HERBERT, EDWARD, Baron Herbert of Cherbury, who is commonly reckoned the first of the English deistical writers, was b. of a noble family in the year 1581, at Mont gomery castle, in north Wales. In his autobiography, he has described his early love for inquiry and his scrupulous truthfulness. He was sent to Oxford in his twelfth year, and before he had quite quitted his studies he married an heiress. On the occasion of the coronation of James I., lie was made a knight, and invested with vari ous offices. Although his marriage was happy enough, there appears to have been little warmth of affection between him and his wife, who was considerably older than him self. He left home, accordingly, for travel in France in 1608, and from this time resided very much abroad. In Paris, he lived on terms of intimacy with the constable Montmorency, Jean Casaubon, and other distinguished men. After a brief return to his native country, he set out again in 1610 for the low countries, where he joined the arms of the brave Maurice of Orange. For this prince he contracted a great affection, and again offered him his services in 1614. After a campaign, he traveled through Ger many and Italy on horseback, and went as far as Venice, Florence, and Home. On his return, he got into trouble from an attempt which he made to raise a troop of Protestant soldiers in Languedoc for the duke of Savoy. Shortly after, he returned to England, and proposed to devote himself to study and philosophical inquiry; but high and important diplomatic duties awaited him. He was made a member of the privy council, and sent to France as extraordinary ambassador. His aim was to promote the alliance between France and England, and he was so far successful that he Was appointed ordinary ambassador, and continued to reside at Paris. He tried, but with out much success, the difficult task of negotiation between Louis XIII. and. his Protes tant subjects. He was elevated first to be a peer of Ireland, and then in 1630, five years after the accession of Charles I., to be a peer of England, with the title of Baron
Herbert of Cherbury. When the civil war broke out, he appears to have acted with hesitation, at first siding with the parliament and then joining the king. His heredi tary scat, Montgomery castle, was attacked and burned. He died in London in the year 1648.
The character of Herbert, as depicted in his autobiography, is in the main that of a gallant adventurer, equally fired with the love of arms and of arts, at once a soldier and a scholar. He is the gay man of the world. always truthful, honorable, and high spirited; yet he has thoughts above those of the world; he ponders deeply the great questions of truth and religion, and has left us the result of his speculations in his two treatises. De Veritate and De Religione Gentillum. The reader will find an admirable analysis of the first and more important of these treatises in Hallam's Literary History. They are only interesting to the philosophical student, or to the inquirer into the history of religious opinion in England. Herbert's position at the fountain-hehd of English deism gives them a peculiar significance. He is far, however, from being skeptical, in the modern sense of the term. his speculations arc those of a philosophical dogmatist rather than of a critical inquirer. His arguments are abstract and deductive, and not analytical or negative. He offers solutions rather than starts difficulties or obtrudes negations; and in this respect Herbert is rightly reckoned the first of English deists, the writings of all of whom partake more or less of the same character; although it is not easy to trace any links of direct connection between him and the outburst of deistical literature in the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century.