report says that the old man went home and died shortly afterwards. The register of his burial is as follows::"1648.

"Sampson Horton was buried the 9th of May 1648, who had bin clarke to this church, by his own relation, threescore years."

BEMERTON CHURCH, of which George Herbert was rector from 1630 to 1632, is about a mile from Salisbury, and is a chapel of ease to Fugglestone, or Fulstone, about two miles distant. The church, which is dedicated to St. An

drew, is very small, being only forty-four feet five inches long, and fourteen feet wide. It has two Gothic windows, one at the west end, of the decorated style; the other, at the south, belonging to the time of the transition to the perpendicular style. The east end appears to have been rebuilt, and it is supposed that the window now there, is in the place of a former one of an older style. The bell is contained in a low wooden turret, which is scarcely higher than the roof. There is an old and rude baptismal font. There is no memorial-stone to George Herbert; but in the parish-register is the following notice :

"1632. March 3. o. s.

"Mr. George Herbert, parson of Fugglestone and Bemerton, was buried at the north side of the altar, but no monument.'

On the south side of the church, near the altar, is a marble tablet against the wall, to the memory of Mr. John Norris, who was rector of Bemerton from 1691 to 1711, and was buried at Bemerton. The parsonage is close to the church, and some traces of the old building may be seen in the thick chimneys and old-fashioned windows. The side of the house looking to the garden has suffered least in appearance; the garden itself is very pleasantly situated, and was much added to by Archdeacon Coxe; and there is an old decayed medlar-tree, which perhaps existed in the days of Mr. Herbert. The garden is washed by the stream Wily, from the brink of which is a good view of Salisbury cathedral.

George Herbert was inducted to Bemerton April 26th,

1630, in the thirty-sixth year of his age. He was presented to it by the king, at the request of the Earl of Pembroke, patron of the living, when he was in deacon's orders; but he was so sensible of the great responsibility of “the cure of so many souls," that he took a month's time for consideration, with prayer and fasting, before he would accept it; to which he was at last persuaded by Dr. Laud, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. When Mr. Herbert was shut into Bemerton church, and left alone to toll the bell, according to custom, he stayed so much longer than usual, that his friend Mr. Woodnot looked in at the church-window and saw him lie prostrate on the ground before the altar; at which time, as he afterwards told Mr. Woodnot, he made some resolutions for his future life. The first object of Mr. Herbert was to get the parish church repaired, and to beautify the chapel, which he did at his own expense. He then proceeded to rebuild the greatest part of the parsonage-house, which was fallen down or decayed; and having done this, he had these verses engraved over the chimney in the hall:

To my Successor.

"If thou chance for to find

A new house to thy mind,

And built without thy cost,

Be good to the poor,

As God gives thee store,

And then my labour's not lost."

He was ordained priest by Dr. Humphrey Henchman, afterwards Bishop of London, who, "within less than three

years, lent his shoulder to carry his dear friend to his grave." While at Bemerton, Mr. Herbert wrote "The Country Parson;" "a book," says Walton, "full of plain, prudent, and useful rules"--which was published after his death. The texts of Mr. Herbert's sermons were constantly taken from the gospel for the day; and he followed as much as possible the teaching of the Church in instructing his parishioners, explaining the services of the Prayerbook, and the reasons for the appointment of the festivals and fasts of the Church; being also constant in catechising on every Sunday, in the afternoon, for half-an-hour, after the second lesson. He had service every day in his chapel at ten and four o'clock, when "he lifted up pure and charitable hands to God in the midst of the congregation," consisting of his wife and family, most of his parishioners, and many of the gentlemen of the neighbourhood; and some of the poorest people were known to leave their plough, when Mr. Herbert's saints' bell rang, to join him in prayer, and then return back to their work. But these public prayers never made him neglect his private devotions, or those which he performed with his family, which were always a set form, and concluded with the collect appointed for the day or week. Mr. Herbert's chief recreation was music, in which he was very learned, and composed many hymns and anthems to his lute; and twice every week he attended the cathedral-service at Salisbury (while his curate, Mr. Bostock, performed the duty at Bemerton chapel), and would often say, that his “time spent in prayer and cathedral music elevated his soul, and was his heaven upon earth." After the service he generally