upon me, but the printer; and yet I hope none fo great, as may not by this confeffion purchase pardon from a good-natured reader. And now I wish, that as that learned Jew, Jofephus, and others, so these men had also writ their own lives; but fince it is not the fashion of these times, I wish their relations or friends would do it for them, before delays make it too difficult. And I defire this the more, because it is an honour due to the dead, and a generous debt due to those that shall live and fucceed us, and would to them prove both a content and fatisfaction. For when the next age fhall (as this does) admire the learning and clear reason which that excellent cafuist Dr. Sanderson (the late Bishop of Lincoln) hath demonstrated in his fermons and other writings; who, if they love virtue, would not rejoice to know, that this good man was as remarkable for the meeknefs and innocence of his life, as for his great and ufeful learning; and indeed as remarkable for his fortitude in his long and patient fuffering (under them that then called themfelves the godly party) for that doctrine which he had preached and printed in the happy days of the nation and the church's peace? And who would not be content to have the like account of Dr. Field', that great schoolman, and others of noted learning? And though I cannot hope that my example or reafon can perfuade to this undertaking, yet I please myself, that I fhall conclude my preface with wishing that it were so. J. W. Dr. Richard Field, Chaplain to James I. and Dean of Gloucefter, died Nov. 21, 1616,the friend of Mr. Richard Hooker, and one of the most learned men of his age. He was the author of a work entitled, "Of the Church, fol. 1610."-James I. when he first heard him preach, faid, "This is a Field for God to dwell in."-With the fame allufion Fuller calls him that learned divine, "whofe memory fmelleth like a Field that the Lord hath bleffed."Anthony Wood mentions a manufcript, written by Nathaniel Field, Rector of Stourton, in Wiltshire, containing "fome fhort Memorials concerning the Life of that Rev. Divine, Dr. Richard Field, Prebendary of Windfor," &c. The feature which peculiarly marked his difpofition, was an averfion to those difputes on the Arminian points, which then began to. disturb the peace of the church, and from which he dreaded the moft unhappy confequences, It was his ambition to concilitate, not to irritate. TO MY OLD AND MOST WORTHY FRIEND MR. IZAAK WALTON, ON HIS LIFE OF DOCTOR DONNE, &c. W THEN, to a Nation's lofs, the virtuous die, There's justly due from ev'ry hand and eye That can, or write, or weep, an elegy. Which though it be the pooreft, cheapest way, And these are monuments of fo fhort date, And though to verfe great reverence is due,. Something more facred then, and more entire Then what may with their funeral-torch expire:: This history can give; to which alone Is granted, when deny'd to brass and stone. G Wherein, Wherein, my friend, you have a hand fo fure, That what you write may Envy's fearch endure. Your A virtue with which few good pens are bleft. How happy was my father then! to fee Wotton and Donne, to whom his foul was knit, Where one has fortunately found a place, A monument that, as it has, shall last And even in their flow'ry characters, My father's grave, part of your friendship shares; Thus The character of Mr. Charles Cotton, the father of Charles Cotton the poet, is moft beautifully delineated by the noble hiftorian. (Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, fol. 1759. p. 16.) His monument in St. Paul's church before the late dreadful fire, 1665. 1 Jamq; opus exegi, quod, nec Jovis Ira, nec Ignis, Nec poterit Ferrum, nec edax abolere Vetuftas. Ovid. Thus by an office, though particular, And by this act, the world is taught to know, But yours is friendship of fo pure a kind, For, whereas moft men's friendships here beneath,, By which the generous Wotton, reverend Donne, For though they each of them his time so spent,. With which Ambition might reft well content; Yet their great works, though they can never die, Are no just scale to take their virtues by: Because they shew not how th' Almighty's grace,, But what their humble modefty would hide, And was by any other means deny'd, G.2 Wotton,, 1 Wotton,-a nobler foul was never bred!- Through his degrees of honour and of arts, Through all th' employments of his wit and fpirit, Nay, through difgrace, which oft the worthieft have, And yours, and the whole world's beloved Donne, And being then an object of much ruth, By the fame clew, after his youthful swing, And though by God's most powerful grace alone And know, that having crucify'd vanities The |