HERBERT, Edward, Loan HERBERT OF CHERBURY, English philosopher: b. Eyton-on Severn. near Wroxeter, 1583; d. London, 20 Aug. 1648. He was a famous soldier and diplo matist in his day, but at the present is remem bered as an author and philosopher. At Paris, in 1624, he printed his famous book, Veri tate grout Distingintur a Revelatione, a Veri similt, a Possibilt et a Falco,' the object of which was to assert the sufficiency, universality, and perfection of natural religion, and thereby prove the uselessness of revelation. In 1624 he returned from France, and was created an Irish peer; and in 1629 became an English baron with the title of Lord Herbert of Cherbury. In the civil war he at first tried as far as possible to play a neutral part, but afterward sided with the Parliamentary party chiefly with a view, it appears, to save his property. The character of Lord Herbert is strongly marked in his memoirs, which show him to be vain, punctilious and fanciful, but open, generous, brave and dis interested. The We Veritate' was followed by works entitled We Causis Errorum' (1645) ; and 'De Religione Gentilium' (1663; Eng.
trans. 1709). In 1649 was published his 'Life and Reign of Henry VIII.' The English style of Lord Herbert is strong, manly and free from the quaint pedantry of his age. He was one of the first to attempt a systematic proof of the sufficiency of natural religion. <