this years resolutions he therefore did set down his Rules in that order as the World now sees them printed in a little Book call'd The Countrey Parson in which some of his Rules are The Parsons Knowledge The Parson on Sundayes The Parson Praying The Parson Preaching The Parsons Charity The Parson comforting the Sick The Parson Arguing The Parson Condescending The Parson in his Journey The Parson in his Mirth The Parson with his Church-wardens The Parsons Blessing the People And his behavior toward God and man may be said to be a practical Comment on these and the other holy Rules set down in that useful Book A Book so full of plain prudent and useful Rules that that Countrey Parson that can spare 12 d. and yet wants is scarce excusable because it will both direct him what he is to do and convince him for not having done it At the Death of Mr. Herbert this Book fell into the hands of his friend Mr. Woodnot and he commended it into the trusty hands of Mr. Bar. Oly. who publish't it with a most conscientious and excellent Preface from which I have had some of those Truths that are related in this life of Mr. Herbert The Text for his first Sermon was taken out of Solomons Proverbs and the words were Keep thy heart with all diligence In which first Sermon he gave his Parishioners many necessary holy safe Rules for the discharge of a good Conscience both to God and man And deliver'd his Sermon after a most florid manner both with great learning and eloquence And at the close of his Sermon told them That should not be his constant way of Preaching and that he would not fill their heads with unnecessary Notionsâ— but that for their sakes his language and his expressions should be more plain and practical in his future Sermons And he then made it his humble request That they would be constant to the Afternoons Service and Catechising And shewed them convincing reasons why he desir'd it and his obliging example and perswasions brought them to a willing conformity to his desires The Texts for all his Sermons were constantly taken out of the Gospel for the day and he did as constantly declare why the Church did appoint that portion of Scripture to be that day read And in what manner the Collect for every Sunday does refer to the Gospel or to the Epistle then read to them and that they might pray with understanding he did usually take occasion to explain not only the Collect for every particular day but the reasons of all the other Collects and Responses in our Service and made it appear to them that the whole Service of the Church was a reasonable and therefore an acceptable Sacrifice to God as namely that we begin with Confession of our selves to be vile miserable sinners and that we begin so because till we have confessed our selves to be such we are not capable of that mercy which we acknowledge we need and pray for but having in the prayer of our Lord begg'd pardon for those sins which we have confest And hoping that as the Priest hath declar'd our Absolution so by our publick Confession and real Repentance we have obtain'd that pardon Then we dare proceed to beg of the Lord to open our lips that our mouths may shew forth his praise for till then we are neither able nor worthy to praise him But this being suppos'd we are then fit to say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost and fit to proceed to a further service of our God in the Collects and Psalms and Lands that follow in the Service And as to these Psalms and Lauds he proceeded to inform them why they were so often and some of them daily repeated in our Church-service namely the Psalms every Month because they be an Historical and thankful repetition of mercies past and such a composition of prayers and praises as ought to be repeated often and publickly for with such Sacrifices God is honour'd and well-pleased This for the Psalms And for the Hymns and Lauds appointed to be daily repeated or sung after the first and second Lessons were read to the Congregation he proceeded to inform them that it was most reasonable after they have heard the will and goodness of God declar'd or preach't by the Priest in his reading the two Chapters that it was then a seasonable Duty to rise up and express their gratitude to Almighty God for those his mercies to them and to all Mankind and say with the blessed Virgin That their Souls do magnifie the Lord and that their spirits do also rejoyce in God their Saviour And that it was their Duty also to rejoyce with Simeon in his Song and say with him That their eyes have also seen their salvation for they have seen that salvation which was but prophesied till his time and he then broke out in expressions of joy to see it but they live to see it daily in the History of it and therefore ought daily to rejoyce and daily to offer up their Sacrifices of praise to their God for that and all his mercies A service which is now the constant employment of that blessed Virgin and Simeon and all those blessed Saints that are possest of Heaven and where they are at this time interchangeably and constantly singing Holy Holy Holy Lord God Glory be to God on High and on Earth peace And he taught them that to do this was an acceptable service to God because the Prophet David sayes in his Psalms He that praiseth the Lord honoureth him He made them to understand how happy they be that are freed from the incumbrances of that Law which our Fore-fathers groan'd under namely from the Legal Sacrifices and from the many Ceremonies of the Levitical Law freed from Circumcision and from the strict observation of the Jewish Sabbath and the like And he made them know that having receiv'd so many and so great blessings by being born since the dayes of our Saviour it must be an acceptable Sacrifice to Almighty God for them to acknowledge those blessings and stand up and worship and say as Zacharias did Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath in our dayes visited and redeemed his people and he hath in our dayes remembred and shewed that mercy which by the mouth of the Prophets he promised to our Fore-fathers and this he hath done according to his holy Covenant made with them And we live to see and enjoy the benefit of it in his Birth in his Life his Passion his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven where he now sits sensible of all our temptations and infirmities and where he is at this present time making intercession for us to his and our Father and therefore they ought daily to express their publick gratulations and say daily with Zacharias Blessed be that Lord God of Israel that hath thus visited and thus redeemed his people These
of the Church and owe it a protection and therefore God forbid that You should be so much as Passive in her Ruines when You may prevent it or that I should behold it without horrour and detestation or should forbear to tell Your Majesty of the sin and danger of Sacriledge And though You and my self were born in an Age of Frailties when the primitive piety and care of the Churches Lands and Immunities are much decayed yet Madam let me beg that you would first consider that there are such sins as Prophaneness and Sacriledge and that if there were not they could not have names in Holy Writ and particularly in the New Testament And I beseech You to consider that though our Saviour said He judged no man and to testifie it would not judge nor divide the inheritance betwixt the two Brethren nor would judge the Woman taken in Adultery yet in this point of the Churches Rights he was so zealous that he made himself both the Accuser and the Judge and the Executioner too to punish these sins witnessed in that he himself made the Whip to drive the Prophaners out of the Temple overthrew the Tables of the Money-changers and drove them out of it And consider that it was St. Paul that said to those Christians of his time that were offended with Idolatry yet committed Sacriledge Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge Supposing I think Sacriledge the greater sin This may occasion Your Majesty to consider that there is such a sin as Sacriledg and to incline You to prevent the Curse that will follow it I beseech You also to consider that Constantine the first Christian Emperour and Helena his Mother that King Edgar and Edward the Confessor and indeed many others of Your Predecessors and many private Christians have also given to God and to his Church much Land and many Immunities which they might have given to those of their own Families and did not but gave them as an absolute Right and Sacrifice to God And with these Immunities and Lands they have entail'd a Curse upon the Alienators of them God prevent Your Majesty from being liable to that Curse And to make You that are trusted with their preservation the better to understand the danger of it I beseech You forget not that besides these Curses the Churches Land and Power have been also endeavoured to be preserved as far as Humane Reason and the Law of this Nation have been able to preserve them by an immediate and most sacred Obligation on the Consciences of the Princes of this Realm For they that consult Magna Charta shall find that as all Your Predecessors were at their Coronation so You also were sworn before all the Nobility and Bishops then present and in the presence of God and in his stead to him that anointed You To maintain the Church-lands and the Rights belonging to it and this testified openly at the holy Altar by laying Your hands on the Bible then lying upon it And not only Magna Charta but many modern Statutes have denounced a Curse upon those that break Magna Charta A Curse like the Leprosie that was intail'd on the Jews for as that so these Curses have and will cleave to the very stones of those buildings that have been consecrated to God and the fathers sin of Sacriledge will prove to be intail'd on his Son and Family And now what account can be given for the breach of this Oath at the last great day either by Your Majesty or by me if it be wilfully or but negligently violated I know not And therefore good Madam let not the late Lords Exceptions against the failings of some few Clergy-men prevail with You to punish Posterity for the Errors of this present Age let particular men suffer for their particular Errors but let God and his Church have their right And though I pretend not to Prophesie yet I beg Posterity to take notice of what is already become visible in many Families That Church-land added to an ancient Inheritance hath proved like a Moth fretting a Garment and secretly consumed both Or like the Eagle that stole a coal from the Altar and thereby set her Nest on fire which consumed both her young Eagles and her self that stole it And though I shall forbear to speak reproachfully of Your Father yet I beg You to take notice that a part of the Churches Rights added to the vast Treasure left him by his Father hath been conceived to bring an unavoidable Consumption upon both notwithstanding all his diligence to preserve them And consider that after the violation of those Laws to which he had sworn in Magna Charta God did so far deny him his restraining Grace that as King Saul after he was forsaken of God fell from one sin to another so he till at last he fell into greater sins than I am willing to mention Madam Religion is the Foundation and Cement of humane Societies and when they that serve at Gods Altar shall be exposed to Poverty then Religion it self will be exposed to scorn and become contemptible as You may already observe in too many poor Vicaridges in this Nation And therefore as You are by a late Act or Acts of Parliament entrusted with a great power to preserve or waste the Churches Lands yet dispose of them for Jesus sake as the Donoâ—s intended let neither Falshood nor Flattery beguile You to do otherwise but put a stop to Gods and the Levites portion I beseech You and to the approaching Ruines of his Church as You expect comfort at the great day for Kings must be judged Pardon this affectionate plainness my most dear Soveraign and let me beg still to be continued in Your favour and the Lord still continue You in his The Queens patient hearing this affectionate Speâ—â— and her future Care to preserve the Churches Rights which till then had been neglected may appear a fair Testimony that he made hers and the Churches Good the chiefest of his Cares and that she also thought so And of this there were such daily testimonies given as begot betwixt them so mutual a joy and confidence that they seemed born to believe and do good to each other she not doubting his Piety to be more than all his Opposers which were many nor his Prudence equal to the chiefest of her Council who were then as remarkable for active Wisdome as those dangerous Times did require or this Nation did ever enjoy And in this condition he continued twenty years in which time he saw some Flowings but many more Ebbings of her Favour towards all men that opposed him especially the Earl of Leicester so that God seemed still to keep him in her Favour that he might preserve the remaining Church Lands and Immunities from Sacrilegious Alienations And this Good man deserved all the Honour and Power with which she trusted him for he was a pious man and naturally of Noble and Grateful Principles he eased her of
called Basilicon Doron and their Orator was to acknowledge this great honour and return their gratitude to His Majesty for such a condescention 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 suted to the genius of the King that he inquired the Orators name and then ask'd 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 lov'd him more for his learning and vertue than for that he was of his name and family At which answer the King smil'd and asked the Earl leave that he might love him too for he took him to be the Jewel of that University The next occasion that he had 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 profest himself a member and the occasion was this There wâ—s one Andrew Melvin a Gentleman of Scotland who was in his own Countrey possest with an aversness if not a hatred of Church-government by Bishops and he seem'd to have a like aversness to our manner of Publick Worship and of Church-prayers and Ceremonies This Gentleman had travail'd France and resided so long in Geneva as to have his opinions the more confirm'd in him by the practice of that place from which he return'd into England some short time before or immediately after Mr. Herbert was made Orator This Mr. Melvin was a man of learning and was the Master of a great wit a wit full of knots and clenches a wit sharp and satyrical exceeded I think by none of that Nation but their Bucanen At Mr. Melvins return hither he writ and scattered in Latin many pieces of his wit against our Altars our Prayers and our Publick Worship of God in which Mr. Herbert took himself to be so much concern'd that as fast as Melvin writ and scatter'd them Mr. Herbert writ and scatter'd answers and reflections of the same sharpness upon him and them I think to the satisfaction of all un-ingaged persons But this Mr. Melvin was not only so busie against the Church but at last so bold with the King and State that he rayl'd and writ himself into the Tower at which time the Lady Arabella was an innocent prisoner there and he pleas'd himself much in sending the next day after his Commitment these two Verses to the good Lady which I will under-write 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. Herberts Verses were thought so worthy to be preserv'd that Dr. Duport the learned Dean of Peterborough hath lately collected and caus'd them to be printed as an honourable memorial of his friend Mr. George Herbert and the Cause he undertook And in order to my third and last observation of his great Abilities it will be needful to declare that about this time King James came very often to hunt at New-market and Royston and was almost as often invited to Cambridge where his entertainment was suted to his pleasant humor and where Mr. George Herbert was to welcome him with Gratulations and the Applauses of an Orator which he alwayes perform'd so well that he still grew more into the Kings favour insomuch that he had a particular appointment to attend His Majesty at Royston where after a Discourse with him His Majesty declar'd to his Kinsman the Earl of Pembroke That he found the Orators 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 dayes at which time he was attended by the great Secretary of Nature and all Learning Sir Francis Bacon Lord Virulam and by the ever memorable and learned Dr. Andrews Bishop of Winchester both which did at that time begin a desir'd friendship with our Orator Upon whom the first put such a value on his judgement that he usually desir'd 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 Davids Psalms into English Verse he made George Herbert his Patron of them by a publick 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 about Predestination 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 was so remarkable for the language and matter that after the reading of it the Bishop put it into his bosom and did often shew it to Scholars both of this and forreign Nations but did alwayes return it back to the place where he first lodg'd it and continu'd it so near his heart till the last day of his life To these I might add the long and intire friendship betwixt him and Sir Henry Wotton and Dr. Donne but I have promis'd to contract my self 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 ingraven the figure of Christ crucified on an Anchor which is the emblem of hope and of which Dr. Donne would often say Crux mihi Anchora These Seals he sent to most of those friends on which he put a value and at Mr. Herberts death these Verses were found wrap't 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 ore When winds and waves rise highest I am sure This Anchor keeps my faith that me secure At this time of being Orator he had learnt to understand the Italian Spanish and French Tongues very perfectly hoping that as his Predecessor so he might in time attain the place of a Secretary of State being then high in the Kings favour and not meanly valued and lov'd by the most eminent and most powerful of the Court Nobility This and the love of a Court-conversation mixt with a laudable ambition to be something more then he then was drew him often from Cambridge to attend the King who then gave him a Sine Cure which fell into His Majesties disposal I think by the death of the Bishop of St. Asaph It was the same that Queen Elizabeth had formerly given to her Favourite Sir Philip Sidney and valued to be worth an hundred and twenty pound per
Winchester who then was the Kings Almoner About this time there grew many disputes that concerned the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance in which the King had appeared and engaged himself by his publick writings now extant and his Majesty discoursing with Mr. Donne concerning many of the reasons which are usually urged against the taking of those Oaths apprehended such a validity and clearness in his stating the Questions and his Answers to them that his Majesty commanded him to bestow some time in drawing the Arguments into a method and then write his Answers to them and having done that not to send but be his own messenger and bring them to him To this he presently applyed himself and within six weeks brought them to him under his own hand-writing as they be now printed the Book bearing the name of Pseudo-martyr When the King had read and considered that Book he perswaded Mr. Donne to enter into the Ministry to which at that time he was and appeared very unwilling apprehending it such was his mistaking modesty to be too weighty for his Abilities and though his Majesty had promised him a favour and many persons of worth mediated with his Majesty for some secular employment for him to which his Education had apted him and particularly the Earl of Somerset when in his height of favour who being then at Thâ—obalds with the King where one of the Clerks of the Council died that night and the Earl having sent for Mr. Donne to come to him immediately said Mr. Donne To testifie the reality of my Affection and my purpose to preferre you Stay in this Garden till I go up to the King and bring you worâ— that you are Clark of the Council doubt not my doing this for I know the King loves you and will not deny me But the King gave a positive denyal to all requests and having a discerning spirit replyed I know Mr. Donne is â— learned man has the abilities of a learned Divine and will prove a powerful Preacher and my desire is to prefer him that way After that time as he professeth The King descended to a perswasion almost to a solicitation of him to enter into sacred Orders which though hâ— then denyed not yet he deferred it for almost three years All which time he applyed himself to an incessant study of Textual Divinity and to the attainment of a greater perfection in the learned Languages Greek and Hebrew In the first and most blessed times of Christianity when the Clergy were look'd upon with reverence and deserved it when they overcame their opposers by high examples of Vertue by a blessed Patience and long Suffering those onely were then judged worthy the Ministry whose quiet and meek spirits did make them look upon that sacred calling with an humble adoration and fear to undertake it which indeed requires such great degrees of humility and labour and care that none but such were then thought worthy of that celestial dignity And such onely were then sought out and solicited to undertake it This I have mentioned because forwardness and inconsideation could not in Mr. Donne as in many others be an argument of insufficiency or unfitness for he had considered long and had many strifes within himself concerning the strictness of life and competency of learning required in such as enter into sacred Orders and doubtless considering his own demerits did humbly ask God with St. Paul Lord who is sufficient for these things and with meek Moses Lord who am I And sure if he had consulted with flesh and blood he had not put his hand to that holy lough But God who is able to prevail wrestled with him as the Angel did with Jacob and marked him mark'd him for his own mark'd him with a blessing a blessing of obedience to the motions of his blessed Spirit And then as he had formerly asked God with Moses Who am I So now being inspired with an apprehension of Gods particular mercy to him in the Kings and others solicitations of him he came to aâ—â—â— King Davids thankful question Lord who am I thaâ— thou art so mindful of me So mindful oâ— me as to lead me for more then forty years through this wilderness of the many temptations and various turnings of a dangerous life so merciful to me as to move the learnedâ—st of Kings to descend to move me to serve at thy Alter so merciful to me as at last to move my lâ—â—a to imbrace this holy motion thy motions will and do imbrace And I now say with the blessed Virgin Be it with thy servant as seemeth best in thy sight and so blessed Jesus I â—â— take the cup of Salvation and will call upoâ— thy Name and will preach thy Gospel Such strifes as these St. Austine had wheâ— St. Ambrose indeavoured his conversion to Christianity with which he confesseth he acquaiâ—â—ted his friend Alipius Our learned Author a man sit to write after no mean Copy dâ— the like And declaring his intentions to â—â— dear friend Dr. King then Bishop of London man famous in his generation and no strangth to Mr. Donnes abilities For he had been Chaplain to the Lord Chancellor at the tiâ—â— of Mr. Donnes being his Lordships Secretaryâ— That Reverend man did receive the news wiâ—â— much gladness and after some expressions â—â— joy and a perswasion to be constant in his pious purpose he proceeded with all convenient speed to ordain him both Deacon and Priest Now the English Church had gain'd a second St. Austine for I think none was so like him before his Conversion none so like St. Ambrose after it and if his youth had the infirmities of the one his age had the excellencies of the other the learning and holiness of both And now all his studies which had been occasionally diffused were all concentred in Divinity Now he had a new calling new thoughts and a new imployment for his wit and eloquence Now all his earthly affections were changed into divine love and all the faculties of his own soul were ingaged in the Conversion of others In preaching the glad tidings of Remission to repenting Sinners and peace to each troubled soul. To these he app'yed himself with all care and diligence and now such a change was wrought in him that he could say with David Oh how amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord God of Hosts Now he declared openly that when he required a temporal God gave him a spiritual blessing And that he was now gladder to be a door-keeper in the house of God then he could be to injoy the noblest of all temporal imployments Presently after he entred into his holy profession the King sent for him and made him his Chaplain in ordinary and promised to take a particular care for his preferment And though his long familiarity with Scholars and persons of greatest quality was such as might have given some men boldness enough to have preached to any eminent Auditory yet his modesty in this
but on the Cross my cure Crucisie nature then and then implore All grace from him crucify'd there before When all is Cross and that Cross Anchor grown This seales a Catechism not a seal alone Under that little seal great gifts I send Both works prayers pawns fruits of a friend Oh may that Saint that rides on our great Seal To you that bear his name large bounty deal J. Donne In Sacram Anchoram Piscatoris Geo. Herbert Quod Crux nequibat fixa clavique additi Tenere Christum scilicet ne ascenderet Tuive Christum Although the Cross could not Christ here detain When nail'd unto 't but he ascends again Nor yet thy eloquence here keep him still But only whilest thou speak'st this Anchor will Nor canst thou be content unless thou to This certain Anchor add a seal and so The water and the earth both unto thee Do owe the Symbole of their certainty Let the world reel we and all ours stand sure This Holy Cable's from all storms secure G. Herbert I return to tell the Reader that besides these verses to his dear Mr. Herbert and that Hymne that I mentioned to be sung in the Quire of St Pauls Church he did also shorten and beguile many sad hours by composing other sacred Diâ—ties and he writ an Hymn on his death-bed which bears this title An Hymn to God my God in my sickness March 23. 1630. Since I am coming to that holy room Where with thy quire of Saints for ever more I shall be made thy musique as I come I tune my Instrument here at the dore And what I must do then think here before Since my Physitians by their loves are grown Cosmographers and I their map who lye Flat on this bed So in his purple wrapt receive me Lord By these his thorns give me his other Crown And as to other souls I preach'd thy Word Be this my text my Sermon to mine own That he may raise therefore the lord throws down If these fall under the censure of a soul whose too much mixture with earth makes it unfit to judge of these high raptures and illuminations let him know that many holy and devout men have thought the Soul of Prudentius to be most refined when not many dayes before his death he charged it to present his God each morning and evening with a new and spiritual song justified by the example of King David and the good King Hezekias who upon the renovation of his years paid his thankful vowes to Almighty God in a royal Hymn which he concludes in these words The Lord was ready to save therefore I will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the dayes of my life in the temple of my God The latter part of his life may be said to be a continued study for as he usually preached once a week if not oftner so after his Sermon he never gave his eyes rest till he had chosen out a new Text and that night cast his Sermon into a form and his Text into divisions and the next day betook himself to consult the Fathers and so commit his meditations to his memory which was excellent But upon Saturday he usually gave himself and his mind a rest from the weâ—â—y burthen of his weeks meditations and usually spent that day in visitation of friends or some other diversions of his thoughts and would say that he gave both his body and mind that refreshment that he might be enabled to do the work of the day following not faintly but with courage and chearfulness Nor was his age onely so industrious but in the most unsetled dayes of his youth his bed was not able to detain him beyond the hour of four in a morning and it was no common business that drew him out of his chamber till past ten All which time was employed in study though he took great liberty after it and if this seem strange it may gain a belief by the visible fruits of his labours some of which remain as testimonies of what is here writen for he left the resultance of 1400. Authors most of them abridged and analysed with his own hand he left also sixscore of his Sermons all written with his own hand also an exact and laborious Treatise concerning Self-murther called Biathanatos wherein all the Laws violated by that Act are diligently surveyed and judiciously censured a Treatise written in his younger dayes which alone might declare him then not onely perfect in the Civil and Canon Law but in many other such studies and arguments as enter not into the consideration of many that labour to be thought great Clerks and pretend to know all things Nor were these onely found in his study but all businesses that past of any publick consequence either in this or any of our neighbour nations he abbreviated either in Latine or in the Language of that Nation and kept them by him for useful memorials So he did the copies of divers Letters and cases of Conscience that had concerned his friends with his observations and solutions of them and divers other businesses of importance all particularly and methodically digested by himself He did prepare to leave the world before life left him making his will when no faculty of his soul was damp'd or made defective by pain or sickness or he surprized by a sudden apprehension of death but it was made with mature deliberation expressing himself an impartial father by making his childrens portions equal and a lover of his friends whom he remembred with Legacies fitly and discreetly chosen and bequeathed I cannot forbear a nomination of some of them for methinks they be persons that seem to challenge a recordation in this place as namely to his Brother-in-law Sir Th. Grimes he gave that striking Clock which he had long worn in his pocket to his dear friend and Executor Dr. King late Bishop of Chicester that model of gold of the Synod of Dcrt with which the States presented him at his last being at the Hague and the two Pictures of Padre Paulo and Fulgentio men of his acquaintance when he travelled Italy and of great note in that Nation for their remarkable learning To his ancient friend Dr. Brook that married him Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge he gave the Picture of the blessed Virgin and Joseph To Dr. Winniff who succeeded him in the Deanry he gave a Picture called the Sceleton To the succeeding Dean who was not then known he gave many necessaries of worth and useful for his house and also several Pictures and Ornaments for the Chappel with a desire that they might be registred and remain as a Legacy to his Successors To the Earls of Dorset and of Carlile he gave several Pictures and so he did to many other friends Legacies given rather to express his affection than to make any addition to their Estates but unto the Poor he was full of Charity and unto many others who by his constant and long
shall leave in this World My Soul I bequeath to the Immortal God my Maker Father of our Lord Jesus Christ my blessed Redeemer and Mediator through his all-sole sufficient satisfaction for the sins of the whole World and efficient for his Elect in the number of whom I am one by his meer grace and thereof most unremoveably assured by his holy Spirit the true Eternal Comforter My Body I bequeath to the Earth if I shall end my transitory dayes at or near Eaton to be buried in the Chappel of the said Colledge as the Fellows shall dispose thereof with whom I have liv'd my God knows in all loving affection or if I shall dye near Bocton Malherb in the County of Kent then I wish to be laid in that Parish Church as near as may be to the Sepulchre of my good Father expecting a joyful Resurrection with him in the Day of Christ. After this account of his Faith and this Surrender of his Soul to that God that inspir'd it and this direction for the disposal of his body he proceeded to appoint that his Executours should lay over his grave a Marble stone plain not costly And considering that time moulders even Marble to dust for Monuments themselves must die therefore did he â—â—aving the common way think fit rather to preseâ—ve his name to which the Son of Sirac adviseth all men by an useful Apothegm then by a large enumeration of his descent or merits of both which he might justly have boasted but he was content to forget them and did chuse onely this prudent pious Sentence to discover his Disposition and preserve his Memory 'T was directed by him to be thus inscribed Hic jacet hujus Sententiae primus Author DISPUTANDI PRURITUS ECCLESIARUM SCABIES Nomen alià s quaere Which may be Englished thus Here lies the first Author of this Sentence THE ITCH OF DISPUTATION WILL PROVE THE SCAB OF THE CHURCH Inquire his name elsewhere And if any shall object â—as I think some have That Sir Henry VVotton was not the first Authour of this Sentence but that this or a Sentence like it was long before his time To him I answer that Solomon sayes Nothing can be spoken that hath not been spoken for there is no new thing under the Sun But grant that in his various reading he had met with this or a like Sentence yet reason will perswade all Readers to believe That Sir Henry Wotton's mind was then so fix'd on that part of the Communion of Saints which is above that an holy Lethargy did surprize his Memory For doubtless if he had not believed himself to be the first Authour of what he said he was too prudent first to own and then expose it to the publick view and censure of every Critick with which that Age abounded and this more And questionless 't will be Charity in all Readers to think his mind was then so fix'd on Heaven that a holy zeal did transport him and in this Sacred Extasie his thoughts being onely of the Church Triumphant into which he daily expected his admission Almighty God was pleased to make him a Prophet to tell the Church Militant and particularly that part of it in this Nation where the weeds of controversie grow to be daily both more numerous and more destructive to humble Piety where men have Consciences which boggle at Ceremonies and scruple not to speak and act such sins as the ancient humble Christians believed to be a sin to think where as our Revered Hooker sayes former Simplicity and softness of Spirit is not now to be found because Zeal hath drowned Charity and Skill Meekness These sad changes have proved this Epitaph to be a useful Caution unto us of this Nation and the sad effects thereof in Germany have prov'd it to be a mournful Truth This by way of Observation concerning his Epitaph The rest of his Will followes in his own words Further I the said Henry Wotton do constitute and ordain to be joynt Executors of this my last Will and Testament my two Grand-Nephews Albert Morton second son to Sir Robert Morton Knight late deceased and Thomas Bargrave eldest son to Dr Bargrave Dean of Canterbury Husband to my Right Vertuous and onely Neece And I do pray the foresaid Dr. Bargrave and Mr. Nicholas Pey my most faithful and chosen friends together with Mr. John Harrison one of the Fellowes of Eaton Colledge best acquainted with my Books and Pictures and other Utensils to be Supervisors of this my last Will and Testament And I do pray the foresaid Dr. Bargrave and Mr. Nicholas Pey to be Solicitors for such Arrearages as shall appear due unto me from his Majesties Exchequer at the time of my death and to assist my fore-named Executors in some reasonable and conscientious satisfaction of my Creditours and discharge of my Legacies now specified or that shall be hereafter added unto this my Testament by any Codicil or Schedule or left in the hands or in any Memorial with the aforesaid Mr. John Harison And fiâ—st To my most dear Soveraign and Master of incomparable Goodness in whose gracious opinion I have ever had some portion as far as the interest of a plain honest man I leave four Pictures at large of those Dukes of Venice in whose time I was there imployed with their names written on the back side which hang in my great ordinary Dining-room done after the Life by Edoardo Fialetto Likewise a Table of the Venetian Colledge where Ambassadours had their Audience hanging over the Mantle of the Chimney in the said Room done by the same hand which containeth a draught in little well resembling the famous D. Leonardo Donato in a time which needed a wise and constant man It ' The Picture of a Duke of Venice hanging over against the door done either by Titiano or some other principal hand long before my time Most humbly beseeching his Majesty that the said Pieces may remain in some corner of any of his Houses for a poor Memorial of his most humble vassal It ' I leave his said Majesty all the Papers and Negotiations of Sir Nich. Throgmorton Knight during his famous imployment under Queen Elizabeth in Scotland and in France which contain divers secrets of State that perchance his Majesty will think fit to be preserved in his Paper-Office after they have been perused and sorted by Mr. Secretary Windebanck with whom I have heretofore as I remember conferred about them They were committed to my disposal by Sir Arthur Throgmorton his son to whose worthy memory I cannot better discharge my faith then by assigning them to the highest place of trust It ' I leave to our most Gracious and Vertuous Queen Mary Dioscorides with the Plants naturally colored and the Text translated by Matthiolo in the best Language of Tuscany whence her said Majesty is lineally descended for a poor token of my thankful devotion for the honour she was once pleased to do my private study
from a Natural beauty He never failed the Sunday before every Ember-week to give notice of it to his Parishioners perswading them both to fast and then to double their devotions for a learned and pious Clergy but especially the last saying often That the life of a pious Clergy-man was visible Rhetorick and so Convincing that the most Godless men though they would not deny themselves the enjoyment of their present lusts did yet secretly wish themselves like those of the strictest lives And to what he perswaded others he added his own example of Fasting and Prayer and did usually every Ember-week take from the Parish-Clerk the Key of the Church-door into which place he retir'd every day and lockt himself up for many hours and did the like most Frydayes and other dayes of Fasting He would by no means omit the customary time of Procession perswading all both rich and poor if they desired the preservation of Love and their Parish Rights and Liberties to accompany him in his Perambulation and most did so in which Perambulation he would usually express more pleasant Discourse than at other times and would then alwayes drop some loving and facetious observations to be remembred against the next year especially by the boyes and young people still inclining them and all his present Parishioners to meekness and mutual kindnesses and love because Love thinks not evil but covers a multitude of Infirmities He was diligent to inquire who of his Parish were sick or any wayes distrest and would often visit them unsent for supposing that the fittest time to discover those Errors to which health and prosperity had blinded them and having by pious reasons and prayers moulded them into holy resolutions for the time to come he would incline them to confession and bewailing their sins with purpose to forsake them and then to receive the Communion both as a strengthning of those holy resolutions and as a seal betwixt God and them of his Mercies to their Souls in case that present sicknesse did put a period to their lives And as he was thus watchful and charitable to the sick so he was as diligent to prevent Law-sutes still urging his Parishioners and Neighbours to bear with each others infirmities and live in love because as St. John sayes he that lives in love lives in God for God is love And to maintain this holy fire of love constantly burning on the Altar of a pure heart his advice was to watch and pray and alwayes keep themselves fit to receive the Communion and then to receive it often for it was both a confirming and a strengthning of their graces this was his advice And at his entrance or departure out of any house he would usually speak to the whole Family and bless them by name insomuch that as he seem'd in his youth to be taught of God so he seem'd in this place to teach his precepts as Enoch did by walking with him in all holiness and humility making each day a step towards a blessed Eternity And though in this weak and declining Age of the World such Examples are become barren and almost incredible yet let his memory be blest with this true Recordation because he that praises Richard Hooker praises God who hath given such gifts to men and let this humble and affectionate Relation of him become such a pattern as may invite Posterity to imitate his vertues This was his constant behaviour at Borne so he walk't with God thus he did tread in the footsteps of primitive piety and yet as that great example of meekness and purity even our blessed Jesus was not free from false accusations no more was this Disciple of his this most humble most innocent holy man his was a slander parallel to that of chaste Susannah's by the wicked Elders or that against St. Athanasius as it is recorded in his life for that holy man had heretical enemies and which this Age calls Trepanning the particulars need not a repetition and that it was false needs no other Testimony than the publick punishment of his Accusers and their open confession of his Innocency 't was said that the accusation was contrived by a dissenting Brother one that endur'd not Church-Ceremonies hating him for his Books sake which he was not able to answer and his name hath been told me but I have not so much confidence in the relation as to make my Pen fix a scandal on him to posterity I shall rather leave it doubtful till the great day of Revelation But this is certain that he lay under the great charge and the anxiety of this accusation and kept it secret to himself for many months and being a helpless man had lain long under this heavy burthen but that the protector of the innocent gave such an accidental occasion as forced him to make it known to his two dearest friends Edwyn Sandys and George Cranmer who were so sensible of their Tutors sufferings that they gave themselves no rest till by their disquisitions and diligence they had found out the fraud and brought him the welcome News that his Accusers did confess they had wrong'd him and beg'd his pardon To which the good mans reply was to this purpose The Lord forgive them and the Lord bless you for this comfortable News Now I have a just occasion to say with Solomon Friends are born for the dayes of adversity and such you have prov'd to me and to my God I say as did the mother of St. John Baptist Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the day wherein he looked upon me to take away my reproach among men And oh my God neither my life nor my reputation are safe in mine own keeping but in thine who didst take care of me when I yet hanged upon my mothers breast blessed are they that put their trust in thee O Lord for when false Witnesses were risen up against me when shame was ready to cover my face when I was bowed down with an horrible dread and went mourning all the day long when my nights were restless and my sleeps broken with a fear worse than death when my Soul thirsted for a deliverance as the Hart panteth after the rivers of waters then thou Lord didst hear my complaints pity my condition and art now become my deliverer and as long as I live I will hold up my hands in this manner and magnifie thy mercies who didst not give me over as a prey to mine enemies Oh blessed are they that put their trust in thee and no prosperity shall make me forget those dayes of sorrows or to perform those vows that I have made to thee in the dayes of my affliction for with such Sacrifices thou O God art well pleased and I will pay them Thus did the joy and gratitude of this good mans heart break forth and 't is observable that as the invitation to this slander was his meek behaviour and Dove-like simplicity for which he was remarkable so his Christian
Sonnet to usher them to your happy hand Micham July â—â— 1607 Your unworthiest Servant unless your accepting him have mended him Jo. Donne 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 Deliver'd 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 recompence That they did harbour Christ himself a Guest Harbour these Hymns to his dear name addrest J. D. These Hymns are now lost to us but doubtless they were such as they two now sing in Heaven There might be more demonstrations of the Friendship and the many sacred Indearments betwixt these two excellent persons for I have many of their Letters in my hand and much more might be said of her great prudence and piety but my design was not to write hers but the life of her Son and therefore I shall only tell my Reader that about that very day twenty years that this Letter was dated and sent her I saw and heard this Mr. John Donne who was then Dean of St. Pauls weep and preach her Funeral Sermon in the Parish-Church of Chelsey 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 Herberts behaviour to be such that we may conclude he consecrated the first fruits of his early age to vertue 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-years gift may appear to be some testimony But I fear the heat of my late Ague hath dryed 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 Gods glory And MY God where is that ancient heat towards thee Wherewith whole showls 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 layes Upon thine Altar burnt Cannot thy love He ghten a spirit to sound out thy praise As well as any she Cannot thy Dove Out-strip their Cupid easily in flight Or since thy wayes are deep and still the same Will not a verserun 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 distills thy praise and doth forbid Poets to turn it to another use Roses and Lillies speak thee and to make A pair of Cheeks of them is thy abuse Why should I Womens eyes for Chrystal 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 seem'd to be mark'd out for vertue 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 vertue to all posterity and especially to his Brethren of the Clergy of which the Reader may expect a more exact account in what will follow I need not declare that he was a strict Student because that he was so there will be many testimonies in the future part of his life I shall therefore only tell that he was made Minor Fellow in the year 1609. Batchelor of Art in the year 1611. Major Fellow of the Colledge March 15. 1615. And that in that year he was also made Master of Arts he being then in the 22 d year of his Age during all which time all or the greatest diversion from his Study was the practice of Musick 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 joyes of Heaven before he possest them And it may be noted that from his first entrance into the Colledge 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 confirm'd his native gentileness and if during this time he exprest any Error it was that he kept himself too much retir'd and at too great a distance with all his inferiours and his cloaths seem'd to prove that he put too great a value on his parts and parentage This may be some account of his disposition and of the employment of his time till he was Master of Arts which was Anno 1615. and in the year 1619. he was chosen Orator for the University His two precedent Orators were Sir Robert Nanton and Sir Francis Nethersoll The first was not long after made Secretary of State and Sir Francis not 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 manag'd it with as becoming and grave a gaity as any had ever before or since his time For He had acquir'd 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. Of all which there might be very many particular evidences but I will limit my self to the mention of but three And the first notable occasion of shewing his fitness for this employment of Orator was manifested in a Letter to King James who had sent the University his Book
were some of the reasons by which Mr. Herbert instructed his Congregation for the use of the Psalms and the Hymns appointed to be daily sung or said in the Church-service He inform'd them when the Priest did pray only for the Congregation and not for himself and when they did only pray for him as namely after the repetition of the Creed before he proceeds to pray the Lords prayer or any of the appointed Collects the Priest is directed to kneel down and pray for them saying The Lord be with you And then they pray for him saying And with thy spirit and he assur'd them that when there is such mutual love and such joint prayers offered for each other then the holy Angels look down from Heaven and are ready to carry such charitable desires to God Almighty and he as ready to receive them and that a Christian Congregation calling thus upon God with one heart and one voyce and in one reverend and humble posture look as beautifully as Jerusalem that is at peace with it self He instructed them why the prayer of our Lord was pray'd often in every full service of the Church namely at the conclusion of the several parts of that Service and pray'd then not only because it was compos'd and commanded by our Jesus that made it but as a perfect pattern for our less perfect Forms of prayer and therefore fittest to sum up and conclude all our imperfect Petitions He instructed them that as by the second Commandment we are requir'd not to bow down or worship an Idol or false god so by the contrary Rule we are to bow down and kneel or stand up and worship the true God And he instructed them why the Church requir'd the Congregation to stand up at the repetition of the Creeds namely because they did thereby declare both their obedience to the Church and an assent to that faith into which they had been baptizâ—d And he taught them that in that shoâ—ter Creed or Doxology so often repeated daily they also stood up to testifie their belief to be that the God that they trusted in was one God and three persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost to whom the Priest gave glory And because there had been Heretic â—s that had denied some of these three persons to be God therefore the Congregation stood up and honour'd him by conâ—essing and saying It was so in the beginning is now so and shall ever be so World without end And as gave their assent to this beâ—â—ef by saying Amen He instructed them what benefit they had by the Churches appointing the â— elebration of Holy-dayes and the excellent use of them namely that they were set apart for particular Commemorations of particular mercies received from Almighty God and as Reveâ—end Mr. Hooker sayes to be the Land marâ—s to distinguish times for by them we are taught to take notice how the years pass by us and that we ought not to let them pass without a Celebration of praise for those mercies which they give us occasion to remember and therefore the year is appointed to begin the 25th day of March a day in which we commemorate the Angels appearing to the B. Virgin with the joyful tydings that she should concâ—ive and bear a Son that should be the redeemer of Mankind and she did so Forty weeks after this joyful salutation namely at our Christmas a day in which we commemorate his Birth with joy and praise and that eight dayes after this happy Birth we celebrate his Circumcision namely in that which we call New-years day And that upon that we call Twelfth-day we commemorate the manifestation of the unsearchable riches of Jesus to the Gentiles And that day we also celebrate the memory of his goodness in sending a Star to guide the three wise men from the East to Bethlem that they might there worship and present him with their oblations of Gold Frankincense and Myrrhe And he Mr. Herbert instructed them that Jesus was Forty dayes after his Birth presented by his blessed mother in the Temple namely on that day which we call the Purification of the blessed Virgin Saint Mary And he instructed them that by the Lent-fast we imitate and commemorate our Saviours humiliation in fasting Forty dayes and that we ought to endeavour to be like him in purity And that on Good fryday we commemorate and condole his Crucifixion And at Easter commemorate his glorious Resurrection And he taught them that after Jesus had manifested himself to his Disciples to be that Christ that was crucified dead and buried that then by his appearing and conversing with them for the space of Forty dayes after his Resurrection he then and not till then ascended into Heaven in the sight of his Disciples namely on that day which we call the Ascension or Holy Thursday And that we then celebrate the performance of the promise which he made to his Disciples at or before his Ascension namely that though he left them yet he would send them the Holy Ghost to be their Comforter and he did so on that day which the Church calls Whit sunday Thus the Church keeps an Historical and circular Commemoration of times as they pass by us of such times as ought to incline us to occasional praises for the particular blessings which we do or might receive at those holy times He made them know why the Church hath appointed Ember-weeks and to know the reason why the Commandements and the Epistles and Gospels were to be read at the Altar or Communion Table why the Priest was to pray the Litany Kneeling and why to pray some Collects standing and he gave them many other observations fit for his plain Congregation but not fit for me now to mention for I must set limits to my Pen and not make that a Treatise which I intended to be a much shorter account than I have made it but I have done when I have told the Reader that he was constant in Catechising every Sunday in the Afternoon and that his Catechising was after his second lesson and in the Pulpit and that he never exceeded his half hour and was always so happy as to have a full Congregation But to this I must add That if he were at any time too zealous in his Sermons it was in reproving the indecencies of the peoples behaviour in the time of Divine Service and of those Ministers that hudled up the Church-prayers without a visible reverence and affection namely such as seem'd to say the Lords prayer or a Collect in a breath but for himself his custom was to stop betwixt every Collect and give the people time to consider what they had pray'd and to force their desires affectionately to God before he engag'd them into new Petitions And by this account of his diligence to make his Parishioners understand what and why they pray'd and prais'd and ador'd their Creator I hope I shall the more easily obtain the Readers belief
and reverence which he everywhere bears towards our dear Master and Lord concluding every Consideration almost with his holy Name and setting his merit forth so piously for which I do so love him that were there nothing else I would Print it that with it the honour of my Lord might be published Thirdly the many pious rules of ordering our life about Mortification and observation of Gods Kingdom within us and the working thereof of which he was a very diligent observer These three things are very eminent in the Author and overweigh the Defects as I conceive towards the publishing thereof From his Parsonage of Bemerton near Salisbury Sept. 29. 1632. To Sir J. D. SIR THough I had the best wit in the World yet it would easily tyre me to find out variety of thanks for the diversity of your favours if I sought to do so but I profess it not And therefore let it be sufficient for me that the same heart which you have won long since is still true to you and hath nothing else to answer your infinite kindnesses but a constancy of obedience only hereafter I will take heed how I propose my desires unto you since I find you so willing to yield to my requests for since your favours come a Horse-back there is reason that my desires should go a-fost neither do I make any question but that you have performed your kindness to the full and that the Horse is every way fit for me and I will strive to imitate the compleatness of your love with being in some proportion and after my manner Your most obedient Servant George Herbert For my dear sick Sister Most dear Sister THink not my silence forgetfulness or that my love is as dumb as my papers though businesses may stop my hand yet my heart a much better member is alwayes with you and which is more with our good and gracious God incessantly begging some ease of your pains with that earnestness that becomes your griefs and my love God who knows and sees this Writing knows also that my solliciting him has been much and my tears many for you judge me then by those waters and not by my ink and then you shall justly value Decem. 6. 1620. Trin Coll. Your most truly most heartily affectionate Brother and Servant George Herbert SIR I Dare no longer be silent least while I think I am modest I wrong both my self and also the confidence my Friends have in me wherefore I will open my case unto you which I think deserves the reading at the least and it is this I want Books extremely You know Sir how I am now setting foot into Divinity to lay the platform of my future life and shall I then be fain alwayes to borrow Books and build on anothers foundation What Trades-man is there who will set up without his Tools Pardon my boldness Sir it is a most serious Case nor can I write coldly in that wherein consisteth the making good of my former education of obeying that Spirit which hath guided me hitherto and of atchieving my I dare say holy ends This also is aggravated in that I apprehend what my Friends would have been forward to say if I had taken ill courses Follow your Book and you shall want nothing You know Sir it is their ordinary speech and now let them make it good for since I hope I have not deceived their expectation let not them deceive mine But perhaps they will say you are sickly you must not study too hard it is true God knows I am weak yet not so but that every day I may step one step towards my journies end and I love my friends so well as that if all things proved not well I had rather the fault should lie on me than on them but they will object again What becomes of your Annuity Sir if there be any truth in me I find it little enough to keep me in health You know I was sick last Vacation neither am I yet recovered so that I am fain ever and anon to buy somewhat tending towards my health for infirmities are both painful and costly Now this Lent I am forbid utterly to eat any Fish so that I am fain to dyet in my Chamber at mine own cost for in our publick Halls you know is nothing but Fish and Whit-meats Out of Lent also twice a Week on Fridayes and Saturdayes I must do so which yet sometimes I fast Sometimes also I ride to Newmarket and there lie a day or two for fresh Air all which tend to avoiding of costlier matters if I should fall absolutely sick I protest and vow I even study Thrift and yet I am scarce able with much ado to make one half years allowance shake hands with the other And yet if a Book of four or five Shillings come in my way I buy it though I fast for it yea sometimes of Ten Shillings But alas Sir what is that to those infinite Volumes of Divinity which yet every day swell and grow bigger Noble Sir pardon my boldness and consider but these three things First the Bulk of Divinity Secondly the time when I desire this which is now when I must lay the foundation of my whole life Thirdly what I desire and to what end not vain pleasures nor to a vain end If then Sir there be any course either by engaging my future Annuity or any other way I desire you Sir to be my Mediator to them in my behalf Now I write to you Sir because to you I have ever opened my heart and have reason by the Patents of your perpetual favour to do so still for I am sure you love March 18. 1617. Trin Coll. Your faithfullest Servant George Herbert SIR THis Week hath loaded me with your Favours I wish I could have come in person to thank you but it is not possible presently after Michaelmas I am to make an Oration to the whole University of an hour long in Latin and my Lincoln journey hath set me much behind hand neither can I so much as go to Bugden and deliver your Letter yet have I sent it thither by a faithful Messenger this day I beseech you all you and my dear Mother and Sister to pardon me for my Cambridge necessities are stronger to tye me here than yours to London If I could possibly have come none should have done my message to Sir Fr Nethersole for me he and I are ancient acquaintance and I have a strong opinion of him that if he can do me a courtesie he will of himself yet your appearing in it affects me strangely I have sent you here inclosed a Letter from our Master in my behalf which if you can send to Sir Francis before his departure it will do well for it expresseth the Universities inclination to me yet if you cannot send it with much convenience it is no matter for the Gentleman needs no incitation to love me The Orators place that you may understand