prevailed on by his friends to enter into orders, he was made dean of St. Paul's; but the misfortunes attending his marriage had not only broke his fpirit, but fo impaired his conftitution, that he fell into a lingering confumption, of which he died in 1631. Befides a great number of fermons, and a difcourfe on fuicide, he has left of his writing, letters to feveral perfons of honour, in Quarto, 1651, and a volume of poems first published, and as there is reafon to suppose by Walton himself, in 1635; but last, in 1719, among which are, fix moft fpirited fatires, feveral whereof Mr. Pope has lately modernized. He was a man of exemplary 633 virtue and holiness, and, for the greatness of his parts, and the univerfality of his learning, has been compared to Picus of Mirandola.

Sir Henry Wotton was born in 1578. After he had finished his ftudies at Oxford, he refided in France, Germany, and Italy; and at his return, attended the earl of Effex. He was employed by king James the firft, in feveral foreign negotiations, and went ambaffador to Venice: upon his return to England,

"her other children ftupifies her; of one of which,

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in good faith, I have not much hope; and these meet with a fortune fo ill provided for phyfick, and "fuch relief, that if God fhould eafe us with burials, "I know not how to perform even that. But I

flatter myself with this hope, that I am dying too; "for I cannot wafte 'fafter than by fuch griefs. Collect, of the lives in 1675. Page 26.

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he was made provost of Eton college, which honourable ftation he held till his death. He was a man of great parts and learning: there are extant of his works, A View of the State of Christendom, in Folio, and the volume of Remains, heretofore mentioned, in which are his Elements of Architecture *; but his long refidence abroad had greatly corrupted his style; which, though it conveys excellent fentiments and obfervations, is, like Sir William Temple's, too affectedly full of Gallicifms, and other foreign modes of expreffion, to be read with pleasure †.

Hooker's book of Ecclefiaftical Polity is fufficiently known; nor was the author less valuable as a man, than excellent as a writer; he, as well as the former, was known to Walton, and certainly merited the character he has given him.

Herbert was of a noble family; he had a frail body, but a vigorous mind, though of a very afcetick turn; he wrote little elfe befides poetry, which is altogether of the religious kind. At Cambridge he was celebrated for his parts, and in 1619 was cho

*This treatife of Sir Henry's is, undoubtedly, the beft on the subject, of any in the modern languages: ä few years after his death it was tranflated into Latin, and printed at the end of Vitruvius, with an eulogium on the author.

{ + As where he fays, "At Augufta I took language "that the princes and ftates of the union had deferred that affembly." Reliqu. Wotton. 489.

fen

fen univerfity orator. Bishop Hacket, in his life of archbishop Williams, page 175, mentions a ftrange circumftance of him; which, for the fingular manner of relating it, take it in his own words: "Mr. George "Herbert, being prælector in the rhetorick "fchool in Cambridge, anno 1618, paffed by "thofe fluent orators that domineered in the "pulpits of Athens and Rome, and insisted "to read upon an oration of king James; "which he analyfed, fhewed the concin

nity of the parts; the propriety of the " phrase; the height and power of it, to move affections; the ftyle, UTTERLY "UNKNOWN TO THE ANTIENTS, who "could not conceive what kingly eloquence 66 was; in respect of which, thofe noted Demagogi were but hirelings, and triobolary rhetoricians.'

If it were not that the bishop's account of this matter is fo ridiculous as to ingrofs one's whole attention, one would be naturally led to enquire, whether Mr. Herbert was really fo deftitute of fincerity and common fenfe, as to think and reafon in this manner; or whether the eafinefs of his nature could fofar difpofe him to comply with the then fashionable practice of celebrating the learning and eloquence of this fhallow monarch, as this prelate would have us believe; his known goodness and contempt of riches and preferment, added to the general reputation of

His ingenuity and parts, must incline one to acquit him of fuch meannefs, and to afcribe this extravagant encomium to the invention. of a mind, incapable of fuggefting to its poffeffor any other means of preferment than the most abject flattery.

Sanderfon was a man of very acute parts, and famous for his deep fkill in cafuiftry; that fort of learning was formerly much cultivated among the Romish divines, with a view to qualify the younger clergy for the office of confeffion; and it continued in fafhion here, longer after the reformation than it was useful. In the year 1647 he drew up the famous Oxford reasons against the covenant, which discover amazing penetration and fagacity; and fo diftinguished him, that, at the restoration, he was promoted to the bishoprick of Lincoln. In 1661 he, by virtue of a commiffion from king Charles the fecond, affifted at a conference at the Savoy, between the epifcopal clergy and prefbyterian divines, for fettling a liturgy, and died in 1662. There are extant of his works, befides a volume of fermons, in Folio, Cafes of Confcience, in Duodecimo, and feveral pieces printed at the end of his life. Walton's acquaintance with this eminent perfon had a very early commencement; and what de

* Complete Hift. of Eng. Vol. III. Page 253.

gree

gree of intimacy fubfifted between them, will appear by the following account, which fufficiently characterizes the humility of the good doctor, and the fimplicity of honest Ifaac. "About the time of his printing

this excellent preface [to his fermons first "printed in 1655] I met him accidentally in "London, in fad-coloured cloaths, and, God "knows, far from being coftly. The place "of our meeting was near to Little Britain; "where he had been to buy a book, which " he then had in his hand. We had no in"clination to part presently; and therefore "turned, to ftand in a corner, under a pentboufe (for it began to rain) and immedi

ately the wind rofe, and the rain increased "fo much, that both became fo inconve"nient, as to force us into a cleanly boufe; "where we had bread, cheese, ale, and a fire, "for our money. This rain and wind were "fo obliging to me, as to force our stay "there, for at least an hour, to my great " content and advantage; for in that time, "he made to me many useful obfervations, "with much clearness and confcientious "freedom *.”

Such were the perfons, whose virtues Walton was fo laudably employed in celebrating; and furely he has done but juftice in saying,

that

* Life of Sanderfon.

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