The latter part of his life may be said to be a continued study; for as he usually preached once a week, if not oftener, so after his sermon he never gave his eyes rest till he had chosen out a new text, and that night cast his sermon into a form, and his text into divisions; and the next day betook himself to consult the Fathers, and so commit his meditations to his memory, which was excellent. But upon Saturday he usually gave himself and his mind a rest from the weary burthen of his week's meditations, and usually spent that day in visitation of friends or some other diversions of his thoughts; and would say, "that he gave both his body and mind that refreshment, that he might be enabled to do the work of the day following, not faintly, but with courage and cheerfulness.”

Nor was his age only so industrious, but in the most unsettled days of his youth his bed was not able to detain him beyond the hour of four in a morning; and it was no common business that drew him out of his chamber till past ten; all which time was employed in study, though he took great liberty after it. And if this seem strange, it may gain a belief by the visible fruits of his labors, some of which remain as testimonies of what is here written; for he left the resultance of fourteen hundred authors, most of them abridged and analysed with his own hand; he

left also six score of his sermons, all written with his own hand; also an exact and laborious treatise concerning self-murder, called "Biathanatos," wherein all the laws violated by that act are diligently surveyed and judiciously censured; a treatise written in his younger days, which alone might declare him then not only perfect in the civil and canon law, but in many other such studies and arguments, as enter not into the consideration of many that labor to be thought great clerks, and pretend to know all things.

Nor were these only found in his study, but all businesses that passed of any public consequence, either in this or any of our neighbour-nations, he abbreviated either in Latin, or in the language of that nation, and kept them by him for useful memorials. So he did the copies of divers letters and cases of conscience that had concerned his friends, with his observations and solutions of them, and divers other businesses of importance, all particularly and methodically digested by himself.

He did prepare to leave the world before life left him, making his will when no faculty of his soul was damped or made defective by pain or sickness, or he surprised by a sudden apprehension of death; but it was made with mature deliberation, expressing himself an impartial father by making his children's portions equal, and a

lover of his friends, whom he remembered with legacies fitly and discreetly chosen and bequeathed. I cannot forbear a nomination of some of them; for, methinks, they be persons that seem to challenge a recordation in this place; as, namely, to his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Grimes, he gave that striking clock which he had long worn in his pocket; to his dear friend and executor, Dr. King (late Bishop of Chichester), that model of gold of the Synod of Dort, with which the States presented him at his last being at the Hague, and the two pictures of Padre Paolo and Fulgenzio, men of his acquaintance when he travelled Italy, and of great note in that nation for their remarkable learning. To his ancient friend, Dr. Brook (that married him), Master of Trinity College in Cambridge, he gave the picture of the blessed Virgin and Joseph. To Dr. Winniff (who succeeded him in his deanery) he gave a picture called "The Skeleton." To the succeeding dean, who was not then known, he gave many necessaries of worth, and useful for his house; and also several pictures and ornaments for the chapel, with a desire that they might be registered and remain as a legacy to his successors. To the Earls of Dorset and Carlisle he gave several pictures, and so he did to many other friends; legacies, given rather to express his affection, than to make any addition to

their estates. But unto the poor he was full of charity, and unto many others, who, by his constant and long-continued bounty, might entitle themselves to be his alms-people; for all these he made provision, and so largely, as, having then six children living, might to some appear more than proportionable to his estate. I forbear to mention any more, lest the reader may think I trespass upon his patience; but I will beg his favor to present him with the beginning and end of his will.

"In the name of the blessed and glorious Trinity, amen. I, John Donne, by the mercy of Christ Jesus, and by the calling of the Church of England, priest, being at this time in good health and perfect understanding (praised be God therefore), do hereby make my last will and testament, in the manner and form following:

"First, I give my gracious God an entire sacrifice of body and soul, with my most humble thanks for that assurance which his blessed Spirit imprints in me now of the salvation of the one, and the resurrection of the other; and for that constant and cheerful resolution which the same Spirit hath established in me to live and die in the religion now professed in the Church of England. In expectation of that resurrection, I desire my body may be buried in the most private

manner that may be, in that place of St. Paul's church, London, that the now residentiaries have at my request designed for that purpose, &c. And this my last will and testament, made in the fear of God (whose mercy I humbly beg, and constantly rely upon in Jesus Christ), and in perfect love and charity with all the world (whose pardon I ask, from the lowest of my servants, to the highest of my superiors), written all with my own hand, and my name subscribed to every page, of which there are five in number.

"Sealed Decemb. 13, 1630."

Nor was this blessed sacrifice of charity expressed only at his death, but in his life also, by a cheerful and frequent visitation of any friend whose mind was dejected, or his fortune necessitous; he was inquisitive after the wants of prisoners, and redeemed many from prison that lay for their fees or small debts; he was a continual giver to poor scholars, both of this and foreign nations. Besides what he gave with his own hand, he usually sent a servant, or a discreet and trusty friend, to distribute his charity to all the prisons in London, at all the festival times of the year, especially at the birth and resurrection of our Saviour. He gave a hundred pounds at one time to an old friend, whom he had known live plentifully, and by a too liberal heart and