with me above all his contemporaries, because he speaketh things by words, feelingly and seriously, like a man that is past jest, so) Herbert speaks to God like one that really believeth a God, and whose business in this world is most with God. Heart-work and Heaven-work make up his books." 666 Walton states that Herbert, on his death-bed, delivered the Temple to Mr. Edmond Duncon, his executor, with the following injunction: Sir, I pray deliver this little book to my dear brother Ferrar, and tell him, he shall find in it a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my master, in whose service I have now found perfect freedom; desire him to read it, and then if he can think it may turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul, let it be made public; if not, let him burn it, for I and it are less than the least of God's mercies.' Thus meanly did this humble man think of this excellent book, which now bears the name of THE TEMPLE, or Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations; of which Mr. Ferrar would say, there was the picture of a Divine Soul in every page; and that the whole book was such a harmony of holy passions, as would enrich the world with pleasure and piety. And it appears to have done so, for there have been ten thousand of them sold since the first impression.' ”米 * Izaak Walton published his life of Herbert in 1670. In the fourth edition, 1674, Walton says, that there have been more than twenty thousand of them sold since the first impression.' The Temple was first printed at Cambridge, 1633; the second edition the same year; third edition in 1634; fourth edit. 1635; fifth edit. 1638; sixth edit. 1641; seventh edit. 1656; eighth edit. 1660; ninth edit. 1667; tenth edit. 1674; eleventh edit. 1678; twelfth edit. 1703; thirteenth In the life of Dr. Donne, Walton says:"And in this enumeration of his friends, though many must be omitted; yet that man of primitive piety, Mr. George Herbert, may not: I mean that George Herbert, who was the author of The Temple, or Sacred Poems and Ejaculations,' a book, in which, by declaring his own spiritual conflicts, he hath comforted and raised many a dejected and discomposed soul, and charmed them into sweet and quiet thoughts; a book, by the frequent reading whereof, and the assistance of that spirit that seemed to inspire the author, the reader may attain habits of peace and piety, and all the gifts of the Holy Ghost and Heaven, and may by still reading still keep those sacred fires burning upon the altar of so pure a heart, as shall free it from the anxieties of the world, and keep it fixed upon things that are above. Betwixt this George Herbert and Dr. Donne there was a long and dear friendship, made up by such a sympathy of inclinations, that they coveted and joyed to be in each other's company; and this edit. 1709; fourteenth edit. Bristol, 1799; fifteenth edit. Lond. 1805. In the Bodleian Library is a MS. formerly belonging to Abp. Sancroft, and then to Bp. Tanner, entitled, "The original of Mr. George Herbert's Temple, as it was at first Licensed for the Presse. W. Sancroft;" beautifully written in folio, the punctuation altered by Sancroft. Dr. Bliss says, that the poems are the same with those ed. 1656, on a slight collation, there does not appear to be any various readings, and but one transposition. On the title is the poetical dedication, and at the bottom, original autographs.B. Lany Procan. Tho. Bainbrigg. M. Wren. William Beale. Tho. Freman. There is also in the same library the following in MS. "Mr. Herbert's Temple and Church Militant, explained and improved by a discourse upon each poem, critical and practical, by Geo. Ryley, 1715." happy friendship was still maintained by many sa cred endearments." Of the Latin poems, three are appended to the or ginal edition of his Remains, two are found in th Lacrymæ Cantabrigienses and Epicedium Canta brigiense, and three more are given from autograpl in the hands of the publisher. Some others were fir printed by Dr. Ja. Duport, Professor of Greek in th University of Cambridge, at the end of a small v lume,* containing other similar productions. The are introduced with this notice," Epigrammata que dam pro disciplina Ecclesiæ nostræ Apologetica, al quot abhinc annis conscripta a Geo. Herberto, quali et quanto viro et poeta, quam pio, quam i genioso! de quo præstat omnino tacere quam pau dicere; præsertim cum eximiam ejus pietatem a mirabilis ingenii sale conditam loquetur Templu loquetur Tempus, loquetur Æternitas. Hæc igit carmina, polita ad modum et elegantia, rov nar γνήσια τέκνα, et Auctoris genium plane redolent quasi aurea coronidis (χρυσέην κορώνην Hom.) prioribus attexere visum est.” * Ecclesiastes Solomonis, Auctore Joan. Viviano, C ticum Solomonis: necnon Epigrammata Sacra per Ja. I portum. Accedunt Georgii Herberti Musæ Responsor &c. 1662. In Duport's Musæ Subsecivæ, &c. Camb. 16 8vo. are Latin verses addressed to Herbert; also in a volu of Latin Poems by Will. Dillingham, D.D. of Camb. 8 1678, are translations of five of Herbert's, viz. The Chu Porch, The Sacrifice, Providence, Charms and Knots, Man's Medley. In Crashaw's Steps to the Temple, 16 will be found verses "On Mr. George Herbert's bo entitled the Temple or Sacred Poems, sent to a Ger woman:" printed also at the end of Walton's Life. An the Poems of Daniel Baker, M. A. 1697, are verses Mr. George Herbert's Poems, called the Temple." In 1 Forde's Panegyrick on K. Charles' return, 29th May, 10 are some verses entitled, " with Herbert's Poeme." 66 The works of Herbert are not extensive: it has therefore been thought advisable to insert in this volume every specimen which remains of him as a poet; though the reader of the present day will be little disposed to agree in the above unqualified eulogy on his Latin compositions. The Synagogue, a collection of poems generally appended to the Temple, has been retained in this edition. They were first printed A.D. 1640, and have been, with much probability, attributed to the Rev. Christopher Harvey, M. A.* By the kindness of the Rev. Dr. Bliss, Registrar of the University of Oxford, the publisher is enabled to add a Poem, ascribed to Herbert, entitled "a Paradox, that the sicke are in a better case then the whole ;" and for some particulars of C. Harvey. The Notes by the late S. T. Coleridge, printed at the end of this volume, occur in a copy of the Temple which formerly belonged to him, and with whom it was a great favorite. He appears to have contemplated editing a selection, with a few slight alterations of the verse. The Greek and Latin Poems entitled Parentalia, which before, on account of their having been discovered too late for insertion, were attached to the Remains, have, in this second edition, been inserted in their proper places: they were found at the end of a Sermon by Dr. Donne, on the death of Lady Danvers, the mother of G. Herbert. In the old copies all the Greek and Latin poems are very incorrectly printed; in the present edition they are greatly amended, by the revision of the Rev. See the advertisement before the Synagogue in this edition. From a MS. collection of Poems in the Bodleian Library, chiefly by Cambridge men, and written from 1647 to 1658. b J. Allen Giles, late fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, whose critical acumen in the detection of a false reading is not less remarkable than the facility with which he discovers the true one. Another volume similar to the present, entitled Remains, contains the Priest to the Temple, Proverbs, Letters, and other prose writings of Herbert, with his life by Walton and that by Barnabas Oley ; and the two volumes together comprise the entire works of George Herbert now first collected. Chancery Lane, |