BENSTEAD,
April 3.

O! had we known him half fo well!

But then, my friend, there had been left for you
Nothing fo fair, and worthy praise to do;
Who, fo exactly all his story tell,

That though he did not want his bays,
Nor all the monuments virtue can raise,
Your hand he did, to eternize his praise.
Herbert and Donne again are join'd,
Now here below, as they're above;
These friends are in their old embraces twin'd;
And fince by you the interview's defign'd,

Too weak to part them death does prove;

For in this book they meet again, as in one heav'n they love.

SAM. WOODFORDE, D. D.

IN VITAM

GEORGII HERBERTI,

AB

ISAACO WALTONO SCRIPTAM.

Quàm erubefco cum tuam vitam lego,
Herberte Sancte, quamq; me pudet meæ!
Ego talpa cæcus hic humi fodiens mifer,
Aquila volatu tu petens nubes tuo,
Ego Choicum vas terreas fæces olens,
Tu (fola namq; Urania tibi ex mufis placet)
Nil tale fpiras; fed fapis cœlum et Deum,
Omniq; vitæ, libri et omni, lineâ;

Templúmq; tecum ubiq; circumfers tuum:
Domi-porta cœli, cui domus propria, optima:
Ubi Rex, ibi Roma, Imperii fedes; ubi

Tu fancte vates, templum ibi, et cœlum, et Deus.

Tu quale nobis intuendum clericis
Speculum Sacerdotale, tu qualem piis
Paftoris ideam et libro et vitâ tuâ

Tu quale Sanctitatis elementis bonæ,
Morumq; nobis tradis exemplum ac typum!
Typum*, Magiftro nempe proximum Tuo,
Exemplar illud grande qui folus fuit.
Canonizet ergò quos velit Dominus Papa;
Sibiq; fanctos, quos facit, fervet fuos
Colátque; fancte Herberte, tu Sanctus meus;
Oraq; pro me, dicerem, fi fas, tibi.
Sed hos honores par nec eft fanctis dari;
Velis nec ipfe; recolo te, fed non colo.
Talis legenda eft vita Sancti, concio
Ad promovendum quàm potens et efficax!
Per talia exempla eft breve ad cœlos iter.
Waltone, macte, perge vitas fcribere,
Et penicillo, quo vales, infigni adhuc
Sanctorum imagines coloribus fuis
Plures repræfentare; quod tu dum facis
Vitamq; et illis et tibi das pofthumam,
Lectoris æternæq; vitæ confulis.

Urge ergò penfum; et interim scias velim,
Plutarchus alter fis licèt Biographus,
Herberto, Amice, vix Parallelum dabis.
Liceat Libro addere hanc coronidem tuo;
Vir, an Poeta, Orator an melior fuit,
Meliornè amicus, fponfus, an Paftor Gregis,
Herbertus, incertum; et quis hoc facilè fciat,
Melior ubi ille, qui fuit ubiq; optimus.

JACOB DUPORT, S. T. P.
Decanus Petr.

Sic Chriftum folens vocavit quoties ejus mentionem fecit.

THE

THE INTRODUCTION.

IN

N a late retreat from the bufinefs of this world, and those many little cares with which I have too often cumbered myself, I fell into a contemplation of fome of those hiftorical paffages that are recorded in facred story, and more particularly of what had past betwixt our Bleffed Saviour, and that wonder of women, and finners, and mourners, Saint Mary Magdalen. I call her Saint, because I did not then, nor do now confider her, as when she was poffeft with feven devils; not as when her wanton eyes, and dishevelled hair, were defigned and managed to charm and infnare amourous beholders: But, I did then, and do now confider her, as after she had expreffed a visible and facred forrow for her fenfualities; as after those eyes had wept fuch a flood of penitential tears as did wash, and that hair had wip't, and fhe most paffionately kift the feet of hers, and our bleffed Jefus. And I do now confider, that because she loved much, not only much was forgiven her; but that, befide that blessed bleffing of having her fins pardoned, and the joy of knowing her happy condition, she also had from him a teftimony, that her alabafter box of precious ointment poured on his head and feet, and that spikenard, and thofe fpices that were by her dedicated to embalm and preserve his facred body from putrefaction, should so far preserve her own memory, that thefe demonftrations of her fanctified love, and of her officious and generous gratitude, should be recorded and mentioned wherefoever his gofpel fhould be read; intending thereby, that as his, fo her name should also live to fucceeding generations, even till time itself fhall be no more.

Upon

* If some very learned and able commentators have entertained an opinion, that Mary Magdalen was the afflicted and penitent finner mentioned in the feventh chapter of St. Luke's Gofpel, it is not furprifing that Mr. Walton fhould fall into the fame error.

Upon occafion of which fair example, I did lately look back, and not without fome content (at least to myself) that I have endeavoured to deserve the love, and preferve the memory of my two deceased friends, Dr. Donne and Sir Henry Wotton, by declaring the feveral employments and various accidents of their lives: And though Mr. George Herbert (whofe Life I now intend to write) were to me a ftranger as to his perfon, for I have only seen him; yet fince he was, and was worthy to be, their friend, and very many of his have been mine, I judge it may not be unacceptable to those that knew any of them in their lives, or do now know them by mine, or their own writings, to fee this conjunction of them after their deaths, without which, many things that concerned them, and fome things that concerned the age in which they lived, would be lefs perfect, and loft to pofterity.

For these reasons I have undertaken it, and if I have prevented any abler perfon, I beg pardon of him and my reader.

THE

THE LIFE OF MR. GEORGE HERBERT.

GE

EORGE HERBERT was born the third day of April, in the year of our redemption 1593. The place of his birth was near to the town. of Montgomery, and in that castle that did then bear the name of that town and county; that caftle was then a place of state and ftrength, and had been fucceffively happy in the family of the Herberts, who had long poffeffed it; and, with it, a plentiful estate, and hearts as liberal to their poor neighbours. A family, that hath been blessed with men of remarkable wifdom, and a willingness to serve their country, and, indeed, to do good to all mankind; for which they are eminent: But alas! this family did in the late rebellion fuffer extremely in their eftates; and the heirs of that castle faw it laid level with that earth that was too good to bury those wretches that were the cause of it.

The father of our George was Richard Herbert, the fon of Edward Herbert

b The castle of Montgomery derived its name from Roger de Montgomery, a noble Norman, Earl of Shrewsbury, who, winning much land from the Welsh, firft built this caftle to fecure his conqueft. It ftandeth not far from the banks of the river Severn, upon the rifing of a rock, from whence it hath a very free prospect into a pleasant plain that lieth beneath it.The family of the Herberts is very much diffused, and of great authority in this part of Wales. (Heylin's Help to English Hiftory.)—An order was made by the Parliament, June 11, 1649, for demolishing Montgomery Caftle, which Anthony Wood calls " a pleasant and romancy (6 place," and for an allowance to the Lord Herbert for his damage thereby.

Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury defcribes Richard Herbert his father to have been "black haired and bearded, as all his ancestors of his fide are faid to have been, of a manly "or fomewhat stern look, but withall very handfome and well compact in his limbs, and of

a great courage. As for his integrity in his places of Deputy Lieutenant of the county, "Juftice of the Peace, and Cuftos Rotulorum, which he, as his father before him, held, it is "fo memorable to this day that it was faid his enemies appealed to him for juftice, which "they always found on all occafions. His learning was not vulgar, as understanding well "the Latin tongue, and being well verfed in Hiftory." (The Life of Edward Lord herbert of Cherbury, written by himself. Strawberry-Hill, 1764. p. 34)