friendship of King James. He was inducted to the living of Bemerton, near Salisbury, April 1630, and died in the spring of 1633. Agreeably to his own request, he was buried with the singing service for the dead, by the singing-men of Sarum, and his funeral took place on "the 3d of March 1632," o.s.* His brother was Lord Herbert of Cherbury, well known as one of the earliest and ablest of the deistical writers of England.

In the preface to his own "Poetical Fragments," Richard Baxter says, "I know that Cowley and others far exceed Herbert in wit, and accurate composure. But (as Seneca takes with me above all his contemporaries, because he speaketh things by words, feelingly and seriously, like a man that is past jest, so) Herbert speaks to God like one that really believeth a God, and whose business in this world is most with God. Heart-work and heaven-work make up his books." Had Herbert been less like Cowley, it would have fared better with his fame during these last generations; but within the last twenty years there has been a remarkable revival of his old renown. For this he is mainly indebted to that devotional feeling, at once cheerful and serious, which runs through all his compositions, and to those fine scintillations of fancy which brighten every page; and readers who are magnanimous enough to forgive in an old author the faults of his own period, will be richly rewarded in "holy Herbert's" gentle wisdom, and in the multitude of his quaint and happy memorabilia.†

Public Worship.

Restore to God His due in tithe and time;

A tithe purloin'd, cankers the whole estate.

* Willmott's Lives of Sacred Poets, p. 276.

Herbert's Works are now rendered of easy attainment, by the careful and almost immaculate reprints of the late Mr Pickering. Of "The Temple" there is a sumptuous edition, exquisitely illustrated by Birket Foster.

HERBERT.

Sundays observe: think when the bells do chime,
'Tis angels' music; therefore come not late.

God then deals blessings; if a king did so,
Who would not haste, nay give, to see the show?

Twice on the day His due is understood,

For all the week thy food so oft He gave thee.
Thy cheer is mended; bate not of the food,
Because 'tis better, and perhaps may save thee.
Thwart not th' Almighty God; O be not cross.
Fast when thou wilt; but then 'tis gain, not loss.

Though private prayer be a brave design,
Yet public hath more promises, more love;
And love's a weight to hearts, to eyes a sign.
We all are but cold suitors; let us move

Where it is warmest. Leave thy six and seven;
Pray with the most; for where most pray, is heav'n.

When once thy foot enters the church, be bare.
God is more there than thou: for thou art there
Only by His permission. Then beware,

And make thyself all reverence and fear.

Kneeling ne'er spoil'd silk stocking: quit thy state:
All equal are within the church's gate.

Resort to sermons, but to prayers most:
Praying's the end of preaching. O be drest;

Stay not for the other pin.

A joy for it worth worlds.

Why, thou hast lost

Thus hell doth jest

Away thy blessings, and extremely flout thee,

Thy clothes being fast, but thy soul loose about thee.

In time of service seal up both thine eyes,

And send them to thy heart; that, spying sin,
They may weep out the stains by them did rise.
Those doors being shut, all by the ear comes in.
Who marks in church-time others' symmetry,
Makes all their beauty his deformity.

77

Let vain or busy thoughts have there no part;
Bring not thy plough, thy plots, thy pleasure thither.
Christ purg'd His temple; so must thou thy heart.
All worldly thoughts are but thieves met together
To cozen thee. Look to thy action well,
For churches either are our heaven or hell.

Judge not the preacher, for he is thy judge:
If thou mislike him, thou conceiv'st him not.
God calleth preaching folly. Do not grudge
To pick out treasures from an earthen pot.
The worst speak something good: if all want seuse,
God takes a text, and preacheth patience.

He that gets patience, and the blessing which
Preachers conclude with, hath not lost his pains.
He that by being at church, escapes the ditch,
Which he might fall in by companions, gains.
He that loves God's abode, and to combine
With saints on earth, shall one day with them shine.

Jest not at preachers' language or expression:
How know'st thou but thy sins made him miscarry?
Then turn thy faults and his into confession:
God sent him whatsoe'er he be: O tarry,

And love him for his Master: his condition,
Though it be ill, makes him no ill physician.

None shall in hell such bitter pangs endure,
As those who mock at God's way of salvation.
Whom oil and balsams kill, what salve can cure?
They drink with greediness a full damnation.
The Jews refused thunder; and we folly.
Though God do hedge us in, yet who is holy?

The Holy Scriptures.

O book! infinite sweetness! let my heart
Suck every letter, and a honey gain,
Precious for any grief in any part,

To clear the breast, to mollify all pain.

HERBERT.

Thou art all health, health thriving till it make
A full eternity: thou art a mass

Of strange delights, where we may wish and take.
Ladies, look here; this is the thankful glass,

That mends the looker's eyes: this is the well
That washes what it shews. Who can endear
Thy praise too much? thou art heaven's lieger here,
Working against the states of death and hell.

Thou art joy's handsel: heaven lies flat in thee,
Subject to every mounter's bended knee.

Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine,
And the configurations of their glory!
Seeing not only how each verse doth shine,
But all the constellations of the story.

This verse marks that, and both do make a motion
Unto a third, that ten leaves off doth lie.

Then, as dispersed herbs do watch a potion,
These three make up some Christian's destiny.

Such are thy secrets, which my life makes good,
And comments on thee: for in every thing
Thy words do find me out, and parallels bring,
And in another make me understood.

Stars are poor books, and oftentimes do miss :
This book of stars lights to eternal bliss.

Church Music.

Sweetest of sweets, I thank you; when displeasure
Did through my body wound my mind,

You took me thence, and in your house of pleasure
A dainty lodging me assign'd.

Now I in you without a body move,
Rising and falling with your wings:

* Resident ambassador.

79

We both together sweetly live and love,

Yet say sometimes, "God help poor kings!"

Comfort, I'll die; for if you post from me,

Sure I shall do so, and much more:

But if I travel in your company,

You know the way to heaven's door.

Constancy.

Who is the honest man?

He that doth still, and strongly, good pursue,
To God, his neighbour, and himself most true:
Whom neither force nor fawning can
Unpin, or wrench from giving all their due:

Whose honesty is not

So loose or easy, that ruffling wind
Can blow away, or glitt'ring look it blind:
Who rides his sure and even trot,

While the world now rides by, now lags behind:

Who, when great trials come,

Nor seeks, nor shuns them; but doth calmly stay, Till he the thing and the example weigh:

All being brought into a sum,

What place or person calls for, he doth pay:

Whom none can work, or woo,

To use in anything a trick or sleight;
For above all things he abhors deceit ;

His words and works, and fashion too,
All of a piece, and all are clear and straight;

Who never melts or thaws

At close temptations: when the day is done,
His goodness sets not, but in dark can run:
The sun to others writeth laws,

And is their virtue-Virtue is his sun: