THE LIFE

OF

MR. GEORGE HERBERT.

TO HIS VERY WORTHY AND MUCH HONORED FRIEND,

MR. IZAAK WALTON,

UPON HIS EXCELLENT LIFE OF

MR. GEORGE HERBERT.

I.

HEAVEN'S youngest son, its Benjamin,
Divinity's next brother, sacred Poesy,
No longer shall a virgin reckoned be
(Whate'er with others 't is) by me,

A female muse, as were the Nine ;
But (full of vigor masculine)

An essence male, with angels his companions, shine.
With angels first the heavenly youth was bred,
And, when a child, instructed them to sing
The praises of th' Immortal King

Who Lucifer in triumph led:

For, as in chains the monster sank to hell,

And tumbling headlong down the precipice fell By him first taught, "How art thou fallen, thou morning star?" they said,

Too fondly then, we have fancied him a maid:
We, the vain brethren of the rhyming trade;
A female angel less would Urbin's* skill upbraid.

II.

Thus 't was in heaven: this, Poesy's sex and age; And, when he thence to our lower world came down,

He chose a form more like his own,

And Jesse's youngest son inspired with holy rage; The sprightly shepherd felt unusual fire,

And up he took his tuneful lyre;

He took it up, and struck 't, and his own soft touches did admire.

Thou, Poesy, on him didst bestow

Thy choicest gift, an honor showed before to none; And to prepare his way to th' Hebrew throne, Gav'st him thy empire and dominion;

The happy land of verse, where flow Rivers of milk, and woods of laurel grow; Wherewith thou didst adorn his brow,

And mad'st his first, more flourishing, and triumph

ant crown.

Assist me thy great prophet's praise to sing,

David, the poet's and blessed Israel's king:

And with the dancing echo, let the mountains ring!

Then, on the wings of some auspicious wind,

Let his great name from earth be raised on high, And in the starry volume of the sky

A lasting record find:

Be with his mighty psaltery joined;

Which, taken long since up into the air,

And called the Harp, makes a bright constellation

there.

III.

Worthy it was to be translated hence,

And there, in view of all, exalted hang :
To which so oft the princely prophet sang,
And mystic oracles did dispense.
Though, had it still remained below,
More wonders of it we had seen,

How great the mighty Herbert's skill had been:
Herbert, who could so much without it do;
Herbert, who did its chords distinctly know;
More perfectly than any child of verse below.
O had we known him half so well!

But then, my friend, there had been left for you
Nothing so fair, and worthy praise to do;
Who so exactly all his story tell,

That, though he did not want his bays,
Nor all the monuments virtue can raise,
Your hand he did, to eternize his praise.
Herbert and Donne again are joined,
Now here below, as they 're above;
These friends are in their old embraces twined;
And since by you the interview 's designed,
Too weak to part them death does prove;

For in this book they meet again, as in one heaven they love.

BENSTEAD, April 3.

SAM. WOODFORDE, D. D.