Sir Herbert

“ On the next morning I happened to drop in at Herbert's office.... And that, in short, is how I was mixed up in the business.
"Look here," said Herbert, "you used to be mathematical; here's something for you."
"Let the dead past bury its dead," I implored. "I am now quite respectable."
"It goes like this," he said, ignoring my appeal.
He then gave me the problem, which I hand on to you.
"A subaltern riding at the rear of a column of soldiers trotted up to the captain in front and challenged him to a game of billiards for half-a-crown a side, the loser to pay for the table. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The rooms are already full of people; a confused well-bred murmur of conversation rises from the throng of guests in mingled subdued tones. Sir Herbert is standing inside the larger drawing-room, talking with a group of officers; but he leaves them the moment he catches a glimpse of Walter at the door. He even goes to meet him with a smile of welcome on his lip, looking all the while over his shoulder, as though he expected to see other guests coming with him.
'You are late, Captain Reeves. But where is the rest of your party? ”

“ Tell Herbert he must come here to have his inspiration aroused. When he has walked upon Mont Blanc; when he has sailed on the Rhine, stood by Lakes Geneva and Lucerne, and by the blue Moselle, then he will feel that his whole life has been a fitting prelude to a rapturous burst of immortal song. He must come to Germany before he can fathom the sea of sound, or understand in fullness what the rippling waves of sweet music are saying. Florence, Herbert! do not let old age come on you, before you see this land, if none other. ”

“ 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 ”

“ And, by way of a clue, I added, inconsequently enough: "Gott strafe England!"
I chuckled inwardly at the thought of Herbert's face on receiving this preposterous demand that he should abandon his dusty desk in Downing Street and betake himself across the North Sea to fetch my luggage. But he'd go all right. I knew my Herbert, dull and dry and conventional, but a most faithful friend.
I called a porter at the entrance of the buffet and handing him Semlin's bag and overcoat, bade him find me a first-class carriage in the Berlin train when it arrived. I would meet him on the platform. ”

“ Sir Walter Herbert is at liberty, and in this house, waiting anxiously to hear tidings of your health. His daughter is with him, too; and she thinks that, if you would permit her, she could, by that care, and kindness, and tenderness, which are parts of her nature, greatly soothe and comfort you."
The Earl shook his head; and a smile, faint indeed, but still the first that had crossed his countenance for a long time, hung upon his lip during a single instant. "You are a lover," he said; "but nothing can soothe or comfort me more in life, Henry. Yet I would fain see Sir Walter Herbert. ”

“ Here, then, was an object on whom he could wreak his vengeance. Master Fisher had, by means of the wealth which had fallen to him, been able to purchase a title and honours of the mercenary king, and he now gave himself all the airs of an old noble. When, therefore, Sir Herbert challenged him to mortal combat on account of words uttered against the fair fame of a damsel undeserving of such reproach, he was compelled to accept the challenge. Space does not permit a description of the combat. ”

“ On 28 April 1694 he was created Lord Herbert of Cherbury—the title which had been borne by his uncle Edward [q. v.] , and had become extinct on the death of Henry Herbert, fourth lord Herbert of Cherbury, in 1691. On 27 Aug. 1695 the barony of Castleisland in the Irish peerage was also granted him. In 1697 he was disappointed of the office of deputy privy seal. (Luttrell, Rel. iv. 203-7) . He zealously supported the whigs, but in a letter to Lord Somers (2 Jan. 1700-1) threatened to retire from politics unless he gained some personal profit from his fidelity. ”

“ Herbert was now a finished classical scholar. Throughout his life he was a good musician, not only singing, but playing on the lute and viol. His accomplishments soon secured for him a high position in academic society, and he attracted the notice of Lancelot Andrewes, bishop of Winchester (cf. Herbert's letter to the bishop in Grosart, iii. 466) . Herbert contributed two Latin poems to the Cambridge collection of elegies on Prince Henry (1612) , and one to that on Queen Anne (1619) . ”

“ 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 ”

“ A tall upright figure may be observed emerging from the crowds of passers-by; an officer, by the gold buttons on his rough outside coat. Guiding his umbrella skilfully, Sir Herbert walks quickly on, and soon Katie hears his well-known knock{652} at the door, and his well-known step in the hall, as he takes his way to her father's library downstairs. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There were indeed other important reforms made by Lord Herbert during this his last short tenure of office. But not for these, or so much for these as for the rest, will he be remembered. He will be remembered chiefly as the first war minister who ever seriously set himself to the task of saving life—who ever took the trouble to master a difficult subject so wisely and so well, as to be able himself, and to show the way to others, to husband the resources of this country, in which human life is of more value than in any other—of more value than any thing else. ”

“ 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. ”

“ He heard it with many bursts of irrepressible indignation and many involuntary starts of wild passion. Toward the last he sprang up and walked up and down, chafing like an angry lion in his cage.
"And this man," he exclaimed, as Herbert concluded; "this demon! this beast! is now our commanding officer—the colonel of our regiment."
"Yes," replied Herbert, "but as such you must not call him names; military rules are despotic; and this man, who knows your person and knows you to be the betrothed of Clara Day, whose hand and fortune he covets for his son? ”

“ He's so unique—so utterly unlike anyone else's umbrella. I know you'll love him."
I did as soon as ever I saw him coming out of the cloak-room hanging on her arm. There was a gentle coyness in the turn of Herbert's handle, a nutty daintiness about his little gold tie which made me look involuntarily for his socks.
"Now, you wait and see if someone doesn't try to run off with him before we get home," said Stella-my-niece. "I'll hold him on a long lead so that people will think he's out by himself, and we'll await developments." ”

“ HERBERT, Sir THOMAS (1606–1682) , traveller and author, son of Christopher Herbert, by Jane, daughter of Henry Akroyd of Foggathorpe in the East Riding of Yorkshire, was born in 1606 at York, where his family, which descended from Sir Richard Herbert of Colebrook, Monmouthshire [see under Herbert, Sir William, Earl of Pembroke, d. 1469] , had been settled for some generations as substantial merchants (Drake, Eboracum, pp. 298-300; Dugdale, Visitation of Yorkshire, Surtees Soc., xxxvi. 165) . According to Wood he was admitted commoner of Jesus College, Oxford, in 1621 ”

“ 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. ”

“ Herbert's official difficulties with the French court began anew after it was known that Prince Charles had offered to marry the infanta of Spain, and when the scheme of the Spanish marriage was abandoned, Herbert was entrusted with the embarrassing task of opening negotiations with the French government for Charles's marriage with Princess Henrietta Maria. James I was desirous that France should intervene in the German strife in behalf of his son-in-law the elector palatine, and directed Herbert to make that intervention a condition of the union. ”

“ When I had shown this to Herbert and had put it in the fire—but not before we had both got it by heart—we considered what to do. For, of course my being disabled could now be no longer kept out of view.
"I have thought it over, again and again," said Herbert, "and I think I know a better course than taking a Thames waterman. Take Startop. A good fellow, a skilled hand, fond of us, and enthusiastic and honourable." ”

“ Omer with some money and plate, which he had collected at Canterbury; he shared with Lombard of Piacenza the task of securing for Thomas a welcome from the French king and the pope; and thenceforth, throughout the six years of the primate's exile. Herbert was constantly at his side, sharing his scriptural studies, helping him in his correspondence, comforting and lecturing him by turns through the fits of despondency in which his spirit occasionally broke down, and encouraging him with somewhat needless warmth in his resistance to the king's demands. ”

“ A sad, deep gloom o’ercast his large dark eye, and threw a shadow over his massy forehead. His lip had forgot to smile, his glance to lighten; yet was there no remorse, no doubt, no wavering in his calm, noble features—only fixed, settled sorrow. His long and waving hair of the darkest chestnut, evenly parted on his crown, fell down on either cheek, and flowed over the broad, plain collar of his shirt, which, decked with no embroidery-lace, was folded back over the cape of a plain black pourpoint, made of fine cloth indeed, but neither laced nor passemented, nor even slashed with velvet ”

“ James's Palace to Whitehall the king gave Herbert his large silver watch. Herbert was also one of the commissioners entrusted with the interment of the king's body in the chapel at Windsor. The cloak which the king wore on the scaffold and a cabinet with some books which had belonged to him, including the 1632 folio edition of Shakespeare, on the flyleaf of which Charles had written the words ‘Dum spiro spero,’ also came into Herbert's possession, and with the watch were religiously preserved by him as relics. ”

“ He read conscientiously all plays submitted to him, but in 1624 his judgment in licensing Middleton's ‘Game of Chesse’ was called in question (ib. 1623-5, p. 329) . He was very careful to excise all blasphemous language. Charles I, who interested himself in Herbert's duties, went over with him his corrections in the manuscript of D'Avenant's ‘Wits’ (9 Jan. 1634) , and ‘allowed “faith,” “death,” “slight,” for asseverations, and not oaths.’ Herbert submitted with serious misgiving. ”

“ I might cry out within myself, "Anthony Herbert! Anthony Herbert!" Anthony Herbert was none the less pushed to the backward of my mind. That honest face was upturned to the light, and my thoughts swarmed about it I scanned it most carefully. It was more than common flushed and swollen, for which I was at no loss to account, since a bottle of French brandy stood on a little table at his elbow, three parts empty, and a carafe of water three parts full. ”