and the reader who values what is truly valuable, will rather consider the holiness and purity of his more mature years, than any reproach which report or his writings may have fixed on his youth; and with the charity which "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth," will look rather on these Sermons and Devotions, in which he has built himself and the church a lasting memorial, than on the few scattered leaves, which betray after all, perhaps, no more than simplicity and fearlessness of natural disposition; and that he showed what others have concealed. Mankind are always more apt to judge mildly of one whose heart is open; and to sympathise where confidence is given. And we find, I think, that those writers with whose lives, and trials, and changes of opinion we are acquainted, and who speak to us not from the forbidding height of apathy, but as men giving and requiring sympathy, have always stood, other things being equal, highest in the public esteem. With no writer is this more the case than with Donne. Every Sermon is the voice of the same man; in every solemn appeal, every serious direction for self-searching and reflection, we see the footsteps of the same Providence, whose ways having been manifested to the preacher in his own experience, are by him imparted to the hearer. Egotism is a word which has obtained a bad name; but it must not be forgotten that it has a good sense; and that in this sense every truly great man is an egotist. For it is by intimate moral and critical acquaintance with himself that he becomes powerful over the thoughts and feelings of our kind in general; and, as the greatest of public speakers says in his Funeral Oration, That the praises of others are only tolerable up to a point of excellence, which the hearer thinks he could have equalled", so it may be generally said of the productions of the greatest minds, that they are most valued, and take most hold of the universal heart of mankind, when the man uttering them is shown to have been what all might have been, and to have felt what all have felt12. I own I have indulged a hope, that these Sermons will become standard volumes in the English Divinity Library. For myself, what I have acquired from them has been invaluable; and I can only wish that they may give as much instruction and delight to the reader, as I have received in editing them. WYMESWOLD, Dec. 22, 1838. "Thucydides, book 11., chap. 35. 1 It may be interesting to the reader to know that the marble figure of Donne in his shroud, which formed part of his monument in old St. Paul's, is the only relic which has been preserved whole from the ravages of the fire, and is now to be seen in the crypt. THE following particulars respecting Dr. Donne's children, are taken from two Letters in the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1835, communicated by G. Steinman Steinman, F.S.A. The doctor had twelve children, of whom six died during their father's life. Of these, however, only one is found recorded in the registers, namely, Lettice, buried in St. Giles', Camberwell, Jan. 9, 1626. He His eldest son, John Donne, was born in 1604. is mentioned in his father's will (which is dated Dec. 13, 1630, and was proved April 5, 1631) with his brother and four sisters. He was educated at Westminster, and sent to Christ Church in Oxford. But he completed his studies at Padua, where he received the degree of L.L.D. and was afterwards admitted ad eundem, at Oxford. He edited several of his father's works, and wrote dedications in the affected style of the time, but possessing no merit. He was also the author of some poetical trifles. He died in the winter of 1662, and was buried near the dial at the west-end of the churchyard of St. Paul's, Covent Garden. It is uncertain whether he was married; but in the marriage register at Camberwell, we find "John Donne was married to Mary Staples, 27th March, 1627." Anthony à Wood has given a severe character of him, saying, That he proved no better all his life than an atheistical buffoon, a banterer, and a person of over-free thoughts: yet valued by Charles II. He adds, "That there is no doubt he was a man of sense and parts." His second son, George Donne, was baptized at Camberwell, May 9, 1605. He is described in his father's funeral certificate as Captain and Serjeant-major of all the forces in the island of St. Christopher. He was married and had a daughter, Margaret, baptized at Camberwell, March 22, 1637-8. In some of Dr. Donne's Letters he makes anxious inquiry for this son, who was then on his travels, and had not lately been heard of. (See vol. VI., p. 396, letter LXXIX.) His eldest daughter, Constance, mentioned in the Letter, (vol. VI., p. 388,) married first, at Camberwell, December 3, 1623, Edward Alleyne, Esq. founder of Dulwich College; and secondly, (June 24, 1630,) Samuel Harvey, Esq. of Abrey Hatch, Essex, where her father died. Bridget, the second daughter, unmarried at her father's death, married Thomas Gardiner, Esq. of Peckham. Margaret, the third daughter, also unmarried at Dr. Donne's death, married Sir William Bowles; and lies buried in the porch of Chiselhurst church, Kent. Of Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, nothing is known. |