holy numbers weave A Crown of Sacred Sonnets sit to adorn A dying Martyrs brow or to be worn On that blest head of Mary Magdalen After she wip'd Christs feet but not till then Did he fit for such Penitents as she And he to use leave us a Letanie Which all devout men love and doubtless shall As times grow better grow more Classicall Did he write Hymns for Piety and Wit Equal to those great grave Prudentius writ Spake he all Languages Knew he all Laws The grounds and use of Physick but because 'T was mercenary wav'd it went to see That happy place of Christs Nativity Did he return and preach him preach him so As since St. Paul none ever did they know Those happy souls that hear'd him know this truth Did he confirm thy ag'd convert thy youth Did he these wonders and is his dear loss Mourn'd by so few few for so great a Cross. But sure the silent are ambitious all To be close Mourners at his Funerall If not in common pity they forbear By Repititions to renew our care Or knowing grief conceiv'd and bid consumes Mans life insensibly as poyson fumes Corrupt the brain take silence for the way To'inlarge the soul from these walls mud and clay Materials of this body to remain With him in Heaven where no promiscuous pain Lessens those joyes we have for with him all Are satisfied with joyes essentiall Dwell on these joyes my thoughts oh do not call Grief back by thinking on his Funerall Forget he lov'd me waste not my swift years Which haste to Davids seventy fill'd with fears And sorrows for his death Forget his parts They find a living grave in good mens hearts And for my first is daily paid for sin Forget to pay my second sigh for him Forget his powerful preaching and forget I am his Convert Oh my frailty let My flesh be no more heard it will obtrude This Lethargy so shou'd my gratitude My vows of gratitude shou'd so be broke Which can no more be than his vertues spoke By any but himself for which cause I Write no Incomiums but this Elegy Which as a Free-will offering I here give Fame and the World and parting with it grieve I want abilities fit to set forth A Monument great as Donne's matchless worth April 7. 1631. Iz Wa. FINIS THE LIFE OF S r HENRY WOTTON SOMETIME Provost of Eaton Colledge There are them that have left a name behinde them so that their praise shall be spoken of Ecclus. 44. 8. LONDON Printed by Thomas Newcomb for Richard Marriot and sold by most Booksellers 1670. THE LIFE OF Sir HENRY WOTTON SIR Henry Wotton whose Life I now intend to write was born in the year of our Redemption 1568. in Bocton-hall commonly called Bocton or Bougton place in the Parish of Bocton Malherb in the fruitful Country of Kent Bocton-hall being an ancient and goodly structure beautifying and being beautified by the Parish Church of Bocton Malherb adjoyning unto it and both seated within a fair Park of the Wottons on the Brow of such a Hill as gives the advantage of a large Prospect and of equal pleasure to all Beholders But this House and Church are not remarkable for any thing so much as for that the memorable Family of the Wottons have so long inhabited the one and now lie buried in the other as appears by their many Monuments in that Church the Wottons being a Family that hath brought forth divers Persons eminent for Wisdom and Valour whose Heroick Acts and Noble Imployments both in England and in forraign parts have adorn'd themselves and this Nation which they have served abroad faithfully in the discharge of their great trust and prudently in their Negotiations with several Princes and also serv'd it at home with much Honour and Justice in their wise managing a great part of the publick affairs thereof in the various times both of War and Peace But lest I should be thought by any that may incline either to deny or doubt this Truth not to have observed Moderation in the commendation of this Family And also for that I believe the Merits and Memory of such persons ought to be thankfully recorded I shall offer to the consideration of every Reader out of the testimony of their Pedegree and our Chronicles a part and but a part of that just Commendation which might be from thence enlarged and shall then leave the indifferent Reader to judge whether my errour be an excess or defect of Commendations Sir Robert Wotton of Bocton Malherb Knight was born in the year of Christ 1463. He living in the Reign of King Edward the fourth was by him trusted to be Lieutenant of Guisnes to be Knight Porter and Comptroller of Callais where he dyed and lies honourably buried Sir Edward Wotton of Bocton Malherb Knight Son and Heir of the said Sir Robert was born in the year of Christ 1489. in the Reign of King Henry the Seventh He was made Treasurer of Callais and of Privie-Councel to King Henry the Eight who offered him to be Lord Chancellour of England but saith Hollinshed out of a virtuous modesty he refused it Thomas Wotton of Bocton Malherb Esquire Son and Heir of the said Sir Edward and the Father of our Sir Henry that occasions this relation was born in the year of Christ 1521. He was a Gentleman excellently educated and studious in all the Liberal Arts in the knowledg whereof he attained unto a great perfection who though he had besides those abilities a very Noble and plentiful estate and the ancient Interest of his Predecessors many invitations from Queen Elizabeth to change his Country Recreations and Retirement for a Court-Life offering him a Knight-hood she was then with him at his Bocton-hall and that to be but as an earnest of some more honorable and more profitable imployment under Her yet he humbly refused both being a man of great modesty of a most plain and single heart of an antient freedom and integrity of mind A commendation which Sir Henry Wotton took occasion often to remember with great gladness and thankfully to boast himself the Son of such a Father From whom indeed he derived that noble ingenuity that was alwayes practised by himself and which he ever both commended and cherish'd in others This Thomas was also remarkable for Hospitality a great Lover and much beloved of his Country to which may justly be added that he was a Cherisher of Learning as appears by that excellent Antiquary M. William Lambert in his perambulation of Kent This Thomas had four sons Sir Edward Sir James Sir John and Sir Henry Sir Edward was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth and made Comptroller of Her Majesties Houshould He was saith Cambden a man remarkable for many and great Imployments in the State during her Reign and sent several times Ambassadour into Forraign Nations After her death he was by King James made Comptroller of his Houshold and called to be of his
that Faction given with all the Library to Hugh Peâ—ers as a Reward for his remarkable service in those sad times of the Churches Confusion and though they could hardly fall into a fouler hand yet there wanted not other Endeavours to corrupt and make them speak that Language for which the Faction then fought which indeed was To subject the Soveraign Power to the People But I need not strive to vindicate Mr. Hooker in this particular his known Loyalty to his Prince whilest he lived the Sorrow expressed by King James at his Death the Value our late Soveraign of ever-blessed Memory put upon his Works and now the singular Character of his Worth by you given in the passages of his Life especially in your Appendix to it do sufficiently clear him from that Imputation and I am glad you mention how much value Thomas Stapleton Pope Clement the VIII and other Eminent men of the Romish Perswasion have put upon his Books having been told the same in my Youth by Persons of worth that have travelled Italy Lastly I must again congratulate this Undertaking of yours as now more proper to you then any other person by reason of your long Knowledge and Alliance to the worthy Family of the Cranmers my old Friends also who have been men of noted Wisdom especially Mr. George Cranmer whose Prudence added to that of Sir Edwin Sandys proved very useful in the Completing of Mr. Hookers matchless Books one of their Letters I herewith send you to make use of if you think fit And let me say further you merit much from many of Mr. Hookers best Friends then living namely from the ever renowned Archbishop Whitgift of whose incomparable Worth with the Charactâ—â— of â—he Times you have given us a more short and significant Account then I have received from any other Pen. You have done much for Sir Henry Savile his Contemporary and familiar Friend amongst the surviving Monuments of whose Learning give me leave to tell you so two are omitted his Edition of Euclid but especially his Translation of King James his Apology for the Oath of Allegeance into elegant Latine which flying in that dress as far as Rome was by the Pope and Conclave sent to Salamanca unto Francisous Suarez then residing there as President of that Colledge with a Command to answer it When he had perfected the Work which he calls Defensio Fidei Catholicae it was transmitted to Rome for a view of the Inquisitors who according to their custom blotted out what they pleased and as Mr. Hooker hath been used since his Death added whatsoever might advance the Popes Supremacy or carry on their own Interest commonly coupling Deponere Occidere the Deposing and Killing of Princes which cruel and unchristian Language Mr. John Saltkel his Amanuensis when he wrote at Salamanca but since a Convert living long in my Fathers house often professed the good Old man whose Piety and Charity Mr. Saltkel magnified much not onely disavowed but detested Not to trouble you further your Reader if according to your desire my Approbation of your Work carries any weight will here find many just Reasons to thank you for it and for this Circumstance here mentioned not known to many may happily apprehend one to thank him who heartily wishes your happiness and is unfainedly Chichester Novem. 17. 1664. Sir Your ever-faithful and affectionate old Friend Henry Chichester THE LIFE OF D r. JOHN DONNE late Dean of S t Paul's Church LONDON The Introduction IF that great Master of Language and Art Sir Henry Wotton the late Provost of Eaton Colledge had liv'd to see the Publication of these Sermons he had presented the World with the Authors Life exactly written And 't was pity he did not for it was a work worthy his undertaking and he fit to undertake it betwixt whom and the Author there was so mutual a knowledge and such a friendship contracted in their Youth as nothing but death could force a separation And though their bodies were divided their affections were not for that learned Knight's love followed his Friends fame beyond death and the forgetful grave which he testified by intreating me whom he acquainted with his designe to inquire of some particulars that concern'd it not doubting but my knowledge of the Author and love to his memory might make my diligence useful I did most gladly undertake the employment and continued it with great content 'till I had made my Collection ready to be augmented and compleated by his curious Pen but then Death prevented his intentions When I heard that sad news and heard also that these Sermons were to be printed and want the Authors Life which I thought to be very remarkable Indignation or grief indeed I know not which transperted me so far that I reviewed my forsaken Collections and resolv'd the World should see the best plain Picture of the Authors Life that my artless Pensil guided by the hand of truth could present to it And if I shall now be demanded as once Pompey's poor bondman was The grateful wretch had been left alone on the Sea-shore with the forsaken dead body of his once glorious lord and master and was then gathering the scatter'd pieces of an old broken boat to make a funeral pile to burn it which was the custom of the Romans who art thou that alone hast the honour to bury the body of Pompey the great so who I am that do thus officiously set the Authors memorie on fire I hope the question will prove to have in it more of wonder then disdain But wonder indeed the Reader may that I who profess my self artless should presume with my faint light to shew forth his Life whose very name makes it illustrious but be this to the disadvantage of the person represented Certain I am it is to the advantage of the beholder who shall here see the Authors Picture in a natural dress which ought to beget faith in what is spoken for he that wants skill to deceive may safely be trusted And if the Authors glorious spirit which now is in Heaven can have the leasure to look down and see me the poorest the meanest of all his friends in the midst of this officious dutie confident I am that he will not disdain this well-meant sacrifice to his memory for whilst his Conversation made me and many others happy below I know his Humility and Gentleness was then eminent and I have heard Divines say those Vertues that were but sparks upon Earth become great and glorious flames in Heaven Before I proceed further I am to intreat the Reader to take notice that when Doctor Donn's Sermons were first printed this was then my excuse for daring to write his life and I dare not now appear without it The Life MAster John Donne was born in London of good and vertuous Parents and though his own Learning and other multiplyed merits may justly appear sufficient to dignifie both Himself and his Posteritie yet the
think they are not wise unless they be busie about what they understand not and especially about Religion The King received this news with so much discontent and restlesness that he would not suffer the Sun to set and leave him under this doubt but sent for Dr. Donne and required his answer to the Accusation which was so clear and satisfactory that the King said he was right glad he rested no longer under the suspicion When the King had said this Doctor Donne kneeled down and thanked his Majesty and protested his answer was faithful and free from all collusion and therefore desired that he might not rise till as in like cases he always had from God so he might have from his Majesty some assurance that he stood clear and fair in his opinion Then the King raised him from his knees with his own hands and protested he believ'd him and that he knew he was an honest man and doubted not but that he loved him truly And having thus dismissed him he called some Lords of his Council into his Chamber and said with much earnestness My Doctor is an honest man and my Lords I was never better satisfied with an answer then he hath now made me and I always rejoyce when I think that by my means he became a Divine He was made Dean the fiftieth year of his age and in his fifty fourth year a dangerous sickness seized him which inclined him to a Consumption But God as Job thankfuâ—ly acknowledged preserved his spirit and keâ—t his intellectuals as clear and perfect as when that sickness first seized his body but it continued long and threatned him with death which he dreaded not In this distemper of body his dear friend Doctor Henry King then chief Residenciary of that Church and late Bishop of Chichâ—ster a man generally known by the Clergy of this Nation and as generally noted for his oâ—liging nature visited him daily and observing that his sickness rendred his recovery doubtful he chose a seasonable time to speak to him to this purpose Mr. Dean I am by your favour no stranger to your temporal estate and you are no stranger to the offer lately made us for the renewing a Lease of the best Prebends Corps belonging to our Church and you know 't was denied for that our Tenant being very rich offered to fine at so low a rate as held not proportion with his advantages but I will either raise him to an higher summe or procure that the other Residenciaries shall joyn to accept of what was offered one of these I can and will by your favour do without delay and without any trouble either to your body or mind I beseech you to accept of my offer for I know it will be a considerable addition to your present estate which I know needs it To this after a short pause and raising himself upon his bed he made this reply My most dear friend I most humbly thank you for your many favours and this in particular But in my present condition I shall not accept of your proposal for doubtless there is such a Sin as Sacriledge if there were not it could not have a name in Scripture And the Primitive Clergy were watchful against all appearances of that evil and indeed theâ— all Christians lookt upon it with horrour and detestation Judging it to be even an open defiance of the Power and Providence of Almighty God and a sad presage of a declining Religion But in stead of such Christians who had selected times set apart to fast and pray to God for a pious Clergy which they then did obey Our times abound with men that are busie and litigious about trifles and Church-Ceremonies and yet so far from scrupling Sacriledge that they make not so much as a quaere what it is But I thank God I have and dare not now upon my sick-bed when Almighty God hath made me useless to the service of the Church make any advantages out of it But if he shall again restore me to such a degree of health as again to serve at his Altar I shall then gladly take the reward which the bountiful Benefactours of this Church have designed me for God knows my Children and Relations will need it In which number my Mother whose Credulity and Charity has contracted a very plentiful to a very narrow estate must not be forgotten But Doctor King if I recover not that little worldly estate that I shall leave behind me that very little when divided into eight parts must if you deny me not so Charitable a favour fall into your hands as my most faithful friend and Executor of whose Care and Justice I make no more doubt then of Gods blessing on that which I have conscientiously collected for them but it shall not be augmented on my sick-bed and this I declare to be my unalterable resolution The reply to this was only a promise to observe his request Within a few days his distempers abated and as his strength increased so did his thankfulness to Almighty God testified in his most excellent Book of Devotions which he published at his Recovery In which the Reader may see the most secret thoughts that then possest his Soul Paraphrased and made publick a book that may not unfitly be called a a Sacred picture of Spiritual Extasies occasioned and applyable to the emergencies of that sickness which book being a composition of Meditations Disquisitions and Prayers he writ on his sick-bed herein imitating the Holy Patriarchs who were wont to build their Altars in that place where they had received their blessings This sickness brought him so near to the gates of death and he saw the grave so ready to devour him that he would often say his recovery was supernatural But that God that then restored his health continued it to him till the fifty-ninth year of his life And then in August 1630. being with his eldest Daughter Mrs. Harvy at Abury hatch in Essex he there fell into a fever which with the help of his constant infirmity vapors from the spleen hastened him into so visible a Consumption that his beholders might say as St Paul of himself Hâ—dies dayly and he might say with Job My welfare passeth away as a cloud the dayes of my affliction have taken hold of me and weary nights are appointed for me Reader This sickness continued long not onely weakning but wearying him so much that my desire is he may now take some rest and that before I speak of his death thou wilt not think it an impertinent digression to look back with me upon some observations of his life which whilst a gentle slumber gives rest to his spirits may I hope not unfitly exercise thy consideration His marriage was the remarkable errour of his life an errour which though he had a wit able and very apt to maintain Paradoxes yet he was very far from justifying it and though his wives Competent years and other reasons might be
perceive it went not through all for one writ to me that some and he said of my friends conceived I was not so ill as I pretended but withdrew my self to live at ease discharged of preaching It is an unfriendly and God knows an ill-grounded interpretation for I have alwayes been sorrier when I could not preach than any could be they could not hear me It hath been my desire and God may be pleased to grant it that I might dye in the Pulpit if not that yet that I might take my death in the Pulpit that is dye the sooner by occasion of those labours Sir I hope to see you presently after Candlemas about which time will fall my Lent-Sermon at Court except my Lord Chamberlain believe me to be dead and so leave me out of the Roll but as long as I live and am not speechless I would not willingly decline that service I have better leisure to write than you to read yet I would not willingly oppress you with too much Letter God bless you and your Son as I wish Your poor friend and servant in Christ Jesus J. Donne Before that month ended he was appointed to preach upon his old constant day the first Friday in Lent he had notice of it and had in his sickness so prepared for that imployment that as he had long thirsted for it so he resolved his weakness should not hinder his journey he came therefore to London some few dayes before his appointed day of preaching At his coming thither many of his friends who with sorrow saw his sickness had left him onely so much flesh as did onely cover his bones doubted his strength to perform that task and did therefore disswade him from undertaking it assuring him however it was like to shorten his life but he passionately denied their requests saying he would not doubt that that God who in so many weaknesses had assisted him with an unexpected strength would now withdraw it in his last employment professing an holy ambition to perform that sacred work And when to the amazement of some beholders he appeared in the Pulpit many of them thought he presented himself not to preach mortification by a living voice but mortality by a decayed body and dying face And doubtless many did secretly ask that question in Ezekiel Do these bones live or can that soul organize that tongue to speak so long time as the sand in that glass will move towards its centre and measure out an hour of this dying mans unspent life Doubtless it cannot and yet after some faint pauses in his zealous prayer his strong desires enabled his weak body to discharge his memory of his preconceived meditations which were of dying the Text being To God the Lord belong the issues from death Many that then saw his tears and heard his faint and hollow voice professing they thought the Text prophetically chosen and that Dr. Donne had preach't his own funeral Sermon Being full of joy that God had enabled him to perform this desired duty he hastened to his house out of which he never moved till like St. Stephen he was carried by devout men to his Grave The next day after his Sermon his strength being much wasted and his spirits so spent as indisposed him to business or to talk A friend that had often been a witness of his free and facetious discourse asked him Why are you sad To whom he replied with a countenance so full of cheerful gravity as gave testimony of an inward tranquillity of mind and of a soul willing to take a farewell of this world And said I am not sad but most of the night past I have entertained my self with many thoughts of several friends that have left me here and are gone to that place from which they shall not return And that within a few dayes I also shall go hence and be no more seen And my preparation for this change is become my nightly meditation upon my bed which my infirmities have now made restless to me But at this present time I was in a serious contemplation of the providence and goodness of God to me who am less than the least of his mercies and looking back upon my life past I now plainly see it was his hand that prevented me from all temporal employment and it was his Will that I should never settle nor thrive till I entred into the Ministry in which I have now liv'd almost twenty years I hope to his glory and by which I most humbly thank him I have been enabled to require most of those friends which shewed me kindness when my fortune was very low as God knows it was and as it hath occasioned the expression of my gratitude I thank God most of them have stood in need of my requital I have liv'd to be useful and comfortable to my good Father-in-law Sir George Moore whose patience God hath been pleased to exercise with many temporal Crosses I have maintained my own Mother whom it hath pleased God after a plentiful fortune in her younger dayes to bring to a great decay in her very old age I have quieted the Consciences of many that have groaned under the burthen of a wounded spirit whose prayers I hope are available for me I cannot plead innocency of life especially of my youth But I am to be judged by a merciful God who is not willing to see what I have done amiss And though of my self I have nothing to present to him but sins and misery yet I know he looks not upon me now as I am of my self but as I am in my Saviour and hath given me even at this time some testimonies by his Holy Spirit that I am of the number of his Elect I am therefore full of joy and shall dye in peace I must here look so far back as to tell the Reader that at his first return out of Essex to preach his last Sermon his old Friend and Physitian Dr. Fox a man of great worth came to him to consult his health and that after a sight of him and some queries concerning his distempers he told him That by Cordials and drinking milk twenty dayes together there was a probability of his restauration to health but he passionately denied to drink it Nevertheless Dr. Fox who loved him most intirely wearied him with sollicitations till he yielded to take it for ten dayes at the end of which time he told Dr. Fox he had drunk it more to satisfie him than to recover his health and that he would not drink it ten dayes longer upon the best moral assurance of having twenty years added to his life for he loved it not and that he was so far from fearing death which is the King of terrors that he longed for the day of his dissolution It is observed that a desire of glory or commendation is rooted in the very nature of man and that those of the severest and most mortified lives though they may
become so humble as to banish self-flattery and such weeds as naturally grow there yet they have not been able to kill this desire of glory but that like our radical heat it will both live and dye with us and many think it should do so and we want not sacred examples to justifie the desire of having our memory to out-live our lives which I mention because Dr. Donne by the persuasion of Dr. Fox easily yielded at this very time to have a Monument made for him but Dr. Fox undertook not to persuade how or what it should be that was left to Dr. Donne himself This being resolved upon Dr. Donne sent for a Carver to make for him in wood the figure of an Urn giving him directions for the compass and height of it and to bring with it a board of the height of his body These being got then without delay a choice Painter was to be in a readiness to draw his picture which was taken as followeth Several Charcole-fires being first made in his large Study he brought with him into that place his winding-sheet in his hand and having put off all his cloaths had this sheet put on him and so tyed with knots at his head and feet and his hands so placed as dead bodies are usually fitted to be shrowded and put into the grave Upon this Urn he thus stood with his eyes shut and with so much of the sheet turned aside as might shew his lean pale and death-like face which was purposely turned toward the East from whence he expected the second coming of his and our Saviour Thus he was drawn at his just hèight and when the picture was fully finished he caused it to be set by his bed-side where it continued and became his hourly object till his death and was then given to his dearest friend and Executor Dr. King who caused him to be thus carved in one entire piece of white Marble as it now stands in the Cathedral Church of St. Pauls and by Dr. Donne's own appointment these words were to be affixed to it as his Epitaph JOHANNES DONNE Sac. Theol. Professor Post varia Studia quibus ab annis tenerrimis fideliter nec infeliciter incubuit Instinctu impulsu Sp. Sancti Monitu Hortatu REGIS JACOBI Ordines Sacros amplexus Anno sui Jesu 1614. suae aetatis 42. Decanatu hujus Ecclesiae indutus 27. Novembris 1621. Exutus morte ultimo Die Martii 1631. Hic licet in Occiduo Cinere Aspicit Eum Cujus nomen est Oriens Upon Monday following he took his last leave of his beloved Study and being sensible of his hourly decay retired himself to his bed-chamber and that week sent at several times for many of his most considerable friends with whom he took a solemn and deliberate farewell commending to their considerations some sentences useful for the regulation of their lives and then dismist them as good Jacob did his sons with a spiritual benediction The Sunday following he appointed his servants that if there were any business undone that concerned him or themselves it should be prepared against Saturday next for after that day he would not mix his thoughts with any thing that concerned this world nor ever did But as Job so he waited for the appointed time of his dissolution And now he had nothing to do but to dye to do which he stood in need of no longer time for he had studied long and to so happy a perfection that in a former sickness he called God to witness he was that minute ready to deliver his soul into his hands if that minute God would determine his dissolution In that sickness he beg'd of God the constancy to be preserved in that estate for ever and his patient expectation to have his immortal soul disrob'd from her garment of mortality makes me confident he now had a modest assurance that his Prayers were then heard and his Petition granted He lay fifteen dayes earnestly expecting his hourly change and in the last hour of his last day as his body melted away and vapoured into spirit his soul having I verily believe some Revelation of the Beatifical Vision he said I were miserable if I might not dye and after those words closed many periods of his faint breath by saying often Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done His speech which had long been his ready and faithful servant left him not till the last minute of his life and then forsook him not to serve another Master but dyed before him for that it was become useless to him that now conversed with God on earth as Angels are said to do in heaven onely by thoughts and looks Being speechless he did as St. Stephen look stedfastly towards heaven till he saw the Son of God standing at the right hand of his Father and being satisfied with this blessed sight as his soul ascended and his last breath departed from him he closed his own eyes and then disposed his hands and body into such a posture as required not the least alteration by those that came to shroud him Thus variable thus vertuous was the Life thus excellent thus exemplary was the Death of this memorable man He was buried in that place of St. Pauls Church which he had appointed for that use some years before his death and by which he passed daily to pay his publick devotions to Almighty God who was then served twice a day by a publick form of Prayer and Praises in that place but he was not buried privately though he desired it for beside an unnumbred number of others many persons of Nobility and of eminency for Learning who did love and honour him in his life did shew it at his death by a voluntary and sad attendance of his body to the grave where nothing was so remarkable as a publick sorrow To which place of his Burial some mournful Friend repaired and as Alexander the Great did to the grave of the famous Achilles so they strewed his with an abundance of curious and costly Flowers which course they who were never yet known continued morning and evening for many dayes not ceasing till the stones that were taken up in that Church to give his body admission into the cold earth now his bed of rest were again by the Masons art so levelled and firmed as they had been formerly and his place of Burial undistinguishable to common view Nor was this all the Honour done to his reverend Ashes for as there be some persons that will not receive a reward for that for which God accounts himself a Debtor persons that dare trust God with their Charity and without a witness so there was by some grateful unknown Friend that thought Dr. Donnes memory ought to be perpetuated an hundred Marks sent to his two faithful Friends and Executors towards the making of his Monument It was not for many years known by whom but after the death of Dr. Fox it was
charity ought to be imitated for though the spirit of revenge is so pleasing to Mankind that it is never conquered but by a supernatural grace being indeed so deeply rooted in humane Nature that to prevent the excesses of it for men would not know Moderation Almighty God allows not any degree of it to any man but sayes Vengeance is mine And though this be said by God himself yet this revenge is so pleasing that man is hardly perswaded to submit the menage of it to the Time and Justice and Wisdom of his Creator but would hasten to be his own Executioner of it And yet nevertheless if any man ever did wholly decline and leave this pleasing passion to the time and measure of God alone it was this Richard Hooker of whom I write for when his Slanderers were to suffer he laboured to procure their pardon and when that was denied him his Reply was That however he would fast and pray that God would give them repentance and patience to undergo their punishment And his prayers were so far returned into his own bosom that the first was granted if we may believe a penitent behaviour and an open confession And 't is observable that after this time he would often say to Dr. Saravia Oh with what quietness did I enjoy my Soul after I was free from the fears of my Slander and how much more after a conflict and victory over my desires of Revenge About the Year 1600 and of his Age 46 he fell into a long and sharp sickness occasioned by a cold taken in his passage betwixt London and Gravesend from the malignity of which he was never recovered for till his death he was not free from thoughtful Dayes and restless Nights but a submission to his Will that makes the sick mans Bed easie by giving rest to his Soul made his very languishment comfortable and yet all this time he was sollicitous in his Study and said often to Dr. Saravia who saw him daily and was the chief comfort of his life That he did not beg a long life of God for any other reason but to live to finish his three remaining Books of POLITY and then Lord let thy servant depart in peace which was his usual expression And God heard his prayers though he denied the Church the benefit of them as compleated by himself and 't is thought he hastened his own death by hastening to give life to his Books But this is certain that the nearer he was to his death the more he grew in Humility in Holy Thoughts and Resolutions About a month before his death this good man that never knew or at least never consider'd the pleasures of the Palate became first to lose his appetite then to have an aversness to all food insomuch that he seem'd to live some intermitted weeks by the smell of meat only and yet still studied and writ And now his guardian Angel seem'd to foretell him that the day of his dissolution drew near for which his vigorous Soul appear'd to thirst In this time of his Sickness and not many dayes before his Death his House was rob'd of which he having notice his Question was Are my Books and written Papers safe And being answered That they were his Reply was then it matters not for no other loss can trouble me About one day before his Death Dr. Saravia who knew the very secrets of his Soul for they were supposed to be Confessors to each other came to him and after a Conference of the Benefit the Necessity and Safety of the Churches Absolution it was resolved the Doctor should give him both that and the Sacrament the day following To which end the Doctor came and after a short retirement and privacy they return'd to the company and then the Doctor gave him and some of those friends which were with him the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of our Jesus Which being performed the Doctor thought he saw a reverend gaity and joy in his face but it lasted not long for his bodily Infirmities did return suddenly and became more visible in so much that the Doctor apprehended Death ready to seize him yet after some amendment left him at Night with a promise to return early the day following which he did and then found him in better appearance deep in Contemplation and not inclinable to Discourse which gave the Doctor occasion to require his present Thoughts to which he replied That he was meditating the number and nature of Angels and their blessed obedience and order without which peace could not be in Heaven and oh that it might be so on Earth After which words he said I have lived to see this world is made up of perturbations and I have been long preparing to leave it and gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of making my account with God which I now apprehend to be near and though I have by his grace lov'd him in my youth and fear'd him in mine age and labour'd to have a conscience void of offence to him and to all men yet if thou O Lord be extreme to mark what I have done amiss who can abide it and therefore where I have failed Lord shew mercy to me for I plead not my righteousness but the forgiveness of my unrighteousness for his merits who dyed to purchase pardon for penitent sinners and since I owe thee a death Lord let it not be terrible and then take thine own time I submit to it let not mine O Lord but let thy Will be done with which expression he fell into a dangerous slumber dangerous as to his recovery yet recover he did but it was to speak only these few words Good Doctor God hath heard my daily petitions for I am at peace with all men and he is at peace with me and from that blessed assurance I feel that inward joy which this world can neither give nor take from meâ— More he would have spoken but his spirits failed him and after a short conflict betwixt Nature and Death a quiet Sigh put a period to his last breath and so he fell asleep And here I draw his Curtain till with the most glorious company of the Patriarchs and Apostles the most Noble Army of Martyrs and Confessors this most learned most humble holy man shall also awake to receive an eternal Tranquillity and with it a greater degree of Glory than common Christians shall be made partakers of In the mean time bless O Lord Lord bless his Brethren the Clergy of this Nation with effectual endeavours to attain if not to his great learning yet to his remarkable meekness his godly simplicity and his Christian moderation for these bring peace at the last And Lord let his most excellent Writings be blest with what he design'd when he undertook them which was Glory to Thee O God on High Peace in thy Church and Good Will to Mankind Amen Amen This following Epitaph was long since presented to the World
upon himself his Relations and Friends before it could be finisht sent for him from London to Chelsey where he then dwelt and at his coming said George I sent for you to persuade you to commit Simony by giving your Patron as good a gift as he has given to you namely that you give him back his Prebâ—nd for George it is not for your weak body and empty purse to undertake to build Churches To which he desir'd he might have a Dayes time to consider and then make her an Answer And at his return to her at the next Day when he had first desired her blessing and she given it him his next request was That she would at the Age of Thirty three Years allow him to become an undutiful Son for he had made a kind of Vow to God that if he were able he would Re-build that Church And then shew'd her such reasons for his resolution that she presently subscribed to be one of his Benefactors and undertook to sollicit William Earl of Pembroke to be another who subscribed for 50 l. and not long after by a witty and persuasive Letter from Mr. Herbert made it 50 l. more And in this nomination of some of his Benefactors James Duke of Lenox and his brother Sir Henry Herbert ought to be remembred and the bounty of Mr. Nicholas Farrer and Mr. John Woodnot the one a Gentleman in the Neighbourhood of Layton and the other a Goldsmith in Foster-lane London ought not to be forgotten for the memory of such men ought to out-live their lives Of Mr. Farrer I shall hereafter give an account in a more seasonable place but before I proceed farther I will give this short account of Mr. John Woodnot He was a man that had consider'd overgrown Estates do often require more care and watchfulness to preserve than get them and that there be many Discontents that Riches cure not and did therefore set limits to himself as to the desire of wealth And having attain'd so much as to be able to shew some mercy to the Poor and preserve a competence for himself he dedicated the remaining part of his life to the service of God and being useful for his Friends he prov'd to be so to Mr. Herbert for beside his own bounty he collected and return'd most of the money that was paid for the Re-building of that Church he kept all the account of the charges and would often go down to state them and see all the Workmen paid When I have said that this good man was a useful Friend to Mr. Herberts Father to his Mother and continued to be so to him till he clos'd his eyes on his Death-bed I will forbear to say more till I have the next fair occasion to mention the holy friendship that was betwixt him and Mr. Herbert About the year 1629. and the 34 th of his Age Mr. Herbert was seiz'd with a sharp Quotidian Ague and thought to remove it by the change of Air to which end he went to Woodford in Essex but thither more chiefly to enjoy the company of his beloved Brother Sir Henry Herbert and other Friends In his House he remain'd about Twelve Months and there became his own Physitian and cur'd himself of his Ague by forbearing Drink and eating no Meat no not Mutton nor a Hen or Pidgeon unless they were salted and by such a constant Dyet he remov'd his Ague but with inconveniencies that were worse for he brought upon himself a disposition to Rheums and other weaknesses and a supposed Consumption And it is to be Noted that in the sharpest of his extream Fits he would often say Lord abate my great affliction and increase my patience but Lord I repine not I am dumb Lord before thee because thou doest it By which and a sanctified submission to the Will of God he shewed he was inclinable to bear the sweet yoke of Christian Discipline both then and in the latter part of his life of which there will be many true Testimonies And now his care was to recover from his Consumption by a change from Woodford into such an air as was most proper to that end And his remove was from Woodford to Dantsey in Wiltshire a noble House which stands in a choice Air the owner of it then was the Lord Danvers Earl of Danby who lov'd Mr. Herbert much and allow'd him such an apartment in that House as might best sute Mr. Herberts accomodation and liking And in this place by a spare Dyet declining all perplexing Studies moderate exercise and a chearful conversation his health was apparently improv'd to a good degree of strength and chearfulness And then he declar'd his resolution to marry and to enter into the Sacred Orders of Priesthood These had long been the desires of his Mother and his other Relations but she liv'd not to see either for she dyed in the year 1627. And though he was disobedient to her about Layton Church yet in conformity to her will he kept his Fellowship in Cambridge and his Orators place till after her death and then declin'd both And the last the more willingly that he might be succeeded by his friend Robert Creighton who now is Dr. Creighton and the worthy Dean of Wells I shall now proceed to his Marriage in order to which it will be convenient that I first give the Reader a short view of his person and then an account of his Wife and of some circumstances concerning both He was for his person of a stature inclining towards Tallness his body was very strait and so far from being cumbred with too much flesh that he was lean to an extremity His aspect was chearful and his speech and motion did both declare him a Gentleman and were all so meek and oblieging that both then and at his death he was said to have no Enemy These and his other visible vertues begot him so much love from a Gentleman of a Noble fortune and a near Kinsman to his friend the Earl of Danby namely from Mr. Charles Danvers of Bainton in the County of Wilts Esq That Mr. Danvers having known him long and familiarly did so much affect him that he often and publickly declar'd a desire that Mr. Herbert would marry any of his Nine Daughters for he had so many but rather his Daughter Jane than any other because Jane was his beloved Daughter And he had often said the same to Mr. Herbert himself and that if he could like her for a Wife and she him for a Husband Jane should have a double blessing And Mr. Danvers had so often said the like to Jane and so much commended Mr. Herbert to her that Jane became so much a Platonick as to fall in love with Mr. Herbert unseen This was a fair preparation for a Marriage but alas her father dyed before Mr. Herberts retirement to Dantsey yet some friends to both parties procur'd their meeting at which time a mutual affection entered into both their hearts
After which Sermon the Emperour declar'd openly That the Preacher had begot in him a resolution to lay down his Dignities to forsake the World and betake himself to a Monastical life And he pretended he had perswaded John Valdesso to do the like but this is most certain that after the Emperour had called his son Philip out of England and resign'd to him all his Kingdoms that then the Emperour and John Valdesso did perform their resolutions This account of John Valdesso I receiv'd from a Friend that had it from the mouth of Mr. Farrer And the Reader may note that in this retirement John Valdesso writ his 110 considerations and many other Treatises of worth which want a second Mr. Farrer to procure and Translate them After this account of Mr. Farrer and John Valdesso I proceed to my account of Mr. Herbert and Mr. Duncon who according to his promise return'd the fifth day and found Mr. Herbert much weaker than he left him and therefore their Discourse could not be long but at Mr. Duncons parting with him Mr. Herbert spoke to this purpose Sir I pray give my brother Farrer an account of my decaying condition and tell him I beg him to continue his prayers for me and let him know that I have consider'd That God only is what he would be and that I am by his grace become now so like him as to be pleas'd with what pleaseth him and do not repine at my want of health and tell him my heart is fixed on that place where true joy is only to be found and that I long to be there and will wait my appointed change with hope and patience -And having said this he did with such a humility as seem'd to exalt him bow down to Mr. Duncon and with a thoughtful and contented look say to him Sir I pray deliver this little Book to my dear brother Farrer and tell him he shall find in it a picture of the many spiritual Conflicts that have past betwixt God and my Soul before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master in whose service I have now found perfect freedom desire him to read it and then if he can think it may turn to the advantage of any dejected poor Soul let it be made publick if not let him burn it for I and it are less than the least of Gods mercies Thus meanly did this humble man think of this excellent Book which now bears the name of The TEMPLE Or Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations of which Mr. Farrer would say There was the picture of a Divine Soul in every page and that the whole Book was such a harmony of holy passions as would enrich the World with pleasure and piety And it appears to have done so for there have been Ten thousand of them sold since the first Impression And this ought to be noted that when Mr. Farrer sent this Book to Cambridge to be Licensed for the Press the Vice-Chancellor would by no means allow the two so much noted Verses Religion stands a Tip-toe in our Land Ready to pass to the American Strand to be printed and Mr. Farrer would by no means allow the Book to be printed and want them But after some time and some arguments for and against their being made publick the Vice-Chancellor said I knew Mr. Herbert well and know that he had many heavenly Speculations and was a Divine Poet but I hope the World will not take him to be an inspired Prophet and therefore I License the whole Book So that it came to be printed without the diminution or addition of a syllable since it was deliver'd into the hands of Mr. Duncon save only that Mr. Farrer hath added that excellent Preface that is printed before it At the time of Mr. Duncons leaving Mr. Herbert which was about three Weeks before his death his old and dear friend Mr. Woodnot came from London to Bemerton and never left him till he had seen him draw his last breath and clos'd his Eyes on his Death-bed In this time of his decay he was often visited and pray'd for by all the Clergy that liv'd near to him especially by the Bishop and Prebends of the Cathedral Church in Salisbury but by none more devoutly than his Wife his three Neeces then a part of his Family and Mr. Woodnot who were the sad Witnesses of his daily decay to whom he would often speak to this purpose I now look back upon the pleasures of my life past and see the content I have taken in beauty in wit in musick and pleasant Conversation how they are now all past by me as a shadow that returns not and are all become dead to me or I to them that as my father and generation hath done before me so I shall now suddenly with Job make my Bed also in the dark and I praise God I am prepar'd for it and that I am not to learn patience now I stand in such need of it and that I have practised Mortification and endeavour'd to dye daily that I might not dye eternally and my hope is that I shall shortly leave this valley of tears and be free from all fevers and pain and which will be a more happy condition I shall be free from sin and all the temptations and anxieties that attend it and this being past I shall dwell in the new Jerusalem dwell there with men made perfect dwell where these eyes shall see my Master and Saviour Jesus and with him see my dear mother and relations and friends but I must dye or not come to that happy place And this is my content that I am going daily towards it and that every day that I have liv'd hath taken a part of my appointed time from me and that I shall live the less time for having liv'd this and the day past These and the like expressions which he utter'd often may be said to be his enjoyment of Heaven before he enjoy'd it The Sunday before his death he rose Suddenly from his Bed or Couch call'd for one of his Instruments took it into hand and said My God my God My Musick shall find thee And every string Shall have his attribute to sing And having tun'd it he play'd and sung The Sundayes of mans life Thredded together on times string Make Bracelets to adorn the Wife Of the eternal glorious King On Sundayes Heavens dore stands ope Blessings are plentiful and rife More plentiful than hope Thus he sung on earth such Hymns and Anthems as the Angels and he and Mr. Farrer now sing in Heaven Thus he continued meditating and praying and rejoycing till the day of his death and on that day said to Mr. Woodnot My dear Friend I am sorry I have nothing to present to my merciful God but sin and misery but the first is pardon'd and a few hours will put a period to the latter Upon which expression Mr. Woodnot took occasion to remember him of the Re-edifying
with her presence I leave to the most hopeful Prince the Picture of the elected and crowned Queen of Bohemia his Aunt of clear and resplendent vertues through the clouds of her Fortune To my Lords Grace of Canterbury now being I leave my Picture of Divine Love rarely copied from one in the Kings Galleries of my presentation to his Majesty beseeching him to receive it as a pledge of my humble reverence to his great Wisdom And to the most worthy Lord Bishop of London Lord high Treasurer of England in true admiration of his Christian simplicity and contempt of earthly pomp I leave a Picture of Heraclitus bewailing and Democritus laughing at the world Most humbly beseeching the said Lord Archbishop his Grace and the Lord Bishop of London of both whose favours I have tasted in my life time to intercede with our most gracious Soveraign after my death in the bowels of Jesus Christ That out of compassionate memory of my long Services wherein I more studied the publick Honour then mine own Utility some Order may be taken out of my Arrears due in the Exchequer for such satisfaction of my Creditors as those whom I have Ordained Supervisors of this my â—ast Will and Testament shall present unto their Lordships without their farther trouble Hoping likewise in his Majesties most indubitable Goodness that he will keep me from all prejudice which I may otherwise suffer by any defect of formality in the Demand of my said Arrears To for a poor addition to his Cabinet I leave as Emblems of his attractive Vertues and Obliging Nobleness my great Load-stone and a piece of Amber of both kindes naturally united and onely differing in degree of Concoction which is thought somewhat rare Item A piece of Christal Sexangular as they grow all grasping divers several things within it which I bought among the Rhâ—â—tian Alps in the very place where it grew recommending most humbly unto his Lordship the reputation of my poor Name in the point of my debts as I have done to the forenamed Spiritual Lords and am heartily sorry that I have no better token of my humble thankfulness to his honoured Person It ' I leave to Sir Francis Windebank one of his Majesties principall Secretaries of State whom I found my great friend in point of Necessity the four Seasons of old Bassano to hang near the Eye in his Parlour being in little form which I bought at Venice where I first entred into his most worthy Acquaintance To the above named Doctor Bargrave Dean of Canterbury I leave all my Italian Books not disposed in this Will I leave to him likewise my Viol de Gamba which hath been twice with me in Italy in which Country I first contracted with him an unremovable Affection To my other Supervisor Mr. Nicholas Pey I leave my Chest or Cabinet of Instruments and Engines of all kinds of uses in the lower box whereof are some fit to be bequeathed to none but so entire an honest man as he is I leave him likewise forty pound for his pains in the solicitation of my Arrears and am sorry that my ragged Estate can reach no further to one that hath taken such care for me in the same kind during all my forreign Imployments To the Library at Eaton Colledg I leave all my Manuscripts not before disposed and to each of the Fellows a plain Ring â—of Gold enameld black all save the verge with this Motto within Amor unit omnia This is my last Will and Testament save that shall be added by a Schedule thereunto annexed Written on the first of October in the present year of our Redemption 1637. And subscribed by my self with the Testimony of these Witnesses Nich. Oudert Geo. Lash H. Wotton ANd now because the mind of man is best satisfied by the knowledge of Events I think fit to declare that every one that was named in his Will did gladly receive their Legacies by which and his most just and passionate desires for the payment of his debts they joyned in assisting the Overseers of his Will and by their joynt endeavours to the King then whom none was more willing conscionable satisfaction was given for his just debts The next thing wherewith I shall acquaint the Reader is That he went usually once a year if not oftner to the beloved Bocton-hall where he would say he found both cure for all cares by the company which he called the living furniture of that place and a restorative of his strength by the Connaturalness of that which he called his genial aire He yearly went also to Oxford But the Summer before his death he changed that for a journey to Winchester Colledge to which School he was first removed from Bocton And as he returned from Winchester towards Eaton Colledge said to a friend his Companion in that Journey How usefull was that advice of a Holy Monk who perswaded his friend to perform his Customary devotions in a constant place because in that place we usually meet with those very thoughts which possessed us at our last being there And I find it thus far experimentally true that at my now being in that School and seeing that very place where I sate when I was a boy occasioned me to remember those very thoughts of my youth which then possessed me sweet thoughts indeed that promised my growing years numerous pleasures without mixtures of cares and those to be enjoyed when time which I therefore thought slow pac'd had changed my youth into manhood But age and experience have taught me that those were but empty hopes And though my dayes have been many and those mixt with more pleasures than the sons of men do usually enjoy yet I have alwâ—â—es found it true as my Saviour did fore-tell Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof Nevertheless I saw there a succession of boyes using the same recreations and questionless possessed with the same thoughts that then possessed me Thus one generation succeeds another both in their lives recreations hopes fears and dâ—aths Aâ—ter his return from Winchester which was about nine Moneths before his death he fell into a dangerous Fever which weakned him much he was then also much troubled with an Asthma or continual short spitting but that infirmity he seemed to overcome in a good degree by leaving Tobacco which he had taken somewhat immoderately And about two moneths before his death in October 1639. he again fell into a Fever which though he seem'd to recover yet these still left him so weak that those common infirmities which were wont like civil Friends to visit him and after some short time to depart came both oftner and at last took up their constant habitations with him still weakning his body of which he grew dayly more sensible retiring oftner into his Study and making many Papers that had past his Pen both in the dayes of his youth and business useless by fire These and several unusual expressions to his Friends seemed
to foretell his death for which he seemed to those many friends that observed him to be well prepared and still free from all fear and chearful as several Letters writ in his bed and but a few dayes before his death may testifie And in the beginning of December following he fell again into a Quartan Fever land in the tenth fiâ— his better part that part of Sir Henry Wotton which could not dye put off Mortality with as much content and chearfulness as humane frailty is capable of he being in perfect peace with God and man And thus the Circle of his Life that Circle which began at Bocton and in the Circumference thereof did first touch at Winchester-School then at Oxford and after upon so many remarkable parts and passages in Christendom That Circle of his Life was by Death thus closed up and compleated in the seventy and second year of his Age at Eaton Colledge where according to his Will he now lies buried dying worthy of his Name and Family worthy of the love and favour of so many Princes and Persons of eminent Wisdom and Learning worthy of the trust committed unto him for the Service of his Prince and Country And all Readers are requested to believe that he was worthy of a more worthy Pen to have preserved his Memory and commended his Merits to the imitation of Posterity AN ELEGIE ON Sir HENRY WOTTON WRIT By Mr ABRAM COWLEY WHat shall we say since silent now is he Who when he spoke all things woul'd silent be Who had so many languages in store That only fame shall speak of him in more Whom England now no more return'd must see He 's gone to Heaven on his fourth Embassie On Earth he travail'd often not to say H 'ad been abroad to pass loose time away For in what ever land he chanc'd to come He read the men and manners bringing home Their Wisdom Learning and their Pietie As if he went to Conquer not to see So well he understood the most and best Of Tongues that Babel sent into the West Spoke them so truly that he had you 'd swear Not only liv'd but been born every where Justly each Nations speech to him was known Who for the World was made not us alone Nor ought the Language of that man be less Who in his brest had all things to express We say that Learning 's endless and blame Fate For not alowing life a longer date He did the utmost bounds of Knowledg finde And found them not so large as was his minde But like the brave Pellean youth did mone Because that Art had no more Worlds then one And when he saw that he through all had past He dy'd least he should Idle grow at last A. Cowley FINIS M r RICHARD HOOKER Author of those Learned Bookes of Ecclesiasticall pollitie The LIFE OF Mr. RICH. HOOKER THE AUTHOR of those Learned Books OF THE Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity Psal. 145. 4. One generation shall praise thy works to another Prov. 2. 15. The tongue of the wise useth knowledge rightly LONDON Printed by Tho Newcomb for Rich Marriot sold by most Booksellers M.DC.LXX To his very Worthy Friend Mr. Isaac Walton upon his Writing and Publishing the Life of the Venerable and Judicious Mr. Richard Hooker I. HAyle Sacred Mother British Church all hayle From whose fruitful Loyns have sprung Of Pious Sons so great a throng That Heav'nt oppose their force of strength did fail And let the mighty Conquerors o're Almighty arms prevail How art thou chang'd from what thou wert a late When destitute and quite forlorn And scarce a Child of thousands with thee left to mourn Thy veil all rent and all thy garments torn With tears thou didst bewail thine own and childrens fate Too much alas thou didst resemble then Sion thy pattern Sion in ashes laid Despis'd Forsaken and betray'd Sion thou dost resemble once agen And rais'd like her the glory of the World art made Threnes only to thee could that time belong Bâ—t now thou art the lofty Subject of my Song II. Begin my Verse and where the doleful Mother sate As it in Vision was to Esdras shown Lamenting with the rest her dearest Son Blest CHARLES who his Forefathers has outgon And to the Royal join'd the Martyrs brighter Crown Let a new City rise with beautious state And beautious let its Temple be and beautiful the Gate Lo how the Sacred Fabrick up does rise The Architects so skilful All So grave so humble and so wise The Axes and the Hammers noise Is drown'd in silence or in numbers Musicall 'T is up and at the Altar stand The Reverend Fathers as of Old With Harps and Incense in their hand Nor let the pious service grow or stiff or cold Th' inferiour Priests the while To Praise continually imploy'd or Pray Need not the weary hours beguile Enough 's the single Duty of each day Thou thy self Woodford on thy humbler Pipe must play And tho but lately entred there So gracious those thou honour'st all appear So ready and attent to hear An easie part proportion'd to thy skill may'st bear III. But where alas where wilt thou fix thy choice The Subjects are so noble all So great their beauties and thy art so small They 'll judge I fear themselves disparag'd by thy voyce Yet try and since thou canst not take A nameâ— so despicably low But 't will exceed what thou canst do Tho thy whole Mite thou away at once shouldst throw Thy Poverty a vertue make And that thou may'st Immortal live Since Immortality thou canst not give From one who has enough to spare be ambitious to receive Of Reverend and Judicious Hooker sing Hooker does to th' Church belong The Church and Hooker claim thy Song And inexhausted Riches to thy Verse will bring So far beyond it self will make it grow That life his gift to thee thou shalt again on him bestow IV. How great blest Soul must needs thy Glories be Thy Joyes how perfect and thy Crown how fair Who mad'st the Church thy chiefest care This Church which owes so much to thee That all Her Sons are studious of thy memory 'T was a bold work the Captiv'd to redeem And not so only but th'Oppress'd to raise Our aged Mother to that due Esteem She had and merited in her younger dayes When Primitive Zeal and Piety Were all her Laws and Policy And decent Worship kept the mean It 's too wide stretch't Extreams between The rudely scrupulous and extravagantly vain This was the work of Hookers Pen With Judgement Candor and such Learning writ Matter and Words so exactly fit That were it to be done agen Expected 't would be as its Answer hitherto has been RITORNATA To Chelsea Song there tell Thy Patrons Friend The Church is Hookers Debtor Hooker His And strange 't would be if he should Glory miss For whom two such most powerfully contend Bid him chear up the Day 's his own And he shall never die Who