TO HIS VERY WORTHY AND MUCH HONOURED FRIEND

MR. IZAAK WALTON,

UPON HIS EXCELLENT

LIFE OF MR. GEORGE HERBERT.

I.

HEAV'NS
EAV'NS youngest son, its Benjamin,
Divinity's next brother, sacred Poesie,
No longer shall a virgin reckoned be
(What ere with others 'tis) by me,

A female muse, as were the nine;
But (full of vigour 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 fancy'd him a maid:

We, the vain brethren of the rhyming trade;

A female angel less would Urbin's skill upbraid.

• Raphael Urbin, the famous painter.

Thus 'twas in heaven: this, Poesy's sex and age;
And, when he thence t'our lower world came down,
He chose a form more like his own,

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

And up he took his tuneful lyre;

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

Thou, Poesy, on him didst bestow

Thy choicest gift, a honour shew'd 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 triumphant

crown.

Assist me thy great prophet's praise to sing,

David, the poet's, and bless'd 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 rais'd on high,
And in the starry volume of the sky,

A lasting record find:

Be with his mighty psaltery join'd;

Which, taken long since up into the air,

And call'd 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 remain'd 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 join'd,
Now here below, as they're above;

These friends are in their old embraces twin'd;
And since by you the interview's design'd,
Too weak to part them death does prove;

For in this book they meet again, as in one heav'n they

love.

SAM. WOODFORDE, D. D.

BENSTEAD,

April 3.

B 3

IN VITAM

GEORGII HERBERTI,

AB

ISAACO WALTONO SCRIPTAM.

O Quàm erubesco eùm tuam vitam lego,
Herberte Sancte, quámque me pudet meæ !
Ego talpa cæcus hîc humi fodiens miser,
Aquila volata tu petens nubes tuo,
Ego Choicum vas terreas fæces olens,

Tu (sola namque Urania tibi ex musis placet)
Nil tale spiras; sed sapis cœlum et Deum,
Omnique vitæ, libri et omni, lineâ ;
Templúmque tecum ubique circumfers tuum:
Domi-porta coli, cui domus propria, optima:
Ubi Rex, ibi Roma, Imperii sedes; ubi

Tu sancte vates, templum ibi, et cœlum, et Deus.
Tu quale nobis intuendum clericis

Speculum Sacerdotale, tu qualem piis

Pastoris ideam et libro et vitâ tuâ

Tu quale Sanctitatis elementis bonæ,

Morumque nobis tradis exemplum ac typum !
Typum, Magistro nempe proximum Tuo,

Exemplar illud grande qui solus fuit.
Canonizet ergò quos velit Dominus Papa;

Sic Christum solens vocavit quoties ejus mentionem fecit.

Sibique sanctos, quos facit, servit suos
Colátque; sancte Herberte, tu Sanctus meus ;
Oraque pro me, dicerem, si fas, tibi.

Sed hos honores par nec est sanctis dari;
Velis nec ipse; recolo te, sed non colo.
Talis legenda est vita Sancti, concio
Ad promovendum quàm potens et efficax!
Per talia exempla est breve ad cœlos iter.
Waltone, macte, perge vitas scribere,
Et penicillo, quo vales, insigni adhuc
Sanctorum imagines coloribus suis
Plures repræsentare; quod tu dum facis
Vitamque et illis et tibi das posthumam,
Lectoris æternæque vitæ consulis.

Urge ergò pensum; et interim scias velim,
Plutarchus alter sis licèt Biographus,
Herberto, Amice, vix Parallelum dabis.
Liceat Libro addere hanc coronidem tuo;
Vir, an Poeta, Orator an melior fuit,
Meliorne amicus, sponsus, an Pastor Gregis,
Herbertus, incertum; et quis hoc facilè sciat,
Melior ubi ille, qui fuit ubique optimus.

JACOB DUPORT, S. T. P.

Decanus Petr.

B4