TO HIS VERY WORTHY AND MUCH HONORED FRIEND,

MR. IZAAK WALTON,

UPON HIS EXCELLENT LIFE OF

MR. GEORGE HERBERT.

I.

HEAVEN'S youngest son, its Benjamin,
Divinity's next brother, sacred Poesy,
No longer shall a virgin reckoned be
(Whate'er with others 't is) by me,

A female muse, as were the Nine ;
But (full of vigor 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 fancied him a maid:
We, the vain brethren of the rhyming trade;
A female angel less would Urbin's* skill upbraid.

II.

Thus 'twas in heaven: this, Poesy's sex and age; And, when he thence to our lower world came down,

He chose a form more like his own,

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

And up he took his tuneful lyre;

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

Thou, Poesy, on him didst bestow

Thy choicest gift, an honor showed 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 triumph

ant crown.

Assist me thy great prophet's praise to sing,

David, the poet's and blessed 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 raised on high,

And in the starry volume of the sky

A lasting record find:

Be with his mighty psaltery joined ;

Which, taken long since up into the air,

And called 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 remained 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 joined,
Now here below, as they 're above;
These friends are in their old embraces twined;
And since by you the interview 's designed,
Too weak to part them death does prove;

For in this book they meet again, as in one heaven they love.

BENSTEAD, April 3.

SAM. WOODFORDE, D. D.

IN VITAM

GEORGII HERBERTI,

AB

ISAACO WALTONO SCRIPTAM.

O QUAM erubesco cum tuam vitam lego,
Herberte sancte, quamque me pudet meæ !
Ego talpa cæcus hic humi fodiens miser,
Aquila volatu 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 ;
Templumque tecum ubique circumfers tuum:
Domi-porta cœli, 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 ergo quos velit Dominus Papa;

* Sic Christum solens vocavit quoties ejus mentionem fecit.

Sibique sanctos, quos facit, servet suos
Colatque; 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 quam 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 ergo pensum; et interim scias velim,
Plutarchus alter sis licet 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 facile sciat,
Melior ubi ille, qui fuit ubique optimus?

JACOB. DUPORT, S. T. P.

Decanus Petr.