CHAPTER III.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 29, 22 December 1883, Page 5

CHAPTER 111.

The reader will have anticipated the result of these wanderings and conversations between a young man of genius and a susceptible young lady of fortune. Margaret had already learned to despise the fashions and frivolous occupations of the upper classos of society in those days, and she had resolved to estimate virtue and talent in a loftier light than that of an estate, which might pass from its indiscreet possessor at the gaming-table in one night, it was not surprising, therefore, that Margo ret More should entertain a favourable opinion of a young man of excellont character, and profor his company to that of a reckless scion of the aristocracy of opulence and doubtful pi apensltiea, and ->\ hose habits oi life were not in harmony with the modest pretensions of the Chancellor's secretary. In 1005, thoyoai'ofthefamousUunpowdcr Plot, John Donne and Margaret More were at York House, the Chancellor's London mansion, during the fashionablo season, and a stop— perhaps an imprudent one — brought the young people into serious trouble, and interfered materially with Donne's immediate prospects and happiness. John Donne and Margaret More made a brief, elopement, and were married at St. Paul's, Coront Garden, much to tho regret of Chancellor Ellesmere, and to the angov of Sir George More, who induced the Chancellor to discharge his willing secretary. Sir George protested that th& marriage was unlawful— that, in fact, it was no marriage, his daughter being a Catholic and Donne a Protestant. Tho young lady was takon from her husband, sent home, and confined for many months in a solitary room at Losoley Park. Thore she " pined in solitudo," and was only allowed occasional horns of freedom in chargo of a responsible person. Ponno was imprisoned in the King's Bench, whom he passed the following Christmas, employing his unsought leisure in writing somo of those quaint verges which tho late Dean Alford published a fow years since. Tho imprisoned scholar, howover, was not without interested friends, who espoused hi.s cause, and through whose influence- a tedious lawsuit resulted in his release. One of Donne's truest friends wa» Sii Francis Wuolley, a nephew of Sir George and first cousin to Lord EUesmero, and who geneiously offered a homo to Donne under Ins own roof at Pirford Manor House, and which Donne modestly accepted, he boing at that time without money and %\ithoub immediate prospects of employment. Indeed some of Donne's effusions written in Surrey clearly indicate that a dread of want clouded tho scholar.* sensitive mind. Donne's loving i and sympathising biographer, luaak Walton, ' wrote: — "Donne's sonows were lessened; and his wattfcx prevented by the seasonable courtesy of Jiis noble kinsman, Sir Francis ! Wolley, of Pirford, in Surrey." Sir Francis did more, than this : he succeeded in effecting a perfect reconciliation botucon Sir George More and Donne, in consequence of which Mrs Donne was permitted to join her husband auxl teside with him at Pirford House. At ' Sir J^iancis Wolley 's, Donne laboured hard in preparing himself for the sacrod office of a clergyman of the Established Church, for whicn office he was eminently qualified by his learning and disposition. I may mention, by the way, that Pirfovd House was one of the most splendid of Surrey mansions even in John Evelyn's time. In Evelyn s diary, August 23, lo'Bl, we find the following entry : " I was invited to Mr Denzil Onslow's, at his seat at Pirford, where was much company, and such an extraordinary feast, etc. This was tho same house in which Sir Francis Wolley entertained Donne and his wife. Tho site of this once-famous Manor House, the resort of kings and queens, and some of the wealthiest families in Great Britain, has passed away, and its site cannot with any degree of certainty be pointed out. The sounds of music and revelry, the glad dance and festivities of Christmastide, are all gone ; love - lighted eyes no longer sparkle in the light of beauty and fortune. The yule log do longer burns brightly in that once noted hall ; death and desolation have long since swept over it, and life, music, and merriment, with their charms and associations, are silent in the tomb of two centuries. On visiting the spot a few years ago, I found only a few rugged stones heaped one upon the other, which were all that remained of the lioncrowned gateway leading to Pirford Manor House. Sir Francis Wolley diedla comparatively young man in the year 1610, lamented by a large circle of: friends, and especially by the peasantry of Surrey,,, to whom he proved himself a practical friend, Hia rather unexpected death caused the breaking up of a home remarkable for liberality and seasonable enjoyments. John Donne and hi« young wife were compelled to seek pastures new, and rely more upon their own resources for the means oi. a respectable livelihood. They removed to a modest cottage, some twelve miles south of London, among the lavender-scented fields of Mitcham, noted, Bays Izaak Walton, "for good air and choice company." Sir George More, whose temper had undergone an agreeable change, allowed his daughter, Mrs Donne, an annuity of £80, ' while Donne added to his.uieans.by keeping a preparatory training school for the sons of noblemen.' It was said, that, when. n>uch needed, Donne received a Christmas-box from an anonymous friends," consisting of one' hundred, pounds ; the donor, it wag bejieved, was Donne's , old employer, Lord ' Ellesmere, with whom he had kept up a correspondence. t Having 'entered', into ,holy orders by.the advice of, friend^'wh.o.vere: desirous of sejrying.him, ho often^accoptedinvifcatfons from neighbouring"' clergymen ' to" preach in their respective churches until his' fame' for originality and happy turns of thought

roaohod tho metropolis, and, by spocial rovequost, ho preached before King James, who was so much gratiiiod that Donno was appointed proacher to the Honoural)le Society of Lincoln's Inn, and when lie hold tho living of St. Dunstan's in tho West, in 16*14, it Avas said, that among his listeners were Shakospere and Bacon, as well as hia admiring biographer and friend, Izaak Walton, the famous old angler, Donne was now rapidly rising 1 into public favour. Shakespere, comparatively unknown, had made a comfortable provision for his briof future- by tho porformaucG of his wonderful drama.s, unambitious of tho world's applause, seeking only tho peaco of the spirit on the banks of his native Avon, among- skirting elms and the wild flowers he loved so well. Donne had emerged from the comparative obscurity of years of struggle, and now possessed one of the best houses in tho neighbourhood of Lincoln's Inn, and was happy in the society of the woman who had given him the Christmas box when he was but a poor scholar. " The best pleasures of life," he said, " come through toil and suffering, and not by self-indul-gence and indolence. Talk of fame and romance— all tho glory and adventure of the world aro not worth one hour of U-ue domestic bliss." " Donne's industry and abilities iv his profession," wrote the genial angler, u wero so eminent, and he so well-known and beloved by persons of quality, that within the first year of his entering into sacred orders he had fourteen advowsons of several bentfices pi rented to him." King James said, '• I know Mr Donno is a learned man, has the abilities of a learned divine, and will prove a powerful preacher." Honco the King mado him Dean of St. Paul's. Donne, as tho eminent London preacher, was always of modest demeanour, af Fable and kind even to the poorest of his parishioners. He was systematic and regular in his habits of life. He was never wealthy, but, says his latent biographer — "It is wonderful how much his charity effected. To poor scholars he was was especially liberal, whoso means hindered their due progress in their studies. He used to walk about the prisons and look after the wants of poor debtors, and ho would at times set one and another at liberty by the payment of their debts." In the clays of Donne's prosperity, Sir George More suffered a sudden reverse of fortune, and the preacher-poet unhesitatingly rendered to him necessary assistance. Hence, in one of Donne's letters wo find these words : " I have lived to bo usoful and comfortable to my good father-in-law, Sir George More, whose patience God hath boen pleased to exercise with many temporal crosses. I have maintained my own mother, whom it hath pleased God, after a plentiful fortune in her younger days, to bring to a great decay in ; her very old age." I have only to add that Dr. John Donne died of consumption in tho autumn of 1(531, attended by the lady who gave him a Christmas box, who bent lovingly over him in his last moments, caught his last words and treasured them in her heart of hearts, "Thy will bo done, Thy Kingdom como."