Introduction

George Herbert’s Latin Prose: Orationes et Epistolae offers the first modern translation of the poet and orator’s complete Latin prose. F.E. Hutchinson’s Works of George Herbert included the original Latin orations and letters without translation, accompanied by explanatory notes. A new critical edition is merited for historical as well as literary reasons. Herbert’s Oration 3, delivered upon the return of Prince Charles and the Duke of Buckingham from Spain in 1623, appeared at a pivotal historical moment in Europe. Throughout these works Herbert’s learning is on full display and key to his meaning; this edition includes many new explanatory notes to help make that learning accessible to modern readers. Herbert’s official Latin letters on behalf of Cambridge University were addressed to the most important political and religious figures of his time in Great Britain, including King James I, the Duke of Buckingham, Secretary of State Robert Naunton, Chancellor Francis Bacon, Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, and Archbishop George Abbot. Herbert’s Latin prose speaks the language of the courtly “world of strife” that his devotional verse claimed to forsake.

Our only English rendering of Herbert’s complete Latin prose is by the Scottish clergyman Alexander Balloch Grosart, published in 1874. He did not have knowledge of Oration 2, delivered upon the departure of King James I from Cambridge. Grosart was an accomplished Latin scholar, and we refer readers to him for an English translation that hews close to what Herbert called “the venerable perfection of a periodic Latin sentence” (Letter 18). Our goal is to follow English idiom and word order more closely than Grosart, and to offer a readable twenty-first century English version. We sometimes divide sentences for clarity. We strive to be close in sense and tone to the original, correcting past errors and misattributions and identifying as many of Herbert’s previously unnoted allusions as possible. We hope to provide readers of Herbert with a clearer understanding of the poet-orator’s rhetorical strategies.

Unfortunately, only a small portion of Herbert’s Latin prose survives. Perhaps more of his Latin compositions will be found in some obscure corner of the Cambridge University archives or elsewhere. Most of the prose works included here were composed between Herbert’s initial appointment as Deputy Orator by Cambridge on October 21, 1619 and 1623. The following year, 1624, brought many changes, including Herbert’s election to Parliament. The letters to Robert Creighton (probably 1627) and Buckingham (probably 1618) are the likely exceptions. The three extant orations date from an eight-month period in 1623. We encounter considerable stylistic variety within his gracefully constructed and euphonious periodic sentences. These works are particularly valuable because we find in them many tropes and habits of mind that are also evident in his English and Latin poems.

Herbert’s letters are far simpler than his orations and less allusive, though just as courtly and flattering, particularly to the modern ear. In his advice in May of 1627 to Creighton, who takes up the duty of Orator from him, Herbert emphasizes the rhetorical nature of his correspondence: “Carefully consider less what it may be fitting for you to write and more what it is fitting for your pen to write for the University” (Letter 18). Accordingly, when Herbert writes letters praising learned books by learned men, his letters rely more heavily on wit and learning. The letters to King James and Francis Bacon on the presentation of their works to the Cambridge Library are among the richer and more allusive. Bacon was Herbert’s friend and literary collaborator, and passages in the letters to him sparkle with friendly playfulness. Some of the letters are not particularly witty or learned, but benefit from some historical annotation and scene setting, and our notes are few. For example, Herbert solicits the aid of the powerful on behalf of Cambridge University against those who would drain the fens feeding the rivers Cam and Ouse. King James hoped to decrease the flooding common to the low-lying area and increase its agricultural productivity and had appointed two agents to oversee the project, which did not move forward until after his reign...