the work of the day following, not faintly, but with courage and cheerfulness."*

Nor was his age only so industrious; but in the most unsettled days of his youth, his bed was not able to detain him beyond the hour of four in a morning; and it was no common business that drew him out of his chamber till past ten: all which time was employed in study; though he took great liberty after it. And if this seem strange, it may gain a belief by the visible fruits of his labours; some of which remain as testimonies of what is here written: for he left the resultance of 1400 authors, most of them abridged and analysed with his own hand: he left also six score of his sermons, all written with his own hand;† also an exact and

* In a letter to Mrs. Cokaine, at Bath, Donne writes: "If I might have forborn this letter till to-morrow, I could have had time enough to enlarge my self; for Saturday is my day of conversation and liberty. But I am now upon Friday evening, and not got through my preparation for my Paules service upon Sunday." -Sir T. Mathews' Coll., p. 340.

"Upon the death of my father," writes Dr. Donne, the son, "I was sent to by his majesty of blessed memory, to recollect and publish his sermons. I was encouraged by many of the nobility, both spiritual and temporal; and indeed by the most eminent men that the kingdom then had, of all professions."-Pref. to v. iii. The first volume, published in folio, in 1640, to which the Life by Izaak Walton was prefixed, contained eighty sermons. A second volume, published in 1649, contained fifty; and the third, containing twenty-six sermons, appeared in 1661, with a dedication to Charles the Second. Some of them, preached on particular occasions, had previously been published by request; the popularity of the preacher making frequent calls on his services. Mr. Chamberlain, addressing Sir Dudley Carleton, writes: "On Wednesday, the Virginia Company had a feast or meeting, at Merchant Taylors' Hall, whither many of the nobility and the council were invited.... The dean of Paules preached, according to the custom of all feastings now-a-days."-Birch's MSS., 4174.

This sermon, delivered 13th November, 1622, was published at the request of the Company. The text was from Acts, i., 8. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaa, und in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.".

Addressed to a Trading Company, the subject selected was no less applicable, than the address admirable on the obligation that lay on them, to employ the means of transport at their command "to convey the name of Jesus Christ, and to propagate his Gospell over all the world."

"The utmost parts of the earth," observed the preacher, "are your scene. Act over the acts of Apostles: be you a light to the Gentiles that sit in darknesse :

laborious treatise concerning self-murder, called Biathanatos,* wherein all the laws violated by that act are diligently surveyed,

be you content to carry Him over these seas, who dryed up one red sea for his people, and hath poured out another red sea, his owne blood, for them and

And, particularizing some instances of the instructive goodness of God to man; "God descended," continued the preacher, "to a third occupation, to be his shipwright, to give him a modell of a ship, an arke, and so to be the author of that which man himselfe, in all likelihood, would never have thought of, a means to passe from nation to nation. Now, as God taught us to make clothes, not only to clothe ourselves, but to clothe him in his poore and naked members here; as God taught us to build houses, not to house ourselves, but to house him, in erecting churches to his glory; so God taught us to make ships, not to transport ourselves, but to transport him, that when we have received power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon us, we might be witnesses unto him, both in Jerusalem and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."

Not less in the earnestness of the address to a body of mercantile Adventurers, than as a missionary sermon preached two-hundred and thirty years ago, can it fail to excite curiosity, and command respect.

Mr. Chalmers notes, that a large folio volume of manuscript sermons, many by Dr. Donne, and perhaps not published, was in possession of the rev. W. Woolston, of Adderbury; and adds, that the MS., which appears to be of the date of Dr. Donne's time, shows the value placed on his works, and the care and pains then used to make accurate transcripts.-Gen. Biog. Dict., v. xii.

"BIATHANATOS. A Declaration of that Paradoxe or Thesis, that Selfhomicide is not so naturally Sin, that it may never be otherwise. Wherein the nature and extent of all those Lawes which seem to be violated by this act, are diligently surveyed." The work, in manuscript, with a dedication to Sir Edward Herbert, was by him, in 1642, presented to the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It was first published by the author's son, in the year 1644.

As a composition, it appears to have been one of those moot cases, which young men of forensic studies sometimes have entertained, rather as exercise of their talent in supporting a bad cause,--insupportable in this instance, on Christian doctrine,--than with any serious view of establishing the thesis to conviction, or of benefiting society, in any way, by the result. As an argument scholastically conducted, it appears to have had some lurking regard—perhaps for the labour bestowed--in the breast of its author, even after his call to the ministry; but the publication by his son (although it passed through two editions in the space of a few years), has not more wittily than truly been accounted "Dr. Donneundonne."

A letter, in the printed collection, "To Sir Robert Karre, now earl of Ankeram, with my book, Biathanatos, at my going into Germany," is a record of the judgment of the author himself:

"Sir, I had need to do somewhat towards you above my promises. How weak are my performances, when even my promises are defective! I cannot promise,

and judiciously censured ;-a treatise written in his younger days, which alone might declare him then not only perfect in the civil and canon law, but in many other such studies and arguments, as enter not into the consideration of many that labour to be thought great clerks, and pretend to know all things.

Nor were these only found in his study; but all businesses that passed of any public consequence, either in this or any of our neighbour-nations, he abbreviated either in Latin, or in the language of that nation, and kept them by him for useful memorials. So he did the copies of divers letters and cases of conscience that had concerned his friends, with his observations and solutions of them; and divers other businesses of importance, all particularly and methodically digested by himself.

He did prepare to leave the world before life left him; making his will when no faculty of his soul was damped or made defective by pain or sickness, or he surprised by a sudden apprehension of death; but it was made with mature deliberation, expressing himself an impartial father, by making his children's portions equal; and a lover of his friends, whom he remembered with legacies fitly and discreetly chosen and bequeathed. I cannot forbear a nomination of some of them; for methinks they be persons that seem to challenge a recordation in this place; as namely, to his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Grimes, he gave that striking clock, which he had long worn in his pocket; to his dear

no not in mine own 'hopes, equally to your merit towards me. But, besides the poems, of which you took a promise, I send you another book, to which there belongs this history. It was written by me many years since, and because it is upon a misinterpretable subject, I have always gone so near suppressing it, as that it is onely not burnt. No hand hath passed upon it to copy it, nor many eyes to read it; onely to some particular friends in both Universities, then when I writ it, did I communicate it; and I remember I had this answer, that certainly there was a false thread in it, but not easily found. Keep it, I pray, with the same jealousie ; let any that your discretion admits to the sight of it, know the date of it, and that it is a booke written by Jack Donne, and not by Dr. Donne. Reserve it for me if I live, and if I die I onely forbid it the presse and the fire: Publish it not, but yet burn it not; and between those, do what you will with it. Love me still thus far for your own sake, that when you withdraw your love from me, you will finde so many unworthinesses in me, as you grow ashamed of having had, so long and so much, such a thing as your poore servt. in Chr. Jes., J. DONNE.--Letters, p. 21.

friend and executor, Dr. King, late bishop of Chichester, that medal of gold of the Synod of Dort, with which the States presented him at his last being at the Hague; and the two pictures, of Padre Paolo, and Fulgentio,† men of his acquaintance when

* The Synod of Dort, was a Convocation appointed to examine certain doctrines of Arminius, which were disputed in Holland. It met at Dort, the 13th November, 1618, the States General allowing 100,000 francs for its expenses. It was composed of six deputies from each of the United Provinces, twelve from North and South Holland, two from the country of Drent, and deputies sent by desire of the States from the king of England, the Elector Palatine, the Landgrave of Hesse, the States of Weteravia, the Republics and Cities of Geneva, Bremen, and Embden, and the Cantons of Zurich, Berne, Basle, and Schaafhausen. The doctrines discussed were those of Predestination, Redemption, Vocation, Conversion, and Perseverance; in which all that was contrary to the tenets of Calvin was condemned; whilst Vorstius and others, who would not subscribe to the decrees of the Synod, were deprived of their cures, and banished from the United States. These decrees were publicly read in the Great Church of Dort, May 1st, 1619, when the Synod broke up. The medal commemorative of these events was ordered to be struck by the States General, and an impression in gold to be presented to every foreign theologian and Councillor who had attended the meeting. On one side it represents the Convocation sitting, encircled by the inscription, "ASSERTA RELIGIONE;" and on the reverse, a mountain, having a temple on its summit, to which some figures are ascending by a very steep path. The four winds, emblematical of the disturbers of the tranquillity of the Church, are represented blowing with violence against the mountain; and above the temple is the word Jehovah, in Hebrew characters. The legend, from Ps. cxxv., 1., is “ERUNT UT MONS SION:" the date, CIɔɔcxix.

↑ Paolo Sarpi, commonly called Father Paul, was born at Venice, in 1552, and was a member of the Order of Servites. He is said to have been a pattern of humility, an excellent Divine, Mathematician, and Natural Philosopher; and to him are attributed several discoveries in Anatomy. On being appointed Procurator General of his Order, he resided at Rome, leaving his property in the hands of a person, who, abusing his trust, advised Paolo to remain at the Papal Court for the sake of promotion. In reply, he incautiously said, that he held the dignities of that Court in abomination; and the letter being betrayed to the Pope, Paolo was regarded as an heretic. His advocacy of the Venetians, in opposition to the Cardinals Bellarmine and Baronius, caused him to be cited to Rome; and after the Pope and the Venetian States were reconciled, the defenders of the latter being marked out as objects of vengeance, his life was attempted, in 1607. In the seclusion to which he then retired, he wrote his celebrated History of the Council of Trent. He died in 1622.-Johnson.

In 1637, Sir Henry Wotton, writes to Dr. Collins, Provost of King's College, Cambridge:-"Let me be bold to send you for a new year's gift, a certain memorial not altogether unworthy of some entertainment under your roof; namely, a true picture of Padre Paolo, the Servita, which was first taken by a painter whom I

he travelled Italy, and of great note in that nation for their remarkable learning.-To his ancient friend, Dr. Brook,—that married him,-Master of Trinity College, in Cambridge, he gave the picture of the Blessed Virgin and Joseph.—To Dr. Winniff, ---who succeeded him in his deanery,—he gave a picture called the “Skeleton.”—To the succeeding dean, who was not then known, he gave many necessaries of worth, and useful for his house; and also several pictures and ornaments for the chapel, with a desire that they might be registered, and remain as a legacy to his successors.-To the Earls of Dorset and Carlisle he gave several pictures; and so he did to many, other friends; legacies, given rather to express his affection, than to make any addition to their estate; but unto the poor he was full of charity, and unto many others, who, by his constant and long-continued bounty, might entitle themselves to be his alms people; for all these he made provision, and so largely, as, having then six children living, might to some appear more than proportionable to

*

sent unto him, from my house then neighbouring his monastery. I have newly added thereunto a title of mine own conception, Concilii Tridentini Eviscerator. ... You will find a scar in his face, that was from a Roman assassinate that would have killed him."-Reliq. Wotton.

M. Fulgentio, a Minorite, was the friend and biographer of Father Paul, his memoir being published in English, in 1651. He was celebrated for the dignity and freedom with which he preached the pure word of God. It was of Fulgentio that pope Paul V. is reported to have said: "He has indeed some good sermons, but bad ones withall: he stands too much upon Scripture, which is a book that if any man will keep close to, he will quite ruin the Catholic faith." (Father Paul's Letters, Lett. xxvi.) Father Fulgentio had written in the Venetian controversy against the Pope, but was induced by the nuncio to visit Rome, and proceeded there under a safe conduct. He was at first received with favour, and even with festivity; but was afterwards burned in the field of Flora.-Fuller, Ch. Hist., cent. XVII., b. x., p. 98.

* These, as named in his will, were, "John, George; and Bridgett (eldest daughter yet unmarried)," who being "of years to govern themselves," were directed to be paid their portions: Constance, married to Mr. Samuel Harvey, whose share was to be made equal to the others; and two younger children, Margaret and Elizabeth, whose portions were to be reserved until they arrived at the age of twenty-two, or were married; twenty pounds per annum, in the mean time, being allowed for their maintenance.

John Donne, born in 1604, educated at Westminster, and Christ Church College, Oxford, is supposed to have married Mary Staples, at Camberwell, March