eldest son, such advantages of learning, and other education, as might
suit his birth and fortune, and thereby make him the more fit for the
service of his country, did, at his being of a fit age, remove from
Montgomery Castle with him, and some of her younger sons, to Oxford;
and having entered Edward into Queen's College, and provided him a
fit tutor, she commended him to his care, yet she continued there
with him, and still kept him in a moderate awe of herself, and so
much under her own eye, as to see and converse with him daily: but she
managed this power over him without any such rigid sourness as might
make her company a torment to her child; but with such a sweetness and
compliance with the recreations and pleasures of youth, as did incline
him willingly to spend much of his time in the company of his dear and
careful mother; which was to her great content: for she would often
say, "That as our bodies take a nourishment suitable to the meat
on which we feed; so our souls do as insensibly take in vice by the
example or conversation with wicked company:" and would therefore
as often say, "That ignorance of vice was the best preservation of
virtue; and that the very knowledge of wickedness was as tinder to
inflame and kindle sin and keep it burning." For these reasons she
endeared him to her own company, and continued with him in Oxford four
years; in which time her great and harmless wit, her cheerful gravity,
and her obliging behaviour, gained her an acquaintance and friendship
with most of any eminent worth or learning, that were at that time
in or near that University; and particularly with Mr. John Donne, who
then came accidentally to that place, in this time of her being
there. It was that John Donne who was after Dr. Donne, and Dean of St.
Paul's, London: and he, at his leaving Oxford, writ and left there, in
verse, a character of the beauties of her body and mind: of the first
he says,
No Spring nor Summer-beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in an Autumnal face.
Of the latter he says,
In all her words to every hearer fit,
You may at revels, or at council sit.
The rest of her character may be read in his printed poems, in that
Elegy which bears the name of "The Autumnal Beauty." For both he and
she were then past the meridian of man's life.
This amity, begun at this time and place, was not an amity that
polluted their souls; but an amity made up of a chain of suitable
inclinations and virtues; an amity like that of St. Chrysostom's to
his dear and virtuous Olympias; whom, in his letters, he calls his
Saint: or an amity, indeed, more like that of St. Hierome to his
Paula; whose affection to her was such, that he turned poet in his old
age, and then made her epitaph: wishing all his body were turned into
tongues, that he might declare her just praises to posterity. And this
amity betwixt her and Mr. Donne was begun in a happy time for him, he
being then near to the fortieth year of his age,--which was some years
before he entered into Sacred Orders;--a time when his necessities
needed a daily supply for the support of his wife, seven children,
and a family. And in this time she proved one of his most bountiful
benefactors; and he as grateful an acknowledger of it. You may take
one testimony for what I have said of these two worthy persons, from
this following Letter and Sonnet.
[Sidenote: Letter and Sonnet]
"MADAM,
"Your favours to me are every where: I use them and have them. I enjoy
them at London, and leave them there; and yet find them at Mitcham.
Such riddles as these become things inexpressible; and such is your
goodness. I was almost sorry to find your servant here this day;
because I was loath to have any witness of my not coming home last
night, and indeed of my coming this morning. But my not coming was
excusable, because earnest business detained me; and my coming this
day is by the example of your St. Mary Magdalen, who rose early upon
Sunday to seek that which she loved most; and so did I. And, from her
and myself, I return such thanks as are due to one, to whom we owe all
the good opinion, that they, whom we need most, have of us. By this
messenger, and on this good day, I commit the inclosed Holy Hymns and
Sonnets--which for the matter, not the workmanship, have yet escaped
the fire--to your judgment, and to your protection too, if you think
them worthy of it; and I have appointed this inclosed Sonnet to usher
them to your happy hand.
"Your unworthiest servant,
Unless your accepting him to be so have mended him,
Jo. DONNE.
"Mitcham, July 11, 1607."
TO THE LADY MAGDALEN HERBERT: OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN.
Her of your name, whose fair inheritance
Bethina was, and jointure Magdalo,
An active faith so highly did advance,
That she once knew more than the Church did know,
The Resurrection! so much good there is
Delivered of her, that some Fathers be
Loth to believe one woman could do this:
But think these Magdalens were two or three.
Increase their number, Lady, and their fame:
To their devotion add your innocence:
Take so much of th' example, as of the name;
The latter half; and in some recompense
That they did harbour Christ himself, a guest,
Harbour these Hymns, to his dear name addrest.
J.D.
These Hymns are now lost to us; but doubtless they were such as they
two now sing in Heaven.
[Sidenote: Her Funeral Sermon]
There might be more demonstrations of the friendship, and the many
sacred endearments betwixt these two excellent persons,--for I have
many of their letters in my hand,--and much more might be said of her
great prudence and piety: but my design was not to write her's, but
the life of her son; and therefore I shall only tell my Reader, that
about that very day twenty years that this letter was dated, and sent
her, I saw and heard this Mr. John Donne--who was then Dean of St.
Paul's--weep, and preach her Funeral Sermon, in the Parish Church
of Chelsea, near London, where she now rests in her quiet grave: and
where we must now leave her, and return to her son George, whom we
left in his study in Cambridge. And in Cambridge we may find our
George Herbert's behaviour to be such, that we may conclude he
consecrated the first-fruits of his early age to virtue, and a serious
study of learning. And that he did so, this following Letter and
Sonnet, which were, in the first year of his going to Cambridge,
sent his dear Mother for a New-year's gift, may appear to be some
testimony.
[Sidenote: A Letter]
--"But I fear the heat of my late ague hath dried up those springs,
by which scholars say the Muses use to take up their habitations.
However, I need not their help to reprove the vanity of those many
love-poems, that are daily writ, and consecrated to Venus; nor to
bewail that so few are writ, that look towards God and Heaven. For my
own part, my meaning--dear Mother--is, in these Sonnets, to declare my
resolution to be, that my poor abilities in Poetry, shall be all and
ever consecrated to God's glory: and I beg you to receive this as one
testimony."
[Sidenote: and Sonnets]
My God, where is that ancient heat towards thee,
Wherewith whole shoals of Martyrs once did burn,
Besides their other flames? Doth Poetry
Wear Venus' livery? only serve her turn?
Why are not Sonnets made of thee? and lays
Upon thine altar burnt? Cannot thy love
Heighten a spirit to sound out thy praise
As well as any she? Cannot thy Dove
Outstrip their Cupid easily in flight?
Or, since thy ways are deep, and still the same,
Will not a verse run smooth that bears thy name?
Why doth that fire, which by thy power and might
Each breast does feel, no braver fuel choose
Than that, which one day, worms may chance refuse?
Sure, Lord, there is enough in thee to dry
Oceans of ink; for as the Deluge did
Cover the Earth, so doth thy Majesty;
Each cloud distils thy praise, and doth forbid
Poets to turn it to another use.
Roses and lilies speak Thee; and to make
A pair of cheeks of them, is thy abuse.
Why should I women's eyes for crystal take?
Such poor invention burns in their low mind
Whose fire is wild, and doth not upward go
To praise, and on thee, Lord, some ink bestow.
Open the bones, and you shall nothing find
In the best face but filth; when, Lord, in Thee
The beauty lies in the discovery.
G.H.
This was his resolution at the sending this letter to his dear Mother,
about which time he was in the seventeenth year of his age: and as he
grew older, so he grew in learning, and more and more in favour both
with God and man: insomuch that, in this morning of that short day
of his life, he seemed to be marked out for virtue, and to become the
care of Heaven; for God still kept his soul in so holy a frame, that
he may, and ought to be a pattern of virtue to all posterity, and
especially to his brethren of the Clergy, of which the Reader may
expect a more exact account in what will follow.
[Sidenote: College honours]
I need not declare that he was a strict student, because, that he was
so, there will be many testimonies in the future part of his life. I
shall therefore only tell, that he was made Minor Fellow in the year
1609, Bachelor of Arts in the year 1611; Major Fellow of the College,
March 15th, 1615: and that in that year he was also made Master of
Arts, he being then in the 22nd year of his age; during all which
time, all, or the greatest diversion from his study, was the practice
of Music, in which he became a great master; and of which he would
say, "That it did relieve his drooping spirits, compose his distracted
thoughts, and raised his weary soul so far above earth, that it gave
him an earnest of the joys of Heaven, before he possessed them." And
it may be noticed, that from his first entrance into the College, the
generous Dr. Nevil was a cherisher of his studies, and such a lover of
his person, his behaviour, and the excellent endowments of his mind,
that he took him often into his own company; by which he confirmed his
native gentleness: and if during his time he expressed any error,
it was, that he kept himself too much retired, and at too great a
distance with all his inferiors; and his clothes seemed to prove, that
he put too great a value on his parts and parentage.
[Sidenote: Orator]
This may be some account of his disposition, and of the employment of
his time till he was Master of Arts, which was anno 1615, and in the
year 1619 he was chosen Orator for the University. His two precedent
Orators were Sir Robert Naunton,[7] and Sir Francis Nethersole.[8] The
first was not long after made Secretary of State, and Sir Francis,
not very long after his being Orator, was made Secretary to the
Lady Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. In this place of Orator our George
Herbert continued eight years; and managed it with as becoming and
grave a gaiety, as any had ever before or since his time. For "he had
acquired great learning, and was blessed with a high fancy, a civil
and sharp wit; and with a natural elegance, both in his behaviour, his
tongue, and his pen." Of all which there might be very many particular
evidences; but I will limit myself to the mention of but three.
[Sidenote: Letter to King James]
And the first notable occasion of shewing his fitness for this
employment of Orator was manifested in a letter to King James, upon
the occasion of his sending that University his book called "Basilicon
Doron;"[9] and their Orator was to acknowledge this great honour, and
return their gratitude to his Majesty for such a condescension; at the
close of which letter he writ,
Quid Vaticanam Bodleianamque objicis, hospes!
Unicus est nobis Bibliotheca Liber.
This letter was writ in such excellent Latin, was so full of conceits,
and all the expressions so suited to the genius of the King, that he
enquired the Orator's name, and then asked William Earl of Pembroke,
if he knew him? whose answer was, "That he knew him very well, and
that he was his kinsman; but he loved him more for his learning and
virtue, than for that he was of his name and family." At which answer
the King smiled, and asked the Earl leave that he might love him too,
for he took him to be the jewel of that University.
[Sidenote: Andrew Melville]
[Sidenote: Herbert's answers]
[Sidenote: Lady Arabella Stuart]
The next occasion he had and took to shew his great abilities, was,
with them, to shew also his great affection to that Church in which he
received his baptism, and of which he professed himself a member; and
the occasion was this: There was one Andrew Melvin,[10] a Minister
of the Scotch Church, and Rector of St. Andrew's; who, by a long
and constant converse with a discontented part of that Clergy which
opposed Episcopacy, became at last to be a chief leader of that
faction; and had proudly appeared to be so to King James, when he was
but King of that nation, who, the second year after his Coronation in
England, convened a part of the Bishops, and other learned Divines
of his Church, to attend him at Hampton-Court, in order to a friendly
conference with some dissenting brethren, both of this and the Church
of Scotland: of which Scotch party Andrew Melvin was one; and he being
a man of learning, and inclined to satirical poetry, had scattered
many malicious, bitter verses against our Liturgy, our ceremonies, and
our Church-government; which were by some of that party so magnified
for the wit, that they were therefore brought into Westminster School,
where Mr. George Herbert, then, and often after, made such answers to
them, and such reflections on him and his Kirk, as might unbeguile
any man that was not too deeply pre-engaged in such a quarrel.--But
to return to Mr. Melvin at Hampton-Court Conference;[11] he there
appeared to be a man of an unruly wit, of a strange confidence, of so
furious a zeal, and of so ungoverned passions, that his insolence to
the King, and others at this Conference, lost him both his Rectorship
of St. Andrew's and his liberty too; for his former verses, and his
present reproaches there used against the Church and State, caused
him to be committed prisoner to the Tower of London; where he remained
very angry for three years. At which time of his commitment, he found
the Lady Arabella[12] an innocent prisoner there; and he pleased
himself much in sending, the next day after his commitment, these two
verses to the good lady; which I will underwrite, because they may
give the Reader a taste of his others, which were like these.
Causa tibi mecum est communis, carceris, Ara-
Bella, tibi causa est, Araque sacra mihi.
I shall not trouble my Reader with an account of his enlargement from
that prison, or his death; but tell him Mr. Herbert's verses were
thought so worthy to be preserved, that Dr. Duport,[13] the learned
Dean of Peterborough, hath lately collected and caused many of them
to be printed, as an honourable memorial of his friend Mr. George
Herbert, and the cause he undertook.
[Sidenote: In favour with James]
And in order to my third and last observation of his great abilities,
it will be needful to declare, that about this time King James came
very often to hunt at Newmarket and Royston, and was almost as often
invited to Cambridge, where his entertainment was comedies,[14] suited
to his pleasant humour; and where Mr. George Herbert was to welcome
him with gratulations, and the applauses of an Orator; which he always
performed so well, that he still grew more into the King's favour,
insomuch that he had a particular appointment to attend his Majesty
at Royston; where, after a discourse with him, his Majesty declared to
his kinsman, the Earl of Pembroke, that he found the Orator's learning
and wisdom much above his age or wit. The year following, the King
appointed to end his progress at Cambridge, and to stay there certain
days; at which time he was attended by the great Secretary of
Nature and all learning, Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, and by the
ever-memorable and learned Dr. Andrews, Bishop of Winchester, both
which did at that time begin a desired friendship with our Orator.
Upon whom, the first put such a value on his judgment, that he usually
desired his approbation before he would expose any of his books to
be printed; and thought him so worthy of his friendship, that having
translated many of the Prophet David's Psalms into English verse, he
made George Herbert his patron, by a public dedication of them to him,
as the best judge of Divine Poetry. And for the learned Bishop, it is
observable, that at that time there fell to be a modest debate betwixt
them two about Predestination, and Sanctity of life; of both of which
the Orator did, not long after, send the Bishop some safe and useful
aphorisms, in a long letter, written in Greek; which letter was so
remarkable for the language and reason of it, that, after the reading
of it, the Bishop put it into his bosom, and did often shew it to many
Scholars, both of this and foreign 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.
[Sidenote: His friends]
To this I might add the long and entire friendship betwixt him and Sir
Henry Wotton, and Dr. Donne; but I have promised to contract myself,
and shall therefore only add one testimony to what is also mentioned
in the Life of Dr. Donne; namely, that a little before his death he
caused many Seals to be made, and in them to be engraven the figure of
Christ, crucified on an Anchor,--the emblem of Hope,--and of which Dr.
Donne would often say, "_Crux mihi anchora_."--These Seals he gave
or sent to most of those friends on which he put a value: and, at
Mr. Herbert's death, these verses were found wrapt up with that seal,
which was by the Doctor given to him;
When my dear friend could write no more,
He gave this _Seal_ and so gave o'er.
When winds and waves rise highest I am sure,
This _Anchor_ keeps my faith, that, me secure.
[Sidenote: His attainments]
At this time of being Orator, he had learned to understand the
Italian, Spanish, and French tongues very perfectly: hoping, that as
his predecessors, so he might in time attain the place of a Secretary
of State, he being at that time very high in the King's favour, and
not meanly valued and loved by the most eminent and most powerful of
the Court Nobility. This, and the love of a Court-conversation, mixed
with a laudable ambition to be something more than he then was, drew
him often from Cambridge, to attend the King wheresoever the Court
was, who then gave him a sinecure, which fell into his Majesty's
disposal, I think, by the death of the Bishop of St. Asaph.[15] It was
the same that Queen Elizabeth had formerly given to her favourite Sir
Philip Sidney, and valued to be worth an hundred and twenty pounds per
annum. With this, and his annuity, and the advantage of his College,
and of his Oratorship, he enjoyed his genteel humour for clothes, and
Court-like company, and seldom looked towards Cambridge, unless the
King were there, but then he never failed; and, at other times, left
the manage of his Orator's place to his learned friend, Mr. Herbert
Thorndike, who is now Prebend of Westminster.[16]
[Sidenote: His health]
I may not omit to tell, that he had often designed to leave the
University, and decline all study, which he thought did impair his
health; for he had a body apt to a consumption, and to fevers, and
other infirmities, which he judged were increased by his studies;
for he would often say, "He had too thoughtful a wit; a wit like a
penknife in too narrow a sheath, too sharp for his body." But his
Mother would by no means allow him to leave the University, or to
travel; and though he inclined very much to both, yet he would by
no means satisfy his own desires at so dear a rate, as to prove an
undutiful son to so affectionate a Mother; but did always submit to
her wisdom. And what I have now said may partly appear in a copy of
verses in his printed poems; 'tis one of those that bear the title
of Affliction; and it appears to be a pious reflection on God's
providence, and some passages of his life, in which he says,
[Sidenote: "Affliction"]
Whereas my birth and spirit rather took
The way that takes the town:
Thou didst betray me to a lingering book,
And wrapt me in a gown:
I was entangled in a world of strife,
Before I had the power to change my life.
Yet, for I threaten'd oft the siege to raise,
Not simpering all mine age;
Thou often didst with academic praise
Melt and dissolve my rage:
I took the sweeten'd pill, till I came where
I could not go away, nor persevere.
Yet, lest perchance I should too happy be
In my unhappiness,
Turning my purge to food, thou throwest me
Into more sicknesses.
Thus dost thy power cross-bias me, not making
Thine own gifts good, yet me from my ways taking.
Now I am here, what thou wilt do with me
None of my books will show.
I read, and sigh, and wish I were a tree,
For then sure I should grow
To fruit or shade, at least some bird would trust
Her household with me, and I would be just.
Yet, though thou troublest me, I must be meek,
In weakness must be stout,
Well, I will change my service, and go seek
Some other master out;
Ah, my dear God! though I am clean forgot,
Let me not love thee, if I love thee not.
G.H.
[Sidenote: Retires into Kent]
In this time 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 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 had many conflicts with
himself, whether he should return to the painted pleasures of a
Court-life, or betake himself to a study of Divinity, and enter into
Sacred Orders, to which his dear mother had often persuaded him. These
were such conflicts, as they only can know, that have endured them;
for ambitious desires, and the outward glory of this world, are not
easily laid aside; but at last God inclined him to put on a resolution
to serve at his altar.
[Sidenote: Holy Orders]
He did, at his return to London, acquaint a Court-friend with his
resolution to enter into Sacred Orders, who persuaded him to alter
it, as too mean an employment, and too much below his birth, and the
excellent abilities and endowments of his mind. To whom he replied,
"It hath been formerly judged that the domestic servants of the King
of Heaven should be of the noblest families on earth. And though the
iniquity of the late times have made clergymen meanly valued, and
the sacred name of priest contemptible; yet I will labour to make it
honourable, by consecrating all my learning, and all my poor abilities
to advance the glory of that God that gave them; knowing that I can
never do too much for him, that hath done so much for me, as to make
me a Christian. And I will labour to be like my Saviour, by making
humility lovely in the eyes of all men, and by following the merciful
and meek example of my dear Jesus."
[Sidenote: Layton Ecclesia]
This was then his resolution; and the God of constancy, who intended
him for a great example of virtue, continued him in it, for within
that year he was made Deacon, but the day when, or by whom, I cannot
learn; but that he was about that time made Deacon, is most certain;
for I find by the Records of Lincoln, that he was made Prebend of
Layton Ecclesia, in the Diocese of Lincoln, July 15th, 1626, and that
this Prebend was given him by John,[17] then Lord Bishop of that See.
And now he had a fit occasion to shew that piety and bounty that was
derived from his generous mother, and his other memorable ancestors,
and the occasion was this.
[Sidenote: Church-building]
This Layton Ecclesia is a village near to Spalden, in the County of
Huntingdon, and the greatest part of the Parish Church was fallen
down, and that of it which stood was so decayed, so little, and so
useless, that the parishioners could not meet to perform their duty
to God in public prayer and praises; and thus it had been for almost
twenty years, in which time there had been some faint endeavours for
a public collection to enable the parishioners to rebuild it; but with
no success, till Mr. Herbert undertook it; and he, by his own, and
the contribution of many of his kindred, and other noble friends,
undertook the re-edification of it; and made it so much his whole
business, that he became restless till he saw it finished as it now
stands; being for the workmanship, a costly Mossaic; for the form, an
exact cross; and for the decency and beauty, I am assured, it is the
most remarkable Parish Church that this nation affords. He lived to
see it so wainscotted, as to be exceeded by none; and, by his order,
the Reading pew and Pulpit were a little distant from each other, and
both of an equal height; for he would often say, "They should neither
have a precedency or priority of the other; but that prayer and
preaching, being equally useful, might agree like brethren, and have
an equal honour and estimation."