A 17th-century English
philosopher, and would-be statesman and poet and soldier. As a philosopher, he had some influence, in
propounding a kind of
deism: away from the trappings of particular
religions, all have a concept of a
God who is
supreme, who seeks
worship, who rewards and punishes in an
afterlife, and so on, and that
virtue and
repentance are essential.
Born 3 March 1583, at Eyton in Shropshire, the brother of the much better poet George Herbert. He was made a Knight of the Bath in 1603, and from 1608 to 1618 travelled in Europe, having military adventures and seeing life. He became ambassador to France in 1619. His own autobiography is a ridiculously self-serving account of his virtues and excellences. His poetry was turgid. He constantly sought high rank and honours and was not above flattery beyond the call of duty. When the Civil War turned against him he was a harmless gentleman-philosopher; at other times he played the great courtier. He did manage to wangle the title of Lord Herbert of Cherbury in 1629. He died in 1648.
Works noded here include To Her Face, To Her Mind, To Her Body, Love's End, and Another Sonnet to Black Itself.
A Random Nodes nodeshell rescue.