The king's death, to which may be added the deaths of the Duke of Richmond, the Marquis of Hamilton, and other powerful friends, laid these hopes in the dust. Wherever the Court now was, there Herbert never failed to come. To qualify himself for that position, he set about the study of the modern tongues of the Continent.

In the sunshine of royal favour, the holy Herbert felt the stirrings of worldly ambition: he aspired to be a secretary of state. He did so in a style that completely fascinated the monarch, who pronounced him 'the jewel of the University.' A sinecure of £120 a-year, that Sir Philip Sydney formerly held from Elizabeth, was bestowed on Herbert, as a mark of James's special grace. It was Herbert's duty to thank the royal author for his gift. During his period of office, our Scottish Solomon, James, sent Cambridge one of the effusions of his pedant mind, Basilicon Doron. Herbert continued Orator of the University for eight years. Companions, in the ordinary sense of the term, he had none save when Dr Nevil sometimes broke in upon his labours, the solitude of his study was rarely ever invaded. Like Milton, Herbert was passionately fond of music. While his fellows were haunting the house of mirth, he communed with the mighty dead, or perchance relaxed severer studies by practising on the lute.

In the riot of the university life George Herbert had no share. In 1615 he became a Master of Arts, and in 1619 Orator for the University. Knowing the snare a university so often proves to the susceptible heart of youth, his mother recommended him to the special charge of the Master of the College, Dr Nevil, then Dean of Canterbury. His classical attainments, especially in Greek, secured his election, at the early age of 15, to Trinity College, Cambridge.

At the age of 12, Herbert entered Westminster School, where, under the tuition of the masters of that institution, he shone no less in wit than wisdom. Their language remains fresh and inspiring today.The father of George Herbert dying when the poet was but 4 years old, the discipline and education of the children (7 sons, the eldest being Lord Cherbury) devolved upon his mother, a woman celebrated at once for her beauty and her worth, who devoted herself with the most zealous care to the godly upbringing of her family. They combine a profound spirituality with a restless experimentation. The poems of his final years, written while as a clergyman at Bemerton near Salisbury, are like nothing else in literature. Remarkably, none of his work was published in his lifetime.

Despite living for only 40 years, his stock as a poet has risen and risen. George Herbert was born on the 3d April 1593, at the ancient seat of the family, Montgomery Castle, (Trefaldwyn), Powys, Wales.

George herbert metaphysical poems