Edward Herbert
born March 3, 1583, Eyton-on-Severn,
Shropshire, Eng.
died Aug. 5, 1648, London
Baron Herbert Of Castle Island
English courtier, soldier, diplomat, historian,
metaphysical poet, and philosopher (“the father
of English Deism”), also remembered for his
revealing Autobiography.
Brother of the devotional poet George
Herbert, he was educated at Oxford. From 1608 to
1617 he campaigned in Holland and travelled in
France and Italy. He was ambassador at Paris for
five years and received Irish and English
peerages (1624, 1629) for his political
services.
De Veritate (“On Truth”) was published in
Paris in 1624. Thereafter he devoted himself to
philosophy, history, and literature. When the
Civil War broke out he lacked enthusiasm for
either cause; however, he opened Montgomery
Castle to the Parliamentary forces in 1644 and
met with severe criticism.
De Veritate was designed to establish
instructed reason as the safest guide in a
search for truth. Herbert examines freshly the
nature of truth and concludes that there are
five religious ideas that are God-given, innate
in the mind of man. They are the belief in a
Supreme Being, in the need to worship him, in
the pursuit of a pious and virtuous life as the
best form of worship, in repentance, and in
rewards and punishments in the next world.
Supplementary intuitions may be valid, but
Herbert virtually rejected revelation.
De Veritate was further elaborated in his De
Causis Errorum (“On the Causes of Errors”) and
De Religione Laici (“On the Religion of the
Laity”), published together in 1645; De
Religione Gentilium (1663; “On the Religion of
the Gentiles”); and A Dialogue Between a Tutor
and His Pupil (c. 1645; published 1768;
authorship disputed).
His works reflect the active and versatile
mind of a competent writer. The Autobiography,
ending at 1624, (published 1764), brings his
human qualities into focus: his social gifts,
adventurous spirit, studious bent, and worldly
wisdom. Proud of his military experience and
diplomatic skill, he nourished a crotchety
regard for his personal honour, resulting in
af-frays which he recalls with evident
satisfaction.
Herbert also wrote historical works,
including The Expedition to the Isle of Rhé
(Latin 1656; Eng. trans., 1860) and The Life and
Raigne of King Henry the Eighth (1649).
Occasional Verses (1665) shows him to have been
a talented and original poet as well.
