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Izaak Walton |
Izaak Walton (1593–1683). The Lives of John Donne and George Herbert.
Vol. 15, pp. 373-382 of The Harvard Classics
Isaak Walton, famed
patron of fishermen, appreciated other arts and hobbies. He writes of
George Herbert, a preacher whose hobby was poetry.
(George Herbert died
March 3, 1633.)
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 neighbours. 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
estates; and the heirs of that castle saw 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 reign of our King 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 Newport, now Controller of
his Majesty’s Household. A family that for their loyalty have
suffered much in their estates, and seen the ruin of that excellent
structure where their ancestors have long 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 distribution; and as often bless God,
that they were neither defective in their shapes nor 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 attainment of many
languages, he was by King James sent ambassador 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 Luisens, 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 Castleisland, and not long after of Cherbury 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.
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 he hath been Master of
the Revels, a place that requires 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
against Algiers, did there show a fortunate and true English valour.
Of the three sisters I need not say more than that they were all
married to persons of worth and plentiful fortunes; and lived to be
examples 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 content 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 instructed in the rules of
grammar, he was not long after commended to the care of Dr. Neale,
who was then Dean of Westminster; and by him to the care of Mr.
Ireland, who was then chief master of that school; where the beauties
of his pretty behaviour and wit shined, and became so eminent and
lovely in this 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 1608; 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 liberal 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 friendship.
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 continued twelve years a widow; that she
then married happily to a noble gentleman, the brother and heir of
the Lord Danvers, Earl of Danby, who did highly value both her person
and the most excellent endowments of her mind.
In this
time of her widowhood, she being desirous to give Edward her eldest
son, such advantages of learning, and other education, 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 insensibly
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 St. 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.
Of the latter he says,
In
all her words to every hearer fit,
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. Chrysostom’s to his dear and
virtuous Olympias; whom, in his letters, he calls his saint: or an
amity, indeed, more like that of St. Hierome to his Paula; whose
affection to her was such, that 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:—
To the
Lady Magdalen Herbert:
Her of your name, whose
fair inheritance
“MADAM,
“Your
favours to me are everywhere: I use them and have them. I enjoy them
at London, and leave them there; and yet find them at Mitcham. Such
riddles as these become things inexpressible; and such is your
goodness. I was almost sorry to find your servant here this day,
because I was loth to have any witness of my not coming home last
night, and indeed of my coming 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
Sunday to seek that which she loved most; and so did I. And, from her
and myself, I return such thanks as are due to one to whom we owe all
the good opinion that they, whom we need most, have of us. By this
messenger, and on this good day, I commit the enclosed 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 enclosed sonnet to usher
them to your happy hand.
Your
unworthiest servant,
Unless your
accepting him to be so
have mended
him,
MITCHAM, JO. DONNE.”
July 11,
1607.
Of
St. Mary Magdalen
Bethina
was, 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.
Increase
their number, Lady, and their fame:
To
their devotion add your innocence:
Take
so much of th’ example, as of the name;
The
latter half; and in some recompense
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 hers, 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 this Mr. John Donne—who was then Dean of St.
Paul’s—weep, and preach her funeral sermon, in the Parish Church
of Chelsea, near London, 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 behaviour 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 I
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’s glory: and I beg you to receive this as
one testimony.”
My
God, where is that ancient heat towards thee,
Wherewith
whole shoals of Martyrs once did burn,
Besides
their other flames? 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
well as any she? Cannot thy Dove
Outstrip
their Cupid easily in flight?
Or,
since thy ways are deep, and still the same,
Will
not a verse run smooth that bears thy name?
Why
doth that fire, which by thy power and might
Each
breast does feel, no braver fuel choose
Than
that, which 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 thy praise, and doth forbid
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 but filth; when Lord, in Thee
The
beauty lies in the discovery.
G. H.
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 morning 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 was so, there
will be many testimonies in the future part of his life. I shall
therefore only tell, that he was made Minor Fellow in the year 1609,
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 twenty-second year of his age; during all which
time, all, or the greatest diversion from his study, was the practice
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 entrance
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: 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 employment of his time
till he was Master of Arts, which was anno 1615, and in the year 1619
he was chosen Orator for the University. 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
gaiety 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 behaviour,
his tongue, and his pen.” Of all 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 showing 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 Bodleianamque objicis, hospes!
Unicus
est nobis Bibliotheca Liber.
This letter
was writ in such excellent Latin, was so full of conceits, 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 show his great abilities was, with them,
to show 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. Andrew’s; who, by a long and
constant converse with a discontented 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
ceremonies, 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. 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 at 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:
Casua tibi mecum est
communis, carceris, Ara-
Bella, tibi causa
est, Araque sacra mihi.
I shall not
trouble my reader with an account of his enlargement from that
prison, or his death; but tell him Mr. Herbert’s verses were
thought so worthy to be preserved, that Dr. Duport, 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.
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