But (as I write a line) to weep a tear And wonder not; for when a general loss Dull age! Oh I would spare thee; but th'art worse; Of black ingratitude; if not, could'st thou Part with miraculous DONNE, and make no vow That some have fear'd their shapes, and kept their soul Past marble monuments to those whose praise The dull will doubt) these at his twentieth year? A dying martyr's brow; or to be worn After she wip'd Christ's feet, but not till then? Did he return and preach him? preach him so 29 Safer. 30 "La Corona," a Holy Sonnet on the Crown of Thorns, printed in Donne's Poems, ed. 1633, p. 28, and commencing thus: "Deign at my hands this Crown of prayer and praise," 31 For piety, for wit. 32 As since St. Paul none did, none could! those know (Such as were blest to hear him) this is truth. But sure the silent are ambitious all By repetitions to renew our care; Or, knowing, grief conceiv'd, conceal'd, consumes Do waste the brain), make silence With DONNE in heaven, where no promiscuous pain My thoughts, dwell on this joy, and do not call 33 Forget he loved me; waste not my sad years, Which, as a free will offering, I here give36 Fame, and the world, and parting with it grieve, I want abilities fit to set forth A monument, great as DONNE's matchless worth. Iz. WA." 37 It has been remarked that in these verses Walton calls himself Donne's "convert;" but he perhaps meant no more than that he had been induced by his sermons and example to take a proper view of religion, in which sense the word is used in a preceding line. A second edition of Dr. Donne's Poems was published in 1635, with a portrait of the author, engraved by Marshall, from a picture painted in 1591, when he was in his eighteenth year; and the following lines by Walton were placed under it: 33 Dwell on this joy, my thoughts; oh! do not call. 34 Flows. 35 This. 36 This and the three following lines are added from the edition of 1635. 37 Donne's Poems, ed. 1633, pp. 382-384. "This was, for youth, strength, mirth, and wit, that time From youth's dross, mirth and wit, as thy pure mind Witness this book (thy emblem) which begins Iz. WA." Sir Henry Wotton having intended to write the life of Donne, he requested Walton, who readily undertook the task, to collect materials for the purpose; but several years having elapsed without any progress being made in the work, Walton reminded him of his purpose in a "most ingenuous letter," the answer to which is printed in the "Reliquiæ Wottonianæ." The date of Sir Henry Wotton's letter to Walton, wherein he expresses a wish for his "ever welcome company" in the approaching fishing season, does not occur; but the allusion to Dr. King's appointment as Dean of Rochester, in which office he was installed on the 6th of February, 1638-9,38 fixes it to the early part of the year 1639. I am not able to yield any reason, no, not so much as may satisfy myself, why a most ingenuous letter of yours hath lain so long by me (as it were in lavender) without an answer, save this only, the pleasure I have taken in your style and conceptions, together with a meditation of the subject you propound, may seem to have cast me into a gentle slumber. But being now awaked, I do herein return you most hearty thanks for the kind prosecution of your first motion, touching a just office due to the memory of our ever memorable friend, to whose good fame, though it be needless to add any thing, (and my age considered, almost hopeless from my pen ;) yet I will endeavour to perform my promise, if it were but even for this cause, that in saying somewhat of the life of so deserving a man, I may perchance over-live That which you add of Dr. King (now made Dean of Rochester, and by that translated into my native soil,) is a great spur unto me: with whom I hope shortly mine own. 38 Le Neve's Fasti Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ. to confer about it in my passage towards Boughton Malherb, which was my genial air, and invite him to a friendship with that family where his predecessor was familiarly acquainted. I shall write to you at large by the next messenger, (being at present a little in business,) and then I shall set down certain general heads, wherein I desire information by your loving diligence; hoping shortly to enjoy your own ever welcome company in this approaching time of the Fly and the Cork. And so I rest, "Your very hearty poor friend to serve you, "H. WOTTON."'39 Sir Henry Wotton died in the ensuing December; and on Walton's hearing that Dr. Donne's sermons were about to be published without a life of the author, he determined to supply the deficiency. His motives for becoming Donne's biographer are explained in so natural and pleasing a manner in his "Introduction," dated on the 15th February, 1639 (1640), that it ought not to be omitted: "If that great master of language and art, Sir Henry Wotton, the late provost of Eton College, had lived to see the publication of these sermons, he had presented the world with the author's life exactly written; and it was pity he did not; for it was a work worthy his undertaking, and he fit to undertake it: betwixt whom, and the author, there was so mutual a knowledge, and such a friendship contracted in their youth, as nothing but death could force a separation. And though their bodies were divided, their affections were not: for that learned knight's love followed his friend's fame beyond death and the forgetful grave: which he testified by entreating me, whom he acquainted with his design, to inquire of some particulars that concerned it, not doubting but my knowledge of the author, and love to his memory, might make my diligence useful. I did most gladly undertake the employment, and continued it with great content, till I had made my collection ready to be augmented and completed by his matchless pen; but then death prevented his intentions. When I heard that sad news, and heard also that these sermons were to be 39 Reliquiæ Wottonianæ, ed. 1685, p. 360. printed and want the author's life, which I thought to be very remarkable; indignation or grief (indeed I know not which) transported me so far, that I reviewed my forsaken collections, and resolved the world should see the best plain picture of the author's life that my artless pencil, guided by the hand of truth, could present to it. And if I shall now be demanded, as once Pompey's poor bondman was;-(the grateful wretch had been left alone on the sea-shore, with the forsaken dead body of his once glorious lord and master and was then gathering the scattered pieces of an old broken boat to make a funeral pile to burn it, which was the custom of the Romans)- Who art thou that alone hast the honour to bury the body of Pompey the Great?' so, who am I that do thus officiously set the author's memory on fire? I hope the question will prove to have in it more of wonder than disdain. But wonder indeed the reader may, that I, who profess myself artless, should presume with my faint light to show forth his life, whose very name makes it illustrious! but be this to the disadvantage of the person represented, certain I am it is to the advantage of the beholder; who shall here see the author's picture in a natural dress which ought to beget faith in what is spoken: for he that wants skill to deceive may safely be trusted. And if the author's glorious spirit, which now is in heaven, can have the leisure to look down and see me, the poorest, the meanest of all his friends, in the midst of this officious duty, confident I am, that he will not disdain this well meant sacrifice to his memory: for, whilst his conversation made me and many others happy below, I know his humility and gentleness were then eminent; and I have heard divines say, those virtues that were but sparks upon earth, become great and glorious flames in heaven." The first volume of Donne's sermons, to which his life was prefixed, was published in 1640 in folio, by John Marriott, probably the father of the Richard Marriott who was Walton's friend as well as publisher for nearly half a century. Walton's first essay as a biographer was highly applauded by his contemporaries. King Charles the First, whose private virtues and literary acquirements gave 40 Walton's Lives, ed. Zouch, I. pp. 37–40. |