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
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
advis'd him to return presently to England and joy the King with his new and better Title and there wait upon Fortune for a better employment When King James came into England he found amongst other of the late Queens Officers the Lord Wotton Comptroller of the House of whom he demanded If he knew one Henry Wotton that had spent much time in forreign Travel The Lord replied he knew him well and that he was his Brother then the King asking where he then was was answered at Venice or Florence but by late Letters from thence he understood he would suddenly be at Paris Send for him said the King and when he shall come into England bid him repair to me The Lord Wotton after a little wonder asked the King If he knew him to which the King answered You must rest unsatisfied of that till you bring the Gentleman to me Not many Months after this Discourse the Lord Wotton brought his brother to attend the King who took him in His Arms and bade him welcome by the name of Octavio Baldi saying he was the most honest and therefore the best Dissembler that ever he met with And said Seeing I know you neither want Learning Travel nor Experience and that I have had so real a Testimony of your faithfulness and abilities to manage an Embassage I have sent for you to declare my purpose which is to make use of you in that kind hereafter And indeed the King did so most of those two and twenty years of his Raign but before he dismist Octavio Baldi from his present attendance upon him he restored him to his old name of Henry Wotton by which he then knighted him Not long after this the King having resolved according to his Motto Beati pacifici to have a friendship with his Neighbour Kingdoms of France and Spain and also for divers weighty reasons to enter into an Alliance with the State of Venice and to that end to send Ambassadors to those several places did propose the choice of these Employments to Sir Henry Wotton who considering the smallness of his own Estate which he never took care to augment and knowing the Courts of great Princes to be sumptuous and necessarily expensive inclined most to that of Venice as being a place of more retirement and best suiting with his Genius who did ever love to joyn with Business Study and a tryal of natural Experiments for both which fruitful Italy that Darling of Nature and Cherisher of all Arts is so justly framed in all parts of the Christian World Sir Henry having after some short time and consideration resolved upon Venice and a large allowance being appointed by the King for his voyage thither and a setled maintenance during his stay there he left England nobly accompanied through France to Venice by Gentlemen of the best families and breeding that this Nation afforded they were too many to name but these two for following reasons may not be omitted Sir Albertus Morton his Nephew who went his Secretary and William Bedel a man of choice Learning and sanctified Wisdom who went his Chaplain And though his dear friend Dr. Donne then a private Gentleman was not one of that Number that did personally accompany him in this Voyage yet the reading of this following Letter sent by him to Sir Henry Wotton the morning before he left England may testifie he wanted not his friends best wishes to attend him SIR AFter those reverend papers whose soul is Our good and great Kings lov'd hand and feard name By which to you he derives much of his And how he may makes you almost the same A Taper of his Torch a Copy writ From his Original and a fair Beam Of the same warm and dazling Sun though it Must in another Sphere his vertue stream After those Learned Papers which your hand Hath stor'd with notes of use and pleasure too From which rich treasury you may command Fit matter whether you will write or do After those loving Papers where Friends send With glad grief to your Sea-ward-steps farewel Which thicken on you now as prayers ascend To heaven on troops at a good mans passing-bell Admit this honest Paper and allow It such an audience as your self would ask What you would say at Venice this sayes now And has for nature what you have for task To swear much love nor to be chang'd before Honour alone will to your fortune fit Nor shall I then honour your fortune more Than I have done your honour-wanting-wit But 't is an easier load though both oppress To want than govern greatness for we are In that our own and onely business In this we must for others vices care 'T is therefore well your spirits now are plac'd ore-past In their last furnace in activity Which fits them Schools and Courts and Wars To touch and taste in any best degree For me if there be such a thing as I Fortune if there be such a thing as she Finds that I bear so well her tyrannie That she thinks nothing else so fit for me But though she part us to hear my oft prayers For your increase God is as near me here And to send you what I shall beg his stairs In length and ease are alike every where J. Donne SIR Henry Wotton was received by the State of Venice with much honour and gladness both for that he delivered his Embassage most elegantly in the Italian Language and came also in such a Juncture of time as his Masters friendship seem'd useful for that Republick the time of his coming thither was about the year 1604. Leonardo Donato being then Duke a wise and resolv'd man and to all purposes such Sir Henry VVotton would often say it as the State of Venice could not then have wanted there having been formerly in the time of Pope Clement the eighth some contests about the priviledges of Church-men and the power of the Civil Magistrate of which for the information of common Readers I shall say a little because it may give light to some passages that follow About the year 1603. the Republick of Venice made several Injunctions against Lay-persons giving Lands or Goods to the Church without Licence from the Civil-Magistrate and in that inhibition they exprest their reasons to be For that when it once came into the hands of the Ecclesiasticks it was not subject to alienation by reason whereof the lay people being at their death charitable even to excess the Clergy grew every day more numerous and pretending exemption from all publick service and taxes the burthen did grow too heavy to be born by the Laity Another occasion of difference was That about this time complaints were justly made by the Venetians against two Clergy-men the Abbot of Nervesa and a Canon of Vicenza for committing such sins as I think not fit to name nor are these mentioned with an Intent to fix a Scandal upon any Calling for holiness is not tyed to Ecclesiastical Orders and
Italy is observed to breed the most vertuous and most vicious men of any Nation these two having been long complained of at Rome in the name of the State of Venice and no satisfaction being given to the Venetians they seised their persons and committed them to prison The justice or injustice of such power then used by the Venetians had formerly had some calm debates betwixt the present Pope Clement the Eighth and that Republick for he did not excommunicate them considering as I conceive that in the late Council of Trent it was at last after many Politique disturbances and delayes and indeavours to preserve the Popes present power declar'd in order to a general reformation of those many Errours which were in time crept into the Church that though Discipline and especial Excommunication be one of the chief sinews of Church government and intended to keep men in obedience to it for which end it was declar'd to be very profitable yet it was also declar'd and advised to be used with great sobriety and care because experience had informed them that when it was pronounced unadvisedly or rashly it became more contemn'd then fear'd And though this was the advice of that Council at the Conclusion of it which was not many years before this quarrel with the Venetians yet this prudent patient Pope Clement dying Pope Paul the fiâ—t who succeeded him being a man of a much hotter temper brought this difference with the Venetians to a much higher Contention objecting those late acts of that State to be a diminution of his just power and limited a time for their revocation threatning if he were not obeyed to proceed to excommunication of the Republick who still offered to shew both reason and ancient custom to warrant their Actions But this Pope contrary to his Predecessors moderation required absolute obedience without disputes Thus it continued for about a year the Pope still threatning Excommunication and the Venetians still answering him with fair speeches and no performance till at last the Popes zeal to the Apostolick Sea did make him to excommunicate the Duke the whole Senate and all their Dominions and then shut up all their Churches charging the whole Clergy to forbear all sacred Offices to the Venetians till their Obedience should render them capable of Absolution But this act of the Popes did the more confirm the Venetians in their resolution not to obey him And to that end upon the hearing of his Interdict they presently published by sound of Trumpet a Proclamation to this effect That whosoever hath received from Rome any Copy of a Papal interdict publish'd there well against the Law of God as against the Honour of this Nation shall presently render it to the Councel of Ten upon pain of death Then was the Inquisition presently suspended by Order of the State and the Flood-gates being thus set open any pleasant or scoffing wit might safely vent it self against the Pope either by free speaking or in Print Matters thus heightned the State advised with Father Paul a holy and Learned Fryer the Authour of the History of the Council of Trent whose advice was Neither to Provoke the Pope nor lose their own Right he declaring publickly in Print in the name of the State That the Pope was trusted to keep two Keyes one of Prudence and the other of Power And that if they were not both used together Power alone is not effectual in an Excommunication And thus it continued till a report was blown abroad that the Venetians were all turned Protestants which was believed by many for that it was observ'd the English Ambassadour was so often in conference with the Senate aud his Chaplain Mr. Bedel more often with Father Paul And also for that the Republick of Venice was known to give Commisâ—â—on to Gregory Justiniano then their Ambassadour in England to make all these proceedings known to the King and to crave a Promise of his assistance if need should require and in the mean time the King's advice and judgment which was the same that he gave to Pope Clement at his first coming to the Crown of England that Pope then moving him to an Union with the Roman Church namely To endeavour the calling of a free Council for the settlement of peace in Christendom And that he doubed not but that the French King and divers other Princes would joyn to assist in so good a work and in the mean time the sin of this Breach both with his and the Venetians Dominions must of necessity lie at the Pope's door In this contention which lasted several years the Pope grew still higher and the Venetians more resolv'd and careless still acquainting King James with their proceedings which was done by the help of Sir Henry Wotton Mr. Bedel and Padre Paulo whom the Venetians did then call to be one of their Consultors of State and with his Pen to defend their Cause which was by him so performed that the Pope saw plainly he had weakned his Power by exceeding it and offered the Venetians Absolution upon very easie terms which the Venetians still slighting did at last obtain by that which was scarce so much as a shew of acknowledging it For they made an order that in that day in which they were absolv'd there should be no publick rejoycing nor any Bonefires that night lest the Common people might judg they were absolved for committing a fault These Contests were the occasion of Padre Paulo his knowledge and interest with King James for whose sake principally Padre Paul compiled that eminent History of the remarkable Council of Trent which History was as fast as it was written sent in several sheets in Letters by Sir Henry VVotton Mr Bedel and Mr. Bedel and others unto King James and the then Bishop of Canterbury in England and there first made publick both in English and in the universal Language For eight years after Sir Henry Wottons going into Italy he stood fair and highly valued in the Kings opinion but at last became much clouded by an accident which I shall proceed to relate At his first going Embassadour into Italy as he passed through Germany he stayed some dayes at Augusta where having been in his former Travels well known by many of the best note for Learning and Ingeniousness those that are esteemed the Virtuosi of that Nation with whom he passing an evening in merriments was requested by Christopher Flecamore to write some Sentence in his Albo a Book of white paper which for that purpose many of the German Gentry usually carry about then and Sir Henry Wotton consenting to the motion took an occasion from some accidental discourse of the present Company to write a pleasant definition of an Embassadour in these very words Legatus est vir bonus peregre mismissus ad mentiendum Reipublicae causâ Which Sir Henry Wotton could have been content should have been thus Englished An Ambassadour is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good
of his Country But the word for lye being the hinge upon which the Conceit was to turn was not so expreâ—s'd in Latine as would admit in the hands of an enemy especially so fair a construction as Sir Henry thought in English Yet as it was it slept quietly among other Sentences in this Albo almost eight years till by accident it fell into the hands of Jasper Scioppius a Romanist a man of a restless spirit and a malicious Pen who with Books against King James prints this as a Principle of that Religion professed by the King and his Embassadour Sir Henry Wotton then at Venice and in Venice it was presently after written in several Glass-Windowes and spitefully declared to be Sir Henry VVottons This coming to the knowledge of King James he apprehended it to be such an oversight such a weakness or worse in Sir Henry VVotton as caused the King to express much wrath against him and this caused Sir Henry VVotton to write two Apologies one to Velserus one of the Chiefs of Augusta in the Universal Language which he caus'd to be printed and given and scattered in the most remarkable places both of Germany and Italy as an Antidote against the venemous books of Scioppius and another Apology to King James which were both so ingenious so clear and so choicely Eloquent that his Majesty who was a pure Judge of it could not forbear at the receit thereof to declare publickly That Sir Henry VVotton had commuted sufficiently for a greater offence And now as broken bones well set become stronger so Sir Henry Wotton did not only recover but was much more confirmed in his Majesties estimation and favour then formerly he had been And as that man his friend of great wit and useful fancy gave in a Will of his a Will of conceits his Reputation to his Friends and his Industry to his Foes because from thence he received both so those friends that in this time of tryal labored to excuse this facetious freedom of Sir Henry Wottons were to him more dear and by him more highly valued and those acquaintance that urged this as an advantage against him caused him by this errour to grow both more wise and which is the best fruit errour can bring forth for the future to become more industriously watchful over his tongue and pen. I have told you a part of his imployment in Italy where notwithstanding the accusation of Scioppius his interest still increas'd with this Duke Leonardo Donato after whose death as though it had been an intail'd love it was still found living in the succeeding Dukes during all the time of his imployment to that State which was almost Twenty years All which time he studied the dispositions of those Dukes and the other Consultors of State well knowing that he who negotiates a continued business and neglects the study of dispositions usually fails in his proposed ends But this Sir Henry Wotton did not for by a fine sorting of fit Presents curious and not costly entertainments alwayes sweetned by various and pleasant discourse with which and his choice application of stories and his so elegant deliver'd of all these even in their Italian Language he first got and still preserv'd such interest in the State of Venice that it was observ'd such was either his merit or his modesty they never denyed him any request But all this shewes but his abilities and his fitness for that Imployment 'T will therefore be needful to tell the Reader what use he made of the Interest which these procured him and that indeed was rather to oblige others then to enrich himself he still endeavouring that the reputation of the English might be maintain'd both in the German Empire and in Italy where many Gentlemen whom Travel had invited into that Nation received from him chearfull Entertainments advice for their behaviour and shelter or deliverance from those accidental storms of adversity which usually attend upon Travel And because these things may appear to the Reader to be but Generals I shall acquaint him with two particular Examples one of his merciful disposition and one of the Nobleness of his Mind which shall follow There had been many English Souldiers brought by Commanders of their own Country to serve the Uenetians for pay against the Turk and those English having by Irregularities or Improvidence brought themselves into several Gallies and Prisons Sir Henry Wotton became a Petitioner to that State for their Lives and Inlargement and his request was granted so that those which were many hundreds and there made the sad Examples of humane misery by hard imprisonment and unpitied poverty in a strange Nation were by his means released relieved and in a comfortable Condition sent to thank God and him for their Lives and Libertyes in their own Country And this I have observed as one testimony of the compassionate Nature of him who was during his stay in those parts as a City of Refuge for the Distressed of this and other Nations And for that which I offer as a Testimony of the Nobleness of his mind I shall make way to the Readers clearer understanding of it by telling him that Sir Henry Wotton was sent thrice Embassadour to the Republick of Uenice and that at his second going thither he was employed Embassador to several of the German Princes and to the Emperour Ferdinando the second and that his employment to him and those Princes was to incline them to equitable Conditions for the restauration of the Queen of Rohemia and her Descendents to their Patrimonial Inheritance of the Palatinate This was by his eight months constant endeavours and attendance upon the Emperour his Court and Counsel brought to the probability of a succesful Conclusion without bloodshed there being at that time two opposite armies in the field but as they were treating the Armies met and there was a battle fought the managery whereof was so full of miserable errours on the one side so Sir Henry Wotton expresses it in a dispatch to the King and so advantagious to the Emperour as put an end to all Hopes of a succcessful Treaty so that Sir Henry seeing the face of Peace altered by that Victory prepared for a Removal from that Court and at his departure from the Emperour was so bold as to remember him That the Events of every Battel move â—n the unseen wheels of Fortune which are this moment up and down the next and therefore humbly advised him to use his Victory so soberly as still to put on thoughts of Peace Which advice though it seemed to be spoke with some Passion his dear Mistress the Queen of Bohemia being concerned in it was yet taken in good part by the Emperour who was much pleased with his carriage all the time that he resided in his Court and said That the King his Master was look'd on as an Abettor of his Enemy the Palsgrave but yet he took him to be a Person of much Honour and
Merit and did therefore desire him to accept of that Jewel as a Testimony of his good opinion of him which was a Jewel of Diamonds of more value then a thousand pounds This was received with all Circumstances and terms of Honour by Sir Henry Wotton but the next morning at his departing from Vienna at his taking leave of the Countess of Sabrina an Italian Lady in whose House the Emperour had appointed him to be lodg'd and honourably entertained He acknowledged her Merits and besought her to accept of that Jewel as a testimony of his gratitude for her Civilities presenting her with the same that was given him by the Emperour which being suddenly discovered by the Emperour was by him taken for a high affront and Sir Henry Wotton told so To which he replyed That though he received it with thankfulness yet he found in himself an indisposition to be the better for any gift that came from an Enemy to his Royal Mistress the Queen of Bohemia for so she was pleased he should alwayes call her Many other of his services to his Prince and this Nation might be insisted upon as namely his procuration of Priviledges and courtesies with the German Princes and the Republick of Venice for the English Merchants and what he did by direction of King James with the Venetian State concerning the Bishop of Spalato's return to the Church of Rome But for the particulars of these and many more that I mean to make known I want a view of some papers that might inform me his late Majesties Letter-Office having suffered a strange alienation and indeed I want time too for the Printers Press-stayes so that I must haste to bring Sir Henry Wotton in an instant from Venice to London leaving the Reader to make up what is defective in this place by this small supplement of the inscription under his Armes which he left at all those houses where he rested or lodged when he returned from his last Embassie into England Henricus Wottonius Anglo-Cantianus Thomae optimi viri filius natu minimus a serenissimo Jacobo I. Mag. Britt Rege in equestrem titulum adscitus ejusdemque ter ad Rempublicam Venetam Legatus Ordinarius semel ad confaederatarum Provinciarum Ordines in Juliacensi negotio Bis ad Carolum Emanuel Sabaudiae Ducem semel ad unitos superioris Gâ—rmaniae Principes in Conventu Heilbrunensi postremo ad Archiducem Leopoldum Ducem Wittembergensem Civitates imperiales Argentinam Ulmamque ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum secundum Legatus Extraordinarius tandem hoc didicit Animas fieri sapientiores quiescendo To London he came that year in which King James dyed who having for the reward of his forreign service promised him the reversion of an Office which was fit to be turned into present money for a supply of his present necessities and also granted him the reversion of the Master of the Rolls place if he out-lived charitable Sir Julius Caesar who then possessed it and then grown so old that he was said to be kept alive beyond Natures Course by the prayers of those many poor which he daily relieved But these were but in hope and his condition required a present support For in the beginning of these imployments he sold to his elder brother the Lord Wotton the Rent-charge left by his good Father and which is worse was now at his return indebted to several persons whom he was not able to satisfie but by the Kings payment of his Arrears due for his forreign Imployments He had brought into England many servants of which some were German and Italian Artists this was part of his condition who had many times hardly sufficient to supply the occasions of the day For it may by no means be said of his providence as himself said of Sir Philip Sidney's wit That it was the very measure of congruity He being alwayes so careless of money as though our Saviours wores Care not for to morrow were to be literally understood But it pleased God that in this juncture of time the Provostship of His Majesties Colledge of Eaton became void by the death ofâ— Murray for which there were as the place deserv'd many earnest and powerful Suiters to the King Sir Henry who had for many years like Siciphus rolled the restless stone of a State imployment and knowing experimentally that the great blessing of sweet content was not to be found in multitudes of men or business and that a Colledge was the fittest place to nourish holy thoughts and to afford rest both to his body and mind which his age being now almost threescore years seemed to require did therefore use his own and the interest of all his friends to procure it By which means and quitting the King of his promised reversionary Offices and a piece of honest policy which I have not time to relate he got a Grant of it from His Majesty And this was a fair settlement for his mind but money was wanting to furnish him with those necessaries which attend removes and a settlement in such a place and to procure that he wrote to his old friend Mr. Nicholas Pey for his assistance of which Nicholas Pey I shall here say a little for the clearing of something that I shall say hereafter He was in his youth a Clerk or in some such way a servant to the Lord Wotton Sir Henry's brother and by him when he was Comptroller of the Kings Houshold was made a great Officer in His Majesties house This and other favours being conferred upon Mr. Pey in whom was a radical honesty were alwayes thankfully acknowledged by him and his gratitude exprest by a willing and unwearied serviceableness to that Family even till his death To him Sir Henry Wotton wrote to use all his inâ—â—â—â— at Court to procure Five hundred pounds of his Arrears for less would not settle him â—â—â— Colledge and the want of it wrinkled â—â—â—â—â— with care 't was his own expression and thâ—r being procured he should the next day after find him in his Colledge and Invidiae remedium writ over his Study door This money being part of his Arrears was by his own and the help of honest Nicholas Pey's interest in Court quickly procured him and he as quickly in the Colledge the place where indeed his happiness then seemed to have its beginning the Colledge being to his mind as a quiet Harbor to a Sea-faring-man after a tempestuous voyage where by the bounty of the pious Founder his very Food and Rayment were plentifully provided for him in kind where he was freed from all corroding cares and seated on such a Rock as the waves of want could not probably shake where he might sit in a Calm and looking down behold the busie multitude turmoyl'd and tossed in a tempestuous Sea of dangers And as Sir William Davenant has happily exprest the like of another person Laugh at the graver business of the State Which speaks men rather wise than
many of high parts and piety have undertaken to clear the Controversie yet for the most part they have rather satisfied themselves than convinced the dissenting party And doubtless many middle-witted men which yet may mean well many Scholars that are not in the highest Form for Learning which yet may preach well men that shall never know till they come to Heaven where the questions stick betwixt Arminius and the Church of England will yet in this world be tampering with and thereby perplexing the Controversie and do therefore justly fall under the reproof of St. Jude for being Busie-bodies and for medling with things they understand not And here it offers it self I think not unfitly to tell the Reader that a friend of Sir Henry Woltons being designed for the imployment of an Ambassador came to Eaton and requested from him some experimental Rules for his prudent and safe carriage in his Negotiations to whom he smilingly gave this for an infallible Aphorism That to be in safety himself and serviceable to his Countrey he should alwayes and upon all occasions speak the truth it seems a State-Paradox for sayes Sir Henry Wotton you shall never be believed and by this means your truth will secure your self if you shall ever be called to any account and 't will also put your Adversaries who will still hunt counter to a loss in all their disquisitions and undertakings Many more of this nature might be observed but they must be laid aside for I shall here make a little stop and invite the Reader to look back with me whil'st according to my promise I shall say a little of Sir Albertus Morton and Mr. William Bedel whom I formerly mentioned I have told you that are the Readers that at Sir Henry Wottons first going Ambassador into Italy his Cosin Sir Albert Morton went his Secretary and am next to tell you that Sir Albertus dyed Secretary of State to our late King but cannot am not able to express the sorrow that possest Sir Henry Wotton at his first hearing the news that Sir Albertus was by death lost to him and this world and yet the Reader may partly guess by these following expressions The first in a Letter to his Nicholas Pey of which this that followeth is a part And My dear Nick When I had been here almost a fortnight in the midst of my great contentment I received notice of Sir Albertus Morton his departure out of this World who was dearer to me than mine own being in it what a wound it is to my heart you that knew him and knew me will easily believe but our Creators Will must be done and unrepiningly received by his own Creatures who is the Lord of all Nature and of all Fortune when he taketh to himself now one and then another till that expected day wherein it shall please him to dissolve the whole and wrap up even the Heaven it self as a Scrole of parchment This is the last Philosophy that we must study upon Earth let us therefore that yet remain here as our dayes and friends waste reinforce our love to each other which of all vertues both spiritual and moral hath the highest priviledge because death it self cannot end it And my good Nick c. This is a part of his sorrow thus exprest to his Nick Pey the other part is in this following Elogy of which the Reader may safely conclude 't was too hearty to be dissembled Tears wept at the Grave of Sir Albertus Morton by Henry Wotton SIlence in truth would speak my sorrow best For deepest wounds can least their feelings tell Yet let me borrow from mine own unrest A time to bid him whom I lov'd farewell Oh my unhappy Lines you that before Have serv'd my youth to vent some wanton cryes And now congeal'd with grief can scarce implore Strength to accent Here my Albertus lies This is that Sable stone this is the Cave And womb of earth that doth his Corps embrace While others sing his praise let me ingrave These bleeding numbers to adorn the place Here will I paint the Characters of woe Here will I pay my tribute to the dead And here my faithful tears in showres shall flow To humanize the flints on which I tread Where though I mourn my matchless loss alone And none between my weakness judge and me Yet even these pensive walls allow my moan Whose doleful Echoes to my plaints agree But is he gone and live I riming here As if some Muse would listen to my lay When all dis-tun'd sit waiting for their dear And bathe the Banks where he was wont to play Dwell then in endless bliss with happy souls Discharg'd from natures and from fortunes trust Whil'st on this fluid Globe my Hour-glass rowls And runs the rest of my remaining dust H. Wotton This concerning his Sir Albertus Morton And for what I shall say concerning Mr. William Bedel I must prepare the Reader by telling him That when King James sent Sir Henry Wotton Ambassador to the State of Venice he sent also an Ambassador to the King of France and another to the King of Spain with the Ambassador of France went Joseph Hall late Bishop of Norwich whose many and useful works speak his great merit with the Ambassador of Spain went Ja. Wadsworth and with Sir Henry Wotton went William Bedel These three Chaplains to these three Ambassadors were all bred in one University all of one Colledge all Benefic'd in one Diocess and all most dear and intâ—â—e Friends But in Spain Mr. Wadsworth met with temptations or reasons such as were so powerful as to perswade him who of the three was formerly observ'd to be the most averse to that Religion that calls itself Catholick to disclaim himself a Member of the Church of England and declare himself for the Church of Rome discharging himself of his attendance on the Ambassador and betaking himself to a Monasterial life in which he lived very regularly and so dyed When Dr. Hall the late Bishop of Norwich came into England he wrote to Mr. Wadsworth 't is the first Epistle in his printed Decads to perswade his return or the reason of his Apostasie the Letter seemed to have in it many sweet expressions of love and yet there was something in it that was so unpleasant to Mr. Wadsworth that he chose rather to acquaint his old friend Mr. Bedel with his motives by which means there past betwixt Mr. Bedel and Mr. Wadsworth very many Letters which be extant in Print and did well deserve it for in them there seems to be a controversie not of Religion on only but who should answer each other with most love and meekness which I mention the rather because it seldom falls out so in a Book-War There is yet a little more to be said of Mr. Bedel for the greatest part of which the Reader is referred to this following Letter of Sir Henry Wottons writ to our late King Charles May it please Your
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
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
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