in the new Jerusalem. For myself, dear mother, I always feared sickness more than death; because sickness hath made me unable to perform those offices for which I came into the world, and must yet be kept in it: but you are freed from that fear, who have already abundantly discharged that part, having both ordered your family, and so brought up your children, that they have attained to the years of discretion and competent maintenance; so that now, if they do not well, the fault cannot be charged on you, whose example and care of them will justify you both to the world and your own conscience; insomuch, that whether you turn your thoughts on the life past, or on the joys that are to come, you have strong preservations against all disquiet. And for temporal afflictions, I beseech you consider, all that can happen to you are either afflictions of estate, or body, or mind. For those of estate, of what poor regard ought they to be, since, if we have riches, we are commanded to give them away? So that the best use of them is, having, not to have them. But, perhaps, being above the common people, our credit and estimation call on us to live in a more splendid fashion. But, O God! how easily is that answered, when we consider that the blessings in the Holy Scripture are never given to the rich, but to the poor. I never find 'Blessed be the rich,' or 'Blessed be the noble ; but Blessed be the meek, and Blessed be the poor, and Blessed be the mourners, for they shall be comforted. And yet, O God! most carry themselves so, as if they not only not desired, but even feared, to be blest. And for afflictions of the body, dear Madam, remember the holy martyrs of God, how they have been burnt by thousands, and have endured such other tortures, as the very mention of them might beget amazement; but their fiery trials have had an end; and yours (which, praised be God, are less) are not like to continue long. I beseech you, let such thoughts as these moderate your present fear and sorrow; and know that if any of yours should prove a Goliah-like trouble, yet you may say with David, That God, who delivered me out of the paws of the Lion and the Bear, will also deliver me out of the hands of this uncircumcised Philistine. Lastly, for those afflictions of the soul: consider that God intends that to be as a sacred temple for himself to dwell in, and will not allow any room there for such an inmate as grief, or allow that any sadness shall be his competitor. And, above all, if any care of future things molest you, remember those admirable words of the Psalmist : Cast thy care on the Lord and he shall nourish thee. (Psalm Liv.) To which join that of St. Peter: Casting all your care upon Him, for he careth for you. (1 Pet. ch. v. ver. 7.) What an admirable thing it is, that God puts his shoulder to our burden, and entertains our care for us, that we may the more quietly intend his service. To conclude, let me commend only one place more to you, (Philip iv. 4.) Saint Paul saith there, Rejoice in the Lord always; and again Í say, rejoice. He doubles it to take away the scruple of those that might say, What, shall we rejoice in afflictions! Yes, I say again, rejoice: so that it is not left to us to rejoice, or not rejoice: but whatsoever befalls us, we must always, at all times, rejoice in the Lord, who taketh care for us. And it follows, in the next verse: Let your moderation appear unto all men; the Lord is at hand; be careful for nothing. What can be said more comfortably? Trouble not yourselves, God is at hand to deliver us from all, or in all. Dear Madam, pardon my boldness, and accept the good meaning of Trin. Coll. May 25, 1622. Your obedient son, GEORGE HERBERT. In February, 1622-3, the Spanish and Austrian Ambassadors visited Cambridge, and on Thursday, the 27th, the University conferred on them the degree of M.A. On this occasion Herbert delivered a Latin speech, as laudatory and uninteresting as orations of that kind usually are*. The death of Dr. Parry, Bishop of St. Asaph, in the September of 1623, enabled the King to reward the merits. of Herbert with the sinecure formerly given by Elizabeth. to Sir Philip Sidney, and worth one hundred and twenty pounds per annum t. During Herbert's absence from Cambridge, the duties of orator were performed by his friend, Mr. Thorndike, a fellow of Trinity. Heber, in his * Cole's MS. Coll. The speech is printed among True Copies of all the Latin Orations pronounced at Cambridge, 1623. + Herbert also gratified James by some Latin Epigrams against Andrew Melville, the leader of the Scottish Anti-Episcopal party. Melville wrote the following verses against the "chapel ornaments:' Quod duo stant libri clausi Anglis Regiâ in Arà, Mr. George Herbert, of Trinity College, in Cambridge, says Fuller, made a most ingenious retortion of this Hexastich, which as yet, all my industry cannot recover. Yet it much contenteth me that I am certainly life of Jeremy Taylor, professes his ignorance of Thorndike. But Bishop Taylor mentions him in a letter to Evelyn, dated June 4, 1659; and Dr. Hammond alludes to him in one of the Nineteen Letters published by Francis Peck. He also assisted Dr. Walton in the edition of the Polyglot Bible. In one of his visits to Cambridge, James was accompanied by Lord Bacon and Bishop Andrews, both of whom embraced the opportunity to form an acquaintance with Herbert. Walton could have no authority for affirming that Bacon permitted none of his works to be printed until they had received the sanction of Herbert; but he manifested his respect for the poet's talents, by requesting his assistance in the translation of the Advancement of Learning. The history of this work is rather singular. It was originally published in English in 1605, and Lord Bacon very early expressed a wish to have it rendered into Latin, that it might become a "citizen of the world." With this view he wrote to Dr. Playfer, the Margaret Professor of Divinity, mentioning his labours in these curious terms. "Since I have only taken upon me to ring a bell to call other wits together (which is the meanest office), it cannot but be consonant with my desire to have that bell heard as far as can be." Dr. Playfer willingly engaged in the translation, but was unsuccessful in satisfying Lord Bacon. Archbishop Tenison observes, in the Baconiana, that the specimen which the professor sent to Lord Bacon, was "of such superfine Latinity, that he did not encourage him informed that the posthume remains (shavings of gold are carefully to be kept) of that not less pious, than witty, are shortly to be put forth into print.-Church History, p. 70, book 10, folio 1655. Herbert's Remains were published in 1652, containing the Country Parson, Jacula Prudentium, Prayer before and after Sermon, Epistle to Ferrar, Selected Apophthegms, and two Latin poems to Lord Bacon, and one to Donne. to proceed any further in the work; in the penning of which he desired not so much neat and polite, as clear, masculine, and apt expression." This took place, Mr. Montague thinks, in 1606 or 1607; Hacket speaks of Dr. Playfer's death in 1608*. At this time Herbert was a freshman of Trinity having resided only two or three days. Hacket, who was elected with him, after praising the eloquence with which Williams, the future archbishop, had eulogized the merits of the departed scholar, informs us, that it was the second day on which "he had worne his purple gown." Writing many years after to the Bishop of Winchester, Lord Bacon speaks with evident satisfaction of having procured a translation of his book "into the general language." The version was performed, according to Archbishop Tenison, "by Mr. Herbert, and some others who were esteemed masters in the Roman eloquence." The names of Ben Jonson, and Hobbes, the philosopher, deserve particular notice. The beautiful enthusiasm with which the poet vindicated his noble friend, in the hour of his sorrow and misfortune, must always do honour to the memory of both. Hobbes was an especial favourite with Lord Bacon, who delighted in his conversation, and frequently availed himself of his aid to "set down his thoughts," when sauntering along the shady walks of his beautiful park at Gorhambury. Hobbes was, in his own day, branded with the charge of atheism; but his friend Aubrey endeavoured to remove the odium from his memory, by declaring that he received the sacrament when lying, * In Fletcher's Poetical Miscellany, p. 161, is the following Epitaph on Dr. Playfer: Who lives with Death, by Death in Death is lying, Who life to truth, who death to error gives, My soul in Heaven breathes, in schools my fame, as he thought, upon the bed of death. Yet it must be conceded that the author of the Leviathan was a most reckless and daring writer upon theology, advancing with a regardless step into the sacred precincts of the holy temple. That he was sincere in his efforts to promote the happiness of mankind, without any intention of depreciating true religion, the careful reader of his works may not entirely refuse to admit. He failed where the wisest must always fail-in making reason the touchstone of divinity. After undergoing the supervision of Lord Bacon, the translation was published with the title of De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum. Of the contents of the book it would be idle, in this place, to attempt even a sketch, but I cannot pass over in silence a name which the world will not willingly let die. In an age of biography, it is somewhat strange that a full and accurate life of Bacon should still be wanting. The conclusion of the fifteenth century, and the commencement of the sixteenth, were marked by many momentous changes. The discovery of printing, to use the words of Degerando, had opened a new world to the wondering eyes of the student*. It was the era of the most extraordinary revolution which the physical sciences had ever undergone. Bacon, who, even in his sixteenth year, had shown a disposition to shake off the yoke of the Aristotelian philosophy, stood forth one of the first legislators of the new empire of the sciences. It was finely said by the University of Oxford, in the letter acknowledging the receipt of the De Augmentis Scient.: that like some mighty Hercules of learning, he had, by his *M. Degerando, Histoire Comparée des Systèmes de Philosophie, 2nd edition, Paris, 4 vols., 1822, Tom. i. p. 69. It is pleasing to observe the praise with which the Novum Organum was spoken of in France by Gassendi, who was one of the first to admit the wonderful genius of the author. He justly characterises the labours of Bacon, by saying, Ausu heroico novam tentare viam est ausus. |