Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XIV. BEMERTON--VALDESSO.--1630--1633. As the Rectory-house at Bemerton was uninhabitable, Herbert must have made Baynton his head-quarters for some months. His predecessor had suffered the two Churches and the parsonage-house to fall into decay. All these Herbert had to repair, and partially to rebuild, at his own cost, while his income from the parish was very small. He first restored the Parish Church at Foulstone; then the chapel at Bemerton, and lastly his parsonage. The old glebe-house at Bemerton had to be raised almost from the foundation. "Here he built a very handsome house of brick, and made a good garden, and walks for the minister." The roof would be thatched. There was a hall, in which all the family and servants sat together, where, on a large open hearth, all the cooking was done; the other parts of the house were, a small study on a raised floor, close to the road, a scullery, and four or five small bed-rooms. On the mantel of the chimney in the hall he engraved--TO MY SUCCESSOR. If thou chance for to find A new house to thy mind, And built without thy cost; Be good to the poor, As God gives thee store, And then my labor's not lost. These works cost him 200, a large sum in those days, and a heavy assessment on his contracted income. We must not wonder, therefore, that the restoration of Leighton Church, which in addition he had upon his hands, advanced but slowly. John Davenant was Bishop of Sarum from 1621 to 1641, and in due course, Herbert should have been ordained Priest on Trinity Sunday, 1630; but it appears the Bishop did not ordain at the Summer Ember season. George Herbert was ordained to the priesthood on Sept. 19, 1630, being the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, no-doubt, in Sarum Cathedral, by Bishop...