Lord Herbert of Cherbury

“ In the latter year he served as a volunteer with the English forces at the siege of Juliers, and there engaged in a notable quarrel with Edward, lord Herbert of Cherbury (Herbert, Autobiography, ed. 1886, pp. 73-7, and App.) ”

“ Lord Herbert of Cherbury tells of a splenetic friend of his, whose face would flush almost purple at such moments, but who never broke his self-imposed silence, and therefore never spoke a word which he had to regret. A determined intention to control oneself, and steady practice, will always give such self-mastery. ”

“ The only writer in our own literature who, at a long interval, recalls this brilliant apparition, is Lord Herbert of Cherbury. In him, too, we find the singular combination of the fire-eating duellist with the man of high intellectual power. Horace Walpole, who procured the publication of his autobiography, says that the reader will be astonished to find that the 'history of Don Quixote was the life of Plato.' Herbert, it is true, was not quite253 a Plato nor a Quixote. ”

“ Informing myself of some standers by who he was, I was told he was one of the gallantest men in the world, as having killed eight or nine men in single fight; and that, for this reason, the ladies made so much of him; it being the manner of all French women to cherish gallant men, as thinking they could not make so much of any one else, with the safety of their honour."—Life of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, p. ”

“ Hist. MSS. Comm. Rep. x. app. iv., 378; Lord Herbert de Cherbury, by Charles de Rémusat (1874) ; Eduard, Lord Herbert von Cherbury, by C. Güttler (a criticism of his philosophy; 1897) ; Collections Historical and Archaeological relating to Montgomeryshire, vols. vii., xi., xx.; R. Warner’s Epistolary Curiosities, i. ser.; Reid’s works, edited by Sir William Hamilton; National Review, xxxv. 661 (Leslie Stephen) ; Locke’s Essay on Human Understanding; Wood, Ath. Oxon. (Bliss) , iii. 239; Gentleman’s Magazine (1816) , i. 201 (print of remains of his birthplace) ; Lord Herbert’s Poems, ed. ”

“ His only child, Henry, second Lord Herbert of Cherbury (d. 1738) , was educated at Westminster School; but on 19 Sept. 1696 the head-master, Thomas Knipe, wrote to his father complaining of his ‘insufferable negligence’ and constant ‘blubbering.’ In 1699 Abel Boyer [q. v.] was his tutor, and lamented his ‘averseness to books.’ His father was anxious to arrange for him a wealthy marriage ”

“ Which you doe use to make; that you know man.
This makes it credible; you have dwelt upon
All worthy bookes, and now are such an one.
Actions are authors, and of those in you
50Your friends finde every day a mart of new.
To Sr Edward &c. 1633, D, H49, Lec, O'F: A Letter to Sr Edward Herbert (or Harbert) . B, Cy (which adds Incerti Authoris) , S96: To Sir E. H. A18, N, TC: no title, P: Elegia Vicesima Tertia. S: To Sr Edward Herbert, now (since 1669) Lord Herbert of Cherbury, being at the siege of Iulyers. ”

“ Where’s the Lord Herbert? is he hurt or slain?
SHERIFF.
He’s here, my Lord.
SECOND JUDGE.
How fares his Lordship, friends?
GOUGH.
Mortally wounded, speechless; he cannot live.
FIRST JUDGE.
Convey him hence; let not his wounds take air,
And get him dressed with expedition.
[Ex. Herbert & Gough.]
Master Mayor of Hereford, Master Shrieve o’ the shire,
Commit Lord Powesse to safe custody,
To answer the disturbance of the peace,
Lord Herbert’s peril, and his high contempt
Of us, and you the King’s commissioners. ”

“ A friend introduced him to the writings of Herbert, that very Herbert whom he had been taught to look upon with so much terror and odium. Their perusal operated a complete revolution of his mind; and, in little more than a year from his flight from Cherbury, he had become an enthusiastic votary of the great master, for his violent abuse of whom he had been banished from those happy bowers. The courage, the boldness, the eloquence, the imagination, the strange and romantic career of Herbert, carried the spirit of Cadurcis captive. ”

“ His Lordship adds:—“which I confess I have found too true, my services having been more [Pg 68] retarded by those who called themselves the King’s friends, than obstructed by his enemies.”
It is certain that Lord Herbert acquired no military celebrity. He was bold, determined, and energetic when acting on the defensive, but he was not remarkable for any adventurous or brilliant aggressive successes. His troops were formidable in number, well paid, and abundantly supplied with every requisite ”

“ His reading was vast, especially in theology, which has been ridiculously ascribed by Lord Herbert to his father's intention of educating him for the Archbishopric of Canterbury; as if the scientific mastery of such a subject could have been acquired by a boy of twelve years of age, for he was no more when he became Prince of Wales. He must have studied theology with the full maturity of his intellect ”

“ Up to forty years of age, Lord Herbert had lived as became a gentleman of ancient nobility, great expectations, and in the enjoyment of the most friendly intercourse with his sovereign. Well educated, travelled, accustomed to courtly life, devoted to learned studies and given to scientific pursuits, he has been hitherto only presented to us, in his domestic relations, as a dutiful son, a husband and father, having few engagements to withdraw him from the management of his estates, or distract him from the enjoyment of country sports and social intercourse. ”

“ Meiler Magrath, archbishop of Cashel, wrote of Herbert as 'one able and willing to do good,' and of his 'articles' for his Kerry tenants as 'godly, politic, and wise,' adding that six men like him would win the people's hearts better than six thousand soldiers (ib. p. 133) . Adam Loftus, the lord chancellor, and Sir Warham St. Leger wrote in similar terms, and emphasised Herbert's success as a protestant missionary (cf. Lansd. MS. lviii. 81; Strype, Annals, iii. ii. 74—5: Cal. State Papers, Irish, 1588-92, pp. 119. 126) . In September 1589 Herbert was at his house at Tintern. He died at St. ”

“ Lord Cherbury felt more reconciled than he had been before to the diminution of his fortune; he yet retained sufficient for the comforts, and many of the elegancies of life. The splendor he lost was insignificant in his eyes; his present situation proved happiness could be enjoyed without it, and he knew it was equally disregarded by Amanda. He asked himself,
“———What was the world to them— Its pomps, its pleasures, and its nonsense all, Who in each other clasp, whatever fair High fancy forms, or lavish hearts can wish?” ”

“ In 1632 he was appointed a member of the council of war. He attended the king at York in 1639, and in May 1642 was imprisoned by the parliament for urging the addition of the words “without cause” to the resolution that the king violated his oath by making war on parliament. ”

“ Had known him any time the last ten years, as serf, both to Sir Philip de Morville, and to his own lord, Sir Foulke d'Oilly. Had seen him last on the night of September the 12th, in the castle court at Waltheofstow; but had tracked him thence with bloodhounds to the verge of Borland Forest; had followed him by hue and cry across the moors to the sands of Morecambe Bay; had seen the fugitive crossing the bay; had seen him land on the Westmoreland shore, nor ever had lost the track of him, until he saw him taken in the cottage at Kentmere. The prisoner at the bar is the man. ”

“ Provis, regarding him with a fixed attention, was slowly putting up his jack-knife, and groping in another pocket for something else.
"Herbert, my dear friend," said I, shutting the double doors, while Herbert stood staring and wondering, "something very strange has happened. This is—a visitor of mine."
"It's all right, dear boy!" said Provis coming forward, with his little clasped black book, and then addressing himself to Herbert. "Take it in your right hand. Lord strike you dead on the spot, if ever you split in any way sumever! Kiss it!"
"Do so, as he wishes it," I said to Herbert. ”

“ Somehow, the authorities always interpose to prevent his fighting. The vanity of Lord Herbert is of a more reflective and priggish type than that of Cellini. Instead of taking himself for granted, with the superlative audacity of his predecessor, he contemplates his own perfections complacently, and draws his own portrait for the benefit of his descendants, as an embodiment of the perfect gentleman accomplished in all knightly arts, and full to overflowing of the most becoming sentiments. ”

“ Speaking of his father Lord Herbert says: ‘He was black-haired, and bearded, of a manly but somewhat stern look, but withal very handsome; compact in his limbs, and of a great courage.’ His grandfather was also distinguished for the same quality, and was noted to be a great enemy to the outlaws and thieves of his time, who appeared in great numbers in the mountains of Montgomeryshire. ”

“ Unless we felt driven by them to explore the nature of things, “it would never occur to us to distinguish one thing from another.” It cannot be said that Herbert proves the existence of the common notions ”

“ Lord Herbert himself was rich in acquired knowledge, and in whatever way his natural genius then displayed itself, such a mind as he possessed must have afforded many evidences of latent talent. One important part of a young nobleman’s education in Elizabeth’s time, and later, was that of horsemanship, particularly in the tilt-yard, a kind of adjunct to noble residences, supposed by many to have existed even at Raglan Castle, but such an opinion is not even authorised by any tradition. ”

“ Giving up all past theories as useless, Herbert professedly endeavours to constitute a new and true system. Truth, which he defines as a just conformation of the faculties with one another and with their objects, he distributed into four classes or stages: (1) truth in the thing or the truth of the object; (2) truth of the appearance; (3) truth of the apprehension (conceptus) ; (4) truth of the intellect. The faculties of the mind are as numerous as the differences of their objects, and are accordingly innumerable ”

“ Besides, it must be confessed, there was another circumstance almost as fatal to Herbert's character in England as his loose and heretical opinions. The travelling English, during their visits to Geneva, found out that their countryman solaced or enlivened his solitude by unhallowed ties. It is a habit to which very young men, who are separated from or deserted by their wives, occasionally have recourse. Wrong, no doubt, as most things are, but, it is to be hoped, venial; at least in the case of any man who is not also an atheist. ”

“ Second, my lord deems it best I should be taken now, and the matter ended. But this applies not to you or my mother. The Normans must find neither of you here; no woman, young or old, is safe where Foulke d'Oilly's men are about. You must wrap the old woman as warm as you may, and have her off on the pony to Ambleside as quickly as may be. Ralph shall go with you. I am on thorns and nettles until you are gone."
"I will never leave you, Kenric. It is useless to speak of it—never!"
"Oh! yes, you will, Edith," he answered, quietly. "Oh! yes, you will, for half a dozen reasons ”

“ Lord Cherbury, seeing her unable to speak, took her hand, and said—"Lord Cherbury never would forget the obligations conferred upon Miss Fitzalan.” Bridal favors and presents had already been distributed among the Edwins. Howel was handsomely complimented on the occasion, and received some valuable presents from Lord Cherbury, as proofs of his sincere friendship; also money to distribute among the indigent villagers. His lordship then handed Amanda into his coach, already prepared for its journey to Thornbury, and the little bridal party were followed by the most ardent blessings. ”

“ The latter fought both in Denmark and the Low Countries, and died young. Charles, Herbert's fifth brother, born in 1592, was admitted to Winchester College in 1603 ; became a scholar of New College, Oxford, 4 June 1611, and fellow 3 June 1613, and died in 1617. Verses by him appear in Dr. Zouch's ‘Dove,’ but the lines signed ‘C. H.’ in Sir Thomas Herbert's ‘Travels’ (1634) are often assigned to him without authority. Of Herbert's three sisters, Elizabeth married Sir Henry Jones of Abermarlais, Carmarthenshire ”

“ After the death of Charles I, Herbert repaired to the Hague, and was made attorney-general by the new king. He thereupon proceeded to Brussels, where, with Sir George Ratcliffe, he attached himself to the Duke of York, undertook to form his household for him, excited his military ambition, and intrigued to marry him to a daughter of the Duke of Lorraine. Herbert thus rendered himself very obnoxious to the queen-mother. ”

“ Herbert's character has ‘been recklessly disparaged and blackened,’ but simony was, to use the words of Thomas Fuller, ‘a fashionable sin,’ and William of Malmesbury dilates upon the sincerity of Herbert's repentance. He was undoubtedly covetous. He retained on one occasion a palfrey which had been merely lent to him, and on another occasion complained of the scantiness of a voluntary gift of fruit. In his relations with his cathedral, his monks, and his diocese, Herbert was dignified and strict. He is said to have been personally attractive and to have excelled as a preacher and as a scholar. ”

“ Yet now, they have taken up the old strain, and are already deploring in doleful song the hard fortune that has divided their lives. Sir Herbert has no idea of pretence or mere acting or of singing for effect. He is true to the 'heart's core' himself, and would not deign to seem other than he is. ”