DR. DONNE'S PRAYERFUL PUN.
Dr. Donne, the Dean of St. Paul's, having married a lady of a rich and noble family without the consent of the parents, was treated with great asperity. Having been told by the father that he was to expect no money from him, the Doctor went home and wrote the following note to him: "John Donne, Anne Donne, undone." This quibble had the desired effect, and the distressed couple were restored to favour.
PREPARING FOR THE WORST AND BEST.
The historians of dissent record with pride the sedulous preparation of Dr. Marryat, a tutor who belonged to the Independent body, to make the best of either of the worlds to come. He was accustomed, we are told, to sit up at his studies two or three nights in the week, the whole year over. He learned by heart, at these times, the poets and prophets of the Old Testament, the Epistles and Apocalypse of the New; and what he had thus acquired, he sought to retain by careful recitation of them annually. He had begun to do this while he was yet a young man; when, "deeply convinced of his sinfulness and misery, he was afraid of falling into hell, and formed the resolution that if that should be the case, he would treasure up in his mind as much of the word of God as he possibly could, and carry it with him to the place of torment. When faith in his Redeemer afterwards communicated to his soul the peace and consolations of the gospel, he still continued the practice, that he might have a larger measure to carry to a better place."
GEORGE CRABBE, THE APOTHECARY POET.
Not the least distinguished among the names of doctors who have distinguished themselves in the world of literature, is that of George Crabbe. He was the son of the collector of salt dues at Aldborough, in Suffolk, where he was born on Christmas Eve, 1754. His father strove to give his children an education somewhat above their station in life; and George was kept at school at Bungay and Stowmarket till his fourteenth year—his comparative delicacy of constitution inducing his father to destine him to a gentler pursuit than those followed by his brothers. Leaving school, he was apprenticed to a country doctor, half farmer half physician, at Wickham Brook, near Bury St. Edmunds, where he shared the bed of his master's stable-boy. This and other désagrémens of the situation, however, did not suit Crabbe's likings or his father's honest pride; and in a couple of years he was removed, and placed with Mr. Page, a surgeon at Woodbridge, and a gentleman of family and taste. Here he found time and circumstances favouring to make his first essays in poetry; and in 1775 published his first work of consequence, Inebriety, a Poem: in three parts. At the expiry of his apprenticeship, Crabbe vainly tried to raise funds for a regular course of study in London, and had to content himself with settling down in his native village in a small practice as surgeon and apothecary; but this proving an insufficient source of income, he resolved to venture his fortunes in London, in dependence on his poetic talent. "With this view he proceeded to London; and after a year spent in that most trying of all situations, that of a literary adventurer without money and without friends—a situation from the miseries of which the unfortunate Chatterton, 'the wondrous boy,' escaped by suicide—when on the point of being thrown into jail for the little debts which he had unavoidably contracted, as a last resource, in an auspicious moment, he had applied to Edmund Burke for assistance, transmitting to him at the same time some verses as a specimen of his abilities. In these sketches Burke at once recognised the hand of a master. He invited the poet to Beaconsfield; installed him in a convenient apartment; opened up to him the stores of his library; watched over his progress, and afforded him the benefit of his taste and literary skill." "The Library" soon appeared, and Crabbe was famous. By Burke's advice he went into holy orders; he was appointed chaplain to the household of the Duke of Rutland, obtained ample Church preferment, and pursued his path to fame.
THE WAY TO PROMOTION.
Speed relates that Guymond, chaplain to Henry I., observing that for the most part ignorant men were advanced to the best dignities of the Church, one day, as he was celebrating divine service before the King, and was about to read these words out of St. James, "It rained not upon the earth iii years and vi months," read it thus: "It rained not upon the earth one-one-one years and five-one months." The king noticed the singularity, and afterwards took occasion to blame the chaplain for it. "Sire," answered Guymond, "I did it on purpose, for such readers, I find, are sooner advanced by your Majesty." The King smiled; and in a short time thereafter presented Guymond to the benefice of St. Frideswid's, in Oxford.
BOLD APPLICATION OF BOURDALOUE.
Louis Bourdaloue—who claims the proud distinction of being "the reformer of the pulpit and the founder of genuine pulpit eloquence in France"—was sent for by Louis XIV. to preach the Advent Sermon in 1670. Bourdaloue, at that time at the age of thirty-eight, acquitted himself before the Court with so much success, that he was for many years afterwards retained as a preacher at Court. He was called the King of Preachers, and the Preacher to Kings; and Louis himself said, that he would rather hear the repetitions of Bourdaloue, than the novelties of another. With a collected air, he had little action; he kept his eyes generally half closed, and penetrated the hearts of his hearers by the tones of a voice uniform and solemn. On one occasion he turned the peculiarity of his external aspect to account in a very memorable fashion. After depicting in soul-awakening terms a sinner of the first magnitude, he suddenly opened his eyes, and, casting them full on the King, who sat opposite to him, he cried in a voice of thunder, "Thou art the man!" The effect was magical, confounding. When Bourdaloue had made an end of his discourse, he immediately went, and, throwing himself at the feet of his Sovereign, said, "Sire, behold at your feet one who is the most devoted of your servants; but punish him not, that in the pulpit he can own no other master than the King of kings!" This incident was characteristic of Bourdaloue's style of preaching, for he gave his powers to attacking the vices, passions, and errors of mankind. In his later days he renounced the pulpit, and devoted himself to the care of hospitals, prisons, and religious institutions. He died in 1704; and his sermons have been translated into several tongues.