1

GEORGE HERBERT,

Third brother of the celebrated Lord Herbert of Cherbury, was born in 1593. Nature seems to have intended him for a knight errant, but disappointed ambition made him a saint. Walton tells us that no less than 10,000 copies of his poems were sold; a circumstance which proves the religious zeal, much more than the good taste, of his contemporaries.

There is less reason to wonder at the popularity of his "Priest to the Temple, or the Country Parson, his Cha66 racter, and Rule of Holy Life," 1652, 12mo. in prose, a work of unpretending practical utility, exhibiting the duties and employments of a character never to be mentioned without respect, that of a conscientious clergyman residing in his parish.

He was fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and orator of the University; and (because not desiring, says Fuller) had no higher preferment than the benefice of Bemerton, near Salisbury, and the prebend of Leighton, in the cathedral of Lincoln; at the former of which he built a parson age, and at the latter a church. He died in 1632-3.

LIFE.

I

MADE a posy, while the day ran by: Here will I smell my remnant out, and tie

My life within this band.

But time did beckon to the flowers, and they
By noon most cunningly did steal away,

And wither'd in my hand.

My hand was next to them, and then my heart;
I took, without more thinking, in good part
Time's gentle admonition;
Who did so sweetly death's sad taste convey,
Making my mind to smell my fatal day,

Yet sugaring the suspicion.

Farewell, dear flowers! sweetly your time ye spent, Fit, while ye liv'd, for smell and ornament,

And after death for cures.

I follow straight, without complaints or grief, my scent be good, I care not if

Since if

It be as short as yours.

IZAAC WALTON.

This author was born at Stafford in 1593. He was by trade a sempster, in Chancery-lane, but in 1643 quitted London, finding it dangerous to remain there any longer, and lived sometimes at his native place, though chiefly in the families of eminent clergymen, " of whom," says Wood, "he was much beloved." He died at Winchester in 1683, at the house of his son-in-law Dr William Hawkins, one of the prebendaries. He is justly celebrated for his biographical pieces, and has described the characters of Sir H. Wotton, Bishop Sanderson, Donne, Hooker, and George Herbert, with a degree of minuteness which he alone could render interesting. But he is principally known by his "Complete Angler;" a truly original treatise on the theory of an art, from which the invincible patience of some men is able to extract amusement.

The Angler's Wish.

I IN these flowery meads would be;
These crystal streams should solace me;
To whose harmonious bubbling noise
I with my angle would rejoice,

Sit here, and see the turtle-dove

Court his chaste mate to acts of love.

Or on that bank feel the west wind
Breathe health and plenty, please my mind
To see sweet dew-drops kiss these flowers,
And then wash'd off by April-showers;
Here hear my Kenna sing a song,
There see a blackbird feed her young,

Or a leverock build her nest;
Here give my weary spirits rest,

And raise my low-pitch'd thoughts above
Earth, or what poor mortals love:

Thus free from law-suits, and the noise
Of princes' courts, I would rejoice.

Or with my Bryan, and a book,
Loiter long days near Shawford-brook :
There sit by him and eat my meat,
There see the sun both rise and set;
There bid good morning to next day,
There meditate my time away,

And angle on, and beg to have
A quiet passage to a welcome grave.

'Laverock, lark.

2 Supposed to be the name of a favourite dog.

JAMES SHIRLEY

Was born in London, about 1594, educated at Merchant Taylor's school, entered at St John's College, Oxford, and afterwards, having taken no degree, removed to Catharine-Hall, Cambridge (Vid. Bancroft's Epigrams, 4to. 1639, B. 1. Ep. 13). He successively became an English divine, a Popish school-master, and a deservedly celebrated writer of plays, (of which he published 39) from 1629 to 1660. He was patronized by William Duke of Newcastle (whom he assisted, according to Wood, in the composition of his plays, as well as Ogilby by notes for his translations), and followed this his patron's fortunes in the wars, till the decline of the Royal cause, when he retired obscurely to London. Here he was countenanced by his learned friend T. Stanley, Esq., and, during the suppression of the theatres, followed his old trade of school-teaching, in which he educated many eminent men. He died in 1666, immediately after the great fire of London, and was interred in the same grave with his second wife, who died the same day, and was supposed, as well as Shirley, to have owed her death to the fright occasioned by that calamity. Besides his plays he published a volume of poems, 1646, 12mo.

Upon his Mistress sad.

MELANCHOLY, hence! and get

Some piece of earth to be thy seat.