George Herbert

The father of George Herbert dying when the poet was but 4 years old, the discipline and education of the children (7 sons, the eldest being Lord Cherbury) devolved upon his mother, a woman celebrated at once for her beauty and her worth, who devoted herself with the most zealous care to the godly upbringing of her family. At the age of 12, Herbert entered Westminster School, where, under the tuition of the masters of that institution, he shone no less in wit than wisdom. His classical attainments, especially in Greek, secured his election, at the early age of 15, to Trinity College, Cambridge. Knowing the snare a university so often proves to the susceptible heart of youth, his mother recommended him to the special charge of the Master of the College, Dr Nevil, then Dean of Canterbury. The Dean proved to him a second father.

In 1615 he became a Master of Arts, and in 1619 Orator for the University. In the riot of the university life George Herbert had no share. While his fellows were haunting the house of mirth, he communed with the mighty dead, or perchance relaxed severer studies by practising on the lute. Like Milton, Herbert was passionately fond of music. Companions, in the ordinary sense of the term, he had none; save when Dr Nevil sometimes broke in upon his labours, the solitude of his study was rarely ever invaded.

Herbert continued Orator of the University for eight years. During his period of office, our Scottish Solomon, James, sent Cambridge one of the effusions of his pedant mind, Basilicon Doron. It was Herbert's duty to thank the royal author for his gift. He did so in a style that completely fascinated the monarch, who pronounced him "the jewel of the University." A sinecure of £120 a-year, that Sir Philip Sydney formerly held from Elizabeth, was bestowed on Herbert, as a mark of James's special grace. In the sunshine of royal favour, the holy Herbert felt the stirrings of worldly ambition: he aspired to be a secretary of state. To qualify himself for that position, he set about the study of the modern tongues of the Continent. Wherever the Court now was, there Herbert never failed to come. The king's death, to which may be added the deaths of the Duke of Richmond, the Marquis of Hamilton, and other powerful friends, laid these hopes in the dust.

Retiring from London to Kent, after a severe conflict between the kindling taste for court life and the study of theology, Herbert, submissive to his mother's pious wish, devoted himself to the Church. Within a year from the formation of this resolution he took deacon's orders, and in July 1626 was appointed Prebendary of "Layton Ecclesia," in the diocese of Lincoln. Three years after his settlement at Layton he was seized with a "quotidian ague," which, though recovered from by strict attention to dietary arrangements, seemed to have developed the seeds of pulmonary disease. Subsequently, however, he removed to Dauntsey, in Wiltshire, where his health became so completely established that he resolved to take preist's orders and to marry. It had been a long wish of Herbert's mother to see her son thus situated, but death deprived her of the pleasure. She died in 1627.

Charles Danvers had a family of 9 daughters. Often he had expressed a desire that Mr Herbert should marry one of them. Jane was the name of the beloved of the family, and it was specially her on whom Danvers desired that the choice of Herbert should fall. The match had been so often talked over to Herbert and Jane, that they already loved, while yet they had not seen each other. After a three days' acquaintance the marriage was consummated. Some marry in a hurry, only to rue at leisure; but Herbert's marriage was of the happiest. Shortly after this most felicitous union, the rectory of Bemerton was presented to him by the Earl of Pembroke. On the 26th April, 1630, in the 36th year of his age, he was inducted to its sacred duties. The night of his induction he told his friend Mr Woodmot, that "he was sure to live well, because the virtuous life of a clergyman is the most powerful eloquence to persuade all that see it to reverence and love, and at least to desire to live like him;" adding, "We live in an age that hath more need of good examples than precepts." The sword and silks of the courtier were now flung aside for the pastoral staff and the canonical coat, and the short term of existence that remained to the holy man was devoted to the earnest and enthusiastic service of his Master.

Music was Herbert's principal recreation; the hymns and anthems he composed were set and sung by himself to the lute or viol. Twice every week he walked to Salisbury Cathedral, to enjoy its majestic organ and magnificent choir. Mr Herbert's friends knew him to be in the habit of composing, but no one suspected the existence of "The Temple," until on his deathbed he handed Mr Duncan a little book, with instructions to deliver it to his dear brother Ferrar. "Tell him," said the dying poet, "he shall find in it a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed between God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my master, in whose service I have no 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 public; if not let him burn it, for I and it are less than the least of God's mercies."

In the closing hours of life the dreams of his youthful ambition rose before his soul -- rose only to give him a glimpse of their nothingness. The Sabbath before his death he called for his lute, and to its strains he composed a portion of his beautiful hymn "Sunday." On his death-day he expressed his sorrow that he had "nothing to present to God but sin and misery; but," said he, "the first is pardoned, and a few hours will put a period to the second."

By 1680, "The Temple" had gone through 13 printings.