George Herbert and his times . s still the mark and aim of manyof her sons. CHAPTER II BIRTHPLACE, FAMILY AND CHILDHOOD /GEORGE HERBERT was born the third^~* day of April, in the year of our Redemp-tion, 1593. The place of his birth was near tothe town of Montgomery, and in that castle thatdid then bear the name of that town and castle was then a place of state and strength,and had been successively happy in the family ofthe Herberts, who had long possessed it: and withit a plentiful estate, and hearts as liberal to theirpoor neighbours : a family that had been blessedwith men of r
George Herbert and his times . s still the mark and aim of manyof her sons. CHAPTER II BIRTHPLACE, FAMILY AND CHILDHOOD /GEORGE HERBERT was born the third^~* day of April, in the year of our Redemp-tion, 1593. The place of his birth was near tothe town of Montgomery, and in that castle thatdid then bear the name of that town and castle was then a place of state and strength,and had been successively happy in the family ofthe Herberts, who had long possessed it: and withit a plentiful estate, and hearts as liberal to theirpoor neighbours : a family that had been blessedwith men of remarkable wisdom, and a willingnessto serve their country, and, indeed, to do good toall mankind : for which they were eminent. But,alas! this family did in the late rebellion sufferextremely in their estates : and the heirs of thatcastle saw it laid level with that earth that wastoo good to bury those wretches that were thecause of it. Thus Walton begins what may well have been the most congenial of his biographical tasks, 12. w BIRTHPLACE, FAMILY AND CHILDHOOD 13 although personally unacquainted with its subject: I have but seen him, he says further on. Bornin the same year, and only a few months later(9th August, 1593), he had already survived himby thirty-seven years, and had published three ofthe five Lives by which his piscatorial fame hasbeen enlarged but not eclipsed : those of Donne,Hooker and Wot ton. The Compleat Angler hadappeared in 1653. His hand, therefore, was wellseasoned to literary toils; and that it had not lostbut had rather gained in cunning is abundantlyproved by the felicity of his performance. Inseveral respects he was an ideal biographer. Heloved and admired loyally ; but his hero-worshipwas tempered by a wholesome resolution to tellthe truth, and by a shrewdness of judgment thatprevented him from raising his subjects into demi-gods. He was painstaking in gathering his facts,not over-credulous for his time, and determinedthat, like his fishing treatise
Size: 1168px × 2139px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidgeorgeherber, bookyear1906
