Forget his powerful preaching; and forget
I am his convert. Oh my frailty! let
My flesh be no more heard; it will obtrude
This lethargy: So should my gratitude,
My vows of gratitude should be so broke,
Which can no more be, than his virtues, spoke
By any but himself. For which cause I
Write no encomiums, but this elegy;
Which, as a free-will offering, I here give

Fame and the world; and, parting with it, grieve I want abilities fit to set forth

A monument as matchless as his worth.

APRIL 7, 1631.

IZ. WA.

THE LIFE

OF

SIR HENRY WOTTON,

LATE PROVOST OF EATON COLLEGE.

THE LIFE

OF

SIR HENRY WOTTON.

SIR HENRY WOTTON (whose life I now intend to write) was born in the year of our Redemption, 1568, in Bocton-Hall (commonly called Bocton, or Bougton-Place, or Palace) in the parish of Bocton Malherbe, in the fruitful county of Kent; Bocton-Hall being an ancient and goodly structure, beautifying and being beautified by the parish-church of Bocton Malherbe adjoining unto it, and both seated within a fair park of the Wottons, on the brow of such a hill as gives the advantage of a large prospect, and of equal pleasure to all beholders.

But this house and church are not remarkable for any thing so much as for that the memorable family of the Wottons have so long inhabited the one, and now lie buried in the other, as appears