Whose passions not his masters are; Of public fame, or private breath; Who envies none that chance doth raise, This man is freed from servile bands This worthy and accomplished gentleman died in the year 1639; and is celebrated by Mr. Cowley, in an elegiac poem, beginning with these lines: What shall we say since silent now is He, Who when he spoke, all things would silent be; That only Fame shall speak of him in more. HOOKER, one of the greatest of English divines, is sufficiently known and celebrated; as a learned, able, and judicious writer, and defender of our church, in his Treatise of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity;-the occasion of writing which is at this day but little known; and, to say the truth, has never been related with the clearness and perspicuity necessary to render the controversy intelligible. In or about the year 1570 were published two small tracts-severally entitled, a first and second Admonition to the Parliament, containing, under the form of a remonstrance, a most virulent invective against the establishment and discipline of the church of England-which were answered by Dr. Whitgift, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, and defended by one Thomas Cartwright, the author of the second Admonition. But the order and progress of the controversy will best appear by the following state of it: Admonition, first and second. 1. Replie to the Answer, by T. C. [Thomas Cartwright.] 2. A Second Replie of Cartwright against Whitgift's Second [De- 3. The rest of the Second Reply. Whitgift being, it seems, weary of the dispute, remitted [committed] the future conduct of it to Hooker; who took it up with an examination of the two Admonitions, and continued it through the subsequent books of Cartwright, referring to the latter (a particular worthy to be known; for, without it, no one can tell who or what he is refuting) by the initials" T. C." and the adjunct "lib." above-mentioned. Here the matter rested, till the re-establishment of episcopacy and the liturgy (both which, it is well known, were abolished by the usurpers under Cromwell) revived the question of the lawfulness of both the one and the other, and gave rise to a controversy that is likely never to end. The praise of Hooker's book is, that it is written with great force of argument, and in a truly christian temper; that it contains a wonderful variety of learning and curious information; and for richness, correctness, and elegance of style, may be justly deemed the standard of perfection in the English language.i This excellent man, Hooker, was by a crafty woman betrayed into a marriage with her daughter; a homely ill-bred wench, and, when married, a shrew; who is more than suspected, at the instigation of his adversaries, to have destroyed the corrected copy of the three last books of his invaluable work, of which only the former five were published by himself. He was some time Master of the Temple; but his last preferment was to the rectory of Bishop's-Bourne, near Canterbury. In his passage from Gravesend to London, in the tilt-boat, he caught a cold; which brought on a sickness that put an end to his days, in 1600, when he had but just completed his forty-seventh year. HERBERT was of the noble family of that name; and a younger brother of the first of modern deists, the famous Edward lord (1) It is worth remarking upon this dispute, how the separatists have shifted their ground: at first, both parties seemed to be agreed, that without an ecclesiastical establishment of some kind or other, and a discipline in the church to be exercised over its ministers and members, the Christian religion could not subsist; and the only question was,-Which, of the two, had the best warrant from scripture, and the usage of the primitive Church; a government by bishops, priests, and deacons; or, by presbyters and lay elders, exercising jurisdiction in provincial and parochial synods and classes, over the several congregations within counties, or particular divisions of the kingdoms? But of this kind of church government we now hear nothing, except in the church of Scotland. All congregations are now independent of each other, and every congregation is styled a church: The father of this tenet, was Robinson, a pastor of an English church at Leyden; if not the original founder of the sect called Brownists, now extinct; and the great maintainers of it, were the divines most favoured by Cromwell in his usurpation, Goodwyn, Owen, Nye, Caryl, and others. The presbyterians, it seems, have approved it; and, giving up their scheme of church government, have joined the independents; and both have chosen to be comprehended under the general denomination of Dissenters. Vide Quick's Synodicon, Vol. II. 467. Calamy's Life of Baxter, Vol. I. 476. Preface to Dr. Grey's Hudibras. (2) So truly termed; as being the author of a treatise De Veritate prout distinguitur à Revelatione, à verisimili, à possibili, à falsâ. Touching which book, and the religious opinions of the author, I shall here take occasion to mention a fact that I find related in a collection of periodical papers, entitled the Weekly Miscellany, published in 1736, in two vols. 8vo. Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, being dangerously ill, and apprehensive that his end was approaching, sent for Dr. Jeremy Taylor, and signified a desire of receiving the sacrament at his hands: the doctor objected to him the tenets contained in his writings, particularly those wherein he asserts the sufficiency and absolute perfection of natural religion, with a view to shew that any extraordinary revelation is needless; and exhorted him to retract Herbert of Cherbury. He was a king's scholar at Westminster, and, after that, a fellow of Trinity-College, in Cambridge. In 1619, he was chosen university orator; and, while in that station, studied the modern languages, with a view to the office of secretary-of-state: but being of a constitution that indicated a consumption, and withal of an ascetic turn of mind, he gave up the thoughts of a court life, and entered into holy orders. His first preferment in the church was a prebend in the cathedral of Lincoln; and his next and last, the rectory of Bemerton, near Salisbury. About 1630, he married a near relation of the Earl of Danby; and died about 1635, aged forty-two, without issue. His elder brother, lord Herbert of Cherbury, mentions him in his own Life; and gives his character in the following words: "My brother George was so excellent a scholar, that he was made the public orator of the university in Cambridge: some of whose English works are extant, which, though they be rare in their kind, yet are far short of expressing those perfections he had in the Greek and Latin tongues, and all divine and human literature. His life was most holy and exemplary; insomuch that about Salisbury, where he lived beneficed for many years, he was little less than sainted: he was not exempt from passion and choler, being infirmities to which all our race is subject, -but, that one excepted, without reproach in his actions." During his residence in the university, he was greatly celebrated for his learning and parts. Bishop Hacket in his Life of the Lordkeeper Williams, page 175, mentions a strange circumstance of him; which, for the singular manner of relating it, take in his own words: "Mr. George Herbert, being prælector in the rhetoric school at Cambridge, anno 1618, passed by those fluent orators that domineered in the pulpits of ATHENS and ROME, and insisted to read upon an oration of King JAMES: which he analysed; shewed the concinnity of the parts; the propriety of the phrase; the height, and power of it to move affections; the style, UTTERLY UNKNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS, who could not conceive what kingly eloquence was; in respect of which, those noted Demagogi were but hirelings, and triobolary rhetoricians." A collection of religious poems, entitled the Temple, and a small tract, The Priest to the Temple; or, the Country Parson his Character, with his Remains, are all of his works that are generally known to be in print: but I have lately learned, that, not many months before his decease, Herbert translated Cornaro's book Of temperance and long life; and that the same is to be found printed in 12mo. Cambridge, 1639; together with a translation, by another hand, of the Hygiasticon of Leonard Lessius. Among Herbert's Remains is a collection of foreign proverbs translated into English, well worthy of a place, in some future edition, with those of Ray. Lord Bacon dedicated to them; but his lordship refusing, the doctor declared that he could not administer so holy and solemn a right to an unbeliever. The doctor upon this left him; and, conceiving hopes that his lordship's sickness was not mortal, he wrote that discourse-proving that the religion of Jesus Christ is from God, which is printed in his Ductor Dubitantium, and has lately been re-published by the truly reverend and learned Dr. Hurd, now [1784] bishop of Worcester.. him a Translation of certain of the Psalms into English metre. Vide Lord Bacon's Works, 4to. Vol. III. page 163. In this Life, occasion is taken by the author to introduce an Account of an intimate friend of Herbert, Mr. Nicholas Farrar, and of a religious establishment in his house, little less than monastic: from which, and some scattered memoirs concerning it, the following account is compiled. This singularly eminent person was the son of a wealthy East-India merchant, and was born in London, in the year 1591. At the age of six years, for the signs of a pious disposition observed in him, he was, called St. Nicholas. 1 From school he was, in his thirteenth year, sent to Cambridge; and after some time spent there, was elected a fellow of Clare-Hall. About the age of twenty-six, he betook himself to travel; and, visiting France, Italy, Spain, and the Low Countries, obtained a perfect knowledge of all the languages spoken in the western parts of Christendom; as also of the principles and reasons of religion, and manner of worship therein. In these his travels, he resisted the persuasions of many who tempted him to join in communion with the church of Rome; and remained stedfast in his obedience to the church of England. Upon his return home, he, by the death of his father, became enabled to buy land at Little Gidding, near Huntingdon, to the value of 5007, a-year;2 where was a manor-house, and a hall, to which the parish-church or chapel adjoined: here he settled. And his father having been intimate with Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir Francis Drake, and other famous navigators, he was, in 1624, by means of some lords in the Virginia company, chosen a member of the house of commons; in which capacity he distinguished himself by his eloquence and activity: but having, in a short trial of a public life, experienced the folly and vanity of worldly pursuits, he took a resolution to abandon them: and, first, he made suit to his diocesan, that his mother and he might be permitted to restore the titles of the rectory which had been impropriated; and accordingly the church was endowed therewith; which was no sooner done, than he, with the rest of the family, entered into a course of mortification, devotion, and charity. The Society consisted of himself, a very aged mother, four nieces, and other kindred; and servants: and amounted in number to about thirty,-exclusive of the neighbouring clergy, who frequently resorted thither, and for a week together would join with, and assist, and ease them in their watchings and devotions. And this was their regimen: The season of Lent, the Ember weeks, Fridays, and the Vigils of Saints, they observed strictly; exercising abstinence and prayer. Mr. Farrar himself, who had been admitted to deacon's orders, took upon him to be pastor of this little flock; and accordingly, (1) St. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra in Lycia, and famous for his early piety, which, as the Romish legendaries tell us, he manifested, by forbearing to suck on Wednesdays and Fridays. (2) This is a mistake of Walton's, and is corrected in a Collection of Papers relating to the PROTESTANT NUNNERY of Little Gidding, at the end of Caii Vindicia, edit. Hearne. The mother-in her widowhood, about the year 1625, and not the son-made the purchase. Among these papers, are sundry curious conversations of the young women. at ten and four every day, read Common Prayer in the church, which for the purpose he had both repaired and adorned: besides which, he, at the hour of six in the morning, constantly read mattins, either in the church or an oratory in their common dwelling, the manor-house. These were but the ordinary exercises of devotion. The account of their severities in watching is to come; for we are told that, after these early prayers were ended, many of the family were accustomed to spend some hours in singing hymns or anthems, sometimes in church, and often to an organ in the oratory. Farther, those that slept were oftentimes, by the ringing of a watch-bell in the night, summoned to the church or oratory; or, in extreme cold nights, to a parlour in the house that had a fire in it; where they betook themselves to prayers and lauding God, and reading those psalms that had not been read in the day,-for, seems, their rule required, that among them the whole psalter should be gone through once in every twenty-four hours: and when any grew faint, the bell was rung, sometimes after midnight,-and, at the call thereof, the weary were relieved by others, who continued this exercise until morning. And this course of piety, accompanied with great liberality to the poor, was maintained till the death of Mr. Farrar, in 1639. The recreations of this society were suited to the different sexes : for the males,--running, vaulting, and shooting at butts with the long bow; for the females, walking, gardening, embroidery, and other needle-works: and for both,-music, vocal and instrumental; reading Voyages, Travels, and Descriptions of Countries, Histories, and the Book of Martyrs. Moreover, they had attained to great proficiency in the art of binding and gilding Books; and with singular ingenuity and industry, compiled a kind of Harmony of sundry parts of the holy scriptures, by cutting out from different copies the parallel passages, pasting them in their order on blank paper, and afterwards binding them with suitable cuts in a volume. 1 And that their bene (1) They made three such books: one they presented to king Charles the First, another to Charles the Second,-one of which is now in the library of St. John's College, Oxford; a third was in the custody of the family in 1740. This is the account which the authors of the Supplement to the Biographia Britannica, wherever they got it, give of these books [art. MAPLETOFT]; but one, more accurate, is to be found at the end of Hearne's Caii Vindicia, which makes them seven in number: the third in order, was by the compilers called "The whole law of God;" but Hearne, in loc. cit, has given the title in terms that more fully declare its contents. The book consists of sundry chapters of the Pentateuch, and other parts of the Bible of the last translation, pasted down on leaves equal in size to the largest Atlas; together with such commentaries thereon as they could find in the printed works of Mr. Farrar's friend, Dr. Thomas Jackson, and other expositors to these were added-and pasted in the margin, from a small impression of the New Testament-all such passages in St. Paul's Epistles as tend to the explanation of the law, and particularly of the types: and for the better illustration of the whole, were inserted cuts-taken out of printed books, and otherwise collected, referring to the subject matter of the book-amounting in number to upwards of twelve hundred. This stupendous work was, in the month of March, 1776, purchased by the Rev, Mr. Bourdillon, minister of the French protestant church in Spitalfields, at a sale of the library of the Rev. Mr. De Missy; and is now, January, 1784, in his possession. At the same auction, was also sold to a bookseller, |