FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D.'D. BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY sets m% THE POETICAL WORKS OF UEORGE HERBERT. *<""• cf^e rftrf. ■^ ■* APF 1935 THE POETICAL WORKS OF •, GEORGE HERBERT EDITED BY A. B. GROSART LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS YORK STREET COVENT GARDEN 1886 CHISWICK PRESS '. C. VVHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. CONTENTS. Those witn a star [*] are in the Williams MS. ; f indicates additions or various readings in the Notes and Illustrations : J appear for the first time. The H and $ prefixed to the headings of the poems of the Temple are given as in 1632-3 onward. PAGE Dedication to Professor Morley . . ix Editor's Preface xi I. Memorial-Introduction — i. Biographical . xxiii II. Critical . . lxiii II. The Temple : Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations pp. 1-235 PAGE PAGE The Printers to the Reader 5 *t20. The Holy Commu- I. The Dedication 9 nion 72 *tll. The Church Porch . 9 21. Antiphon. 74 III. Superliminare . 40 ■*22. Loye, I. and II. 74 IV. The Church . 41-235 *t23. The Temper . 76 *1. The Altar 41 *24. The Temper . 77 *f2. The Sacrifice . 42 *t25. Jordan 78 *t3. The Thanksgiving . 51 *t26. Emplovment . 79 *|4. The Second Thanks- *27. The Holy Scriptures, giving, or the Re- I. and II. . 80 prisall . 54 *t28. Whitsunday 81 5. The Agonie 55 *29. Grace 82 *6. The Sinner 56 *t30. Praise 83 *t7. Good-Friday . ». 56 31. Affliction . 84 |8. Redemption 58 *32. Mat-tens . 85 9. Sepulchre 58 *33. Sinne 86 HO. Easter and The Song, 34. Even -Song 87 and another ver- *t35. Church Monuments 88 sion 59 *t36. Church Musick 89 til. Easter Wings . 62 *t37. Church Lock anc L *tl2. Holy Baptisme 63 Key . 89 *13. Holy Baptisme 63 t38. The Church Floore 90 *14. Nature 64 39. The Windows . 91 tl5. Sinne 65 *t40. Trinitie Sunday 92 *tl6. Affliction . 65 *41. Content. . 92 *tl7. Repentance 68 *t42. The Quidditie . 94 *tl8. Faith 70 *43. Humilitie 94 *19. Prayer . 72 *44. Frailtie . . 96 CONTENTS. 45. 46. 47. 49. 50. *tol. *t58. •5a *f54. *55. 56. *t57. *53. 59. *|60. 61. *t63. *t63. *t64. *65. *66. 67. 68. 69. *t70. •71. *72. 73.' *t74. *t75. •t77l 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 93. 93. 94. 9o. 96. Mary, and Afflic- Constaneie Affliction . The Starre Sunday Avarice . Anagram : Army . To all Angels Saints . Employment Deniall Christmas Ungratefulnesse Sisfhs and Grones The World Our Life is Hid with Christ in God (Co- loss, hi. 3) Vanitie Lent Vertue The Pearl (Matt, xiii.) Testation (= tion) . Man Antiphon . Unkindnesse Life . Submission Justice Charms and Knots Affliction . Mortification Decay Miserie . Jordan Prayer Obedience Conscience Sion Home The British Church The Quip . Vanitie The Dawning Jesu . Businesse Dialogue . DuJuesse . Love-joy . Providence Hope Siune's Round Time Gratefulnesse Peace Confession PAGE 97 93 99 101 103 103 104 105 106 107 109 110 111 113 113 114 116 117 119 120 122 123 124 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 133 134 135 136 137 13S 141 142 143 144 145 1-45 147 14S 150 150 157 157 158 159 160 162 98, 99 100. 101. 102. 103; 104 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. 131. 132. 133. 134. 135. 136. 137. 138. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143. 144. 145. 146. 147. 148. 149. Giddinesse The Bunch of Grapes Love unknown Man's Medley . The Storm Paradise . The Method . Divinitie . " Grieve not the Holy Spirit" (Ephes. iv. 30) The Familie The Size . ArtiUerie . Church - Rents Schismes Justice The Pilgriinaee The Holdfast Complaining The Discharge Praise An Offering Lon firing . The^Bag . The Jews The Collar The Glimpse Assurance The Call . Clasping of Hai. Praise Joseph's Coat The Pulley The Priesthood The Search Grief The Crosse The Flower Ditage The' Sonne A True Hymne The Answer A Dialogue-Anthem Christian, Death The Water-course , Self-Condemnation Bitter-Sweet . The Glance The 2 rd Psalm Marie Magdalene . Aaron The Odour (2 Cor. xi.) . . The Foil The Forerunners . The Rose Discipline PAGE 1*3 164 166 168 1*9 170 171 172 i is 173 175 17* 178 179 ISO 181 _ • 186 1-7 1-9 192 193 194 195 19 i 198 199 201 201 a $ : 20*? 207 210 211 211 212 213 214 214 215 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 CONTENTS. 111 PAGE PAGE 150. The Invitation 156. Death . . 231 151. The Banquet . 226 *157. Dooms-day . 2;;2 152. The Posie . 228 158. Judgment . 233 153. A Parodie . 228 159. Heaven . . 234 L|154. The Elixir . 229 160. Love . 234 155. A Wreath . 230 For readier reference, these betically. The figures 1, the Poem required. Contents are also arranged alpha- 2, 3, on to 160 denote the number of 144. Aaron 218 97. Giddinesse . . 163 137. A Dialogue-Anthem . 213 7. Good Friday 56 16. Affliction . 65 29. Grace . 82 31. Affliction . 84 94. Gratefulnesse . 159 46. Affliction . 98 130. Grief . 206 63. Affliction . 119 105. Grieve not the Hol> 71. Affliction . 127 Spirit, «fec. 173 50. Anagram . An Offering 103 159. Heaven 234 116. 187 12. Holy Baptisme . 63 21. Antiphon . 74 13. Holy Baptisme . 63 65. Antiphon . 122 20. Holy Communion 72 153 A Parodie . 228 80. Home . 138 108. Artillerie . 178 91. Hope . . 157 122. Assurance . 196 43. Humilitie . 94 135. A True Hymne . 211 85. Jesu . 145 49. Avarice 103 2b. Jordan 78 155. A Wreath . 230 75. Jordan 133 140. Bitter-Sweet 215 126. Joseph's Coat . 201 86. Businesse . 145 158. Judgment . 233 70. Charms and Knots . 126 69. Justice 125 54. Christmas . 107 110. Justice 180 37. Church Lock and Key 89 60. Lent . 114 35. Church Monuments . 88 67. Life . 121 36. Church Musick . 89 117. Longing 189 109. Church - Rents or 22. Love . 74 Schismes 179 160. Love . 234 124. Clasping of Hands 198 89 Love-joy . 150 113. Complaining 183 99. Love unknown . 166 96. Confession . 162 64. Man . 120 78. Conscience . 136 100. Man's Medley . 168 45. Constancie . 97 143. Marie Magdalene 217 41. Content 92 32. Mat tens 85 156. Death 231 74. Miserie 130 73. Decay 129 72. Mortification 128 53. Deniall 106 14. Nature 64 87. Dialogue . 147 77. Obedience . 135 149. Discipline . 223 58. Our Life is Hid with 104. Di vim tie . 172 Christ in God 113 157. Dooms-day 232 102. Paradise . 170 133. Dotage 210 95. Peace 160 88. Dulnesse . 148 30. Praise 83 10. Easter 59 115. Praise 186 11. Easter Wings . 62 125. Praise 199 26. Employment 79 19. Prayer 72 52. Employment 105 76. Prayer 184 34. Even-Song 87 90. Providence 150 18. Faith 70 8. Redemption 58 44. Frail tie 96 17. Repentance 68 IV CONTEXTS. PAGE PAGE L39. Self Condemnation 214 119. The Jews . . 193 9. Sepulchre . 58 103. The Method . 171 56. Sighs and Grones 110 145. The Odour . 219 15. Sinne . 65 62. The Pearl . . 117 33. Sinne . 86 111. The Pilgrimage . . 1-1 92. Sinne's Round . 157 152. The Posie . . 228 79. Sion . 137 128. The Priesthood . . 202 6a Submission 124 127. The Pullev . 201 48. Sunday 101 42. The Quidditie . 94 III. Superliminare . 40 82. The Quip . . 142 68. Tentation ^Afflic- 4. The Reprisall . . 54 tion) 110 148. The Rose . . 222 5. The Agonie 55 2. The Sacrifice . . 42 1. The Altar . 41 129. The Search . 204 136. The Answer 212 6. The Sinner b6 118. The Bag . 192 107. The Size . . 176 L51. The Banquet 226 134. The Sonne . . 211 81. The British Church 141 47. The Starre . 99 98. The Bunch of Grape i 164 101. The Storm . 169 rs.\ The Call . 198 23. The Temper . 76 38. The Church Floore 90 24. The Temper . 77 II. The Church Porch 9 8. The Thanksgiving . 51 130. The Collar 194 142. The 23rd Psalm . 216 131. The Crosse 207 138. The Water-course . 214 84. The Dawning . 144 39. The Windows . 91 I. The Dedication . 9 57. The World . Ill 114. The Discharge . 184 93. Time . . 158 154. The Elixir 229 51. To all Angels and 106. The Familie 175 Saints . 104 132. The Flower . 208 40. Trinitie Sunday . 92 146. The Foil . 220 55. Ungratefulnesse . 109 147. The Forerunners . 221 66. Unkindnesse . 123 141. The Glance 215 59. Vanitie . 113 121. The Glimpse 195 83. Vanitie . 143 112. The Holdfast . 182 61. Vertue . 116 27. The Holy Scriptures . 80 23. Whitsunday . 81 150. The Invitation . 224 Ill The Church Mi LI TAN' D . . . 237 IV Lilies of the Temp LE : from unpublis hed MSS. . . PP . 254-261 *-t I. The Holy Commu - 1 *J iv Euen Song . 258 nion . 255 1 *J v. The Knell . 259 *J II. Love . 257 1 *J vi. Perseverance . 260 *Jin. Trinity Sunday . 258 VII. The Convert . 261 V. Psalms : hitherto uncollected and inedited . 263 VI. Secular Poems : with additions from MSS. pp. 275-284 I. Sonnets. Sent by George Herbert to his Mother as a New-year's gift from Cambridge 277 II. Inscription in the Parsonage, Bemerton : To my suc- cessor "... . . 278 | Another version 278 CONTENTS. PAGE in. On Lord Dauvers 279 I IV. On Sir John JJanvers 279 v. A Paradox. That the sick are in a better case, &c. . 2-" I vi. G. H. To ye Queene of Bohemia 382 } VII. Parextalia * . . . *' . . . 285 I VIII. Anti-Tami-Cami-Categoria et Georgii Herberti, Angli Musae Kesponsoriae, ad AnHreae Melvini, Scoti, Anti-Tami- Cami-Categoriam . . . pp. 299-310 Pro Supplici Evangelicorvm Ministrorvm in Anglia, &c, sive Anti-Tami-Cami-Categoria 303 Pro Disciplixa Ecclesiae Xostrae Epigram- mata Apologetica .... pp. 310-334 I I. To King James 1 310 J II. To Charles, Prince of Wales 311 X in. To Bishop Andrewes 311 I iv. To the King: Two Epigrams 312 v. To Melville 312 I vi. On the Monster of a Word "Anti-Tami-Cami-Cate- goria" 313 I vn. The Division of Anti-Tami-Cami-Categoria . . 313 I vin. On the kind of Metre of Anti-Tami-Cami-Categoria . 314 I ix. Concerning the Masked Gorgon .... 314 J X. Concerning the Pride of Prelates .... 315 I xi. Concerning the Twin Universities .... 315 xii. Concerning the Rite of Holy Baptism . . . 316 I xiir. Concerning the Sign of the Cross .... 316 I xiv. Concerning the Church's Oath 317 I xv. On Purification (=Churching) after Childbirth . 317 I xvi. Concerning the Pontifical Beauty (=decency) of Anti- Christ 318 I xvn. Concerning the Surplice 313 I xvin. Concerning the square College-cap .... 319 I Xix. To a Puritan 320 1 xx. Concerning Bishops 320 I xxi. Concerning the same : to Melville .... 321 I xxh. Concerning a Puritan Weaver 321 I xxiii. Concerning Magical Circles 321 I xxiv. On the Brethren 322 I xxv. On Spots and Blemishes 322 I xxvi. Concerning Sacred Music • 323 J xxvii. Concerning the same 321 J xxvtii. Concerning the Use of Ceremonies .... 325 J XXix. Concerning the Wedding-ring 325 1 xxx. Concerning Puritans and Worldlings . . . 326 1 The whole of the Latin and Greek poems and " Anti-Tami-Cami- Categoria " and " Pro Disciplina Ecclesiae Nostrae Epigrammata Apologetica " and " Alia Poemata Latina " and " Passio Discerpta " and " Lucus" were, for the first time, translated into English in the Fuller Worthies' Library edition of the complete works in verse and prose of Herbert.— G. VI CONTEXTS. PAGE I xxxi. Concerning the Lord's Prayer i 2 • "> I xxxii. To a certain Puritan 327 I xxxtii. Concerning the She-Wolf of the Vatican Puddle . 327 I xxxiv. Concerning Imposition of Hands .... 328 I xxxv. The Petitioning Ministers Taking-off: treated as a Comedy 328 I xxxvi. On the Enumeration of Authors .... 3-3 I xxxvii. Concerning the accursed Hunger for Gold Jxxxviii. To Scotland : an exhortation to Peace I xxxix. To Innocent Ones led astray 3 0 I xl. To Melville 331 I xli. To the same 3: 2 I Xiii. To his most Serene Majesty [James I.] . . 332 J xliii. To God 334 IX. Alia Poemata Latixa . . . pp. 335 -3. 6 I i. To the Author of Instaurationis Magnae, Francis Bacon 337 I n. To the honour of the most illustrious Francis, Baron Verulam, &c 337 I in. Comparison between the Office of the Lord High Chan- cellorship and (Lord Bacon's) Book (presented to the University) 338 I iv. A Negress courts Cestus, a Man of a different colour . 339 I V. On the Death of the incomparable Francis, Viscount St. Albans 339 I vi. On (my) Birthday and Good-Friday coinciding . . 340 I vu. To Dr. Donne, on the gift of one of his Seals : an Anchor and Christ 340 I On the Anchor Seal 342 Jvni. To James 1 342 I IX. Epigram from Martial 342 I x. On the Death of her most Serene Majesty Queen Anne (of Denmark) 343 I XI. On the Death of Henry Prince of Wales .... 343 I Xli. On the Death of Prince Henry 345 X. Passio Discerpta. Lucua . . pp. 347-373 PASSIO discerpta. *J I. To the Dying Lord 349 *j ii. On the Bloody Sweat 349 *| in. On the Same 350 *l iv. On the Pierced Side 350 *J v. On the Spittle and Revilings 350 *l vi. On the Thorny Crown 350 *J vu. On the Reed, Crown of Thorns, Bending the Knee, and Purple Robe 351 *T vin. On the Buffetings 351 *J ix. On the Scourge 351 *J x. On the Parted Garments 352 *| xi. On the Penitent Thief 352 *l xii. On Christ about to ascend the Cross .... 352 *l xm. Christ on the Cross 352 *| xiv. On the Nails 353 *l xv. On the Bowed Head 353 *| xvi. To the Failing Sun . 353 *£ xvn. The Open Graves 354 CONTENTS. Vll PAGE *l xviii. The Earthquake 354 *7 xix. The Rent Vail 355 *| xx. The Rent Rocks 355 *l xxi. On the Earth's Sympathy with Christ .... 356 LUCUS. *J I. Man an Image 357 *J ii. The Fatherland 357 *J in. On Stephen Stoned 358 *J iv. On Simon Magus . 358 *} v. On the Holy Scriptures 353 *l vi. On the Peace enjoyed by Britain .... 3-;9 *1 vii. Avarice 359 *l viii. On the Washing of the Apostles' Feet . . . 360 *I ix. On St. Luke .... ... 360 *l x. The Pope's Title : neither God nor Man . . . 360 *l XI. The Paying of the Tribute 360 *? xn. The Tempest : Christ Asleep 361 *l xin. The Good Citizen 361 *l xiv. On the Shadow of Peter 361 *l xv. Martha ; Mary . . . v 361 *J xvi. In Love . . . . \ 362 *l xvii. On a Proud Man 362 *J xvm. On the Same 362 *J xix. Affliction 363 *J xx. On Vainglory 363 *l xxi. On a Glutton 364 *l xxn. On a Plausible Villain 364 *J xxiii. Consolation 364 *J xxiv. On the Angels 365 *l xxv. Rome : Anagram 366 Ibid, by Dean Duport 366 *l xxvi. Pope Urban VIII. 's Reply 367 * I xxvii. Reply to Urban VIII 367 *Z xxviii. To Pope Urban VIII 367 *l xxix. A Reasonable Sacrifice 368 *J xxx. On Thomas the Twin 368 *J xxxi. On a Sun-dial ........ 368 *| xxxii. The Triumph of Death ... . 369 *Jxxxin. The Christian's Triumph over Death . . . 373 *J xxxiv. To John on the Breast (of Christ) .... 373 *J xxxv. To the Lord 373 Longer Notes and Illustrations on Special Points pp. 375-395 Glossarial Index 397 TO PROFESSOR HENRY MORLEY I DEDICATE THIS EDITION OF A POET HE LOVES ; AS AN EXPRESSION OF LITERAEY FELLOWSHIP AND DEEPENING FRIENDSHIP IN KINDRED WORK. ALEXANDER B. GROSART. PREFACE. ^ROM Nicholas Ferrar and Barnabas Oley and Izaak Walton earlier, to William Pickering, James Yeowell, William Jerdan, Robert Aria Will- ^ mott, and C. Cowden Clarke more recently, many loving and capable editors have spent time and pains (in the old sense) on the Works of the " divine Herbert " — epithet irrever- sible as "judicious" for Richard Hooker, "holy" for Richard Baxter. I wish, therefore, right cor- dially to acknowledge the labours of my prede- cessors on this Worthy. It were to belie my innermost feeling, not to express my sense of obligation. Nevertheless, it may be permitted me to point out certain things whereby the pre- sent edition claims to be in advance of others. I. For the first time the text throughout is re- produced in integrity of wording and ortho- graphy. Collation and re-collation of the original and early editions revealed manifold, in some cases flagrant and ignorant, departures from both, and important errors in even the most care- ful, while the punctuation has been chaos (e. g. Pickering's, 1835, 1838, and onward : Bell and Daldy's = Yeowell, 1865 : Wilmott : JerdaD • xii PREFACE. Clarke). The more noticeable are pointed out in their places in the Notes and Illustrations, and others will be recognized by the critical stu- dent. The text of Herbert has suffered more than most from successive misprints, and small but in the aggregate destructive changes and "improvements" by successive editors. As Mr. Christie, in his Dry den, well observes : " The importance of corrections of this sort will not be judged by the smallness of the change for the worse introduced by carelessness or design "(Pref. p. xii.). A few out of many examples may in- terest here, although their full importance can only be arrived at by an examination of them in their text and context. Taking Pickering's ex- quisite edition typographically of 1835, and others later, the following are noticeable ; Yeowell's, as really careful, is also in some instances chosen : 1. The Printers to the Eeader : " No man can more ambitiously seek than he did earnestly endeavour the resignation of an ecclesiastical dignitie, which he was possessour of ; " misprinted "professor:" Bell and Dal dy (n Yeow ell, 1865, &c.) Willmott and Clarke have strangely omitted the whole of this admirable epistle, written by Nicholas Ferrar. 2. Ibid. " And these are but 'a few : " u a " dropped out. 3. Tlie Church Torch, st. vi. 1. 5, " devest : " mis-spelled " divest ; " see note in loco. So in 83. Vanitie, 1. 15 ; and Yeowell, &c. 4. Ibid. st. xiii. 1. 3, " Cowards tell her : " Will- mott misprints " tells." 5. Ibid. st. xxiv. 1. 5, "Loose not thyself :" Pickering, Yeowell, and all, misprint " Lose," to the losing of the sense ; see note in loco. 6. Ibid. st. xxx. 1. 5, " makes his cloth too PREFACE. xiii wide : " Pickering, Yeowell, and all, misprint " clothes." 7. Ibid. st. lxx. 1. 2, " send them to thine heart:" ibid, "thy," an abounding "improve- ment" in all. 8. Ibid. st. lxxi. 1. 6, "are either :" " improved" to " either are " in all. 9. 2. The Sacrifice, 1. 110, " used and wished: " misprinted by all " wish'd," which spoils the line. 10. Ibid. 1. 234, " Yet by my subjects am con- demn'd to die :" misprinted "I'm" by Yeowell and Clarke also. 11. 3. The Thanksgiving, 1. 34, "But mend mine own : " misprinted " my;" a frequent "im- provement," ibid. 12. Ibid, line 41, " that all together may ac- cord:" misprinted "altogether," which makes nonsense ; so Yeowell. 13. 6. The Sinner, 1. 12, " thine : " again " thy," and so frequently " e'en" for " ev'n." 14. 10. Easter, The Song, line 1, " straw Thy way : " misprinted " strew ; " so Yeowell and Clarke. 15. 12. Holy Baptisme, 1. 5, " spring and rent :" misprinted " vent ; " so Yeowell. 16. 16. Affliction, 1. 21, "straw'd:" misprinted " strew' d ; " so Clarke and Yeowell. . 17. Ibid. 1. 25, " begun :" misprinted "began;" see note in loco, ibid. 18. Ibid. 1. 26, "cleave: " misprinted "clave;" wrong, as the present tense follows ; so Yeowell. 19. 17. Repentance, 1. 3, " momentanie : " mis- printed " momentarie ; " see note in loco ; so Yeo- well and Clarke. 20. 18. Faith, 1. 26, " gained :" misprinted " gain'd," which spoils the line ; so Yeowell. xiv PREFACE. 21 22. Love, 1. 24, " Thy goods : " Willmott misprints "gods." 22. 33. Shine, 1. 10, " sinnes in perspective : " misprinted " prospective ; " so Yeowell, Willmott, Clarke, &c. 23. 35. Chv.rch-llonuments, 1. 7, "this school:" misprinted or " improved" to " the ;" which weak- ens the sense. 24. 45. Constancie, 1. 22. " tentations ." mis- spelled u temptations ; " so Yeowell and Clarke. 25. 43. Sunday, 1. 11, " worky-days : " mis- printed " working-days " by Clarke, &c. 26. 49. Avarice, 1. 7, " wert : " misprinted •• wast ; " so Yeowell and Clarke. 27. 52. Employment, 1. 25, "dressed:" mis- printed " dresseth," ibid. 28. 53. Deniall, 1. 8, " pleasures : M misprinted " pleasure." 29. 57. The World, 1. 14, u sommers," Fr. som- mier zz beams : misprinted " summers ; " so Yeo- well and Clarke. 30. 90. Providence, 1. 136, "non-sense:" mis- printed and makes " nonsense," ibid. 31. Ibid. 1.146, "advise:" misprinted "ad- vice," ibid. 32. 97. Giddiness, 1. 15. "it's:" misprinted " 'tis," ibid. 33. 105. Eph. iv. 30. 11. 4, 5. " grieved, griev'd: " misprinted both " grieved," although the metre requires " griev'd" in 1. 5, ibid. 34. 106. The Fanulie, 1. 10, "plaies," qy. = - plies : " misprinted " plays," ibid. 35. 111. The Pilgrimage, 1. 14. "wold:" mis- printed ••world," which is neither sense nor rhyme ; see note in loco. 36. 129. The Search. 1. 21, "I tun'd : " mis- printed absurdly "turn'd;" so Yeowell and Clarke. PREFACE. XV 37. On Lord Danvers, p. 279, 1. 6, "the:" mis- printed " thy," ibid. 38. The Church Militant, p. 243, 1. 55, " Christ- Crosse : " misprinted " Christ's-Cross ; " see note in loco, ibid. The Greek and Latin have been hitherto most slovenly given ; perhaps ours will be found accu- rate, as well in the previously published as in the new from aISS.1 These are a mere handful, put down currente calamo as I send away the proof-sheets collated with my revised text. In Notes and Illustra- tions there are others fully and critically dis- cussed.2 The whole of these errors and corrup- tions have been anxiously rectified and purified in this edition. In so doing I have had constantly before me all the editions of the Yerse from the first, 1632-3, to the thirteenth, 1709, as well as after ones until now. Throughout, our text is faithful to the author's own wording, orthography, &c. Two slight departures ought perhaps to be named, viz., from the profuse italics and capitals, which belong to the printers, not to Herbert (as proved by his MSS.) ; and that where the " ed" might be mis-read, we have elided, as " per 1 The Prose of Herbert would furnish an equally long list of mis- prints and improvements. I limit myself now to the Jacula F^itden- tum, and I take Yeowell's text (Bell and Daldy, 1S65), with this re- sult on collation of the 1640 and 1651 editions, apart from misspel lings : "shoulders" for " shoulder,"' " drowning" for "a-dr wning, ' "comes" for "come," "heavens" for "havens," "deaths" fo»* "dearths.'' "weight" for "weigh," "payer" for "prayer, "loved"" for "beloved," "light" for "night," "brambles" for ' brables, ' " mouth" for " month," &c. All put right in Fuller Worthies'Library edition of the Prose. 2 It is remarkable how self-evident misprints escape even ke eyes -e.g. how strange that in 64, "Man," line 8, it should ha been left for me to discover the long-continued error of "no" fo " mo " = mnre. 1632-3 originated the blunder ; the Williams MS. enabled me authoritatively to correct it. So in the Paradox, line 39, "plaint our case," from Dr.Bliss onwards, the MS. contraction "or" = our has been misprinted " or," which makes nonsense. Errors of this type abound. xvi PREFACE. piex'd/' not " perplexed." Finally, the chaotic and wrong punctuation has been reduced to some order, it is hoped. II. For the first time are recorded in the Notes and Illustrations the many various readings (a) from MSS., (b) original and early editions ; most of the rarest literary and biographic value. III. For the first time there is furnished any- thing like a critical and exegetical commentary. in Xotes and Illustrations, on all calling for elu- cidation. Herbert's reading was as odd and discursive as ever was Eobert Burton's, and its application as allusive and unexpected as Thomas Fuller's ; and there are subtleties and obscurities — shadows broaden by the measure of light from whence they are objected — of thinking and con- struction and wording, as well as quaint notices of now-forgotten manners, customs, and usages, that claim record and explanation. Hitherto all, or nearly all, have been left as though readers were still contemporaries. A more meagre and inadequate, not to say discreditable, annotation than that thus far bestowed on Herbert is scarcely predicable of any other classic. I may be excused stating that I have not spared myself or willing fellow-workers auy toil of search and research, or prolonged and deliberate study, in order wor- thily to furnish this body of Xotes and Illustra- tions. No real difficulty has been consciously shirked ; and I venture to hope that readers will not consult these Xotes without obtaining help in their understanding (or misunderstanding) of the text. IV. For the first time relatively large additions are given, from (a) MSS., (b) overlooked books (e. g.) six English sacred poems, and nearly the whole of Passio Discerpta and Lucus, from the PREFACE. xvn Williams MS., the "Psalms," from Playford, and other single poems. Y. For the fifst time, in the Memorial-Intro- duction, various new outward facts will be found — e. g. his ancestry ; his education, dates and cir- cumstances ; his supposed " deaconship " shown to have been a mistake; his "sinecure office" once held by Sir Philip Sidney ; his " marriage entry," &c. ; his will, and other points ; also the MS. notes of Archbishop Leighton (such as they are), from his copy of Herbert's " Temple," — Jong amissing and hitherto eagerly as fruitlessly sought for. But it must be stated that by the limitations of this single volume the Memorial- Introduction has been everywhere compressed. The student wishful to know more must consult the fuller Memoir in yoI. i.; the Essay on Life and Writings in vol. ii., and the annotated Life by Walton in vol. iii., of the Fuller Worthies' Library edition (3 vols.), along with Christopher Harvey's complete Poems in vol. iv. VI. For the first time (i. e. published) the ori- ginal portrait of Herbert, as first given in the edition of The Temple of 1674, is reproduced faithfully; that is, without touching up or ideali- sation. Taken probably from a crayon drawing ad vivum by E. White, — an engraver who ranks with Faithorne, Vertue, Vaughan, Gaywood, and Marshall, — the history of this portrait is but im- perfectly known ; but as it is the admitted source of all the subsequent engravings, it is easy for any one to decide between it and the others. From Sturt (1703) onward to Jerdan's and Will- mott's (Eoutledge and Tegg) and Pickering's, of 1835, 1844, &c, and Bell and Daldy;s (Yeowell's), there has been a gradual obliteration of the lines and look of the " o'er-inform'd" face. Of the wood- xviii PREFACE. engrravings nothing need be said, save that they are no more Herbert than the publisher's. Of Pickering's, the steel engraving of 1835 is the : retouched for 1844 and later, to the worse. Major's, in Walton's "laves*1 rren, like Picker a good bit of work as work, but is even more untrue than Pickering's ; so too the engraving by Engleheart in Willm 44 Lives of the Sacred Pod My opinion is that the 1674 engraving as com- pared with that of 1670 in Walton's Life, gives us George Herbert when somewhat wasted by his disease ; and hence any portrait that does not preserve the angularities of the original gives a wrong impression of the man. In the Pickering and Major engravings there seems to me also too much of an attempt to express his intellect i and intellectual bright-eyedness in his face, which results in the diminishing of other character: To me, comparing it with 1674. the forehead is too perpendicular and too regular. The arches of the eyelids (though this is hardly so visible in the 1535 plate) are made too much arcs of a circle of the same level, whereas in the 1674 there is a slight up-turning of the outer part of each ; and from this or some other cause, and from the greater compression of the upper lip in the Pick- ering, we lose the expression of gentle humour which is apparent in the 1674. and which, existed in Herbert, goes to prove tha: a more faithful and art:- than from i~s somewhat coarse style might be imagined. In the Pickering also the nose is not curved but hooked, more Caesarine or Wellingtonian, and it wants that indication of Herbert's emotional temper which his brother, Lord Cherbury, desig- nated by *• choler " — the more marked nostril. PREFACE. XIX To conclude, in this old portrait of 1674 I seem to see thoughtfulness mingled with quiet " wit," and a gentleness and mildness that would not give a harsh answer or a harsh reproof; but with deep conflict-born lines, and indications of a quick, somewhat impulsive, and (using the word in its fuller and older sense) passionate mind. Every trae and reverent lover of George Herbert must agree with me in returning upon this self-authenticating engraving of 1674; all the more that, for the reasons given, it is in every way superior to the later " improvements " upon it. It is just that worn, wistful, ascetic, un- earthly face of the Herbert we love, not untouched of awe, " so awful is goodness." I would note the glowing dark eyes, the small sensitive mouth, — liker a woman's than a man's, — the long Shake- spearean upper lip, slightly moustached, the thin tremulous-nostrilled nose, the wasting cheeks. In the touched-up modern engravings the nose and chin especially are false to character. In the 1674 edition also appeared for the first time these lines, which " should have been under his picture " : — "Behold an orator, divinely sage, The prophet and apostle of that Age : View but his Porch and Temple, you shall see The body of divine philosophy. Examine well the lines of his dead face, Therein you may discern wisdom and grace. Now if the shell so lovely doth appear, How orient was the pearl imprison'd here ! " " He was," says Walton, " of a stature inclining towards leanness ; his body was very straight, and so far from being cumbered with too much flesh, that he was lean to an extremity. His aspect was cheerful, and his speech and motion did both declare him a gentleman ; for they were all so meek and obliging, that they purchased XX PREFACE. love and respect from all that knew him." Aubrey states that " he was of a very fine com- plexion." Other features of this edition will be discovered by the observant reader. I indulge the hope that my labours on this Worthy will bring re- newed attention equally to the holy and beautiful life and the unique writings. Whoever turns to either will find himself in fellowship with a " lovely spirit " of a grand age ; " When the world, travelling an nneven way, Eucounter'd greater truths in every lot, And individual minds had power to force An epoch, and divert its vassal course." ' It is now a very pleasant duty to offer my sincere thanks to various reverers of George Herbert for services rendered in the most spon- taneous and kind way. I would thank my never- failing, richly-stored friend, Dr. Brinsley Nichol- son, who, as in others of the Fuller Worthies' Library, has responded to my many calls upon his very remarkable reading and insight with a generous willinghood that I find it difficult to acknowledge sufficiently. Throughout I am in- debted to him in all manner of ways. To B. H. Beedham, Esq., Ashfield House, Kimbolton ; to Samuel B. Gardiner, Esq., London ; to Bev. Thomas Ladds, M.A., Leighton Bromswold ; to Bev. W. P. Pigott, M.A., Bemerton ; to W. Aldis Wright, Esq., M.A., Trinity College, and Professor Mayor, Cambridge ; to G. H. White, Esq., and Colonel Chester, London ; to David Laing, Esq., LL.D., Edinburgh ; to E. B. Morris, Esq., Homestay, Newtown ; to Dr. Morris Jones, Liverpool ; to Bev. Bichard Wilton, M.A., Londesborough Bectory, Market Weighton, and 1 Poems of F. W. Faber, D.D. (1357), p. 513. PREFACE. XXI numerous voluntary Correspondents, I wish to express a sense of loving and grateful obligation for communication of facts and documents, veri- fication of references, local notes, and other aids most agreeably rendered. At the British Museum and Williams Libraries, and the Bodleian, Ox- ford, as invariably, I met with every facility and unreserve of available help. For the instant and confiding use of all the Herbert MSS. in the Williams Library I must specially record my gratitude. A more genial, self-forgetting book- lover than the Williams Library -keeper (Eev. Thomas Hunter) I could not conceive. Anything else needing to be said will be found elsewhere. And now I offer my Herbert as an honest piece of somewhat hard work ; fitted perhaps to draw more and still more hearts to a genuine singer and thinker, to know and love whom deeper and nearer can only bring profit. " And as the waxing moon can take The tidal waters in her wake, And lead them round and round, to break Obedient to her drawings dim ; So may the movements of His mind, The first Great Father of mankind, Affect with answering movements blind, And draw the souls that breathe by Him." l Alexander B. Geosaet. Park View, Blackburn, Lancashire. Missing Letter from George Herbert to Bishop Lancelot Andreives. It is very much to be wished that the letter thus mentioned by Walton were recovered from its hiding-place : " For the learned Bishop, it is observable, that at that time there fell to be a 1 Poems by Jean Ingelow (186-1), p. 55. xxii PREFACE. modest debate betwixt them two about predes- tination, and sanctity of life; of both 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 it, the bishop put it into his bosom, and did often show it to many scholars, both of this and foreign nations ; 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." I must indulge the " pleasures of hope " that such a letter has not perished ; and I invite readers to keep a vigilant outlook for it. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. I. EIOGEAPHICAL. II. CRITICAL. ¥ the head of the House of Spenser in his generation, was wisely advisee by no less than Gibbon, to regard th< name of Edmund Spenser in the rol of an illustrious ancestry as " the richest jewel of his coronet ; " and if to-day one is glad to find an Earl Spencer eager to accept the (possible) lineage, and covetous to spell with ai " s " rather than a " c," — equally is it the " gloir ' of the families of Powis and Pembroke to be able— and perhaps more certainly — to inscribe in thei descents the name of George Herbert. The late lamented Sidney Herbert, Lor. Herbert of Lea, father of the present Earl c Pembroke and Montgomery, showed his sense c the honour by public speech and many a beau tiful letter when he sought to enlist friends, far and near — and splendidly succeeded — in the erection of a church at Bemerton, in memorial of George Herbert, — his boast of being a Sidney melting into a yearning and wistful gratitude that he was also a Herbert of the George Herbert stock ; while the present scholarly Earl Powis has given various proofs of his sympathetic esti- XXIV MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. mate of the same kinship. Our genealogical re- searches have revealed to us others high-placed and noticeable intrinsically, who claim the " blood " of George Herbert, and hold it as an in- estimable possession. Turning to the elaborate " Ten Tables " of Pedigrees of the " noble family of Herbert" pre- fixed by Earl Powis to his private edition of Lord Herbert of Cherbury's " Expedition to the Isle of Ehe " (contributed to the Philobiblon Society, 1860, 4to), the first begins with Charlemagne and Hildegardis, daughter of Childebrand, Duke of Swabia ; passes to Pipin and Bernard, kings of Italy (a.d. 810, 818), to Herberts Counts de Vermandois ; and ends in Sir William Herbert, who is called William ap Thomas, of Ragland Castle (in Welsh, Margoah Gles or Gumrhi). The second table is as follows : — Sir Richard Herbert— Gladys, dau. and heir, of Sir David (as supra) « Gamra, Kt., and widow of Sir Roger J Vaughan, Kt. Sir Richard Herbert,=pMargaret, dan. of Thomas ap Griffith ap second son. | Nicholas, and sister of Sir Rice Thomas, K.G. Sir Richard Herbert,=pAxn, dan. of Sir David ap Enion ap Llewel- Kt., second son, seated i lin Vaughan, Kt. at Montgomery. Edward Herbert, —Elizabeth, dan. of Mathew Price, of New- first son. j ton, com. Montgomery. Richard Herbert, = Magdalen, dau. of Sir Richard Newport, first son, seated at of High Ercall, coun. Salop, Knt., dyed Montgomery Castle, 1627. dyed 1597. The last pair were the father and mother of George Herbert, he having been their fifth son ; their first, the afterwards variously-renowned Edward, Baron Herbert of Cherbury.1 1 Lord Powis's volume, as before, pp. v -xvi. As only 40 copies MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXV Looking at similar pedigrees of the mother, they prove equally remarkable. She was the youngest daughter of Sir Eichard Newport, the largest landed proprietor of his time in the county of Salop, and descended, through the eldest daughter of Sir John Burgh, from the reigning princes of Powys-land. Her mother was Margaret Bromley, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Bromley, a member of the Privy Council, and an executor of the will of King Henry VIII.1 Of Richard Herbert we have proud words by his eldest-born in the famous autobiography, mainly recounting deeds of daring and single- mindedness ; and from Barnabas Oley and Izaak Walton. " My father," observes his son, " I remember to have been black-haired and bearded, as all my ancestors of his side are said to have been; of a manly or somewhat stern look, but withal very handsome and well compact in his limbs, and of a great courage." 2 He won an abiding repute for stout-heartedness, lavish hos- pitality, and kindness to the humblest. He " sleeps well" and royally beneath a prominent altar-tomb in the Lymore-estate chancel of Mont- gomery Church. Of Magdalen Newport more will fall to be said hereafter: now, suffice it to recall that Donne addressed to her a sonnet "Of S. Mary Mag- dalen," playing on her Christian name, full of fine praise, and in her comparative old age corn- were printed, it is almost equal to MS. The after Tables, iii. to x. are full of interest, though they are not without mistakes. " Herbert- iana : Montgomeryshire Collections," vol. vi. p. 410 ; vol. iii. p. 365 ; "Burke's Landed Gentry,'' vol. i. p. 605, "Hughes of Guerches." 1 For Newport and Bromley epitaphs see Fuller Worthies' Library edition of Herbert, as before (vol. i. pp. xxvii., xxviii.). 2 " The Life of Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury," reprint of Sir Walter Scott's edition of 1809, n. d. p. 11-12 ploxon). C XXVI MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. posed his " Autumnal Beauty " in her honour, and sings " AfFecyon here takes Keverence's name ; " l and when she died preached one of his greatest sermons at her funeral; while in his " Parentalia" George Herbert never wearies in uttering his love, veneration, and gratitude, — one of the pieces (No. ii.) being second only to Cowper's " On receiving his Mother s Picture." One should scarcely have minded to recount even thus much of " endless genealogies," if only titularly great names had formed the Herbert lineage. As it is, the most cursory glance over Lord Powis's Ten Tables and the usual genea- logies, will satisfy that the Herberts can hold their own against the bluest blood of England and France and Germany, and will verify Oley's eulogy that " Mr. George Herbert was extracted out of a generous [= generosus], noble, and ancient family ; " 2 nor abate from Walton's, that he was of " 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." 3 From century to century Herberts are found taking their places in some of the noblest and whitest pages of our national history ; and so it remains " unto this day." Nor were it hard to establish that his descent counted for a good deal to George Herbert, and furnishes elements of character that alone solve problems of his life and writings — none the less that, as an old snatch of "Welsh song celebrates, it was a " miller's daugh- ter " who brought Montgomery Castle and other 1 Our edition of " Donne's Poems," vol. i. pp. 187-190, for the " Au- tumnal Beauty ; " vol. ii. pp. 274-5, for the Sonnet. 2 " Prefatory View of the Life and Virtues of the Author," pre- fixed by Barnabas Oley to the Country Parson (1652). 3 Life, 1670-1. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXVli broad lands into the family. This is worth notice, perhaps, inasmuch as John Aubrey has preserved the lines in Welsh and English.1 We can only find room for the latter : — " 0 God I woe is me miserable, my father was a miller, And my mother a milleresse, and I am now a ladie." One likes to indulge the " Pleasures of Imagina- tion " that she might have sat for our Laureate's " Miller's Daughter," the fair shy Alice ; and it may be, the nineteenth-century love-story gives us a key to the earlier in fact and feeling alike, as thus : — " slowly was my mother brought To yield consent to my desire : She wish'd me happy, but she thought 1 might have look'd a little higher ; And I was young — too young to wed : ' Yet must I love her for your sake ; Go, fetch your Alice here,' she said : Her eyelid quiver'd as she spake. And down I went to fetch my bride : But, Alice, you were ill at ease ; This dress and that by turns you tried, Too fearful that you should not please. I loved you better for your fears, I knew you could not look but well ; And dews, that would have fall'n in tears, I kiss'd away before they fell. I watch'd the little flutterings, The doubt my mother would not see ; She spoke at large of many things, And at the last she spoke of me ; And turning look'd upon your face, As near this door you sat apart, And rose, and with a silent grace Approaching, press'd you heart to heart."2 1 Letters, as before, vol. ii. pp. 390-1. The account is as follows : ** In Brecknockshire, about three miles from Brecknock, is a village called Penkelly (Anglice, Haselwood), where is a little castle. It is an ancient seat of the Herberts. Mr. Herbert of this place came by the mother's side, a Wgan [Vaughan ?]. The Lord Cherbury's ancestor came by the second venter, who was a miller's daughter. The greatest part of the estate was settled on the issue by the second venter, viz. Montgomery Castle and Aberystwith. Upon the match with the miller's daughter are to this day recited or sung by the Welsh these verses (as above)." 2 " The Miller's Daughter ;" in all the editions. En passant, not the least of Tennyson's services as a public teacher as well as the supreme poet-artist of our age, is his inflexible assertion of the no- xxviil MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. The inscriptions of the monument to the father and mother of Herbert do not record those honours of Eichard Herbert -which find comme- moration in the "Autobiography," e.g. Custos Rotulorum, Deputy-Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for the county, and Governor of the Fortress of Montgomery ; — but do tell that the " monument was made at the cost of Magdalen his wife " — a notable thing, seeing her own " effigie " beside her deceased lord, forms part of it, while Latin hendecasyllabics must have been prepared in the expectation that she too was to be laid there. These lines merit a passing minute's heed : — " In Sepulchrdm Richardi Herberti, Armigeri, et Magdalenae uxorisejus; Hendecasyllaba. Quid virtus, pietas, amorve recti, Tunc cum vita fugit, juvare possimt In coelo relevent perenne nomen bility of worth and of good kind hearts as over against " bluest blood." The sorrow is that at this time o' day any should forget that the humblest ichor is as really of God as is the " bluest." One is pained to find in unlooked-for places acceptance of the old folly of (so-called) mesalliance independent of character, and the converse ; e.g. even Dr. John Hannah, in his excellent edition of the poems and Psalms of Bishop Henry King (1843), thus annotates in loco : " Robert Rich was married to Frances, fourth and youngest daughter of Oliver Cromwell ; but this degradation of a noble family was not of long continuance, for Rich died on the 16th of the following February, aged 23 " (p. 185). All my admiration and regard for Dr. Hannah cannot hinder me from protesting against such nonsense, and worse : at once unhistoric — for the Cromwells were of blood equal to any of the Riches — and false in its morale — seeing that Frances Cromwell was good and humble and noble after a very dif- ferent type from the Riches ; while to-day where is the House that, apart from political partisanship, would not deem it renown to de- scend from Oliver Cromwell rather than from Charles II. and his polluted race ? Matthew Prior struck deeper truth than perhaps he was aware of in an epigram-epitaph, which many in their Rank- fetishism would do well to ponder : " Nobles and heralds, by your leave Here lies — what once was Matthew Prior; The son of Adam and of Eve : Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher?" Better still is Bishop Hacket's verdict : " Never was pedigree so well set out as that of Noah ■ These are the generations of Noah ; Noah was a just man," &c. (Life by Plume, p. iii. ). MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXIX Hoc saxum doceat, duos recludens Quos uno thalamo fideque junctos Hie unus tumulus, lapisve signat. Jam longum sape, Lector, et valeto, ^Eternum venerans ubique nomen."1 In the second section of this memorial-intro- duction I give a critical examination of the life and writings of our Worthy in their inward mean- ings and significances and worth. In this I limit myself very much to the outward facts. George Herbert was born on the 3rd of April, 1593, in the Castle of Montgomery, Wales,2 — the hereditary possession of his family from " the Miller's Daughter," if Aubrey and the Welsh verse are to be credited. That this castle was the birthplace of our Worthy gives a new charm to Dr. Donne's charming poem of the u Primrose Hill," whereon it stands. At the time (according to Walton)3 it was " 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." Even onward, when this u family did in the late rebellion suffer ex- tremely 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 causes of it " (" meek " Izaak's ungentle words). Anthony a Wood calls it " a pleasant and ro- mancy place ; " 4 and Aubrey expatiates on " the exquisite prospect four different ways 5 from it. We have sought in vain for a view of this once 1 '« John Aubrey's Letters," vol. ii. pp. 388-9, collated with the monument. Translated in Fuller Worthies' Library edition, as before (vol. i. p. xxxiii.). 2 Oley, Walton, and all the authorities ; but see our annotated edition of the Life of Herbert by Walton, in loco (vol. iii.). 3 Life of Herbert, as before ; and so throughout, unless otherwise specified. 4 " Athenae Oxon." (Bliss), s. n., Edward Lord Cherbury. 5 Letters, as before. XXX MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. noble castle, prior to its destruction through the stern-sad necessities and retributions of the com- monwealth.1 The birth-year — 1593 — reminds us that his mother's friend and his own, Donne, was at the very time working on his toothed and memorable Satires, as the contemporary Harleian MS. 5110 bears, " Jhon Dunne, his Satires, Anno Domini 1593 ; 2 reminds us also that in that same year Eichard Hooker was sending forth " Book I ." of the " Ecclesiastical Polity," and — at an opposite pole — William Shakespeare his " Yenus and Adonis ; " while " by Mulla's shore " Edmund Spenser was perchance musing of " Colin Clout's come home again." 1593 is allusively notable too for the great and fearless epistle-dedicatory of John Napier to the King, wherein, digressing from the "Apocalypse7' of his treatise,3 he charged James to " reform " his court, house, family, and, above all, " his own heart" — very different lan- guage from, alas, Herbert's own onward, when even more needed. Preceding George there had been Edward, Eichard, William, Charles ; succeeding him came Henry, and posthumously Thomas ; also three 1 Sir Walter Scott, in his Preface to his edition of Lord Cherbury's Life (1809), thus with characteristic candour narrates the facts : " When the differences between King Charles and his parliament broke out, Lord Herbert joined his interest to that of the latter. He seems previously to have made a speech in behalf of the king, which gave great offence to the House ; but the year after he changed his politics and supported the parliament, for which change he be- came a great sufferer from the vengeance of the royalists. — Pari. Hist. vol. xi. pp. 3, 87. He attended the army of the parliament to Scotland in 1639, and obtained indemnification for his castle of JJont- gomery, which had Hen demolished by their order." It was conve- nient to Walton, and since to others, to forget this "indemnification" and the facts. 2 Our edit, of Donne's Poems, vol. i. p. 3. 3 " A plaine Discovery of the whole Revelation of St. John, set downe in Two Treatises ; whereunto are annexed certaine Oracles of Sibylla agreeing with the Revelation and other Places of Script ure." Edinb. (Waldegrave), 1593, 4to. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXXI daughters, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Frances.1 Their father, Eichard Herbert, died in 1597, so that in George's fourth year these " little ones " were left fatherless, and their mother heir of the promises of the widow's God. She accepted "in faith " the deeply-felt responsibility thus pre- maturely laid upon her — for her husband died comparatively young — and gave herself up with a fine enthusiasm of consecration to the training and general education of her fatherless family, in their castled home and at Oxford. She provided a duly-qualified tutor for them — one regrets that neither Oley nor Walton nor Lord Cherbury has preserved his name. But the deeper teaching, that went to the roots of their truest life, was all her own — outcome of a passionate love and a yearning care beautiful to think of even at this far-off day. " Often," says Walton, " did she bless God that they were neither defective in their shapes nor in their reason ; and very often reproved them that did not praise God for so great a blessing." Until Master George was in his twelfth year (1604-5) the education of the entire household was mainly " at home." Visit- ing the shattered remains, I liked to let Fancy busy herself in calling up these remarkable boys and girls at play within the ancestral grounds ; and there kept ringing through memory the subtle-thoughted " Primrose " of Dr. Donne, " being at Montgomery Castle, upon the hill on which it is situate." One stanza may vivify our narrative : — '* Upon this primrose hyll — Where, if Heaven wo'ld distil 1 See our Notes and Illustrations to Walton's Life of Herbert in Fuller Worthies' Library edition, as before (vol. iii.), for notices of these members of the Herbert family. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. A shower of rayne, each severall dropp might goe To his owne primrose, and crow mana soe, And where their forme and their infinity Make a terrestrial galaxy, As the small stars doe in the sky — I walke to fynd a true-lone, and I see That 'tis not a meere woman that is shee, But must or more or less than woman bee."1 About his twelfth year George was sent to Westminster School, which is proud to enrol his name among her sons. We think of another Westminster boy later — William Cowper — similarly sent up to town from the country with life-long hurt to his delicate sensitive nature.2 But our Herbert had mingled more with society, and thus early was of robuster stuff than the gentle recluse. Besides, it is probable, if not ab- solutely certain, that he was with his mother and some of his brothers in Oxford, while still very young. This last point requires elucidation. The dates of the " Autobiography" and of Walton and Wood are scanty and conflicting. Lord Cherbury states that " his parents thought fit to send him to Oxford " when he was " twelve years old ; " that is, having been born in 1581, in 1593-4. But he immediately adds : "I had not been many months in the University but news was brought me of my father's death, his sickness being a lethargy, caros, or coma vigilans, which continued long upon him : he seemed at last to die without much pain, though in his senses. Upon opinion given by physicians that his disease was mortal, my mother thought fit to send for me home ; and presently, after my father's death, to desire her brother, Sir Francis Newport, to haste to London to obtain my wardship for his 1 Our edition of Donne's Poems, vol. ii. pp. 233-4. 2 Cowper uttered his sense of injury in his " Tirocinium." My friend Mr. Howard Staunton remembers both in his " Great Schools of England" (1869), pp. 130-1: the whole section on Westminster (pp. 94-132) is interesting. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXXlll and her use jointly, which he obtained. Shortly after I was sent again to my studies in Oxford, where I had not been long but that an overture for a match with the daughter and heir of Sir William Herbert of St. Gilian's was made ; " and onward, " About this time I had attained the age of fifteen, . . . yet notwithstanding the dis- parity of years betwixt us, upon the eight-and- twentieth of February, 1598, in the house of Eton, where the same man, vicar of , married my father and mother, christened and married me, I espoused her. Not long after my marriage I went again to Oxford, together with my wife and mother, who took a house, and lived for some certain time there." l There seem to be various mistakes in these early recollections. For seeing that Master Edward was sent for only a few months after being entered at the University, the summons when his father was on his death-bed — viz. in 1597 — must have been another, and he was then in his sixteenth, not his twelfth year, and when married, in his eighteenth-nineteenth not his fifteenth year. The closing statement is the most interesting in relation to George, for it explains that it was not until 1597-8 that their mother took up her residence in Oxford. That is to say, when Edward (according to Wood) be- came a gentleman commoner of University Col- lege in 1595, "aged fourteen years,*' he was by himself under tutors ; whereas on his return to the University, after his father's death and his own marriage in 1597-8, he was thenceforward under his mother's eyes ; and thus George being in his fifth year in 1598, and not removed to Westminster till his twelfth year, in all likelihood was of the brothers taken to Oxford. 1 Life, as before, pp. 16, 17. xxxiv MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Walton, with welcome chattiness, thus informs us on this period : " In this time of her widow- hood, 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, re- move 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 re- creations 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 to keep it burning." Eor these reasons she indeared 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 oblig- ing behaviour gained her an acquaintance and friendship with most of any eminent worth or learning that were at that time in or near the MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXXV university." Walton was evidently unaware of Edward's marriage and of other circumstances ; but the four years' continuance of the mother in Oxford, reaching from 1598 to 1603-4 or there- abouts, warrants us in concluding that George shared this oversight, discipline, and affectionate vigilance. So that it was during these years, in all probability, his reverent-love and loving-reverence for his mother grew up that break out in the " melodious tears ;; of the " Parentalia." Yery fine is the picture of this illustrious lady in the second poem of the " Parentalia," already referred to ; and it will actualize to us the whole home- influences to turn back upon it. Here it is made to speak English by the " sweet singer " of " Wood-notes and Church Bells " (Rev. Eichard Wilton, M.A., Londesborough Rectory, Market Weighton). " Holy Cornelias, and Sempronias grave, And all of serious womanhood, I crave Your tears ; for she, who blended what in you Shines good and beautiful, claims as her due Your blended sorrows. For this downfall raise Loud weepings, Dignity, nor lose thy praise: Stand, Modesty, with locks loose-flowing down; Sorrow is sometimes Beauty's loftiest crown. The glory of women has perish'd ; and men dread Lest of each sex with her the dower has fled. The fleeting suns she would not wear away In vanity of dress and self-display, Piling proud structures in the morning hour Upon her head, rear'd upwards like a tow'r ; Then spending the long day in talk and laughter — For tongues' confusion comes tower'd Babel after ! — But after modest braiding of her hair, Such as becomes a matron wise and fair, And a brief bath, her freshen'd mind she brought To pious duties and heart-healing thought, Addressing to the Almighty Father's throne Such warm and earnest prayers as He will own. Next she goes round her family, assigning What each may need for garden, distaff, dining. To everything its time and place are given; Then are call'd in the tasks at early even. By a fix'd plan her life and house go on, By a wise daily calculation ; Sweetness and grace through all her dwelling shine, Of both first shining in her mind the sign. xxxvi MEMORIAL INTRODUCTION. But if at times a great occasion rise — With visit of some noble — she likewise Rises, and raises up herself, and vies With the occasion, and the victory gains. O, what a shower of courteous speech she rains 1 Grave pleasantry, grace mix'd with wit is heard ; Fetters and chains she weaves with every word. Or if some business for the hour should ask, She glides through turns and windings of the task With her replies, a match for wisest men. Then what a mistress was she of the pen 1 What graceful writing hers ! Mark the fair shell Wherein a kernel fairer still may dwell, The voice and sentiment agreeing well. Through all the world her well-known letters flit : Charming right hand, that dust is all unfit, Where now thou liest ; for thy writing fine, Pactolus' sand sole fitting tomb of thine. Add music, smoothing, soothing other gifts, Which, for a moment, the rapt spirit lifts As with a prelude of Heaven's harmony. Then what a helper of the poor you see In her ! A prop of languid folk and slow, A roof for those who live forlorn and low, A common balm on throbbing bosoms shed, While public blessings hover round her head, Rehearsing now the manner of the sky, Anticipating her reward on high. I droop as all her virtues I relate, Which by my sorrows I enumerate ; Stars are they now, my tearful griefs of late. But thou who think'st these things not fitly done, A mother's praise forbidding to a son, Away with thy false foolish modesty ! Heartless and silent then shall only I Be found, when her fine praise rings to the sky ? My mother's urn, is't closed only to me — Wither'd the herbs, and dry the rosemary ? Owe I to her a tongue only to grieve ? Away, thou foolish one, and give me leave ! Shame to forget whde pious praise I weave. Thou shalt be prais'd for ever, mother mine, By me, thy sorrowing son ; for surely thine This learning is, which I deriv'd from thee, Which o'er the page now flows spontaneously, Its highest fruit of labour seen to attain In praising thee, though Folly may arraign." With these experiences of a childhood ripening into boyhood, passed in a sweet content with his mother and brothers, and latterly, with inefface- able memories of " most of any eminent worth or learning that were at that time in or near the University," he went — as we have seen — to Lon- don, and was " commended to the care of Dr. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. XXXVll Neale, who was then Dean of Westminster ; and by him to the care of Mr. [Eichard] Ireland, who was then chief master of that school." George Herbert was thus " entered" at West- minster under every possible advantage. Of his progress and characterat school, Walton continues : " 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." The " pretty behaviour" was doubtless by the impress of his mother, to whom — as he gratefully and graciously sings (Parentalia, iv.) — he owed his " first and second birth." That he was bookish and scholarly even thus soon is testified by two things : (a) That being in his fifteenth year a King's Scholar, he was elected out of the school for Trinity Col- lege, Cambridge; (b) That Andrew Melville's Latin epigram -satire on certain ultra-ritualisms in the King's Chapel having been circulated in the school, he " replied " to it by way of preliba- tion to his after-answers in Epigrams -Apologetical to his "Anti-Tami-Cami-Categoria " — the latter fact arguing no little self-esteem and self-posses- sion even to grotesqueness, seeing that the vene- rable scholar against whom this stripling David came forth was no vulgar-boasting Goliath, but a man foremost among the foremost in ripe learning and intellect, intrepidity and worth. Of this epigram-warfare I shall have more to say onward: of the King's Scholarship and election to Trinity, be it remembered that the demands on those who xxxvm MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. attained these honours were hi^h and thorough. Summarily, the Life of Bishop Hacket (by Plume) — a schoolfellow at Westminster, and elected to Cambridge with him — yields this anecdote, that the head-master [Ireland] on their departure assured them, " that he expected to have credit from them two at the University, or would never hope for it afterwards by any while he lived; and added withal, that he need give them no counsel to follow their books, but rather to study mode- rately and use exercise, their parts being so good, that if they were careful not to impair their health with too much study, they would not fail to arrive to the top of learning in any art or science." l The admission-books of the University and other MS. records furnish these entries : He was admitted scholar 5th May, 1609, on the same day with John Hacket (as above) ; matriculated pen- sioner at Trinity 18th December, 1609, by the name of Georgius Harbert — and so the poet of the " Prophecies of Cadwallader " (1604) spelled his name "William Harbert;" became B.A. in 1612-13 ; minor fellow, 3rd October, 1614 ; major fellow, 15th March, 1615 (1616); A.M. 1616; sub- lector quartas classis, 2nd October, 161 7.2 These years cover from his fifteenth-sixteenth year (1608) to his twenty-third (1617). As at Westminster he had the paternal care of the good Dean Neale, so at Trinity, by the con- tiDued carefulness of his mother — who just about the time of his going to Cambridge was again married, to Sir John Dan vers — he enjoyed the like friendship (for " patronage " is not the right word) of one equally estimable, and of larger in- 1 1675 (folio), p. v. 2 Letters penes me from the late Joseph Romilly, Esq., Registrar of the University, and William Aldis Wright, Esq., M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xxxix tellect and richer every way — Dr. Nevil, Dean of Canterbury and Master of Trinity College. He took a personal interest in providing a tutor for the young "King's Scholar" fresh from "West- minster— again it is a disappointment that his name has not come down apparently — and Walton thus writes of the introduction : "It may be noted, that from his first entrance into the Col- lege the generous ["wostf magnificent" are Bishop Plume's words] Dr. Nevil was a cherisher of his studies, and such a lover of his person that he took him often into his own company, by which he confirmed his native gentleness." Contempo- raneously Dr. iSTevil was showing kindred interest in Giles Fletcher, whose " Christ's Yictorie and Triumph in Heaven and Earth, over and after Death," appeared in 1610 with a characteristic epistle to the master.1 There seems no question that George Herbert very speedily made himself a name at the Uni- versity for varied as well as sound learning ; "varied," inasmuch as the evidence seems unim- peachable that, besides the usual Latin and Greek, he "read" in French, Italian, and Spanish, as well as Hebrew — much as Kichard Crashaw was doing in Cambridge while lie was departing.2 He came to the front soon. The " Epicedivm Can- tab rigiense, in obitum immaturum, semperq. de- flendum Henrici, Illustrissimi Principis Walliae," &c, 1612, contains his two Poems (Latin) in commemoration of the lamented young prince. He was then in his nineteenth year. So with other Eoyal Collections. In 1618 he was "Rhe- 1 See onr edition of the complete Poems of Giles Fletcher (1868), pp. 60-4, in Fuller Worthies' Library edition : also (1875) published by Chatto and Windns. 2 See onr edition of the complete Works of Richard Crashaw (1873), vol. i. Memorial- Introduction. xl MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTIOX. toric reader;" and elsewhere I shall adduce a remarkable exhibition by him in this capacity, from Hacket's Life of Archbishop Williams.1 So that it seemed inevitable that, on a probable vacancy in the office of public orator of the University, he should have "moved" to get it; nor is it less noticeable that throughout he held the claims of any other than himself as light. He sought the post with ardour, as his letters remain to attest. He "engaged" the advocacy of Sir JohnDanvers, his stepfather — who, from first to last, was most generous to his stepson in his somewhat unac- countable pecuniary straits and book-hunger, of which more anon — felt sure of the goodwill of his " ancient acquaintance " Sir Francis Nether- sole, then the public orator, and to his kins- man the Earl of Pembroke and Sir Benjamin Eudyard, and others.2 The successor of Nevil as Master of Trinity — Dr. John Eichardson, one of the translators of the authorized version of our English Bible— wrote a testimonial-letter for him, which Herbert himself characterized as "express- ing the Univer si tie's inclination to him." He obtained the coveted office. On 21st October, 1619, a grace passed, allowing the orator, Sir Francis Nethersole, to go abroad on the king's business, and appointing George Harbert (sic, as in the matriculation) his deputy. On 18th Janu- ary 1619-20, Sir Francis Xethersole resigned, and George Herbert was elected. By anticipation he had described the office of public orator as follows : " It is the finest place in the University, though not the gainfullest, yet that will be about 1 In the Orator's Book is a note in, it is believed, Herbert's auto- graph, which gives the 19th January as the date. The explanation probably is that, while elected on 18th, he made the note of it Ji 19th. 2 See our Essay, as before in Fuller Worthies' Library edition. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xli £30 per annum. But the comm odious n ess is beyond the revenue, for the orator writes all the University letters, be it to the King, Prince, or whoever comes to the University. To requite these pains, he takes place next to the Doctors, is at all their assemblies and meetings, and sits above the Proctors." These were " gaynesses" which he acknowledged would " please a young man ; " and he was the young man intended (being in his twenty-sixth year). From 1619 to 1627 he discharged — with certain significant interruptions — the duties of Public Orator. These brought him into intimate rela- tions with the statesmen and dignitaries of the day ; and the king was waited on vigilantly (to say the least) at neighbouring Eoyston on his frequent visits. These visits led Bacon and Bishop Lancelot Andrewes to Cambridge, and with both Herbert formed a lifelong friendship. He kept himself before all likely to be influential in advancing him in the line of his predecessors as Public Orator — Sir Robert ISTaunton and Sir Francis Kethersole — and corresponded with Lodowick, Duke of Lennox, and James, Marquis of Hamilton. His " sickness " was named in the letters of contemporaries, showing that he bulked before them. Within all these activities was an ever-recurring " conflict " between giv- ing himself to the service of the State or of the Church — never absolutely abandoning the latter " design," yet overshadowing it with pur- suit of the "painted pleasures" of the Court. Even tenderly-loving and reverential Izaak Wal- ton has to admit that the condescension of the king, and the seductive charms of the royal circle, dazzled his eyes and tempted him so much, that now "he seldom looked towards Cam- d xlii MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. bridge, except when the king was there," but "then lie never failed" A study of the facts, and the remaining lite- rary memorials of them, leaves the impression of scholarliness, culture, power, winningness ; but equally unquestionable is the impression that in the audacity of the Westminster boy assailing Andrew Melville we have the " father of the man ; " and if he was well born, he knew it, and would have others know it ; if " personable H and " a gentleman " in manners, he set himself forth with all available adornment of attire, grati- fying, says Walton euphemistically, his " genteel humour for clothes; " that if " gentle" natively, as Walton puts it, it was only when he had every- thing his own way ; that if " marked out for piety " (as again Walton puts it), his writings of the Cambridge years, and even his " Parentalia," with very trivial exceptions, are pagan rather than Christian ; and if there are glimpses in his letters and in his double Sonnet to his Mother of gracious thought, and thrills of tender feeling, he nevertheless was in the world and of it with zest, spite of his " better self;'1 so much so, that behind his most vital utterances there was an evident strife and alternation, not so keen and intense, even awful, as the struggle of Phineas Fletcher,1 yet real ; that, in fine, if onward he became a "man of God" after the divinest exem- plar, he was, until " led " by a way which he knew not, a courtier, a time-server, and a flatterer of those who ought not to have been flattered by any, much less by one such as Herbert ; so that George Ellis, in his brief notice of him, only roughly and harshly states the matter of fact in 1 See our edition of "Phineas Fletcher," four vols., Memorial- Introduction and Essay. I ** It. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xliii saying " that Nature intended him for a knight- errant, but disappointed ambition made him a saint." Willrnott deems Ellis "unjust," and accuses him of ignorance of Herbert's history. I fear he knew that history and its meanings better and deeper than his critic, who cites a bit of a letter written in his seventeenth year to meet facts of his twenty-sixth — thirtieth years. Sir Walter Scott gives the same judgment : " He had studied foreign languages, in hopes of rising to be Secretary of State ; but being disappointed in Ms views at Gourt, he took orders, became pre- bend of Lincoln, and rector of Bemerton, near Salisbury." All this demands thinking out and a judicial -critical verdict, and shall have it. Here and now I must observe that I do not the less — rather the more — recognize the loveliness of the after-life in thus holding George Herbert to have been a debtor to the constraining and mastering u grace of God" beyond most of his emi- nent contemporaries. Not of nature (natively), but from Above — not as primary, but ultimate — came that saintliness which has perfumed his memory through the centuries, and will en- duringly. Studying the University career of our worthy, there seem to be these memorabilia in it of out- ward fact, which however we can simply name : (a) his learning and culture and eclectic stu- diousness, ranging from the classics to Yaldesso; (b) his public honours and offices ; (c) his at- tendances at Court ; (d) his friendships, as with Bacon and Andrewes, the former leading to his translation (in part) of one at least of Bacon's greatest works, and the affectionate dedication by Bacon to him of his versification of certain Psalms ; (e) his correspondence official and pri- xliv MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Tate ; (/ ) his literary work ; (g) his character, as self-revealed. Appointed in 1619 Public Orator, he continued " in this place," eays Walton, " 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 blest with a high fancy, a civil and sharp wit, and with a natural elegance, both in his behaviour, his tongue, and his pen." "Many particular evi- dences " are withheld by his biographer, but he mentions three — (a) his letter to the king acknow- ledging the gift of the royal author's " Basilicon Doron " for the University ; (b) his Epigrams-apo- logetical in controversy with Andrew Melville of Scotland, in answer to his Anti-Tami-Cami-Cate- goria ; (c) his appointment to a sinecure office that had formerly been held by Sir Philip Sidney. These invite commentary ; but now only the last falls to be dwelt upon. Walton thus gives the fact : " The love of a Court conversation, mixed with a laudable ambi- tion to be something more than he was, drew him often from Cambridge to attend the king where- soever the Court was, who then gave him a sinecure, which fell into his Majesty's disposal, I think, by the death of the Bishop of St. Asaph. It was the same that Queen Elizabeth had for- merly given to her favourite, Sir Philip Sidney, and valued to be worth an hundred and twenty pounds per annum." None of the biographers of Sidney, from Collins to Bourne and Lloyd, has so much as named this " sinecure," as none of the biographers or editors of Herbert has succeeded in tracing it. We have at long-last the satisfaction of doing so. From the Sidney papers preserved at Penshurst, and MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xlv which had escaped the notice of all the consulters of these treasures there until ]\Ir. Alfred J. Hor- wood reported on them for the " Royal Commis- sion of Historical Manuscripts" (3rd Report, 1872, p. 227), it is discovered that Sir Philip Sidney held church preferment, and, like Milton later, was probably destined for the Church. These documents will be read by all with deep interest : " 1564, May 6. Philip Sydney, clerk, appoints Master Gruff John, clerk, bachelor of law and rector of Ysceifiog ["mis -read by Mr. Horwood, Skyneog], to be his proctor to appear before Thomas, Bishop of St. Asaph, and excuse his absence and allege the cause ; and of the rectory and church of Whitford, to take admission and institution and corporeal possession ; and to re- nounce the jurisdiction of the Pope, take the oath of allegiance, &c, &c. (This is a copy certified by William Bullock, registrar of St. Asaph.)1 "(1564) 6 Eliz. May 7. Original institution by the Bishop of St. Asaph, under his seal, of Philip Sydney [he was then ten years old], Scholar, to the church of Whyteford. " (1564) 6 Eliz. May 8. Original admission by Thomas, Bishop of St. Asaph, of Philip Sydney, clerk, to the rectory and church of Whitford, vacant by the just deprivation of Hugh Whitford, the last rector [Episcopal seal.] At the foot is a certificate by John Prece, the bishop's vicar, of Sydney's admission by Gruff John [John Gruff?] the proctor. " (1564) 6 Eliz. June 4. Copy of indenture between Thomas, Bishop of St. Asaph, and Philip 1 I annotate that this Thomas, Bishop of St. Asaph, was Thomas Davies, D.D., of St. John's College, Cambridge. He was consecrated Bishop, May 26, 1561. Consult Wood's " Athen. Oxon." s. n. Reg. Academ. Le Neve and Bishop Meyric's Return for 1561. xlvi MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Sydney, clerk, son of Sir Henrie Sydney, Kt., and William Mostyn, of Mostyn (as surety). The bishop collates Philip Sydney to the chnrch of Whyteford, on the deprivation of Hugh Whit- ford." Mr. Horwocd adds : "I recollect that in another bundle of papers, opened and re-closed some time before I saw the above, there is a paper in Italian which relates to the same subject." This is not the place for enlargement on this new and noticeable incident in the life of Sidney. Willis1 and other authorities blunder over it, and in their lists of vicars and rectors. Suffice it here to state, that the rectorship of Whitford was a 11 sinecure," and that it was held by Bishop Parry, as implied in Walton's account. Bishop Parry died on Sept. 26, 1623 ; and thus in 1623 George Herbert obtained the comparatively lucrative " sinecure " post. If it was worth £'120 in 1623, its present value of well-nigh £"1000 is significant in relation to both dates.2 It is to be regretted that the registers and other papers of Whitford, Flintshire, of the earlier (Sidney) and later (Herbert) periods have perished. But there seems no reasonable doubt that this sinecure " rectorship," in distinction from the vicarship, was the " sinecure office " bestowed on our worthy by the king. He held it as a layman, and so continued even when he received the pre- bendaryship of Lincoln, in connection with Leigh- ton Bromswold.3. 1 Willis's Survey of St. Asaph. In the new edition the errors are retained ; but my friendly correspondent, E. R. Morris, Esq., Home- ;>tay, Newtown, has sent corrections for insertion among the errata. '2 In Willis's Survey it is described as a sinecure, value £28 17s. 6rf. This valuation, no doubt, is from the King's Book of 1564, or earlier. 3 Whitford has no history in itself; yet must the association of Sir Philip Sidney and George Herbert with it as the lay-rectors henceforward give it a kind of consecration. It is to be wished MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xlvii The "eight years" assigned by Walton to the public oratorship advances us to 1627. l This was in many ways a crisis -year in the life of Herbert. Previously he had wished to resign his offices in the University, and lay himself out for political advancement and rewards. But his mother opposed; and being of the old-fashioned way of thinking that the fifth commandment is perma- nent in its obligation, not limited to our teens, he would not " resign" without the consent of his mother.2 Another Hand — the nail-marked Hand — was to guide him out of that phantas- magoria of ambition that was firing a naturally imperious imagination. Walton thus narrates the circumstances and the "leading": "In this time," says he, " of Mr. Herbert's attendance and expectation of some good occasion to remove from Cambridge to Court, God, in Whom there is an unseen chain of causes, did in a short time put an end to the lives of two of his most obliging that some local antiquary would get at the facts more fully. Bishop Parry was in nowise remarkable, unless in that he was author of the Revised Version of the Welsh Bible. He was born at Ruthin, in the county of Denbigh, in 1560 ; educated at Westminster, under Cam- den ; elected student at Christ Church, Oxford, 1579 ; became subse- quently one of the Masters of Ruthin School ; Chancellor of Bangor Cathedral and Vicar of Gresford, in 1592; Dean of Bangor, 1599; elected to the See of St. Asaph, Oct. 19, 1604, confirmed Oct. 29, and consecrated Dec. 30. He founded a pension of £6 per annum at Jesus College for a scholar born in the town of Ruthin or in the dio- cese of St. Asaph. He died on 26th September 1623, and was buried in the cathedral. Among Dr. Bliss's Oxford-printed books was a " Concio ad Clerum " of 1594 by him. The present Bishop of St. Asaph kindly sends me this memorandum : " I have found in a list of Sinecure Rectors in the ' History of the Diocese of St. Asaph,' by the Rev. D. R. Thomas, the following entry : ' Cilcain 1596. Yale Thomas — Parry, Bishop in Com.' " 1 Letters of the late Joseph Romilly, Esq., as before, confirm Walton, that he held the office of public orator until 1627, in which year Dr. Creighton succeeded him. It would appear that his deputy Thorndike had the duties delegated to him pretty frequently, and for considerable periods. 2 Walton states, '* in conformity to her [his mother's] will, he kept his Orator's place till after her death, and then presently de- clined it ; and the more willingly, that he might be succeeded by his friend Robert Creighton, who is now Dr. Creighton and the worthy Bishop of Wells." xlviii MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. and most powerful friends — Lodowick, Duke of Richmond, and James, Marquis of Hamilton ; and not long after him, King James died also, and -with them 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 solitariness, as was judged to impair his health more than his study had done." " In this time of retirement," he continues — and his words are very weighty — " 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 con- flicts as they only can know that have endured them ; for ambitious desires and the outward glory of the world are not easily laid aside ; but at last God inclined him to put on a resolution to serve at His altar." In agreement with this account there are scattered up and down his Letters and Poems half-unconscious intimations of a recurring "conflict" as between the "painted pleasures " of the Court and his early-formed pur- pose of entering God's service in His Church. From year to year he delayed a final decision — not without pangs of contrition and cries of penitence and abasement. We may not pro- nounce that it was an unworthy ambition to cherish the hope of being Secretary of State, or that it would have been wrong for George Herbert to have " served" under the king. But we must hold him to have been blameable in that he so long hesitated to carry out what was the con- viction of his mind and the impulse of his heart. Even when he had made his ultimate resolve to give himself to the Church there was a twofold MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xlix opposition — (a) from Court friends, who sought to alter his resolution to enter into sacred orders, as being " too mean an employment, and too much below his birth and the excellent abilities and endowments of his mind;" (b) from his own self-knowledge of the reluctance and resistance with which he had come to the resolution ; a self- knowledge that certainly had no such enormities to burden conscience as Donne had, nevertheless, in the white light of the divine presence humbling and accusing enough. He overcame both ; and thence- forward sought only the " one thing," how he could " spendandbe spent" for his magnanimously patient and forbearing Master, Who, as in the quaint letter of Drummond of Hawthornden to Sir Maurice Drummond (written almost con- temporaneously), had been saying to him — " You . have spent now many years at Court, and yet that clock which hath struck ten to others is still pointing at one or two to you. Have you not yet taken a distaste and satiety of that old mistress of yours, the Court? Her long delay in preferring you, tells you are too honest" (Works, 1711, pp. 145-6). I feel that a careful considera- tion of the oration to Charles on his return from Spain impresses one that, with all shortcomings, Herbert really was " too honest" for the Court. Covertly no doubt, yet unmistakably, he expresses his desire that there had been a marriage ; and why? Because he infinitely prefers peace to war, and though he says he is ready to take war if the king so wills it, he lets it be seen what he thinks about the matter. In the first place, therefore, this shows that the love of truthfulness prevailed over his courtliness. For though this thing may have been pleasing to James, it was not likely to be pleasing to Charles, who came back with quite 1 MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. a different opinion. In the second place, his friends, Lennox, Eichmond, and Hamilton, and the head of his house, Pembroke, were of the same opinion, and unless he was prepared to swing round as Pembroke did, one understands that it was not merely the death of Lennox and Hamilton which stood in the way of his advancement in Charles's Court. He had thrown himself athwart the Buckingham- Charles faction, and he could not expect promotion. Just in the same way his brother Edward ceased to be ambassador at the beginning of 1624 (not as Walton says, in Charles's reign), and though he got a peerage, got no more embassies, as being opposed to the French alliance.1 There is a shadow of obscurity over Herbert's taking of orders. " Within that year" — Walton states without giving the year — "he was made deacon; but the day when, or by whom, I cannot learn." He proceeds: "But that he was about that time made deacon is most certain ; for I find by the records of Lincoln that he was made pre- bendary 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." All this is inferential and erroneous. For, as will appear in its place, when Herbert was "presented" to Fuggleston St. Peter's and Bemerton he was still a layman only. Conse- quently, as already intimated, he held his pre- bendary ship and "living" of Layton Ecclesia not as "deacon," but as a laic, just as with the sinecure rectorship of Whitford, in 1623. The statesman-bishop of Lincoln, John Williams — our Protestant W'olsey — had none of the scru- 1 I am deeply indebted to a pre-eminent living historian (S. A. Gardiner, Esq.) for calling my attention to the oration in the light of these facts. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. li pies and stringency in insisting on " ordination " of a Jewell, in so conferring his gifts, and their acceptance so would obviate scruples on the pre- bendary's part. An incident told in Ayre's ''Life of Jewell " illustrates the practice. It is thus related : " A courtier, who was a layman, having obtained a prebend in the church of Sarum, and intending to let it to another lay person for his best advantage, acquainted Bishop Jewell with the conditions between them, and some lawyer's opinion about them, to which the bishop replied, 1 What you lawyers may answer I know not, but for my part, to my power I will take care that my church shall sustain no loss whilst I live.' " * The church of Leighton Bromswold (or Layton Ecclesia of Walton), which the "prebend" also bestowed, is in Huntingdonshire, and is of sin- gular historic interest. Elsewhere I give the facts and associations.2 What falls here to be remembered is that having visited the church and found it " ruinated," as it had been for twenty years, he resolved at once to have it " reparated." A correspondence of singular interest is found in the "Life of Nicholas Ferrar,"3 and which we have transferred to our collection of Herbert's " Letters."4 There was an "estate" attached to the "prebend," and the prebendary probably consecrated its income to his pious object. Still it seemed something wild and rash even to his good mother. She sent for him, and urged him in the circumstances to return the " prebend " to 1 " Works of Bishop Jewell " (Parker Society), vol. iv. p. xvii. Biog. Mem. Cf. vol. ii. pp. 10, 11, &c. 2 See a Paper by me in " Sunday at Home " (Religious Tract So- ciety) for September, 1873; also our annotated reprint of Walton's " Life " m vol. iii. of the Fuller Worthies' Library edition, as before. 3 " Nicholas Ferrar : Two lives by his Brother John and by Doctor Jebb. Now first edited with Illustrations [literary, not pictorial] by J. E. B. Mayor, M.A. Cambridge," 185-5, pp. 49, 50, 84, seq. 4 Letters in vol. iii. of Fuller Worthies' Library edition. Hi MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. the bishop, remonstrating that it was unreason- able to expect that he, with his weak body and empty purse, should be able to build churches. The son asked one day to consider, and on seeing her the second time entreated " that she would, at the age of thirty-three, allow him to become an un dutiful son ; for he had made a vow to God, that if he were able he would rebuild the church." l So sweet and filial persuasiveness prevailed; and Lady Danvers subscribed herself £50, and prevailed upon the Earl of Pembroke to give £'50, which indeed he increased to £100, through "a witty and persuasive letter" of the prebendary.2 Others were like benefactors ; and the church, if not rebuilded (for that is too large a word) was lifted out of its ruins. Specially was it "restored" within. The pulpit and reading- desk and pews remain " unto this day " as Her- bert bestowed them; the two former of equal height, for he was wont to say " that they should neither have a precedency or a priority of the other ; but that prayer and preaching, being equally useful, might agree like brethren, and have an equal honour and estimation." 3 Leighton Bromswold Church lies transfigured in the light of the holy memories of George Herbert and Nicholas Ferrar and Arthur Woodnot.4 Following on the deaths of Lodowick, Duke ot Lennox, and James, Marquis of Hamilton, and the king, came that of Bacon on 9th April, 1626, whereon he wrote a noticeable addition (in Latin) to his verse-commemorations of his illustrious friend ; and while Leighton Bromswold was being "repaired" came the most desolating and darken- ing of all his sorrows, the death of his lady-mother i Walton, as before. 2 ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 In the quarto, Fuller Worthies' Library edition, there are anas- tatic views of Leighton Bromswold, within and without. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. liii in 1627.1 The "Parentalia" remains to attest his grief and reverence. His own health was fragile. Probably this, with the loss of his mother, determined his complete resignation of the public oratorship and retirement from the University. In the immediately succeeding year he is found in London, and at the house of his brother Sir Henry, at Woodford, in Essex, threatened with " consumption." In 1628 (1629 as we should now write) he was at Dauntsey, Wilts, the seat of his relative (by his mother's second marriage) the Earl of Danby. Its "choice airs" and the lavish kindness of his noble host improved his health and cheered his drooping spirit, with a double result, viz., his marriage and his ordination as a clergyman (or "Priest to the Temple"). Of both, Walton must be allowed to tell us, even though we must afterwards dissipate the romance of the marriage. Having described his person and manners, he goes on : " These and his other visible vertues begot him so 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 Bainton, in the county of Wilts, Esq., that Mr. Danvers, having known him long and familiarly, did so much affect him that he often and publicly declar'd a desire that Mr. Herbert would marry any of his nine daughters (for he had so many), but rather his daughter Jane than any other, because Jane was his be- loved daughter ; 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. Danvers had so often said the like to Jane, and so much 1 As before noticed, Donne preached her funeral sermon ; and on its publication Herbert appended his poems in Latin and Greek called " Parentalia." liv MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. commended Mr. Herbert to her, that Jane be- came so much a Platonick as to fall in love with Mr. Herbert unseen. This was a fair prepara- tion for a marriage ; but, alas, her father dyed before Mr. Herbert's retirement to Dauntsey; yet some friends to both parties procur'd their meeting, at which time a mutual affection entered into both their hearts, as a conqueror enters into a surprised city ; and love having got such pos- session govern'd, and made there such laws and resolutions as neither party was able to resist; insomuch that she chang'd her name into Herbert the third day after this first interview. This haste might in others be thought a love frensie or worse ; but it was not, for they had wooed so like princes as to have select 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 prov'd so happy to both parties ; for the eternal Lover of mankind made them happy in each other's mutual and equal affections and complyance ; indeed so happy that there was never any opposition betwixt them, unless it were a contest which should most incline to a com- plyance with the other's desires." We must add very poetical and very improbable ; for it seems utterly unlikely that there could have been "long and familiar" knowledge of Herbert by Mr. Charles Danvers and that profound esteem, with- out visits to his house. Besides, it looks more than strange that Jane Danvers and Herbert should never have even seen each other before, considering that her near relative, Sir John Danvers, had been at the very time, for sixteen MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. lv years, the husband of George Herbert's mother, aud a true secoud father to him.1 I suspect good Izaak was over-credulous herein, and that this must be ranked among the " some mistakes" for which he hoped to " purchase pardon from a good-natured reader" in his epistle before his collected Lives (1670). It is due to Walton to remember his express intimation in the same epistle : " I am to tell the reader that, though this life of Mr. Herbert was not writ by me 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." The marriage of George Herbert to Jane Danvers took place at Edington on 5th JMarch, 1628 (1629).2 Speedily after his marriage came a " presen- tation" to that "living" with which his name is most imperishably linked ; and it is no common satisfaction to be able to reproduce the document. It runs as follows : " Rex, &c, Reverendo in Christo patri et Domino Domino Johanni (per- missione Divina) Sarum Episcopo ejusve in ab- sentia vicario in spiritualibus generali sive et cuicunque in hac parte auctoritatem habenti seu habituro salutem. Ad Eectoriam Ecclesiae paro- chialis de Fulston Sancti Petri et Bemerton vestre Diocesis et jurisdictionis jam legitime et de jure vacantem et ad nostram presentationem per translationem ultimi Incumbentis ibidem ad Episcopatum Bathoniae et Wellensis spectantem dilectum nostrum in Christo Georgium Herbert in Artibus Magistrum vobis tenore prassentium 1 See Aubrey and Jackson's " Wiltshire," pp. 221-6. 2 The original Register has disappeared, but this entry is taken from a copy preserved fortunately in the Registry : Letter from B. H. Beedham, Esq., Ashfield House, Kimbohun, penes m-\ lvi MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. praesentiamus ; mandantes et requirentes quatenus eundem Georgium Herbert ad Eectoriam Ecclesia^ parochialis de Fnlston Sancti Petri et Bemerton praedictam admittere ipsumque Rectorem ejus- dem ac de et in eadem rite et legitime instituere canonice et investire cum omnibus suis juribus membris et pertinentiis universis, caeteraque omnia et singula facere et agere et per implere quae vestro in hac parte incumbunt officio pas- torali velitis cum favore et effectu. In cujus rei, &c. Teste Eege apud Westm. decimo sexto die Aprilis per breve de privato sigillo," &C.1 In agreement with all this, though incident- ally inaccurate, is Walton's full and pleasantly- quaint narrative : " 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 Win- chester, and by that means the presentation of a clerk to Bemerton did not fall to the Earl of Pem- broke (who was the undoubted patron of it), but to the King, by reason of Dr. Curie's advance- 1 For the general reader a translation may be acceptable : " The King, &c, to the Reverend and lord in Christ, John (by Divine per- mission) Lord Bishop of Salisbury, or in his absence to the Vicar General in spiritual matters, or to whomsoever has, or shall have, authority in this respect, — We present by the tenor of these presents our esteemed and beloved in Christ, George Herbert, Master of Arts, to the Rectory of the parish church of Fulston [Fuggleston] St. Peter's and Bemerton in your diocese and jurisdiction now rightly and lawfully vacant and belonging to our presentation through the translation of the last Incumbent of the same to the Bishopric of Bath and Wells : commanding and requiring that you be pleased to admit the same George Herbert to the aforesaid Rectory of Fulston St. Peter's and Bemerton, and (admit) him Rector of the same, and duly and lawfully institute him of and in the same according to the Canons, and invest him with all its complete rights, members, and appur- tenances, and do carry out and fulfil all and singular those things which belong to your pastoral office in this matter with good will and effect. In ratification of which, &c. In presence of the King at Westminster, the sixteenth day of April, by brief of private seal," &c. (Her Majesty's Public Record Office." Pat. 0, eh. i. part 11, No. 15." Mr. Gardiner, as before, favoured me with the document. It had escaped Walton, though printed by Rushworth in his huge folios. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. lvii ment : 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:' and the Earl as willingly and suddenly sent it to him without seeking ; but though Mr. Herbert had formerly put on a resolution for the Clergy; yet, at re- ceiving this presentation, the apprenension 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 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. Arthur 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 Bemer- ton, 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 re- fusal of it was a sin, that a tailor was sent for to come speedily from Salisbury to Wilton to take lviii MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. measure, and make him canonical clothes against next day ; which the tailor did : and Mr. Herbert being so habited went with his presentation to the learned Dr. Davenant, who was then Bishop of Salisbury, and he gave him institution imme- diately (for Mr. Herbert had been made deacon some years before) ; and he was also the same day (which was April 26, 1630) inducted into the good, and more pleasant than healthful, parsonage of Bemerton, which is a mile from Salisbury." It will be observed that this was only ten days after the date of the " presentation." One is gladdened to find Laud giving counsel so fitting and kindly as is told above, and to know that it was the venerable Davenant who gave him " institution." If we smile at the swift message for the tailor, and perchance, from the date of the " presentation" being Westminster and not Wilton, must doubt of the anecdote, we see by the simple " in artibus magistrum" instead of the otherwise " clericum et in artibus magis- trum" (as in the very preceding entry, Xo. 14), that he was srill a " layman," though Prebendary of Lincoln. Moreover, only a " layman" would be wearing " sword and silk clothes such as had now to be exchanged for canonicals" (Walton). To this period belongs his aspiration in " 128. The Priesthood" (11. 4-6):— " fain would I draw nigh, Fain put thee on, exchanging mv lay sword For that of th' Holy Word" (= the Sword of the Spirit). "When at his induction," continues Walton, "he was shut into Bemerton Church, being left there alone to toll the bell, as the law requires him, he staid so much longer than an ordinary time be- fore he returned to his friends that staid expect- ing him at the church-door, that his friend Mr. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Hx 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." It were to violate the sanctities of reverence to retell the story of the " ministry " at Bemerton and its all too premature close. The reader will turn to Walton's Life, and discover how true are his open- ing words thereon : "I have now brought him to the parsonage of Bemerton 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 charity, humility, and all Christian virtues, that it deserves the eloquence of St. Chrysostom to commend and declare it." The sharp sword of the ever-active spirit wore out its fragile sheath, the body. " Consumption" was in him from his Cambridge student-days, and the moist climate, perhaps, hastened " the end." Living from day to day as his very own Parson of " The Priest to the Temple," few servants of the Master have crowded into a public ministry of just about the same duration as his, so much of true work and word. Without, he was a bene- diction wherever he went, for he went about con- tinually doing good. Within, he was building up the " living stones''' of his Temple; for nearly all his sacred poems probably belong to Bemerton. The close was rounded into a pathetic beauty. His heart, if ever one was, was that " harp of a thousand strings" of which William Cowper sang, and debarred of his twice-a-week foot-walk to Salisbury Cathedral, he himself took his lute and played. He not merely " walked" down the Ix MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. "valley of the shadow of death" — knowing no "fear" and so making no "haste" — but sang. " The Sunday before his death," says Walton, " he rose suddenly from his bed or couch, called for one of his instruments, took it into his hand, and said, * My God, my God, 'My musick shall find Thee, And every string Shall have his attribute to sing : ' and having tuned it, he play'd and sung: ' The Snndaies of man's life, Thredded together on Time's string, Make bracelets to adorn the wife Of the eternail glorious King : On Sunday, Heaven's dore stands ope, Blessings are plentifull and rife, More plentifull then hope.' Thus he sung on earth such hymns and anthems as the angels and he and Mr. Farrer [Ferrar] now sing in heaven." Loving hands and hearts tended him. Over at Little Gidding Nicholas Ferrar prayed for him in golden words that we still read.1 At last, softly as a little child, he " fell asleep" in Jesus, and his eyes were closed here to open " in glory;" as finely said Sozomen (lib. ii. c. 11), 'Paulisper .... oculos claude ; nam statim lumen Dei videbis." The Eegister of Fuggleston and Bemerton thus records the burial: "Mr. George Herbert, Esq1", Parson of Fuggleston and Bemerton, was buried 3 day of March, 1632, i.e. according to our reckoning, 1633.2 1 See Professor Mayor's Nicholas Ferrar, as before, pp. 87-89, added to Walton's Life in vol. iii. of the Fuller Worthies' Library edi- tion, as before. 2 The hitherto accepted date of Herbert's death, or rather inter- ment, "3d day of March, 1632," is shown to be a mistake by (a) the date of his letter to. Nicholas Ferrar, onValdesso, whir-h is "29th September, 1632;"' (6) the will of Dorothy Vaughan, daughter of Herbert's sister Margaret, and so his niece, which was " proved " in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 9'h October, 1632, by Her- bert as the appointed executor, who had been " sworn " by commis- MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION, lxi His dust lies within the little church of Bemerton ; and pilgrim-feet are drawn to it from generation to generation, and will more and more. It only remains that here — and for the first time — I give literatim George Herbert's Will, which neither Oley nor Walton nor any after- inquirer seems to have sought for.2 It suggests much, as will appear hereafter. Extracted from the Principal Registry of Her Majesty's Court of Probate (in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Ao. Dni. 1632). I GEORGE HERBERT commending my soule and body to Almightie God that made them doe thus dispose of my goodes. I giue all my goodes both within doores and without doores both monneys and bookes and howshould stuffe whether in my possession or out of my possession that properly belonge to me vnto my deare wife excepting onely these legacies hereafter insuing. First there is seaven hvndred poundes in Mr. Thomas Lawleys handes a Merchant of London which fell to me by the death of my deare neece Mrs. Dorothy Vaughan whereof two hvndred poundes belonges to my two Neeces that survive and the rest unto my selfe : this whole sum of hue hvndred pounds I bequeath vnto my Neeces equally to be de viced betweene them excepting some legacies of my deceased Neece which are to be payd out of it vnto some whose names shal be annexed vnto this bill [sic]. Then I bequeath twenty pounds vnto the poore of this parish to be devided according to my d^are wiues discretion. Then I bequeath to Mr Hays the Comment of Lucas Brugensis vpon the Scripture and his halfe yeares wages aforehand. then I bequeath to Mr. Bostocke St. Augustines Workes and his halfe yeares wages aforehand, then I leave to my servant Elizabeth her dubble wages giuen her, three pound more besides that which is due to her : to Ann I leave thirty shillinges : to Margaret twenty shillinges : To William Twenty Nobles, To John twentie shillinges, all these are sion before Nathaniel Bostocke, clerk— Herbert's curate— the " com- mission" being accounted for, no doubt, by the fragility of the executor's health : (c) Herbert's own will (as supra), wherein a legacy to himself by his niece is disposed of as being in his posses- sion. These suffice to establish that 3rd March, 1632, means our 1633. The accepted date of 1632 originated with the Bemerton Register entry, which is one of several irregularly made, as suited the writer's convenience and memory, wherein 1632, 1633, and 1634, are jumbled together. It follows also that 1632 of the first edition of " The Temple " must have been our 1633. Hence our 1632-3. Thus Herbert's death is to be placed at the end of February or on the 1st March, 1633. 2 Furnished me by B. H. Beedham, Esq., as before : collated for me with the original by Colonel Chester. Mere "official copies " of wills or other documents, as a rule, are worthless. lxii MEMORIAL-IXTRODUCTIOX. over and aboue their wages : To Sara thirteene shillinges four: pence, Alsoe my Will and pleasure is that Mr. Woodnoth should be mine Executor to whome I bequeath twenty pound, whereof fiiteene pound shal be bestowed vppon Leighton Church, the other five pound I giue to himselfe. Lastlie I besech Sir John Danvers that he would be pleased to be Overseer of this will— GEORGE HERBERT. (Testes) Xathaxiell Bostocke— Elizabeth Burden. On the other side are the names of those to whome my deceased Neece left legacyes. All those that are crost are discharged already, the rest are to be pa yd. To Mres Magdalen Vaughan one hvndred pound To Mrs Ca- tharine Vaughan one hvndred pound To Mr George Herbert one hvndred pound x To Mrs Beatrice Herbert forty pound x To Mrs Jane Herbert tenn pound x To Mrs Danvers five pound x To Amy Danvers thirty shillinges To Mrs Anne Danvers twenty shillinges To Mrs. Mary Danvers twenty shillinges To Mrs Michel twenty shillinges To Mrs Elizabeth Danvers Mr Henry Danvers wife twenty shillinges. to thepoore of the parish twenty pound x To my Lord of Cherbury tenn pound To Mr Bostocke forty shillings x To Elizabeth Burthen thirty shillinges x To Mary Gifford tenn shillinges x To Anne Hibbert tenn shillinges x To William Score twenty shillinges x To Mrs Judith Spencer five pound To Mary Owens forty shillinges. To Mrs Mary Lawly fifty shillinges x To Mr Gardiner tenn pound MS. that the fine pound due to Mrs Judeth Spenser is to be payd to Mrs. Mary Lawly at Chelsey MS. that there are diuers moneys of mine in Mr Stephens handes Sta- tioner of London, having lately receaved an hvndred and two poundes besides some Remainders of monyes wherof he is to giue as I know he will a Just account : if there be any body els that owe me any thing else of old debt I forgiue them. PROBATL'M fait Testamentum sirpraseriptum apud London coram venerabili viro magistro Willimo Merir-ke legum Doctore Surrogato venerabilis viri Domini Henrici Marten militis legum etiarn doctoris Curiae Prerogative Cantuariensis Macristeri Custodis sive Comxnis- sarij legitime constituti duodecimo die mensis Martii Anno Domini juxta cursum et computacionem Ecclesie Anglicane Millesimo sex- centesimo tricesimo secundo juramento Arthuri Woodnoth Execu- toris in hujusmoai Testamento nominati cui commissa fuit adminis- tratio omnium et singulorum bonorum jurium et creditorum dicti defuncti de bene et fideliter administrando eadem ad Sancta Dei Evangelia in debita juris forma jurat. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. lxiii II. CRITICAL. 5 HITS far the outward facts of the bio- graphy of George Herbert are given, it will perhaps be admitted, with more fulness and accuracy of detail than hitherto. I propose now to offer the reader a study of the life in relation to the writings, and of the writings in relation to the life, in order to arrive at a deeper knowledge and a more adequate esti- mate of both. Extant narrative and criticism alike have been to a large extent traditional and repeti- tive. It is surely about time that such a life and such writings were submitted to a searching and deliberate examination, that we may understand the secret of the still unspent and unique power of these lowly and unpretentious writings — after well-nigh two and a half centuries — and the abiding and ever-growing wealth of affectionate reverence cherished toward the man so long sub- sequent to the inevitable passing away of the " glamour" of personal memories — as of Barnabas Oley and Izaak Walton ; e. g. in the United States of America, in Canada and ISTova Scotia, in Aus- tralia and New Zealand, in India and throughout the English-speaking colonies, the lovers of Her- bert are as numerous and as ardent as in the mother-country.1 None the less is this desirable, x To the praise of G. W. Childs, Esq., of Philadelphia, U.S.A., be it recorded that on learning the wish of the Dean of Westminster and others to place a memorial window in our great Abbey, in honour of George Herbert and William Cowper, as Westminster-school boys, lxiv MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. in that it affords opportunity of bringing together many scattered remarks of eminent admirers, contemporary and recent. These five things seem to invite thought and critical examination : i. The original and early editions and mss. of the Writings and our text. ii. The story of the Life, as revealing his ORIGINAL AND ULTIMATE CHARACTER, FUBLIC AND FRIVATE. in. The Anti-Tami-Cami-Categoria controversy, AND ITS SIGNIFICANCES AND BEARINGS. iv. The characteristics of Herbert's Writings, Terse and Prose. v. Early and later estimates. i. The original and early editions and MSS, of the Writings and our text. Like Sir Philip Sidney's, nearly the whole of George Herbert's writings were published post- humously, although, with such loving editors and guardians as Nicholas Ferrar and Barnabas Oley, it were almost a wrong to follow T. P., on publishing the AnoiriAZMATiA sacra of Bishop Andrewes (1657, folio), in calling them " posthu- mous and orphan" l The University Collections, as of the Lamentations for Prince Henry (1612), he spontaneously and large-heartedly expressed his readiness to fur- nish such a window at his own cost. The generous offer was cor- dially accepted, and a Aery noble memorial will shortly be completed. 1 Even so (presumably) well-informed a writer as the author of the Paper on Herbert in the "Retrospective Review" (vol. iii. pp. 215- 222) has fallen into the error of saying, " His poems were published during his lifetime " (p. 217). In the " Christian Remembrancer " for July, 1862 (vol. xliv. p. 105), the writer of a thoughtful paper on George Herbert and his Times remarks of this : " It is character- istic rf his modesty, or, more strictly speaking, of the victory which he won over his naturally eager and ambitious temperament, that they were [nearly] all posthumous in publication." Again: "The too frequent recurrence of anti-climax, and even downright bathos, at the end of many [?] of the poems, indicates that they were never properly revised by the 'last hand: of the author" (p. 129). MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. lxv and on the death of Queen Anne (1619), and the like, contained the well-known but not at all re- markable Latin verse, given in their places ; and as an appendix to Dean Donne's Funeral Sermon for Lady Danvers, the " Parentalia" were added (1627). Probably others were less or more cir- culated in manuscript, as was the mode even on- ward: the Melville Epigrams must have been thus circulated (as will appear hereafter). But substantially the writings of George Herbert were given to the world not by their author, but by friends. At a time when the press travailed with the superabundance of books, this initial fact in the bibliography of these writings is notice- able, perhaps praiseworthy. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that the posthumousness of Herbert's books placed them under inevitable disadvantages as compared with, e. g. Eobert Herrick's " Hesperides," or Henry Vaughan's " Siiex Scintilans" or " Olor Iscanus." As every one knows who has had to do with the press, what is written is one thing, and what is printed quite another ; that the latter gives a different look and character to the whole, so much so that faults previously overlooked come out startlingly and accusingly in the proof-sheets. There are things in " The Temple" that one feels persuaded would have been cleared of their obscurity ; while other things must have been felt to be incon- gruous, not to speak of occasional instances of mean symbolisms in even the finest poems — re- minding of a lark that has just been soaring and singing, singing and soaring, all a-thrill with the ecstasy of its divinely-given music, dropping down not into the yellowing corn or daisied grass, but right on the bare-trodden highway : and so too with false rhymes, and at least one missing lxvi MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. line (in 107. "The Size," 1. 40). The writings of Herbert claim indulgence, therefore, as not having passed in their printed form beneath his own eyes. Very touching is Izaak Walton's narrative of the death-bed delivery of the " little book," which was to be afterwards known as " The Temple." Visited by a " Mr. Duncon " — of whom it is pity we know so very little — he sent a pa- thetic message to his "brother Ferrar," soliciting a continuance of his " daily prayers " for him, and telling him all was " well" and in "peace." " Having said this," we read, " 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 Ferrar, 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 TThose 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 ex- cellent book, which now bears the name of " The Temple, or sacred Poems and Private Ejacula- tions ; " of which Mr, Ferrar would say, " There was in it the picture of a divine soul in every page, and that the whole book was such a har- mony of holy passions as would enrich the world with pleasure and piety.'' Good ^Nicholas Ferrar has further given his estimate of the " little book " thus confided to him, in the golden Epistle as from " The Printers to the Eeader " (pp. 5-7). It would appear that he lost no time after the MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. lxvil ourial of Herbert (3rd March, 1633) l in pre- paring it for the press ; for immediately the manuscript, as written out for Ferrar, was sub- mitted by him for " License " — now deposited in the Bodleian.2 There was a little difficulty, and consequent brief delay, in obtaining the neces- sary authority, as thus told by Walton, in its statement, removal, and result : " This ought to be noted, that when Mr. Ferrar 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 (in the * Church Militant/ 11. 239, 240), • Religion stands a-tiptoe in onr land, Ready to pass to the American strand,* to be printed, and Mr. Ferrar would 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 was a divine poet ; but I hope the 1 See pp. lx. lxi. for correction of 1632, the date hitherto given. 2 The following is its title-page Literatim : — W. Saxcroft. The Original of Mr. George Herbert's Temple ; as it was at first Licensed for the presse. THE TEMPLE. Psalm xxix. 8. In his Temple doth euery man speake of his honour. The Dedication. Lord, my first fruits present themselves to thee ; Yet not mine neither ; for from t.hee they came, And must returne. Accept of them and mee, And make vs striue, who shall sing best thy Name. Turne their eies hither, who shall make a gaine, Theirs, who shall hurt themselues or me, refraine. B. Laxy Procan. Tho. Bainbrigg. M. Wren. William Beale. Tho. Freehan. (pp. 1-290 : Index at end : numbered 165.) lxviii MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. world will not take him to be an inspired pro- phet, and therefore I license the whole book.' So that it came to be printed, without the diminu- tion or addition of a syllable since it was de- livered into the hands of Mr. Duncon, save only that Mr. Ferrar hath added the excellent preface that is printed before it." The "after some time " must have been very inconsiderable, seeing that}, almost certainly, "The Temple" was in print and (at least) privately circulated in 1632-3. At Brand's sale there was a copy with a second title-page, which is described as having 1632 printed on it (Lowndes, s.n.) ; and I have my- self seen two copies contemporaneously marked 1632 on the undated title-page.1 There are minute typographical differences in the three original and early title-pages ; but collation shows that the undated copies of 1632 and the first dated edition of 1633 correspond, and are indeed the same book throughout. The conclusion ac- cordingly is, that the types were kept standing for the first dated edition.2 But the second edition of 1633 (so named), though answering page for page and line for line, is a distinct impression, i.e. was not the same setting up. In all likeli- hood the undated copies consisted of a very few 1 Hence I have, in " Notes and Illnstrations," designated the un- dated edition of " The Temple" as of 1632-3, though it was really 1633. See the undated and dated title-pages at pp. 3, -i. 2 The Rev. J. Gregory Smith, M.A., Vicar of Great Malvern, in a Paper on George Herbert and his Times, in the " Christian Re- membrancer " for July, 1S62 (vol. xliv. pp. 133-137). states : " ' The Temple ' was first given to the world in 1633, by Nicholas Ferrar, Herbert's literary executor ; under his editorship it was printed by his daughters and other members of his household, or * Protestant Nunnery,' as it has been called, at Little Gidden, in Northampton- shire, and then published at Cambridge, after being, of course, for- mally licensed by the Vice-Chancellor's 'imprimatur' " (pp. There is no authority whatever for this alleged printing privately at Little Gidding. The undated copies are expressly stated to be " Printed by Thomas Buck " (as supra). Curiously enough there is no " imprimatur" in any of the editions of " The Temple." MEiuwKlAL-INTRODUCTION. lxix issued as gifts for intimate friends. Then came later in 1633 the first edition proper, and then in the same year the second (as above) : the third followed in 1634; fourth in 1635; fifth in 1638; sixth in 1641 ; seventh in 1656 ; eighth in 1660 ; ninth in 1667 ; tenth in 1674 ; eleventh in 1679 ; twelfth in 1703 ; thirteenth in 1709. The first to the sixth edition's text remained the same: from 1640, "The Synagogue" of Christopher Harvey accompanied " The Temple;" from 1656 onward, there were orthographical alterations ; in 1660 was " an Alphabeticall Table for ready finding out chief places;" in 1674 (see our preface) the priceless gift of R. White's portrait of Herbert first appeared; and also two (sorry) illustrations to " The Church Threshold," and " The Altar : " in 1679 began such corruptions of the text as u gore " for "doore" in "The Thanksgiving" (1. 6), and " My" for "Thy" (1. 29), and so increasingly ; the loss being that Pickering (1835,1838, &c.) reprinted the vitiated text; and even Dr. George Macdonald (in " Antiphon") did not detect the blunders.1 It adds to the significance of these multiplied editions, that, earlier, the troubles of Charles I. in Scotland, deepening into the clamour and confusions of the Civil War — shadows of which darkened portentously over the closing weeks of Herbert's life — and, later, the profligacy and sen- sualism of the Restoration and the reign of Charles II. seemed to render it improbable that a fit audience should be found, however " few," for, in relation to the Commonwealth, so churchly, and, in relation to the Eestoration, so pure and true a book. I like to accept the fact, as de- clarative of "hidden ones" who still clave to the Lord, after the type of the olden revelation to 1 " Antiphon," pp. 190-1. lxx MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Elijah of the " seven thousand," when he in his angnish and loneliness imagined there was not another besides himself who believed in the One living and True God. "When Walton first wrote the life (or about forty years after Herbert's death), " more than twenty thousand of them " had been "sold since the first impression." Well- thumbed and worn are the few copies of these earlier editions that have come down to us. Lowly hands handled, lowly hearts received the devout teaching ; and I do not doubt " The Temple " helped many and many a pilgrim Zion- ward to " sing " when perchance only sobs and groans had fallen. I do not know that it is need- ful to record the numerous editions, complete and incomplete, from 1709 to 1876. They have nothing special about them : only be it ever remembered that to William Pickering belongs the praise of having been the first to aim at a complete collec- tion of the writings of George Herbert. Eeturning now upon the MS. of " The Temple " as " licensed," the printed text of 1632-3 corres- ponds with it pretty closely, departures being mainly orthographical. The manuscript cannot, however, have been the " printer's copy," for it is stainless and uncrushed, as well as occasionally differing in its readings. Being a folio, too, it cannot have been the "little book" placed in Mr. Duncon's hands by the dying poet. That, it is to be feared, has irrecoverably gone, with many other of the Little Gidding treasures of the Ferrars. But of scarcely less interest is a MS. now in the Williams Library, London, whence it has been our privilege to draw so much hitherto unknown imprinted poetry, English and Latin. I must here describe the " little volume" (12mo.). It records on the front fly-leaf that it was pre- MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. lxzi stmted by Dr. Mapletoft to a Rev. John Jones (of Sheephall, Herts), who was donor of very many MSS. and books to the same library. Mr. Jones has prefixed this note (in pencil) : " This book came originally from the family of Little Gidding, and was probably bonnd there. Q. whether this be not the manuscript copy that was sent by Mr. Herbert a little before his death to Mr. Nic. Fer- rar. See Mr. Herbert's Life."1 Again, on verso of p. 101 is the following note : " The following supposed to be Mr. Herbert's own writing. See the records in the custody of ye University Orator at Cambridge." With reference to the former note, we can testify that the binding (plain brown calf, with a single line of gold round the borders and a double line of tooling) is self-evidently amateur, and corresponds otherwise with other Little Gidding books that I possess and have seen. But as this volume does not contain one half of the poems as published in "The Temple," Mr. Jones's query must be answered in the ne- gative. It seems to have been an earlier form of the manuscript. With reference to the latter note, the suggested comparison with the Orator's Books at Cambridge and my familiarity with Herbert's handwriting, enable me to attest that the whole of the latter portion is in his own auto- graph ; while the earlier portion has a number of characteristic corrections of the amanuensis' MS.2 1 So in the " Third Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts," 1872, p. 368. The inscription is as follows : " Don. Jni Jones, Cler. & MuseoY. CI. D. H. M. Venantodiin. qui ob. 1730." That is, " A gift to John Jones, Clerk, from the study (Library) of Dr. H. Mapletoft, Huntingdon, who died 1730." For notices of the Ferrars, mainly from Professor Mayor's "Nicholas Ferrar" (1855), see our annotated " Life of Herbert," by Walton (in vol. iii. of F. W. L. edition) ; also of the Mapletofts. In our quarto edition of the Poems (ibid.) is given a fac-simile of the Williams MS., along with Herbert's autograph, shewing his peculiar e (e), &c. 2 In this Memorial-Introduction (i. Biographical) it is seen that Herbert signed "Harbert," and that bis name was so written coa- lxxii MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Our " Various Headings " from the "Williams MS. in Xotes and Illustrations, and the six never- before-printed English sacred poems, with another version of "The Song" for Easter, and the " Passio Discerpta," — which may be interpreted as meaning the passion or redeeming love of the Lord Jesus, taken to pieces as one might a pas- sion-flower, petal by petal ; or, more freely, that the poet celebrates certain leading incidents in the great and awful story; and " Lucus," — which may intend a sacred grove, with perhaps a sub- reference to the transnguring^light of the Divine presence there, and so reminds of Phineas Fletcher's " Sylva Poetica," and Milton's later — will certify of our rare good fortune in the dis- covery or recovery of this " little book." It must often and often have been handled by visitors of the Williams Library, but no one seems to have really read it until the present editor did so. If William Pickering was in ecstasies over his small " find" from Dr. Bliss, of " The Paradox" from a Eawlinson MS., what would not his enthusiasm have been over this treasure-trove ! Except the further details of the contents of the MS. below, more need not be repeated here, inasmuch as the whole are given in their places. 1 temporaneously : in other University MSS. he signs "Herberts" and " Herbert :" in others (certainly his) the character of the writing differs considerably from these and from the Williams MS. See on- ward about a copy of King James's Works, alleged to have belonged to our successive Herberts. 1 See pp. 253-260 and 347-374. These further little particulars may be recorded here. There comes first the fly-leaf, with the inscription in note on page xix. ; a second leaf, with Mr. Jones's pencil-note, as be- fore ; next the Dedication (six lines) ; the Church-Porch, folios 1-13 ; blank page, 14, and on verso four lines headed " Perirranterium ; " folio 15, lour lines head'ed •'' Superliminare," and on verso the Altar ; then successively The Sacrifice, folios 16-22 ; on verso The Thanks- giving to folio 23 ; The Second Thanksgiving [or The Reprisall], folio 24 ; on verso The Passion (two) to folio 25 ; on verso Good- Friday ; The Sinner, folio 26 ; on verso Easter (two) to folio 27 ; on verso and folio 28, Easter Wings; on verso Holy Baptisme (two) to folio 29 ; on verso Love 1 and 2, to folio 30 ; The Holy Communion, MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. lxxiii Of other two MSS. the reader will find a full account in the Fuller Worthies' Library edition, (vol. ii. pp. xxii.-xxx.), viz., a Latin translation of the " Church Militant " in the Library of Dur- ham Cathedral and a singular adaptation of the entire poems for singing and praise. II. The story of the Life, as revealing his original and ultimate character, public and private. In delivering the " little book," to wit, a MS. of " The Temple," it will be remembered the dying Herbert used these remarkable words to his visitor, Mr. Duncon : " Sir. I pray deliver this little book to my dear Brother Farrer [Ferrar], and tell him he shall find in it a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed between God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus, my Master : in Whose service verso to folio 31 (No. I. of the new Poems) ; Church Musick, folio 32 ; verso The Christian Temper (two) to folio 33 ; Prayer (three) to folio 35 ; Imploiment verso to folio 36 ; verso Whitsunday to folio ol ; verso and to folio 38 The Holy Scriptures, 1 and 2 ; verso Love, to folio 39 (No. II. of the new Poems) ; folio 39 to 40, Sinne ; verso Trinity Sunday (two, latter No. III. of the new Pieces) to folio 40; verso Repentance, to folio 41 ; verso Praise ; folio 42, Nature ; verso Grace, to folio 43 ; folio 43, flattens; Even-song, folio 44 (No. IV. of the new Poems) ; Christmas-day, folio 45 ; verso Church Monu- ments, to folio 46 ; Frailty, folio 46 ; folio 47, Content, to folio 48 ; Poetiy, folio 48; verso Affliction, to folio 50; verso Humility, to folio 51 ; verso Sunday, to folio 52 ; Jordan, folio 53 ; verso Deniall, to folio 54 ; verso Ungratefulnes, to folio 55 ; verso Imploiment, to folio 56 ; A Wreath, folio 56 ; verso To all Angels and Saints, to folio 57 ; verso the Pearle, to folio 58 ; verso Tentation, to folio 59 ; verso The World, to folio 60 ; folio 60, Coloss. iii. 3 ; verso Faith, to folio 61 ; Lent, folio 62 to 63; verso Man, to folio 64; Ode, folio 65; verso Afflic- tion, to folio 66 ; Sinne, folio 66 ; verso Charmes and Knots, to folio 67 ; verso Unkindnes, to folio 68 ; verso Mortification, to folio 69 ; verso The Publican, to folio 71 ; verso Prayer, to folio 72 ; verso Obedience, to folio 73; Invention, folio 74 ; verso Perfection, The Elixir, to folio 75; verso The Knell (No. V. of the new English Poems) ; Persever- ance, folio 76 (No. VI. of the New English Poems) ; verso Death, to folio 77; verso Doomsday, to folio 78 ; verso Judgment ; folio 79, Heaven; verso Love; folio 80 to 82 (1st page) blan^; then The Church Militant, verso to folio 89, including L'Envoy (N.B. 11. 2c9 240, are emphatically dot-marked with a heavy pencil) ; folios 100- 101 blank ; on verso Mr. Jones's pencil-note ; Passio Discerpta, folios 1U2-1U7 ; verso to 119, Lucus ; verso and folios 120-129 blank. f lxxiv MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION-. I have now found perfect freedom." There was beautiful humility in this, but, like all genuine humility, it rested on the deepest truth and reality of personal experience. George Herbert was perhaps at that moment, and from his induc- tion to Bemerton, one of the holiest men in Christendom and the most John-like spirit in the Church of England, or in any Church. Never- theless, it is to miss the teaching of his life as well as the innermost meanings of his writings, to forget " the many spiritual conflicts " comme- morated in his poems, and the emphasis of the " now" in his grateful as adoring profession, " in Whose service I have now found perfect freedom/' That is to say, if, as I think, all must recognize in George Herbert one whom we inevitably think of as a St. John in his ultimate tenderness and lovingness, equally must it be recalled that as, until the grace and masterdom of The Master transformed and transfigured him, St. John was originally bold, proud, fierce, self-conscious, so it was out of intense, prolonged, backsliding- marked conflict, our Worthy became what he did become, unworldly, humble, meek, gentle, tender, holy: (