life ; appear-
ing at the last to justify himself and his party in many remon-
strances, which he caused to be printed : and to which the Bishop
made a first answer, and Cartwright replied upon him ; and then
the Bishop having rejoined to his first reply, Mr. Cartwright
either was, or was persuaded to be satisfied ; for he v/rote no
more, but left the Reader to be judge which had maintained
their cause with most charity and reason. After some silence,
Mr. Cartwright received from the Bishop many personal favours
and betook himself to a more private living, which was at War-
wick, where he was made Master of an Hospital, and lived quiet-
ly, and grew rich ; and where the Bishop gave him a licence to
preach, upon promises not to meddle with controversies, but in-
cline his hearers to piety and moderation : and this promise he
kept during his life, which ended 1602,* the Bishop surviving him
but some few months ; each ending his days in perfect charity
with the other.
And now after this long digression, made for the information of
my Reader concerning what follows, I bring him back to vene-
rable Mr. Hooker, where we left him in the Temple, and where
* Besides his controversial Tracts, he wrote a Commentary on the Proverbs,
and a harmony of the Gospels.
PART IT, 4
214 THE LIFE OF
we shall find him as deeply engaged in a controversy with Wal-
ter Travers,* — a friend and favourite of IMr. Cartwright's — as
the Bishop had ever been with Mr. Cartwright himself, and of
which I shall proceed to give this follov/ing account.
And first this ; that though the pens of Mr. Cartwright and
the Bishop were now at rest, yet there was sprung up a new
generation of restless men, that by company and clamours be-
came possessed of a faith, which they ought to have kept to
themselves, but could not : men that were become positive in
asserting, " That a papist cannot be saved :" insomuch, that
about this time, at the execution of the Queen of Scots, the
Bishop that preached her Funeral Sermon — which was Dr. How-
landjj" then Bishop of Peterborough — was reviled for not being
positive for her damnation. And besides this boldness of their
becoming Gods, so far as to set limits to His mercies, there was
not only one Martin Mar-Prelate,:]; but other venomous books daily
printed and dispersed ; books that were so absurd and scurrilous,
that the graver Divines disdained them an answer. And yet
these were grown into high esteem Vv'ith the common people, till
Tom Nash§ appeared against them all, who was a man of a sharp
* Walter Travers, who had been Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, to
which Cartwright removed, and he was also his intimate friend, and joint
preacher with him in Antwerp. When Travers came to England, lie was
made Chaplain to Lord Burghley, whose interest procured him to be Lecturer
at the Temple.
t Dr. Richard Howland, Master of St. John's College in Cambridge, and
the fourth Bishop of Peterborough, died in 1600. It does not appear that he
Avas the preacher on this occasion, for Gunton, in his " History of the Church
of Peterborough," states that it was Wickham, Bishop of Lincoln.
$ In 1588, many satirical Hbels were published against the Bishops, written
principally by a Society of men assuming the name of Martin Mar-Prelate ;
some of them were entitled, " Diotrephes," " the Minerals," " the Epistle to
the Convocation-House," " Have you any work for a Cooper?" and " More
work for a Cooper," referring to the Defence of the Church and Bishops of
England, written by Cowper, Bishop of Winchester. The real authors of these
tracts, were John Penry, a Welchman, John Udall, and other ministers.
§ Thomas Nashe wa.s an English Satirical writer, born about 1564, at Lowe-
stofFc, in Suffolk, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge. His tracts
are both rare and carious ; but the titles given in the text belong all to one
pamphlet, supposed by Gabriel Harvey, to have been written by John Lylly.
IIp. died in London in 1601.
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 215
wit, and the master of a scoffing, satirical, rnerry pen, which he
employed to discover the absurdities of those blind, malicious,
senseless pamphlets, and sermons as senseless as they ; Nash's
answers being like his books, which bore these, or like titles :
" An Almond for a Parrot;" " A Fig for my Godson ;" '' Come
crack me this nut," and the like ; so that this merry wit made
some sport, and such a discovery of their absurdities, as — which
is strange — he put a greater stop to these malicious pamphlets,
than a much wiser man had been able.
And now the Reader is to take notice, that at the death of
Father Alvey, who was Master of the Temple, this Walter
Travers was Lecturer there for the Evening Sermons, which he
preached with great approbation, especially of some citizens, and
the younger gentlemen of that Society ; and for the most part
approved by Mr. Flooker himself, in the midst of their oppositions.
For he continued Lecturer a part of his time ; Mr. Ti'avers
being indeed a man of competent learning, of a winning beha-
viour, and of a blameless life. But he had taken Orders by the
Presbytery in Antwerp, — and with them some opinions, that could
never be eradicated, — and if in any thing he was transported, it
was in an extreme desire to set up that government in this nation ;
for the promoting of which he had a correspondence with Theo-
dore Beza at Geneva, and others in Scotland ; and was one of the
chiefest assistants to Mr. Cartwright in that design.
Mr. Travers had also a particular hope to set up this govern-
ment in the Temple, and to that end used his most zealous endea-
vours to be Master of it ; and his being disappointed by Mr.
Hooker's admittance, proved the occasion of a public opposition
betwixt them in their Sermons : many of which were concerning
the doctrine and ceremonies of this Church : insomuch that, as
St. Paul withstood St. Peter to his face, so did they withstand
each other in their Sermons : for, as one hath pleasantly expressed
it, " The forenoon Sermon spake Canterbury ; and the afternoon
Geneva."
In these Sermons there was little of bitterness, but each party
brought all the reasons he was able to prove his adversary's
opinion erroneous. And thus it continued a long time, till the
oppositions became so visible, and the consequences so dangerous,
216 THE LIFE OF
especially in that place, that the prudent Archbishop put a stop to
Mr. Travers his preaching, by a positive prohibition. Against
which Mr. Travers appealed, and petitioned her Majesty's Privy
Council to have it recalled ; where, besides his patron, the Earl
of Leicester, he met also Vvith many assisting friends : but they
were not able to prevail with, or against the Archbishop, whom
the Queen had intrusted with all Church-power ; and he had
received so fair a testimony of Mr. Hooker's principles, and of
his learning and moderation, that he withstood all solicitations.
But the denying this petition of Mr. Travers, was unpleasant to
divers of his party ; and the reasonableness of it became at last
to be so publicly magnified by them, and many others of that
party, as never to be answered : so that, intending the Bishop's
and Mr. Hooker's disgrace, they procured it to be privately
printed and scattered abroad ; and then Mr. Hooker was forced
to appear, and make as public an Answer ; which he did, and
dedicated it to the Archbishop ; and it proved so full an answer,
an answer that had in it so much of clear reason, and writ with
so much meekness and majesty of style, that the Bishop began to
have him in admiration, and to rejoice that he had appeared in
his cause, and disdained not qarnestly to beg his friendship ; even
a familiar friendship with a man of so much quiet learning and
humility.
To enumerate the many particular points, in which IVIr. Hooker
and Mr. Travers dissented, — all, or m.ost of which I have seen
written, — would prove at least tedious: and therefore I shall
impose upon my Reader no more tlian two, which shall imme-
diately follow, and by wliich he may judge of the rest.
Mr. Travers excepted against Mr. Hooker, for that in one of
his Sermons he declared, " That the assurance of what we be-
lieve by the Word of God is not to us so certain as that which
we perceive by sense." And Mr. Hooker confesseth he said so,
and endeavours to justify it by the reasons following.
" First ; I taught that the things which God promises in his
Word are surer than what we touch, handle, or see : but are we
so sure and certain of them ? If we be, why doth God so often
prove his promises to us as he doth, by arguments drawn from
our sensible experience ? For we must be surer of the proof
-MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 217
than of the things proved ; otherwise it is no proof. For exam-
ple ; how is it that many men looking on the moon, at the same
time, every one knoweth it to be the moon as certainly as the
other doth ? but many believing one and the same promise, have
not all one and the same fulness of persuasion. For how falleth
it out that men being assured of any thing by sense, can be no
surer of it than they are ; when as the strongest in faith that liv-
eth upon the earth hath always need to labour, strive, and pray,
that his assurance concerning heavenly and spiritual things may
grow, increase, and be augmented ?"'
The Sermon, that gave him the cause of this his justification,
makes the case more plain, by declaring " That there is, besides
this certainty of evidence, a certainty of adherence." In which
having most excellently demonstrated what the certainty of ad-
herence is, he makes this comfortable use of it, " Comfortable,^'
he says, " as to weak believers, who suppose themselves to be
faithless, not to believe, when notwithstanding they have their ad-
herence ; the Holy Spirit hath his private operations, and work-
eth secretly in them, and effectually too, though they want the in-
ward testimony of it."
Tell this, saith he, to a man that hath a mind too much dejected
by a sad sense of his sin ; to one that, by a too severe judging of
himself, concludes that he wants faith, because he wants the com-
fortable assurance of it ; and his answer will be, do not persuade
me against my knowledge, against whst I find and feel in myself:
I do not, I know, I do not believe.— -Mr. Hooker's own words fol-
low.—-' Well then, to favour such men a little in their weakness,
let that be granted which they do imagine ; be it, that they ad-
here not to God's promises, but are faithless and without belief:
but are they not grieved for their unbelief? They confess tl.ey
are ; do they not Avish it might, and also strive that it may be
otherwise? We know they do. Whence cometh this, but from
a secret love and liking, that they have of those things believed ?
For no man can love those things which in his own opinion are
not ; and if they think those things to be, which they show they
love, when they desire to believe them ; then must it be, that, by
desiring to believe, they prove themselves true believers : tor
without faith no man thinketh that things believed are : which
218 THE LIFE OF
argument all the subtilties of infernal powers will never be able
to dissolve." This is an abridgement of part of the reasons Mr.
Hooker gives for his justification of this his opinion, for which he
was excepted against by Mr. Travers.
Mr. Hooker was also accused by Mr. Travers, for that he in
one of his Sermons had declared, " That he doubted not but that
God was merciful to many of our forefathers living in Popish su-
perstition, for as much as they sinned ignorantly ;" and Mr.
Hooker in his answer professeth it to be his judgment, and de-
clares his reasons for this charitable opinion to be as folio weth.
But first, he states the question about Justification and Works,
and how the foundation of Faith without works is overthrown ;
and then he proceeds to discover that way which natural men
and some others have mistaken to be the way, by which they
hope to attain true and everlasting happiness : and having discov-
ered the mistaken, he proceeds to direct to that true way, by
which, and no other, everlasting life and blessedness is attainable.
And these two ways he demonstrates thus ; — they be liis own
words that follow : — " That, the way of Nature ; this, the w^ay
of Grace ; the end of that way. Salvation merited, pre-supposing
the righteousness of men's works ; their righteousness, a natural
ability to do them ; that ability, the goodness of God, which
created them iii such perfection. But the end of this way, Sal-
vation bestowed upon men as a gift : pre-supposing not their
righteousness, but the forgiveness of their unrighteousness, Justi-
fication ; their justification, not their natural ability to do good,
but their hearty sorrow for not doing, and unfeigned belief in
Him, for whose sake not-doers are accepted, which is their Voca-
tion ; their vocation, the election of God, taking them out of the
number of lost children : their Election, a Mediator in whom to
be elected ; this mediation, inexplicable mercy : this mercy, sup-
posing their misery for whom He vouchsafed to die, and make
Himself a Mediator."
And he also declareth, " There is no meritorious cause for our
Justification, but Christ : no effectual, but his mercy ;" and says
also, " We deny the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we abuse,
disannul and annihilate the benefit of his passion, if by a proud
imagination we believe we can merit everlasting life, or can be
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 219
worthy of it." This belief, he declareth, is to destroy the very
essence of our Justification ; and he makes all opinions that bor-
der upon this to be very dangerous. " Yet nevertheless," — and
for this he was accused, — " considering how many virtuous and
just men, how many Saints and Martyrs have had their danger-
ous opinions, amongst which this was one, that they hoped to
make God some part of amends, by voluntary punishments which
they laid upon themselves : because by this, or the like erroneous
opinions, which do by consequence overthrow the merits of Christ,
shall man be so bold as to write on their graves, ' Such men are
damned ; there is for them no Salvation V St. Austin says, Er-
rare possum, Hcereticus esse nolo. And except we put a difference
betwixt them that err ignorantly, and them that obstinately per-
sist in it, how is it possible that any man should hope to be saved ?
Give me a Pope or Cardinal, whom great afflictions have made to
know himself, whose heart God hath touched with true sorrow for
all his sins, and filled with a love of Christ and his Gospel ;
whose eyes are willingly open to see the truth, and his mouth
ready to renounce all error, — this one opinion of merit excepted,
which he thinketh God will require at his hands ; — and because
he v/anteth, trembleth, and is discouraged, and yet can say. Lord,
cleanse me from all my secret sins ! shall I think, because of this,
or a like error, such men touch not so much as the hem of Christ's
garment ? If they do, wherefore should I doubt, but that virtue
may proceed from Christ to save them ? No, I will not be afraid
to say to such a one. You err in your opinion ; but be of good
comfort ; you have to do with a merciful God, who will make the
best of that little which you hold well ; and not with a captious
sophister, who gathereth the worst out of every thing in which
you are mistaken."
But it will be said, says Mr. Hooker, the admittance of merit in
any degree overthroweth.the foundation, excludeth from the hope
of mercy, from all possibility of salvation. (And now Mr. Hook-
er's own words follow).
" What, though they hold the truth sincerely in all other parts
of Christian faith ; although they have in some measure all the
virtues and graces of the Spirit, although they have all other to-
kens of God's children in them ? although they be far from having
220 THE LIFE OF
any proud opinion, that they shall be saved by the worthiness of
their deeds ? although the only thing, that troubleth and molesteth
them, be a little too much dejection, somevvliat too great a fear
arising from an erroneous conceit, that God will require a worthi-
ness in them, which they are grieved to find wanting in themselves ?
although they be not obstinate in this opinion ? although they be
willing, and would be glad to forsake it, if any one reason were
brought sufficient to disprove it ? although the only cause why
they do not forsake it ere they die, be their ignorance of that
means by which it might be disproved ? although the cause why
the ignorance in this point is not removed, be the want of know-
ledge in such as should be able, and are not, to remove it ? Let
me die," says Mr. Hooker, '• if it be ever proved, that simply an
error doth exclude a Pope or Cardinal in such a case utterly from
hope of life. Surely, I must confess, that if it be an error to think
that God may be merciful to save men, even when they err, my
greatest comfort is my error ; were it not for the love I bear to
this error, I would never wish to speak or to live."
I was willing to take notice of these two points, as supposing
them to be very material ; and that, as they are thus contracted,
they may prove useful to my Reader ; as also for that the an-
swers be arguments of Mr. Hooker's great and clear reason, and
equal charity. Other exceptions were also made against him by
Mr. Travers, as " That he prayed before, and not after, his Ser-
mons ; that in his prayers he named Bishops ; that he kneeled,
both when he prayed, and when he received the Sacrament;"
and — says Mr. Hooker in his Defence — "other exceptions so like
these, as but to name, I should have thought a greater fault than
to commit them."
And it is not unworthy the noting, that, in the manage of so
great a controversy, a sharper reproof than this, and one like it,
did never fall from the happy pen of this humble man. That like
it was upon a like occasion of exceptions, to which his answer
was, " your next argument consists of railing and of reasons : to
your railing I say nothing ; to your reasons I say what follows."
And 1 am glad of this fair occasion to testify the dove-like temper
of this meek, this matchless man. And doubtless, if Almighty
God had blest the Dissenters from the ceremonies and discipline
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 221
of this Church, with a like measure of wisdom and humility, in-
stead of their pertinacious zeal, then obedience and truth had
kissed each other; then peace and piety had flourished in our na-
tion, and this Church and State had been blessed like Jerusalem,
that is at unity with itself; but this can never be expected, till
God shall bless the common people of this nation with a belief,
that Schism is a sin, and they not fit to judge what is Schism :
and bless them also with a belief, that there inay be offences ta-
ken which are not given, and, that laws are not made for private
men to dispute, but to obey.
And this also may be worthy of noting, that these exceptions of
Mr. Travers against Mr. Hooker proved to hefelix error , for they
were the cause of his transcribing those few of his Sermons, which
we now see printed with his books ; and of his " Answer to Mr.
Travers his Supplication;" and of his most learned and useful
"Discourse of Justification, of Faith, and Works:" and by their
transcription they fell into such hands as have preserved them
from being lost, as too many of his other matchless writings were :
and from these I have gathered many observations in this discourse
of his life.
After the publication of his " Answer to the Petition of Mr.
Travers," Mr. Hooker grew daily into greater repute with the
most learned and wise of the nation ; but it had a contrary effect
in very many of the Temple, that were zealous for Mr. Travers,
and for his Church-discipline ; insomuch, that though Mr. Trav-
ers left the place, yet the seeds of discontent could not be rooted
out of that Society, by the great reason, and as great meekness,
of this humble man : for though the chief Benchers gave him
much reverence and encouragement, yet he there met with many
neglects and oppositions by those of Master Travers' judgment;
insomuch that it turned to his extreme grief: and, that he might
unbeguile and win them, he designed to write a deliberate, sober
treatise of the Church's power to make Canons for the use of cere-
monies, and by law to impose an obedience to them, as upon her
children ; and this he proposed to do in " Eight Books of the law
of Ecclesiastical Polity ;" intending therein to shew such argu-
ments as should force an assent from all men, if reason, delivered
in sweet language, and void of any provocation, were able to do
222 THE LIFE OF
it : and, that he might prevent all prejudice, he wrote before it a
large Preface, or Epistle to the Dissenting Brethren, wherein
there were such bowels of love, and such a commixture of tliat
love with reason, as was never exceeded but in Holy Writ ; and
particularly by that of St. Paul to his dear brother and fellow-la-
bourer Philemon : than which none ever was more like this epis-
tle of Mr. Hooker's. So that his dear friend and companion in
his studies, Dr. Spencer, might, after his death, justly say, " What
admirable height of learning, and depth of judgment, dwelt in the
lowly mind of this truly humble man ; — great in all wise men's
eyes, except his own ; with what gravity and majesty of speech
his tongue and pen uttered heavenly mysteries ; whose eyes, in
the humility of his heart, were always cast down to the ground;
how all things that proceeded from him were breathed as from the
Spirit of Love ; as if he, like the bird of the Holy Ghost, the Dove,
had wanted gall ; — let those that knew him not in his person,
judge by these living images of his soul, his writings."
The foundation of these books was laid in the Temple ; but he
found it no fit place to finish what he had there designed; he
therefore earnestly solicited the Archbishop for a remove from
that place; to whom he spake to this purpose : " My Lord, when
I lost the freedom of my cell, which was my College, yet I found
some degree of it in my quiet country parsonage : but I am weary
of the noise and oppositions of this place ; and indeed God and
Nature did not intend me for contentions, but for study and quiet-
ness. My Lord, my particular contests with Mr. Travers here
have proved the more unpleasant to me, because I believe him to
be a good man ; and that belief hath occasioned me to examine
mine own conscience concerning his opinions ; and, to satisfy that,
I have consulted tlie Scripture, and other laws, both human and
divine, whether the conscience of him, and others of his judgment,
ought to be so far complied with, as to alter our frame of Church-
government, our manner of God's worship, our praising and pray-
ing to him, and our established ceremonies, as often as his, and
other tender consciences shall require us. And in this examina-
tion, I have not only satisfied myself, but have begun a Treatise,
in which I intend a justification of the Laws of our Ecclesiastical
Polity ; in which design God and his holy Angels shall at the
MK. RICHARD ilOOKER. 223
last great Day bear me that witness which my conscience now
does ; that my meaning is not to provoke any, but rather to satisfy
all tender consciences : and I shall never be able to do this, but
where I may study, and pray for God's blessing upon my endeav-
ours, and keep myself in peace and privacy, and behold God's
blessing spring out of my mother earth, and cat my own bread
without oppositions ;* and therefore, if your Grace can judge me
worthy of such a favour, let me beg it, that I may perfect what I
have ben;un."
About this time the Parsonage or Rectory of Boscum. in the
Diocese of Sarum, and six miles from that City, became void.
The Bishop of Sarum is Patron of it ; but in the vacancy of that
See, — which was three years betwixt the translation of Bishop
Pierce to the See of York, and Bishop Caldwell's admission into
it^ — the disposal of that, and all benefices belonging to that See,
durino- this said vacancy, came to be disposed of by the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury : and he presented Richard Hooker to it in
the year 1591, And Richard Hooker was also in the said year
instituted, July 17. to be a Minor Prebend of Salisbury, the corps
to it being Nether- Haven, about ten miles from that City ; which
prebend was of no great value, but intended chiefly to make him
capable of a better preferment in that church. In this Boscum
he continued till he had finished four of his eight proposed books
* 111 some of the later editions of the Life of Hooker, this paragraph is thus
altered — " And in this examination : I have not only satisfied myself, but have
begun a treatise in which I intend the satisfaction of others, by a demonstra-
tion of the reasonableness of our Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity ; and therein
laid a hopeful foundation for the Church's peace ; and so as not to provoke
your adversary, Mr. Cartwright, nor Mr. Travers, whom 1 take to be mine —
but not mine enemy — God knows this to be ray meaning. To which end I
have searched many boolis, and spent many thoughtful hours ; and I hope not
in vain, for I write to reasonable men. But my Lord, I shall never be able to
finish what I have begun, unless I be rr?moved into some quiet country parson-
ao-e, where I may see God's blessings spring out of my mother earth, and eat
mine own bread iu peace and privacy. A place where I may, without dis-
turbance, meditate my approaching mortality and that great account, which
all flesh must at the last great day give to the God of all Spirits. This is my
design ; and as those are the designs of my heart, so they shall, by God's assist-
ance, be the constant endeavours of the uncertain remainder of my life."
224 THE LIFE OF
of " The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity," and these were entered
into the Register-Book in Stationers' Hall, the 9th of March,
1592, but not published till the year 1594, and then were with
the before-mentioned large and affectionate Preface, which he di-
rects to them that seek — as they term it — the reformation of the
Laws and Orders Ecclesiastical in the Church of England ; of
which books I shall yet say nothing more, but that he continued
his laborious diligence to finish the remaining four during his life ;
— of all which more properly hereafter ; — but at Boscum he fin-
ished and published but only the first four, being then in the 39th
year of his age.
He left Boscum in the year 1595, by a surrender of it into the
hands of Bishop Caldwell : and he presented Benjamin Russell,
who was instituted into it the 23rd of June in the same year.
The Parsonage of Bishop's Bourne in Kent, three miles from
Canterbury, is in that Archbishop's gift : but, in that latter end of
the year 1594, Dr. William Redman, the Rector of it, was made
Bishop of Norwich ; by which means the power of presenting to
it was pro ea vice in the Queen ; and she presented Richard
Hooker, whom she loved well, to this good living of Bourne, the
7tli July, 1595 ; in which living he continued till his death, with-
out any addition of dignity or profit.
And now having brought our Richard Hooker from his birth-
place, to this where he found a grave, I shall only give some ac-
count of his books and of his behaviour in this Parsonage of
Bourne, and then give a rest both to myself and my Reader.
His first four books and large epistle have been declared to be
printed at his being at Boscum, anno 1594. Next I am to tell,
that at the end of these four books there was, when he first
printed them, this Advertisement to the Reader. " I have for
some causes, thought it at this time more fit to let go these first
four books by themselves, than to stay both them and the rest, till
the whole might together be published. Such generalities of the
cause in question as arc here handled, it will be perhaps not
amiss to consider apart, by way of introduction unto the books
that are to follow concerning particulars ; in the meantime the
Reader is requested to mend the Printer's errors, as noted under-
neath."
MR. HlCllARD HOOKER. J225
And I am next to declare, that his Fifth Book — which is larger
than his first four — was first also printed by itself, anno 1597, and
dedicated to his patron — for till then he chose none — the Arch-
bishop. These books were read with an admiration of their ex-
cellency in this, and their just fame spread itself also into foreign
nations. And I have been told, more than forty years past, that
either Cardinal Allen,* or learned Dr. Stapleton,f — both English-
men, and in Italy about the time when Mr. Hooker's four books
were first printed, — meeting with this general fame of them, were
desirous to read an author, that both the reformed and the learned
of their own Romish Church did so much magnify ; and there-
fore caused them to be sent for to Rome : and after reading them,
boasted to the Pope, — which then was Clement the Eighth, —
'• That though he had lately said, he never met with an English
book, whose writer deserved the name of author ; yet there now
appeared a wonder to them, and it would be so to his Holiness, if
it were in Latin : for a poor obscure English Priest had writ four
such books of Laws, and Church polity, and in a style that ex-
pressed such a grave and so humble a majesty, with such clear
demonstration of reason, that in all their readings they had not
met v/ith any that exceeded him : and this begot in the Pope an
earnest desire that Dr. Stapleton should bring the said four books,
and, looking on the English, read a part of them to him in Latin ;
which Dr. Stapleton did. to the end of the first book ; at the con-
clusion of which, the Pope spake to this purpose : ' There is no
learning that this man hath not searched into, nothing too hard
for his understanding : this man indeed deserves the name of an
author : his books will get reverence by age ; for there is in them
such seeds of eternity, that if the rest be like this, they shall last
till the last fire shall consume all learninn;.' "
* He was for some time Fellow of Oriel College, and principal of St. Mary-
Hall. He was made a Cardinal by Pope SixtusV. in 1587. In 1589, he was
appointed Archbishop of Mechlin in Brabant, and died about 1594.
t It is ascertained by Bishop King's letter to Walton, that it was Dr. Staple-
ton who introduced the works of Hooker to the Pope. Thomas Stapleton was
a Romish Divine, born in 1535, at Henfield, in Sussex, and educated at Win-
chester, and New College, Oxford ; but he left England on account of his re-
ligion, and became Professor of Divinity at Douay. He died at Louvain, in
1598, and his works form four volumeo iu folio.
22(j THE LIFE OE
Nor was this high, the only testimony and commendations
given to his books ; for at ihe first coming of King James into
this kingdom, he enquired of the Archbishop Whitgift for his
friend Mr. Hooker, that writ the books of Church-polity ; to which
the answer was, that he died a year before Queen Elizabeth,
who received the sad news of his death with very much sorrow ;
to which the King replied, " And I receive it with no less, that I
shall want the desired happiness of seeing and discoursing with
that man, from whose books I have received such satisfaction :
indeed, my Lord, I have received more satisfaction in reading a
leaf or paragraph, in Mr. Hooker, though it were but about the
fashion of Churches, or Church-Music, or the like, but especially
of the Sacraments, than I have had in the reading particular large
treatises written but of one of those subjects by others, though
very learned men : and I observe there is in Mr. Hooker no af-
fected language : but a grave, comprehensive, clear manifesta-
tion of reason, and that backed with the authority of the Scrip,
ture, the Fathers, and Schoolmen, and with all Law both sacred
and civil. And, though many others write well, yet in the next
age they will be forgotten ; but doubtless there is in every page
of Mr. Hooker's book the picture of a divine squI, such pictures
of truth and reason, and drawn in so sacred colours, that they
shall never fade, but give an immortal memory to the author."
And it is so truly true, that the King thought what he spake, that,
as the most learned of the nation have, and still do mention Mr.
Hooker with reverence ; so he also did never mention him but
with the epithet of learned, or judicious, or reverend, or venerable
Mr. Hooker.
Nor did his son, our late King Charles the First, ever mention
him but with the same reverence, enjoining his son, our now gra-
cious King, to be studious in Mr. Hooker's books. And our
learned antiquaiy Mr. Camden,* mentioning the death, the modes-
ty, and other virtues of Mr. Hooker, and magnifying his books,
wished, " that, for the honour of this, and benefit of other nations,
they were turned into the Universal Language." Which work,
though undertaken by many, yet they have been weary, and for-
* In his Annals, 5299.
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 227
saken it : but the Reader may now expect it, having been long
since begun and lately finished, by the happy pen of Dr. Earle,*
now Lord Bishop of Salisbury, of whom I may justly say, — and
let it not offend him. because it is such a truth as ought not to be
concealed from posterity, or those that now live, and yet know him
not, — that since Mr. Hooker died, none have lived whom God
liaLii blessed with more innocent wisdom, more sanctified learning,
or a more pious, peaceable, primitive temper : so that this ex-
cellent person seems to be only like himself, and our venerable
Richard Hooker, and only fit to make the learned of all nations
happy, in knowing what hath been too long confined to the lan-
guage of our little island.
There might be many more and just occasions taken to speak
of his books, which none ever did or can commend too much ;
but I decline them, and hasten to an account of his Christian
behaviour and death at Bourne ; in which place he continued his
customary rules of mortification and self-denial ; was much in
fasting, frequent in meditation and prayers, enjoying those blessed
returns, which only men of strict lives feel and know, and of
which men of loose and godless lives cannot be made sensible ;
for spiritual things are spiritually discerned.
At his entrance into this place, his friendship vv-as much sought
for by Dr. Hadrian Saravia,f then, or about that time, made one
of the Prebends of Canterbury ; a German by birth, and some-
time a pastor both in Flanders and Holland, where he had studied,
and well considered the controverted points concerning Episco-
* Dr. John Earle, Author of the " Microcosmography, or a piece of the
World, discovered in Essays and characters," was born at York, m 1601 ; was
educated at Oxford, and was Tutor to Prince Charles. In the Civil Wars, he
lost both his property and preferments, and attended the King abroad as his
Chaplain. In 1662, this very amiable man was consecrated Bishop of Wor-
cester. He died at Oxford, 1665. His translation of Hooker's Polity, was
never printed.
t A Protestant Divine, and Professor of Divinity at Leyden, born at Artois
in 1531, came to England in 1587. He was the bosom friend of Whitgift,
and, having been master of the Free Grammar School of Southampton, pro-
duced some of the most eminent men of his time. Dr. Saravia was one of
the Translators of King James's Bible, and died in 1613. His Tracts have
been printed, both in Latin and English.
228 THE LIFE OF
pacy and sacrilege ; and in England had a just occasion to
declare his judgment concerning both, unto his brethren ministers
of the Low Countries ; which was excepted against by Theodore
Beza and others; against whose exceptions he rejoined, and
thereby became the happy author of many learned tracts writ in
Latin, especially of three ; one, of the " Degrees of Ministers,"
and of the " Bishops' superiority above the Presbytery;" a sec-
ond, "against Sacrilege;" and a third of "Christian Obedience
to Princes ;" the last being occasioned by Gretzerus the Jesuit.*
And it is observable, that when, in a time of church-tumults,
Beza gave his reasons to the Chancellor of Scotland for the abro-
gation of Episcopacy in that nation, partly by letters, and more
fully in a treatise of a three- fold Episcopacy, — which he calls
divine, human, and satanical, — this Dr. Saravia had, by the help
of Bishop Whitgift, made such an early discovery of their inten-
tions, that he had almost as soon answered that Treatise as it
became public ; and he therein discovered how Beza's opinion did
contradict that of Calvin's and his adherents ; leaving them to
interfere with themselves in point of Episcopacy. But of these
tracts it will not concern me to say more, than that they were
most of them dedicated to his, and the Church of England's
watchful patron, John Whitgift, the Archbishop ; and printed about
the time in which Mr. Hooker also appeared first to the world,
in the publication of his first four books of " Ecclesiastical Polity."
This friendship being sought for by this learned Doctor you
may believe was not denied by Mr. Hooker, who was by fortune
so like him, as to be engaged against Mr. Travers, Mr. Cart-
wright, and others of their judgment, in a controversy too like
Dr. Saravia's ; so that in this year of 1595, and in this place of
Bourne, these two excellent persons began a holy friendship,
increasing daily to so high and mutual affections, that their two
wills seemed to be but one and the same ; and their designs both
for the glory of God, and peace of the Church, still assisting and
improving each other's virtues, and the desired comforts of a
* A most learned Jesuit. He read theological lectures at Ingolstadt, where
he died in 1625, aged 63 years. His works were published at Ratisbon, in
1734, in 13 vol. fol.
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 22i)
peaceable piety ; which 1 have willingly mentioned, because it
gives a foundation to some tilings that follow.
This Parsonage of Bourne is from Canterbury three miles,
and near to the common road that leads from that City to Dover ;
in which Parsonage J\Ir. Plooker had not been twelve months, but
his books, and the innocency and sanctity of his life became so
remarkable, that many turned out of the road, and others —
scholars especially — went purposely to see the man, whose life
and learning were so much admired : and alas ! as our Saviour
said of St. John Baptist, "What went they out to see ? a man
clothed in purple and fine linen ?" No, indeed : but an obscure,
harmless man ; a man in poor clothes, his loins usually girt in a
coarse gow^n, or canonical coat ; of a mean stature, and stooping,
and yet more lowly in the thoughts of his soul ; his body worn
out, not with age ; but study and holy mortifications ; his face
full of heat-pimples, begot by his unactivity and sedentary life.
And to this true character of his person, let me add this of his
disposition and behaviour : God and Nature blessed him with so
blessed a bashfulness, that as in his younger days his pupils might
easily look him out of countenance ; so neither then, nor in his
age, did he ever willingly look any man in the face : and was of
so mild and humble a nature, that his poor Parish-Clerk and he
did never talk but with both their hats on, or both off, at the same
time : and to this may be added, that though he was not purblind,
yet he was short or weak-sighted ; and where he fixed his eyes
at the beginning of his sermon, there they continued till it was
ended : and the Reader has a liberty to believe, that his modesty
and dim sight were some of the reasons why he trusted Mrs.
Churchman to choose his wife.
This Parish-Clerk lived till the third or fourth year of the late
Lonij Parliament : betwixt which time and Mr. Hooker's death
there had come many to see the place of his burial, and the
Monument dedicated to his memory by Sir William Cowper, who
still lives ; and the poor Clerk had many rewards for shewing
Mr. Hooker's grave place, and his said Monument, and did always
hear Mr. Hooker mentioned with commendations and reverence :
to all which he added his own knowledo;e and observations of his
humility and holiness ; and in all which discourses the poor man
PART II. 5
230 THE LIFE OF
was still mo)-e confirmed in his opinion of J\Ir. Hooker's virtues
and learning. But it so fell out, that about the said third or fourtii
year of the Long Parliament, the then present Parson of Bourne
was sequestered, — you may guess why, — and a Genevan Minister
put into his good living. This, and other like sequestrations,
made the Clerk express himself in a wonder, and say, " They
had sequestered so many good men, that he doubted, if his good
master Mr. Ilooker had lived till now, they would have seques-
tered him too !"
It was not long before this intruding Minister had made a party
in and about the said Parish, that were desirous to receive the
Sacrament as in Geneva ; to which end, the day was appointed
for a select company, and forms and stools set about the altar, or
commjunion-table, for them to sit and eat and drink : but when
they went about this work, there was a want of some joint-stools,
which the Minister sent the Clerk to fetch, and then to fetch cush-
ions,— but not to kneel upon. — When the Clerk saw them begin to
sit down, he began to wonder ; but the Minister bade him " cease
wondering, and lock the Church-door :" to whom he replied,
" Pray take you the keys, and lock me out : I will never come
more into this Church ; for all men will say, my miaster Hooker
was a good man, and a good scholar ; and I am sure it was not
used to be thus in his days:" and report says the old man went
presently home and died ; I do not say died immediately, but
Vv'itliin a few days after.*
But let us leave this grateful Clerk in his quiet grave, and re-
turn to Mr. Hooker liimsclf, continuing our observations of his
Ciiristian behaviour in this place, where he gave a holy valedic-
tion to all the pleasures and allurements of earth ; possessing his
soul in a virtuous quietness, which he maintained by constant
study, prayers, and meditations. Flis use v/as to preach once
every Sunday, and he, or his Curate, to catechise after the sec-
* Our biographer has lamented that it was not in his power to recover the
name of Mr. Hooker's worthy school-master. That of his grateful parish-
clerk Avas Sampson Horton. It appears from the parish-register of Bishop's-
Bourne, that '• Sampson Horton was buried the 9th of May 1648, an aged
man who had been clarke to this parish, by his own relation, threescore
ye ares.
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 231
ond Lesson in the Evening Prayer. His sermons were neither
long nor earnest, but uttered with a grave zeal, and an humble
voice : his eyes always fixed on one place, to prevent imagination
from v/andering ; insomuch that he seemed to study as he spake.
The design of his Sermons — as indeed of all his discourses — was
to shew reasons for what he spake ; and with these reasons such
a kind of rhetoric, as did rather convince and persuade, than
frighten men into piety ; studying not so much for matter, —
which he never wanted,— r-as for apt illustrations, to inform and
teach his unlearned hearers by familiar examples, and then make
them better by convincing applications ; never labouring by hard
words, and then by heedless distinctions and subdistinctions, to
amuse his hearers, and get glory to himself; but glory only to
God. Which intention, he would often say, was as discernible
in a Preacher, " as a natural from an artificial beauty."
He never failed the Sunday before every Ember-week to give
notice of it to his parishioners, persuading them both to fast, and
then to double their devotions for a learned and a pious Clergy,
but especially the last ; saying often, " That the life of a pious
Clergyman was visible rhetoric ; and so convincing, that the most
godless men — though they would not deny themselves the enjoy-
ment of their present lusts — did yet secretly wish themselves like
those of the strictest lives." And to what he persuaded others,
he added his own example of fasting and prayer ; and did usually
every Ember-week take from the Parish-Clerk the key of the
Church-door, into which place he retired every day, and locked
himself up- for many hours ; and did the- like most Fridays and
other days of fasting.
He would by no means omit the customary time of Procession,
persuading all, both rich and poor, if they desired the preserva-
tion of love, and their parish rights and liberties, to accompany
him in his perambulation ; and most did so : in which perambu-
lation he would usually express more pleasant discourse than at
other times, and would then always drop some loving and face-
tious observations to be remembered against the next year, espe-
cially by the boys and young people ; still inclining them, and
all his present parishioners, to meekness, and mutual kindness and
232 THE LIFE OF
love ; because " Love thinks not evil, but covers a multitude of
infirmities."
He was diligent to enquire who of his Parish were sick, or any-
ways distressed, and would often visit them, unsent for ; sup-
posing that the fittest time to discover to them those errors, to
which health and prosperity had blinded them. And having by
pious reasons and prayers moulded them into holy resolutions for
the time to come, he would incline them to confession and bewail-
ing their sins, with purpose to forsake them, and then to receive
the Communion, both as a strengthening of those holy resolutions,
and as a seal betwixt God and them of his mercies to their souls,
in case that present sickness did put a period to their lives.
And as he was thus watchful and charitable to the sick, so he
was as diligent to prevent law-suits ; still urging his parishioners
and neighbours to bear with each other's infirmities, and live in
love, because, as St. John says, " He that lives in love, lives in
God ; for God is love." And to maintain this holy fire of love
constantly burning on the altar of a pure heart, his advice was
to watch and pray, and always keep themselves fit to receive the
Communion, and then to receive it often ; for it was both a con-
firming and strengthening of their graces. iThis was his advice ;
and at his entrance or departure out of any house, he would
usually speak to the whole family, and bless them by name ; in-
somuch, that as he seemed in his youth to be taught of God, so
he seemed in this place to teach Iiis precepts as Enoch did, by
walking v/ith him in all holiness and humility, making each day
a step towards a blessed eternity. ' And though, in this weak and
declining age of the world, such examples are become barren,
and almost incredible ; yet let his memory be blessed with this
true recordation, because he that praises Richard Hooker, praises
God who hath given such gifts to men ; and let this humble and
affectionate relation of him become such a pattern, as may invite
posterity to imitate these his virtues.
This was his constant behaviour both at Bourne, and in all the
places in which he lived : thus did he walk with God, and tread
the footsteps of primitive piety ; and yet, as that great example
of meekness and purity, even our blessed Jesus, was not free from
false accusations, no more was this disciple of his, this most hum-
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 233
ble, most innocent, holy man. His was a slander parallel to that
of chaste Susannah's by the wicked Elders ; or that against St.
Athanasius, as it is recorded in his life, — for this holy man had
heretical enemies, — a slander which this age call trepa?ining .'*
The particulars need not a repetition ; and that it was false, needs
no other testimony than the public punishment of his accusers,
and their open confession of his innocency. It was said that the
accusation was contrived by a dissenting brother, one that endured
not Church-ceremonies, hating him for his book's sake, which he
was not able to answer ; and his name hath been told me ; but I
have not so much confidence in the relation, as to make my pen
fix a scandal on him to posterity ; I shall rather leave it doubtful
till the great day of revelation. But this is certain, that he lay
under the great charge, and the anxiety of this accusation, and
kept it secret to himself for many months ; and being a helpless
man, had lain longer under this heavy burthen, but that the Pro-
tector of the innocent gave such an accidental occasion, as forced
him to make it known to his two dearest friends, Edwin Sandys
and George Cranmer, who were so sensible of their tutor's suffer-
ings, that they gave themselves no rest, till by their disquisitions
and diligence they had found out the fraud, and brought him the
welcome news, that his accusers did confess they had wronged
him, and begged his pardon. To which the good man's reply
was to this purpose : " The Lord forgive them ; and the Lord
bless you for this comfortable news. Now have I a just occasion
to say with Solomon, ' Friends are born for the days of adversity ;'
and such you have proved to me. And to my God I say, as did
the Mother of St. John Baptist, ' Thus hath the Lord dealt with
me, in the day wherein he looked upon me, to take away my re-
proach among men.' And, O my God ! neither my life, nor my
reputation, are safe in my own keeping ; but in thine, who didst
take care of me when I yet hanged upon my mother's breast.
Blessed are they that put their trust in thee, O Lord ! for when
false witnesses were risen up against me ; when shame was
ready to cover my face ; when my nights were restless ; when
* " Can there be any of friendship in snares, hooks and trepans ?"
" Nothing but gins, and snares and trapans for souls." — Dr. South.
234 THE LIFE OF
ray soul thirsted for a deliverance, as the hart panteth after the
rivers of water ; then thou, Lord, didst hear my complaints, pity
my condition, and art now become my deliverer ; and as long as
I live I will hold up my hands in this manner, and magnify thy
mercies, who didst not give me over as a prey to mine enemies :
the net is broken, and they are taken in it. Oh ! blessed are
they that put their trust in thee ! and no prosperity shall make
me forget those days of sorrow, or to perform those vows that I
have made to thee in the days of my affliction ; for with such
sacrifices, thou, O God ! art v/ell pleased ; and I will pay
them."*
Thus did the joy and gratitude of this good man's heart break
forth ; and it is observable, that as the invitation to this slander
was his meek behaviour and dove-like simplicity, for which he was
remarkable ; so his Christian charity ought to be imitated. For
though the spirit of revenge is so pleasing to mankind, that it is
never conquered but by a supernatural grace, revenge being
indeed so deeply rooted in human nature, that to prevent the ex-
cesses of it, — for men would not know moderation, — Almighty
God allows not any degree of it to any man, but says " vengeance
is mine :" and though this be said positively by God himself, yet
this revenge is so pleasing, that man is hardly persuaded to sub-
mit the manage of it to the time, and justice, and wisdom of his
* " A certain lewd woman came to his chamber, and solicited his charity
under this cogent argument, ' that if he should deny her, she would lay base
attempts to his charge ;' and by this means, at several times, she had gotten
money from him ; until at last Providence was pleased to concern itself for the
righting wronged innocence. It so fell out, that this woman came to him
when his two dear friends Mr. Sandys and Mr. Cranmcr were with him :
wondering to see such a person come with so much confidence, they inquired
of their tutor the occasion of it, who in a little time tells them the truth of the
whole abuse. Upon which they contrive a way to be present in his chamber,
where they might hear the whole discourse at her next coming. An opportu-
nity soon offered, and the lewd v/oman persisting in her threats of laying ill
things to his charge, if she was denied what she came for, money, his two
friends stepped forth from behind the curtains to her confusion and the shame
of those who had employed her in so vile an action ; for his slanderers were
punished for this their vile attempt, who at their suffering showed a penitent
behaviour, and made an open confession." — Princess Worthies of Devon.
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 235
Creator, but would hasten to be his own executioner of it. And
yet nevertheless, if any man ever did wholly decline, and leave
this pleasing passion to the time and measure of God alone, it was
this Richard Hooker, of whom I write : for when his slanderers
v/ere to suffer, he laboured to procure their pardon ; and when
that was denied him, his reply was, '• That however he would
fast and pray that God would give them repentance, and patience
to undergo their punishment." And his prayers were so far re-
turned into his bosom, that the first was granted, if we may be-
lieve a penitent behaviour, and an open confession. And 'tis ob-
servable, that after this time he would often say to Dr. Saravia,
" Oh ! with what quietness did I enjoy my soul, after I was free
from the fears of my slander ! And how much more after a con-
flict and victory over my desires of revenge !"
About the year 1600, and of his age forty-six, he fell into a
long and sharp sickness, occasioned by a cold taken in his pas-
sage by water betwixt London and Gravesend, from the malignity
of v/hich he was never recovered ; for after that time, till his
death, he was not free from thoughtful days and restless nights :
but a submission to His will that makes the sick man's bed easy,
by giving rest to his soul, made his very languishment comfort-
able : and yet all this time he was solicitous in his study, and said
often to Dr. Saravia — who saw him daily, and was the chief com-
fort of his life, — " That he did not beg a long life of God for any
other reason, but to live to finish his three remaining books of
Polity ; and then, ' Lord, let thy servant depart in peace ;' "
which was his usual expression. And God heard his prayers,
though he denied the Church the benefit of them, as completed
by himself; and 'tis thought he hastened his own death, by has-
tening to give life to his books. But this is certain, that the
nearer he was to his death, the more he grew in humility, in holy
thoughts, and resolutions.
About a month before his death, this good man, that never
knew, or at least never considered, the pleasures of the palate,
became first to lose his appetite, and then to have an averseness
to all food, insomuch that he seemed to live some intermitted
weeks by the smell of meat only, and yet still studied and writ.
And now hi.s guardian angel seemed to forctel him that the day
236 THE LIFE OF
of his dissolution drew near ; for which his vigorous soul ap-
peared to thirst.
In this time of his sickness and not many days before his death,
his house was robbed ; of which he having notice, his question
was, " Are my books and written papers safe ?" And being an-
swered that they were ; his reply was, " Then it matters not ;
for no other loss can trouble me."
About one day before his death. Dr. Saravia, who knew the
very secrets of his soul, — for they were supposed to be confes-
sors to each other, — came to him, and, after a conference of the
benefit, the necessity, and safety of the Church's absolution, it
was resolved the Doctor should give him both that and the Sacra-
ment the following day. To which end the Doctor came, and,
after a short retirement and privacy, they two returned to the
company : and then the Doctor gave him, and some of those
friends which were with him, the blessed Sacrament of the body
and blood of our Jesus. Which being performied, the Doctor
thought he saw a reverend gaiety and joy in his face ; but it
lasted not long ; for his bodily infirmities did return suddenly,
and became more visible, insomuch that the Doctor apprehended
death ready to seize him ; yet, after some amendment, left him
at night, with a promise to return early the day following ; which
he did, and then found him better in appearance, deep in contem-
plation, and not inclinable to discourse; which gave the Doctor
occasion to require his present thoughts. To which he replied,
'•'That he was meditating the number and nature of Angels, and
their blessed obedience and order, without which, peace could not
be in Heaven : and Oh ! that it mio-ht be so on Earth !" After
which words, he said, " I have lived to see this world is made up
of perturbations ; and I have been long preparing to leave it, and
gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of making my account
with God, which 1 now apprehend to be near : and though 1 have
by his grace loved him in my youth, and feared him in mine age,
and laboured to have a conscience void of offence to him, and to
all men ; yet if thou, O Lord ! be extreme to mark what I have
done amiss, who can abide it ? And therefore, where I have
failed, Lord, shov/ mercy to me ; for I plead not my righteous-
ness, but the forgiveness of my unrighteousness, for His merits,
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 237
who died to purchase pardon for penitent sinners. And since I
owe thee a death, Lord, let it not be terrible, and then take thine
own time : I submit to it : let not mine, O Lord ! but let thy will
be done." With which expression he fell into a dangerous slum-
ber ; dangerous as to his recovery, yet recover he did, but it was
to speak only these few words : " Good Doctor, God hath heard
my. daily petitions, for I am at peace with all men, and he is at
peace with me ; and from that blessed assurance, I feel that in-
ward joy, which this world can neither give nor take from me :
my conscience beareth me this witness, and this witness makes
the thoughts of death joyful. I could wish to live to do the Church
more service ; but cannot hope it, for my days are past as a
shadow that returns not." More he would have spoken, but his
spirits failed him ; and, after a short conflict betwixt Nature and
Death, a quiet sigh put a period to his last breath, and so he fell
asleep. And now he seems to rest like Lazarus in Abraham's
bosom. Let me here draw his curtain, till with the most glori-
ous company of the Patriarchs and Apostles, the most Noble
Army of I\Iartyrs and Confessors, this most learned, most hum-
ble, holy man shall also awake to receive an eternal tranquillity,
and with it a greater degree of glory, than common Christians
shall be made partakers of.
In the mean time. Bless, O Lord ! Lord, bless his brethren,
the Clergy of this nation, with effectual endeavours to attain, if
not to his great learning, yet to his remarkable meekness, his
godly simplicity, and his Christian moderation ; for these will
bring peace at the last. And, Lord, let his most excellent writings
be blest with what he designed, when he undertook them : which
was, glory to thee, O God ! on high, peace in thy Church, and
goodwill to mankind. Amen, Amen.
IZAAK WALTON.
238 THE LIFE OF
This following Epitaph was long since presented to the world,
in memory of Mr. Hooker, by Sir William Cowper, who also
built him a fair Monument in Bourne Church, and acknowl-
edges him to have been his spiritual father.
Though nothing can be spoke worthy his fame.
Or the remembrance of that precious name,
Judicious Hooker ; though this cost be spent
On him, that hath a lasting monument
In his own books : yet ought we to express.
If not his worth, yet our respectfulness.
Church-Ceremonies he maintain'd ; then why
Without all ceremony should he die ?
Was it because his life and death should be
Both equal patterns of humility ?
Or that perhaps this only glorious one
Was above all, to ask, why had he none ?
Yet he, that lay so long obscurely low,
Doth now preferr'd to greater honours go.
Ambitious men, learn hence to be more wise,
Humility is the true way to rise :
And God in me this lesson did inspire,
To bid this humble man, " Friend, sit up higher."
AN
APPENDIX
TO THE
LIFE OF MR. RICHARD HOOKER.
And now, having by a long and laborious search satisfied myself, and I hope
my Reader, by imparting to him the true relation of Mr. Hooker's hfe, I am
desirous also to acquaint him with some observations that relate to it, and
which could not properly fall to be spoken till after his death : of which my
Reader may expect a brief and true account in the foUovv^ing Appendix.
And first, it is not to be doubted but that he died in the forty -seventh, if not
in the forty-sixth year of his age : which I mention, because many have be-
lieved him to be more aged : but I have so examined it, as to be confident I
mistake not : and for the year of his death, Mr. Camden, who in his Annals
of Queen Elizabeth, 1599, mentions him with a high commendation of his life
and learning, declares him to die in the year 1599 ; and yet in that inscription
of his Monument, set up at the charge of Sir William Cowper, in Bourne
Church, where Mr. Hooker was buried, his death is there said to be in anno
1 G0.3 ; but doubtless both are mistaken ; for I have it attested under the hand
of Vv'illiam Somner, the Archbishop's Registrar for the Province of Canterbury,
that Richard Hooker's Will bears date October 2Gth in anno 1600, and that it
was proved the third of December following.*
And that at his death he left four daughters, Alice, Cicely, Jane and Mar-
garet ; that he gave to each of them an hundred pounds ; that he left Joan,
his wife, his sole executrix ; and that, by his inventory his estate — a great part
of it being in books — came to 10921. 9s. 2d. which v/as much more than he
thought himself worth ; and which was not got by his care, much less by the
good housewifery of his wife, but saved by his trusty servant, Thomas Lane,
* And the Reader may take notice, that since I first writ this Appendix to the Life of
Mr. Hooker, Mr. Fulman, of Corpus Christi College, hath shewed me a good authority for
the very day and hour of Mr. Hooker's death, in one of his books of Polity, which had
been Archbishop Laud's. In whicii book, beside many considerable marginal notes of
some passages of his time, under the Bishop's own hand, there is also written in the title-
page of that book — which now is Mr. Fuhnan's — this attestation :
Ricardus Hooker vir summis doctrince dotibus ornatiis, de Ecclesia prmcipue uinglicana
optime meritvs, obiit J^ovemh, 2, circiter horam secundam postmeridianam, Anno 1600.
240 APPENDIX TO THE LIFE OF
that was wiser than his master in getting money for him, and more frugal than
his mistress in keeping of it. Of which Will of Mr. Hooker's I shall say no
more, but that his dear friend Thomas, the father of George Cranmer, — of
whom I have spoken, and shall have occasion to say more, — was one of the
witnesses to it
One of his elder daughters was married to one Chalinor, sometime a School-
master in Cliichester, and are both dead long since. Margaret, his youngest
daughter, was married unto Ezekiel Charke, Bachelor in Divinity, and Rector
of St. Nicholas in Harbledown near Canterbury, who died about sixteen years
past, and had a son Ezekiel, now living, and in Sacred Orders ; being at this
time Rector of Waldron in Sussex. She left also a daughter, with botii whom
I liave spoken not many months past, and find her to be a widow in a condi-
tion that wants not, but very far from abounding. And these two attested unto
me, that Richard Hooker, their grandfather, had a sister, by name Elizabeth
Harvey, that lived to the age of 121 years, and died in the month of Septem-
ber, 1G63.
For his other tv.'o daughters I can learn little certaint\^, but have heard they
both died before they were marriageable. And for his wife, she was so unlike
Jephtha's daugliter, that she staid not a comely time to bewail her widowhood ;
nor lived long enouglito repent her second marriage ; for wliich, doubtless, she
would have found cause, if there had been but four months betwixt Mr. Hook-
er's and her death. But she is dead, and let her other infirmities be buried
with her.
Thus nnich briefly for his age, the year of his death, his estate, his wife, and
his children. I am next to speak of his books ; concerning which I shall have
a necessity of being longer, or shall neither do right to myself, or my Reader,
which is chiefly intended in this Appendix.
I have declared in his Life, that he proposed Eight Books, and that his first
Four were printed anno 1594, and his Fifth book first printed, and alone, anno
1597; and that he lived to finish tlie remaining Three of the proposed Eight:
but whether we have the last Three as finished by himself, is a just and ma-
terial question, ; concerning which I do declare, that I have been told almost
forty years past, by one that very well knew Mr. Hooker and the aflairs of his
family, that, about a month after the death of Mr. Hooker, Bishop Whitgift,
then Archbishop of Canterbury, sent one of his Ciiaplains to enquire of Mrs.
Hooker, for the three remaining books of Polity, writ by her husband : of
which sh.e would not, or could not, give any account : and that about three
months after that time the Bishop procured her to be sent for to London, and
then by his procurement she was to be examined by some of her Majesty's
Council, concerning the disposal of those books: but, by way of preparation for
the next day's examination, the Bishop invited her to Lambeth, and after some
friendly questions, she confessed to him, that one Mr. Charke, and anotiier
Minister that dwelt near Canterbury, came to her, and desired that they might
go into her husband's study, and look upon some of his writings ; and that
there they two burnt and tore many of them, assuring her, that they were
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 241
v/ritings not fit to be seen ; and that she knew nothing more concerning them.
Her lodging was then in King street in Westminster, where she was found
next morning dead in her bed, and her new husband suspected and questioned
for it ; but he was declared innocent of her death.
And I declare also, that Dr. John Spencer, — mentioned in the Life of Mr.
Hooker, — who was of Mr. Hooker's College, and of his time there, and be-
twixt whom there was so friendly a friendship, that they continually advised
together in all their studies, and particularly in what concerned these books
of Polity — this Dr. Spencer, the Three perfect books being lost, had delivered
into his hands — I think by Bishop Whitgift — the imperfect books, or first rough
draughts of them, to be made as perfect as they might be by him, who both
knew Mr. Hooker's hand-writing, and was best acquainted with his intentions.
And a fair testimony of this may appear by an Epistle, first, and usually
printed before Mr. Hooker's Five books, — but omitted, I know not why, in the
last impression of the Eight printed together in anno 16G2, in which the Pub-
lishers seem to impose the three doubtful books, to be the undoubted books of
Mr. Hooker, — with these two letters, J. S. at the end of the said Epistle, which
was meant for this John Spencer: in which Epistle the Reader may find these
words, which may give some authority to what I have here written of his last
Three books.
" And though Mr. Hooker hastened his own death by hastening to give life
to his books, yet he held out with his eyes to behold these Benjamins, these
sons of his right hand, though to him they proved Benonies, sons of pain and
sorrow. But some evil-disposed minds, whether of malice or covetousness, or
wicked blind zeal, it is uncertain, as soon as they were born, and their father
dead, smothered them, and by conveying the perfect copies, left unto us no-
thing but the old, imperfect, mangled draughts, dismembered into pieces ; no
favour, no grace, not the shadow of themselves remaining in them. Had the
father lived to behold them thus defaced, he might rightly have named them
Benonies, the sons of sorrow : but being the learned will not suffer them to die
and be buried, it is intended the world shall see them as they are ; the learned
will find in them some shadows and resemblances of their father's face. God
grant, that as they were with their brethren dedicated to the Church for mes-
sengers of peace : so, in the strength of that little breath of life that remaineth
in them, they may prosper in their work, and, by satisfying the doubts of such
as are willing to learn, they may help to give an end to the calamities of
these our civil wars." J. S.
And next the Reader may note, that this Epistle of Dr. Spencer's was writ
and first printed within four years after the death of Mr. Hooker, in which
time all diligent search had been made for the perfect copies ; and tlien grant-
ed not recoverable, and therefore endeavoured to be completed out of Mr.
Hooker's rough draughts, as is expressed by the said Dr. Spencer in the said
Epistle, since whose death it is now fifty years.
And I do profess by the faith of a Christian, that Dr. Spencer's wife — who
was my Aunt, and Sister to George Cranmer, of whom I liave spoken — told
242 APPENDIX TO THE LIFE OF
me forty years since, in these, or in words to this purpose : " That lier husband
had made up, or finished Mr. Hooker's last Three books ; and that upon her
husband's death-bed, or in his last sickness, he gave them into her hand, with
a charge that they should not be seen by any man, but be by her delivered
into the hands of the then Archbishop of Canterbury", which was Dr. Abbot, or
unto Dr. King, then Bishop of London, and that she did as he enjoined her."
I do conceive, that from Dr. Spencer's, and no other copy, there have been
divers transcripts ; and I know that these were to be found in several places ;
as namely, in Sir Thomas Bodley's Library; in that of Dr. Andrews, late
Bishop of Winton ; in the late Lord Conway's ; in the Archbishop of Canter-
bury's ; and in the Bishop of Armagh's ; and in many others: and most of
these pretended to be the Author's own hand, but much disagreeing, being in-
deed altered and diminished, as men have thought fittest to make Mr. Hook-
er's judgment suit with their fancies, or give authority to their corrupt designs ;
and for proof of a part of this, take these following testimonies.
Dr. Barnard, sometime Chaplain to Dr. Usher, late Lord Archbishop of Ar-
magh, hath declared in a late book, called " Clavi Trabales," printed by Rich-
ard Hodgkinson, anno 16G1, that, in his search and examination of the said
Bishop's manuscripts, he found the Three written books which were supposed
the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth of Mr. Hooker's books of Ecclesiastical Polity ;
and that in the said Three books — now printed as Mr. Hooker's — there are so
many omissions, that ihey amount to many paragraphs, and which cause many
incoherencies : the omissions are set down at large in tlie suid printed book, to
which I refer the Reader for the whole ; but think fit in this place to insert
this following short part of some of the said omissions.
First, as there could be in natural bodies no inolion of any thing, unless
there were some first which moved all things, and continued unmoveable ;
even so in politic societies there must be some unpunishable, or else no man
shall suffer punishment : for sith punishments proceed always from superiors,
to whom the administration of justice belongeth ; which administration must
have necessarily a fountain, that deriveth it to all others, and receiveth not
from any, because otherwise the course of justice should go infinitely in a circle,
every superior having his superior without end, which cannot be : therefore a
well-spring, it foUoweth, there is : a supreme head of justice, whereunto all are
subject, but itself in subjection to none. Which kind of pre-eminency if some
ought to have in a kingdom, who but a King shall have it ? Kings, therefore,
or no man, can have lawful power to judge.
If private men ofiend, there is the Magistrate over them, which judgeth ; if
Magistrates, they have their Prince ; if Princes, there is Heaven, a tribunal,
before which they shall appear ; on earth they are not accountable to any.
Here, says the Doctor, it breaks off abruptly.
And I have these words also attested under the hand of Mr. Fabian Pliilips,
a man of note for his useful books. " I will make oath, if I shall be required,
that Dr. Sanderson, the late Bishop of Lincoln, did a little before his death
affirm to me, he had seen a manuscript affirmed to him to be the handwriting
MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 243
of Mr. Richard Hooker, in which there was no mention made of the Kino- or
supreme governors being accountable to tlie people. This I will make oath,
that that good man attested to me. Fabian Philips."*
So that there appears to be both omissions and additions in the said last
Three printed books: and this may probably be one reason why Dr. Sander-
son, the said learned Bishop, — whose writings are so highly and justly valued,
— gave a strict charge near the time of his death, or in his last Will, •' Tliat
nothing of his that was not already printed, should be printed after his death."
It is well known how high a value our learned King James put upon the
books writ by Mr. Hooker ; and known also that our late King Charles — the
Martyr for the Church — valued them the second of all books; testified by his
commending them to the reading of his son Charles, that now is our gracious
King: and you may suppose that this Charles the First was not a stranger to
the Three pretended books, because, in a discourse with the Lord Say, in the
time of the Long Parliament, when the said Lord required the King to grant
the truth of his argument, because it was the judgment of Mr. Hooker, —
quoting him in one of the three written books, the King replied, " They were
not allowed to be ^Ir. Hooker's books: but, however, he v/ould allow them to
be Mr. Hooker's, and consent to what his Lordship proposed to prove out of
those doubtful books, if he would but consent to the judgment of Mr. Hooker,
in the other five, that were the undoubted books of Mr. Hooker."
In this relation concerning these Three doubtful books of Mr. Hooker's, my
purpose was to enquire, then set down what I observed and know ; which I
have done, not as an engaged person, but inditierently : and now leave my
Reader to give sentence, for their legitimation, as to himself; but so as to
leave others the same liberty of believing, or disbelieving them to be IMr.
Hooker's: and 'tis observable, that as Mr. Hooker advised with Dr. Spencer,
in the design and manage of these books ; so also, and chiefly, with his dear
pupil, George Cranmer, — whose sister was the wife of Dr. Spencer — of which
this following letter may be a testimony, and doth also give authority to some
things mentioned both in this Appendix and in the Life of Mr. Hooker, and is
therefore added. I. W.
* A Barrister of eminence, particularly noted for his loyalty, born at Prestbury in Glou-
cestershire, in 1601. He died in 1690 ; and was the Author of several excellent I^aw
Trac' as well as one asserting that Charles I. '"as a martyr for his people.
GEORGE CRANMER'S
LETTER UNTO MR. RICHARD HOOKER,
FEBRUARY, 1598.*
What posterity is likely to judge of these matters concerning Church-disci-
pline, we may the better conjecture, if we call to mind what our own age,
within few years, upon better experience, hath already judged concerning the
same. It may be remembered, that at first, the greatest part of the learned
in the land were either eagerly affected, or favourably inclined that way.
The books then written for the most part savoured of the disciplinary style ; it
sounded every where in pulpits, and in common phrase of men's speech. The
contrary part began to fear they had taken a wrong course ; many which im-
pugned the discipline, yet so impugned it, not as not being the better form of
government, but as not being so convenient for our state, in regard of danger-
ous innovations thereby likely to grow : one mant alone there was to speak of,
— whom let no suspicion of flattery deprive of his deserved commendation —
who, in the defiance of the one part, and courage of the other, stood in the
gap and gave others respite to prepare themselves to the defence, which, by
the sudden eagerness and violence of their adversaries, had otherwise been
prevented, wherein God hath made good unto him his own impress, Viiicit qui
patitur : for what contumelious indignities he hath at their hands sustained,
the world is witness ; and what reward of honour above his adversaries God
hath bestowed upon him, themselves — though nothing glad thereof, — must
needs confess. Now of late years the heat of men towards the discipline is
greatly decayed ; their judgments begin to sway on the other side ; the learned
have weighed it, and found it light ; wise men conceive some fear, lest it prove
not only not the best kind of government, but the very bune and destruction
of all government. The cause of this change in men's opinions may be drawn
from the general nature of error, disguised and clothed with the name of truth ;
which did mightily and violently possess men at first, but afterwards, the
weakness thereof being by time discovered, it lost that reputation, which be-
fore it had gained. As by the outside of an house the passers-by are often-
times deceived, till they see the conveniency of the rooms within ; so, by the
* This admirable dissertalion originally appeared in 1642, entitled " Concerning the New
Church Discipline ; an excnllent Letter written by Mr. George Cranmer, to Mr. F. II."
T .John Whitgift, the Archbishop.
GEORGE CRANMER'S LETTER. 245
very name of discipline and reformation, men were drawn at first to cast a
fancy towards it, but now they have not contented themselves only to pass by
and behold afar off the fore-front of this reformed house ; they have entered
in, even at the special request of the master- workmen and chief-builders there-
of: they have perused the rooms, the lights, the conveniences, and they find
them not answerable to that report which was made of them, nor to that opin-
ion which upon report they had conceived : so as now the discipline, which at
first triumphed over all, being unmasked, beginneth to droop, and hang down
her head.
The cause of change in opinion concerning the discipline is proper to the
learned, or to such as by them have been instructed. Another cause there is
more open, and more apparent to the view of all, namely, the course of prac-
tice, which the Reformers have had with us from the beginning. The first
degree was only some small difference about the cap and surplice ; but not
such as either bred division in the Church, or tended to the ruin of the govern-
ment established. This was peaceable ; the next degree more stirring. Ad-
monitions were directed to the Parliament in peremptory sort against our
whole form of regiment. In defence of them, volumes were published in
English and in Latin : yet this was no more than writing. Devices were set
on foot to erect the practice of the discipline without authority ; yet herein
some regard of modesty, some moderatioxi was used. Behold at length it
brake forth into open outrage, first in writing by Martin ;* in whose kind of
dealing these things may be observed : 1. That whereas Thomas Cartwright
and others his great masters, had always before set out the discipline as a
Queen, and as the daughter of God ; he contrariwise, to make her more ac-
ceptable to the people, brought her forth as a Vicet upon the stage. 2. This
conceit of his was grounded — as may be supposed — upon this rare policy, that
seeing the discipline was by writing refuted, in Parliament rejected, hi secret
comers hunted out and decried, it was imagined that by open railing, — which
to the vulgar is commonly most plausible, — the State Ecclesiastical might have
been drawn into such contempt and hatred, as the overthrow thereof should
have been most grateful to all men, and in a manner desired by all the com-
mon people. 3. It may be noted — and this I know myself to be true — how
some of them, although they could not for shame approve so lewd an action,
yet were content to lay hold on it to the advancement of their cause, by
acknowledging therein the secret judgments of God against the Bishops, and
hoping that some good might be wrought thereby for his Church ; as indeed
there was, though not according to their construction. For 4thly, contrary to
their expectation, that railing spirit did not only not further, but extremely dis-
* Gregory Martin, born at MaxfieUl near Winchelsea, admitted of St. John's Coll. Oxford,
1557, embraced the Roman Catholic Religion and was ordained priest at Douay, 1573. The
Rheims translation of the Vulgate has been ascribed entirely to him. He died at Rhcims
inl5«2.
t Vice was the fool of the old moralities, with his dagger of lath, a long coat, and a cap
with a pair of ass's ears.
PART II. 6
246 GEORGE CRANMER'S LETTER
grace and prejudice their cause, when it was once perceived from how low
degrees of contradiction, at first, to what outrage of contumely and slander,
they were at length proceeded : and were also likely to proceed further.
A further degree of outrage was also in fact : certain* prophets did arise,
who deeming it not possible that God should suffer that to be undone, which
they did so fiercely desire to have done, namely, that his holy saints, the fa-
vourers and fathers of the discipline, should be enlarged, and delivered from
persecution ; and seeing no means of deliverance ordinary, were fain to per-
suade themselves that God must needs raise some extraordinary means ; and
being persuaded of none so well as of themselves, they forthwith must needs
be the instruments of this great work. Hereupon they framed unto them-
selves an assured hope, that, upon their preaching out of a peascart in Cheap-
side, all the multitude would have presently joined unto them, and in amaze-
ment of mind have asked them, Virifratres, quid agimus ? whereunto it is
likely they would have returned an answer far unlike to that of St. Peter :
" Such and such are men unworthy to govern ; pluck them down : such and
such are the dear children of God ; let them be advanced."
Of two of these men it is meet to speak with all commiseration ; yet so,
that others by their example may receive instruction, and withal some light
may appear, what stirring affections the discipline is like to inspire, if it light
upon apt and prepared minds.
Now if any man doubt of what society they were ; or if the Reformers dis-
claim them, pretending that by them they M^ere condemned ; let these points
be considered. 1. Whose associates were they before they entered into this
frantic passion ? Whose sermons did they frequent ? Whom did they ad-
mire? 2. Even when they were entering into it. Whose advice did they re-
quire ? and when they were in, Whose approbation ? Whom advertised they
of their purpose? Whose assistance by prayer did they request? But we
deal injuriously with them to lay this to their charge ; for they reproved and
condemned it. How ! did they disclose it to the Magistrate, that it might be
suppressed? or were they not rather content to stand aloof off", and see the
end of it, as being loath to quench that spirit? No doubt these mad practi-
tioners were of their society, with whom before, and in the practice of their
madness, they had most affinity. Hereof read Dr. Bancroft's book.t
A third inducement may be to dislike of the discipline, if we consider not
only how far the Reformers themselves have proceeded, but what others upon
tlieir foundations liave built. Here come the Brownistst in the first rank.
* Hacket and Coppinger.
t Entitled " A Survey of the pretended holy Discipline, to which is prefixed a Sermon,
preached against the Puritans, at St. Paul's Cross, Feb. 9, 158H-9, from the following text:
' Dearly beloved, believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they be of God, for
many false Projthcts have gone out into the world.' 1 John, iv. 1."
X Robert Brown, a person of a good family in Rutlandshire, educated at Corpus Chrisli
College in Cambridge, was the founder of a sect of Puritans who took their name from
him. He wrote several tracts in support of his oi»inions, and sustained various persecu-
UNTO MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 247
their lineal descendants, wlio have seized upon a number of strange opinions;
whereof, although their ancestors, the Reformers, were never actually possess-
ed, yet, by right and interest from them derived, the Brownists and Barrow-
ists* have taken possession of them : for if the positions of the Reformers be
true, I cannot see how the main and general conclusions of Brownism should
be false ; for upon these two points, as I conceive, they stand.
1. That, because we have no Church, they are to sever themselves from
us. 2. That without Civil authority they are to erect a Church of their own.
And if the former of these be true, the latter, I suppose, will follow : for if
above all things men be to regard their salvation ; and if out of the Church
there be no salvation ; it followeth, that, if we have no Church, we have no
means of salvation ; and therefore separation from us in that respect is both
lawful and necessary, as also, that men, so separated from the false and coun-
terfeit Church, are to associate themselves unto some Church; not to ours;
to the Popish much less ; therefore to one of their own making. Nov/ the
ground of all these inferences being this. That in our Church there is no
means of salvation, is out of the Reformer's principles most clearly to be
proved. For wheresoever any matter of faith unto salvation necessary is de-
nied, there can be no means of salvation ; but in the Church of England, the
discipline, by them accounted a matter of faith, and necessary to salvation, is
not only denied, but impugned, and the professors thereof oppressed. Ergo.
Again, — but this reason perhaps is weak, — every true Church of Christ ac-
knowiedgeth the whole Gospel of Christ : the discipline, in their opinion, is a
part of the Gospel, and yet by our Church resisted. Ergo.
Again, the discipline is essentially united to the Church : by which term
essentially, they must mean either an essential part, or an essential property.
Both which ways it must needs be, that where that essential discipline is not,
neither is there any Church. If therefore between them and the Brownists
there should be appointed a solemn disputation, whereof with us they have been
oftentimes so earnest challengers ; it doth not yet appear what other answer
they could possibly frame to these and the like arguments, \vherewith they
may be pressed, but fairly to deny the conclusion, — for all the premises are
tiieir own — or rather ingeniously to reverse their own principles before laid,
whereon so foul absurdities have been so firmly built. What further proofs
you can bring out of their high words, magnifying the discipline, I leave to
your better remembrance: but, above all points, I am desirous this one should
tions, having been committed at different times to thirty -two prisons, in some of which he
could not see his liand at broad day. Before his removal with his followers to iliddleburg
in Zealand, he became disgusted with their divisions and disputes ; and though he had
gone a further distance than any of the Puritans did, he renounced his principles of sep-
aration, being promoted Ijy his relation, Lord Burghley, to a benefice, that of Achurch in
Northamptonshire. He died in a prison in 1G30, in the 80th year of his age, having been
sent thither by a justice of the peace for assaulting a constable, who was executing a war-
rant against him.
* So denominated from Henry Barrow, a layman, and noted sectary, who suffered death
for publishing seditious books against the Queen and the State.
^48 GEORGE CRANMER'S LETTER
be strongly enforced against them, because it wringeth them most of all, and
is of all others — for aught I see — the most unanswerable. You may notwith-
standing say, that you would be heartily glad these their positions might be
salved, as the Brownists might not aj^pear to have issued out of their loins :
but until that be done, they must give us leave to think that they have cast
the seed wheieout these tares are grown.
Another sort of men there are, which have been content to run on with the
Reformers for a time, and to make them poor instruments of their own de-
signs. These are a sort of godless politics, who, perceiving the plot of disci-
pline to consist of these two parts, the overthrow of Episcopal, and erection
of Presbyterial authority ; and that this latter can take no place till the former
be removed ; are content to join with them in the destructive part of discipline,
bearing them in hand, that in the other also they shall find them as ready.
But when time shall come, it maybe they would be as loath to be yoked with
that kind of regiment, as now they are willing to be released from this. These
men's ends in all their actions is distraction ; their pretence and colour, ref-
ormation. Those things which under this colour they have effected to their
own good are, 1. By maintaining a contrary faction, they have kept the Cler-
gy always in awe, and thereby made them more pliable, and willing to buy
their peace. 2. By maintaining an opinion of equality among Ministers, they
have made way to their own purposes for devouring Cathedral Churches, and
Bishops' livings. 3. By exclaiming against abuses in the Church, they have
carried their own corrupt dealings in the Civil Stale more covertly. For such
is the nature of the multitude, that they are not able to apprehend many
tilings at once ; so as being possessed with a dislike or liking of any one thing,
many other in the mean time may escape them without being perceived.
4. They have sought to disgrace the clergy, in entertaining a conceit in men's
minds, and confirming it by continual practice. That men of learning, and es-
jiecially of the Clergy, which are employed in the chiefest kind of learning,
are not to be admitted, to matters of State, contrary to the practice of all well-
governed commonwealths, and of our own till these late years.
A third sort men there are, though not descended from the Reformers, yet
ill part raised and greatly strengthened by them ; namely, the cursed crew of
Atheists. This also is one of those points, which I am desirous you should
handle most effectually, and strain yourself therein to all points of motion and
affection ; as in that of the Brownists, to all strength and sinews of reason.
This is a sort most damnable, and yet by the general suspicion of the world at
this day most common. The causes of it, which are in the parties themselves,
although you handle in the beginning of the fifth book, yet here again they
may be touched: but the occasions of help and furtherance, which by the Re-
formers have been yielded unto them, are, as I conceive two ; namely, sense-
less preaching, and disgracing of tiie Ministry : for how should not men dare
to impugn that, which neither by force of reason, nor by authority of persons,
is maintained? But in the parties themselves these two causes I conceive of
Atheism : 1. More abundance of wit than judgment, and of witty than judi-
UNTO MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 249
cious learning ; whereby they are more inclined to contradict any thing, than
willing to be informed of the truth. They are not therefore men of sound
learning for the most part, but smatterers ; neither is their kind of dispute so
much by force of argument, as by scoffing ; which humour of scoffing and
turning matters most serious into merriment, is now become so common, as
we are not to marvel what the Prophet means by the seat of scorners, nor
what the Apostles, by foretelling of scorners to come ; for our own age hath
verified their speech unto us : which also may be an argument against these
scoffers and Atheists themselves, seeing it hath been so many ages ago fore-
told, that such men the latter days of the world should afford : which could
not be done by any other spirit, save that whereunto things future and present
are alike. And even for the main question of the resurrection, whereat they
stick so mightily, was it not plainly foretold, that men should in the latter
times say, " Where is the promise of his coming ?" Against the creation, the
ark, and divers other point?, exceptions are said to be taken, the ground where-
of is superfluity of wit, without ground of learning and judgment. A second
cause of Atheism is sensuality, which maketh men desirous to remove all stops
and impediments of their wicked life ; among which because Religion is thei
chiefest, so as neither in this life without shame they can persist therein, nor
— if that be true — without torment in the life to come ; they therefore whet
their wits to annihilate the joys of Heaven, v/herein they see — if any such be
— they can have no part, and likewise the pains of Hell, wherein their portion
must needs be very great. They labour therefore, not that they may not de-
serve those pains, but that, deserving them, there may be no such pains to
seize upon them. But what conceit can be imagined more base, than that
man should strive to persuade himself even against the secret instinct, no
doubt, of his own mind, that his soul is as the soul of a beast, mortal, and cor-
ruptible with the body ? Against which barbarous opinion their own Atheism
is a very strong argument. For, were not the soul a nature separable from
the body, how could it enter into discourse of things merely spiritual, and no-
thing at all pertaining to the body? Surely the soul were not able to conceive
any thing of Heaven, no not so much as to dispute against Heaven, and
against God, if there were not in it somewhat heavenly, and derived from God.
The last which have received strength and encouragement from the Re-
formers are Papists; against whom, although they are most bitter enemies,
yet unwittingly they have given them great advantage. For what can any
enemy rather desire than the breach and dissension of those which are con-
federates against him ? Wherein they are to remember that if our commu-
nion with Papists in some few ceremonies do so much strengthen them, as is
pretended, how much more doth this division and rent among ourselves, es-
pecially seeing it is maintained to be, not in light matters only, but even in
matters of faith and salvation ? W^hich over-reaching speech of theirs, because
it is so open an advantage for the Barrowist and the Papist, we are to wish
and hope for, that they will acknowledge it to have been spoken rather in heat
of affection, than with soundness of judgment ; and that through their exceed-
250 GEORGE CRANMER'S LETTER
ing love to that creature of discipline which themselves have bred, nourished,
and maintained, their mouth in commendation of her did so often overflow.
From hence you may proceed — but the means of connection I leave to your-
self— to another discourse, which I think very meet to be handled either here
or elsewhere at large ; the parts whereof may be these : 1. That in this cause
between them and us, men are to sever the proper and essential points and
controversy from those which are accidental. The most essential and proper
are these two : overthrow of the Episcopal, and erection of Presbyterial author-
ity. But in these two points whosoever joineth with them, is accounted of
their number ; whosoever in all other points agreeth with them, yet thinketh
the authority of Bishops not unlav^ful, and of Elders not necessary, may justly
be severed from their retinue. Those things therefore, which either in the
persons, or in the laws and orders themselves are faulty, may be complained
on, acknowledged, and amended, yet they no whit the nearer their main pur-
pose : for what if all errors by them supposed in our Liturgy were amended,
even according to their own heart's desire ; if non-residence, pluralities, and
the like, were utterly taken away ; are their lay-elders therefore presently
authorised ? or their sovereign ecclesiastical jurisdiction established ?
But even in their complaining against the outward and accidental matters
in Church-Government, they are many ways faulty. 1. In their end, which
they propose to themselves. For in declaiming against abuses, their meaning
is not to have them redressed, but, by disgracing the present state, to make
way for their own discipline. As therefore in Venice, if any Senator should
discom-se against the power of their Senate, as being either too sovereign, or
too weak in government, Vv^ith purpose to draw their authority to a moderation,
it might well be suffered ; but not so, if it should appear he spake with pur-
pose to induce another state by depraving the present. So in all causes be-
longing either to Church or Commonwealth, we are to have regard what mind
the complaining part doth bear, whether of amendment or innovation ; and
accordingly either to suffer or suppress it. Their objection therefore is frivo-
lous, " Why, may not men speak against abuses ?" Yes ; but with desire to
cure the part affected, not to destroy the whole. 2. A second fault is in their
manner of complaining, not only because it is for the most part in bitter and
reproachful terms, but also it is to the common people, who are judges incom-
petent and insufhcient, both to determine any thing amiss, and for want of
skill and authority to amend it. Which also discovereth their intent and pur-
pose to be rather destructive than corrective. 3. Those very exceptions which
they take are frivolous and impertinent. Some things indeed they accuse as
impious ; which if they may appear to be such, God forbid they should be
maintained.
Against the rest it is only alleged, that they are idle ceremonies without
use, and that better and more profitable might be devised. Wherein they are
doubly deceived ; for neither is it a sufficient plea to say, this must give place,
because a better may be devised ; because in our judgments of better and
worse, we oftentimes conceive amiss, when we compare those things which
UNTO MR. RICHARD HOOKER. 251
are in devise with those which are in practice : for the imperfections of the
one are hid, till by time and trial they be discovered : tiie others are already
manifest and open to all. But last of all, — which is a point in my opinion of
great regard, and which I am desirous to have enlarged, — they do not see that
for the most part when they strike at the State Ecclesiastical, they secretly
wound the Civil State, for personal faults ; " What can be said against the
Church, which may not also agree to the Commonwealth?" In both, States-
■men have always been, and will be always, men ; sometimes blinded with
error, most commonly perverted by passions : many unworthy have been and
are advanced in both ; many worthy not regarded. And as for abuses, which
they pretend to be in the law themselves ; when they inveigh against non-
residence, do they take it a matter lawful or expedient in the Civil State, for
a man to have a great and gainful office in the North, himself continually re-
maining in the South ? " He that hath an office let him attend his office."
When they condemn plurality of livings spiritual to the pit of Hell, what think
they of the infinity of temporal promotions ? By the great Philosopher, Pol.
lib. ii. cap. 9, it is forbidden as a thing most dangerous to Commonwealths,
that by the same man many great offices should be exercised. When they
deride our ceremonies as vain and frivolous, were it hard to apply their excep-
tions even to those civil ceremonies, which at the Coronation, in Parliament,
and all Courts of Justice, are used? Were it hard to argue even against Cir-
cumcision, the ordinance of God, as being a cruel ceremony ? against the Pass-
over, as being ridiculous — shod, girt, a staff in their hand, to eat a Iamb ?
To conclude : you may exhort the Clergy, — or what if you direct your con-
clusion not to the Clergy in general, but only to the learned in or of both Uni-
versities ? — you may exhort them to a due consideration of all things, and to a
right esteem and valuing of each thing in that degree wherein it ought to stand.
For it oftentimes falleth out, that what men have either devised themselves,
or greatly delighted in, the price and the excellency thereof they do admire
above desert. The chiefest labour of a Christian should be to know, of a Min-
ister to preach, Christ crucified: in regard whereof, not only worldly things,
but things otherwise precious, even the discipline itself is vile and base. Where-
as now, by the heat of contention, and violence of affection, the zeal of men
towards the one hath greatly decayed their love to the other. Hereunto there-
fore they are to be exhorted to preach Christ Crucified, the mortification of the
flesh, the renewing of the Spirit ; not those things which in time of strife seem
precious, but — passions being allayed — are vain and childish. G. C.
THE LIFE OF MR. GEORGE HERBERT,
PREBENDARY OF SALISBURY CATHEDRAL.
INTRODUCTION
TO
THE LIFE OF GEORGE HERBERT.
In a late retreat from the business of this world, and those many little cares
with which I have too often cumbered myself, I fell into a contemplation of
some of those historical passages that are recorded in Sacred Story : and more
particularly of what had passed betwixt our blessed Saviour and that wonder
of Women, and Sinners, and Mourners, Saint Mary Magdalen. I call her
Saint, because I did not then, nor do now consider her, as when she was pos-
sessed with seven devils ; not as when her wanton eyes and dishevelled hair,
were designed and managed to charm and ensnare amorous beholders. But I
did then, and do now consider her, as after she had expressed a visible and
sacred sorrow for her sensualities ; as after those eyes had wept such a flood of
penitential tears as did wash, and that hair had wiped, and she most passion-
ately kissed the feet of her's and our blessed Jesus. And I do now consider,
that because she loved much, not only much was forgiven her: but that beside
that blessed blessing of having her sins pardoned, and the joy of knowing her
happy condition, she also had from him a testimony, that her alabaster box of
precious ointment poured on his head and feet, and that spikenard, and those
spices that were by her dedicated to embalm and preserve his sacred body
from putrefaction, should so far preserve her own memory, that these demon-
strations of her sanctified love, and of her officious and generous gratitude,
should be recorded and mentioned wheresoever his Gospel should be read ; in-
tending thereby, that as his, so her name, should also live to succeeding gene-
rations even till time itself shall be no more.
Upon occasion of which fair example, I did lately look back, and not with-
out some content, — at least to myself, — that I have endeavoured to deserve
the love, and preserve the memory, of my two deceased friends. Dr. Donne,
and Sir Henry Wotton, by declaring the several employments and various ac-
cidents of their lives. And though Mr. George Herbert — whose Life I now
intend to write — were to me a stranger as to his person, for I have only seen
him ; yet since he was, and was vv^orthy to be, their friend, and very many
of his have been mine, I judge it may not be unacceptable to those that knew
256 INTRODUCTION.
any of them in their lives, or do now know them by mine, or their own wri-
tings, to see tliis conjunction of them after their deaths ; without which, many
things that concerned them, and some things that concerned the age in which
they hved, would be less perfect, and lost to posterity.
For these reasons I have undertaken it ; and if I have prevented any abler
person, I beg pardon of him and my Reader.
THE LIFE OF MR. GEORGE HERBERT.
George Herbert was born the Third day of April, in the
Year of our Redemption 1593. The place of his birth was near
to the Town of Montgomery, and in that Castle* that did then
bear the name of that Town and County : that Castle was then
a place of state and strength, and had been successively happy
in the Family of the Herberts, who had long possessed it ; and
with it, a plentiful estate, and hearts as liberal to their poor neigh-
bours. A family, that hath been blessed with men of remarkable
wisdom, and a willingness to serve their country, and, indeed, to
do good to all mankind ; for which they are eminent : But alas !
this family did in the late rebellion suffer extremely in their es-
tates ; and the heirs of that Castle sav/ it laid level with that
earth, that was too good to bury those wretches that were the
cause of it.
The Father of our George was Richard Herbert, the son of
Edward Herbert, Knight, the son of Richard Herbert, Knight,
the son of the famous Sir Richard Herbert of Colebrook, in the
County of Monmouth, Banneret, who was the youngest brother of
that memorable William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, that lived
in the reio-n of our Kino- Edward the Fourth.
His Mother was Magdalen Newport, the youngest daughter of
Sir Richard, and sister to Sir Francis Newport of High-Arkall, in
the County of Salop, Knight, and grandfather of Francis Lord New-
port, now Controller of his Majesty's Household. A family that
* A fortress first erected by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury,
under William I. to secure liis conquests in Wales, though it was twice partly
destroyed by the Welsh. It stands near the Severn, on a gentle ascent, hav-
ing a fair prospect over the plain beneath. The order of Parliament for its
destruction was made June 11th, 1649.
258 THE LIFE OF
for their loyalty have suffered much in their estates, and seen the
ruin of that excellent structure, where their aneestors have Ions:
lived, and been memorable for their hospitality.
This Mother of George Herbert — of whose person, and wisdom,
and virtue, I intend to give a true account in a seasonable place
— was the happy Mother of seven sons and three daughters,
which she would often say was Job's number, and Job's distribu-
tion ; and as often bless God, that they were neither defective in
their shapes, or in their reason : and very often reprove them
that did not praise God for so great a blessing. I shall give the
Reader a short account of their names, and not say much of their
fortunes.
Edward, the eldest, was first made Knight of the Bath, at that
glorious time of our late Prince Henry's being installed Knight
of the Garter ; and after many years useful travel, and the at-
tainment of many languages, he was by King James sent Am-
bassador resident to the then French King, Lewis the thirteenth.
There he continued about two years ; but he could not subject
himself to a compliance with the humours of the Duke de
Luisnes, who was then the great and powerful favourite at
Court : so that upon a complaint to our King, he was called back
into England in some displeasure ; but at his return he gave such
an honourable account of his employment, and so justified his
comportment to the Duke and all the Court, that he was suddenly
sent back upon the same Embassy, from which he returned in the
beginning of the reign of our good King Charles the First, who
made him first Baron of Castle-Island, and not long after of -Cher-
bury in the County of Salop. He was a man of great learning
and reason, as appears by his printed book " De Veritate," and
by his "History of the reign of King Henry the Eighth," and by
several other tracts.*
* That eloquent and acute biographer, Edmund Lodge, thus truly gives the
character of Lord Herbert of Cherbury. " Of that anomalj' of character by
the abundance and variety of which foreigners are pleased to tell us that our
country is distinguished, we meet with few examples more striking than in tho
subject of this memoir — wise and unsteady ; prudent and careless ; a philoso-
pher, with ungovernable and ridiculou!^ prejudices ; a good hiuiioured man, who
even sought occasions to shed the blood of his fellow creatures ; a deist, with
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 259
The second and third brothers were Richard and William, who
ventured their lives to purchase honour in the wars of the Low
Countries, and died officers in that employment. Charles was the
fourth, and died fellow of New College in Oxford. Henry was
the sixth, who became a menial servant to the Crown in the days
of King James, and hath continued to be so for fifty years, during
all. which time ke hath been Master of the Revels ; a place that re-
quires a diligent wisdom, with which God hath blessed him. The
seventh son was Thomas, who being made Captain of a ship in
that fleet with which Sir Robert Mansell was sent ao-ainst Aimers,
did there shew a fortunate and true EuQ-lish valour. Of the
three sisters 1 need not say more, than that they were all married
to persons of worth, and plentiful fortunes ; and lived to be ex-
amples of virtue, and to do good in their generations.
I now come to give my intended account of George, who was
the fifth of those seven brothers.
George Herbert spent much of his childhood in a sweet con-
tent under the eye and care of his prudent Mother, and the tuition
of a Chaplain, or tutor to him and two of his brothers, in her own
family, — for she was then a widow, — where he continued till
about the age of twelve years ; and being at that time well in-
structed in the rules of Grammar, he was not long after com-
mended to the care of Dr. Neale,* who was then Dean of West-
minster ; and by him to the care of Mr. Ireland, f who was then
Chief Master of that School ; where the beauties of his pretty be-
haviour and wit shined and became so eminent and lovely in this
superstition too gross for the most secluded cloister. These observations are
not founded on the report of others, but on the fragment which reniains of his
own sketch of his hfe, — a piece of infinite curiosity."
* It has been said of Dr. Richard Neale, that no one was more thoroughly
acquainted with the distresses as well as the conveniences of the clergy, having
served the Church as Schoolmaster, Curate, Vicar, Rector, Master of the Sa-
voy, Dean of Westminster, Clerk of the Closet to James I. and Charles I.,
Bishop of Rochester, LichfieM, Durham, Winchester, and Archbishop of York.
(1631) " He died," says Echard, " full of years as he was full of honours ; a
faithful subject to his prince, an indulgent father to his clergy, a bountiful
patron to his chaplains, and a true friend to all that relied upon him."
t He was made Master of Westminster School in 1599, and continued so to
1610.
260 THE LIFE OF
his innocent age, that he seemed to be marked out for piety, and
to become the care of Heaven, and of a particular good angel to
guard and guide him. And thus he continued in that School, till
he came to be perfect in the learned languages, and especially in
the Greek tongue, in which he after proved an excellent critic.
About the age of fifteen — he being then a King's Scholar — he
was elected out of that School for Trinity College in Cambridge,
to which place he was transplanted about the year 1G08 ; and his
prudent Mother, well knowing that he might easily lose or lessen
that virtue and innocence, which her advice and example had
planted in his mind, did therefore procure the generous and lib-
eral Dr. Nevil,* who was then Dean of Canterbury, and Master
of that College, to take him into his particular care, and provide
him a Tutor ; which he did most gladly undertake, for he knew
the excellencies of his mother, and how to value such a friend-
ship.
This was the method of his education, till he was settled in
Cambridge ; where we will leave him in his study, till I have
paid my promised account of his excellent Mother ; and I will
endeavour to make it short.
I have told her birth, her marriage, and the number of her
children, and have given some short account of them. I shall
next tell the Reader, that her husband died when our George was
about the age of four years : I am next to tell, that she contin-
ued twelve years a widow ; that she then married happily to a
noble gentleman, the brother and heir of the Lord Danvers, Earl
* Thomas Nevil, D. D. eminent for the splendour of his birth, his extraordi-
naiy piety and learning, was educated at Pembroke Hall in the University of
Cambridge. In 1582 he was admitted Master of Magdalen College in the
same University, and in 1593 he succeeded Dr. Jolin Still in the Mastership
of Trinity College, being then Dean of the Cathedral Church of Peterborough,
over which he presided commendably eight years. Upon the demise of Queen
Elizabeth, Dr. Nevil, who had been promoted to the Deanery of Canterbury
in 1597, was sent by Archbishop Whitgift to King James in Scotland, in the
names of the Bishops and Clergy of England, to tender their bounden duties,
and to understand his Highness's pleasure for the ordering and guiding of the
Clergy. The Dean brought a most gracious answer of his Highness's purpose,
which was to uphold aud mahitaiu the government of the late Queen, as she
left it settled.
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 261
of Danby, who did highly value both her person and the most ex-
cellent endowments of her mind.
In this time of her widowhood, she being desirous to give Ed-
ward, her eldest son, such advantages of learning, and other edu-
cation, as might suit his birth and fortune, and thereby make him
the more fit for the service of his country, did, at his being of a
fit age, remove from Montgomery Castle with him, and some of
her younger sons, to Oxford ; and having entered Edward into
Queen's College, and provided him a fit tutor, she commended
him to his care : yet she continued there with him, and still kept
him in a moderate awe of herself, and so much under her own
eye, as to see and converse with him daily : but she managed this
power over him without any such rigid sourness, as might make
her company a torment to her child ; but with such a sweetness
and compliance with the recreations and pleasures of youth, as did
incline him willingly to spend much of his time in the company of
his dear and careful mother ; which was to her great content : for
she would often say, " That as our bodies take a nourishment
suitable to the meat on which we feed ; so our souls do as insen-
sibly take in vice by the example or conversation with wicked
company :" and would therefore as often say, " That ignorance
of vice was the best preservation of virtue ; and that the very
knowledge of wickedness was as tinder to inflame and kindle sin
and keep it burning." For these reasons she endeared him to
her own company, and continued with him in Oxford four years ;
in which time her great and harmless wit, her cheerful gravity,
and her obliging behaviour, gained her an acquaintance and
friendship with most of any 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 there. It was that John Donne, who was after
Dr. Donne, and Dean of Saint Paul's, London : and he, at his
leaving Oxford, writ and left there, in verse, a character of the
beauties of her body and mind : of the first he says.
No Spring nor Summer-beauty has such grace,
As I have seen in an Autumnal face.
PART IT. 7
2G2 THE LIFE OF
Of the latter he says,
In all her ivords to every hearer jit,
You may at revels, or at council sit.
The rest of her character may be read in his printed poems, in
that Elegy which bears the name of " The Autumnal Beauty."
For both he and she were then past the meridian of man's life.
This amity, begun at this time and place, was not an amity
that polluted their souls ; but an amity made up of a chain of
suitable inclinations and virtues ; an amity like that of St. Chry-
sostom's to his dear and virtuous Olympias ; whom, in his letters,
he calls his Saint : or an amity, indeed, more like that of St. liie-
rome to his Paula ; whose affection to her was such, tliat he turned
poet in his old age, and then made her epitaph : wishing all his
body were turned into tongues, that he might declare her just
praises to posterity. And this amity betwixt her and Mr. Donne
was begun in a happy time for him, he being then near to the
fortieth year of his age, — which was some years before he entered
into Sacred Orders ; — a time, when his necessities needed a daily
supply for the support of his wife, seven children, and a family.
And in this time she proved one of his most bountiful benefactors ;
and he as grateful an acknowledger of it. You may take one
testimony for what I have said of these two worthy persons, from
this following Letter and Sonnet.
" Madam,
" Your favours to me are every where : I use them, and have
them. I enjoy them at London, and leave them there ; and yet
tind them at Mitcham. Such riddles as these become things in-
expressible ; and such is your goodness. I was almost sorry to
find your servant here this day, because I was loath to have any
witness of my not coming home last night, and indeed of my com-
ing this morning. But my not coming was excusable, because
earnest business detained me ; and my coming this day is by the
example of your St. Mary Magdalen, who rose early upon Sun-
day, to seek that which she loved most ; and so did L And, from
her and myself, I return sucli thanks as are due to one, to whom
we owe all the good opinion, that they, whom we need most, have
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 263
of us. By this messenger, and on this good day, I commit the in-
closed Holy Hymns and Sonnets — which for the matter, not the
workmanship, have yet escaped the fire — to your judgment, and
to your protection too, if you think them worthy of it ; and I have
appointed this inclosed Sonnet to usher them to your happy hand.
Your unworthiest servant,
Unless your accepting him to be so
have mended him,
Mitcham, July 11, 1007. Jo. Donne.
To the Lady Magdalen Herhert : Of St. Mary Magdalen.
Her of your name, whose fair inheritance
Bethina icas, and jointure Magdalo,
An active faith so highly did advance,
That she once knew more than the Church did know,
The Resurrection ! so much good there is
Delivered of her, that some Fathers be
Loth to believe one woman could do this :
But think these Magdalens were two or three.
Licrease their number, Lady, and their fame :
To their devotion add your innocence :
Take so much ofih^ exajujple, as of the name ;
The latter half ; and in some reco?npense
That they did harbour Christ himself, a guest.
Harbour these Hymns, to his dear name addrest.
J. D.
These Hymns are now lost to us ; but doubtless they were such,
as they two now sing in Heaven.
There might be more demonstrations of the friendship, and the
many sacred endearments betwixt these two excellent persons, —
for I have many of their letters in my hand, — and much more
might be said of her great prudence and piety: but my design
was not to write her's, but the life of her son ; and therefore I
shall only tell my Reader, that about that very day twenty years
that this letter was dated, and sent her, I saw and heard tliis Mr.
John Donne — who was then Dean of St. Paul's — weep, and preach
264 THE LIFE OF
her Funeral Sermon, in the Parish Church of Chelsea, near Lon-
don, where she now rests in her quiet grave : and where we must
now leave her, and return to her son George, whom we left in his
study in Cambridge.
And in Cambridge we may find our George Herbert's beha-
viour to be such, that we may conclude he consecrated the first-
fruits of his early age to virtue, and a serious study of learning.
And that he did so, this following Letter and Sonnet, which were,
in the first year of his going to Cambridge, sent his dear Mother
for a New-year's gift, may appear to be some testimony.
— " But 1 fear the heat of my late ague hath dried up those
springs, by which scholars say the Muses use to take up their
habitations. However, I need not their help to reprove the vanity
of those many love-poems, that are daily writ, and consecrated to
Venus ; nor to bewail that so few are writ, that look towards God
and Heaven. For my own part, my meaning — dear Mother — is,
in these Sonnets, to declare my resolution to be, that my poor
abilities in Poetry, shall be all and ever consecrated to God'-^
glory : and I beg you to receive this as one testimony.'
5J
My God, where is that ancient heat toioards thee,
Wherewith ivhole shoals of Martyrs once did hum.
Besides their other Jlamcs? Doth Poetry
Wear Venus' livery ? only serve her turn ?
Why are not Sonnets made of thee ? and lays
Upon thine altar burnt ? Cannot thy love
Heighten a spirit to sound out thy praise
As 2cell as any she ? Cannot thy Dove
Outstrip their Cujnd easily injlight ?
Or, since thy icays are deep, and still the same,
Will not a verse run smooth that hears thy name ?
Why doth that fire, which iy thy j)0wer and might
Each breast does feel, no braver fuel choose
Than tha^, ivhich one day, worms may chance refuse ?
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 tliy praise y and doth forbid
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 265
Poets to turn it to another use.
Roses and lilies speak Thee ; and to make
A pair of cheeks of them, is thy abuse.
Why should I women^s eyes for crystal take ?
Such poor invention burns in their low mind
Whose fire is wild, and doth not upward go
To praise, and on thee, Lord, some ink bestow.
Open the bones, and you shall nothing find
In the best face hut filth ; when. Lord, in Thee
The beauty lies, in the discovery.
G. rl.
This was his resolution at the sending this letter to his dear
Mother, about which time he was in the seventeenth year of his age ;
and as he grew older, so he grew in learning, and more and more
in favour both with God and man ; insomuch that, in this morn-
ing of that short day of his life, he seemed to be marked out for
virtue, and to become the care of Heaven ; for God still kept his
soul in so holy a frame, that he may and ought to be a pattern of
virtue to all posterity, and especially to his brethren of the Clergy,
of which the Reader may expect a more exact account in what
will follow.
I need not declare that he was a strict student, because, that
he M^as so, there will be many testimonies in the future part of
his life. I shall therefore only tell, that he was made Bachelor
of Arts in the year 1611 ; Major Fellow of the College, March
15th, 1615 : and, that in that year he was also made Master of
Arts, he being then in the 22d year of his age ; during all which
time, all, or the greatest diversion from his study, was the prac-
tice of Music, in which he became a great master ; and of which
he would say, " That it did relieve his drooping spirits, compose
his distracted thoughts, and raised his weary soul so far above
earth, that it gave him an earnest of the joys of Heaven, before
he possessed them." And it may be noted, that from his first en-
trance into the College, the generous Dr. Nevil was a cherisher
of his studies, and such a lover of his person, his behaviour, and
the excellent endowments of his mind, that he took him often into
his own company ; by which he confirmed his native gentleness :
266 THE LIFE OF
and if during his time he expressed any error, it was, that he kept
himself too much retired, and at too great a distance with all his
inferiors ; and his clothes seemed to prove, that he put too great a
value on his parts and parentage.
This may be some account of his disposition, and of the em-
ployment of his time, till he was Master of Arts, which was anno
1615, and in the year 1619 he was chosen Orator for the Univer-
sity. His two precedent Orators were Sir Robert Naunton,* and
Sir Francis Nethersole."]* The first was not long after made
Secretary of State, and Sir Francis not very long after his being
Orator, was made Secretary to the Lady Elizabeth, Queen of
Bohemia. In this place of Orator our George Herbert continued
eight years ; and managed it with as becoming and grave a gai-
ety, as any had ever before or since his time. For " he had
acquired great learning, and was blessed with a high fancy, a
civil and sharp wit, and with a natural elegance, both in his be-
haviour, his tongue, and his pen." Of all of which there might
be very many particular evidences ; but I will limit myself to
the mention of but three.
And the first notable occasion of shewing his fitness for this
employment of Orator was manifested in a letter to King James,
upon the occasion of his sending that University his book called
"Basilicon Doron;'' and their Orator was to acknowledge this
great honour, and return their gratitude to his Majesty for such a
condescension ; at the close of which letter he writ.
Quid Vaticanam Bodieianamque objicis hospes .'
Unicus est nobis Bibliotheca Liber.
This letter was writ in such excellent Latin, was so full of con-
* This gentleman was born in Suffolk, in 1563, and was descended from a
very ancient family in that County. He was educated at Trinity College,
Cambridge, and on January 8th, 1617-18, was made Secretary of State :
King James I. having been previously so well pleased with his eloquence and
learning, as to appoint him Master of the Court of Wards. Sir Robert Naun-
ton was the Author of the interesting " Fragmenta Regalia, or Observations
on Queen Elizabeth and her Favourites." He died on Good Friday, 1633-34.
t Sir Francis Nethersole was a native of Kent, Ambassador to the Princes
of the Union, and Secretary to the Queen of Bohemia, and was equally re-
markable for his doings and snfTerings in her behalf.
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 267
ceits, and all the expressions so suited to the genius of the King,
that he inquired the Orator's name, and then asked William Earl
of Pembroke, if he knew him ? whose answer was " That he
knew him very well, and that he was his kinsman ; but he loved
him more for his learning and virtue, than for that he was of his
name and family." At which answer the King smiled, and
asked the Earl leave that he might love him too, for he took him
to be the jewel of that University.
The next occasion he had and took to shew his great abilities,
was, with them, to shew also his great affection to that Church in
which he received his baptism, and of which he professed himself
a member ; and the occasion was this : There was one Andrew
Melvin,* a Minister of the Scotch Church, and Rector of St. An-
drew's ; who, by a long and constant converse with a discontent-
ed part of that Clergy which opposed Episcopacy, became at last
to be a chief leader of that faction ; and had proudly appeared to
be so to King James, when he was but King of that nation, who,
the second year after his Coronation in England, convened a part
of the Bishops, and other learned Divines of his Church, to attend
him at Hampton-Court, in order to a friendly conference with
some dissenting brethren, both of this and the Church of Scotland :
of which Scotch party Andrew Melvin was one ; and he being a
man of learning, and inclined to satirical poetry, had scattered
many malicious, bitter verses against our Liturgy, our ceremo-
nies, and our Church-government ; which were by some of that
party so magnified for the wit, that they were therefore brought
into Westminster School, where Mr. George Herbert, then, and
often after, made such answers to them, and such reflections on
him and his Kirk, as might unbeguile any man that was not too
deeply pre-engaged in such a quarrel. — But to return to Mr.
* Andrew Melville procured the Basilicou Doron in Manuscript, and circu-
lated it in Scotland, which produced a libel against it and iirst caused its pub-
lication in 1599. This celebrated person, was born Aug. 1, 1547, and was ed-
ucated at the University of St. Andrews, which he left with an eminent char-
acter for learning, and travelled through France to Geneva. He was elected
principal Master of Glasgow College in 1574, when he began to enforce the
Presbyterian System ; and after much opposition, and two years imprisonment,
he died Professor of Divinity to the Protestants of Sedan, in 1621.
268 THE LIFE OF
Melvin at Hampton-Court Conference ;* he there appeared to be
a man of an unruly wit, of a strange confidence, of so furious a
zeal, and of so ungoverned passions, that his insolence to the King,
and others ^t this Conference, lost him both his Rectorship of St.
Andrew's and his liberty too ; for his former verses, and his
present reproaches there used against the Church and State,
caused him to be committed prisoner to the Tower of London ;
where he remained very angry for three years. At which time
of his commitment, he found the Lady Arabella^ an innocent
prisoner there; and he pleased himself much in sending, the next
day after his commitment, these two verses to the good lady ;
which I will underwrite, because they may give the Reader a
taste of his others, which were like these.
Causa tibi mecum est communis, carceris, Ara-
Bella, tibi causa est, Araque sacra mihi.
I shall not trouble my Reader with an account of his enlarge-
ment from that prison, or his death ; but tell him Mr. Herbert's
verses were thought so worthy to be preserved, that Dr. Duport,:{:
* Andrew Melville was not present at the celebrated conference held at
Hampton-Court, in the first year of King James I. upon the complaint of the
Puritans against the ceremonies and the liturgy of the Church of England.
He was summoned to appear before the King and Council in 1604. In the
first edition of " Mr. Walton's Life of Mr. George Herbert," Melville is described
to be " Master of a great wit*, a wit full of knots and clenches : a wit sharp
and satirical ; exceeded, I think, by none of that nation, but their Buchanan."
t Daughter of Charles Stuart, Earl of Lenox, the younger brother of Hen-
ty, Earl of Darnley, father of King James I. She was born at Hampstead
in 1577, and received a very liberal education ; added to which, she possessed
a large estate, and, the English succession being doubtful, she was supposed
to be a probable heir to the crown. She incurred the displeasure of James by
marrying Mr. William Seymour, grandson of the Earl of Hertford, for which
she was sent to the Tower ; and although she had made her escape thence,
she was overtaken, brought back, and died there in 1G15.
X James Duport, the learned son of a learned father, John Duport, Master
of Jesus College, Cambridge, was Greek Professor in that University. On the
promotion of Dr. Edward Rainbow to the See of Carlisle, he was appointed
Dean of Peterborough, and in 1668 was elected Master of Magdalen College,
Cambridge.
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 269
the learned Dean of Peterborough, hath lately collected and
caused many of them to be printed, as an honourable memorial
of his friend Mr. George Herbert, and the cause he undertook.
And in order to my third and last observation of his great abili-
ties, it will be needful to declare, that about this time King James
came very often to hunt at Newmarket and Royston, and was
almost as often invited to Cambridge, where his entertainment
was comedies suited to his pleasant humour ; and where Mr.
George Herbert, was to welcome him with gratulations, and the
applauses of an Orator ; which he always performed so well, that
he still grew more into the King's favour, insomuch that he had a
particular appointment to attend his Majesty at Royston ; where,
after a discourse with him, his Majesty declared to his kinsman,
the Earl of Pembroke, that he found the Orator's learning and
wisdom much above his age or wit. The year following, the
King appointed to end his progress at Cambridge, and to stay
there certain days ; at which time he Vv^as attended by the great
Secretary of Nature and all learning. Sir Francis Bacon, Lord
Verulam, and by the ever-memorable and learned Dr. Andrews,
Bishop of Winchester, both which did at that time begin a de-
sired friendship with our Orator. Upon whom, the first put such
a value on his judgment, that he usually desired his approbation
before he would expose any of his books to be printed ; and
thought him so vv^orthy of his friendship, that having translated
many of the Prophet David's Psalms into English verse, he made
George Herbert his patron, by a public dedication of them to him,
as the best judge of Divine Poetry. And for the learned Bishop,
it is observable, that at that time there fell to be a modest debate
betwixt them two about Predestination, and Sanctity of life ; of
both of which the Orator did, not long after, send the Bishop some
safe and useful aphorisms, in a long letter, written in Greek ;
which letter was so remarkable for the language and reason of it,
that, after the reading of it, the Bishop put it into his bosom, and
did often shew it to many Scholars, both of this and foreign na-
tions ; but did always return it back to the place where he first
lodged it, and continued it so near his heart till the last day of his
life.
To this I might add the long and entire friendship betwixt him
270 THE LIFE OF
and Sir Henry Wotton, and Dr. Donne ; but I have promised to
contract myself, and shall therefore only add one testimony to
what is also mentioned in the Life of Dr. Donne ; namely, that a
little before his death he caused many Seals to be made, and in
them to be engraven the figure of Christ, crucified on an Anchor, —
the emblem of Hope, — and of which Dr. Donne would often say,
*' Crux mihi anchora.'^ — These Seals he gave or sent to most of
those friends on which he put a value : and, at Mr. Herbert's
death, these verses were found wrapt up with that seal, which
was by the Doctor given to him ;
When my dear friend could write no more,
He gave this Seal and so gave o'er.
When winds and waves rise highest I a^n sure,
This Anchor keeps my faith, that, me secure.
At this time of being Orator, he had learned to understand the
Italian, Spanish, and French tongues very perfectly : hoping, that
as his predecessors, so he might in time attain the place of a
Secretary of Slate, he being at that time very high in the King's
favour, and not meanly valued and loved by the most eminent
and most powerful of the Court Nobility. This, and the love of a
Court-conversation, mixed v/ith a laudable ambition to be some-
thing more than he then was, drew him often from Cambridge, to
attend the King wheresoever the Court was, who then gave him a
sinecure, which fell into his Majesty's disposal, I think, by the
death of tlie Bishop of St. Asaph.* It was the same that Queen
Elizabeth had formerly given to her favourite Sir Philip Sidney,
and valued to be worth an hundred and twenty pounds per an-
num. With this, and his annuity, and the advantage of his Col-
lege, and of his Oralorship, he enjoyed his genteel humour for
clothes, and Court-like company, and seldom looked towards Cam-
bridge, unless the King were there, but then he never failed ; and,
at other times, left the manage of his Orator's place to his learned
*Dr. Richard Parry, who died September 26, 1623.
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 271
friend, Mr. Herbert Thorndike, who is now Prebend of Westmin-
ster.*
I may not omit to tell, that he had often designed to leave the
University, and decline all study, which he thought did impair
his health ; for he had a body apt to a consumption, and to fe-
vers, and other infirmities, which he judged were increased by
his studies ; for he would often say, " He had too thoughtful a wit ;
a wit like a penknife in too narrow a sheath, too sharp for his
body." But his Mother v.ould by no means allow him to leave
the University, or to travel ; and though he inclined very much
to both, yet he would by no means satisfy his own desires at so
dear a rate, as to prove an undutiful son to so affectionate a
Mother ; but did aUvays submit to her wisdom. And what I have
now said may partly appear in a copy of verses in his printed
poems ; 'tis one of those that bear the title of Affliction ; and it
appears to be a pious reflection on God's providence, and some
passages of his life, in which he says,
Whereas my birth and spiril rather took
The loay that takes the toion ;
Thou didst betray me to a lingering book,
And wrapt me in a gown :
I was entangled in a world of strife,
Before I had the power to change my life.
Yet, for I threaten'' d oft the siege to raise,
Not simpering all inine age ;
Thou often didst loith academic praise
Melt and dissolve my rage ;
I took the sioeetenhl pill, till I came where
I could not go away, nor persevere,
* Mr. Herbert Thorndike was then Fellow of Trinity College. He was
ejected from his Fellowship by the usurped powers, and admitted to the Rec-
tory of Barley in Hertfordshire, July 2, 1642. On the death of Dr. Samuel
Ward, he was elected to the Mastership of Sidney College, but was kept out
of it by the oppression of the times. For his sufferings and great learning he
was installed Prebendary of Westminster, Sept. 5, 1660. In the year follow-
ing he resigned his living of Barley, and died in 1672. He assisted Dr. Wal-
ton in the edition of the Polyglot Bible.
272 . THE LIFE OF
Yet, lest perchance I should too happy be
In my unhappiness,
Turning my purge to food, thou throwest me
Into more sicknesses.
Thus doth thy poioer cross-Mas me, not making
Thine own gifts good, yet me from my ways taking.
Now I am here, what thou wilt do 2vith me
None of my hooks will show.
I read, and sigh, and I wish I were a tree.
For the7i sure I should grow
To fruit or shade, at least some bird would trust
Her household with me, and I loould be just.^
Yet, though thou troublest me^ I must be meek,
In weakness must be stout.
Well, I will change my service, and go seek
Some other master out ;
Ah, my dear God ! though I am clean forgot.
Let me not love thee, if I love thee not.
G. n.
In this time of Mr. Herbert's attendance and expectation of
some good occasion to remove from Cambridge to Court, God, in
^vhom there is an unseen chain of causes, did in a short time put
an end to the lives of two of his most obliging and most powerful
friends, Lodowick Duke of Richmond, and James Marquis of
Hamilton ; and not long after him King James died also, and
with tliem, all Mr. Herbert's Court-hopes : so that he presently
betook himself to a retreat from London, to a friend in Kent,
where he lived very privately, and was such a lover of solitari-
ness, as was judged to impair his health, more than his study
had done. In this time of retirement, he had many conflicts with
himself, whether he should return to the painted pleasures of a
Court-life, or betake himself to a study of Divinity, and enter into
Sacred Orders, to which his dear mother had often persuaded
him. These were such conflicts, as they only can know, that
have endured them ; for ambitious desires, and the outward glory
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 273
of this world, are not easily laid aside : but at last God inclined
him to put on a resolution to serve at his altar.
He did, at his return to London, acquaint a Court-friend with
his resolution to enter into Sacred Orders, who persuaded him to
alter it, as too mean an employment, and too much below his birth,
and the excellent abilities and endowments of his mind. To
whom he replied, " It hath been formerly judged that the domes-
tic servants of the King of Heaven should be of the noblest fam-
ilies on earth. And though the iniquity of the late times have
made clergymen meanly valued, and the sacred name of priest
contemptible ; yet I will labour to make it honourable, by conse-
crating all my learning, and all my poor abilities to advance the
glory of that God that gave them ; knowing that I can never do
too much for him, that hath done so much for me, as to make me
a christian. And I will labour to be like my Saviour, by ma-
king humility lovely in the eyes of all men, and by following the
merciful and meek example of my dear Jesus."
This was then his resolution ; and the God of constancy, who
intended him for a great example of virtue, continued him in it,
for within that year he was made Deacon, but the day when, or
by whom, I cannot learn ; but that he was about that time made
Deacon, is most certain ; for I find by the Records of Lincoln,
that he was made Prebend of Layton Ecclesia, in the diocese of
Lincoln, July 15th, 1626, and that this Prebend was given him
by John,* then Lord Bishop of that See. And now he had a fit
occasion to shew that piety and bounty that was derived from his
generous mother, and his other memorable ancestors, and the oc-
casion was this.
This Layton Ecclesia is a village near to Spalden, in the
County of Huntingdon, and the greatest part of the Parish Church
was fallen down, and that of it which stood was so decayed, so
little, and so useless, that the parishioners could not meet to per-
form their duty to God in public prayer and praises ; and thus it
had been for almost twenty years, in which time there had been
some faint endeavours for a public collection, to enable the par-
ishioners to rebuild it ; but with no success, till Mr. Herbert
* Dr. John Williams, afterwards Archbishop of York, was then Bisliop of
Lincoln, the last ecclesiastic who was JiOrd Keeper of the Great Seal.
:274 THE LIFE OF
undertook it ; and he, by his own, and the contribution of many
of his kindred, and other noble friends, undertook the re-edifica-
tion of it ; and made it so much his whole business, that he
became restless till he saw it finished as it now stands ; being for
the workmanship, a costly Mosaic ; for the form, an exact cross ;
and for the decency and beauty, 1 am assured, it is the most
remarkable Parish Churcli that this nation affords. He lived to
see it so wainscotted, as to be exceeded by none ; and, by his
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 equally useful,
might agree like brethren, and have an equal honour and esti-
mation/"'
Before I proceed farther, I must look back to the lime of Mr.
Herbert's being made Prebend, and tell the Reader, that not long
after, his Mother being informed of his intentions to rebuild that
Church, and apprehending the great trouble and charge that he
was like to draw upon himself, his relations and friends, before it
could be finished, sent for him from London to Chelsea, — where
she then dwelt, — and at his coming, said, " George, I sent for you,
to persuade you to commit Simony, by giving your patron as good
a gift as he has given to you ; namely, that you give him back his
prebend ; for, George, it is not for your weak body, and empty
purse, to undertake to build Churches." Of which, he desired
he might have a day's time to consider, and then make her an
answer. And at his return to her the next day, vv'hen he had Hrst
desired her blessing, and she given it him, his next request was,
'■'• That she would at the age of thirty-three years, allow him to
become an undutiful son ; for he had made a vow to God, that, if
he were able, he would rebuild that Church." And then shev/ed
her such reasons for his resolution, that she presently subscribed
to be one of his benefactors ; and undertook to solicit William
Earl of Pembroke to become another, who subscribed for fifty
pounds ; and not long after, by a witty and persuasive letter from
Mr. Plerbert, made it fifty pounds more. And in this nomination
of some of his benefactors, James Duke of Lenox, and his
brother, Sir Henry Herbert, ought to be remembered ; as also the
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 275
bounty of Mr. Nicholas Farrer, and Mr. Arthur Woodnot ; the
one a gentleman in the neighbourhood of Layton, and the other a
Goldsmith in Foster Lane, London, ought not to be forgotten : for
the memory of such men ought to outlive their lives. Of Mr.
Farrer, I shall hereafter give an account in a more seasonable
place ; but before I proceed farther, 1 will give this short account
of Mr. Arthur Woodnot.
He was a man, that had considered overgrown estates do often
require more care and watchfulness to preserve than get them,
and considered that tlierc be many discontents, that riches cure
not ; and did therefore set limits to himself, as to desire of wealth.
And having attained so much as to be able to shew some mercy
to the poor, and preserve a competence for himself, he dedicated
the remaining part of his life to the service of God, and to be
useful to his friends ; and he proved to be so to Mr. Herbert ; for
besides his own bounty, he collected and returned most of the
money that was paid for the rebuilding of that Church ; he kept
all the account of the charges, and would often go dov^n to state
them, and see all the workmen paid. When I have said, that
this good man was a useful friend to Mr. Herbert's father, and
to his mother, and continued to be so to him, till he closed his
eyes on his death bed ; I will forbear to say more, till I have the
next fair occasion to mention the holy friendship that was betwixt
him and Mr. Herbert. From whom Mr. Woodnot carried to his
mother this following letter, and delivered it to her in a sickness,
which was not long before that which proved to be her last.
A Letter of Mr. George FIerbert to his Mother, in her Sickness.
" Madam,
" At my last parting from you, I was the better content, be-
cause 1 was in hope I should myself carry all sickness out of
your family : but since I know I did not and that your share con-
tinues, or rather increaseth, I wish earnestly that I were again
with you ; and would quickly make good my wish, but that my
employment does fix me here, it being now but a month to our
commencement : wherein my absence, by how much it naturally
augmenteth suspicion, by so much shall it make my prayers the
276 THE LIFE OF
more constant and the more earnest for you to the God of all
consolation. — In the mean time, I beseech you to be cheerful, and
comfort yourself in the God of all comfort, who is not willing to
behold any sorrow but for sin. — What hath affliction grievous in it
more than for a moment ? or why should our afflictions here, have
so much power or boldness as to oppose the hope of our joys here-
after ? — niadam, as tlie earth is but a point in respect of the
heavens, so are earthly troubles compared to heavenly joys ;
therefore, if either age or sickness lead you to those joys, con-
sider what advantage you have over youth and health, who are
now so near those true comforts. Your last letter gave me earthly
preferment, and I hope kept heavenly for yourself: but would
you divide and choose too ? Our College customs allow not that :
and I should account myself most happy, if I might change with
you ; for I have always observed the thread of life to be like
other threads or skeins of silk, full of snarles and incumbrances.
Happy is lie, whose bottom is wound up, and laid ready for work
in the New Jerusalem. — For myself, dear Mother, I always feared
sickness more tiian death, because sickness hath made me unable
to perform those offices for whicli I came into the world, and must
yet be kept in it ; but you are freed from that fear, who have
already abundantly discharged that part, having both ordered
your family and so brought up your children, that they have
attained to the years of discretion, and competent maintenance.
So that now, if tliey do not well, the fault cannot be charged on
you, whose example and care of them will justify you both to the
world and your own conscience ; insomuch that, whether you
turn your thoughts on the life past, or on the joys that are to
come, you have strong preservatives against all disquiet. And
for temporal afflictions, I beseech you consider, all that can hap-
pen to you are either afflictions of estate, or body, or mind. For
those of estate, of what poor regard ought they to be ? since, if
we had riches, we are commanded to give them away : so that
the best use of them is, having, not to have them. But perhaps,
being above the common people, our credit and estimation calls
on us to live in a more splendid fashion : but, O God ! how easily
is that answered, when we consider that the blessings in the holy
Scripture are never given to the rich, but to the poor. I never
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 277
find 'Blessed be the rich,' or 'Blessed be the noble;' but,
' Blessed be the meek,' and, ' Blessed be the poor,' and, ' Blessed
be the mourners, for they shall be comforted.' — And yet, O God !
most carry themselves so, as if they not only not desired, but
even feared to be blessed. — And for afflictions of the body, dear
Madam, remember the holy Martyrs of God, how they have been
burned by thousands, and have endured such other tortures, as
the very mention of them might beget amazement : but their
fiery trials have had an end ; and yours — which, praised be
God, are less, — are not like to continue long. I beseech you, let
such thoughts as these moderate your present fear and sorrow ;
and know that if any of yours should prove a Goliah-like trouble,
yet you may say with David, ' That God, who hath delivered me
out of the paws of the lion and bear, will also deliver me out of
the hands of this uncircumcised Philistine.' — Lastly, for those
afflictions of the soul ; consider that God intends that to be as a
Sacred Temple for b.imsclf to dwell in and will not allow any
room there for such an inmate as grief; or allow that any sadness
shall be his competitor. And, above all, if any care of future
things molest you, remember those admirable words of the Psalm-
ist, ' Cast thy care on the Lord, and he shall nourish thee.'* To
which join that of St. Peter, ' Casting all your care on the Lord,
for he careth for you.'f What an admirable thing is this, that
God puts his shoulder to our burden, and entertains our care for
us, that we may the more quietly intend his service ! — To con-
clude, let me commend only one place more to you : Philipp. iv.
4. St. Paul saith there, ' Rejoice in the Lord always : and again
I say, rejoice.' He doubles it to take away the scruple of those
that might say, What, shall we rejoice in afflictions 1 Yes, I say
again, rejoice ; so that it is not left to us to rejoice, or not rejoice :
but, whatsoever befalls us, we must always, at all times, rejoice
in the Lord, who taketh care for us. And it follows in the next
verses : ' Let your moderation appear to all men : The Lord is at
hand : Be careful for nothing.' What can be said more comfort-
ably ? Trouble not yourselves ; God is at hand, to deliver us
* Psal. Iv. 22 t 1 Pet. v. 7.
PART II. 8
278 THE LIFE OF
from all, or in all. — Dear Madam, pardon my boldness, and
accept the good meaning of
Your most obedient son,
George Herbert."
Trill. Coll. May 2otb, 1622.
About the year 1629, and the thirty-fourth of his age, Mr.
Herbert was seized with a sharp quotidian ague, and thought to
remove it by the change of air ; to which end he went to Woodford
in Essex, but thither more chiefly to enjoy the company of his
beloved brother, Sir Henry Herbert, and other friends then of
that family. In his house he remained about twelve months, and
there became his own physician, and cured himself of his ague,
by forbearing to drink, and not eating any meat, no not mutton,
nor a hen, or pigeon, unless they were salted ; and by such a
constant diet he removed his ague, but with inconveniences that
were worse; for he brought upon himself a disposition to rheums,
and other weaknesses, and a supposed consumption. And it is to
be 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 r»epine not ; I am dumb, Lord, before thee, because thou
doest it." By which, and a sanctified submission to the will of
God, he shewed he was inclinable to bear the sweet yoke of Chris-
tian discipline, both then and in the latter part of his life, of which
there will be many true testimonies.
And now his care was to recover from his consumption, by a
change from Woodford into such an air as was most proper to
that end. And his remove was to Dauntsey in Wiltshire, a noble
house, which stands in a choice air ; the owner of it then was
the Lord Danvers, Earl of Danby, who loved Mr. Herbert so
very much, that he allowed him such an apartment in it, as might
best suit with his accommodation and liking. And in this place,
by a spare diet, declining all perplexing studies, moderate exer-
cise, and a cheerful conversation, his health was apparently im-
proved to a good degree of strength and cheerfulness. And then
he declared his resolution both to marry, and to enter into the Sa-
cred Orders of Priesthood. These had long been the desires of
his Mother, and his other relations; but she lived not to see
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 279
either, for she died in the year 1627. And though he was dis-
obedient to her about Layton Church, yet, in conformity to her
will, he kept his Orator's place till after her death, and then pres-
ently declined it ; and the more willingly, that he might be suc-
ceeded by his friend Robert Creighton,* who now is Dr. Creigh-
ton, and the worthy Bishop of Wells.
I shall now proceed to his marriage ; in order to which, it will
be convenient that I first give the Reader a short view of his per-
son, and then an account of his wife, and of some circumstances
concerning both. — He was for his person of a stature inclining
towards tallness ; his body was very straight, and so far from
being cumbered with too much flesh, that he was lean to an ex-
tremity. His aspect was cheerful, and his speech and motion did
both declare him a gentleman ; for they were all so meek and obli-
ging, that they purchased love and respect from all that knew him.
These, and his other visible virtues, begot him much love from
a gentleman of a noble fortune, and a near kinsman to his friend
the Earl of Danby ; namely, from Mr. Charles Danvers of Bain-
ton, in the County of Wilts, Esq. This Mr. Danvers having
known him long, and familiarly, did so much affect him, that he
often and publicly declared a desire, that Mr. Herbert would
marry any of his nine daughters, — for he had so many, — but ra-
ther his daughter Jane than any other, because Jane was his be-
loved daus^hter. And he had often said the same to Mr. Herbert
himself; and that if he could like her for a wife, and she him for
a husband, Jane should have a double blessing : and Mr. Dan-
vers had so often said the like to Jane, and so much commended
Mr. Herbert to her, that Jane became so much a platonic, as to
fall in love with Mr. Herbert unseen.
This was a fair preparation for a marriage ; but, alas ! her fa-
ther died before Mr. Herbert's retirement to Dauntsey : yet some
friends to both parties procured their meeting ; at which time a
mutual affection entered into both their hearts, as a conqueror en-
* A native of Scotland, educated at Westminster School and Trinity Col-
lege Cambridge, afterwards Greek Professor of the University. During the
Civil Wars, lie suffered extremely for the Royal Cause, and was an exile with
Charles II. who gave him the Deanery of Wells on the Restoration, and in
1G70, he 7/as made Bishop of Bath and Wells. He died in 1672.
SSD THE LIFE OF
ters into a surprised city : and love having got such possession,
governed, and made there such laws and resolutions, as neither
party was able to resist ; insomuch, that she changed lier name
into Herbert the third day after this first interview.
This haste might in others be thought a love-frenzy, or worse ;
but it was not, for they had wooed so like princes, as to have se-
lect proxies ; such as were true friends to both parties, such as
well understood Mr. Herbert's and her temper of mind, and also
their estates, so well before this interview, that the suddenness
was justifiable by the strictest rules of prudence ; and the more,
because it proved so happy to both parties ; for the eternal lover
of mankind made them happy in each other's mutual and equal
aflTections, and compliance ; indeed, so happy, that there never
was any opposition betwixt them, unless it were a contest which
should most incline to a compliance with the other's desires. And
though this begot, and continued in them, such a mutual love, and
joy, and content, as was no way defective ; yet this mutual content,
and love, and joy, did receive a daily augmentation, by such daily
obligingness to each other, as still added such new affluences to
the former fulness of these divine souls, as was only improveable
in Heaven, where they now enjoy it.
About three months after this marriage. Dr. Curie, who was
then Rector of Bemerton, in Wiltshire, was made Bishop of Bath
and Wells, and not long after translated to Winchester, and by
that means the presentation of a Clerk to Bemerton did not fall to
the Earl of Pembroke — who was the undoubted Patron of it, —
but to the King, by reason of Dr. Curie's advancement : but
Philip, then Earl of Pembroke, — for William was lately dead —
requested the King to bestow it upon his kinsman George Herbert ;
and the King said, " Most willingly to Mr. Herbert, if it be
worth his acceptance f and the Earl as willingly and suddenly
sent it him, without seekinc^. But thou!]^h Mr. Herbert had for-
merly put on a resolution for the Clergy ; yet, at receiving this
presentation, the apprehension of the last great account, that he
was to make for the cure of so many souls, made him fast and
pray often, and consider 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
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 281
would often say, " such spiritual conflicts, as none can think, but
only those that have endured them."
In the midst of these conflicts, his old and dear friend, Mr. Ar-
thur Woodnot, took a journey to salute him at Bainton, — where
he then was with his wife's friends and relations — and was joyful
to be an eye-witness of his health and happy marriage. And
"after they had rejoiced together some few days, they took a
journey to Wilton, the famous seat of the Earls of Pembroke ; at
which time the King, the Earl, and the whole Court were there, or
at Salisbury, which is near to it. And at this time Mr. Herbert
presented his thanks to the Earl, for his presentation to Bemerton,
but had not yet resolved to accept it, and told him the reason why :
but that night, the Earl acquainted Dr. Laud, then Bishop of
London, and after Archbishop of Canterbury, with his kinsman's
irresolution. And the Bishop did the next day so convince Mr.
Herbert, that the refusal of it was a sin, that a tailor was sent
for to come speedily from Salisbury to Wilton, to take measure,
and make him canonical clothes against next day ; which the
tailor did : and Mr. Herbert being so habited, went with his pre-
sentation to the learned Dr. Davenant,* who was then Bishop of
Salisbury, and he gave him institution immediately, — for Mr.
Herbert had been made Deacon some years before, — and he was
also the same day — which was April 26th 1630, — inducted into
the good, and more pleasant than healthful, Parsonage of Bemer-
ton ; which is a mile from Salisbury.
I have now brought him to the Parsonage of Bemerton,f and to
the thirty-sixth year of his age, and must stop here, and bespeak
the Reader to prepare for an almost incredible story, of the great
sanctity of the short remainder of his holy life ; a life so full of
* He was, in 1609, Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at Cambridge,
and in 1621, Bishop of Salisburj^ He was appointed by James I. to attend
the Synod of Dort, and his endeavours to effect an union between the reformed
Churches were zealous and sincere. He died in 1641.
t The House and grounds of this Rectory were in the same state as in the
time of Herbert, when the late Archdeacon Coxe was presented to the living;
the principal part of the former was single, vAih small windows, and the river
Neder flowed at the bottom of the garden. Bemerton is two miles west by
north of Salisbury, and the Church is dedicated to St. Andrew.
282 THE LIFE OF
charity, humility, and all Christian virtues, that it deserves the
eloquence of St. Chrysostom to commend and declare it : a life :
that if it were related by a pen like his, there would then be no
need for this age to look back into times past for the examples of
\'prmiitive_piety : for they might be all found in the life of George
Herbert. But now, alas ! who is fit to undertake it ? I confess
I am not ; and am not pleased with myself that I must ; and pro-
fess myself amazed, when I consider how few of the Clergy lived
like him then, and how many live so unlike him now. But it
becomes not me to censure : my design is ratlier to assure the
Reader, that I have used very great diligence to inform myself,
that I might inform him of the truth of what follows ; and though
I cannot adorn it with eloquence, yet I will do it with sincerity."
When at his induction he Vv'as shut into Bemerton Church,
being left there alone to toll the bell, — as the Lav/ requires him, —
he staid so much longer than an ordinary time, before he returned
to those friends that staid expecting him at the Church-door, that
A his friend Mr. Woodnot 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. Woodnot — he set some rules to
himself, for the future manage of his life ; and then and there
made a vow to labour to keep them.
And the same night that he had his induction, he said to Mr.
Woodnot, " I now look back upon my aspiring thoughts, and
think myself more happy than if I had attained what then I so
ambitiously thirsted for. And J now can behold the Court with
an impartial eye, and see plainly that it is made up of fraud and
titles, and flattery, and many other such empty, imaginary,
painted pleasures ; pleasures that are so empty, as not to satisfy
when they are enjoyed. But in God, and his service, is a fulness
of all joy and pleasure, and no satiety. And I will now use all
my endeavours to bring my relations and dependents to a love
and reliance on Him, who never fails those that trust him.
But above all, I will be sure to live well, because the virtuous
life of a Clergyman is the most powerful eloquence to persuade
all that see it to reverence and love, and at least to desire to live
like 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 be-
MB. GEORGE HERBERT. 283
seech that God, who hath honoured me so much as to call me to
serve him 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, give mo ghostly strength to bring the same to
good effect. And I beseech him, that my humble and charitable
life may so win upon others, as to bring glory to my Jesus, whom
I have this day taken to be my Master and Governor ; and I am
so proud of his service, that I will always observe, and obey, and
do his will ; and always call him Jesus my Master ; and I will
always contemn my birth, or any title or dignity that can be con-
ferred upon me, when I shall compare them with my title of being
a Priest, and serving at the Altar of Jesus my Master.'' — -^
And that he did so, may appear in many parts of his book of
Sacred Poems : especially in that which he calls " The Odour,"
In which he seems to rejoice in the thoughts of that word Jesus,
and say, that the adding these words, my Master, to it, and the
often repetition of them, seemed to perfume his mind, and leave
an oriental fragrance in his very breath. And for his unforced
choice to serve at God's altar, he seems in another place of his
poems, "The Pearl," (Matth. xiii. 45, 46,) to rejoice and say —
" He knew the ways of learning ; knew what nature does will-
ingly, and what, when it is forced by fire ; knew the ways of
honour, and when glory inclines the soul to noble expressions :
knew the Court; knew the ways of pleasure, of love, of wit, of
music, and upon what terms he declined all these for the service
of his Master Jesus ;" and then concludes, saying.
That, through these labyrinths, not my grovelling wit,
But thy silk twist, let down from Heaven to me,
Bid both conduct, and teach me, how by it
To climb to thee.
The third day after he was made Rector of Bemerton, and had
changed his sword and silk clothes into a canonical coat, he re-
turned so habited with his friend Mr. Woodnot to Bainton ; and
immediately after he had seen and saluted his wife, he said to
her — " You are now a Minister's v/ife, and must now so far for-
get your father's house, as not to claim a precedence of any of
284 THE LIFE 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 I am sure, places so purchased do
best become them. And let me tell you, that I am so good a
Herald, as to assure you that this is truth." And she was so
meek a wife, as to assure him, " it was no vexing news to her,
and that he should see her observe it with a cheerful willingness."
And, indeed, her unforced humility, that humility that was in
her so original, as to be born with her, made her so happy as to
do so ; and her doing so begot her an unfeigned love, and a ser-
viceable respect from all that conversed with her; and this love
followed her in all places, as inseparably as shadows follow sub-
stances in sunshine.
It was not many days before he returned back to Bemerton, to
view the Church, and repair the Chancel : and indeed to rebuild
almost three parts of his house, which was fallen down, or decay-
ed by reason of his predecessor's living at a better Parsonage-
house ; namely, at Minal, sixteen or twenty miles from this place.
At which time of Mr. Herbert's coming alone to Bemerton, there
came to him a poor old woman, with an intent to acquaint him
with her necessitous condition, as also with some troubles of her
mind : but after she had spoke some few words to him, she was
surprised with a fear, and that begot a shortness of breath, so that
her spirits and speech failed her ; which he perceiving, did so
compassionate her, and was so humble, that he took her by the
hand, and said, " Speak, good mother ; be not afraid to speak to
me ; for I am a man that will hear you with patience ; and will
relieve your necessities too, if I be able : and this I will do will-
ingly ; and therefore, mother, be not afraid to acquaint me with
what you desire." After which comfortable speech, he again
took her by the hand, made her sit down by him, and understand-
ing she was of his parish, he told her " He would be acquainted
with her, and take her into his care." And having with patience
heard and understood her v/ants, — and it is some relief for a poor
body to be but heard with patience, — he, like a Christian Clergy-
man, comforted her by his meek behaviour and counsel ; but be-
cause that cost him nothing, he relieved her with money too, and
so sent her home with a cheerful heart, praising God, and pray-
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 285
ing for him. Thus worthy, and — like David's blessed man —
thus lowly, was Mr. George Herbert in his own eyes, and thus
lovely in the eyes of others.
At his return that night to his wife at Bainton, he gave her an
account of the passages betwixt him and the poor woman ; with
which she was so affected, that she went next day to Salisbury,
and there bought a pair of blankets, and sent them as a token of
iier love to the poor woman : and with them a message, " That
she would see and be acquainted with her, when her house was
built at Bemerton."
There be many such passages both of him and his wife, of
which some few will be related : but I shall first tell, that he
hasted to get the Parish-Church repaired ; then to beautify the
Chapel, — which stands near his house, — and that at his own great
charge. He then proceeded to rebuild the greatest part of the
Parsonage-house, which he did also very completely, and at his
own charge ; and having done this good work, he caused these
verses to be writ upon, or engraven in, the mantle of the chimney
in his hall.
TO MY SUCCESSOR.
If thou chance for to find
A new house to thy mind,
And huilt without thy cost ;
Be good to the poor,
As God gives thee store,
And then my labour^ s not lost.
We will now, by the Reader's favour, suppose him fixed at
Bemerton, and grant him to have seen the Church repaired, and
the Chapel belonging to it very decently adorned at his own great
charge, which is a real truth ; — and having now fixed him there,
I shall proceed to give an account of the rest of his behaviour,
both to his parishioners, and those many others that knew and
conversed with him.
Doubtless Mr. Herbert had considered, and given rules to him-
self for his Christian carriage both to God and man, before he en-
tered into Holy Orders. And 'tis not unlike, but that he renewed
286 THE LIFE OF
those resolutions at his prostration before the holy altar, at his in-
duction into the Church of Bemerton : but as yet he was but a
Deacon, and therefore longed for the next Ember- week, that he
might be ordained Priest, and made capable of administering both
the Sacraments. At which time the reverend Dr. Humphrey
Henchman,* now Lord Bishop of London, — who does not mention
him but with some veneration for his life and excellent learning,
— tells me, " He laid his hand on Mr. Herbert's head, and, alas !
within less than three years, lent his shoulder to carry his dear
friend to his grave."
And that Mr. Herbert might the better preserve those holy rules
which such a Priest as he intended to be, ought to observe ; and
that time might not insensibly blot them out of his memory, but
that the next year might shew him his variations from this year's
resolutions; he therefore did set down his rules, then resolved
upon, in that order as the world now sees them printed in a little
book, called " The Country Parson ;" in which some of his rules
are :
The. Parsoii's knoidedge. The Parson condescending.
The Parson on Sundays. The Parson in his journey.
The Parson praying. The Parson in his mirth.
The Parson -preaching. The Parson with his Church-
The Parson's charity. wardens.
The Parson contforting the sick. The Parson blessing the peo-
The Parson arguing. pie.
And his behaviour towards God and man may be said to be a
practical comment on these, and the other holy rules set down in
that useful book : a book so full of plain, prudent, and useful rules,
that that Country Parson, that can spare twelve-pence, and yet
wants it, is scarce excusable ; because it will both direct him
what he ought to do, and convince him for not having done it.
* At the time Dr. Henchman was Prebendary of SaHsbury, of which See
he became Bishop in 1660, and in 166.3 he was removed to London. He was
much esteemed by King Charles IL, whose escape at tlie battle of Worcester
he was very instrumental in promoting ; but when the declaration for liberty
of conscience was published in 1671-72, this Prelate was not afraid of the
King's displeasure, but enjoined his Clergy to {)reach against Popery.
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 287
At the death of Mr. Herbert, this book fell into the hands of his
friend Mr. Woodnot ; and he commended it into the trusty hands
of Mr. Barnabas Oley,* who published it with a most conscien-
tious and excellent preface ; from which I have had some of those
trutlis, that are related in this life of Mr. Herbert. The text of
his first Sermon was taken out of Solomon's Proverbs, chap. iv.
23, and the words were, " Keep thy heart with all diligence." In
which first Sermon he gave his Parishioners many necessary^ holy,
safe rules for the discharge of a good conscience, both to God and
man ; and delivered his Sermon after a most florid manner, both
with great learning and eloquence ; but, at the close of this Ser-
mon, told them, " That should not be his constant way of preach-
ing ; for since Almighty God does not intend to lead men to
Heaven by hard questions, he would not therefore fill their heads
with unnecessary notions ; but that, for their sakes, his language
and his expressions should be more plain and practical in his fu-
ture sermons." And he then made it his humble request, " That
they would be constant to the Afternoon's Service, and Catechi-
sinn- :" and shewed them convincing reasons why he desired it ;
and his obliging example and persuasions brought them to a will-
ing comformity to his desires.
The texts for all his future sermons — which God knows, were
not many — were constantly taken out of the Gospel for the day ;
and he did as constantly declare why the Church did appoint that j
portion of Scripture to be that day read ; and in v/hat manner the '■
Collect for every Sunday does refer to the Gospel, or to the Epis-
tle then read to them ; and, that they might pray with understand-
ing, he did usually take occasion to explain, not only the Collect
for every particular Sunday, but the reasons of all the other Col-
lects and Responses in our Church-service ; and made it appear
to them, that the whole service of the Church was a reasonable,
and therefore an acceptable sacrifice to God : as namely, that we
begin with " Confession of ourselves to be vile, miserable sinners ;"
and that we begin so, because, till we have confessed ourselves to
be such, we are not capable of that mercy which we acknowledge
we need, and pray for : but having, in the prayer of our Lord,
* A private Clergyman of Clare Hall, Cambridge, who sufiered much for
his gallant devotion to the cause of his King, Charles I.
288 THE LIFE OF
begged pardon for those sins which we have confessed ; and ho-
ping, that as the Priest hath declared our absolution, so by our
public confession, and real repentance, we have obtained that
pardon ; then we dare and do proceed to beg of the Lord, " to
open our lips, that our mouth may shew forth his praise ;" for till
then we are neither able nor worthy to praise him. But this be-
ing supposed, we are then fit to say, " Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;" and fit to proceed to a
further service of our God, in the Collects, and Psalms, and Lauds,
that follow in the service.
And as to these Psalms and Lauds, he proceeded to inform them
why they were so often, and some of them daily, repeated in our
Church-service ; namely, the Psalms every month, because they
be an historical and thankful repetition of mercies past, and such
a composition of prayers and praises, as ought to be repeated of-
ten, and publicly ; for with such sacrifice God is honoured and
well-pleased. This for the Psalms.
And for the Plymns and Lauds appointed to be daily repeated
or sung after the first and second Lessons are read to the congre-
gation ; he proceeded to inform them, that it was most reasonable,
after they have heard the will and goodness of God declared or
preached by the Priest in his reading the two chapters, that it was
then a seasonable duty to rise up, and express their gratitude to
Almighty God, for those his mercies to them, and to all mankind ;
and then to say with the Blessed Virgin, " that their souls do mag-
nify the Lord, and that their spirits do also rejoice in God their
Saviour:" and that it was their duty also to rejoice with Simeon
in his song, and say with him, " That their eyes have" also "seen
their salvation ;" for they have seen that salvation which was but
prophesied till his time : and he then broke out into those expres-
sions of joy that he did see it; but they live to see it daily in the
history of it, and therefore ought daily to rejoice, and daily to of-
fer up their sacrifices of praise to their God, for that particular
mercy. A service, which is now the constant employment of
that Blessed Virgin and Simeon, and all those blessed Saints that
are possessed of Heaven : and where they are at this time inter-
changeably and constantly singing, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God ;
glory be to God on high, and on earth peace." And he taught
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 289
them, that to do this was an acceptable service to God, because
the Prophet David says in his Psalms, " He that praiseth the
Lord honoureth him."
He made them to understand how happy they be that are freed
from the incumbrances of that law which our forefathers groaned
under : namely, from the legal sacrifices, and from the many
ceremonies of the Levitical law ; freed from Circumcision, and
from the strict observation of the Jewish Sabbath, and the like.
And he made them know, that having received so many and so
great blessings, by being born since the days of our Saviour, it
must be an acceptable sacrifice to Almighty God, for them to ac-
knowledge those blessings daily, and stand up and worship, and
say as Zacharias did, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for
he hath — in our days — visited and redeemed his people ; and —
he hath in our days — remembered, and shewed that mercy, which
by the mouth of the Prophets, he promised to our forefathers ;
and this he hath done according to his holy covenant made with
them." And he made them to understand that we live to see and
enjoy the benefit of it, in his Birth, in his Life, his Passion, his
Resurrection, and Ascension into Heaven, where he now sits sen-
sible of all our temptations and infirmities ; and where he is at
this present time making intercession for us, to his and our Fa-
ther : and therefore they ought daily to express their public grat-
ulations, and say daily with Zacharias, "Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel, that hath thus visited and thus redeemed his peo-
ple."— These were some of the reasons, by which Mr. Herbert
instructed his congregation for the use of the Psalms and Hymns
appointed to be daily sung or said in the Church-service.
He informed them also, when the Priest did pray only for the
congregation, and not for himself; and when they did only pray
for him ; as namely, after the repetition of the Creed before he
proceeds to pray the Lord's Prayer, or any of the appointed Col-
lects, the Priest is directed to kneel down, and pray for them, say-
ing, " The Lord be with you ;" and when they pray for him, say-
ing, " And with thy spirit ;" and then they join together in the
following Collects : and he assured them, that when there is such
mutual love, and such joint prayers oflered for each other, then
the holy Angels look down from Heaven, and are ready to carry
290 THE LIFE OF
such charitable desires to God Almighty, and he as ready to re-
ceive them ; and that a Christian congregation calling thus upon
God with one heart, and one voice, and in one reverent and hum-
ble posture, looks as beautifully as Jerusalem, that is at peace
with itself.
He instructed them also why the prayer of our Lord was
prayed often in every full service of the Church ; namely, at the
conclusion of the several parts of that service ; and prayed then,
not only because it was composed and commanded by our Jesus
that made it, but as a perfect pattern for our less perfect forms of
prayer, and therefore fittest to sum up and conclude all our im-
perfect pethions.
He instructed them also, that as by the second Commandment
we are required not to bow down, or worship an idol, or false God ;
so, by the contrary rule, we are to bow down and kneel, or stand
up and worship the true God. And he instructed them why the
Church required the congregation to stand up at the repetition of
the Creeds ; namely, because they thereby declare both their obe-
dience to the Church, and an assent to that faith into which they
had been baptized. And he taught them, that in that shorter
Creed or Doxology, so often repeated daily, they also stood up to
testify their belief to be, that " the God that they trusted in was
one God, and three persons ; the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost; to whom they and the Priest gave glory." And because
there had been heretics that had denied some of those three persons
to be God, therefore the congregation stood up and honoured him,
by confessing and saying, " It was so in the beginning, is now so,
and shall ever be so world without end." And all gave their as-
seot to this belief, by standing up and saying. Amen.
He instructed them also what benefit they had by the Church's
appointing the celebration of holidays and the excellent use of
them, namely, that they were set apart for particular commemo-
rations of particular mercies received from Almighty God ; and
— as reverend Mr. Hooker sa5''s — to be the landmarks to distin-
guish times ; for by them we are taught to take notice how time
passes by us, and that we ought not to let the years pass without
a celebration of praise for those mercies which those days give us
occasion to remember, and therefore they were to note that the
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 291
year is appointed to begin the 25th day of March ; a day in
which we commemorate the Angel's appearing to the Blessed Vir-
gin, with the joyful tidings that " she should conceive and bear a
son, that should be the Redeemer of mankind." And she did so
forty weeks after this joyful salutation ; namely, at our Christ-
mas ; a day in which we commemorate his Birth with joy and
praise ; and that eight days after this happy birth we celebrate
his Circumcision ; namely, in that which we call New-year's day.
And that, upon that day which we call Twelfth-day, we com-
memorate the manifestation of the unsearchable riches of Jesus
to the Gentiles : and that that day we also celebrate the memory
of his goodness in sending a star to guide the three Wise Men
from the East to Bethlehem, that they might there worship, and
present him with their oblations of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And he — Mr. Herbert — instructed them, that Jesus was forty
days after his birth presented by his blessed Mother in the Tern-
pie ; namely, on that day which we call, " The Purification of the
Blessed Virgin, Saint Mary.'" And he instructed them, that by the
Lent-fast we imitate and commemorate our Saviour's humiliation
in fasting forty days ; and that we ought to endeavour to be like
him in purity : and that on Good Friday we commemorate and
condole his Crucifixion ; and at Easter commemorate his glorious
Resurrection. And he taught them, that after Jesus had mani-
fested himself to his Disciples to be " that Christ that was cruci-
fied, dead and buried ;" and by his appearing and conversing
with his Disciples for the space of forty days after his Resurrec-
tion, he then, and not till then, ascended into Heaven in the sight
of those Disciples ; namely, on that day which we call the Ascen-
sion, or Holy Thursday. And that we then celebrate the per-
formance of the promise which he made to his Disciples at or be-
fore his Ascension; namely, "that though he left them, yet he
would send them the Holy Ghost to be their Comforter ;" and
that he did so on that day which the Church calls Whitsunday.
— Thus the Church keeps an historical and circular commemo-
ration of times, as they pass by us ; of such times as ought to
incline us to occasional praises, for the particular blessings which
we do, or might receive, by those holy commemorations.
He made them know also why the Church hath appointed
292 THE LIFE OF
^
Ember- weeks ; and to know the reasons why the Commandments,
and the Epistles and Gospels, were to be read at the Altar, or
Communion Table : why the Priest was to pray the Litany kneel-
ing ; and why to pray some Collects standing : and he gave them
many other observations, fit for his plain congregation, but not
fit lor me now to mention ; for I must set limits to my pen, and
not make that a treatise, which I intended to be a much shorter
account than I have made it : but I have done, when I have told
the Reader, that he was constant in catechising every Sunday in
the afternoon, and that his catechising was after his Second Les-
son, and in the pulpit ; and that he never exceeded his half hour,
and was always so happy as to have an obedient and a full con-
gregation.
And to this I must add, that if he were at any time too zealous
in his Sermons, it was in reproving the indecencies of the people's
behaviour in the time of divine service ; and of those Ministers
that huddle up the Church-prayers, without a visible reverence
and affection ; namely, such as seemed to say the Lord's prayer,
or a Collect, in a breath. But for himself, his custom was, to
stop betwixt every Collect, and give the people time to consider
what they had prayed, and to force their desires affectionately to
God, before he engaged them into new petitions.
And by this account of his diligence to make his parishioners
understand what they prayed, and why they praised and adored
their Creator, I hope I shall the more easily obtain the Reader's
belief to the following account of Mr. Herbert's own practice ;
which was to appear constantly with his wife and three nieces —
the daughters of a deceased sister — and his whole family, twice
every day at the Church-prayers, in the Chapel, which does
almost join to his Parsonage-house. And for the time of his
appearing, it was strictly at the canonical hours of ten and four :
and then and there he lifted up pure and charitable hands to God
in the midst of the congregation. And he would joy to have
spent that time in that place, where the honour of his Master
Jesus dwelleth ; and there, by that inward devotion which ha
testified constantly by an humble behaviour and visible adoration,
he, like Joshua, brought not only " his own household thus to
serve the Lord j" but brought most of his parishioners, and many
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 293
gentlemen in the neighbourhood, constantly to make a part of his
congregation twice a day : and some of the meaner sort of his
parish did so love and reverence Mr. Herbert, that they would let
their plough rest when Mr. Herbert'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 plough. And his most holy life
was such, that it begot such reverence to God, and to him, that
they thought themselves the happier, when they carried Mr.
Herbert's blessing back with them to their labour. Thus power-
ful was his reason and example to persuade others to a practical
piety and devotion.
And his constant public prayers did never make him to neglect
his own private devotions, nor those prayers that he thought him-
self bound to perform with his family, which always were a set
form, and not long ; and he did always conclude them with that
Collect which the Church hath appointed for the day or week. —
Thus he made every day's sanctity a step towards that kingdom,
where impurity cannot enter.
His chiefest recreation was Music, in which heavenly art he
was a most excellent master, and did himself compose many
divine Hymns and Anthems, which he set and sung to his lute or
viol : and though he was a lover of retiredness, yet his love to
Music was such, that he went usually twice every week, on
certain appointed days, to the Cathedral Church in Salisbury ;
and at his return would say " That his time spent in prayer, and
Cathedral-music, elevated his soul, and was his Heaven upon
earth." But before his return thence to Bemerton, he would
usually sing and play his part at an appointed private Music-
meeting ; and, to justify this practice, he would often say, " Re-^
ligion does not banish mirth, but only moderates and sets rules^
to it."
And as his desire to enjoy his Heaven upon earth drew him
twice every week to Salisbury, so his walks thither were the
occasion of many happy accidents to others ; of which I will
mention some few.
In one of his walks to Salisbury, he overtook a gentleman, that
is still living in that City ; and in their walk together, Mr. Her-
bert took a fair occasion to talk with him, and humbly begged to
PART II. 9
294 THE LIFE OF
be excused, if he asked him some account of his faith ; and said,
" I do this the rather, because though you are not of my parish,
yet I receive tythe from you by the hand of your tenant ; and.
Sir, I am the bolder to do it, because I know there be some ser-
mon-hearers that be like those fishes, that always live in salt
water, and 3^et are always fresh."
After which expression, Mr. Herbert asked him some needful
questions, and having received his answer, gave him such rules
for the trial of his sincerity, and for a practical piety, and in so
loving and meek a manner, that the gentleman did so fall in love
with him, and his discourse, that he would often contrive to meet
him in his walk to Salisbury, or to attend him back to Bemerton ;
and still mentions the name of Mr. George Herbert with venera-
tion, and still praiseth God for the occasion of knowing him.
In another of his Salisbury walks, he met with a neighbour
Minister; and after some friendly discourse betwixt them, and
some condolement for the decay of piety, and too general contempt
of the Clergy, Mr. Herbert took occasion to say,
" One cure for these distempers would be, for the Clergy them-
selves to keep the Ember-weeks strictly, and beg of their parish-
ioners to join with them in fasting and prayers for a more religious
Clergy."
And another cure would be, for themselves to restore the great
and neglected duty of Catechising, on which the Salvation of so
many of the poor and ignorant lay-people does depend ; but prin-
cipally, that the Clergy themselves would be sure to live unblame-
ably ; and that the dignified Clergy especially which preach
temperance, would avoid surfeiting and take all occasions to ex-
press a visible humility and charity in their lives ; for this would
force a love and an imitation, and an unfeigned reverence from
all that knew them to be such. (And for proof of this, we need
no other testimony than the life and death of Dr. Lake,* late
Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.) " This," said Mr. Herbert,
" would be a cure for the wickedness and growing Atheism of
* Dr. Arthur Lake, a native of Southampton, educated at Winchester
School, and New College, Oxford ; he was made Dean of Worcester in 1608,
and Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1616. He died in 1626, being one of the
best Preachers of his time.
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 295
our age. And, my dear brother, till this be done by us, and
done in earnest, let no man expect a reformation of the manners
of the Laity ; for 'tis not learning, but this, this only that must
do it ; and, till then, the fault must lie at our doors."
In another walk to Salisbury, he saw a poor man with a poorer
horse, that was fallen under his load : they were both in distress,
and needed present help ; which Mr. Herbert perceiving, put off
his canonical coat, and helped the poor man to unload, and after
to load, his horse. The poor man blessed him for it, and he bless-
ed the poor man ; and was so like the Good Samaritan, that he
gave him money to refresh both himself and his horse ; and told
him, " That if he loved himself he should be merciful to his beast."
Thus he left the poor man ; and at his coming to his musical
friends at Salisbury, they began to wonder that Mr. George Her-
bert, which used to be so trim and clean, came into that company
so soiled and discomposed : but he told them the occasion. And
when one of the company told him, " He had disparaged himself
by so dirty an employment," his answer was, " That the thought
of what he had done would prove music to him at midnight ; and
that the omission of it would have upbraided and made discord in
his conscience, whensoever he should pass by that place : for if I
be bound to pray for all that be in distress, I am sure that I am
bound, so far as it is in my power, to practice what I pray for.
And though I do not wish for the like occasion every day, yet let
me tell you, I would not willingly pass one day of my life without
comforting a sad soul, or shewing mercy ; and I praise God for
this occasion. And now let's tune our instruments."
Thus, as our blessed Saviour, after his Resurrection, did take
occasion to interpret the Scripture to Cleophas, and that other Dis-
ciple, which he met with and accompanied in their journey to Em-
maus ; so Mr. Herbert, in his path toward Heaven, did daily take
any fair occasion to instruct the ignorant, or comfort any that were
in affliction ; and did always confirm his precepts, by shewing hu-
mility and mercy, and ministering grace to the hearers.
And he was most happy in his wife's unforced compliance with
his acts of Charity, whom he made his almoner, and paid con-
stantly into her hand, a tenth penny of what money he received
for tythe, and gave her power to dispose that to the poor of his
296 THE LIFE OF
parish, and with it a power to dispose a tenth part of the corn that
came yearly into his barn : which trust she did most faithfully per-
form, and would often offer to him an account of her stewardship,
and as often beg an enlargement of his bounty ; for she rejoiced
in the employment : and this was usually laid out by her in blank-
ets and shoes for some such poor people as she knew to stand in
most need of them. This as to her charity. — And for his own, he
set no limits to it : nor did ever turn his face from any that he
saw in want, but would relieve them ; especially his poor neigh-
bours ; to the meanest of whose houses he would go, and inform
himself of their wants, and relieve them cheerfully, if they were
in distress ; and would always praise God, as much for being will-
ing, as for being able to do it. And when he was advised by a
friend to be more frugal, because he might have children, his an-
swer was, " He would not see the danger of want so far off: but
being the Scripture does so commend Charity, as to tell us that
Charity is the top of Christian virtues, the covering of sins, the
fulfilling of the Law, the Life of Faith ; and that Charity hath a
promise of the blessings of this life, and of a reward in that life
which is to come : being these, and more excellent things are in
Scripture spoken of thee, O Charity ! and that, being all my tythes
and Church-dues are a deodate from thee, O my God ! make me,
O my God ! so far to trust thy promise, as to return them back to
thee : and by thy grace I will do so, in distributing them to any
of thy poor members that are in distress, or do but bear the image
of Jesus my Master." " Sir," said he to his friend, " my wife
hath a competent maintenance secured her after my death ; and
therefore, as this is my prayer, so this' my resolution shall, by
God's grace, be unalterable."
This may be some account of the excellencies of the active part
of his life ; and thus he continued, till a consumption so weakened
him, as to confine him to his house, or to the Chapel, which does
almost join to it ; in which he continued to read prayers constant-
ly twice every day, though he were very weak : in one of which
times of his reading, his wife observed him to read in pain, and
told him so, and that it wasted his spirits, and weakened him ; and
he confessed it did, but said, his " life could not be better spent,
than in the service of his Master Jesus, who had done and suffered
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 297
so much for him. But," said he, "I will not be wilful; for
though my spirit be willing, yet I find my flesh is weak ; and
therefore Mr. Bostock shall be appointed to read prayers for me
to-morrow ; and I will now be only a hearer of them, till this mor-
tal shall put on immortality." And Mr. Bostock did the next day
undertake and continue this happy employment, till Mr. Herbert's
death. This Mr. Bostock was a learned and virtuous man, an old
friend of Mr. Herbert's, and then his Curate to the Church of
Fulston, which is a mile from Bemerton, to which Church Bemer-
ton is but a Chapel of Ease. And this Mr. Bostock did also con-
stantly supply the Church-service for Mr. Herbert in that Chapel,
when the Music-meeting at Salisbury caused his absence from it.
About one month before his death, his friend Mr. Farrer, — for
an account of whom 1 am by promise indebted to the Reader, and
intend to make him sudden payment, — hearing of Mr. Herbert's
sickness, sent Mr. Edward Duncon — who is now Rector of Friar
Barnet in the County of Middlesex — from his house of Gidden
Hall, which is near to Huntingdon, to see Mr. Herbert, and to
assure him, he wanted not his daily prayers for his recovery ; and
Mr. Duncon was to return back to Gidden, with an account of Mr.
Herbert's condition. Mr. Duncon found him weak, and at that
time lying on his bed, or on a pallet ; but at his seeing Mr. Dun-
con he raised himself vigorously,j,saluted him, and with some ear-
nestness enquired the health of his brother Farrer ; of which Mr.
Duncon satisfied him, and after some discourse of Mr. Farrer's
holy life, and the manner of his constant serving God, he said to
Mr. Duncon, — '•' Sir, I see by your habit that you are a Priest,
and I desire you to pray with me :" which being granted, Mr.
Duncon asked him, " What prayers ?" To which Mr. Herbert's
answer was, " O, Sir ! the prayers of my Mother, the Church of ^'
England ; no other prayers are equal to them ! But at this time,
I beg of you to pray only the Litany, for I am weak and faint :"
and Mr. Duncon did so. After which, and some other discourse
of Mr. Farrer, Mrs. Herbert provided Mr. Duncon a plain supper,
and a clean lod^in;T, and he betook himself to rest. This Mr.
Duncon tells me ; and tells me, thai, at his first view of Mr. Her-
bert, he saw majesty and humility so reconciled in his looks and
behaviour, as begot in him an awful reverence for his person ;
298 THE LIFE OF
and says, " his discourse was so pious, and his motion so genteel
and meek, that after ahnost forty years, yet they remain still fresh
in his memory."
The next morning Mr. Duncon left him, and betook himself to
a journey to Bath, but with a promise to return back to him with-
in five days ; and he did so : but before I shall say any thing of
what discourse then fell betwixt them two, I will pay my promised
account of Mr. Farrer.
Mr. Nicholas Farrer — who got the reputation of being called
Saint Nicholas at the age of six years — was born in London, and
doubtless had good education in his youth ; but certainly was, at
an early age, made Fellow of Clare- Hall in Cambridge ; where
he continued to be eminent for his piety, temperance, and learn-
ing. About the twenty-sixth year of his age, he betook himself
to travel : in which he added, to his Latin and Greek, a perfect
knowledge of all the languages spoken in the Western parts of
our Christian world ; and understood well the principles of their
Religion, and of their manner, and the reasons of their worship.
In this his travel he met with many persuasions to come into a
communion with that church which calls itself Catholic : but he
returned from his travels as he went, eminent for his obedience to
his mother, the Church of England. In liis absence from Eng-
land, Mr. Farrer's father — who was a merchant — allowed him a
liberal maintenance ; and, not long after his return into England,
Mr. Farrer had, by the death of his father, or an elder brother, or
both, an estate left him, that enabled him to purchase land to the
value of four or five hundred pounds a year ; the greatest part
of which land was at Little Gidden, four or six miles from Hunt-
ingdon, and about eighteen from Cambridge ; which place he
chose for the privacy of it, and for the Hall, which had the
Parish-Church or Chapel, belonging and adjoining near to it ;
for Mr. Farrer having seen the manners and vanities of the world,
and found them to be, as Mr. Herbert says, " a nothing between
two dishes," did so contemn it, that he resolved to spend the re-
mainder of his life in mortifications, and in devotion, and charity,
and to be always prepared for death. And his life was spent
thus :
He and his family, which were like a little College, and about
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 299
thirty in number, did most of them keep Lent and all Ember-
weeks strictly, both in fasting and using all those mortifications
and prayers that the Church hath appointed to be then used ; and
he and they did the like constantly on Fridays, and on the Vigils
or Eves appointed to be fasted before the Saints' days : and this
frugality and abstinence turned to the relief of the poor : but
this was but a part of his charity ; none but God and he knew
the rest.
This family, which I have said to be in number about thirty,
were a part of them his kindred, and the rest chosen to be of a
temper fit to be moulded into a devout life ; and all of them were
for their dispositions serviceable, and quiet, and humble, and free
from scandal. Having thus fitted himself for his family, he did,
about the year 1630, betake himself to a constant and methodical
service of God ; and it was in this manner : — He, being accom-
panied with most of his family, did himself use to read the com-
mon prayers — for he was a Deacon — every day, at the appointed
hours of ten and four, in the Parish-Church, which was very near
his house, and which he had both repaired and adorned ; for it
was fallen into a great ruin, by reason of a depopulation of the
villaue before Mr. Farrer bought the manor. And he did also
constantly read the Matins every morning at the hour of six,
either in the Church, or in an Oratory, which was within his own
house. And many of the family did there continue with him after
the prayers were ended, and there they spent some hours in sing-
ing Hymns, or Anthems, sometimes in the Church, and often to
an organ in the Oratory. And there they sometimes betook
themselves to meditate, or to pray privately, or to read a part of
the New Testament to themselves, or to continue their praying or
reading the Psalms; and in case the Psalms were not always
read in the day, then Mr. Farrer, and others of the congregation,
did at night, at the ringing of a watch- bell, repair to the Church
or Oratory, and there betake themselves to prayers and lauding
God, and reading the Psalms that had not been read in the day :
and when these, or any part of the congregation, grew weary
or faint, the watch- bell was rung, sometimes before, and some-
times after midnight ; and then another part of the family rose,
and maintained the watch, sometimes by praying, or singing lauds
300 THE LIFE OF
to God, or reading the Psalms ; and v/hen, after some hours, they
also grew weary or faint, then they rung the watch-bell and were
also relieved by some of the former, or by a new part of the so-
ciety, which continued their devotions — as hath been mentioned
— until morning. And it is to be noted, that in this continued
serving of God, the Pvsalter or the whole Book of Psalms, was in
every four and twenty hours sung or read over, from the first
to the last verse : and this was done as constantly as the sun runs
his circle every day about the world, and then begins again the
same instant that it ended.
Thus did Mr. Farrer and his happy family serve God day and
night ; thus did they always behave themselves as in his presence.
And they did always eat and drink by the strictest rules of tem-
perance ; eat and drink so as to be ready to rise at midnight, or
at the call of a watch-bell, and perform their devotions to God.
And it is fit to tell the Reader, that many of the Clergy, that
were more inclined to practical piety and devotion, than to doubt-
ful and needless disputations, did often come to Gidden-Hall, and
make themselves a part of that happy society, and stay a week
or more, and then join with Mr. Farrer and the family in these
devotions, and assist and ease him or them in their watch by
night. And these various devotions had never less than two of
the domestic family in the night ; and the watch was always kept
in the Church or Oratory, unless in extreme cold winter nights,
and then it was maintained in a parlour, which had a fire in it ;
and the parlour was fitted for that purpose. And this course of
piety, and great liberality to his poor neighbours, Mr. Farrer
maintained till his death, which was in the year 1639.*
* The extraordinary course of life pursued at Gidding, the strictness of their
rules, their prayers, literally without ceasing, their abstinence, mortifications,
nightly watchings, and various other pecuharities, gave birth to censure in
some, and inflamed the malevolence of others, but excited the wonder and cu-
riosity of all. So that they were frequently visited with different views by per-
sons of all denominations, and of opposite opinions. They received all who
came with courteous civility ; and from those who were inquisitive they con-
cealed nothing, as indeed there was not any thing either in their opinions, or
their practice, in the least degree necessary to be concealed. Notwithstand-
ing this, they were by some abused as Papists, by others as Puritans. Mr. Fer-
rar himself, though possessed of uncommon patience and resignation, yet in
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 301
Mr. Farrer's and Mr. Herbert's devout lives were both so
noted, that the general report of their sanctity gave them occasion
to renew that slight acquaintance which was begun at their being
contemporaries in Cambridge ; and this new holy friendship was
long maintained without any interview, but only by loving and
endearing letters. And one testimony of their friendship and
pious designs, may appear by Mr. Farrer's commending the
"Considerations of John Valdesso" — a book which he had met
with in his travels, and translated out of Spanish into English, —
to be examined and censured by Mr. Herbert before it was made
public : which excellent book Mr. Herbert did read, and return
back with many marginal notes, as they be now printed with it;
and with them, Mr. Herbert's affectionate letter to Mr. Farrer.
This John Valdesso was a Spaniard, and was for his learning
and virtue much valued and loved by the great Emperor Charles
the Fifth, whom Valdesso had followed as a Cavalier all the time
of his long and dangerous wars : and when Valdesso grew old,
and grew weary both of war and the w^orld, he took his fair
opportunity to declare to the Emperor, that his resolution was to
decline his Majesty's service, and betake himself to a quiet and
anguish of spirit complained to his friends, that the perpetual obloquy he en-
dured was a sort of unceasing martyrdom. Added to all this, AMolcnt invec-
tives and inflammatory pamphlets were published against them. Amongst
others, not long after Mr. Ferrar's death, a treatise was addressed to the Par-
liament, entitled, " The Arminian Nunnery, or a brief description and relation
of the late, erected monastical place called the Arminian Nunnery at Little
Gidding in Huntingdonshire: humbly addressed to the wise consideration of
the present parliament. The foundation is by a company of Ferrars at Gid-
ding," printed by Thomas Underbill, 1641.
Soon after Mr. Ferrar's death, certain soldiers of the Parliament resolved to
plunder the house at Gidding. The family being informed of their hasty ap-
proach, thought it prudent to fly ; while these military zealots, in the rage of
what they called reformation, ransacked both the church and the house ; in
doing which, they expressed a particular spite against the organ. This they
broke in pieces, of which they made a large fire, and at it roasted several of
Mr. Ferrar's sheep, which they had killed in his grounds. This done, they
seized all the plate, furniture, and provision, which they could conveniently
carry away. And in this general devastation perished the works which Mr.
Fcrrar had compiled for the use of his household, consisting chiefly of harmo-
nies of the Old and New Testament.
302 THE LIFE OF
contemplative life, " because there ought to be a vacancy of time
betwixt fighting and dying." The Emperor had himself, for the
same, or other like reasons, put on the same resolution : but God
and himself did, till then, only know them ; and he did therefore
desire Valdesso to consider well of what he had said, and to keep
his purpose within his own breast, till they two might have a
second opportunity of a friendly discourse ; which Valdesso prom-
ised to do.
In the mean time the Emperor appoints privately a day for him
and Valdesso to meet again ; and, after a pious and free discourse,
they both agreed on a certain day to receive the blessed Sacra-
ment publicly ; and appointed an eloquent and devout Friar to
preach a sermon of contempt of the world, and of the happiness
and benefit of a quiet and contemplative life ; which the Friar
did most affectionately. After which sermon, the Emperor took
occasion to declare openly, " That the Preacher had begot in him
a resolution to lay down his dignities, and to forsake the world,
and betake himself to a monastical life." And he pretended, he
had persuaded John Valdesso to do the like : but this is most
certain, that after the Emperor had called his son Philip out of
England, and resigned to him all his kingdoms, that then the
Emperor and John Valdesso did perform their resolutions.
This account of John Valdesso I received from a friend, that
had it from the mouth of Mr. Farrer. And the Reader may note,
that in this retirement John Valdesso writ his Hundred and Ten
Considerations, and many other treatises of worth, which want a
second Mr. Farrer to procure and translate them.*
- After this account of Mr. Farrer and John Valdesso, I proceed
to my account of Mr. Herbert and Mr. Duncon, who according
to his promise returned from the Bath the fifth day, and then
found Mr. Herbert much weaker than he left him ; and therefore
their discourse could not be long : but at Mr. Duncon's parting
with him, Mr. Herbert spoke to this purpose : " Sir, I pray you
give my brother Farrer an account of the decaying condition of
my body, and tell him I beg him to continue his daily prayers for
me ; and let him know that I have considered, that God only is
* Valdesso died at Naples in 1540.
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 303
what he would be ; and that 1 am, by his grace, become now so
like him, as to be pleased with what pleaseth him ; and tell him
that I do not repine, but am pleased with my want of health :
and tell him, my heart is fixed on that place where true joy is
only to be found ; and that I long to be there, and do wait for my
appointed change with hope and patience."' Having said this, he
did, with so sweet a humility as seemed to exalt him, bow down
to Mr. Duncon, and with a thoughtful and contented look, say to
him, " Sir, I pray deliver this little book to my dear brother
Farrer, and tell him, he shall find in it a picture of the many
spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt God and my soul,
before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master : in
whose service I have now found perfect freedom. Desire him to
read it ; and then, if he can think it may turn to the advantage
of any dejected poor soul : let it be made public ; if not let him
burn it ; for I and it are less than the least of God's mercies."
Thus meanly did this humble man think of this excellent book,
which now bears the name of '• The Temple ; or, Sacred Poems
and Private Ejaculations ;" of which Mr. Farrer would say,
" There was in it the picture of a divine soul in every page : and
that the whole book vvas such a harmony of holy passions, as
would enrich the world with pleasure and piety." And it ap-
pears to have done so ; for there have been more than twenty
thousand of them sold since the first impression.
And this ought to be noted, that when Mr. Farrer sent this book
to Cambridge to be licensed for the press, the Vice-Chancellor
would by no means allow the two so much noted verses,
Religion stands a tiptoe in our land.
Ready to pass to the American strand,
to be printed ; and Mr. Farrer w^ould by no means allow the
book to be printed and want them. But after some time, and
some arguments for and against their being made public, the
Vice-chancellor said, " I knew Mr. Herbert well, and know that
he had many heavenly speculations, and was a divine poet : but
I hope the world will not take him to be an inspired prophet, and
therefore I licence the whole book." So that it came to be printed
304 THE LIFE OF
without the diminution or addition of a syllable, since it was
delivered into the hands of Mr. Duncon, save only that Mr.
Farrcr hath added that excellent Preface that is printed before it.
At the time of Mr. Duncon's leaving Mr. Herbert, — which
was about three weeks before his death, — his old and dear friend
Mr. Woodnot came from London to Bemerton, and never left him
till he had seen him draw his last breath, and closed his eyes on
his death-bed. In this time of his decay, he was often visited
and prayed for by all the Clergy that lived near to him, especially
by his friends the Bishop and Prebends of the Cathedral Church
in Salisbury ; but by none more devoutly than his wife, his three
nieces, — then a part of his family, — and Mr. Woodnot, who were
the sad witnesses of his daily decay ; to whom he would often
speak to this purpose : " I now look back upon the pleasures of
my life past, and see the content I have taken in beauty, in -wit,
in music, and pleasant conversation, are now all past by me like
a dream, or as a shadow that returns not, and are now all become
dead to me, or I to them ; and I see, that as my father and gene-
ration hath done before me, so I also shall now suddenly (with
Job) make ray bed also in the dark ; and I praise God I am pre-
pared for it ; and I praise him that I am not to learn patience
now I stand in such need of it ; and that I have practised morti-
fication, and endeavoured to die daily, that I might not die eter-
nally ; and my hope is, that I shall shortly leave this valley of
tears, and be free from all fevers and pain ; and, which will be a
more happy condition, I shall be free from sin, and all the tempta-
tions and anxieties that attend it : and this being past, I shall
dwell in the New Jerusalem ; dwell there with men made per-
fect ; dwell where these eyes shall see my Master and Saviour
Jesus ; and with him see my dear Mother, and all my relations
and friends. But I must die, or not come to that happy place.
And this is my content, that I am going daily towards it : and
that every day which I have lived, hath taken a part of my ap-
pointed time from me; and that I shall live the less time, for
having lived this and the day past." These, and the like expres-
sions, which he uttered often, may be said to be his enjoyment of
Heaven before he enjoyed it. The Sunday before his death, he
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 305
rose suddenly from his bed or couch, called for one of his instru-
ments, took it into his hand and said,
My God, my God,
My music shall find thee,
And every string
Shall have his attribute to sing.
And having tuned it, he played and sung :
TTie Sundays of man's life.
Threaded together on time's string,
Make bracelets to adorn the tvife
Of the eternal glorious King :
On Sujidays Heaven's door stands ope;
Blessings are plentiful and rife,
More plentiful than hope.
Thus he sung on earth such Hymns and Anthems, as the An-
gels, and he, and Mr. Farrer, now sing in Heaven.
Thus he continued meditating, and praying, and rejoicing, till
the day of his death ; and on that day said to Mr. Woodnot, " My
dear friend, I am sorry I have nothing to present to my merciful
God but sin and misery ; but the first is pardoned, and a few
hours will now put a period to the latter ; for I shall suddenly go
hence, and be no more seen." Upon which expression Mr. Wood-
not took occasion to remember him of the re-edifying Layton
Church, and his many acts of mercy. To which he made an-
swer, saying, " They be good works, if they be sprinkled with
the blood of Christ, and not otherwise." After this discourse he
became more restless, and his soul seemed to be weary of her
earthly tabernacle : and this uneasiness became so visible, that his
wife, his three nieces, and Mr. Woodnot, stood constantly about
his bed, beholding him with sorrow, and an unwillingness to lose
the sight of him, whom they could not hope to see much longer.
As they stood thus beholding him, his wife observed him to breathe
faintly, and with much trouble, and observed him to fall into a
sudden agony ; which so surprised her, that she fell into a sudden
passion, and required of him to know how he did. To which his
306 THE LIFE OF
answer was, " that he had passed a conflict with his last enemy,
and had overcome him by the merits of his Master Jesus." Af-
ter which answer, lie looked up, and saw his wife and nieces
weeping to an extremity, and charged them, if they loved him
to withdraw into the next room, and there pray every one
alone for him ; for nothing but their lamentations could make his
death uncomfortable. To which request their sighs and tears
would not suffer them to make any reply ; but they yielded him
a sad obedience, leaving only with him Mr. Woodnot and Mr.
Bostock. Immediately after they had left him, he said to Mr.
Bostock, " Pray, Sir, open that door, then look into that cabinet, in
which you may easily find my last Will, and give it into my
hand :" which being done, Mr. Herbert delivered it into the hand
of Mr. Woodnot, and said, " My old friend, I here deliver you my
last Will, in which you will find that I have made you my sole
Executor for the good of my wife and nieces; and I desire you
to shew kindness to them, as they shall need it : I do not desire
you to be just ; for I know you will be so for your own sake ; but
I charge you, by the religion of our friendship, to be careful of
them." And having obtained Mr. Woodnot's promise to be so,
he said, " I am now ready to die." After which words, he said,
" Lord, forsake me not now my strength faileth me : but grant
me mercy for the merits of my Jesus. And now, Lord — Lord,
now receive my soul." And with those words he breathed forth
his divine soul, without any apparent disturbance, Mr. Woodnot
and Mr. Bostock attending his last breath, and closing his eyes.
Thus he lived and thus he died, like a Saint, unspotted of the
world, full of alms-deeds, full of humility, and all the examples
of a virtuous life ; which I cannot conclude better, than with this
borrowed observation :
-AH must to their cold graves
But the religious actions of the just
Smell sweet in death, and ilossom in the dust.*
Mr. George Herbert's have done so to this, and will doubtless
do so to succeeding generations. — I have but this to say more of
* Altered from a Dirge in Shirley's " Coulention of Ajax and Ulysses."
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 307
him ; that if Andrew Melvin died before him,* then George Her-
bert died without an enemy,f I wish — if God shall be so please^l-
— that I may be so happy as to die like him. f
Iz. Wa.
There is a debt justly due to the memory of Mr. Herbert's
virtuous Wife ; a part of which I will endeavour to pay, by a
very short account of the remainder of her life, which shall follow.
She continued his disconsolate widow about six years, bemoan-
ing herself, and complaining that she had lost the delight of
her eyes ; but more that she had lost the spiritual guide for her
poor soul ; and would often say, " O that I had, like holy Mary,
the Mother of Jesus, treasured up all his sayings in my heart !
But since I have not been able to do that, I will labour to live like
him, that where he now is I may be also." And she would often
say, — as the Prophet David for his son Absalom. — " O that I had
died for him !" Thus she continued mourning till time and con-
versation had so moderated her sorrows, that she became the hap-
py wife of Sir Robert Cook, of Highnam, in the County of Glou-
cester, Knight. And though he put a high value on the excellent
accomplishments of her mind and body, and was so like Mr. Her-
bert, as not to govern like a master, but as an affectionate hus-
band ; yet she would even to him often take occasion to mention
the name of Mr. George Herbert, and say, that name must live
in her memory till she put off mortality. By Sir Robert she had
only one child, a daughter, whose parts and plentiful estate make
* " Mr. George Herbert, Esq. Parson of Fuggleston and Beraerton, was bu-
ried 3d day of March, 1632." {Parish Register of Bemerton.) It does not
appear whether he was buried in the parish church or in the chapel. His let-
ter to Mr. Nicholas Ferrar, the translator of Valdesso, is dated from his Par-
sonage at Bemerton, near Salisbury, Sept. 29, 1632. It must be remember-
ed, that the beginning of the year, at that time, was computed the 25th of
March. In this year also, he wrote the short address to the Reader, which is
prefixed to his " Priest to the Temple," which was not published till after his
death.
t It is not to be supposed that Andrew Melville could retain the least per-
sonal resentment against Mr. Herbert ; whose veres have in them so little of
the poignancy of satire, that it is scarce possible to consider them as capable
of exciting the anger of him to whom they are addressed.
308 THE LIFE OF
her happy in this world, and her well using of them gives a fair
testimony that she will be so in that which is to come.
Mrs. Herbert was the wife of Sir Robert eight years, and lived
his widow about fifteen ; all which time she took a pleasure in
mentioning and commending the excellencies of Mr. George Her-
bert. She died in the year 1663, and lies buried at Highnam :
Mr. Herbert in his own Church, under the altar, and covered
with a gravestone without any inscription.
This Lady Cook had preserved many of Mr. Herbert's private
writings, which she intended to make public ; but they and High-
nam House were burnt together by the late rebels, and so lost
to posterity.
I. W.
MR. GEORGE HERBERT. 309
LETTER FROM
MR. GEORGE HERBERT TO NICHOLAS FARRER,
THE TRANSLATOR OF VALDESSO.
My dear and desen'ing brother, your Valdesso I now return with many
thanks, and some notes, in which perhaps you will discover some care which
I forbear not in the midst of my griefs ; first for your sake, because I would do
nothing negligently that you commit unto me : secondly for the Author's
sake, whom I conceive to have been a true servant of God ; and to such, and
all that is their's, I owe diligence : thirdly for the Church's sake, to whom by
printing it, I would have you consecrate it. You owe the Church a debt, and
God hath put this into your hands — as he sent the fish with money to St. Pe-
ter— to discharge it ; happily also with this — as his thougiits are fruitful — in-
tending the honour of his servant the Author, who, being obscured in his own
country, he would have to flourish in this land of light, and region of the Gos-
pel among his chosen. It is true, there are some things which I like not in
him, as my fragments will express, when you read them : nevertheless, I
wish you by all means to publish it, for these three eminent things ob-
servable therein : First, that God in the midst of Popery, should open the
eyes of one to understand and express so clearly and excellently, the in-
tent of the Gospel in the acceptation of Christ's righteousness, — as he shew-
eth through all his Considerations, — a thing strangely buried and darkened
by the adversaries, and their great stumbling block. Secondly, the great hon-
our and reverence which he every where bears towards our dear Master and
Lord ; concluding every Consideration almost with his holy name, and setting
his merit forth so piously ; for which I do 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 our life about mortification, and ob-
servation of God's kingdom within us, and the working thereof; of which he
was a very diligent observer. These three things are very eminent in the Au-
thor, and overweigh the defects — as I conceive — towards the publishing thereof.
From his Parsonage of
Bemerton, near Salisbury,
Sept. 29th, 1632.
PART II. 10
THE LIFE OF DR. ROBERT SANDERSON
LATE BISHOP OF LINCOLN.
TO THE
RIGHT REVEREND AND HONOURABLE,
GEORGE
LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER,
PRELATE OF THE GARTER,
AND ONE OF
HIS MAJESTY'S PRIVY COUNCIL.
My Lord,
If I should undertake to enumerate the many favours and advantages I
have had by my very long acquaintance with your Lordship, I should enter
upon an employment, that might prove as tedious as the collecting of the ma-
terials for this poor Monument which I have erected, and do dedicate to
the Memory of your beloved friend, Dr. Sanderson : But though I will not
venture to do that ; yet I do remember with pleasure, and remonstrate with
gratitude, that your Lordship made me known to him, Mr. Chillingworth,*
and Dr. Hammond ; m.en, whose merits ought never to be forgotten.
My friendship with the first was begun almost forty years past, when I was
as far from a thought, as a desire to outlive him ; and farther from an intention
to write his Life. But the wise Disposer of all men's lives and actions hath
prolonged the first, and now permitted the last ; which is here dedicated to
your Lordship, — and, as it ought to be — v»'ith all humility, and a desire that it
may remain as a public testimony of my gratitude.
My Lord,
Your most affectionate old friend,
and most humble servant,
IZAAK WALTON.
* William Chillingworth, born at Oxford in 1602, and educated at Trinity College. He
was proverbially celebrated there for clear and acute reasoning ; but he so much involve i
himself in the Romish Controversy with John Fisher, a Jesuit, as to become a convert,
and enter the College at Douay. His re-conversion was brought about by his god-father,
Archbishoj) Laud, in 1631, when he returned to England ; and in 1638, he wrote his famous
work called "The Religion of Protestants a safe Way to Salvation." Fol. He was zeal-
ously attached to the Royal cause, and served at the Siege of Gloucester: but being take -^
prisoner, he was carried to the Bishop's Palace, at Chichester, on account of his illness,
and, dying there Jan. 30th, 1G44, was buried in the Cathedral, without any other ceremony
than that of his book being cast into the grave by the hand of a fanatic.
THE PREFACE.
I DARE neither think, nor assure the Reader, that I have committed no mis-
takes in this relation of the Life of Dr. Sanderson ; but I am sure, there is none
that are either wilful, or very material. I confess, it was worthy the employ-
ment of some person of more Learning and greater abilities than I can pretend
to ; and I have not a little wondered that none have yet been so grateful to
him and posterity, as to undertake it. For it may be noted, that our Saviour
hath had such care, that, for Mary Magdalen's kindness to him, her name
should never be forgotten : and doubtless Dr. Sanderson's meek and innocent
life, his great and useful Learning, might therefore challenge the like endea-
vours to preserve his memory : And 'tis to me a wonder, that it has been al-
ready fifteen years neglected. But, in saying this, my meaning is not to up-
braid others, — I am far from that, — but excuse myself, or beg pardon for da-
ring to attempt it. This being premised, I desire to tell the Reader, that in
this relation I have been so bold, as to paraphrase and say, what I think
he — whom I had the happiness to know well — would have said upon the
same occasions : and if I have erred in this kind, and cannot now beg par-
don of him that loved me ; yet I do of my reader, from whom I desire the
same favour.
And, though my age might have procured me a Writ of Ease, and that
secured me from all further trouble in this kind ; yet I met with such per-
suasions to begin, and so many willing informers since, and from them, and
others, such helps and encouragements to proceed, that when I found myself
faint, and weary of the burthen with which I had loaden myself, and ready
to lay it down ; yet time and new strength hath at last brought it to be
what it now is, and presented to the Reader, and with it this desire ; that he
will take notice that Dr. Sanderson did in his Will, or last sickness, advertise,
that after his death nothing of his might be printed ; because that might be
said to be his, which indeed was not ; and also for that he might have
changed his opinion since he first writ it. And though these reasons ought to
be regarded, yet regarded so, as he resolves in that Case of Conscience con-
cerning Rash Vows; that there may appear very good second reasons why
we may forbear to perform them. However, for his said reasons, they ought to
be read as we do Apocryphal Scripture ; to explain, but not oblige us to so firm
a belief of what is here presented as his.
And I have this to say more ; That as in my queries for writing Dr. Sander-
son's Life, I met with these little Tracts annexed ; so, in my former queries
for my information to write the Life of venerable Mr. Hooker, I met with
316 THE PREFACE.
a Sermon, which I also believe was really his, and here presented as his
to the Reader. It is affirmed, — and I have met with reason to believo it, —
that there be some Artists, that do certainly know an original picture from a
copy ; and in what age of the world, and by whom drawn. And if so, then
I hope it may be as safely affirmed, that what is here presented for theirs is so
like their temper of mind, their other writings, the times when, and the occa-
sions upon which they were writ, that all Readers may safely conclude, they
could be writ by none but venerable Mr. Hooker, and the humble and learned
Dr. Sanderson.
And lastly, I am now glad that I have collected these memoirs, which lay
scattered, and contracted them into a narrower compass ; and if I have, by the
pleasant toil of doing so, either pleased or profited any man, I have attained
what I designed when I first undertook it. But I seriously wish, both for the
Reader's and Dr. Sanderson's sake, that posterity had known his great Learn-
ing and Virtue by a better pen ; by such a pen, as could have made his life as
immortal, as his Learning and merits ought to be. I. W.
J
THE LIFE OF DR. ROBERT SANDERSON,
LATE LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN.
Doctor Robert Sanderson, the late learned Bishop of Lincoln,
whose Life I intend to write with all truth and equal plainness,
was born the ninetecr>i day of September, in the year of our
Redemption 1587. The place of his birth was Rotherham in the
County of York : a Town of good note, and the more for tliat
Thomas Rotherham,* some time Archbishop of that see, was born
in it ; a man, whose great wisdom, and bounty, and sanctity of
life, have made it the more memorable : as indeed it ought also to
be, for being the birth place of our Robert Sanderson. And the
Reader will be of my belief, if this humble relation of his life can
hold any proportion with his great Piety, his useful Learning, and
his many other extraordinary endowments.
He vv'as the second and youngest Son, of Robert Sanderson, of
Gilthwaite-Hall, in the said Parish and County, Esq. by Eliz-
abeth, one of the daughters of Richard Carr, of Butterthwaite-Hall,
in the Parish of Ecclesfield, in the said County of York, Gentle-
man.
This Robert Sanderson, the Father, was descended from a
numei'ous, ancient, and honourable family of his own name ; for
* Thomas Scot, or Rotheram, so called after his birth place, Fellow of
King's College, in Cambridge, was afterward Master of Pembroke Hall, and
in 1483 and 1464, Chancellor of the University. He obtained great ecclesias-
tical preferment, being successively Provost of Beverley, Bishop of Rochestei
and of Lincoln, and lastly Archbishop of York. Nor was he less adorned with
civil honours, having been appointed, first, Keeper of the Privy Seal, and then
Lord Chancellor of England. The two Universities and his native town still
enjoy the fruits of his bounty. He died of the plague, at his palace of Ca-
wood, in 1501.
318 THE LIFE OF
the search of which trutli, I refer my Reader, that inclines to it,
to Dr. Thoroton's " History of the Antiquities of Nottingham-
shire," and other records ; not thinking it necessary here to en-
gage him into a search for bare titles, which are noted to have in
them nothing of reality : for titles not acquired, but derived only,
do but shew us who of our ancesters have, and how they have
achieved that honour which their descendants claim, and may
not be worthy to enjoy. For, if those titles descend to persons
that degenerate into Vice, and break off the continued line of
Learning, or Valour, or that Virtue that acquired them, they
destroy the very foundation upon which that Honour was built ;
and all the rubbish of their vices ought to fall heavy on such dis-
honourable heads ; ought to fall so heavy, as to degrade them of
their titles, and blast their memories with reproach and shame.
But our Robert Sanderson lived worthy of his name and family :
of which one testimony may be, that Gilbert, called the Great
Earl of Shrewsbury, thought him not unworthy to be joined with
him as a Godfather to Gilbert Sheldon,* the late Lord Archbishop
of Canterbury ; to whose merits and memory, posterity — the
Clergy especially — ought to pay a reverence.
But I return to my intended relation of Robert the Son, who
began in his youth to make the Laws of God, and obedience to
his parents, the rules of his life ; seeming even then to dedicate
himself, and all his studies, to Piety and Virtue.
And as he was inclined to this by that native goodness, with
which the wise Disposer of all hearts had endowed his ; so this
calm, this quiet and happy temper of mind — his being mild, and
averse to oppositions — made the whole course of his life easy and
grateful both to himself and others : and this blessed temper was
maintained and improved by his prudent Father's good exam-
* Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, was born July 19, 1598. — His father, Roger Sheldon,
though of no obscure parentage, was a menial servant to Gilbert P^arl of
Shrewsbury. — He was of Trinity College, Oxford, and took his Master's de-
gree in May, 1620. He was introduced to Chark's I. by Lord Coventry and
became one of His Majesty's Chaplains. Upon the Restoration, he was made
Dean of the Chapel Royal, succeeded Dr. Juxon as Biohop of London, and
after as Archbishop of Canterbury ; in 16G7 he was elected Chancellor of the
University of Oxford. He died at Lambeth, Nov. 9, 1G77
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 319
pie; and by frequent conversing with him, and scattering short
apophthegms and little pleasant stories, and making useful appli-
cations of them, his son was in his infancy taught to abhor Vanity
and Vice as monsters, and to discern the loveliness of Wisdom
and Virtue ; and by these means, and God's concurring grace,
his knowledge was so augmented, and his native goodness so con-
firmed, that all became so habitual, as it was not easy to deter-
mine whether Nature or Education were his teachers.
And here let me tell the Reader, that these early beginnings of
Virtue, were by God's assisting grace, blessed with what St.
Paul seemed to beg for his Philippians;* namely, " That he, that
had begun a good work in them, would finish it." And Almiglity
God did : for his whole life was so regular and innocent, that he
might have said at his death — and with truth and comfort — what
the same St. Paul said after to the same Philippians, when he
advised them to walk as they had him for an example. f
And this goodness, of which I have spoken, seemed to increase
as his years did ; and with his goodness his Learning, the foun-
dation of which was laid in the Grammar-school of Rotherham —
that being one of those three that were founded and liberally en-
dowed by the said great and good Bishop of that name. — And in
this time of his being a Scholar there, he was observed to use an
unwearied diligence to attain learning, and to have a seriousness
beyond his age, and with it a more than common modesty ; and
to be of so calm and obliging a behaviour, that the Master and
whole number of Scholars, loved him as one man.
And in this love and amity he continued at that School till about
the thirteenth year of his age ; at which time his Father designed
to improve his Grammar learning, by removing him from Rother-
ham to one of the more noted Schools of Eton or Westminster ;
and after a year's stay there, then to remove him thence to Ox-
ford. But, as he went with him, he called on an old friend, a
Minister of noted learning, and told him his intentions ; and he,
after many questions with his Son, received such answers from
him, that he assured his Father, his Son was so perfect a Gram-
marian, that he had laid a good foundation to build any or all the
* Phil. i. 6. + Chap. iii. 17.
320 THE LIFE OF
Arts upon ; and therefore advised him to shorten his journey, and
leave him at Oxford. And his father did so.
His father left him there to the sole care and manage of Dr.
Kilbie,* who was then Rector of Lincoln College. And he, after
some time and trial of his manners and learning, thought fit to
enter him of that College, and, after to matriculate him in the
University, which he did the first of July, 1603 ; but he was not
chosen Fellow till the third of May, 1606 ; at which time he had
taken his degree of Bachelor of Arts : at the taking of which de-
gree, his Tutor told the Rector, " That his pupil Sanderson had a
metaphysical brain and a matchless memory ; and that he thought
he had improved or made the last so by an art of his own inven-
tion." And all the future employments of his life proved that his
tutor was not mistaken. I must here stop my Reader, and tell
him that this Dr. Kilbie was a man of so great learning and wis-
dom and was so excellent a critic in the Hebrew Tongue, that he
was made Professor of it in this university; and was also so per-
fect a Grecian, that he was by King James appointed to be one
of the Translators of the Bible ; and that this Doctor and Mr.
Sanderson had frequent discourses, and loved as father and son.
The Doctor was to ride a journey into Derbyshire, and took Mr.
Sanderson to bear him company : and they going together on a
Sunday with the Doctor's friend to that Parish Church where they
then were, found the young Preacher to have no more discretion,
than to waste a great part of the hour allotted for his Sermon in
exceptions against the late Translation of several words, — not
expecting such a hearer as Dr. Kilbie, — and shewed three rea-
sons why a particular word should have been otherwise translated.
When Evening Prayer was ended, the Preacher was invited to
the Doctor's friend's house; where after some other conference
the Doctor told him, " He might have preached more useful doc-
trine, and not have filled his auditors' ears with needless exceptions
against the late Translation : and for that word, for which he
* Dr. Richard Kilbie, born at RatclifFe, in Leicestershire, and a great bene-
factor to his College, since he restored the neglected library, added eight new
repositories for books, and gave to it many excellent volumes. He became
Rector in 1590, and in 1610 he was appointed the King's Hebrew Professor.
He died in 1G20.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 3li
oiTered to that poor congregation three reasons why it ouglit to
have been translated as he said ; he and others had considered all
them, and found thirteen more considerable reasons why it was
translated as now printed ;" and told him, " If his friend, then
attending him, should prove guilty of such indiscretion, he should
forfeit his favour." To which Mr. Sanderson said, " He hoped
he should not." And the preacher was so ingenious as to say,
" He would not justify himself." And so I return to Oxford. In
the year 1608, — July the 11th, — Mr. Sanderson was completed
Master of Arts. I am not ignorant, that for the attaining these
dignities the time was shorter than was then or is now required ;
but either his birth or the well performance of some extraordinary
exercise, or some other merit, made him so : and the reader is re-
quested to believe, that 'twas the last : and requested to believe
also, that if I be mistaken in the time, the College Records have
misinformed me : but I hope they have not.
In that year of 1608, he was — November the 7th — by his
College chosen Reader of Logic in the House ; which he per-
formed so well, that he was chosen again the sixth of November,
1609. In the year 1613, he was chosen Sub-Rector of the Col-
lege, and the like for the year 1614, and chosen again to the
same dignity and trust for the year 1616.
In all which time and employments, his abilities and behaviour
were such, as procured him both love and reverence from the
whole Society ; there being no exception against him for any
faults, but a sorrow for the infirmities of his being too timorous
and bashful ; both which were, God knows, so connatural as they
never left him. And I know not whether his lovers ought to wish
they had ; for they proved so like the radical moisture in man's
body, that they preserved the life of virtue in his soul, which by
God's assisting grace never left him till this life put on immor-
tality. Of which happy infirmities — if they may be so called —
more hereafter.
In the year 1614 he stood to be elected one of the Proctors for
tlie University. And 'twas not to satisfy any ambition of his
ov/n, but to comply with the desire of. the Rector and whole
Society, of which he was a Member; who had not had a Proctor
chosen out of their College for the space of sixty years ;— namely,
322 THE LIFE OF
not from the year 1554, unto his standing ; — and they persuaded
him, that if he would but stand for Proctor, his merits were so
generally known, and he so well beloved, that 'twas but appear-
ing, and he would infallibly carry it against any opposers ; and
told him, " That he would by that means recover a right or repu-
tation that was seemingly dead to his College." By these, and
other like persuasions, he yielded up his own reason to theirs, and
appeared to stand for Proctor. But that election was carried on
by so sudden and secret, and by so powerful a faction, that he
missed it. Which when he understood, he professed seriously to
his friends, " That if he were troubled at the disappointment, it
was for their's, and not for his ow n sake : for he was far from
any desire of such an employment, as must be managed with
charge and trouble, and was too usually rewarded with hard cen-
sures, or hatred, or both."
In the year following he was earnestly persuaded by Dr. Kilbie
and others, to review the Logic Lectures which he had read some
years past in his College ; and, that done, to methodise and print
them, for the ease and public good of posterity. But though he
had an averseness to appear publicly in print ; yet after many
serious solicitations, and some second thoughts of his own, he laid
aside his modesty, and promised he would ; and he did so in that
year of 1615. And the book proved as his friends seemed to
prophesy, that is, of great and general use, whether we respect
the Art or the Author. For Logic may be said to be an art of
right reasoning ; an Art that undeceives men who take falsehood
for truth ; enables men to pass a true judgment, and detect tliose
fallacies, which in some men's understandings usurp the place of
right reason. And how great a master our Author ^^as in this
art, will quickl}'- appear from that clearness of method, argument,
and demonstration, which is so conspicuous in all his other wri-
tings. He, who had attained to so great a dexterity in the use of
reason himself, was best qualified to prescribe rules and directions
for the instruction of otiiers. And I am the more satisfied of the
excellency and usefulness of this, his first public undertaking, by
hearing that most Tutors in both Universities teach Dr. Sander-
son's Logic to their Pupils, as a foundation upon which they are
to build their future studies in Philosophy. And, for a further
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 323
confirmation of my belief, the Reader may note, tliat since his
Book of Logic was first printed there lias not been less than ten
thousand sold : and that 'tis like to continue both to discover truth
and to clear and confirm the reason of the unborn world.
It will easily be believed that his former standing for a Proctor's
place, and being disappointed, must prove much displeasing to a
man of his great wisdom and modesty, and create in him an
averseness to run a second hazard of his credit and content : and
yet he was assured by Dr. Kilbie, and the Fellows of his own
College, and most of those that had opposed him in the former
Election, that ijis Book of Loijic had pui-cjiased for him such a
belief of his learning and prudence, and his behaviour at the
former Election had got for him so great and so general a love,
that all his Ibrmer opposers repented what they had done ; and
therefore persuaded him to venture to stand a second time. And,
upon these, and other like encouragements, he did again, but not
without an inward unwillingness, yield up his own reason to
their's, and promised to stand. And he did so; and was the
tenth of April, 1616, chosen Senior Proctor for the year following ;
Mr. Charles Crooke* of Christ Church being then chosen the Junior.
In this year of his being Proctor, there happened many ixiemo.
rable accidents; namely. Dr. Robert Abbot,f Master of Baliol
College, and Regius Professor of Divinity, — who being elected or
consecrated Bishop of Sarum some months before, — was solemnly
conducted out of Oxford towards his Diocese, by the Heads of all
Houses, and the chief of all the University. And Viw Prideaux:|:
* jlr. Charles Crooke, a younger soa of Sir John Croolce, of Chilton, ia
Backs, one of the Justices of the King's Bench. In 1G25, he proceeded D. D.
beino- then Rector of Ainershaiii, and a Fellow of Eton Col!e<Tc.
t Brother of George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, born at Guildford ia
1590, and promoted to the See of Sahsbury in 161.5, as a reward for his Lec-
tures against Suarez and Bellarrniue, in defence of the King's supreme power.
On his way to Sarum, he made an oration to the University, and his friends
parted from him with tears. He died March 2iid, 1617.
\ Dr. John Prideaux, born at Harford, in Devonshire, in 1578, and Rector
of Exeter College in 1612, when he acquired so much fame in the governnient
of it, that several eminent foreigners placed themselves under his care. He
was made King's Professor in Divinity, in 1615, but was reduced to great
poverty ia the Civil Wars, and died July 20lh, 1650.
324 THE LIFE OF
succeeded him. in the Professorship, in which he continued till the
year 1642, — being then elected Bishop of Worcester, — and then
our now Proctor, Mr. Sanderson, succeeded him in the Regius
Professorship.
And in this year Dr. Arthur Lake — then Warden of New
College — was advanced to the Bishopric of Bath and Wells : a
man of whom I take myself bound in justice to say, that he has
made the great trust committed to him, the chief care and whole
business of his life. And one testimony of this proof may be,
that he sate usually with his Chancellor in his Consistory, and at
least advised, if not assisted, in most sentences for the punishing
of such offenders as deserved Church-censures. And it may be
noted, that, after a sentence for penance was pronounced, he did
very rarely or never, allow of any commutation for the offence,
but did usually see the sentence for penance executed ; and then
as usually preached a Sermon of mortification and repentance,
and did so apply them to the offenders, that then stood before him,
as begot in them a devout contrition, and at least resolutions to
amend their lives : and having done that, he would take them —
though never so poor — to dinner with him, and use them friendly,
and dismiss them with his blessing and persuasions to a virtuous
life, and beg them to believe him. And his humility and charity,
and other Christian excellencies, were all like this. Of all
which the Reader may inform himself in his Life, truly writ, and
printed before his Sermons.
And in this year also, the very prudent and very wise Lord
EUesmere, who was so very long Lord Chancellor of England,
and then of Oxford, resigning up the last, the Right Honourable,
and as magnificent, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was
chosen to succeed him.
And in this year our late King Charles the First — then Prince
of Wales, came honourably attended to Oxford ; and having de-
liberately visited the University, the Schools, Colleges, and Li-
braries, he and his attendants were entertained with ceremonies
and feasting suitable to their dignity and merits.
And this year King James sent letters to the University for the
regulating their studies ; especially of the young Divines : advi-
sing they should not rely on modern sums and systems, but study
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 325
the Fathers and Councils, and the more primitive learning. And
this advice was occasioned by the indiscreet inferences made by
very many Preachers out of Mr. Calvin's doctrine concerning
Predestination, Universal Redemption, the Irresistibility of God's
Grace, and of some other knotty points depending upon these ;
points which many think were not, but by interpreters forced to
be, Mr. Calvin's meaning; of the truth or falsehood of which I
pretend not to have an ability to judge ; my meaning in this rela-
tion, being only to acquaint the Reader with the occasion of the
King's Letter.
It may be observed, that the various accidents of this year did
afford our Proctor large and laudable matter to dilate and discourse
upon : and that though his office seemed, according to statute and
custom, to require him do so at his leaving it; yet he choose
rather to pass them over with some very short observations, and
present the governors, and his other hearers, with rules to keep
up discipline and order in the University ; which at that time was,
either by defective Statutes, or want of the due execution of those
that were good, grown to be extremely irregular. And in this
year also, the magisterial part of the Proctor required moi'e dili-
gence, and was more difficult to be managed than formerly, by
reason of a multiplicity of new Statutes, which begot much confu-
sion ; some of which Statutes were then, and others suddenly af-
ter, put into an useful execution. And though these Statutes were
not then made so perfectly useful as they were designed, till Arch-
bishop Laud's time — who assisted in the forming and promoting
them ; — yet our present Proctor made them as effectual as discre-
tion and diligence could do : of which one example may seem
worthy the noting ; namely, that if in his night- walk he met with
irregular Scholars absent from their Colleges at University hourSj
or disordered by drink, or in scandalous company, he did not use
his power of punishing to an extremity ; but did usually take
their names, and a promise to appear before him unsent for next
morning: and when they did, convinced them, with such obliging,
ness, and reason added to it, that they parted from him with sucli
resolutions, as the man after God's own heart was possessed with,
when he said, " There is mercy with thee, and therefore thou
shalt be feared:" Psal. cxxx. 4. And by this and a like belia-
TART II. 11
326 THE LIFE OF
viour to all men, he was so happy as to lay down this dangerous
employment, as but very few, if any, have done, even without an
enemy.
After his speech was ended, and he retired with a friend into
a convenient privacy, he looked upon his friend with a more than
common cheerfulness, and spake to him to this purpose : " I look
back upon my late employment with some content to myself, and
a great thankfulness to Almighty God, that he hath made me of
a temper not apt to provoke the meanest of mankind, but rather
to pass by infirmities, if noted ; and in this employment I have
had — God knows — many occasions to do both. And when I con-
sider, how many of a contrary temper are by sudden and small
occasions transported and hurried by anger to commit such errors,
as they in that passion could not foresee, and will in their more
calm and deliberate thoughts upbraid, and require repentance :
and consider, that though repentance secures us from the punish-
ment of any sin, yet how much more comfortable it is to be inno-
cent, than need pardon : and consider, that errors against men,
though pardoned both by God and them, do yet leave such anxious
and upbraiding impressions in the memory, as abates of the offend-
er's content : — when I consider all this, and that God hath of his
goodness given me a temper that hath prevented me from running
into such enormities, I remember my temper with joy and thank-
fulness. And though I cannot say with David — I wish I could, —
that therefore ' his praise shall always be in my mouth :' Psal.
xxxiv. 1 ; yet I hope, that by his grace, and that grace seconded
by my endeavours, it shall never be blotted out of my memory ;
and I now beseech Almighty God that it never may."
And here I must look back, and mention one passage more in
his Proctorship, which is, that Gilbert Sheldon, the late Lord
Archbishop of Canterbury, was this year sent to Trinity College
in that University ; and not long after his entrance there, a letter
was sent after him from his god-father, — the father of our Protec-
tor— to let his son know it, and commend his godson to his acquaint-
ance, and to more than a common care of his behaviour ; which
proved a pleasing injunction to our Proctor, who was so gladly
obedient to his father's desire, that he some few days after sent his
servitor to intreat Mr. Sheldon to his chamber next morning. But
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 327
it seems Mr. Sheldon having — like a young man as he was — run
into some such irregularity as made him conscious he had trans-
gressed his statutes, did therefore apprehend the Proctor's invita-
tion as an introduction to punishment ; the fear of which made his
bed restless that night : but, at their meeting the next morning,
that fear vanished immediately by the Proctor's cheerful counte-
nance, and the freedom of their discourse of friends. And let me
tell my Reader, that this first meeting proved the beginning of as
spiritual a friendship as human nature is capable of; of a friend-
ship free from all self ends : and it continued to be so, till death
forced a separation of it on earth ; but it is now reunited in
Heaven.
And now having given this account of his behaviour, and the
considerable accidents in his Proctorship, I proceed to tell my
Reader, that, this busy employment being ended, he preached his
sermon for his Degree of Bachelor in Divinity in as elegant Latin,
and as remarkable for the matter, as hath been preached in that
University since that day. And having well performed his other
exercises for that Degree, he took it the nine and twentieth of May
follov/ing, having been ordained Deacon and Priest in the year
1611, by John King, then Bishop of London, who had not long
before been Dean of Christ Church, and then knev/ him so v.ell,
that he became his most affectionate friend. And in this year,
being tlien about the twenty-ninth of his age, he took from the
University a license to preach.
In the year 1313, he was by Sir Nicholas Sanderson, Lord
Viscount Castleton, presented to tiie Rectory of Wibberton, not
far from Boston, in the County of Lincoln, a living of very good
value ; but it lay in so lov/ and wet a part of that country as was
inconsistent with his health. And health being — next to a good
conscience — the greatest of God's blessings in this life, and re-
quiring therefore of every man a care and diligence to preserve
it, he, apprehending a danger of losing it, if he continued at Wib-
berton a second Winter, did therefore resign it back into the hands
of his worthy kinsman and patron, about one year after his dona-
tion of it to him. •
And about this time of his resignation he was presented to the
Rectory of Boothby Pannell, in the same County of Lincoln ; a
328 THE LIFE OF
town which has been made famous, and must continue to be fa-
mous, because Dr. Sanderson, the humble and learned Dr. San-
derson, was more than forty years Parson of Boothby Pannell, and
from thence dated all or most of his matchless writinss.
To this living — which was of no less value, but a purer air
than Wibberton — he was presented by Thomas Harrington, of the
same County, and Parish, Esq. who v/as a gentleman of a very
ancient family, and of great use and esteem in his country during
his whole life. And in this Boothby Pannell the meek and char-
itable Dr. Sanderson and his patron lived with an endearing, mu-
tual, and comfortable friendship, till the death of the last put a
period to it.
About the time that he was made Parson of Boothby Pannell,
he resigned his Fellowship of Lincoln College unto the then Rec-
tor and Fellows ; and his resignation is recorded in the.se words :
Ergo Robertus Sanderson perpetuus, &c.
1 Robert Sanderson, Fellow of the College of St. Mary's and
All-Saints, commonly called Lincoln College, in the University
of Oxford, do freely and willingly resign into the hands of the
Pwector and Fellows, all the right and title that I have in the said
College, wishing to them and their successors all peace, and piety,
and happiness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost. Amen.
May 6, 1619. Robert Sanderson.
And not long after this resignation, lie was by the then Bishop
of York,* or the King sede vacante, made Prebend of the Collegi-
ate Church of Southwell in that Diocese ; and shortly after of
Lincoln by the Bishop of that See.
And being now resolved to set down his rest in a quiet privacy
at Boothby Pannell, and looking back with some sadness upon his
removal from his general acquaintance left in Oxford, and the pe-
culiar pleasures of a University life ; he could not but think the
want of society would render this of a country Parson the more
uncomfortable, by reason of that vvant of conversation ; and there-
fore he did put on some faint purposes to marry. For he had con-
* Dr. Tobias Matthew— died, March, 29, 1628, aged 83.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 329
sidered, that though marriage be cumbered with more worldly care
than a single life ; yet a complying and a prudent wife changes
those very cares into so mutual a content, as makes them become
like the sufferings of St. Paul, Colos. i. 24, which he would not
have wanted because they occasioned his rejoicing in them. And
he, having well considered this, and observed the secret unuttera-
ble joys that children beget in parents, and the mutual pleasures
and contented trouble of their daily care and constant endeavours
to bring up those little images of themselves, so as to make them
as happy as all those cares and endeavours can make them : he,
having considered all this, the hopes of such happiness turned his
faint purposes into a positive resolution to marry. And he was
so happy as to obtain Anne, the daughter of Henry Nelson, Bach-
elor in Divinity, then Rector of Haugham, in the County of Lin-
coln, a man of noted worth and learning. And the Giver of all
good things was so good to him, as to give him such a wife as was
suitable to his own desires ; a wife, that made his life happy by
being always content when he was cheerful ; that divided her joys
with him, and abated of his sorrow, by bearing a part of that bur-
den ; a wife that demonstrated her affection by a cheerful obedi-
ence to all his desires, during the whole course of his life ; and at
his death too, for she outlived him.
And in this Boothby Pannell, he either found or made his pa-
rishioners peaceable, and complying with him in the decent and
regular service of God. And thus his Parish, his patron, and he
lived together in a religious love and a contented quietness ; he
not troubling their thoughts by preaching high and useless notions,
but such plain truths as were necessary to be known, believed and
practised, in order to their salvation. And their assent to v»hat he
taught was testified by such a conformity to his doctrine, as de-
clared they believed and loved him. For he would often say,
" That, without the last, the most evident truths — heard as from
an enemy, or an evil liver — either are not, or arc at least the less
effectual ; and do usually rather harden than convince the hearer."
And this excellent man did not think his duty discharged by
only reading the Church prayers, catechising, preaching, and ad-
ministering the Sacraments seasonably ; but thought — if the Law
or the Canons may seem to enjoin no more, — yet that God would
330 THE LIFE OF
require more, than the defective laws of man's making can or
do enjoin ; the performance of that inward law, which Almighty
God hath imprinted in the conscience of all good Christians, and
inclines those whom he loves to perform. He, considering this,
did therefore become a law to himself, practising what his con-
science told him was his duty, in reconciling differences, and pre-
venting law-suits, both in his Parish and in the neighbourhood.
To which may be added his often visiting sick and disconsolate
families, pei'suading them to patience, and raising them from de-
jection by his advice and cheerful discourse, and by adding his
own alms, if there were any so poor as to need it : considering
how acceptable it is to Almighty God, when we do as we are ad-
vised by St. Paul, Gal. vi. 2. " Help to bear one another's bur-
den," either of sorrow or want : and what a comfort it will be,
when the Searcher of all hearts shall call us to a strict account
for that evil we have done, and the good we have omitted, to re-
member we have comforted and been helpful to a dejected or dis-
tressed family.
And that his practice w-as to do good, one example may be, that
he met with a poor dejected neighbour, that complained he had
taken a meadow, the rent of which was 9Z. a year ; and when
the hay was made ready to be carried into his barn, several days
constant rain had so raised the water, that a sudden flood carried
all away, and his rich Landlord would bate him no rent ; and
that unless he had half abated, he and seven children were utter-
ly undone. It may be noted, that in this age there are a sort of
people so unlike the God of iMercy, so void of the bowels of pity,
that they love only themselves and children : love them so, as not
to be concerned, whether the rest of mankind waste their days in
sorrow or shame ; people that are cursed with riches, and a mis-
take that nothing but riches can make them and their's happy.
But it was not so with Dr. Sanderson ; for he was concerned, and
spoke comfortably to the poor dejected man ; bade him go home
and pray, and not load himself with sorrow, for he would go to
his Landlord next morning ; and if his Landlord would not abate
what he desired, he and a friend would pay it for him.
To the Landlord he went the next day, and, in a conference,
the Doctor presented to him the sad condition of his poor dejected
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 331
Tenant ; telling him how much God is pleased when men com-
passionate the poor : and told him, that though God loves sacri-
fice, yet he loves mercy so much better, that he is pleased when
called the God of Mercy. And told him the riches he was pos-
sessed of were given him by that God of Mercy, who would not
be pleased, if he, that had so much given, yea, and forgiven him
too, should prove like the rich steward in the Gospel, " that took
his fellow servant by the throat to make him pay the utmost far-
thing." This he told him : and told him, that the law of this na-
tion— by which law he claims his rent — does not undertake to
make men honest or merciful ; but does what it can to restrain
men from being dishonest or unmerciful, and yet was defective in
both : and that taking any rent from his poor Tenant, for what
God suffered him not to enjoy, though the law allowed him to do
so, yet if he did so, he was too like that rich Steward which he had
mentioned to him ; and told him that riches so gotten, and added
to his great estate, would, as Job says, " prove like gravel in his
teeth :" would in time so corrode his conscience, or become so
nauseous when he lay upon his death-bed, that he would then la-
bour to vomit it up, and not be able : and therefore advised him,
being very rich, to make friends of his unrighteous Mammon, be-
fore that evil day come upon him : but however, neither for his
own sake, nor for God's sake, to take any rent of his poor, de-
jected, sad Tenant ; for that were to gain a temporal, and lose
his eternal happiness. These, and other such reasons were urged
with so grave and compassionate an earnestness, that the Land-
lord forgave his Tenant the whole rent.
The Reader will easily believe that Dr. Sanderson, who was
so meek and merciful, did suddenly and gladly carry this com-
fortable news to the dejected Tenant ; and we believe, that at the
telling of it there was a mutual rejoicing. It was one of Job's
boasts, that " he had seen none perish for want of clothing : and that
he had often made the heart of the widow to rejoice." Job xxxi.
19. And doubtless Dr. Sanderson might have made the same
religious boast of this and very many like occasions. But, since
he did not, I rejoice that I have this just occasion to do it for him ;
and that I can tell the Reader, I might tire myself and him, in
332 THE LIFE OF
telling iiow liks the whole course of Dr. Sanderson's life, was to
this which I have now related.
Thus lie went on in an obscure and quiet privacy, doing good
daily both by word and by deed, as often as any occasion oifered
itself; yet not so obscurely, but that his very great learning, pru-
dence, and piety, were much noted and valued by the Bishop of
his Diocese, and by most of the nobility and gentry of that coun-
ty. By the first of which he was often summoned to preach many
Visitation Sermons, and by the latter at many Assizes. Which
Sermons, though they were much esteemed by them that procured,
and were fit to judge them ; yet they were the less valued, be-
cause he read them, v/hich he was forced to do ; for though he
had an extraordinary memory, — even the art of it, — yet he had
such an innate invincible fear and basiifulness, that his memory
was wholly useless, as to the repetition of his sermons as he had
writ them ; which gave occasion to say, when they were first
printed and exposed to censure, — which was in the year 1632, —
" that the best Sermons that were ever read, were never preached."
In this contented obscurity he continued, till the learned and
good Archbishop Laud,* who knew him well in Oxford — for he
was his contemporary there, — told the King, — 'twas the knowing
and conscientious King Charles the First, — that there was one Mr.
Sanderson, an obscure country Minister, that was of such sincer-
ity, and so excellent in all casuistical learning, that he desired
his Majesty would make him his Chaplain. The King granted
it most willingly, and gave the Bishop charge to hasten it, for he
longed to discourse with a man that had dedicated his studies to
that useful part of learning. The Bishop forgot not the King's
desire, and Mr. Sanderson was made his Chaplain in Ordinary in
November following. 1631. And when they became known to
* Dr. William Laud, born at Reading, Oct. 7, 1573, and educated there,
and at St. John's College, Oxford. In 1616, he was made Dean of Glouces-
ter, in 1621 Bishop of St. David's, and in 1622 he had a conference with Fisher
the Jesuit, of which the printed account evinces how opposed he was to Pope-
ry ; but his Arminian tenets gave offence to the Calvinists. In 1626 he was
translated to the See of Bath and Wells, in 1628 to London, and in 1633 to
Canterbury. His zeal for the establishment of the Liturgy in Scotland pro-
duced him numerous enemies, by whoso means he was imprisoned in the
Tower for three years, and beheaded Jan. lOth, 1644-45.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 333
each other, the King did put many Cases of Conscience to him,
and received from him such deliberate, safe, and clear solutions,
as gave him great content in conversing with him ; so that, at the
end of his month's attendance, the King told him, " he should long
for the next November ; for he resolved to have a more inward
acquaintance with him when that month and he returned." And
when the month and he did return, the good King was never ab-
sent from his Sermons, and would usually say, " I carry my ears
to hear other preachers ; but I carry my conscience to hear Mr.
Sanderson, and to act accordingly." And this ought not to be
concealed from posterity, that the King thought what he spake ;
for he took him to be his adviser in that quiet part of his life, and
he proved to be his comforter in those days of his affliction, when
he apprehended himself to be in danger of death or deposing. Of
which more hereafter.
In the first Parliament of this good King, — which was 1625, —
he was chosen to be a Clerk of the Convocation for the Diocese
of Lincoln ; which I here mention, because about that time did
arise many disputes about Predestination, and the many critical
points that depend upon, or are interwoven in it ; occasioned as
was said, by a disquisition of new principles of Mr. Calvin's, though
others say they were before his time. But of these Dr. Sander,
son then drew up, for his own satisfaction, such a scheme — he
called it Pax Ecclesice — as then gave himself, and hath since
given others such satisfaction, that it still remains to be of great
estimation among the most learned. He was also chosen Clerk
of all the Convocations during that good King's reign. Which I
here tell my Reader, because I shall hereafter have occasion to
mention that Convocation in 1640, the unhappy Long Parliament,
and some debates of the Predestination points as they have been
since charitably handled betwixt him, the learned Dr. Hammond*
and Dr. Pierce, f the now Reverend Dean of Salisbury.
* Dr. Henry Hammond was born at Chertsey, in Surry, Aug. 18th, 1605 ;
and was educated at Eton, and Magdalen College, Oxford. His loyalty
caused him to be deprived of his preferments during the Civil Wars, and at the
Restoration he was designed for Bishop of Worcester, but died before conse-
cration, April 25th, 1660. His principal works are, his " Practical Catechism,"
and " A Paraphrase and Annotations on the New Testament."
t Dr. Thomas Pierce, for some years President of Magdalen College, Ox-
334 THE LIFE OF
In the year 1636, his Majesty, then in his progress, took a fair
occasion to visit Oxford, and to take an entertainment for two days
for himself and honourable attendants ; which the Reader ought
to believe was suitable to their dignities. But this is mentioned,
because at the King's coming thither. Dr. Sanderson did attend
him, and was then — the 31st of August — created Doctor of Di-
vinity ; which honour had an addition to it, by having many of
the Nobility of this nation then made Doctors and masters of Arts
with him ; some of whose names shall be recorded and live with
his, and none shall outlive it. First, Dr. Curie and Dr. Wren,*
who were then Bishops of Winton and of Norwich, — and had for-
merly taken their degrees in Cambridge, were with him created
Doctors of Divinity in his University. So was Meric the son of
the learned Isaac Casaubon ; and Prince Rupert, who still lives,
the then Duke of Lenox, Earl of Hereford, Earl of Essex, of
Berkshire, and very many others of noble birth — too many to be
named — were then created Masters of Arts.
Some years before the unhappy Long Parliament, this nation
being then happy and in peace, — though inwardly sick of being
well, — namely in the year 1639, a discontented party of the Scots
Church were zealously restless for another reformation of their
Kirk-government ; and to that end created a new Covenant, for
the general taking of which they pretended to petition the King
for his assent, and that he would enjoin the taking of it by all of
that nation. But this petition was not to be presented to him by
ford. In his epitaph composed by himself he says, " Here lies all that was
mortal, the outside, dust and ashes of Thomas Pierce, D. D. once the Presi-
dent of a College in Oxford, at first the Rector of Bringion-cum-Membris,
Canon of Lincoln, and at last Dean of Sarum ; who fell asleep in the Lord
Jesus [Mar. 28, an. 1691,] but in hope of an awake at the resurrection."
* Dr. Matthew Wren, successively Bishop of Hereford, Norwich, and Ely,
died April 24, 1667, aged eighty-one years and upwards. He was distinguish-
ed for his extraordinary attachment to the royal cause, having suffered an im-
prisonment for eighteen years with singular patience and magnanimity.
It should not be forgotten, that when Cromwell had repeatedly, offered to
release the Bishop, he refused to accept of the proffered boon, saying " that
he scorned to receive his liberty from a tyrant and usurper." His life was
kindly prolonged by Providence, that as he had seen the destruction so he
might also see the happy restoration of his order.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 335
a committee of eight or ten men of their fraternity ; but by so
many thousands, and they so armed as seemed to force an assent
to what they seemed to request ; so that though forbidden by the
King, yet they entered England, and in their heat of zeal took
and plundered Newcastle, where the King was forced to meet
them with an army : but upon a treaty and some concessions, he
sent them back, — though not so rich as they intended, yet, — for
that time, without bloodshed. But, Oh ! this peace, and this
Covenant, were but the fore-runners of war, and the many mise-
ries that followed : for in the year following there were so many
chosen into the long Parliament, that were of a conjunct council
with these very zealous and as factious reformers, as begot such
a confusion by the several desires and designs in many of the
members of that Parliament, and at last in the very common people
of this nation, that they were so lost by contrary designs, fears, and
confusions, as to believe the Scots and their Covenant would re-
store them to their former tranquillity. And to that end the Pres-
byterian party of this nation did again, in the year 1643, invite
the Scotch Covenanters back into England : and hither they came
marching with it gloriously upon their pikes and in their hats,
with this motto ; " For the Crown and Covenant of both King-
doms." This I saw, and suffered by it. But when I look back
upon the ruin of families, the bloodshed, the decay of common
honesty, and how the former piety and plain dealing of this now
sinful nation is turned into cruelty and cunning, I praise God that
he prevented me from being of that party which helped to bring
in this Covenant, and those sad confusions that have followed it.
And I have been the bolder to say this of myself, because, in a
sad discourse with Dr. Sanderson, I heard him make the like
grateful acknowledgment.
This digression is intended for the better information of the
reader in what will follow concerning Dr. Sanderson. And first,
that the Covenanters of this nation, and their party in Parliament,
made many exceptions against the Common Prayer and ceremo-
nies of the Church and seemed restless for a Reformation : and
though their desires seemed not reasonable to the King, and the
learned Dr. Laud, then Archbishop of Canterbury ; yet, to quiet
their consciences, and prevent future confusion, they did, in the
336 THE LIFE OF
year 1641, desire Dr. Sanderson to call two more of the Convo-
cation to advise with him, and that he would then draw up some
such safe alterations as he thought fit in the Service-book, and
abate some of the ceremonies that were least material for satisfy-
ino^ their consciences : — and to this end they did meet together
privately twice a week at the Dean of Westminster's* house, for
the space of three months or more. But not long after that time,
when Dr. Sanderson had made the reformation readv for a view,
the Church and State were both fallen into such a confusion, that
Dr. Sanderson's model for Reformation became then useless.
Nevertheless, his reputation was such, that he was, in the year
1642, proposed by both Houses of Parliament to the King, then in
Oxford, to be one of their trustees for the settling of Church-af-
fairs, and was allowed of by the King to be so ; but that treaty
came to nothins;.
In the year 1643, the two Houses of Parliament took upon
them to make an ordinance, and call an Assembly of Divines, to
debate and settle some Church-controversies, of which many were
very unfit to judge ; in which Dr. Sanderson was also named, but
did not appear ; I suppose for the same reason that many other
worthy and learned men did forbear, the summons wanting the
King's authority. And here I must look back, and tell the Read-
er, that in the year 1642, he was, July 21st, named by a more,
undoubted authority to a more noble employment, which was to
be Professor Regius of Divinity in Oxford : but, though knowledge
be said to puff up. yet his modesty and too mean an opinion of his
great abilities, and some other real or pretended reasons, — ex-
pressed in his speech, when he first appeared in the chair, and
since printed, — kept him from entering into it till October, 1646.
He did, for about a year's time, continue to read his matchless
Lectures, which were first de Juramento, a point very difficult,
and at that time very dangerous to be handled as it ought to be.
But this learned man, as he was eminently furnished with abili-
ties to satisfy the consciences of men upon that important subject;
so he wanted not courage to assert the true obligation of Oaths in
* Dr. John Williams was then Dean of Westnriinstcr. He held this Dean-
ery in Commendam during the whole time of his being Bishop of Lincoln, and
likewise three years after his translation to York.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 337
a degenerate age, when men had made perjury a main part of
their religion. How much the learned world stands obliged to
him for these, and his following Lectures de Conscientia, I shall
not attempt to declare, as being very sensible that the best pens
must needs fall short in the commendation of them : so that I shall
only add, that they continued to this day, and will do for ever, as
a complete standard for the resolution of the most material doubts
in Casuistical Divinity. And therefore I proceed to tell the Read-
er, that about the time of his reading those Lectures, — the King
being then prisoner in the Isle of Wight, — the parliament had
sent the Covenant, the Negative Oath, and 1 know not what more,
to be taken by the Doctor of the Chair, and all Heads of Houses ;
and all other inferior Scholars, of what degree soever, were all to
take these Oaths by a fixed day ; and those that did not, to aban-
don their College, and the University too, within twenty-four hours
after the beating of a drum ; for if they remained longer, they
were to be proceeded against as spies.
Dr. Laud, then Archbishop of Canterbury, the Earl of Straf-
ford, and many others, had been formerly murdered by this wicked
Parliament; but the King yet was not: and the University had
yet some faint hopes that in a Treaty then in being, or pretended
to be suddenly, there might be such an agreement made between
King and Parliament, that the Dissenters in the University might
both preserve their consciences and subsistence which they then
enjoyed by their Colleges.
And being possessed of this mistaken hope, that the Parliament
were not yet grown so merciless as not to allow manifest reason
for their not submitting to the enjoined Oaths, the University ap-
pointed twenty delegates to meet, consider, and draw up a Mani-
festo to the Parliament, why they could not take those oaths but
by violation of their consciences : and of these delegates Dr.
Sheldon, — late Archbishop of Canterbury, — Dr. Hammond, — Dr.
Sanderson, — Dr. Morley, — now Bishop of Winchester, — and that
most honest and as judicious Civil Lawyer, Dr. Zouch,* were a
* Was born at Anstley in Wiltshire, in 1590, he received his education in
William of Wykeham's school, near Winchester; was matriculated in the
University of Oxford in 1608, and admitted Fellow of New College in 1609.
He took the degree of LL. B. June 30, 1G14, and that of LL. D. April 8,
338 THE LIFE OF
part ; the rest I cannot now name : but the whole number of the
delegates requested Dr. Zouch to draw up the Law part, and give
it to Dr. Sanderson : and he was requested to methodise and add
what referred to reason and conscience, and put it into form. He
yielded to their desires and did so. And then, after they had been
read in a full Convocation, and allowed of, they were printed in
Latin, that the Parliament's proceedings and the University's suf-
ferings might be manifested to all nations : and the imposers of
these oaths might repent, or answer them : but they were past the
first; and for the latter, I might swear they neither can, nor ever
will. And these Reasons were also suddenly turned into English
by Dr. Sanderson, that those of these three kingdoms might the
better judge of the loyal party's sufferings.
About this time the Independents — who were then grown to be
the most powerful part of the army — had taken the King from a
close to a more large imprisonment; and, by their own pretences
to liberty of conscience, were obliged to allow somewhat of that to
the King who had, in the year 1646, sent for Dr. Sanderson, Dr.
Hammond, Dr. Sheldon, — the late Archbishop of Canterbury, —
and Dr. Morley, — the now Bishop of Winchester, — to attend him,
in order to advise with tliem, how far he might with a good con-
science comply with the proposals of the Parliament for a peace
in Church and State : but these, having been then denied him by
the Presbyterian Parliament, were now allowed him by those in
1619. He no sooner had obtained his first degree than he became an Advocate
in Doctors Commons. Through the influence of his noble kinsman, who was
then Lord of the Cinque Ports, he was elected, in 1620, a Burgess to serve in
Parliament for Hythe in Kent. In the same year he succeeded Dr. John
Budden as Professor of Civil law ; and in 1625, he was appointed Principal of
Alban's Hall. Though a layman, he held the Prebend of Shipston, in the
Church of Salisbury, whicli was then first annexed to the Law Professorship
by James I.
After the Restoration, Dr. Zouch, whose loyalty always remained unim-
peached, had the honour of being named by the King, along with several other
Commissioners, to restore the splendour and regulate the disorders of the Uni-
versity. He was re-instated in the Court of Admiralty ; and if he had lived
he would doubtless have attained those higher dignities in his profession, to
which his integrity and great abilities entitled him. He died at his apartments
in Doctor's Commone, London, March 1, 1660
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 339
present power. And as those other Divines, so Dr. Sanderson
gave his attendance on his Majesty also in the Isle of Wight,
preached there before him, and had in that attendance many, both
public and private, conferences with him, to his Majesty's great
satisfaction. At which time he desired Dr. Sanderson, that, being
the Parliament had proposed to him the abolishing of Episcopal
Government in the Church, as inconsistent with Monarchy, that
he would consider of it; and declare his judgment. He under-
took to do so, and did it ', but it might not be printed till our
King's happy Restoration, and then it was. And at Dr. Sander-
son's taking his leave of his Majesty in his last at'lendance on him,
the King requested him to betake himself to the writing Cases of
Conscience for the good of posterity. To which his answer was,
'' That he was now grown old, and unfit to write Cases of Con-
science." But the King was so bold with him as to say, " It was
the simplest answer he ever heard from Dr. Sanderson ; for no
young man was fit to be a judge, or write Cases of Conscience."
And let me here take occasion to tell the reader this truth, not
commonly known ; that in one of these conferences this consci-
entious King told Dr. Sanderson, or one of them that then waited
with him, " that the remembrance of two errors did much afflict
him ; which were, his assent to the Earl of Strafford's death, and
the abolishing Episcopacy in Scotland ; and that if God ever re-
stored him to be in a peaceable possession of his Crown, he would
demonstrate his repentance by a public confession, and a volun-
tary penance," — 1 think barefoot — from the Tower of London,
or Whitehall, to St. Paul's Church, and desire the people to in-
tercede with God for his pardon. I am sure one of them that told
it me, lives still, and will witness it. And it ought to be observed,
that Dr. Sanderson's Lectures de Jurameiito were so approved
and valued by the King, that in this time of his imprisonment and
solitude he translated them into exact English : desiring Dr. Jux-
on,* — then Bishop of London, — Dr. Hammond, and Sir Thomas
* Let it ever be remembered to the honour of this Prelate, whom Charles I.
was wont to call " the good man," and whom he declared to be his greatest
comfort in his most afSictive situation, that he delivered his sentiments without
disguise to the King, on the subject of Lord Strafford's fate, telling- him plain-
ly, that " he ought to do nothing with an unsatisfied conscience, upon any
340 THE LIFE OF
Herbert,* who then attended him, — to compare them with the
original. The last still lives, and has declared it, with some
other of that King's excellencies, in a letter under his own hand,
which was lately shewed me by Sir William Dugdale, King at
Arms. The book was designed to be put into the King's Library
at St. James's ; but, I doubt, not now to be found there. I
thought the honour of the Author and the Translator to be both
so much concerned in this relation, that it ought not to be con-
cealed from the Reader, and 'tis therefore here inserted.
I now return to Dr. Sanderson in the Chair in Oxford ; where
they that complied not in taking the Covenant, Negative oath, and
Parliament Ordinance for Church-discipline and worship, were
under a sad and daily apprehension of expulsion : for the Visitors
were daily expected, and both City and University full of soldiers,
and a party of Presbyterian Divines, that were as greedy and
ready to possess, as the ignorant and ill-natured Visitors were to
eject the Dissenters out of their Colleges and livelihoods : but,
consideration in the world." His character is tlius beautifully pourtrayed by
Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter to the Queen of Bohemia. '• There is in him
no tumour, no sourness, no distraction of thoughts ; but a quiet mind, a pa-
tient care, free access, mild and moderate answers. To this I must add, a
solid judgment, a sober plainness, and a most indubitable character of fidelity
in his very face ; so as there needs not much study to think him both a good
man and a wise man."
* This learned person went abroad in 1626, and spent four years in visiting
Asia and Africa. He again left England, and travelled over several parts of
Europe. He afterwards joined the Parliament against Charles I., whom he
was appointed to attend from the very beginning of his imprisonment to the
time of his death. He shewed himself a most faithful servant to the King,
whose real character he soon discovered to be totally different from that which
had been represented to him. In 1660, Charles II. advanced him to the Dig-
nity of a Baronet, by the name of Thomas Herbert of Tinterne, in Monmouth-
shire, "for faithfully serving his royal father, during the two last years of
his life." In 1678 he published " Thrcnodia Carolina; containing Memoirs
of the two last Years of the reign of King Charles I." This little work
was reprinted in 1813, upon the opening the tomb of the royal Martyr, by
Mr. G. Nicol of Pall Mall with a "sensible and seasonable Preface." Sir
T. Herbert assisted Sir William Dugdale in compiling the third volume of
his " Monasticon Anglicanum ;" and died at York his native plafce, in 1682,
leaving several MSS. to the public library at Oxford, and others to that of the
Cathedral at York.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 341
notwithstanding, Dr. Sanderson did still continue to read his Lec-
ture, and did, to the very faces of those Presbyterian Divines and
soldiers, read with so much reason, and with a calm fortitude
make such applications, as, if they were not, they ought to have
been ashamed, and begged pardon of God and him, and forborne
to do what followed. But these thriving sinners were hardened;
and, as the Visitors expelled the Orthodox, they, without scruple
or shame, possessed themselves of their Colleges ; so that, w4th
the rest. Dr. Sanderson was in June, 1648, forced to pack up and
be gone, and thank God he was not imprisoned, as Dr. Sheldon,
and Dr. Hammond, and others then w^ere.
I must now again look back to Oxford, and tell my Reader,
that the year before this expulsion, when the University had
denied this subscription, and apprehended the danger of that visit-
ation which followed, they sent Dr. Morley, then Canon of Christ-
Church, — now Lord Bishop of Winchester, — and others, to peti-
tion the Parliament for recalling the injunction, or a mitigation
of it, or accept of their reasons why they could not take the
Oaths enjoined them ; and the petition was by Parliament referred
to a committee to hear and report the reasons to the House, and
a day set for hearing them. This done. Dr. Morley and the rest
went to inform and fee Counsel, to plead their cause on the day
appointed ; but there had been so many committed for pleading,
that none durst undertake it ; for at this time the privileges of
that Parliament were become a Noli me tangere, as sacred and
useful to them, as traditions ever were, or are now, to the Church
of Rome ; their number must never be known, and therefore not
without danger to be meddled with. For which reason Dr. Mor-
ley was forced, for want of Counsel, to plead the University's
Reasons for non-compliance with the Parliament's injunctions :
and though this was done with great reason, and a boldness equal
to the justice of his cause ; yet the effect of it was, but that he
and the rest appearing with him were so fortunate, as to return to
Oxford without commitment. This was some few days before the
Visitors and more soldiers were sent down to drive the Dissenters
out of the University. And one that was, at this time of Dr.
Morley's pleading, a powerful man in the Parliament, and of that
committee, observing Dr. Morley's behaviour and reason, and
PART II. 12
342 THE LIFE OF
inquiring of him and iicaring a good report of his morals, was
therefore willing to afford him a peculiar favour ; and, that ho
might express it, sent for me that relate this story, and knew Dr.
Morley well, and told me, " he had such a love for Dr. Morley
that knowing he would not take the Oaths, and must therefore
be ejected his College, and leave Oxford ; he desired I would
therefore write to him to ride out of Oxford, when the Visitors
came into it, and not return till they left it, and he should be sure
then to return in safety ; and that he should, without taking any
Oath or other molestation, enjoy his Canon's place in his College."
I did receive this intended kindness with a sudden gladness,
because I was sure the party had a power, and as sure he meant
to perform it, and did therefore write the Doctor word : and his
answer was, " that I must not fail to return my friend, — who still
lives — his humble and undissembled thanks, though he could not
accept of his intended kindness ; for when the Dean, Dr. Gardi-
ner, Dr. Paine, Dr. Hammond, Dr. Sanderson, and all the rest of
the College, were turned out, except Dr. Wall,* he should take it
to be, if not a sin, yet a shame, to be left behind v/ith him only.
Dr. Wall I knew, and will speak nothing of him, for he is dead.
It may easily be imagined, with what a joyful willingness these
self-loving reformers took possession of all vacant preferments,
and with what reluctance others parted with their beloved Col-
leges and subsistence : but their consciences were dearer than
their subsistence, and out they went ; the reformers possessing
them without shame or scruple : where I will leave these scruple-
mongers, and make an account of the then present affairs of
London, to be the next employment of my Reader's patience.
And in London all the Bisliop's houses were turned to be
prisons, and they filled with Divines, that would not take the
Covenant, or forbear reading Common Prayer, or that were ac-
* They were all, except Dr. Wall, ejected in 1647. Dr. Samuel Fell died
of grief, the day he was made acquainted with the murder of Charles I. viz.
on Feb. 1, 1648-9. Dr. Gardner, Canon of the third stall, lived to be restored,
and died in 1670. Dr. Paine, Canon of the fourth stall, died during the rebel-
lion. Dr. Hammond, Sub-dean and Canou of the second stall, died in 1660.
As for Dr. Vv'all, Canon of the seventh stall, he conformed no doubt to the
measures of the Visitors. He died possessed of it in 1666.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 343
cused for some faults like these. For it may be noted, that about
this time the Parliament set out a proclamation, to encourage all
laymen that Iiad occasion to complain of their Ministers for being
troublesome or scandalous, or that conformed not to Orders of
Parliament, to make their complaint to a committee for that pur-
pose ; and the Minister, though a hundred miles from London,
should appear there, and give satisfaction, or be sequestered ; —
and you may be sure no Parish could want a covetous, or mali-
cious, or cross-grained complainant ; — by v/hich means all prisons
ia London, and in some other places, became the sad habitations
of conforming Divines.
And about this time the Bishop of Canterbury having been by
an unknown law condemned to die, and the execution suspended
for some days, many of the malicious citizens, fearing his pardon,
shut up their shops, professing not to open them till justice was
executed. This malice and madness is scarce credible; but I
saw it.
The Bishops had been voted out of the House of Parliament,
and some upon that occasion sent to the Tower ; which made
many Covenanters rejoice, and believe Mr. Brightman* — who
probably was a good and well-meaning man — to be inspired in his
" Comment on the Apocalypse," an abridgment of which was
now printed, and called Mr. " Brightman's Revelation of the
Revelation." And though he was grossly mistaken in other
things, yet, because he had made the Churches of Geneva and
Scotland, which had no Bishops, to be Philadelphia in the Apoca-
lypse, the Angel that God loved ; P^ev. iii. 7-13, and the power
of Prelacy to be Antichrist, the evil Angel, which the House of
Commons had now so spewed up, as never to recover their dig-
nity ; therefore did those Covenanters approve and applaud Mr.
* Mr. Thomas Brightman, born at Nottingham, and educated at Queen's
College in Cambridge, was Rector of Hawnes in Bedfordshire. He died sud-
denly Aug. 24, 1607.
Mr. Thomas Cartwright, the noted Puritan, in allusion to the name of Mr.
Brightman, considers him as full of illumination as " a bright star in the Church
of God." Though no favourable opinion can be entertained of his writings,
yet the acknowledged innocence of his life and conversation entitles him to
everv encomium.
344 THE LIFE OF
Brightman for discovering and foretelling the Bishops' downfall ;
so that they both railed at them, and rejoiced to buy good penny-
worths of their land, which their friends of the House of Com-
mons did afford them, as a reward of their diligent assistance to
pull them down.
And the Bishop's power beng now vacated, the common people
were made so happy, as every Parish might choose their own Min-
ister, and tell him when he did. and when he did not, preach true
doctrine : and by this and like means, several Churches had sev-
eral teachers, that prayed and preached for and against one
another : and engaged their hearers to contend furiously for truths
which they understood not ; some of which I shall mention in the
discourse that follows.
I have heard of two men, that in their discourse undertook to
give a character of a third person : and one concluded he was a
very honest man, " for he was beholden to him \'' and the other,
that he was not, " for he was not beholden to him." And some-
thing like this was in the designs both of the Covenanters and In-
dependents, the last of which were now grown both as numerous
and as powerful as the former : for though the}'' differed much in
many principles, and preached against each other, one making it
a sign of being in the state of grace, if we were but zealous for
the Covenant ; and the other, that we ought to buy and sell by a
measure, and to allow the same liberty of conscience to others,
which we by Scripture claim to ourselves ; and therefore not to
force any to swear the Covenant contrary to their consciences, and
lose both their livings and liberties too. Though these differed
thus in their conclusions, yet they both agreed in their practice to
preach down Common Prayer, and get into the best sequestered
livings ; and v, hatever became of the true owners, their wives and
children, yet to continue in them without the least scruple of con-
science.
They also made other strange observations of Election, Repro-
bation, and Free Will, and the other points dependent upon these;
such as the wisest of the common people were not fit to judge of;
I am sure I am not : though I must mention some of them histori-
cally in a more proper place, when I have brought my Reader
with me to Dr. Sanderson at Bootiibv Pannell.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 315
And in the way thither I must tell him, that a very Covenanter,
and a Scot too, that came into England with this unhappy Cove-
nant, was got into a good sequestered living by the help of a Pres-
byterian Parish, which had got the true owner out. And this
Scotch Presbyterian, being well settled in this good living, began
to . reform the Church-yard, by cutting down a large yew-tree,
and some other trees that were an ornament to the place, and very
often a shelter to the parishioners ; who, excepting against him
for so doing, were answered, " That the trees were his, and 'twas
lawful for every man to use his own, as he, and not as they
thought fit," I have heard, but do not affirm it, that no action
lies against him that is so wicked as to steal the windinor.sheet of
a dead body after it is buried ; and have heard the reason to be,
because none were supposed to be so void of humanity ; and that
such a law would vilify that nation that would but suppose so
vile a man to be born in it : nor would one suppose any man to
do what this Covenanter did. And whether there were any law
against him, I know not ; but pity the Parish the less for turning
out their legal Minister.
We have now overtaken Dr. Sanderson at Booth by Parish,
where he hoped to have enjoyed himself, though in a poor, yet in
a quiet and desired 'privacy ; but it proved otherwise: for all cor-
ners of the nation were filled with Covenanters, confusion. Com-
mittee-men, and soldiers, serving each other to their several ends,
of revenge, or power, or profit ; and these Committee-men and sol-
diers were most of them so possessed with this Covenant, that they
became like those that were infected with that dreadful Plague of
Athens : the plague of which Plague was, that they by it became
maliciously restless to get into company, and to joy, — so the His-
torian* saith, — when they had infected others, even those of their
most beloved or nearest friends or relations : and though there
might be some of these Covenanters that were becruiled and meant
well ; yet such were the generality of them, and temper of the
times, that you may be sure Dr. Sanderson, who though quiet
and harmless, yet an eminent dissenter from them, could not live
peaceably j nor did he ; for the soldiers would appear, and visibly
* Thucvdides.
346 ^ THE LIFE OF
disturb him in the Church when he read prayers, pretending to
advise him how God was to be served most acceptably : which he
not approving, but continuing to observe order and decent beha-
viour in reading the Church-service, they forced his book from
him, and tore it, expecting extemporary prayers.
At this time he was advised by a Parliament man of power and
note, that valued and loved him much, not to be strict in reading
all the Common Prayer, but make some little variation, especially
if the soldiers came to watch him ; for then it might not be in the
power of him and his other friends to secure him from taking the
Covenant, or Sequestration : for which reasons he did vary some-
what from the strict rules of the Rubric. I will set down the very
words of confession which he used, as I have it under his own
hand ; and tell the Reader, that all his other variations were as
little, and much like to this.
HIS CONFESSION.
" O Almighty God and merciful Father, we, thy unworthy ser-
vants, do with shame and sorrow confess, that we have all our life
long gone astray out of thy ways like lost sheep ; and that, by fol-
lowing too much the vain devices and desires of our own hearts,
we have grievously offended against thy holy laws, both in thought,
word, and deed; we have many times left undone those good du-
ties, which w^e might and ought to have done ; and we have many
times done those evils, when we might have avoided them, which
we ought not to have done. We confess, O Lord ! that there is
no health at all, nor help in any creature to relieve us ; but all
our hope is in thy mercy, whose justice we have by our sins so
far provoked. Have mercy therefore upon us, O Lord ! have
mercy upon us miserable offenders ; spare us, good God, who
confess our faults, that we perish not ; but, according to thy gra-
cious promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord,
restore us upon our true repentance into thy grace and favour.
And grant, O most merciful Father ! for his sake, that we hence-
forth study to serve and please thee by leading a godly, righteous,
and a sober life, to the glory of thy holy name, and the eternal
comfort of our own souls, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Amen.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 347
In these disturbances of tearing his service-book, a neighbour
came on a Sunday, after the evening service was ended, to visit
and condole with him for the affront offered by the soldiers. To
v.hom he spake with a composed patience, and said ; " God hath
restored me to my desired privacy, with my wife and children ;
where I hoped to have met with quietness, and it proves not so :
but I will labour to be pleased, because God, on whom I depend,
sees it is not fit for me to be quiet. I praise him, that he hath by
his grace prevented me, from making shipwreck of a good con-
science to maintain me in a place of great reputation and profit :
and though my condition be such, that I need the last, yet I sub-
mit ; for God did not send me into this world to do my own, but
suffer his will, and I will obey it." Thus by a sublime depend-
ing on his wise, and powerful, and pitiful Creator, he did cheer-
fully submit to what God hath appointed, justifying the truth of
that doctrine which he had preached.
About this time that excellent book of " The King's Meditations
in his Solitude" was printed, and made public ; and Dr. Sander-
son was such a lover of the Author, and so desirous that the whole
world should see the character of him in that book, and some-
thing of the cause for which they suffered, that he designed to
turn it into Latin : but when he had done half of it most excel-
lently, his friend Dr. Earle prevented him, by appearing to have
done the whole very well before him.
About this time his dear and most intimate friend, the learned
Dr. Hammond, came to enjoy a conversation and rest with him
for some days ; and did so. And having formerly persuaded him
to trust his excellent memory, and not read, but try to speak a
sermon as he had writ it. Dr. Sanderson became so compliant, as
to promise he would. And to that end they two went early the
Sunday following to a neighbour Minister, and requested to ex-
change a sermon ; and they did so. And at Dr. Sanderson's go-
ing into the pulpit, he gave his sermon — which was a very short
one — into the hand of Dr. Hammond, intending to preach it as it
was writ : but before he had preached a third part, Dr. Ham-
mond,— looking on his sermon as written — observed him to be
out, and so lost as to the matter, that he also became afraid for
him : for 'twas discernible to many of the plain auditory. But
348 THE LIFE OF
when he had ended this short sermon, as they two walked home-
ward, Dr. Sanderson said with much earnestness, " Good Doctor,
give me my sermon ; and know, that neither you nor any man
living, shall ever persuade me to preach again without my books."
To which the reply was, " Good Doctor, be not angry : for if I
ever persuade you to preach again without book, I will give you
leave to burn all those that I am master of."
Part of the occasion of Dr. Hammond's visit, was at this time
to discourse with Dr. Sanderson about some opinions, in which, if
they did not then, they had doubtless differed formerly : it was
about those knotty points, which are by the learned called the
Quinquarticular Controversy ; of wliich I shall proceed, not to
give any judgment, — I pretend not to that, — but some siiort his-
torical account which shall folio v/.
There had been, since the unhappy Covenant was brought and
so generally taken in England, a liberty given or taken by many
Preachei's — those of London especially — to preach and be too
positive in the points of Universal Redemption, Predestination,
and those other depending upon these. Some of which preached,
" That all men were, before they came into this world, so predes-
tinated to salvation or damnation, that it was not in their power to
sin so, as to lose the first, nor by their most diligent endeavour to
avoid the latter. Others, that it was not so : because then God
could not be said to grieve for the death of a sinner, when he
himself had made him so by an inevitable decree, before he had
so much as a being in this world ;" affirming therefore, " that
man had some power left him to do the will of God, because he
was advised to work out his salvation with fear and trembling;"
maintaining, " that it is most certain every man can do what he
can to be saved ;" and that " he that does what he can to be
saved, shall never be damned." And yet many that affirmed
this would confess, " That that grace, v.hich is but a persuasive
offer, and left to us to receive, or refuse, is not that grace which
shall bring men to Heaven." Which trutlis, or untruths, or
both, be they which they will, did upon these, or the like occa-
sions, come to be searched into, and charitably debated betwixt
Dr. Sanderson, Dr. Hammond, and Dr. Pierce, — the now Rever-
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 349
end Dean of Salisbury, — of which I shall proceed to give some
account, but briefly.
In the year 1648, the fifty-two London Ministers — then a fra-
ternity of Sion College in that City — had in a printed Declaration
aspersed Dr. Hammond most heinously, for that he had in his
Practical Catechism affirmed, that our Saviour died for the sins
of all mankind. To justify which truth, he presently makes a
charitable reply — as 'tis now printed in his works. — After which
there were many letters passed betwixt the said Dr. Hammond,
Dr. Sanderson, and Dr. Pierce, concerning God's grace and de-
crees. Dr. Sanderson was with much unwillingness drawn into
this debate ; for he declared it would prove uneasy to him, who
in his judgment of God's decrees differed with Dr. Hammond, —
whom he reverenced and loved dearly, — and would not therefore
engage him into a controversy, of which he could never hope to
see an end : but they did all enter into a charitable disquisition
of these said points in several letters, to the full satisfaction of
the learned ; those betwixt Dr. Sanderson and Dr. Hammond be-
ing printed in his works ; and for what passed betwixt him and
the learned Dr. Pierce, I refer my Reader to a Letter annexed to
the end of this relation.
1 think the judgment of Dr. Sanderson was, by these debates,
altered from what it was at his entrance into them ; for in the
year 1632, when his excellent Sermons were first printed in
quarto, the Reader may, on the margin, find some accusation of
Arminius for false doctrine ; and find that, upon a review and
reprinting those Sermons in folio, in the year 1657, that accusa-
tion of Arminius is omitted. And the change of his judgment
seems m.ore fully to appear in his said letter to Dr. Pierce. And
let me now tell the Reader, which m.ay seem to be perplexed with
these several affirmations of God's decrees before mentioned, that
Dr. Hammond, in a postscript to the last letter of Dr. Sanderson's,
says, " God can reconcile his own contradictions, and therefore
advises all men, as the Apostle does, to study mortification, and
be wise to sobriety." And let me add further, that if tiiese fifty-
two Ministers of Sion College were the occasion of the debates in
these letters, they have, I think, been the occasion of giving an
end to the Quinquarticular Controversy ; for none have since
350 THE LIFE OF
undertaken to say more ; but seem to be so wise, as to be content
to be ignorant of the rest, till they come to that place, where the
secrets of all hearts shall be laid open. And let me here tell the
Reader also, that if the rest of mankind would, as Dr. Sanderson,
not conceal their alteration of judgment, but confess it to the hon-
our of God and themselves, then our nation would become freer
from pertinacious disputes, and fuller of recantations.
1 cannot lead my Reader to Dr. Hammond and Dr. Sanderson,
where we left them at Boothby Pannell, till I have looked back
to the Long Parliament, the Society of Covenanters in Sion Col-
lege, and those others scattered up and down in London, and
given some account of their proceedings and usage of the late
learned Dr. Laud, then Archbishop of Canterbury. And though
I will forbear to mention the injustice of his death, and the bar-
barous usage of him, both then and before it ; yet my desire is
that what follows may be noted, because it does now, or may
hereafter, concern us ; namely, that in his last sad sermon on
the scaffold at his death, he having freely pardoned all his ene-
mies, and humbly begged of God to pardon them, and besought
those present to pardon and pray for him ; yet he seemed to ac-
cuse the magistrates of the City, for suffering a sort of wretched
people, that could not know why he was condemned, to go visibly
up and down to gather hands to a petition, that the Parliament
would hasten his execution. And having declared how unjustly
he thought himself to be condemned, and accused for endeavour-
ing to bring in Popery, — for that was one of the accusations for
which he died, — he declared with sadness, " That the several
sects and divisions then in England — which he had laboured to
prevent, — were like to bring the Pope a far greater harvest, than
he could ever have expected without them." And said, "These
sects and divisions introduce profaneness under the cloak of an
imaginary Religion ; and that we have lost the substance of Re-
ligion by changing it into opinion : and that by these means this
Church, which all the Jesuits' machinations could not ruin, was
fallen into apparent danger by those which were his accusers."
To this purpose he spoke at his death : for this, and more of
which, the Reader may view his last sad sermon on the scaffold.
And it is here mentioned, because his dear friend, Dr. Sanderson,
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 351
seems to demonstrate the same in his two large and remarkable
Prefaces before his two volumes of Sermons ; and he seems also,
with much sorrow, to say the same again in his last Will, made
when he apprehended himself to be very near his death. And
these Covenanters ought to take notice of it, and to remember,
that, by the late wicked war begun by them. Dr. Sanderson was
ejected out of the Professor's Chair in Oxford ; and that if he
had continued in it, — for he lived fourteen years after, — both the
learned of this, and other nations, had been made happy by many
remarkable Cases of Conscience, so rationally stated, and so brief-
ly, so clearly, and so convincingly determined, that posterity might
have joyed and boasted, that Dr. Sanderson was born in this na-
tion, for the ease and benefit of all the learned that shall be born
after him : but this benefit is so like time past, that they are both
irrecoverably lost.
I should now return to Boothby Pannell, where we left Dr.
Hammond and Dr. Sanderson together ; but neither can be found
there : for the first was in his journey to London, and the second
seized upon the day after his friend's departure, and carried pris-
oner to Lincoln, then a garrison of the Parliament's. For the pre-'
tended reason of which commitment, I shall give this following
account.
There was one Mr. Clarke, the Minister of Alington, a town
not many miles from Boothby Pannell, who was an active man
for the Parliament and Covenant ; one that, when Belvoir Castle
■ — then a garrison for the Parliament — was taken by a party of
the King's soldiers, was taken in it, and made a prisoner of war
in Newark, then a garrison of the King's ; a man so active and
useful for liis party, that they became so much concerned for his
enlargement, that the Committee of Lincoln sent a troop of horse
to seize and bring Dr. Sanderson a prisoner to that garrison : and
they did so. And there he had the happiness to meet with many,
that knew him so well as to treat him kindly ; but told him, " He
must continue their prisoner, till he should purchase his own en-
largement by procuring an exchange for Mr. Clarke, then pris-
oner in tlie King's garrison of Newark.'* There were many
reasons given by the Doctor of the injustice of his imprisonment,
and the inequality of the exchange : but all were inefiectual ;
352 THE LIFE OF
for done it must be, or he continue a prisoner. And in time done
it was, upon the following conditions.
First, that Dr. Sanderson and Mr. Clarke being exchanged,
should live undisturbed at their own Parishes ; and if either were
injured by the soldiers of the contrary party, the other, having
notice of it, should procure him a redress, by having satisfaction
made for his loss, or for any other injury ; or if not, he to be
used in the same kind by the other party. Nevertheless, Dr.
Sanderson could neither live safe nor quietly, Leing several times
plundered, and once wounded in three places : but he, apprehend-
ing the remedy might turn to a more intolerable burden by im-
patience or complaining, forbore both ; and possessed his soul in
a contented quietness, v.ithout the least repining. But though
he could not enjoy the safety he expected by this exchange, yet,
by His providence that can bring good out of evil, it turned so
nmch to his advantage, that whereas as his living had been se-
questered from the year 1614, and continued to be so till this
time of his imprisonment, he, by the Articles of War in this ex-
change for Mr. Clarke, procured his sequestration to be recalled,
and by that means enjoyed a poor, but contented subsistence for
himself, wife, and children, till the happy restoration of our King
and Church.
In this time of his poor, "but contented privacy of life, his casu-
istical learning, peaceful moderation, and sincerity, became so re-
markable, that there were many that applied themselves to him
for resolution in cases of conscience ; some known to him, many
not ; some requiring satisfaction by conference, others by letters ;
so many, that his life became almost as restless as tb.eir minds ;
yet he denied no man : and if it be a truth which holy Mr. Her-
bert says, " That all worldly joys seem less, when compared with
shewing mercy or doing kindnesses ;". then doubtless Dr. Sander-
son might have boasted for relieving so many restless and wounded
consciences ; which, as Solomon says, " are a burden that none
can bear, though their fortitude may sustain their other infirmi-
ties ;" and if words cannot express the joy of a conscience re-
lieved from such restless agonies ; then Dr. Sanderson might re-
joice that so many were by him so clearly and conscientiously
satisfied, for he denied none, and would often praise God for tliat
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 353
ability, and as often for the occasion, and that God had inclined
his heart to do it to the meanest of any of those poor, but precious
souls, for which his Saviour vouchsafed to be crucified.
Some of these very many cases that were resolved by letters,
have been preserved and printed for the benefit of posterity ; as
namely,
1. Of the Sahhatk.
2. Marrying ivith a Recusant.
3. Of unlawful love.
4. Of a military life.
5. Of Scandal.
6. Of a hond taken in the King's name.
7. Of the Engage?nent.
8. Of a rash vow.
But many more remain in private hands, of which one is of Si-
mony ; and I wish the world might see it, that it might undeceive
some Patrons, who think they have discharged that great and
dangerous trust, both to God and man, if they take no money for
a living, though it may be parted with for other ends less justifi-
able.
And in this time of his retirement, when the common people
were amazed and grown giddy by the many falsehoods, and mis-
applications of truths frequently vented in sermons ; when they
wrested the Scripture by challenging God to be of their party,
and called upon him in their prayers to patronize their sacrilege
and zealous frenzies ; in this time he did so compassionate the
generality of this misled nation, that though the times threatened
danger, yet, he then hazarded his safety by writing the large and
bold Preface now extant before his last twenty Sermons ; — first
printed in the year 1655 ; — in which there was such strength of
reason, with so powerful and clear convincing applications made
to the Non-conformists, as being read by one of those dissenting
brethren, who was possessed with such a spirit of contradiction,
as being neither able to defend his error, nor yield to truth mani-
fest,— his conscience having slept long and quietly in a good se-
questered living, — was yet at the reading of it so awakened, that
354 THE LIFE OF
after a conflict with the reason he had mot, and the damage he
was to sustain if he consented to it, — and being still unwilling to
be so convinced, as to lose by being over-reasoned, — he went in
haste to the bookseller of whom it was bought, threatened him,
and told him in anger, " he had sold a book in which there was
false Divinity ; and that the Preface had upbraided the Parlia-
ment, and many godly Ministers of that party, for unjust dealing."
To which his reply was, — 'twas Tim. Garthwaite, — " That 'twas
not his trade to judge of true or false Divinity, but to print and
sell books : and yet if he, or any friend of his, w^ould write an an-
swer to it, and own it by setting his name to it, he would print the
Answer, and promote the selling of it."
About the time of his printing this excellent Preface, I met him
accidentally in London, in sad-coloured clothes, and, God knows,
far from being costly. The place of our meeting was near to
Little Britain, where he had been to buy a book, which he then
had in his hand. We had no inclination to part presently, and
therefore turned to stand in a corner under a penthouse, — for it
began to rain, — and immediately the wind rose, and the rain in-
creased so much, that both became so inconvenient, as to force us
into a cleanly house, where v/e had bread, cheese, ale, and a fire
for our money. This rain and wind were so obliging to me, as to
force our stay there for at least an hour, to my great content and
advantage ; for in that time he made to me many useful observa-
tions, with much clearness and conscientious freedom. I shall
relate a part of them, in hope they may also turn to the advantage
of my Reader. He seemed to lament, that the Parliament had
taken upon them to abolish our Liturgy, to the scandal of so many
devout and learned men, and the disgrace of those many martyrs,
who had sealed the truth and use of it with their blood : and that
no Minister was now thought godly that did not decry it, and at
least pretend to make better prayers ex tempore ; and that they,
and only they, that could do so, prayed by the Spirit, and were
godly ; though in their sermons they disputed, and evidently con-
tradicted each other in their prayers. And as he did dislike this,
so he did most highly commend the Common Prayer of the Church,
saying, " the Collects were the most passionate, proper, and most
elegant expressions that any language ever afibrded ; and that
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 355
there was in them such piety, and so interwoven with instructions,
that they taught us to know the power, the wisdom, the majesty,
and mercy of God, and much of our duty both to him and our
neighbour ; and that a congregation, behaving themselves rever-
ently, and putting up to God these joint and known desires for
pardon of sins, and praises for mercies received, could not but be
more pleasing to God, than those raw, unpremeditated expressions,
to which many of the Jiearers could not say. Amen."
And he then commended to me the frequent use of the Pisalter,
or Psalms of David ; speaking to this purpose : " That they were
the treasury of Christian comfort, fitted for all persons and neces-
sities ; able to raise the soul from dejection by the frequent men-
tion of God's mercies to repentant sinners ; to stir up holy desires :
to increase joy ; to moderate sorrow ; to nourish hope, and teach
us patience, by waiting God's leisure ; to beget a trust in the
mercy, power, and providence of our Creator ; and to cause a res-
ignation of ourselves to his will ; and then, and not till then, to
believe ourselves happy." This, he said, the Liturgy and Psalms
taught us ; and that by the frequent use of the last, they would
not only prove to be our soul's comfort, but would become so ha-
bitual, as to transform them into the Image of his soul that com-
posed them. After this manner he expressed himself concerning
the Liturgy and Psalms ; and seemed to lament that this, which
was the devotion of the more primitive times, should in common
pulpits be turned into needless debates about Freewill, Election,
and Reprobation, of which, and many like questions, we may be
safely ignorant, because Almighty God intends not to lead us to
Heaven by hard questions, but by meekness and charity, and a
frequent practice of devotion.
And he seemed to lament very much, that, by the means of ir-
regular and indiscreet preaching, the generality of the nation
were possessed with such dangerous mistakes, as to think, '•' they
might be religious first, and then just and merciful ; that they
\ might sell their consciences, and yet have something left that was i
^ worth keeping ; that they might be sure they were elected, though /
their lives were visibly scandalous ; that to be cunning was to be [
wise; that to be rich was to be happy, though their wealth was
■ got without justice or mercy ; that to be busy in things they un-
f
356 THE LIFE OF
derstood not, was no sin." These and the like mistakes he la-
mented much, and besought God to remove them, and restore us
to that humility, sincerity, and singleheartedness, with which this
nation was blessed, before the unhappy Covenant was brought
into the nation, and every man preached and prayed what seemed
best in his own eyes. And he then said to me, " That the "way to
restore this nation to a more meek and Christian temper, was to
have the body of Divinity — or so much of it as was needful to be
known — to be put into fifty-two Homilies or Sermons, of such a
length as not to exceed a third, or fourth part of an hour's read-
ing ; and these needful points to be made so clear and plain, that
tliose of a mean capacity might know what was necessary to be
believed, and what God requires to be done ; and then some ap-
plications of trial and conviction : and these to be read every Sun-
day of the year, as infallibly as the blood circulates the body;
and then as certainly begun again, and continued the year follow-
ing : and that this being done, it might probably abate the inordi-
nate desire of knowing what we need not, and practising what we
know and ought to do." This was the earnest desire of this pru-
dent man. And Oh that Dr. Sanderson had undertaken it ! for
then in all probability it would have proved effectual.
At this happy time of enjoying his company and this discourse,
he expressed a sorrow by saying to me, " Oh that I had gone
Chaplain to that excellently accomplished gentleman, your friend,
Sir Henry Wotton ! which was once intended, when he first went
Ambassador to the State of Venice : for by that employment I had
been forced into a necessity of conversing, not with him only, but
with several men of several nations ; and might thereby have kept
myself from my unmanly bashfulness, which has proved very
troublesome, and not less inconvenient to me ; and which I now
fear is become so habitual as never to leave me : and by that
means I might also have known, or at least have had the satisfac-
tion of seeing, one of the late miracles of general learning, pru-
dence, and modesty. Sir Henry Wotton's deal' friend. Padre Paulo,
who, the author of his life says, was born with a bashfulness as
invincible as I have found my own to be : a man whose fame must
never die, till virtue and learning shall become so useless as not
to be regarded."
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 357
This was a part of the benefit I then had by that hour's conver-
sation : and I gladly remember and mention it, as an argument
of my happiness, and his great humility and condescension. I
had also a like advantage by another happy conference with him,
which I am desirous to impart in this place to the Reader. He
lamented much, that in many Parishes, where the maintenance
was not great, there was no Minister to officiate ; and that many
of the best sequestered livings were possessed with such rigid Cove-
i]anters as denied the Sacrament to their Parishioners, unless upon
such conditions, and in such a manner, as they could not take it.
This he mentioned with much sorrow, saying, '- Tiie blessed Sa-
crament did, by way of preparation for it, give occasion to all con-
scientious receivers to examine the performance of their vows,
since they received their last seal for the pardon of their sins past ;
and to examine and re-search their hearts, and make penitent re-
flections on their failings ; and, that done, to bewail them, and
then make new vows or resolutions to obey all God's commandsj
and beg his grace to perform them. And this done, the Sacra-
ment repairs the decays of grace, helps us to conquer infirmities,
gives us grace to beg God's grace, and then gives us what we
beg ; makes us still hunger and thirst after his righteousness,
wliich we then receive, and being assisted with our endeavours,
will still so dwell in us, as to become our satisfaction in this life,
and our comfort on our last sick beds." The want of this blessed
benefit he lamented much, and pitied their condition that desired,
but could not obtain it.
I hope I shall not disoblige my Reader, if I here enlarge into a
further character of his person and temper. As first, that he was
moderately tall : his behaviour had in it much of a plain comeli-
ness, and very little, yet enough, of ceremony or courtship; his
looks and motion manifested affability and mildness, and yet he
had with these a calm, but so matchless a fortitude, as secured
him from complying with any of those many Parliament injunc-
tions, that interfered with a doubtful conscience. His learning
was methodical and exact, his wisdom useful, his integrity visible,
and ills whole life so unspotted, that all ought to be preserved as
copies for posterity to write after ; the Clergy especially, who
PART II. 13
358 THE LIFE OF
with impure hands ought not to offer sacrifice to that God, whose
pure eyes abhor iniquity.
There was in his Sermons no improper rhetoric, nor such per-
plexed divisions, as may be said to be like too much light, that so
dazzles the eyes, that the sight becomes less perfect : but there
was therein no want of useful matter, nor waste of words ; and
yet such clear distinctions as dispelled all confused notions, and
made his hearers depart both wiser, and more confirmed in vir-
tuous resolutions.
His memory was so matchless and firm, as 'twas only overcome
by his bashfulness ; for he alone, or to a friend, could repeat all
the Odes of Horace, all Tully's Oflices, and much of Juvenal
and Persius, without book : and would say, " the repetition of
one of the Odes of Horace to himself, was to him such music, as
a lesson on the viol was to others, when they played it to them-
selves or friends." And though he was blest with a clearer judg-
ment than other men, yet he was so distrustful of it, that he did
over-consider of consequences, and would so delay and re-consider
what to determine, that though none ever determined better, yet,
when the bell tolled for him to appear and read his Divinity Lec-
tures in Oxford, and all the Scholars attended to hear him, he had
not then, or not till then, resolved and writ what he ment to deter-
mine ; so that that appeared to be a truth, which his old dear
friend Dr. Sheldon would often say, namely, " That his judgment
was so much superior to his fancy, that whatsoever this suggested,
that disliked and controlled ; still considering, and re-considering,
till his time was so wasted, that he was forced to write, not, prob-
ably, what was best, but what he thought last." And yet what
he did then read, appeared to all hearers to be so useful, clear,
and satisfactory, as none ever determined with greater applause.
These tiring and perplexing thoughts, begot in him an averseness
to enter into the toil of considering and determining all casuisti-
cal points ; because during that time, they neither gave rest to
his body or mind. But though he would not be always loaden
with these knotty points and distinctions ; yet the study of old
records, genealogies, and Heraldry, were a recreation and so
pleasing, that he would say they gave rest to his mind. Of the
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 359
last of which I have seen two remarkable volumes ; and the
Reader needs neither to doubt their truth or exactness.
And this humble man had so conquered all repining and am-
bitious thoughts, and with them all other unruly passions, that, if '
the accidents of the day proved to his danger or damage, yet he>
both began and ended it with an even and undisturbed quietness ; \
always praising God that he had not withdrawn food and raiment
from him and his poor family ; nor suffered him. to violate his con-
science for his safety, or to support himself or them in a more
splendid or plentiful condition ; and that he therefore resolved '
with David, " That his praise should be always in his mouth."
I have taken a content in giving my Reader this character of
his person, his temper, and some of the accidents of his life past ;
and more miglit be added of all : but I will with sorrow look for-
ward to the sad days, in which so many good men suffered, about
the year 1658, at which time Dr. Sanderson was in a very low
condition as to his estate ; and in that time Mr. Robert Boyle* —
a gentleman of a very noble birth, and more eminent for his liber-
ality, learning, and virtue, and of whom I would say much more,
but that he still lives — having casually met with and read his
Lectures de Juramento, to his great satisfaction, and being in-
formed of Dr. Sanderson's great innocence and sincerity, and
that he and his family were brought into a low condition by his
not complying with the Parliament's injunctions, sent him by his
dear friend Dr. Barlowf — the now learned Bishop of Lincoln —
50/. and with it a request and promise. The request was, that
he would review the Lectures de Conscientid, which he had read
when he was Dr. of the Chair in Oxford, and print them for the
good of posterity : — and this Dr. Sanderson did in the year 1659.
— And the promise was, that he would pay him that, or a greater
* This amiable philosopher, was born Jan. 25th, 1626-27, at Lismore, in
the province of Minister, in Ireland. He was a scholar, a gentleman, a chris-
tian of the most exalted piety and charity, and a very eminent Natural phi-
losopher. He died Dec. 30th, 1691.
t Dr. Thomas Barlow, was born in 1607, at Orton, in Westmoreland, was
made Bishop of Lincoln, in 1675, and died at Buckden, in 1691. His charac-
ter appears to have been vacillating ; he was not among the venerable Prel-
ates who stood forth the Protectors of the Protestant Religion in 1688. His
theological learning has never been excelled.
360 THE LIFE OF
sum if desired, during his life, to enable him to pay an amanu-
ensis, to ease him from the trouble of writing what he should con-
ceive or dictate. For the more particular account of which, I re-
fer my Reader to a letter writ by the said Dr. Barlow, which I
have annexed to the end of this relation.
Towards the end of this year, 1659, when the many mixed
sects, and their creators and merciless protectors, had led or driv-
en each other into a whirlpool of confusion : when amazement
and fear had seized them, and their accusing consciences gave
them an inward and fearful intelligence, that the god which they
had long served was now ready to pay them such wages, as he
does always reward witches with for their obeying him : when
these wretches were come to foresee an end of their cruel reign,
by our King's return ; and such sufferers as Dr. Sanderson — and
with him many of the oppressed Clergy and others — could foresee
the cloud of their afflictions would be dispersed by it ; then, in the
beginning of the year following, the King was by God restored to
us, and we to our known laws and liberties, and a general joy
and peace seemed to breathe through the three nations. Then
were the suffering Clergy freed from their sequestration, restored
to their revenues, and to a liberty to adore, praise, and pray to
God in such order as their consciences and oaths had formerly
obliged them. And the Reader will easily believe, that Dr. San-
derson and his dejected family rejoiced to see this day, and be of
this number.
It oufTht to be considered — which I have often heard or read —
that in the primitive times men of learning and virtue were usual-
ly sought for, and solicited to accept of Episcopal government, and
often refused it. For they conscientiously considered, that the
office of a Bishop was made up of labour and care ; that they
were trusted to be God's almoners of the Church's revenue, and
double their care for the poor ; to live strictly themselves, and use
all diligence to see that their family, officers, and Clergy did so ;
and that the account of that stewardship must, at the last dread-
ful day, be made to the Searcher of all Hearts : and that in the
primitive times they were therefore timorous to undertake it. It
may not be said, that Dr. Sanderson was accomplished with these,
and all the other requisites required in a Bishop, so as to be able
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 361
to answer them exactly : but it may be affirmed, as a good prep-
aration, that he had at the age of seventy-three years — for he
was so old at the King's Return — fewer faults to be pardoned by
God or man, than are apparent in others in these days, in which,
God knows, we fall so short of that visible sanctity and zeal to
God's glory, which was apparent in the days of primitive Chris-
tianity. This is mentioned by way of preparation to what I shall
say more of Dr. Sanderson ; and' namely, that, at the King's re-
turn, Dr. Sheldon, the late prudent Bishop of Canterbury, — than
whom none knew, valued, or loved Dr. Sanderson more or better,
— was by his Majesty made a chief trustee to commend to him fit
men to supply the then vacant Bishoprics. Afld Dr. Sheldon
knew none fitter than Dr. Sanderson, and therefore humbly de-
sired the King that he would nominate him : and, that done, he
did as humbly desire Dr. Sanderson that he would, for God's and
the Church's sake, take that charge and care upon him. Dr.
Sanderson had, if not an unwillingness, certainly no forwardness
to undertake it ; and would often say, he had not led himself, but
his friend would now lead him into a temptation, which he had
daily prayed against ; and besought God, if he did undertake it,
so to assist him with his grace, that the example of his life, his
cares and endeavours might promote his glory, and help forward
the salvation of others.
This I have mentioned as a happy preparation to his Bishopric ;
and am next to tell, that lie was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln at
Westminster, the 28th of October, 1660.
There was about this time a Christian care taken, that those
whose consciences were, as they said, tender, and could not com-
ply with the service and ceremonies of the Church, might have
satisfaction given by a friendly debate betwixt a select number of
them, and some like number of those that had been sufferers for
the Church-service and ceremonies, and now restored to liberty ;
of which last some were then preferred to power and dignity in
the Church. And of these Bishop Sanderson was one, and then
chose to be a moderator in that debate : and he performed his
trust with much mildness, patience, and reason ; but all proved
ineffectual : for there be some prepossessions like jealousies, which,
though causeless, yet cannot be removed by reasons as apparent
362 THE LIFE OF
as demonstration can make any truth. The place appointed for
this debate was the Savoy in the Strand : and the points debated
were, I think, many ; some affirmed to be truth and reason, some
denied to be either ; and these debates being then in words, proved
to be so loose and perplexed as satisfied neither party. For some-
time that which had been affirmed was immediately forgot or de-
nied, and so no satisfaction given to either party. But that the
debate might become more useful, it was therefore resolved, that
the day following the desires and reasons of the Nonconformists
should be given in writing, and they in writing receive answers
from the conforming party. And though I neither now can, nor
need to mention all the points debated, nor the names of the dis-
senting brethren ; yet I am sure Mr. Baxter was one. and am sure
what shall now follow was one of the points debated.
Concerning a command of lawful superiors, what was sufficient
to its being a lawful command ; this proposition was brought by
the conforming party.
" That command which commands an act in itself lawful, and
no other act or circumstance unlawful, is not sinful."
Mr. Baxter* denied it for two reasons, which he gave in with
his own hand in writing, thus :
One was, " Because that may V a sin jjer accidens, which is
not so in itself, and may be unlawfully commanded, though that
accident be not in the command." AnotVier was, " That it may
be commanded under an unjust penalty."
Again, this proposition being brought by the Conformists, " That
command which commandeth an act in itself lawful, and no other
act whereby any unjust penalty is enjoined, nor any circumstance
whence, per accidens, any sin is consequent which the commander
ought to provide against, is not sinful."
Mr. Baxter denied it for this reason, then given in with his own
hand in writing thus : " Because the first act commanded may be
per accidens unlawful, and be commanded by an unjust penalty,
though no other act or circumstance commanded be such."
Again, this proposition being brought by the Conformists, "That
* Richard Baxter weis born at Rowton, in Shropshire, in 1615, and was a
Chaplain in the Parliamentary Army, though he was a defender of Monarchy.
He refused the Bishopric of Hereford, and died in 1691.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 363
command which commandeth an act in itself lawful, and no other
act whereby any unjust penalty is enjoined, nor any circumstance,
whence directly, or jje?- accidens, any sin is consequent, which the
commander ought to provide against, hath in it all things requisite
to the lawfulness of a command, and particularly cannot be guilty
of commanding an act per accidens unlawful, nor of commanding
an act under an unjust penalty."
Mr. Baxter denied it upon the same reasons.
Peter Gunning.*
John Pearson. f
These were then two of the disputants, still alive, and will at-
test this ; one being now Lord Bishop of Ely, and the other of
Chester. And the last of them told me very lately, that one of
the Dissenters — which I could, but forbear to name — appeared to
Dr. Sanderson to be so bold, so troublesome, and so illogical in
the dispute, as forced patient Dr. Sanderson — who was then
Bishop of Lincoln, and a moderator with other Bishops — to say,
with an unusual earnestness, " That he had never met with a
man of more pertinacious confidence, and less abilities, in all his
conversation."
But though this debate at the Savoy was ended without any
great satisfaction to either party, yet both parties knew the de-
sires, and understood the abilities, of the other, much better than
before it : and the late distressed Clergy, that were now restored
to their former rights and power, did, at their next meeting in
Convocation, contrive to give the dissenting party satisfaction by
alteration, explanation, and addition to some part both of the Ru-
bric and Common-Prayer, as also by adding some new necessary
Collects, and a particular Collect of Thanksgiving. How many
of those new Collects were worded by Dr. Sanderson, I cannot
say ; but am sure the whole Convocation valued him so much,
that he never undertook to speak to any point in question, but he
* Dr. Peter Gunning, was a loyalist Divine, who suffered considerably for
the Royal cause, and died Bishop of Ely, in 1684.
t Dr. John Pearson, was the author of the famous " Exposition of the
Creed;" in 1661, he was made Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, at
Cambridge, and died Bishop of Chester, in 1686, aged 74.
364 THE LIFE OF
was heard with great willingness and attention ; and when any
point in question was determined, the Convocation did usually de-
sire him to word their intentions, and as usually approve and
thank him.
At this Convocation the Common Prayer was made more com-
plete, by adding three new necessary Offices ; which were, " A
Form of Humiliation for the Murder of King Charles the Martyr ;
A ThanksfriviniT for the restoration of his Son our Kino- • and For
the Baptizing of Persons of riper Age." I cannot say Dr. San-
derson did form, or word them all, but doubtless more than any
single man of the Convocation • and he did also, by desire of the
Convocation, alter and add to the forms of Prayers to be used at
Sea — now taken into the Service-Book. — And it may be noted,
that William, the now Right Reverend Bishop of Canterbury,*
M'as in these employments diligently useful ; especially in help-
ing to rectify the Calendar and Rubric. And lastly, it may be
noted, that, for the satisfying all the dissenting brethren and
others, the Convocation's reasons for the alterations and additions
to the Liturgy were by them desired to be drawn up by Dr. San-
derson ; which being done by him, and approved by them, was
appointed to be printed before the Liturgy, and may be known by
this title — " The Preface;" and begins thus — " It hath been the
Wisdom of the Church." —
I shall now follow him to his Bishopric, and declare a part of
his behaviour in that busy and weighty employment. And first,
that it Vv'as with such condescension and obligingness to the mean-
est of his Clergy, as to know and be known to them. And indeed
he practised the like to all men of what degree soever, especially
to his old neighbours or parishioners of Boothby Pannell ; for
there was all joy at his table, when they came to visit him : then
* Dr. William Sancroft, born at Freshin|rfield, in Suffolk, in 1661, and edu-
cated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, where he was deprived of his Fellow-
ship in 1649, for refusing to take the engagement. He was made Archbishop
in 1677, and in 1688, he was one of the seven Prelates sent to the Tower by
James II. He was a man of the greatest integrity and innocence, and at tho
Revolution, he refused taking the Oaths to the new government, for which,
being suspended and deprived, he died in retirement Nov. 24th5 1693.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 365
they prayed for Jiim, and he for them, with an unfeigned affec-
tion.
I think it will not be denied, but that the care and toil required
of a Bishop, may justly challenge the riches and revenue with
which their predecessors had lawfully endowed them : and yet
he sought not that so much, as doing good both to the present age
and posterity ; and he made this appear by what follows.
The Bishop's chief house at Buckden, in the County of Hunt-
ingdon, the usual residence of his predecessors, — for it stands
about the midst of his Diocese, — having been at his consecration
a great part of it demolished, and v/hat was left standing under a
visible decay, was by him undertaken to be erected and repaired :
and it was performed with great speed, care, and charge. And
to this may be added, that the King having by an Injunction com-
mended to the care of the Bishops, Deans, and Prebends of all
Cathedral Churches, " the repair of them, their houses, and aug-
mentation of small Vicarages ;" he, when he was repairing Buck-
den, did also augment the last, as fast as fines were paid for re-
newing leases : so fast, that a friend, taking notice of his bounty,
was so bold as to advise him to remember " he was under his
first-fruits, and that he was old, and had a wife and children yet
but meanly provided for, especially if his dignity were consid-
ered." To whom he made a mild and thankful answer, saying,
"It would not become a Christian Bishop to suffer those houses
built bv his predecessors to be ruined for want of repair : and
less justifiable to suffer any of those, that were called to so high
a calling as to sacrifice at God's altar, to eat the bread of sorrow
constantly, when he had a power by a small augmentation, to turn
it into the bread of cheerfulness : and wished, that as this was, so
it were also in his power to make all mankind happy, for he de-
sired nothing more. And for his wife and children, he hoped to
leave them a competence, and in the hands of a God that would
provide for all that kept innocence, and trusted his providence
and protection, which he had always found enough to make and
keep him happy."
There was in his Diocese a Minister of almost his age, that
had been of Lincoln College when he left it, who visited him often,
and always welcome, because he was a man of innocence and
366 THE LIFE OF
openheartedness. This Minister asked the Bishop what books he
studied most, when he laid the foundation of his great and clear
learning. To whicli his answer was, " that he declined reading-
many ; but what he did read were well chosen, and read so often,
that he became very familiar with them ;" and said, "they were
chiefly three, Aristotle's Rlietoric, Aquinas's Secunda SecundcE,
and TuUy, but chiefly his Offices, which he had not read over
less than twenty times, and could at this age say without book."
And told him also, "the learned Civilian Doctor Z ouch — who
died lately — had writ Elementa Jurisprudent icB, which was a book
that he could also say witliout book ; and that no wise man could
read it too often, or love or commend too much;" and told him
" these had been his toil : but for himself he always had a natural
love to genealogies and Heraldry ; and that when his thoughts
were harassed with any perplexed studies, he left oflj and turned
to them as a recreation ; and that his very recreation had made
him so perfect in them, that he could, in a very short time, give
an account of the descent, arms, and antiquity of any family of
the Nobility or gentry of this nation."
Before I give an account of Dr. Sanderson's last sickness, I
desire to tell the Reader that he was of a healthful constitution,
cheerful and mild, of an even temper, very moderate in his diet,
and had had little sickness, till some few years before his death ;
but was then every winter punished with a diarrhoea, which left
not till warm weather returned and removed it : and this distem-
per did, as he grew older, seize him oftener, and continue longer
with him. But though it weakened him, yet it made him rather
indisposed than sick, and did no way disable him from studying
— indeed too much. — In this decay of his strength, but not of his
memory or reason, — for this distemper works not upon the under-
standing,— he made his last Will, of which 1 shall give some ac-
count for confirmation of what hath been said, and what I think
convenient to be known, before I declare his death and burial.
He did in his last Will,* give an account of his faith and per-
* Bishop Sanderson's Will is recorded in the Prerogative Court of Canter-
bury, in the volume called Juxon, Article 37. After his death, it was indus-
triously reported that he repented of his writing against the Presbyterians, and
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 367
suasion in point of Religion, and Church-governmentj in these
very words :
" I, Robert Sanderson, Doctor of Divinity, an unworthy Minis-
ter of Jesus Christ, and, by the providence of God, Bishop of Lin-
cohi, being by the long continuance of an habitual distemper
brought to a great bodily weakness and faintness of spirits, but —
by the great mercy of God — without any bodily pain otherwise,
or decay of understanding, do make this my Will and Testa-
ment,— written all with my own hand, — revoking all former
Wills by me heretofore made, if any such shall be found. First,
I commend my soul into the hands of Almighty God, as of a faith-
ful Creator, which I humbly beseech him mercifully to accept,
looking upon it, not as it is in itself, — infinitely polluted with, sin,
— but as it is redeemed and purged with the precious blood of
his only beloved Son, and my most sweet Saviour Jesus Christ ;
in confidence of whose merits and mediation alone it is, that I
cast myself upon the mercy of God for the pardon of my sins,
and the hopes of eternal life. And here I do profess, that as I
have lived, so I desire, and — by the grace of God — resolve, to die
in the communion of the Catholic Church of Christ, and a true
son of the Church of England : which, as it stands by law estab-
lished, to be both in doctrine and worship agreeable to the word
of God, and in the most, and most material points of both, con-
formable to the faith and practice of the godly Churches of Christ
in the primitive and purer times, I do firmly believe : led so to
do, not so much from the force of custom and education, — to
which the greatest part of mankind owe their particular different
pcrsuavsions in point of Religion, — as upon the clear evidence of
truth and reason, after a serious and impartial examination of the
grounds, as vrell of Popery as Puritanism, according to that meas-
ure of understanding, and those opportunities which God hath af-
forded me : and herein I am abundantly satisfied, that the schism
which the Papists on the one hand, and the superstition which the
Puritan on the other hand, lay to our charge, are Very justly
chargeable upon themselves respectively. Wherefore I humbly
beseech Almighty God, the Father of mercies, to preserve the
would not suffer a Church Minister to pray by him, which is refuted by the
narrative of Mr. PulHn's giving him the Sacramento
368 THE LIFE OF
Church by his power and providence, in peace, truth, and godli-
ness, evermore to the world's end : which doubtless he will do,
if the wickedness and security of a sinful people — and particu-
larly those sins that are so rife, and seem daily to increase among
us, of unthankfulness, riot, and sacrilege — do not tempt his pa-
tience to the contrary. And I also further humbly beseech him,
that it would please him to give unto our gracious Sovereign, the
reverend Bishops, and the Parliament, timely to consider the great
danger that visibly threatens this Church in point of Religion by
the late great increase of Popery, and in point of revenue by sa-
crilegious inclosures ; and to provide such wholesome and effec-
tual remedies, as may prevent the same before it be too late."
And for a further manifestation of his humble thoughts and de-
sires, they may appear to the Reader by another part of his Will
which follows.
" As for my corruptible body, I bequeath it to the earth whence
it was taken, to be decently buried in the Parish Church of Buck-
den, towards the upper end of the Chancel, upon the second, or —
at the furthest the third day after my decease ; and that with as
little noise, pomp, and charge as may be, without the invitation
of any person how near soever related unto me, other than the
inhabitants of Buckden ; without the unnecessary expence of es-
cutcheons, gloves, ribbons, &c. and without any blacks to be
hung any where in or about the house or Church, other than a
pulpit cloth, a hearse-cloth, and a mourning gown for the Preach-
er ; whereof the former — after my body shall be interred — to be
given to the Preacher of the Funeral Sermon, and the latter to
the Curate of the Parish for the time being. And my will fur-
ther is that the Funeral Sermon be preached by my own house-
hold Chaplain, containing some wholesome discourse concernino-
Mortality, the Resurrection of the Dead, and the Last Judijment :
and that he shall have for his pains 5Z. upon condition that he
speak nothing at all concerning my person, either good or ill,
other than I myself shall direct ; only signifying to the auditory
that it was my express will to have it so. And it is my will, that
no costly monument be erected for my memory, but only a fair
flat marble stone to be laid over me, with this inscription in legi-
ble Roman characters, depositum koberti Sanderson nuper lin-
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 3G9
COLNIENSIS EPISCOPI, QUI OBIIT AN:nIO DOMINI MDCLXII. ET ^TATIS
SU^ SEPTUAGESIMO SEXTO, IIIC REQUIESCIT IN SPE BEAT^ RESUR-
RECTioNis. This manner of burial, although I cannot but fore-
see it will prove unsatisfactory to sundry my nearest friends and
"relations, and be apt to be censured by others, as an evidence of
my too much parsimony and narrowness of mind, as being altoge-
ther unusual, and not according to the mode of these times: yet
it is agreeable to the sense of my heart, and I do very much de-
sire my Will may be carefully observed herein, hoping it may
become exemplary to some or other : at least however testifying
at my death — what I have so often and earnestly professed in my
life time — my utter dislike of the flatteries commonly used in
Funeral Sermons, and of the vast expenses otherwise laid out in
Funeral solemnities and entertainments, with very little benefit
to any ; which, if bestowed in pious and charitable works, might
redound to the public or private benefit of many persons."
I am next to tell, that he died the 29th of January, 1662 ; and
tiiat his body was buried in Buckden, the third day after his
death ; and for the manner, that it was as far from ostentation as
he desired it ; and all the rest of his Will was as punctually per-
formed. And when I have — to his just praise — told this truth,
" that he died far from being rich," I shall I'eturn back to visit,
and tjive a further account of him on his last sick bed.
His last Will — of which I have mentioned a part — was made
about tliree weeks before his death, about which time, finding his
strength to decay by reason of his constant infirmity, and a con-
sumptive cough added to it, he retired to his chamber, expressing
a desire to enjoy his last thoughts to himself in private, without
disturbance or care, especially of what might concern this world.
And that none of his Clergy — which are more numerous than any
other Bishop's — might suffer by his retirement, he did by commis-
sion impower his Chaplain, Mr. Pullin,* with Episcopal power to
give institutions to all livings or Church-preferments, during this
his disability to do it himself. In this time of his retirement he
* Mr. John PuUin, B. D. and formerly Fellow of Magdalen College, Cam-
bridge. His name is subscribed to a copy of commendatory Latin verses pre-
fixed to " Duport's Greek Version of Job." He was a Prebendary, and also
Chancellor of Lincoln.
370 THE LIFE OF
longed for his dissolution : and when some that loved him prayed
for his recovery, if he at any time found any amendment, he
seemed to be displeased, by saying, " His friends said their prayers
backward for him : and that it was not his desire to live a use-
less life, and by filling up a place keep another out of it, that
might do God and his Church service." He would often with
much joy and thankfulness mention, " That during his being a
housekeeper — which was more than forty years — there had not
been one buried out of his family, and that he was now like to be the
first." He would also often mention with thankfulness, " That till
he was three score years of age, he had never spent five shillings
in law, nor — upon himself — so much in wine : and rejoiced much
that he had so lived, as never to cause an hour's sorrow to his
good father; and hoped he should die without an enemy."
He, in this retirement, had the Church prayers read in his
chamber twice every day ; and at nine at night, some prayers
read to him and a part of his family out of " The Whole Duty of
Man." As he was remarkably punctual and regular in all his
studies and actions, so he used himself to be for his meals. x\nd
his dinner being appointed to be constantly ready at the ending
of prayers, and he expecting and calling for it, was answered,
"It would be ready in a quarter of an hour." To which his re-
ply was, " A quarter of an hour ! Is a quarter of an hour nothino-
to a man that probably has not many hours to live ?" And
though he did live many hours after this, yet he lived not many
days ; for the day after — which was three days before his death —
he was become so weak and v^^eary of either motion or sitting,
that he was content, or forced, to keep his bed : in which 1 desire
he may rest, till I have given some account of his behaviour there,
and immediately before it.
The day before he took his bed, — which was three days before
his death, — he, that he might receive a new assurance for the
pardon of his sins past, and be strengthened in his way to the
New Jerusalem, took the blessed Sacrament of the Body and
Blood of his and our blessed Jesus, from the hands of his Chap-
lain, Mr. PuUin, accompanied with his wife, children, and a friend,
in as awful, humble, and ardent a manner, as outward reverence
could express. After the praise and thanksgiving for it was
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 371
ended, he spake to this purpose : " Thou, O God ! tookest me out
of my mother's womb, and hast been the powerful protector of
me to this present moment of my life : Thou hast neither forsaken
me now I am become grey-headed, nor suffered me to forsake
thee in the late days of temptation, and sacrifice my conscience
for the preservation of my liberty or estate. It was by grace
that I have stood, when others have fallen under my trials : and
these mercies I now remember with joy and thankfulness ; and
my hope and desire is, that I may die praising thee."
The frequent repetition of the Psalms of David, hath been
noted to be a great part of the devotion of the primitive Chris-
tians ; the Psalms having in them not only prayers and holy in-
structions, but such commemorations of God's mercies, as may
preserve, comfort, and confirm our dependence on the power, and
providence, and mercy of our Creator. And this is mentioned in
order to telling, that as the holy Psalmist said, that his eyes should
prevent both the dawning of the day and night watches, by medi-
tating on God's word : Psal. cxix. 147, so it was Dr. Sanderson's
constant practice every morning to entertain his first waking
thoughts with a repetition of those very Psalms that the Church
hath appointed to be constantly read in the daily Morning ser-
vice : and having at night laid him in his bed, he as constantly
closed his eyes with a repetition of those appointed for the ser-
vice of the evening, remembering and repeating the very Psalms
appointed for every day ; and as the month had formerly ended
and began again, so did this exercise of his devotion. And if his
first waking thoughts were of the world, or what concerned it, he
would arraign and condemn himself for it. Thus he began that
work on earth, which is now his employment in Heaven.
After his taking his bed, and about a day before his death, he
desired his Chaplain, Mr. Pullin, to give him absolution : and at
his performing that office, he pulled off his cap, that Mr. Pullin
might lay his hand upon his bare head. After this desire of his
was satisfied, his body seemed to be at more ease, and his mind
more cheerful ; and he said, " Lord, forsake me not now my
strength faileth me ; but continue thy mercy, and let my mouth
be filled with thy praise." He continued the remaining night
and day very patient, and thankful for any of the little ofiices
372 THE LIFE OF
that were performed for his ease and refreshment : and during
that time did often say the 103rd Psalm to himself, and very often
these words, " My heart is fixed, O God ! my heart is fixed where
true joy is to be found." His thoughts seemed now to be wholly
of death, for which he was so prepared, that the King of Terrors
could not surprise him as a thief in the night : for he had often
said, he was prepared, and longed for it. And as this desire
seemed to come from Heaven, so it left him not till his soul as-
cended to that region of blessed spirits, whose employments are
to join in concert with him, and sing praise and glory to that God,
Vv'ho hath brought them to that place, into which sin and sorrow
cannot enter.
Thus this pattern of meekness and primitive innocence changed
this for a better life. 'Tis now too late to wish that my life may
be like his ; for I am in the eighty-fifth year of my age : but I
humbly beseech Almighty God, that my death may ; and do as
earnestly beg of every Reader, to say — Amen.
Blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile. Psalm
xxxii. 2.
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 373
DR. PIERCE'S LETTER.
Good Mr. Walton,
At my return to this place, I made a yet stricter search after the letters
long ago sent me from our most excellent Dr. Sanderson, before the happy
restoration of the King and Church of England to their several rights: in one
of which letters more especially, he was pleased to give me a narrative both
of the rise and the progress, and reasons also, as well of his younger, as of his
last and riper judgment, toucliing the famous points controverted between the
Calvinians and the Arminians, as they are commonly (though unjustly and
unskilfully) miscalled on either side.
The whole letter I allude to does consist of several sheets whereof a good
part had been made public long ago, by the most learned, most judicious, most
pious Dr. Hammond, (to whom I sent it both for his private, and for the pub-
lic satisfaction, if he thought fit,) in his excellent book, entitled, '•' A Pacific
Discourse of God's Grace and Decrees, in full accordance with Dr. Sander-
son :" to which discourse 1 refer you for an account of Dr. Sanderson and the
history of his thoughts in his own hand-wriiing, wherein I sent it to Westv.-ocd,
as I received it from Boothby Pannel. And although the whole book, (printed
in the year 1660, and reprinted since v/ith his other tracts in folio) is very
worthy of your perusal ; yet, for the work you are about, you shall not have
need to read more at present than from the 8th to the 23rd page, and as far as
the end of section 33. There you will find in wliat year the excellent man,
whose life you write, became a Master of Arts : how his first reading of learn-
ed Hooker had been occasioned by certain puritanical pamphlets ; and how
good a preparative he found it for his reading of Calvin's Institutions, the hon-
our of whose name (at that time especially) gave such credit to his errors : how
he erred with Mr. Calvin, whilst he took things upon trust in the sublapsarian
way : how, being chosen to be a Clerk of the Convocation for the Diocese of
Lincoln, 1625, he reduced the Quinquarticu'ar Controversy into five schemes
or tables ; and thereupon discerned a necessity of quitting the sublapsarian
way, of which he had before a better liking, as well as the supralapsarian,
which he could never fancy. There you will meet with his two weighty rea-
sons against them both, and find his happy change of judgment to have been
ever since the year 1625, even thirty-four years before the world either knew,
or, at least, took notice of it : and more particularly his reasons for rejecting
Dr. Twiss, (or the way he walks in,) although his acute and very learned and
ancient friend.
FART II. 14
374 THE LIFE OF
I now proceed to let you know from Dr. Sanderson's own hand,* which
was never printed, (and which you can liardly know from any, unless from his
son, or from myself,) that, when that Parliament was broken up, and the con-
vocation therewith dissolved, a gentleman of his acquaintance by occasion of
some discourse about these points, told him of a book not long before published
at Paris, (A. D. 1623,) by a Spanish Bishop, t who had undertaken to clear
the differences in the great controversy De Concordia Gratice. et Liberi Ar-
hiirii. And because his friend perceived he was greedily desirous to see the
book, he sent him one of them, containing tho four first books of twelve which
he intended then to publish. " When I had read," says Dr. Sanderson, in the
following words of the same letter, " his Epistle Dedicatory to the Pope,
(Gregory XV.) he spake so highly of his own invention, that I then began
rather to suspect him for a mountebank, than to hope I should find satisfaction
from his performances. I found much confidence and great pomp of words,
bat little matter as to the main knot of the business, other than had been said
an hundred times before, to wit, of the coexistence of all things past, present,
and future ZH menie divina realitcr ab cctcrno, which is the subject of l;is whole
third book: only he interpreteth the word realiter so as to import not only
prccsentialitatem objeciivaiii, (as others held before him,) but propriam et ac-
tualem existentiam ; yet confesseth it is hard to make this intelligible. In his
fourth book he endeavours to declare a twofold manner of God's working ad
extra ; the one sub ordine prczdestinationis, of which eternity is the proper
measure : the other sub ordine gratice, whereof time is the measure ; and that
God workelh fortiter in tiie one (though not irresistibiliier as well suavitcr
in the other, wherein the free will, hath his proper working also. From the
result of his whole performance I was confirmed in this opinion ; that we must
acknowledge the work of both grace and free will in the conversion of a sin-
ner ; and so likewise in ail other events, the consistency of the infallibility of
God's foreknowledge at least (though not with any absolute, but conditional
predestination) with the liberty of man's will, and the contingency of inferior
causes and effects. These, I say, we must acknowledge for the on : but fof
the TO TTOJS, I thought it bootless for me to think of comprehending it. And so
came the two Acta Synodalia Dordrechtana to stand in my study, only to fill
up a room to this day.
" And yet see the restless curiosity of man. Not many years after, to wit,
A. D. 1632, out Cometh Dr. Twiss's,t Vindicice GraticB, a large volume, pur-
posely writ against Arminius : and then, notwithstanding my former resolu-
* Sir, I pray note, that all that follows between inverted commas are Dr. Sanderson's
own words, excellently worthy, but no where else e.\tant ; and commend him as much as
any thing you can say of him. T. P.
t Arriba.
% This learned nonconformist was born at Reading about 1575, and educated at Win-
chester School, and New College, Oxford. He had been Chaplain to the Princess Eliza-
beth. He died at Newbury, July 20, 1G46. Wood says, " his plain preaching was esteemed
good ; his solid disputations were accounted better; but his pious life was reckoned best
of all."
DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 375
tion, I must need be meddling again. The respect I bore to his person and
great learning, and the acquaintance I had had with him in Oxford, drew me
to the reading of that whole book. But from the reading of it (for I read it
through to a syllable) I went away with many and great dissatisfactions.
Sundry things in that book I took notice of, which brought me into a greater
dislike of his opinion than I had before : but especially these three : First that
he bottometh very much of his discourse upon a very erroneous principle,
which yet he seemeth to be so deeply in love with, that he hath repeated it, I
verily believe, some hundreds of times in that work : to wit this ; That what-
soever is first in the intention is last in execution, and e converso. Which is
an error of that magnitude, that I cannot but wonder how a person of such
acuteness and subtilty of wit could possibly be deceived with it. All logicians
know there is no such universal maxim as he buildeth upon. The true maxim
is but this : Finis qui pri7nus est in intentione, est uliimus in executione. In
the order of final causes, and the means used for that end, the rule holdeth
perpetually : but in other things it holdeth not at all, or but by chance ; or not
as a rule, and necessarily. Secondly, that, foreseeing such consequences
would naturally and necessarily follov/ from his opinion, as would offend the
car of a sober Christian at the very first sound, he v.ould yet rather choose not
only to admit the said harsh consequences, but professedly endeavour also to
maintain them, and plead hard for them in large digressions, than to recede in
the least from that opinion which he had undertaken to defend. Thirdly, that
seeing (out of the sharpness of his wit) a necessity of forsaking tlie ordinary
sublapsarian way, and the supralapsarian too, as it had diversely been declared
by all that had gone before liim, (for the shunning of those rocks, which either
of those ways must unavoidably cast him upon,) he was forced to seek out an
untrodden path, and to frame out of his own brain a new way, (like a spider's
web wrought out of her own bowels,) hoping by that device to salve all absur-
dities, that could be objected ; to wit, by making the glory of God (as it is in-
deed the chiefest, so) the only end of all other his decrees and then making
ail those other decrees to be but one entire co-ordinate medium conducing to
that one end, and so tlie whole subordinate to it, but not any one part thereof
subordinate to any other of the same. Dr. Twiss should have done well to
have been more sparing in imputing the studium partium to others, wherewith
his own eyes, though of eminent perspicacity, were so strangely blindfolded,
that he could not discern how this his new device, and his old dearly beloved
principle, (like the Cadmean Sparti,) do mutually destroy the one the other.
" This relation of my past thoughts having spun out to a fur greater length
than I intended, I shall give a shorter account of what they now are concern-
ing these points."
For which account I refer you to the following parts of Dr. Hammond's
book aforesaid, where you may find them already printed : and for another
account at large of Bishop Sanderson's last judgment concerning God's con-
currence or nonconcurrence with the actions of men, and the positive entity
of sins of commission, I refer you to his letters already printed by his consent,
370 THE LIFE OF
in my large appendix to my Impartial Enquiry into the Nature of Sin, § 68. p.
193, as far as p. 200.
Sir, I have rather made it my choice to transcribe all above out of the let-
ters of Dr. Sanderson, which lie before me, than venture the loss of my origi-
nals by post or earner, which, though not often, yet sometimes fail. Make
use of as much or as little as you please, of what I send you from himself
(because from his own letters to me) in the penning of his life, as your own
prudence shall direct you ; using my name for your warranty in the account
given of him, as much or as little as you please too. You have a performance
of my promise, and an obedience to your desires from
Your affectionate
Humble Servant,
North Tidworth, THO. PIERCE.
March 5, 1677-8.
THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN'S LETTER.
" MY WORTHY FraEND MR. WALTON,
>j
" I am heartily glad, that you have undertaken to write the Life of that ex-
cellent person, and, both for learning and Piety, eminent Prelate, Dr. Sander-
son, late Bishop of Lincoln ; because I know your ability to know, and integ-
rity to write truth : And sure I am, that the life and actions of that pious and
learned Prelate will afford you matter enough for his commendation, and the
imitation of posterity. In order to the carrying on your intended good work,
you desire my assistance, that I would communicate to you such particular
passages of his life, as were certainly known to me. I confess I had the hap-
piness to be particularly known to him for about the space of twenty years ;
and, in Oxon, to enjoy his conversation, and his learned and pious instructions
while he was Regius Professor of Divinity there. Afterwards, when (in the
time of our late unhappy confusions) he left Oxon, and was retired into the
country, I had the benefit of his letters •, wherein, with great candour and
kindness, he answered those doubts I proposed, and gave me that satisfaction,
which I neither had nor expected from some others of greater confidence, but
less judgment and humility. Having, in a letter, named two or three books
writ (ex profcsso) against the being of any original sin : and that Adam, by
his fall, transmitted some calamity only, but no crime to his posterity ; the
good old man was exceedingly troubled, and bewailed the misery of those li-
centious times, and seemed to wonder (save that the times M^ere such) that
any should write, or be permitted to publish any error so contradictory to truth,
and the doctrine of the Church of England, established (as he truly said) by
clear evidence of Scripture, and the just and supreme power of this nation,
both sacred and civil. I name not the books, nor their authors, which are not
^^ DR. ROBERT SANDERSON. 377
unknown to learned men (and I wish they had never been known) because
both the doctrine, and the unadvised abettors of it are, and shall be, to me
apocrj-phal.
Another little story I must not pass in silence, being an argument of Dr.
Sanderson's piety, great ability, and judgment, as a casuist. Discoursing with
an honourable person* (whose piety I value more than his nobility and learn-
hig, though both be great) about a case of conscience concerning oaths and
vows, their nature and obligation ; in v^hich, for some particular reasons, he
then desired more fully to be informed ; I commended to him Dr. Sanderson's
book ' De Juramento ;' which having read, with great satisfaction, he asked
me, — ' If I thought the Doctor could be induced to write Cases of Conscience,
if he might have an honorary pension allowed him to furnish him with books
for that purpose V I told him I believed he would : And, in a letter to the
Doctor, told him what great satisfaction that honourable person, and many
more, had reaped by reading his book ' De Juramento ;' and asked him,
' whether he would be pleased, for the benefit of the Church, to write some
tract of Case.s of Conscience?' He replied, ' That he v/as glad that any had
received any benefit by his books :' and added further, ' That if any future
tract of his could bring such benefit to any, as we seemed to say his former
had done, he would willingly, thougli without any Pension, set about that
work.' Having received this answer, that honourable person, before men-
tioned, did, by my hands, return 50Z. to the good Doctor, whose condition then
(as most good men's at that time were) was but low ; and he presently re-
vised, finished, and published that excellent book, ' De Conseientia :' A book
little in bulk, but not so if we consider the benefit an intelligent reader may
receive by it. For there are so many general propositions concerning con-
science, the nature and obligation of it, explained and proved with such firm
consequence and evidence of reason, that he who reads, remembers, and can
with prudence pertinently apply them hie ct nunc to particular cases, may, by
their light and help, rationally resolve a thousand particular doubts and scru-
ples of conscience. Here you may see the charity of that honourable person
in promoting, and the piety and industry of the good Doctor, in performing
that excellent work.
And here I shall add the judgment of that learned and pious Prelate con-
cerning a passage very pertinent to our present purpose. When he was in
Oxon, and read his public lectures in the schools as Regius Professor of Divin-
ity, and by the truth of his positions, and evidences of liis proofs, gave great
content and satisfaction to all his hearers, especially in his clear resolutions of
all diflficult cases which occurred in the explicalion of the subject-matter of his
lectures ; a per.son of quality (yet alive) privately asked him, ' What course a
young Divine should take in his studies to enable him lo be a good casuist?'
His answer was, 'That a convenient understanding of the learned languages,
at least of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and a sufficient knowledge of arts and
sciences presupposed ; there were two things in human literature, a compre-
* Robert Boyle, Esq.
378 THE LIFE OF DR. ROBERT SANDERSON.
hension of which would be of very great use, to enable a man to be a rational
and able casuist, which otherwise was very difficult, if not impossible: 1. A
convenient knowledge of moral philosophy ; especially that part of it which
treats of the nature of human actions ; To know, " quid sit actus humanus
(spontancus, invitus, 7nixtus,) unde habet bonitatem et malitiam moralem ?
an ex genere et objecto, vel ex circumstantiis?^' How the variety of circum-
stances varies the goodness or evil of human actions 1 How far knowledge
and ignorance may aggravate or excuse, increase or diminish the goodness or
evil of our actions? For every case of conscience being only this — " Is this
action good or bad? May I do it, or may I not?" — He who, in these, knows
not how and whence human actions become morally good and evil, never can
(in hypothesi) rationally and certainl)'' determine, whether this or that par-
ticular action be so. — 2. The second thing, which, he said, ' Vv'ould be a great
lielp and advantage to a casuist, was a convenient knovv'ledge of the nature
and obligation of lavv's in general : to know what a law is ; what a natural and
a positive law ; what's required to the " latio, dispensatio, derogatlo, velabro-
gatio legis;" what promulgation is antecedently required to the obligation of
any positive law ; what ignorance takes off the obligation of a law, or does ex-
cuse, diminish, or aggravate the transgression : For every case of conscience
being only this — " Is this lawful for me, or is it not?" and the law the only
rule and measure by which I must judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of
any action ; it evidently follows, that he, who, in these, knows not the nature
and obligation of laws, never can be a good casuist, or rationally assure him-
self or others, of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of actions in particular.
This was the judgment and good counsel of that learned and pious Prelate :
And having, by long experience, found the truth and benefit of it, I conceive,
I could not without ingratitude to him, and want of charity to others, conceal
it. — Pray pardon this rude, and, I fear impertinent scribble, which if nothing
else, may signify thus much, that I am willing to obey your desires, and am
indeed,
Your affectionate friend,
THOMAS LINCOLN."
London, May 10, 1678
INDEX.
Abbot, Dr. Robert, Bisliop of Salisbury, 323.
Allen, Cardinal, 225.
Alvey, Richard, 199.
Ambrose, St. 78.
Andrews, Dr. Launcelot, Bishop of Winchester, 74, 269,
Arminius, James, 160.
Austin, St. 78, 94, 133, 187.
Bacon, Sir Francis, Lord Verulam, 156, 269.
Barfoote, Dr. John, 195.
Bargrave, Dr. Isaac, 166.
Barlow, Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln, 359.
Barnard, Dr. Nicholas, 242.
Baxter, Rev. Richard, 362.
Bedel, Rev. William, 143, 161.
Bellarmine, Cardinal Robert, 56.
Bemerton, Rectory of, 281.
Beza, Theodore, 136.
Bishop's Bourne, Rectory of, 224, 227.
Bocton Malherbe, Kent, 125.
Boothby Pannell, Lincoln, 328.
Boscum, Rectory of, 223.
Bostock, Rev. Robert, 297.
Boyle, Hon. Robert, 359.
Bradford, the Martyr, 206.
Brio-htman, Thomas, 343.
Brook, Christopher and Samuel, 60.
Brownisls and Barrowists, 246.
Buckden, Palace at, 365.
Csesar, Sir Julius, 155.
Cales, The, Voyage, 56.
Carey, Dr. Valentine, 86.
Cartwright, Thomas, 213, 343.
Casaubon, Isaac, 137.
380 INDEX.
Charke, William, 240.
Charles I., King of England, 104, 107, 220, 243, 280, 324, 332, 339.
Charles II., King of England, 305.
Chidley, or Chudleigh, John, 80.
Chillingworth, William, 313.
Churchman, John, 19G. , Mrs., 197, 198.
Clarke, Rev. William, 351.
Clement VIII., Pope, 140, 225.
Cole, Dr. William, 180.
Coppinger, Edmund, 202, 240.
Corbet, Dr. Richard, Bishop of Oxford, 110.
Cowley, Abraham, 170.
Cowper, Sir William, 238.
Cranmer, George, 192, &,c. Letter, 244.
William, 181.
Creighton, Robert, 279.
Crooke, Dr. Charles, 323.
Cuffe, Mr. Henry, 138.
Curie, Dr. Walter, 280, 334.
Davenant, Dr. John, Bishop of Salisbury, 281.
Dering, Edward, 203.
Dominis, M. A. de. Archbishop of Spalatro, 154.
Donato, Leonardo, Duke of Venice, 145, 151.
DoxNE, Dr. John, Birth and descent of, 53. His education and abilities, 54.
Religious enquiries of, 55. His travels, 50. Entertained by Lord Elles-
mere, 57. Attachment and marriage of, 58. Discharged from Lord El-
lesmere's service, 59. Imprisonment of, 00. Enlargement and subsequent
difficulties, ibid. Dr. Morton's friendship for him, 04. Is solicited to take
holy Orders, 04, 75, 70. Residence with Sir F. Wolly, and reconciliation
with Sir G. More, 00. Removal to Mitcham, 06. Extracts from his let-
ters, 07, 08, 100. Removes to Drury House, 09. Attends Sir R. Drury
to France, 70. His Vision there, ibid. His verses addressed to his wife,
73. Secular employment solicited for, 74. King James's regard for, ibid.
Answers the objections to the Oath of Allegiance, 75. Prepares himself
for the Ministry, 70, 77. Takes Orders, 78. His diffidence in preach-
ing, 79. Verses In praise of his preaching, 80. Made King's Chaplain,
and D. D. at Cambridge, character of his sermons, 81. Death of his
Wife, 82 First Sermon afterward, 83. Becomes Divinity Lecturer at
Lincoln's Inn, 84. Attends the Earl of Doncaster to Bohemia, 80. Re-
turns, and is made Dean of St. Paul's, &.c., 87. Under the King's dis-
pleasure, 88. Clears himself, 89. His sickness, ibid. His noble refusal
of Church property, 90. His recovery, and last illness, 91, 100. Char-
acter of, and of his Poetry; 92. Hymns by, 93, 99. His seals of the An-
chor and Christ, 95, 270. Verses sent with, to G. Herbert, 97. Reply
INDEX. 381
to Ditto, 98. Method of composing his Sermons, &c., 100. Treatise of
Biathanatos, 100. Makes his Will, 101. His charities, 10.3. Filial af-
fection of, 104. Extracts from his private accounts, 105. His last Lent
Sermon, 107. Joy at his recent Life, and at death, 108. Attempt of
Dr. Fox to cure him, 109. Mortuary Monument of him executed, 110.
His Epitaph and Portraits, 111. His happy death and burial, 113. Hon-
ours paid to his tomb, 114. Private subscription sent for his Monument,
114. His features, eulogy, and character, 115. Poetical Epitaphs on, 116.
Dorset, Edward and Richard Sackville, Earls of, 88.
Don, Synod of, 101.
Drayton Beauchamp, Church and Parsonage, 198.
Drury, Sir Robert, 69.
Duncon, Rev. Edmund, [not Edward] 297.
Duport, Dr. James, 268.
Duppa, Dr. Bryan, Bishop of Salisbury, 96.
Earle, Dr. John, Bishop of Salisbury, 227.
Elizabeth, Queen of England, 139, 200, 207.
, Queen of Bohemia, 85, 153.
EUesmere, Thomas Lord, 57, 59, 324.
Elmer, John, Bishop of London, 197.
Farrer, Nicholas, 275, 297.
Fell, Dr. Samuel, 342.
Ferdinand de' Medicis, Duke of Florence, 140.
Fox, Dr., 109.
Field, Dr. Richard, 47.
Fulgentio, M., 101.
Fulman, Mr., 239.
Fulston Church, Wilts, 297.
Gardiner, Dr., 342.
Gataker, Rev. Thomas, 84.
Gauden, Dr. John, 45.
Gentilis, Albericus, 132, 135.
Goodier, Sir Henry, 95.
Gretzerus, the Jesuit, 228.
Grindal, Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, 207.
Guarini, Battista, 131.
Gunning, Dr. Peter, Bishop of Ely, 363.
Hacket, William, 202, 246.
Hales, John, of Eton, 174.
Hall, Dr. Joseph, Bishop of Norwich, 96.
Hammond, Dr. Henry, 334, &c.
362 INDEX.
Harding, Dr. Thomas, 191.
Harrison, John, 170.
Harsnett, Dr. Samuel, Bishop of Chichester, 81.
Hay, James, Earl of Doncaster, 85.
Henchman, Dr. Humphrey, Bishop of London, 286.
Herbert, George, 95. Life of, 257. His birth and family seat, ibid. Fam-
ily of, ifnd. His education, — entered of Cambridge, 259. Account of
his mother, 260. University, character and titles at, 264. His conduct
as Orator, 266. Replies to Melviu's Satires, 267. Verses on Dr. Donne's
Seal, — his hopes of Court preferment, 270. His health impaired by study,
— His verses on affliction, 271. Death of his Court friends, 272. Deter-
mines to take Orders, 273. Made Deacon, — Repairs the Church of Lay-
ton Ecclesia, 274. His Letter to his mother in her sickness, 275. His
own illness, 278. His resignation, recovery, and his person described, —
Courtship and marriage of, 279. Receives the Rectory of Bemerton, —
— hesitates at taking Orders, — convinced by Bishop Laud, and is ordain- ,
ed, 281. Holiness of his life, — his induction, his delight in the title of
Priest, 282. Address to his wife thereon, 283. Repairs the Church and
Parsonage, — instances of his humility and goodness, 284. His christian
conduct, ibid. His Country Parson, 286. His Sermons, 287. Pious
life of him and his parishioners, 289. His love for Music, 293. Anec-
dotes of, ibid. Is seized with a consumption, 296. Mr. Duncon's visits
to, 297. His acquaintance with Nicholas Farrer, 298. Sacred Poems,
sent to, 303. Their publication, ibid. His reflections on dying, — hymn
by, 395. Dying conduct of, ibid. His Letter to Nicholas Farrer, 309.
Herbert, Lady Magdalen, 95, 260, &c.
Herbert of Cherbury, Lord, 257.
Herbert, Sir Thomas, 340.
Hooker, Richard, His birth and character of his childhood, 183. Schoolmas-
ter's advice, 184. Success of his intercession with J. Hooker, 185. Is
patronised and sent to Oxford by ditto, and Bishop Jewel, 186, 187. Fil-
ial affection of, 187. His visit to Bishop Jewel, ibid. Is made Tutor to
Edwin Sandys, 189. His learning and piety at Oxford, ibid. Is admit-
ted on the College Foundation, 190. Graduates there, and becomes Fel-
low, 191. His pupils, ibid. His subsequent course of study, 193. Be-
comes Hebrew Lecturer, 194. Is expelled his College, ibid. Re-admit-
ted, takes Orders, and is appointed to preach at St. Paul's, 195. His jour-
ney to London, and Sermon, 196. Unhappy marriage of, 197. His resi-
dence at Drayton Beauchamp, 198. Recommended to be Master of the
Temple, 199. Receives the office, 200, 214. His religious disputes with
Travers, 216. His defence of his doctrine of Faith, ibid. And Justifica-
tion, 217. His charitable belief concerning Papists, 219. His mildness
in argument, 220. His controversial writings published, and his Ecclesi'
astical Polity commenced, 211. Dr. Spencer's eulogium on, 222. Is
presented to the Rectory of Boscum, 223. Publication of his first four
INDEX. 383
presented to the Rectory of Boscum, 223. Publication of his first four
books of Polity, 224. Receives the Rectory of Bishop's Bourne, and his
holy life there, ibid. 227, 231. Preface to his books of Church Polity,
224, 225. Eulogies on them, 226. His friendship with Dr. Saravia, 227.
His preaching, 230. Conspiracy against, 233. Conduct in his sickness,
235. Occasion of his death, ibid. His death, 237, 239. Epitaph on,
238. Appendix to his Life, 239. His will and family, ibid. Authenti-
city of the last three books of Polity considered, 241. His remaining
writings destroyed, ibid. G. Cranmer's Letter to, 244.
Horton, Sampson, Parish-Clerk of Bishop's Bourne, 229.
Rowland, Dr. Richard, Bishop of Peterborough, 214.
Jackson, Dr. Thomas, 191.
James I. King of England, 74-76, 79, 80, 85, 87, 88, 139, &c., 148, 153,
204, 226, 243, 266, 324.
Jewel, John, Bishop of Salisbury, 185, 189.
Ireland, Mr. 259.
Juxon, Dr. William, Archbishop of Canterbury, 339.
Kent, Henry Grey, Earl of, 88.
Kiibie, Dr. Richard, 320.
King, Dr. Henry, Bishop of Chichester, 90, 91, 110, 117.
, Dr. John, Bishop of London, 78, 327.
Lake, Dr. Arthur, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 294, 324.
Lambarde, William, 127.
Laud, William, Archbishop of Canterbury, 281, 332, 350.
Lay ton Ecclesia, Church of, 273.
Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, 203, 213.
Lothesley, or Loseley Hall, 58.
Martin, Gregory, 245.
Martin Marprelate, 214.
Matthew, Dr. Tobias, Bishop of York, 328.
Melville, or Melvin, Andrew, 267, 307.
Mirandula, J. Picus, 54.
Montague, Dr. James, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 74.
More, Sir George, 58, 61.
, Sir Thomas, 53.
, Anne, 58, 82.
Morley, Dr. George, Bishop of Winchester, 43, 338.
Morton, Sir Albert, 143, 161.
, Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Durham, 63.
Moryson, Fynes, 192.
384 INDEX.
Mountfort, Dr. T. 114.
Murray. Thomas, 156.
Nash, Thomas, 214.
Naunton, Sir Robert, 266.
Neale, Dr. Richard, 259.
Nethersole, Sir Francis, 266.
Nevil, Dr. Thomas, 260.
Northumberland, Henry Percy, Earl of, 59.
Oley, Rev. Barnabas, 287.
Paine, Dr., 342.
Paolo, Padre, 101, 147.
Parry, Dr. Richard, Bishop of St. Asaph, 270.
Paul v., Pope, 147.
Pearson, Dr. John, Bishop of Chester, 363.
Perkins, Rev. William, 160.
Pey, Nicholas, 156, 162. ♦
Phillips, Fabian, 243.
Pierce, Dr. Thomas, 333, 373.
Pole, Cardinal Reginald, 191.
Prideaux, Dr. John, 323.
Prudentius, Clemens Aurelius, 99.
PuUin, Rev. John, 369
Rastall, William, 53.
Reynolds, Dr. John, 186, 194.
Rotherham, Thomas, Archbishop of York, 317.
Rudde, Dr. Anthony, Dean of Gloucester, 56.
Sancroft, Dr. William, Archbishop of Canterbury, 364.
Sanderson, Dr. Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, Hooker's MS., 342. Life of, 311.
Birth of, 317. Family of, «Sl-c. 318. His education, 319. His degrees,
&LC. at Oxford, 321-326. His acquaintance with Dr. Sheldon, 326. Re-
signs his Fellowship, 328, and marries, 329. Instances of his piety and
charity, 329. Excellence of his Sermons, 332. His Convocation em-
ployments and Answers to Calvin, 333. Is made D.D., 334. Employed
to reform the Prayer Book, 336. Called to the Assembly of Divines, —
made Professor of Divinity, and excellence of his Lectures, 336. Attends
the King in the Isle of Wight, 338. Forced to quit his College, 341. Per-
secuted at Boothby Pannell, 345. Prayer used by, in altering the Litur-
gy, 346. His singular memory, 347. His debate in the Quinquarticular
Controversy, 348. Prefaces to his Sermons referred to, 351. Made
Prisoner by the Parliament, ibid. Cases of Conscience written by, 352.
INDEX. 385
Walton's interview with, 254. Ciiaracter of his person and manners, 357.
Mr. Boyle's friendship to, 359. Recommended to a Bishopric, 360.
Made Bishop of Lincoln, 361. His conduct as such, 364. His principal
studies, 366. Extracts from his Will, 367. Conduct of, in his last sick-
ness, 369.
Sandys, Dr. Edwin, Archbishop of York, 188.
, Sir Edwin, 188.
Saravia, Dr. Adrian, 227, 235.
Savile, Sir Henry, 192.
Scioppius, Jasper, 150.
Sheldon, Dr. Gilbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, 318.
Soinerset, Robert Carr, Earl of, 75.
Spencer, Dr. John, 181, 222, 241.
Stapleton, Dr. Thomas, 225.
Stuart, Arabella, 268.
Theobalds, Palace at, 76.
Thorndike, Rev. Herbert, 271.
Throgmorton, Sir Nicholas, 171.
Travers, Rev. Walter, 197, 214.
Valdesso, Signor John, 301.
Velserus, Marcus, 150.
Vietta, Signor John, 139, 140.
Usher, Dr. James, Archbishop of Armagh, 182.
Wadsworth, Rev. James, 164.
Wall, Dr., 342.
Watson, William, 140.
Westphaling, Dr. Herbert, 191 .
White, Dr. Thomas, 87.
Whitgift, John, Archbishop of Canterbury, 206, 241, 244.
Williams, Dr. John, Archbishop of York, 273.
Wolly, Sir Francis, 62.
Woodnot, Mr. Arthur, 275.
WoTTON, Sir Henry, Birth-place of, 125. His Lectures at Oxford, 131. Hi^
friendship with Dr. Donne, 136. His travels, ibid. Becomes Secretary
to the Earl of Essex, 138, but goes abroad at the commencemeut of his
rebellion, 139. His residence in Italy, ibid. Sent on' a secret Embassy
to Scotland, 140. Returns to Florence, ibid. His reception by King
James I., 141. Sent Ambassador to Venice, 143. Corresponds between
the Republic and the King, 148. Sentence in an Album, 149. Loses
and recovers the King's favour, 150. His interest with the Dukes of Ven-
ice, 151. Prisoners liberated by, 152. Sent Ambassador to Germany,
386 INDEX.
152, 154. Made Provost of Eton, 156. His conduct there, 157, 159.
His liberal sentiments in religion, 160, 161. Advice of, to an Ambassador,
161. His Sorrow for Sir A. Morton, 162. His Verses to his menory, 162,
163. His recommendatory letter of Mr. Bedel, 164. His proposed Histories,
166. His Monument, 168. Extracts from his Will, 170. Last Visit to
Winchester College, 173. His declining health, 175. His decease, 176.
Cowley's Elegy on, ibid. His character of Archbishop Whitgift, 206.
Wotton, the very Rev. Nicholas, Dean of Canterbury and York, 128, 132.
Wren, Dr. Matthew, Bishop of Ely, 334. i -i
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 134.
Zouch, Dr. Richard, 337.
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