Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/695

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

HERBERT 677 ie orientals who frequented Genoa, Leghorn, and Venice, and in the last years of his life he was professor of Syriac at the college de France. He left several inedited works, of which the Bibliotheque orientate, ou Diction- naire universel, contenant tout ce qui fait connaitre les peuples de I 1 Orient (fol.), was published in Paris two years after his death. HERBERT, Edward, Baron Herbert of Cher- bury, an English philosopher, born at Mont- gomery, Wales, in 1581, died in London, Aug. 20, 1648. He was married at 15, completed his education at Oxford, and in 1600 went to London. In 1608 he visited France. In 1610 he joined the English auxiliaries in the Nether- lands under the command of Maurice of Nassau, prince of Orange, and served in the siege of Jlilich. In 1614, under the same commander, he served in a second campaign against the Spaniards. He distinguished himself in these wars by great intrepidity. He then went to Italy, where the duke of Savoy intrusted him with the guidance of 4,000 Languedoc Protes- its into Piedmont. In 1618 he was appoint- by King James ambassador extraordinary to France, to renew the alliance between France and England. Very sensitive on all points of honor, he was involved in many duels, and es- pecially offended the duke de Luynes, a favor- ite of the king, at whose instigation he was re- called to England. On the death of De Luynes (1 621) he was sent again to France, and while there published his first work, Tractatus de Veritate (Paris, 1624). In 1625 he returned to England, and was created baron of Castle Island in the peerage of Ireland, and from this time devoted himself entirely to the duties of his station and to literature. In 1631 he was elevated to the English peerage, under the title of Baron Herbert of Cherbury. He was op- posed to Bacon and Hobbes, and taught that human knowledge is derived from a rationalis iwtinctus or instinct of the reason, and that by the action of outward objects upon the mind certain communes notiones or universal princi- ples are educed. He believed that religion rests upon innate ideas, man's own conscious- ness being the standard by which revealed re- ligion should be tested. In the disturbances in the reign of Charles I. he sided first with the parliament, and afterward with the king. Among his works are the following, all of which appeared after his death : De Eeligione Gentilium, Errorumque apud eos Causis ; Ex- peditio (BucMnghami Duds) in Ream Insu- lam; and the "Life and Reign of King Henry VIII." His autobiography was printed by Horace Walpole in 1764. See Lord Herbert de CJierbury, by Charles de Remusat (Paris, 1874). HERBERT, George, an English poet, fifth brother of the preceding, born at Montgomery castle, Wales, April 3, 1593, died at Bemerton, England, in February, 1632. He was edu- cated at Westminster and at Trinity college, Cambridge, elected fellow of the college in 1615, and in 1619 public orator, which in those days was a great honor. King James, whose favor he had gained by an elegant let- ter to him in Latin, presented him with a sine- cure office worth 120 a year. The death of two of his most powerful friends, the duke of Richmond and the marquis of Hamilton, soon followed by that of the king, induced him to take holy orders, and he was made by Bishop Williams prebendary of Leighton Bromswold, or Layton Ecclesia, in 1626. In 1630 Charles I. presented him with the living of Bemerton, near Salisbury, and here he remained till his death. As a pastor he was most exemplary and zealous, and he was generally known as " holy George Herbert." His verses are quaint and full of imagery, with many beautiful thoughts and holy precepts. They are of the same school as those of Quarles and Donne. Herbert was the intimate friend of Sir Henry Wpttpn, Dr. Donne, and Lord Bacon. His principal works are : " The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations " (Cambridge, 1631) ; " Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c." (London, 1640); " Quadripartit Devotions" 1647); "The Priest to the Temple, or the Character of a Country Parson " (1652) ; and "Remains," prose writings (1652). His life was written by Izaak Walton. HERBERT, Henry William, an American au- thor, born in London, April 7, 1807, died by his own hand in New York, May 17, 1858. He was a son of the Hon. and Rev. William Herbert, dean of Manchester, and graduated at Caius college, Cambridge, in 1828. He came to New York in 1831, and until 1839 was teacher of Greek in a private school. During this time he began to write for the public, and from 1833 to 1836 was editor of the "Ameri- can Monthly Magazine," at one time in con- nection with C. F. Hoffman. In 1834 he pub- lished his first historical novel, " The Brothers, a Tale of the Fronde," followed by " Crom- well" (1837), "Marmaduke Wyvil" (1843), " The Roman Traitor " (1848), " The Miller of Martigny," " Guarica, or the Carib Bride," "Sherwood Forest, or Wager of Battle" (1855), and others. His historical works were " The Captains of the Greek Republics," "The Captains of the Roman Republic," "Henry VIII. and his Six Wives," and " The Royal Maries of Mediaeval History." Some of these enjoyed in their time great popularity. For several years previous to his death Mr. Herbert resided near Newark, N. J. He made ver- sions of several French romances, of Weiss's " Protestant Refugees " (New York, 1854), of the "Prometheus" and "Agamemnon" of ^Eschylus, and of poetry from French and Ital- ian authors. His most celebrated and charac- teristic works, however, were on sporting, pub- lished under the pseudonyme of Frank Fores- ter namely: " The Field Sports of the United States and British Provinces " (1849) ; " Frank Forester and his Friends" (London, 1849); "The Fish and Fishing of the United States," &c. (New York, 1850); "Young Sportsman's