[1] Compare the poem on the death of Cartwright, _supra_:--
"But now 'tis lost; lost in the silent grave," &c.
* * * * *
COMMENDATORY VERSE TO THE
AUTHOR OF SCINTILLULA
ALTARIS.
1652.
[Scintillula Altaris or, a Pious Reflection on Primitive Devotion: as to
the Feasts and Fasts of the Christian Church, Orthodoxally Revived. By
Edward Sparke, B.D. London; Printed by T. Maxey for Richard Marriot, and
are to be sold at his Shop in St. Dunstan's Church-yard in Fleetstreet,
1652.
This book reached a Seventh Edition during Walton's lifetime; but his
Commendatory Verses are only to be found in the first.]
_To the Author upon the sight of the first sheet of his Book._
My worthy friend, I am much pleas'd to know,
You have begun to pay the debt you owe
By promise, to so many pious friends,
In printing your choice Poems; it commends
Both them, and you, that they have been desir'd
By persons of such Judgment; and admir'd
They must be most, by those that best shal know
What praise to holy Poetry we owe.
So shall your Disquisitions too; for, there
Choice learning, and blest piety, appear.
All usefull to poor Christians: where they may
Learne Primitive Devotion. Each Saints day
Stands as a Land-mark in an erring age
to guide fraile mortals in their pilgrimage
To the Coelestiall _Can'an_; and each Fast,
Is both the souls direction, and repast:
All so exprest, that I am glad to know
You have begun to pay the debt you owe.
IZ. WA.
* * * * *
DEDICATION OF THE LIFE OF DONNE
AND ADVERTISEMENT TO
THE READER.
1658.
[The Life of John Donne, Dr. in Divinity, and Late Dean of Saint Pauls
Church London. The second impression corrected and enlarged. Ecclus.48.14.
_He did wonders in his life, and at his death his works were marvelous_.
London, Printed by J.G. for R. Marriot, and are to be sold at his shop
under S. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street. 1658.]
_To My Noble & honoured Friend Sir Robert Holt of Afton, in the County of
Warwick, Baronet._
Sir,
When this relation of the life of Doctor Donne was first made publick, it
had besides the approbation of our late learned & eloquent King, a
conjunction with the Authors most excellent Sermons to support it; and
thus it lay some time fortified against prejudice; and those passions that
are by busie and malicious men too freely vented against the dead.
And yet, now, after almost twenty yeares, when though the memory of Dr.
Donne himself, must not, cannot die, so long as men speak English; yet
when I thought Time had made this relation of him so like my self, as to
become useless to the world, and content to be forgotten; I find that a
retreat into a defired privacy, will not be afforded; for the Printers
will again expose it and me to publick exceptions; and without those
supports, which we first had and needed, and in an Age too, in which
Truth & Innocence have not beene able to defend themselves from worse then
severe censures.
This I foresaw, and Nature teaching me selfe-preservation, and my long
experience of your abilities assuring me that in you it may in found:[1]
to you, Sir, do I make mine addreffes for an umbrage and protection: and
I make it with so much humble boldnesse, as to say 'twere degenerous in
you not to afford it.
For, Sir,
Dr. Donne was so much a part of yourself, as to be incorporated into your
Family, by so noble a friendship, that I may say there was a marriage of
fouls betwixt him and your[2] reverend Grandfather, who in his life was an
Angel of our once glorious Church, and now no common Star in heaven.
And Dr. Donne's love died not with him, but was doubled upon his Heire,
your beloved Uncle the Bishop of [3] Chichester, that lives in this
froward generation, to be an ornament to his Calling. And this affection
to him was by Dr. D. so testified in his life, that he then trusted him
with the very secrets of his soul; & at his death, with what was dearest
to him, even his fame, estate, & children.
And you have yet a further title to what was Dr. Donne's, by that dear
affection & friendship that was betwixt him and your parents, by which
he entailed a love upon yourself, even in your infancy, which was
encreased by the early testimonies of your growing merits, and by them
continued, till D. _Donne_ put on immortality; and so this mortall was
turned into a love that cannot die.
And Sir, 'twas pity he was lost to you in your minority, before you had
attained a judgement to put a true value upon the living beauties and
elegancies of his conversation; and pitty too, that so much of them as
were capable of such an expression, were not drawn by the pensil of a
_Tytian_ or a _Tentoret_, by a pen equall and more lasting then their art;
for his life ought to be the example of more then that age in which he
died. And yet this copy, though very much, indeed too much short of the
Originall, will present you with some features not unlike your dead friend,
and with fewer blemishes and more ornaments than when 'twas first made
publique: which creates a contentment to my selfe, because it is the
more worthy of him, and because I may with more civility intitle you to
it.
And in this designe of doing so, I have not a thought of what is pretended
in most Dedications, _a Commutation for Courtesies_: no indeed Sir, I put
no such value upon this trifle; for your owning it will rather increase my
Obligations. But my desire is, that into whose hands soever this shall
fall, it may to them be a testimony of my gratitude to your self and
Family, who descended to such a degree of humility as to admit me into
their friendship in the dayes of my youth; and notwithstanding my many
infirmities, have continued me in it till I am become gray-headed; and as
Time has added to my yeares, have still increased and multiplied their
favours.
This, Sir, is the intent of this Dedication: and having made the
declaration of it thus publick, I shall conclude it with commending them
and you to Gods deare love.
I remain, Sir, what your many merits have made me to be,
The humblest of your Servants,
ISAAC WALTON.
_To the Reader._
My desire is to inform and assure you, that shall become my Reader, that
in that part of this following discourse, which is onely narration, I
either speak my own knowledge, or from the testimony of such as dare do
any thing, rather than speak an untruth. And for that part of it which is
my own observation or opinion, if I had a power I would not use it to
force any mans assent, but leave him a liberty to disbelieve what his own
reason inclines him to.
Next, I am to inform you, that whereas Dr. Donne's life was formerly
printed with his Sermons, and then had the same Preface or Introduction
to it; I have not omitted it now, because I have no such confidence in
what I have done, as to appear without an apology for my undertaking it.
I have said all when I have wished happinesse to my Reader.
I.W.