| George Wither |
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| 1588 births | |
| wither, george | |
| 1667 deaths | |
| english poets | |
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Son of George Wither, of appeared his ''Faire- Virtue, The Mistresse of Phil Arete'', a long Panegyric of a mistress, partly real, partly allegorical, written chiefly in the seven-syllabled verse of which he was a master. Wither began as a moderate in politics and religion, but from this time his Puritan leanings became more and more pronounced, and his later work consists of religious poetry, and of controversial and political tracts. His ''Hymnes and Songs of the Church'' ( 1622 - 1623 ) were issued under a Patent of King James I ordaining that they should be bound up with every copy of the authorized metrical Psalm s offered for sale. This patent was opposed, as inconsistent with their privilege to print the singing-psalms, by the Stationers Company, to Withers great mortification and loss, and a second similar patent was finally disallowed by the House Of Lords . Wither was in London during the Plague of 1625 , and in 1628 published ''Britains Remembrancer'', a voluminous poem on the subject, interspersed with denunciations of the wickedness of the times, and prophecies of the disasters about to fall upon England. He also incidentally avenged Ben Jonson 's satire on him as the Chronomastix of Time Vindicated, by a reference to Bens drunken conclave. This book he was obliged to print with his own hand in consequence of his quarrel with the Stationers Company. In 1635 he was employed by Henry Taunton , a London publisher, to write English verses illustrative of the allegorical plates of Crispin Van Passe , originally designed for ''Gabriel Rollenhagens Nucleus emblematum selectissimorum'' ( 1610 - 1613 ). The book was published as a ''Collection of Embletnes, Ancient and Moderne'', of which the only perfect copy known is in the British Museum . The best of Withers religious poetry is contained in ''Heleluiah: or Britains Second Remembrancer'', which was printed in Holland in 1641 . Many of the poems rise to a high point of excellence. Besides those properly entitled to the designation of hymns, the book contains songs of singular beauty, especially the Cradle.. song ( Sleep, baby, sleep, what ails my dear ), the Anniversary Marriage Song ( Lord, living here are we ), the Perambulation Song ( Lord, it bath pleased Thee to say ), the Song for Lovers ( Come, sweet heart, come, let us prove ), the Song for the Happily Married ( Since the)~ in. singing take delight ) and that for a Shepherd (Renowned men their herds to keep). (Nos. 50 in the first part, 17 and 24 in. the second, and 20,21 and 41 in the third). There is also in. the second part a fine song (No. 59), full of historical as well as poetical interest, upon the evil times in which the poet lived, beginning Now are the times, these are the days Which will those men approve Who take delight in honest ways And pious courses love; Now to the world it will appear That innocence of heart Will keep us far more free from fear Than helmet, shield or dart. Wither wrote, generally, in a pure nervous English idiom, and preferred the reputation of rusticity (an epithet applied to him even. by Baxter) to the tricks and artifices of poetical style which were then in favor. It may be partly on that account that he was better appreciated by posterity than by his contemporaries. Wither had served as captain of horse in 1639 in the expedition of Charles I against the Scottish Covenanters , and his religious rather than his political convictions must be accepted as the explanation of the fact that, three years after the Scottish expedition, at the outbreak of the English Civil War , he is found definitely siding with the Parliament . He sold his estate to raise a troop of horse, and was placed by a parliamentary committee in command of Farnham Castle . After a few days occupation he left the place undefended, and marched to London . His own house near Farnham was plundered, and he himself was captured by a troop of Royalist horse, owing his life to the intervention. of Sir John Denham on the ground that so long as Wither lived he himself could not be accounted the worst poet in England. After this episode he was promoted to the rank of major. He was present at the siege of Gloucester ( 1643 ) and at Naseby ( 1645 ). He had been deprived in 1643 of his nominal command, and of his commission as Justice Of The Peace , in consequence of an attack upon Sir Richard Onslow , who was, he maintained, responsible for the Farnham disaster. In the same year parliament made him a grant of 2000 for the loss of his property, but he apparently never received the full amount, and complained from time to time of his embarrassments and of the slight rewards he received for his services. An order was made to settle a yearly income of 150 on Wither, chargeable on Sir John Denhams sequestrated estate, but there is no evidence that he ever received it. A small place given him by the Protector was forfeited by declaring unto him ( Oliver Cromwell ) those truths which he was not willing to hear of. At the Restoration he was arrested, and remained in prison for three years. He died in London. His extant writings, catalogued in ''Parks British Bibliographer'', number over a hundred. Sir S. E. Brydges published ''The Shepherds Hunting'' (1814), ''Fidelia'' (1815) and ''Fair Virtue'' (I8f8), and a selection I appeared in Stanford's ''Works of the British Poets'', vol. v. (i 819). Most of Withers works were edited in twenty volumes for the Spenser Society (1871-1882); a selection was included by Henry Morley in his ''Companion Poets'' (1891); ''Fidelia'' and ''Fair Virtue'' are included in Edward Arber's ''English Garner'' (vol. iv., 1882; vol. vi. 1883), and an excellent edition of ''The Poetry of George Wither'' was edited by F. Sidgwick in 1902. Among Algernon Swinburne 's ''Miscellanies'' there is an amusing account of a copy of a selection from Wither's poems annotated by Charles Lamb , then by Dr Nott, whose notes were the subject of further ruthless comment from Lamb. REFERENCES |
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