Herbert, George
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
George (1593-1632), an English clergyman and poet. He was born at Montgomery Castle, Wales. He was of noble family and much was expected of him. He received his education at Cambridge, and, after taking an M. A. degree, was elected fellow. He was a favorite at court and seemed rapidly rising when misfortunes occurred. His health failed and the friends upon whose influence he depended died. Herbert suddenly decided to enter the church. He was given the living at Bemerton, near Salisbury, where he lived a zealous and faithful pastor until his death. He was a modest man of great decision of character and of a courteous and gentle manner which won him many friends. When on his deathbed he asked a friend to examine his poems and to burn them, unless he thought they might be of advantage to "any poor, dejected soul." The poems were published under the title of The Temple. They are short, simple, earnest, religious poems. Herbert was also the author of several prose works. SAYINGS. God's mill grinds slow, but sure. Would'st thou both eat thy cake and have it? His bark is worse than his bite. Dare to be true: nothing can need a lie; A fault which needs it most, grows two thereby. Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, The bridal of the earth and sky. A dwarf on a giant's shoulders sees farther of the two. Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws Makes that and th' action fine.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 sketch of the life still stands almost line for line, though the death date is now normally given as 1 March 1633, not 1632 uepre-1752 English years began in March, so the older books push it back twelve months. What has changed is Herbert's standing. In 1910 he was a minor devotional poet valued for being "short, simple, earnest"; within a decade or so T. S. Eliot and Herbert Grierson had made the metaphysical poets central to modern taste, and Herbert is now read as one of the most technically inventive lyricists in English, studied for the shaped stanzas and arguments of The Temple rather than for his piety alone. F. E. Hutchinson's Oxford edition of 1941 gave scholars a reliable text from the surviving manuscripts, and lines Aiton lists as "sayings" are now more often met as hymns and as Vaughan Williams's Five Mystical Songs.
Written for this edition, 2026.