Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Richd Hooker, George Herbert, | Page 9

But so it was; and let the Reader cease
to wonder, for affliction is a divine diet; which though it be not
pleasing to mankind, yet Almighty God hath often, very often, imposed
it as good, though bitter physic to those children whose souls are
dearest to him.
[Sidenote: At Drayton-Beauchamp]
And by this marriage the good man was drawn from the tranquillity of
his College; from that garden of piety, of pleasure, of peace, and a
sweet conversation, into the thorny wilderness of a busy world; into
those corroding cares that attend a married Priest, and a country
Parsonage; which was Drayton-Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire, not
far from Aylesbury, and in the Diocese of Lincoln; to which he was
presented by John Cheney, Esq.--then Patron of it--the 9th of December,
1584, where he behaved himself so as to give no occasion of evil, but
as St. Paul adviseth a minister of God--"in much patience, in afflictions,
in anguishes, in necessities, in poverty and no doubt in long-suffering;"
yet troubling no man with his discontents and wants.
[Sidenote: Res augusta domi]
And in this condition he continued about a year; in which time his two
pupils, Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer, took a journey to see their
tutor; where they found him with a book in his hand,--it was the Odes
of Horace,--he being then like humble and innocent Abel, tending his
small allotment of sheep in a common field; which he told his pupils he
was forced to do then, for that his servant was gone home to dine, and
assist his wife to do some necessary household business. But when his
servant returned and released him, then his two pupils attended him
unto his house, where their best entertainment was his quiet company,
which was presently denied them: for Richard was called to rock the
cradle; and the rest of their welcome was so like this, that they staid but
till next morning, which was time enough to discover and pity their

tutor's condition; and they having in that time rejoiced in the
remembrance, and then paraphrased on many of the innocent
recreations of their younger days, and other like diversions, and thereby
given him as much present comfort as they were able, they were forced
to leave him to the company of his wife Joan, and seek themselves a
quieter lodging for next night. But at their parting from him, Mr.
Cranmer said, "Good tutor, I am sorry your lot is fallen in no better
ground, as to your parsonage; and more sorry that your wife proves not
a more comfortable companion, after you have wearied yourself in your
restless studies." To whom the good man replied, "My dear George, if
Saints have usually a double share in the miseries of this life, I, that am
none, ought not to repine at what my wise Creator hath appointed for
me: but labour--as indeed I do daily--to submit mine to his will, and
possess my soul in patience and peace."
[Sidenote: Master of the Temple]
At their return to London, Edwin Sandys acquaints his father, who was
then Archbishop of York, with his Tutor's sad condition, and solicits
for his removal to some benefice that might give him a more quiet and
a more comfortable subsistence; which his father did most willingly
grant him when it should next fall into his power. And not long after
this time, which was in the year 1585, Mr. Alvey,--Master of the
Temple,--died, who was a man of a strict life, of great learning, and of
so venerable behaviour, as to gain so high a degree of love and
reverence from all men, that he was generally known by the name of
Father Alvey. And at the Temple-reading, next after the death of this
Father Alvey, he, the said Archbishop of York being then at dinner
with the Judges, the Reader, and the Benchers of that Society, met with
a general condolement for the death of Father Alvey, and with a high
commendation of his saint-like life, and of his great merit both towards
God and man; and as they bewailed his death, so they wished for a like
pattern of virtue and learning to succeed him. And here came in a fair
occasion for the Bishop to commend Mr. Hooker to Father Alvey's
place, which he did with so effectual an earnestness, and that seconded
with so many other testimonies of his worth, that Mr. Hooker was sent
for from Drayton-Beauchamp to London, and there the Mastership of
the Temple proposed unto him by the Bishop, as a greater freedom
from his country cares, the advantages of a better society, and a more

liberal pension than his country parsonage did afford him. But these
reasons were not powerful enough to incline him to a