SOURCE: Hensley, Charles S. “The Tireless Pamphleteer.” In The Later Career of George Wither, pp. 105-43. The Hague: Mouton, 1969.

[In the following excerpt, Hensley traces Wither's political and religious beliefs as they appear in the pamphlets he authored after 1642.]

I'le use all good and likely means I may:
Sing, when it lasteth; when it faileth, pray:
That, though from me my Foes the out-works win,
I may secure the Fortresses within,
And, in the mean space, neither be perplext
Or scared, to think, who will enslave me next:
For, he that trusts to an internal aid,
Of no external Pow'r need be afraid.

Furor Poeticus

After 1642 Wither's work takes on an increasing note of desperation. When his considerable popularity with the puritan middle-classes began to wane in the early 1630's, he began to consider his many oppressions, including two more imprisonments, and the virtual neglect of his “remembrances” in later years, increasing evidence of martyrdom.¹ He tirelessly poured troubled thoughts and frustrations, still couched in simple language with a growing indifference to style, into literary molds commonly employed in the period. Believing his countrymen were more and more departing from the ideal of “inner reform” as basis for all enlightened conduct, Wither demonstrated ingenuity in such varied genres as the dream-vision and the “sessions of the poets” burlesque. A few others, like the political news-sheet, poetical paradox, and devotional exercise, he essayed with real success.²

Almost all details of biography after 1642 are found in his works or in public records of the period 1642-1667, such as Journals of the House of Commons, Calendar of State Papers, Court and Times of Charles I. Wither apparently remained in Hampshire and Surrey until 1660, suffered his final imprisonment in London (1660-1663), where he died May 2, 1667. Besides the numerous prophetic, humanistic, political, and religious works Wither composed after 1642, at least eighteen others deal mainly (and about ten partially) with personal oppressions, financial losses sustained when his estate near Farnham was plundered by Royalists in 1642 or when “delinquent” property granted him by the Parliament was later reclaimed by clergy and others in 1660. Since the poet's many petitions to Parliament dealing with his complicated financial affairs, along with the government's total payments to Wither, have been thoroughly examined by J. Milton French, they will not be re-examined here.³ We have already indicated in the two previous chapters that most of Wither's prophetic works and all but one of his humanistic studies occupy the period 1635-1667; however, the greatest number (over forty-five) of authentic publications during these years declare wholly or in part political and religious counsels to the nation. Divided into three sections, this final chapter traces the development of Wither's political views and examines his religious convictions in relation to military duty and civil service, from the out-break of the Civil Wars through the early Restoration. We shall again note recurring themes and permanent beliefs.

I

Wither first expresses the essential moderation of his political and religious views in Britain's Remembrancer in the late 1620's.⁴ His lack of strict partisanship, incredible as it first appears considering the bulk and range of publications, military and other services for the Parliament, cannot really be overemphasized in any serious effort to grasp the motivation for his political and religious opinions. During the endless disputes of the 1640's over crucial issues of royal versus parliamentary prerogative (and later strictly-limited versus almost complete toleration for dissenters), the poet's via media position is fundamental. It actually serves as the means to his end—finding out truth in the chaos of conflicting opinion. This consistent advocation of via media largely explains his tendency to stand above faction or sect in the bitter controversies that rocked church and state for more than twenty years. His insistence on moderation is most emphatically declared at the close of Opobalsamum Anglicanum (1646) following denunciation of disloyal members of Commons who only appear to serve the Parliament. The writer

protesteth he is neither for, or against the Presbyterians, Independents, Scots, English, King, Parliament, Members, or People, more or less, than according as he (in his judgment and conscience) thinks it may conduce to the wrong or right way, form, or toward the truth of God, and the peace of the Kingdom.⁵

This characteristic point of view persists through the early Restoration. Again, he protests in Paralellogrammaton (1662), “I am neither for, nor against the Power of Kings or the Privileges of the People, further than they are agreeable to the Laws of God and Nature.”⁶ Even when the poet sometimes sees it through jaundiced eyes, his sincere regard for truth redeems somewhat the querulous tone, monotonous content, and maudlin self-pity of several of his political and religious writings.

Wither's devotion to abstract truth when party factions were indeed running overboard is an admirable facet of his courageous individualism. It also reveals an increasing sophistication and maturity. This preoccupation now with basic, universal moral-ethical principles was likely generated by humanistic studies, as we have already suggested. The poet's few references to contemporary leaders or to crucial events suggesting a remoteness despite active participation seem to me deliberate, the result of wanting to examine relative merits of his party's conduct with philosophic detachment. Now perhaps this “remoteness” results from his consistent avoidance of personalities after suffering his first imprisonment for the offensive, libelous allusions to Northampton and other great worthies in Abuses. While stressing Wither's via media between Parliamentarian and Royalist extremes, we must also urge that he was neither Puritan or Laudian in the narrow sense of these labels. Eager to pursue moderation to its ideal, what is more natural than the poet's pleasing no political faction or individual (Cromwell, for example) long and ultimately alienating both?⁷ As we examine his political and religious views in their development, we shall note that this impressive moderation arises from Wither's lifelong faith in the primacy of “inner reform” as the chief step in social improvement. For this reason we can examine them as a unit.

To what degree is Wither a puritan? How well does this loose (and in the twentieth century opprobrious) word fit him? Inevitably, his political and religious moderation must be squared with his unique variety of puritanism. The word puritan enjoyed a more precise (if frustrating) inconclusiveness in the seventeenth century than it does today. It then denominated in the broadest sense a particular body of protestant religious beliefs and particular social-moral attitudes of distinct economic groups (such as middle-class merchants) without regard to church membership. For our purposes one basic difference between various puritan sects and Anglicans turns on the crucial matter of fallen man's relation to God. Puritans tend to feel that God's real presence is dynamic and immediate (here one recalls Bunyan's vivid Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners) while Anglicans apprehend Him less directly, more calmly though no less really through symbolical, set patterns of worship. For the puritan these ceremonies and rituals of older Catholic Christianity (no matter how colorful and traditional) simply stand between creature and his Creator. On their side Anglicans (and certainly Roman Catholics) felt that puritans too narrowly conceived of God as an Old Testament Jehovah of righteousness and punishment and not also a God of beauty, joy, and intellectual light.⁸

Throughout this study we have noted Wither's belief in man's corrupt nature, his adherence to the Bible in faith and conduct, and his stubborn individualism as distinct puritan traits. At the same time we cannot dismiss him as a naive throughgoing puritan because of his zeal for moderation in political change, toleration for all sects agreeing at least on essentials of faith, and finally his lifelong Anglican insistence on freedom of the will, denial of predestination, and use of reason in apprehending matters of faith. Where his puritanism chiefly manifests itself is in earnest convictions about human nature and experience, in his philosophy of life.

Wither's sense of responsibility for remedying the flagrant evils of man's unregenerate conduct certainly typifies the puritan temperament. A. S. Woodhouse's observation that “zeal for positive reform is one of the most consistent and indisputable notes of puritanism” fits Wither's case exactly.⁹ At the close of his life the poet was more sadly convinced than in youth that man's nature is basically evil. Actually his transferred zeal from social critic (via satire) to moral reformer (via prophecy) soundly measures his darkening puritanism. Related to this conviction is another that recurs with unrelenting emphasis: full utilization of manifest God-given talents. Allowing for Wither's obvious vanity, this impulse extends beyond mere self-edification and gratuitous psychological release. We have already shown how for him “discharging his conscience” becomes a sober charge and the writing of poetry, in particular, a sacred calling. Almost like Milton in humanistic attitude, Wither believed that the chosen man's intellectual efforts (including the writing of poetry) revealed the divine spirit. Still convinced as he had been in youth that observation and learning must be put to edifying use he protests in 1653 that the Muses must be actively instructive where there is ignorance. For him it is yet another chance to redeem the exalted office of poetry now much debased.¹⁰ Fully persuaded until death that his “remembrances” were “infused with God's word and spirit”, Wither pursued his mission of “inner reform” with incredible single-mindedness and stamina despite indifference, contempt, and five imprisonments. What better testimony of puritan reforming zeal than this familiar story?

No earlier critic has stressed the degree of psychological release Wither gains by reiteration in the manner of Old Testament prophets. Over and over he confesses that the purges troubled thoughts, misgivings about his mission, and strengthens personal resolves by expression.¹¹ The political and religious writings after 1642 clearly illustrate this aspect of his unique protestant individualism. Wither also employs puritan plainness of style as the best means to serve that expression. Two aspects of style that we have already discussed in Chapter I operate most effectively after 1642. In either verse or prose he continues to use plain, simple diction (no hard words like Graecisms and few Latinisms) favored by puritan tract writers and particularly by the Levellers. Another conspicuous puritan trait is his recurring habit of employing Biblical parallel for contemporary leaders and incidents. Among many other works, Paralellogrammaton (not just for its aptness of title) most fully and clearly illustrates this practice. By use of extended Biblical quotation and allusion, the poet obliquely declares that the gross sinfulness of the English nation parallels (and in some respects exceeds) that of the ancient Israelites.¹² Earlier in A Cordial Confection (1659), he deplores the fact that

our friends are typified in their friends, adversaries and confederates; we have their obstinacy, doting on tradition and of our customs; we persecute as they did our prophets, we prefer present profit (and a temporal Kingdom) before a spiritual, we have our devoted factions, as they did and would persecute Christ as quickly as they did.¹³

There are two other rather familiar puritan points of view that Wither does not much share with contemporaries. These are the strict notion of God as an exacting, vindictive Old Testament patriarch, and the zeal to remodel the state according to scriptural pattern. Such strictly literal or primitive views are generally foreign to him. Instead, he most often urgently “remembers” readers of God's mercy and love along with His justice and “mild yoke”.¹⁴ Wither's realistic approach to (and practical knowledge of) the many problems of government rule out his wish to impose a primitive system of church government on the relatively advanced society of his time. Two points are perhaps worth stressing before we proceed: Wither's attitude toward life most meaningfully delineates him as puritan and the fact that his moderation in political and religious thought tempers his puritan views in an individual manner.

II

We have already noted that Wither was a loyal, devoted supporter of the Stuarts until the outbreak of the Civil Wars. In Britain's Remembrancer composed at the beginning of Charles's reign, the poet firmly defends the King's prerogative against a disaffected Parliament, urges all subjects' obedience to the monarch, at the same time admonishes the King against hypocritical, self-seeking courtiers.¹⁵ His continuing allegiance to the Royalists is demonstrated by service under the Earl of Arundel in Charles's expedition against the Scottish Covenanters in 1639. Yet when hostilities erupted into open war between Cavaliers and Roundheads in 1642, he felt his sympathies and loyalties very much divided. A lover of domestic peace and civil concord who saw members of the same family armed against each other, he deeply laments the needless suffering caused by war. He also deplores the senseless disruption of agriculture and trade, the higher cost of living for a nation already impoverished by excessive taxation.¹⁶ After much soul-searching (and pondering Lord Butler's promise of half of his estate if he joined the Royalists)¹⁷ Wither by 1641 concluded that the Parliamentary was for him the more “righteous” cause and henceforth resolved to serve it tirelessly (if often tiresomely) with sword and pen. Recognition of Wither's roles as soldier, political-pamphleteer-remonstrant, and magistrate during the Civil Wars, Commonwealth and Protectorate (1642-1660), provides an insight into his sincere zeal for public service during one of the most troubled yet crucial epochs of English history.

Wither's military service for the Parliamentary cause apparently extended from early 1642 through 1645. Declaring himself the “first of those / Who did contribute to my Countrie's aid”, in his area of Hampshire, he financed a cavalry troop for the Parliament.¹⁸ On October 14, 1642, he was named Captain and Commander of Farnham Castle under Sir Richard Onslow and Nicolas Stoughton. With his own body of foot and horse under the unimpeachable motto “Pro Rege, Lege, Grege”, the poet was commanded to “governe, exercise, and order the said Castle and Forces with all faithfulness and care”.¹⁹ Because of the number and nature of local skirmishes at the time, large manor houses and fortified castles were commonly made strongholds to house fifty to a hundred soldiers. Farnham Castle, first captured by Sir William Waller, was typical of these.²⁰Se Defendendo (1643) gives the fullest details of Wither's military service, along with an account of personal responsibility at Farnham.

Writing to silence scandalous rumors about his alleged desertion at Farnham after a brief tenure, Wither blames Onslow and the penny-pinching “good husbands of the Publique” for failing to provide him sufficient soldiers, provisions, and arms. With understandable indignation, he details his zealous efforts to succeed in this assignment. With two squadrons of half-armed troops, he reports that on the first day he dug a well, stabled his horses, cleared grounds about the castle, and then began to construct a sally-port and palisades. After receiving only promises of aid from Onslow, Wither redoubled requests for ammunition when his soldiers began to desert to the enemy nearby. At this point he was ordered to abandon the Castle and march to London with his few remaining troops. Wither was finally given a warrant for artillery from the Tower, only to discover this order countermanded when news reported that the Royalists were at that moment approaching Farnham. He next outlined to the committee his plans for recruiting soldiers on returning to the country by feeding them from personal stores of wheat, malt, cheese, beef, and bacon. For this generous offer Wither found himself summarily discharged from command at the Castle.²¹

It is possible that Wither did in fact exaggerate the importance of this command. It is certainly ironic that at this very time his dogged sense of loyalty to the Parliament prompted an act of real courage.²² On the evening of his hasty return aided by household servants Wither retrieved in two wagons a cache of ammunition stored at the rear of the Castle. Securing it from the enemy only four miles away and from “Malignant” townsmen close by, he and his party stealthily conveyed the cache to Kingston just in the nick of time. However, during absence his nearby estate was thoroughly plundered by Royalists. Shortly thereafter they were victualing their troops at the Castle from Wither's cellars, pantries, and granaries!²³ Along with an account of personal losses sustained in his Farnham command, Se Defendendo scornfully denounces those accusing him and his men of doubling losses from “delinquent” estates, asserts that in following the parliamentary order literally he has not taken so much “as the bare interest of my damages”. We can sympathize with his bitter observation that he has shown “more care to the Publike than to my private Estate”.²⁴ Although we have no valid reason to doubt his accounting of financial losses, we might question the prudence of fulfilling obligations of a counter order especially when this involved forsaking his own estate now encircled by Royalists. The first phase of Wither's military service ended not only with great material loss but with virtual ignominy and personal frustration as well.

Further references to Wither's career as a soldier are scattered, unspecific, and somewhat ambiguous. In November, 1642, he was assigned “police duty” in Kent, and his forces met those of Prince Rupert at Crowell near Chinnar on June 18, 1643. On the march of the Parliamentary forces to Gloucester during August and September, 1643, Wither's alleged cowardice was said to be the “ridicule of his troop”. Despite this, he remained in the Parliamentary army. He speaks proudly of eyewitnessing the siege of Gloucester and quite probably fought in that battle.²⁵ On August 7, 1644, he was appointed a colonel of forces raised in the East and Middle Divisions of Surrey. However, when the militia was remodeled shortly thereafter, he blamed losing this post on the grudge Sir Richard Onslow felt against him after the Farnham Castle debacle.²⁶ Wither was also (he declares) an eyewitness at the battle of Naseby, fought June 14, 1645, where Charles suffered his worst defeat to date by losing more than 1,000 slain and at least 5,000 taken prisoner.²⁷ Though we have no clear evidence of the poet's military duty after 1645 (he suffered his third imprisonment in 1646 for libelling Sir Richard Onslow), it is quite possible that he fought under General Michael Jones, who overcame Royalist forces at Rathmines, near Dublin, on August 2-3, 1649.²⁸

We have noted that during the period from 1642-1660 Wither also served the Parliamentary government as civil-magistrate in a number of offices. In 1643, he was appointed Justice of the Peace for Surrey, a post he lost three years later probably because of his blunt-spoken attack on Sir Richard Onslow in 1646.²⁹ Despite critics, Wither's career as a civil-servant thrived better after the formation of the Commonwealth. He was made Justice of the Peace for Hampshire on May 6, 1650, was later appointed a Commissioner for Sale of the late King's Goods on October 10, 1651.³⁰ In July of 1655, the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, granted him a clerkship in the Statute Office, occupied through October 23, 1658.³¹ In addition to these offices that Wither actually held, we know certainly of his recommendation to a number of others. These include a governorship of the Summer Islands (1645), a position in the Custom House at Dover (1647), a post as Commissioner of Wine Licenses (1648), and that of Register in the Court of Chancery.³² Although it is true that some of these positions and recommendations were of minor consequence, they do reflect friends' and colleagues' opinions of his worthiness for civil-service.

By contrast to meager, vague, and confusing details about Wither's military career, his flood of pamphlets, both his public and private complaints during the period 1642-1660, provide a clear, unambiguous defense of the Parliamentary cause. Besides defending the Parliamentary or republican government theoretically, he also provides specific advice about how it can operate to the best interest of all parties during the Interregnum.

In reducing Wither's political beliefs to the notion that kings ought not to be tyrannous and Parliament unexacting, Samuel Gardiner oversimplified Wither's political creed into making him simple-minded.³³ Until 1648 Wither insists on opposing royal prerogative with patient moderation. After Prosopopoeia Britannica, published less than a year before the King's beheading on January 30, 1649, he solemnly concludes that the people's liberties can be preserved only by laying aside the King. What are the steps in between these extreme positions? Wither's recurring conviction, first declared in Campo-Musae (1643), is that Charles I has been grossly misled by false, ambitious counselors. He contends, however, that the King can do no wrong in his official, public acts since they derive from the will of the governed expressed through parliamentary law:

          In publike Acts, The King can do no wrong,
          Because, unto his Counsell they belong.
The King can do no wrong, as he is King;
For God ordained, and men did intend,
Him, not to hurt, or plague on them to bring,
But, for their good, and good men to defend.
The King, as King, can do no wrong; because
He can do nothing, but, what he may do
According to divine, and humane Lawes;
And, what the publike-peace invites him to.
The King can do no wrong; because what ere
He doth as King, is never duely done,
But, by some publike Vote or Officer
Or, they consenting, if he act alone.
          For all he doth, whence any wrong proceeds,
          Are not his Royall, but his private deeds.(34)

Clearly, in Wither's view, any wrong a king does stems from his private acts; therefore, un-kinglike laws and oppressions subjects are obliged neither to suffer nor obey. Charles's ambitious favorites have cost the loyal support of his “well-affected” subjects. These vain, false courtiers have abetted the King's secret alignment with continental popish powers and persuaded him to ignore rank abuses in the Church.³⁵ Two years later, Wither still declares for moderation in Vox Pacifica (1645). He now advocates reconciliation with the King. In a solemn, eloquent prayer he begs God to preserve Charles from self-caused misfortunes, and the nation not to raise a hand against his person.

Thou know'st O God! that, not a hand of ours
Is rais'd against his Person, or his Seed;
Or, to diminish and Royall pow'r,
Which to discharge his Office he may need.
Or, for due honour. But we rather fight
(as he would know, if undeceived he were)
To save his Dignitie, to do him right,
And, keep him from Destruction drawing neare.
Thou know'st, we no offensive War intended;
Nor, armed came, for any private Cause,
But, as our dutie binds, to have defended
The Truth, our Countries Liberties, and Lawes:
          And to remove the wicked from the Throne,
          What he may rule, with righteousness thereon.(36)

Wither's loyalist convictions here coincide with general views of the Presbyterians early in the war on the need to admonish, discipline, yet not destroy the King and the monarchy.³⁷

Even after the King's intrigues with the Irish and French Catholics had been plainly revealed (when his cabinet of private papers was captured after the battle of Naseby), the poet still insisted, like many of his conservatively-minded countrymen, on patience and moderation in dealing with Charles. While Wither pleads for reconciliation with a reformed sovereign, he urges Parliament in Opobalsamum Anglicanum (1646) to prosecute the King in a just, legal manner for a particular reason:

For, though the Kings late failings do exceed,
And, though God, peradventure, hath decreed,
To cast both him and His, down from the Throne,
Or, do to him, as justly he hath done
To many Kings and Tyrants; yet this Nation
Hath hitherto, received no Revelation
Of such a purpose; nor command, that they
Should cast him, of their own accord, away.
And, therefore, very wisely doth our State
Gods own proceeding seek to imitate,
In prosecuting him and his offences,
As God doth us, in our impenitences;
That, if the King, still frowardly go on,
He, by own Designes, may be undone,
And, God himselfe remove him: So, shall we
Of our own sufferings, no avengers be,
Ought further, then good conscience, and our lawes,
May justifie our progresse in the Cause.(38)

As Britain's “remembrancer”, Wither has seen no clear, divine command for the people to remove Charles. Far better that the King's frowardness prompt God to remove him. Just before the outbreak of hostilities again in 1647, Wither is convinced that the Long Parliament must remain patient for a while longer. Further expectation of the King's belated repentance will partly absolve them from subsequent blame.

In 1648 after Pride's Purge ruled out the possibility of reconciliation of Parliament with Charles, Wither's position changed. He now firmly admonishes the King to a speedy repentance. At the same time, he more urgently warns the Parliament not to grow careless of her self-preservation and salus populi in undue concern for the King's rights. For example, in Prosopopoeia Britannica (1648), where Wither voices his strongest indictment against the King, he charges Parliament with the responsibility of seeing whether or not Charles (like Absalom against David) can possibly repent. Heeding the advice of “Britain's Genius”, the poet recalls to the King the many misfortunes he has brought on subjects and himself by pride, duplicity, irresponsibility, and overconfidence in worthless favorites. He should particularly recall God's punishment of tyrannical kings. If he repents soon, God will certainly preserve his house; if not, if he defers too long, he must expect King Belshazzar's fate. Wither goes on to declare that the King and the Royalists have destroyed subjects' traditional rights in many ways: by raising illegal taxes, favoring monopolies, removing from citizens their means of defense (i.e. making the price of gunpowder prohibitive), ignoring flagrant dishonesty of judges in the King's hire, sending to Germany for mercenaries, “innovating” in Scottish affairs, disobeying the law by keeping a papal nuncio at Court, and finally pretending to make peace (after 1645) while actually preparing for further war.³⁹ In the poet's reiterated pleas to the King and his family to repent sins against their subjects, one in particular illustrates Wither's fearless plain speaking.

Beseeching the King to recall his father's sins against subjects, Wither “remembers” Charles of the mysterious circumstances of James's death in 1625. Why were not official reports of Court physicians Eglesham and Ramsey “seconded” (or confirmed) by royal ministers, including of course the Duke of Buckingham, Charles' favorite?⁴⁰ It seems clear that Wither yet considers Charles his true sovereign whom he hopes to reclaim. Here he boldly puts public above private welfare and safety in raising this ugly suspicion. In his maddeningly persistent way Wither tried to reform the King until the last.⁴¹ One really vehement denunciation of Charles appears in The British Appeals written to memorialize the first anniversary of his beheading. He asserts that the King's fall has become the nation's happiness, that the nation must thank God for ridding her of a tyrant who ruled chiefly by “will and pleasure”. At length Wither was forced to admit the inevitable.

Having little hope of any practicable compromise between King and Parliament by 1648, Wither now reluctantly accepts the sanction of necessity for Parliamentary forces holding reins of power under Cromwell. Here again, we can trace the development of this conviction back at least to 1642.

When the King and Cavaliers took up arms against subjects, the poet believed that Parliament, as the only legally constituted authority, should assume supreme power in the national emergency. Even though Wither chose the Parliamentary as the more righteous cause, he still had to resolve within his own conscience, because of lifelong unswerving loyalty to the Stuarts (and divine right), the question of possible disobedience to God, King, and the nation. In Campo-Musae, written at the close of the first year of hostilities, the poet emphatically asserts that Parliament does not (despite detractors' charges) favor “Sects, or Schismes” but rather “Law, and true Religion”. He defends also Parliament's refusal to levy illegal taxes to satisfy the King's endless demands for money. Even more significant is his eloquent declaration that both the creation of laws and the King are unquestionably the people's rights, and furthermore that if laws take these rights away or “stretcheth so the King's Prerogative” that he oppresses his subjects, they are obliged to right that wrong sense of law with the utmost of their power.⁴² Wither's conclusion that the King is essentially the servant of the people is most impressively stated, however, in Speculum Speculativum, written on the eve of the Restoration. His notions of divine right have mellowed considerably:

The Essence of a Kingly Interest
Doth in, and by the Common good consist,
Ev'n in the whole, and not in any part
(Although as noble as the Head or Heart)
And to indulge ought further then it shall
Tend really unto the good of all,
Destroys the whole, turns Royalty to Faction,
And breeds at length a general Distraction:(43)

After the crushing defeat of the Cavaliers at Naseby (1645) and the prominent emergence of the Independents and the Army after 1647, the increasingly united power of Parliament commanded the loyal obedience of a great part of the nation. In efforts to rid the country of the evils of absolute monarchy, however, the Parliament was forced to assert the sanction of necessity to defend its greater power and responsibility against both political and religious opponents. Wither then refutes the notion of divine right and calls it a blasphemy against God, who in Biblical and in later ages destroyed tyrannical kings. In Prosopopoeia Britannica (1648) he admits that a ruler can exercise arbitrary power during time of war, but he particularly deplores the King's maltreating subjects during peacetime. He firmly concludes that neither by time-honored tradition nor by conquest can any king practice divine right.⁴⁴ Two years later in Respublica Anglicana, Wither argues for the sanction of necessity more strongly. To the charge that the Parliamentary government is essentially a military dictatorship, to which right-thinking citizens cannot pay a sincere loyalty, he affirms that all governments at their beginning have been forced to exercise autocratic powers. For him, reformation maintained by the sword is no more unlawful in England than in Holland, France, or Germany.⁴⁵

The poet's imprisonment in 1646, almost fruitless petitions to the government for repayment of his losses, growing disappointment with the Cromwellian settlement because of failure to realize its leaders' aspirations to any important degree (and to honor as well as repay patriots zealous in the cause) hardened his convictions about the sanction of necessity. At the close of the Interregnum, Wither expressed these views in most detail and objective form in A Cordial Confection (1659). Composed from a paper earlier presented to Oliver Cromwell, the poet cites the “concomitant circumstances” that sanction any government's “irregular acts”. In summary, deviations from the status quo (presumably order) include:

• (a) An “unfeigned and apparent necessity for deviating from Rule and Order …”.
• (b) Such deviations must preserve a “nobler Interest, Authority and Command” than is now violated.
• (c) Departures from order must be motivated without self-interest and pursued in good faith.
• (d) There must be “Warrantable examples in Scripture” of similar deviations.
• (e) The leader founding a new government must have qualifications for his undertaking: both an “outward” (civil or military) and an “extraordinary” (divine) calling.
• (f) Such a leader must also manifest “visible power of action” indicating he can accomplish his part of the enterprise.
• (g) The leader's acts must be without “Envy, Hatred, Malice, or a revengeful mind.”
• (h) The leader must also be willing to resign himself to God's will, to suffer and pay the penalty for the “irregularity” if the enterprise fail.
• (i) After his enterprise is accomplished, the leader in respect for order, must quickly restore the government to its former condition.

• (pp. 12-13)

In justifying “irregular acts” by this bill of particulars Wither really hoped to welcome some new regime after the collapse of the Protectorate. He reiterates that at all times and places governments have simply “derived from the sword”. In his conviction that Necessity must operate at times of national crisis, he employs an “exemplary precedent” reminiscent of The Modern Statesman, published only six years earlier. We recall that the Romans sometimes created a dictator to settle their country's warring factions; in the same manner Parliament has rightly made Oliver Cromwell Protector over a military state.⁴⁶ Wither again applies his continuing humanistic studies to responsible political advice.

One last consideration basic to Wither's defense of the Parliamentary power calls for re-emphasis largely because of his reiteration. We have noted that over and over he stresses that the health of any body politic is only so good as that of its members, both leaders and supporters. Again, it is the premise that private morality strengthens (if not insures) public morality. Inner reform of institutions (like the monarchy or Parliament) can never really happen before individuals and groups reform themselves. It recalls that enlightened puritan John Milton's conviction that a good poet must first be a good man. In the 1640's when his personal fortunes became precarious, his public career in disrepute, his prophetic voice virtually ignored, he became understandably defensive in still urging “inner reform”. He believed that he defended the Parliamentary cause with an impressive authority: an extensive education in two universities, a prophetic “commission” as poet, a wide observation of men and manners as a member of upper middle-class gentry, as soldier, as civil-servant, and as something of a martyred patriot. Yet during the national crisis, he found his well-meant advice all but ignored, his services suspect or unwanted. Monotonous as this persistent harping on “inner reform” becomes, it does show him above narrow partisan interests and reveals him more a moral than political critic. Among many other works of this period, Vox Pacifica best illustrates this point of view. When the first Civil War appears to be over, opposed factions (such as Presbyterians against Independents) want to make peace. He contends that because men of all factions including the Parliamentary have erred (and do not yet see their errors) neither King, peers, nor people are ready for treaty making.⁴⁷

Consistent with his impartial view of weaknesses in all religious or political groups, Wither denounces in Opobalsamum Anglicanum obvious double-dealing within the supposedly loyal Parliamentary ranks. Because these “perfidious Trustees” dangerously delay victory over the Royalists, faithful members of the Parliament must therefore quickly rid themselves of their “gangrened members”.⁴⁸ In 1647, Wither also condemns religious disputes as a hindrance toward peace. Like Absalom and his rebellious followers, the Schismatics as a third dissenting party (along with the Presbyterians and Independents) pretend God's cause hypocritically. In this way the Schismatics prevent ultimate union because they increase the disunity between other religious factions. Such continual dissension, Wither insists, means that all groups are yet disobedient to God's word.⁴⁹ After the abdication of Richard Cromwell in 1659, the poet states that the need for “inner reform” is especially urgent before inauguration of any new government:

Our Sins have been the Sole Cause that our Kings, our Parliaments, our Protectors, our Armies, our Natives, our Counsels, our Cost, our Conquests, and that we ourselves have been destructive to ourselves, to each other, and to a happy progression toward the settlement which we have long expected. Therefore until these sins are more truly repented, all the wisdom and power upon earth, shall not avail us but every day will increase our trouble until there be a final extirpation of all that which hinders Gods work.⁵⁰

This passage from A Cordial Confection exemplifies in a most characteristic way Wither's convictions about “inner reform”. We recognize that whether he writes as a social critic, prophet, humanist, political or religious pamphleteer, soldier or magistrate, he views the problem essentially the same way. His adoption of an exclusively moral-ethical absolute of man's experience increases only in degree after 1625.

Wither did far more than defend or approve the sanction of necessity, however. He also poured out a great spate of practical advice to the government about how to conduct its business in specific ways. Like several contemporaries swept into popular journalism by war, he inevitably dubbed his newsheet “Mercurius”. Mercurius Rusticus is a surprisingly clever diurnal written in response to similar Royalist news-sheets like Berkenhead's Mercurius Aulicus. Here Wither advises the Parliament regarding the placing and maintaining of troops. Urging Associated Counties' forces to secure a back way to London against the Cavaliers, “Rusticus” first explains why these forces should make Farnham Castle their “rendevous”. From this position they can advance, get news, really save the Parliament money by living on enemy maintenance, and at the same time slowly enlarge their numbers. Rusticus' specific arguments for the Long Parliament's accepting the Solemn League and Covenant (December, 1643) illustrate further Wither's timely as well as responsible political advice. Published October 26, 1643, Mercurius Rusticus thus defends the provisions of the Covenant. Besides strengthening Parliament's union with the Scotch, it also aids the Parliamentarians secure their rights along with preserving the King's honor and person, conduces to unity of all reformed protestant churches, and quite naturally remembers all men to repent their sins.⁵¹ Andrews' remark that Wither “smuggled his republican rhymes into the rival camp, under the title of Bruno Ryves' title” is entirely sound.⁵² It suggests again how the poet, when occasions demanded, would adapt his counsel or prophecy to literary genres already quite familiar to middle-class readers.⁵³

A second instance of Wither's advice, occurring in The Speech Without Doore (1644), relates to specific provisions for sequestering “delinquent” estates or property of proven Malignants. Two years earlier, as partial repayment for his considerable losses at Farnham, Parliament had granted him an order to sequestrate property from the “delinquent” estates of John Denham (the poet), William Hudson, John Tichborne, and John Brednoxe among others, so that his knowledge of the practice is more than theoretical.

For, what injustice can there be in taking away any part of their private estates, who employed them for the publike Destruction? What unmercifulnesse in making them poore who have cruelly impoverished, and inhumanely indeavoured to make desolate three Kingdomes? What unreasonablesse can there be in making them Peasants (a degree, to which honest men are borne, and too good for these) some of them being made Lords and Knights for attempting to enslave Free-men. … Believe it, it will be an Injurie to our Faithfull Nobility to be made Peers with such, and bring Titles of Honour into contempt.⁵⁴

Especially during the early stages of the Civil Wars, when the Parliament was obliged to augment its revenues by every possible resource, sequestration was naturally an issue of real importance. He believes that this practice is not only a sound means of financing the war. It also insures the loyal support of men actually working (like Wither) for the Parliamentary cause. Proposition 3 of The Speech Without Doore presents Wither's most spirited defense of sequestration. Even when one recognizes the poet's obvious self-interest in compensations for his losses from these “delinquent” estates, one must also admit the cogency of his argument under the circumstances of war. Several of his other arguments (or propositions) reflect an ability to adopt a sane and rather impersonal perspective on a situation that deeply involved his personal fortunes and family's material welfare:

• (a) That soldiers to whom the Parliament owes money take their payment from “delinquent” estates at the value of eight years' purchase, and that their further contributions to the war be taken from profits from these estates.
• (b) That, in order to stir up valor and “a more generous soldierie”, forfeited titles and honors of delinquents be given to those who have ventured lives and estates for the Cause.
• (c) That, in order to prevent collusion with Royalists, tenants of former owners now become tenants of the Parliament.
• (d) That, in order to win support of the common people, “Neuters” not be allowed to hold any chief offices of the government.
• (e) That papists be forced to “abjure the Realme” if they fail to recant, and particularly that the Irish (bearing arms against the Parliament) be given no quarter wherever they are.
• (f) That merchants who took flight be recalled to restore trade and thereby strengthen the Parliamentary party.
• (g) That Parliament dispatch public before private business, and that private suits [such as Wither's own petitions for losses] be taken in order without respect to persons.⁵⁵

Wither's final advice on sequestration occurs in Fides-Anglicana. To those whose estates have been sequestered during the Cromwellian regime, the new government can provide repayment from revenues obtained by a tax imposed on the clergy, or by the return of the estates to their purchasers in a legal manner.⁵⁶

In Letters of Advice Touching the Choice of Knights and Burgesses (1644), Wither declares convictions about another crucial problem facing the government—that of filling vacated parliamentary seats with conscientious, loyal members during the war years. This crucial issue prompted political counsels from a more popular, public-spirited independent of the day, the Leveller John Lilburne, who in his provocative, fiery tract, England's Birth-Right (1645) quotes from Letters of Advice. To insure obedience to the Covenant and for the common good Wither vainly assumes that all voters are “willing to be instructed how much it concerns their own and the Publike Interest and Safety to be well advised and heedful” at elections. Although he reasonably admits that voters cannot expect parliamentary candidates to be free from all faults, he describes sixteen specific types of men and/or conduct that should be passed over. For example, voters must be wary of electing notorious gamblers; frivolous sensualists; proud, ambitious, or irreligious men; overlavish speakers or those “immoderately addicted to popularity”; dependent children, household servants, or courtiers; and finally those who have “countenanced oppressing Monopolies, or beene active in extorting Shipmoney, Coat and Conduct-money, or in any illegal exactions injurious to the Rights and Priviledges of the Commons”.⁵⁷ Providing further advice for preventing voting frauds, such as preventing those running for office to furnish costly banquets at elections, Wither concludes in typical fashion. He piously urges choice by lot, sanctified by immemorial use in Scripture, should follow appointment to highest offices. In this way the King, chief magistrates, and incumbents of church livings will enjoy God's as well as the people's approbation.⁵⁸ Like Wither, Lilburne identifies public grievances with private and contends that the welfare of the people is the state's supreme obligation. He also agrees that parliamentary seats should be filled annually, that the people should check on behavior of those elected and deplores (along with Wither) the evil of preferring men of wealth over merit. In England's Birth-Right Lilburne also quotes approvingly from Vox Pacifica, where he clearly shares Wither's opinion about choosing lawyers for political office. Too often they deliberately mislead their constituents and are prone to accept bribes. Utilizing as does Wither a plain style without much sense of structure, Lilburne is much closer to current issues. His immediacy and his “blazing vitality” plainly show why he is more familiar, more popular than Wither when we think about the social history of the period.⁵⁹

Wither's next significant offering of political advice was timed appropriately for the eve of the Protectorate. The Perpetual Parliament (1653), which is to some extent an amplification of Letters of Advice, was published at the time Cromwell finally dissolved the Rump after its desperate attempt to perpetuate its powers. Composed of pious men with a burning zeal for setting things right, the Barebone Parliament, selected by Cromwell and his Council of State, proved after a brief time to be ineffectual. The Perpetual Parliament offers Wither's particular plan for rendering parliamentary membership “both perpetual, and acceptable to the Nations, if so they please”. Along with insistence on proper qualifications of candidates running for office and, again, confirmation by use of lots, Wither declares his unique plan until a better is offered. On the first Wednesday of each month, he recommends that four representatives of each shire be elected and paid to serve in the House of Commons for one-year terms. He insists that this plan, in making parliamentary power successive, will prohibit incompetent, dishonest, or slothful members from serving long in responsible positions. He also recommends that specialists (lobbyists) be appointed to aid lawmakers composing the House of Lords. Further in this work, foretold him in a dream-vision, Wither outlines utopian plans about properly accommodating members of parliament during sessions. He envisages Whitehall newly-built: twelve mansions for the group newly-elected each month, an assembly hall for all members, (and to make it really select) a handsome dining chamber from which even members' families will be excluded! To demonstrate their brotherhood and equality, all members should be clad alike.⁶⁰ Perhaps Wither's concrete plans for effecting a successive parliamentary membership are not strikingly original. Still, we note that they reflect his political idealism. The poet's sadly tried conviction that only sober, enlightened men, who have undoubtedly achieved some measure of “inner reform”, can create a better society (or nation of potential saints) is also impressive.

Before the end of the Interregnum, Wither began to despair of responsible government or material help from either parliaments or protectors howsoever elected or maintained. Despite well-intentioned services and numerous petitions for repayment of losses, he had received by 1659 less than one sixth (or £566/4s) out of an estimated total of £3,981/15s/8d due him from the Parliamentary government.⁶¹ He is particularly embittered that Oliver Cromwell, to whom he had shown an unstinting loyalty and whose occasional misuse of power he had tried to ignore (or at least mitigate) in time of revolution, failed ultimately to exemplify the poet's exalted ideal of statesman and religious leader. Wither's little-known relationship with the Protector extending certainly from 1653 through 1659 is outlined in four prophetic, admonitory poems written during this interval. Vaticinium Causuale (1655) interprets Cromwell's almost fatal carriage accident alluded to by Andrew Marvell as an omen of future good fortune. A Sudden Flash (1657) lauds Cromwell's third refusal of the crown, while Salt upon Salt (1659) elegizes the Protector's memory with a final ironic reflection. Cromwell, who in life deplored the vain, elaborate ceremonial of princes, has in fact been buried with greater pomp than any previous king.⁶² Wither's fair-minded, near eloquent valediction deserves to be better known:

Here Dead he lies; who, Living here,
Was Britain's greatest Hope and Fear.
And, by what was on Him bestrown,
Had all His Equals over-grown;
His Predecessor's Sins and our
Made was for Him to Sovereign Power;
By rendering that an Act of Reason
And Justice, which had else been Treason.
No Prince was ever heretofore
More praised, or dispraised more.
Advantages, few ever won
So great: none lost so great a one.
This World afford no Pattern can
Which better shews what is in Man.
His Vertues, were enough to do,
So much as God design'd Him to,
He Failings had: But when liv'd any
That had not every man as many,
If he (whilst here abode he made)
Such Tempters and Temptations had?(63)

Wither was no better pleased with Oliver's eldest son. In his brief tenure of office (January through May, 1659) Richard Cromwell proved himself almost completely ineffectual. Solemnly but hopefully during this interval of political anarchy, after General George Monk and army officers forced parliament to dissolve itself, Wither looked for leadership from some other quarter. He naturally expected little help from a parliament never recognized by some as having valid authority, or from a “power” raised out of disunited factions of the general populace, and certainly none from a military despotism unjustly harsh to its most loyal, zealous servants. When Wither decided that Monk's efforts in declaring for a “free parliament” were sincere (even though some patriots denounced him as a former Royalist), the poet concluded that restoration of reformed monarchy might prove the best compromise after all.⁶⁴A Cordial Confection asserts that if Charles Stuart will voluntarily renounce divine-right (and thereby conquer himself instead of oppressing subjects by conquest), he will become England's most glorious king. Most important, he will also

constitute a better and more absolute Empire in this little Isle of Man, then he could have enjoyed by the receiving of all that he hath lost.

(p. 38)

A somewhat tardy welcome to Charles II published in 1662 while Wither languished through his final imprisonment is admirable because it neither flatters nor petitions the new King for favor. It is typical of the poet's independence that in Verses Intended to the King's Majesty he promises to love and obey his sovereign only to follow up with a truculent avowal not to praise him until he sees his virtues.⁶⁵

At the Restoration Wither reveals himself a supporter of constitutional monarchy, a position one might expect an enlightened conservative to take. Later convictions supporting this position increase chiefly in degree and result from his various services and personal misfortunes after 1642. Now the poet's transfer of allegiance back to monarchy has, of course, been dismissed by French and others as mere time-serving. At the same time we must recall that Wither's consistent allegiance to what he thought the most “righteous” cause transcends partisan loyalties.⁶⁶ Little preoccupied with political consistency, Wither was as much a pyrrhic as John Dryden. He always prides himself on allegiance to whatever power is now in force and (as we have discovered) in no sense does he insist that party loyalty preclude constructive criticism of any particular regime. His independence of view is perhaps best illustrated by a remark in Salt upon Salt. Here, the poet implies that he winked at the late Protector's failings and wooed him to proper duties because of conviction that a military “Tyranny is somewhat better than an Anarchy.⁶⁷ With the familiar confession that his and fellow men's sins have caused England to suffer “national demerits”, Wither desperately hopes for reformation rather than extirpation of government (on the eve of the Restoration).⁶⁸ This declared fear of innovating too far also reflects his insistence on moderation, or via media, at such a time of political and religious chaos.

We can briefly sketch the details of Wither's public career after the Restoration. Some months before, through dormant claims and creditors' priorities, he lost almost all properties the Parliament had granted him, together with minor public offices. His complaints about severe financial difficulties in Fides-Anglicana (1660) do not seem exaggerated.⁶⁹ Shortly after returning to London from Hambledon, where the poet spent the last years of the Cromwellian regime, he got into more serious trouble by attacking the reactionary, repressive measures of the Convention Parliament. By government order his rooms in the Savoy were forcibly searched, and his unfinished manuscript of Vox Vulgi was confiscated. The poet was then charged a “Lybeller against the House of Commons” and was sent without so much as a hearing to Newgate August 22, 1660, where he remained for over two years.⁷⁰ Wither protests that he intended that Lord Chancellor Clarendon should approve this poem before publication. He reasonably complains therefore that Vox Vulgi has been grossly misrepresented by “fragments” ripped out of context.⁷¹ His typical reaction to his final and perhaps most unjust imprisonment again demonstrates that his contentious, independent spirit is not yet broken. Once more declaring that he means his satire only in the general sense, the poet resolves to learn resignation (if not, as formerly, content) of mind amidst gnawing poverty, bodily ailments, and unjust incarceration. When one considers Wither's desperate condition, his defense of free-speech and the subject's prerogative in The Prisoner's Plea (1661) is indeed admirable:

If we may not without loss of Liberty, be permitted within our own Private Closets, to set in order our fleeting thoughts, occasionally by what we see and hear, and to put them into words, that we may thereby the better consider what they amount to, doubtless, we have little Freedom left us; … The Privileges which God and Nature gave me, I will exercise as long, and as far forth as I can, without asking any mans leave, and suffer patiently when I cannot shun it, without making any account of that which hath no certainty therein.

(pp. 14-23)

Like Bunyan a few years later he stoically turned his detention to good account. Wither employed himself, while in Newgate and later in the Tower, with consolatory works like An Improvement of Imprisonment (1661), and with religious counsel, such as his impressive plea for toleration, Paralellogrammaton (1662).⁷² After release the poet retired from active public life, thankful that his son and daughter Robert and Elizabeth managed without dowries to marry into respectable families of their class.⁷³ With the exception of Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer (1665), Wither's publications during his last two years are mainly prophetic warnings. Ecchoes from the Sixth Trumpet and Vaticinia Poetica, for example, were both issued in that memorable year 1666.⁷⁴ We have already noted that in 1665 renewal of commercial wars between the English and Dutch drew from the poet his last political advice, Sighs for the Pitchers (1666).⁷⁵ During the nation's severest plague of 1665-1666, Wither once again remained in London. With firm assurance of future fame to compensate for present neglect, he donned his prophetic mantle for the last time to record for fellow men evidences of God's judgments and mercies. By the time of his death on May 2, 1667, Wither's belief that he had served his country faithfully, if falteringly, as prophet for more than forty years was to him satisfactory enough.

III

The “leveling” tendency in Wither's religious views after 1635 and particularly, his urging toleration for dissenters after 1660 have never been related to his political via media. Consistent with defense of moderation in the political sphere is the poet's advice to the Restoration Parliament to proceed moderately in enforcing the “Clarendon Code”. Our nation's crime of oppressing some sects for “conscience” was unknown even to the ancient Hebrews:

God is never well-pleased with any service unwillingly done, though the performance be good in itself; and is always highly displeased with everyone who for fear, favor, or for any other end whatsoever acteth or speaketh against his Conscience and no doubt is highly offended with all those who offer violence to the Consciences of other men.⁷⁶

On the whole, Wither's religious via media is more difficult to define than his political. At the same time since no serious charge of expediency can be brought against it, it is perhaps more impressive because less equivocal.

We have already noted that from youth Wither often professed and apparently observed the traditional Anglicanism of his family and middle-class gentry. Even though he might have given up its outward forms and rituals after 1639,⁷⁷ he undoubtedly held allegiance to the Established Church until his death. His many original lyrics (such as Halelujah), metrical paraphrases (such as Divine Poems), several books of devotional exercises (such as Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer), and particularly his Preparation to the Psalter express his lifelong, sincere adherence to Anglican orthodoxy.⁷⁸ A few scattered, piecemeal religious views we have noted in passing, for example his disapproval of puritans' strict notions on innocent Sabbath recreations (Emblem 26, Book IV). Wither really states his religious convictions most clearly in Paralellogrammaton (1662), where he declares himself a “Catholick Christian” and “a Jesuit of the Society and Order of our Patron Jesus Christ”. In his qualification immediately following, he specifies the breadth of interpretation he gives the term “Catholick” and also reveals his persistent anti-Roman Catholic bias:

A Catholick also I am, but not a Roman Catholick (which is an absurd term, contradictory to itself) nor am I any other particular profession, which may imply a repugnancy to Universal Truths or Duties; therefore cannot separate in Love from any; especially not from those of any Church, who are in possibility of being in Christ Jesus, though they are for the present entangled in some Errors.⁷⁹

Even though Wither tended to waive many of the outward forms of Anglican worship after the struggles over episcopacy and while his individual beliefs grew more latitudinarian over the years, he almost certainly obeyed the ordinances of the Established Church throughout his life. The poet's glowing defense of the Book of Common Prayer in Paralellogrammaton provides further evidence of this. He denies that it is copied from the Roman missal and staunchly defends its protestant doctrines.⁸⁰

In very general terms, J. M. French first praised Wither's conspicuous toleration in an age of intolerance.⁸¹ W. K. Jordan, however, has more thoroughly evaluated the poet's status as an apostle of toleration. Instead of being merely a “chronic rebel or grumbler”, Wither was actually a “fair-minded man … constantly devoted to toleration and moderation”.⁸² Different from other moderates of the day, such as Lucius Cary, William Chillingworth, and Thomas Hales, Wither determined to crusade actively for the principles of moderation. Jordan's further contention that Wither's noble sentiment of toleration has root in his “devotion to the complete liberty of private judgment” based on objective use of reason in discovering religious truth is, as we have already suggested, particularly sound. In Paralellogrammaton among other typical works⁸³ the poet declares that devout Christians must guard against being misled by false prophets. In fact, they need to follow clergy only so far as they follow Scripture, and must especially employ the light of reason as a guide to faith.⁸⁴ His insistence on Scriptural authority subjected and interpreted by reason parallels Chillingworth's views on this essentially protestant issue in his Religion of Protestants A Safe Way to Salvation (1638):

Following your Church referring to the Roman Catholic I hold many things not only above reason, but against it, if anything be against it; whereas following the Scripture I shall believe many mysteries, but no impossibilities; many things above reason, but nothing against it; many thing which had they been revealed, reason could never have discovered, but nothing which by true reason may be confuted.⁸⁵

It is clear that Wither's convictions reveal an unmistakable rational current in religious thought that gained strength during the 1640's and 1650's. His admirable individualism and independence of view show him sophisticated, and my belief is that this emphasis on reason results from his discovering humanistic studies during this period. In a very real sense Wither's discovery of Nemesius (and in De Natura Hominum this Christian apologist employed reason to bolster faith) enlightened as well as enlivened him in both direct and oblique ways. Although the full development or flowering of Wither's toleration coincided with the Restoration, we can trace its maturing from the middle 1630's.

We recall that Wither's urging protestant unity on essentials of the Christian faith first occurs in Emblemes (1635), in which he likens separate churches to the fingers of God's hands (Book IV, No. 26). During the late Civil Wars, the poet sadly deplores the squabbling of rival factions over minor matters of worship by declaring in Prosopopoeia Britannica (1648) that churchmen themselves often foster bigotry instead of toleration by bad example. Their insistence on protestant sects agreeing over all nonessentials is a gross error.⁸⁶ Their shocking ignorance, ambition, and avarice have chiefly prevented Christian congregations from living together in piety and in friendship. In the early Restoration, however, when the persecution of dissenters grew more rigorous, Wither began to insist that all sects be allowed to pursue their own particular beliefs after duly observing “essentials”. He flatly asserts that the true Catholic and Apostolic Church is a “Corporation”, in which fundamental protestant beliefs have their roots.⁸⁷

In his conviction that there was real danger of further schism among protestant churches resulting from the rigors of the “Clarendon Code” and the Act of Uniformity of 1662, Wither (in Paralellogrammaton) emphatically defends variety in unity. Contending that only Love and Unity in religion will recommend the English nation to God, the poet voices by full, cogent argument admirable toleration for all who differ from him in Christian doctrine so long as they prove themselves worthy, moral citizens. Related to this is the poet's millenarian belief that with the Second Coming (due to be 1666) Jews will be united with Christians,⁸⁸ an interesting prediction in view of the Roman Catholic Church's recent denial of Jewish guilt in the Crucifixion! Wither goes on to insist that one sect's forcing particular rituals or prayers on another is like bidding guests to a feast and cramming down their throats loathsome food. He finally contends that “tyranny over the Conscience is a sin” when enforced by law. Obviously when such tyranny holds sway, men cannot long enjoy either religious or civil peace.⁸⁹ A few years later in Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer (1665), the poet denounces most emphatically this gross evil. Quite probably Wither was thinking of the harsh persecutions of dissenters following the Conventicle Act of 1664, or the Five Mile Act of the following year. No supreme magistrate, may exercise the sword

upon the person of men to inforce their Consciences contrary to their belief in matters relating to God and the Salvation of the Soul: For that is meer Turcism and Anti-Christian Tyranny, seldom practiced by the worst of Heathens, until the Mystery of Iniquity began to work. … Therefore, they who profess Christ (whatsoever zeal or piety they pretend to his honour and Kingdom) and yet seek to force other men to believe and practice as they do, by persecuting them in Body or Estate are therein Confederation with Anti-Christ, and do not that to other men, which they would that other men should do unto them.⁹⁰

It is true that by the time Wither began to urge toleration most strongly (after 1660) it had been “firmly established as both a religious and a secular principle”.⁹¹ Because Parliament at this time again imposed a narrow Anglicanism, his views are provocative.

Wither's advocacy of various and set forms of prayer, that encompass Christian needs for all occasions, specifically exemplifies what Jordan has called the poet's “remarkable relativism” in conforming for the sake of unity to any church or dogma that insured toleration without denying the “essentials” of faith.⁹² He declares, for example, in Speculum Speculativum (1660):

The various Forms of worshiping thee;
Within thy Church are no offence to mee;
Because there may bee possibly Salvation
Through Christ, in every Christian Dispensation,
To those, who with a conscientiousness,
Believe and practice what they do profess.(93)

Yet, because of his continuing allegiance to the Established Church, Wither also sincerely endorses set forms of prayer. In Paralellogrammaton, published two years later, he states:

I much reverencing the National Church of England, without despising or factitiously adhering to any Congregational Assemblies; and heretofore conceived that Set-Forms of Prayer, as well in publick as in private, were for many respects expedient at sometimes, for some persons though not alwayes for all men.⁹⁴

He insists that set prayers provide help in two respects. They assist those self-conscious of audible (public) prayer. They also recall basic religious dogma for those illiterate or forgetful. This explains Wither's emphatic approval of formal prayers like the litany, which join priest and people in exalted communal expression. Yet, while the poet can justify both various and set prayers, he cannot (in a typical manner) justify unintelligible language, especially a foreign tongue. Something more than habitual anti-Catholic bias really explains his disapproval of Latin in services. His argument is by now quite familiar. Still protesting that he writes mainly for readers of “vulgar capacities”, Wither dismisses use of Latin as a “grand cheat” because “we ought to pray both in the spirit, and with our understanding, so far as it will extend”.⁹⁵ Many men unknowingly blaspheme simply because they cannot understand their prayers. His conclusion that some Christians personally require set forms of prayer (while others apparently do not) again reflects moderate, latitudinarian views. This was a controversial issue on which both the author of Eikon Basilike (1649) and Jeremy Taylor around 1657 took a definite stand. Taylor's Apology for Authorized and Set Forms of Liturgy (pub. 1673) is a closely reasoned answer to those denying the worth of all set forms imposed by authority or not.

What are Wither's ultimate views about salvation? Generally they are both individual and eclectic within the limits of Anglican doctrine liberally interpreted. One of the most provocative of the poet's typical beliefs is his reiterated contention that the individual creates his own heaven or hell, conditions of mind dependent on freedom of the will. Most clearly expressed in Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer, this familiar notion recalls Milton's typical view in Paradise Lost published two years later:

For, whosoever is true and upright toward him in his trust and love, so far as he may be capable thereof, should find Hell to be a Heaven if he were there; and that Heaven would be a Hell unto him, if he could possibly get thither with self-confidence and with his own Natural will; because, it is not the place wherein we are, that can make us happy or unhappy, but that which we carry thither within ourselves.⁹⁶

Wither goes on to insist that freedom of the will is the most precious, distinctive attribute of man's reason, whose light must always be applied to understanding God's Word. It is again noteworthy that the reiterates this conviction with more urgency after translating Nemesius' De Natura Hominum. Emphasis on the Christian's applying reason to Scripture also identifies the poet generally with the latitudinarians and with such philosophers of religion as Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Freedom of the will, of course, sets man above sentient creatures composing the great chain of being:

If we had not Free Will in sufficient measure to do or leave undone, to chuse or refuse; then were our faculties inferior to beasts, which do chuse or leave such meanes of preservation as are set before them; nay, were this liberty taken away or quite lost, we could not be justly reputed righteous or wicked by our meer personal default, in respect of any thing which we will do, or leave undone.⁹⁷

Wither's preoccupation with fallen man, the problem of evil in human nature and experience, recalls another familiar Miltonic viewpoint, that of the felix culpa. The covenant of Grace washes away sins of those truly repentant. Although the old poet laments that human nature seems more corrupt than in his youth, he prides himself on sounder understanding of God's ultimate purposes for man. In Paralellogrammaton he contends that God has purposely subjected men to the basest of governors in church and state for long periods. Only in this way as sincere Christians can they learn the true nature of evil, repent, and then reform their conduct. By design, God's “permissive Providence” enforces men to suffer just punishment for self-caused sins:

For it hath given Wickedness, Wicked-men, and Devils opportunities to manifest their Natures toward the perfecting of an experimental knowledge of Evil to their shame: So, it hath occasioned also the manifestations of Justice, Mercy, and Goodness of God, to his glory.⁹⁸

Wither's convictions on the number of men to be saved further indicate his latitudinarian position. He firmly rejects the strict Calvinistic belief that only a few Christians will be “elected”, but rather insists that the greatest number of men will be saved. It is irrational and contrary to God's benevolence to assume otherwise. Denial of universal redemption for the repentant is wholly inconsistent with divine Mercy:

For, how was God likely to be glorified, Peace be upon the Earth, or his Good-Will manifested to Men by the incarnation of his Son, if Man's Redemption had not been Universal, but so narrowed, that it extended to a very few, and those few also left without assurance they were of that small number, whatsoever they should endeavour, if there should be an Exception from that Act of Grace, as many fancy?⁹⁹

The poet declares specifically that only unrepentant sinners, who “fight not against their natural corruption” and refuse to accept the Covenant of Grace through the mediation of Christ Jesus, are guilty of original sin. The far larger number who will enjoy universal redemption includes three particular groups: (1) baptized members of the “visible Church” that encompasses gentiles along with converted Jews; (2) members of the “Invisible Catholick Church” like Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, who improved and sanctified the “Talent of Reason” into sound faith; (3) infants under two years at death. Wither is confident that these three groups (and particularly the last) will add millions to the protestant fold.¹⁰⁰ His views are clearly Arminian and therefore look forward to Wesley. His plain rejection of predestination and other strictly Calvinist doctrines indicates how liberal his Anglican beliefs have become.

In concluding discussion of the poet's mature religious views we must again survey his millenarian convictions that naturally recur often as the fateful year 1666 draws closer. As his material welfare and physical health worsened, his dread of Antichrist becomes more anxious. Occasionally providing relief from endless dire predictions of divine wrath for sins worse than those practiced by ancient Israel, Wither expresses admirable toleration for both Quakers and Jews. More liberal than most contemporaries Wither believes that the Quakers, disliked by many because of their strange language and manners, are really pious, honest men such as Habakkuk and Ezekiel were to their nation. He interprets their austerity as a sign for fellow Christians to mend their manners.¹⁰¹ Pondering the prospective status of the Jews at the Second Coming, the poet brushes aside the notion that Antichrist is a Jew. A people preserved down through the ages and yet desolate for their slaying of Christ, the Jews will receive God's election instead of rejection. At that time they will join gentiles in Christian unity. He further insists that the Jews will not abuse toleration. As a nation they rightly claim the favor of salvation just as Christians.¹⁰² Wither's prediction of the time for Christ's Second Coming we have already mentioned in discussion of the poet's prophetic beliefs (Chapter II, Section V). His conviction that Antichrist will be defeated in 1666 (or at the latest by 1700), reiterated in five separate works, is most fully explained in Paralellogrammaton. After God has labored for six mystical days of one thousand years each, He will declare an everlasting Sabbath on the seventh day. At this time Antichrist will be overcome. According to the numerals MDCLXVI, Wither computes this great event to take place in 1666.¹⁰³ Notwithstanding Antichrist's continuing sway, one can hardly imagine the old poet's prophetic faith greatly shaken at the time of his death the following year.

Notes

1. A. Wood, Athenae Oxoniensis (ed. Bliss), Vol. III, cols. 761-762.

2. Mercurius Rusticus (1643), Amygdala Britannica (1647), and Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer (1665) illustrate respectively the political news-sheet, the poetical paradox, and the devotional exercise in prose.

3. “Four Scarce Poems of George Wither”, HLQ [Huntington Library Quarterly], II, 94-95.

4. Spenser Society, Pt. II (No. 29), p. 535.

5. Misc. Wks., V, 25-26.

6. Spenser Society, p. 73. In Poetic Fury (Misc. Wks., V, 48) he further disclaims partnership in all political or religious strife that endangers peace.

7. Frank Sidgwick, Poetry of George Wither (London, 1902), I, xlv-xlvi.

8. Edward Dowden, Puritan and Anglican (London, 1900), pp. 10-12.

9. Puritanism and Liberty (Chicago, 1951), p. 43.

10. Westrow Revived, Misc. Wks., III, 18-19. For the conviction that poetry arouses spiritual affections, see Three Grains of Spirituall Frankincense, Misc. Wks., V, 4.

11. Among other examples, see: Furor Poeticus, Misc. Wks., V, 29; Improvement of Imprisonment, Misc. Wks., III, 28-29.

12. Spenser Society (London, 1882), p. 30.

13. A Cordial Confection (London, 1659), p. 21.

14. Two examples from later works illustrate this persistent theme: A Memorandum to London, Misc. Wks., III, 12-20; Sighs for the Pitchers, Misc. Wks., III, 11-19.

15. Spenser Society (London, 1880), II, 453-474; 530 ff.

16. Campo-Musae, Misc. Wks., I, 19-20.

17. A Cordial Confection (London, 1659), p. 37.

18. Campo-Musae, p. 4.

19. Se Defendendo, Misc. Wks., I, 3-4.

20. H. D. Traill, ed., Social England (New York, 1895), IV, 234.

21. Se Defendendo, pp. 4-10.

22. J. M. French, “George Wither”, p. 70.

23. It was this incident that first prompted Wither's numerous petitions to Parliament beginning with Se Defendendo. Here he mentions four of his Royalist plunderers, from whom he later received “delinquent” estates as partial repayment for losses: John Denham, William Hudson, John Tichborne, and John Brodnoxe. Wither's legal entanglements have been examined by Norman Carlson, George Wither: A Troublesome Litigious Man (Rutgers, 1962), Diss. Abstracts, XXIII, 2132. Carlson here studies eleven actions of the Court of Chancery (1647-1661) mostly involved with these “delinquent” estates and concludes Wither's accounts are “partial truths”, that his “actions sometimes run counter to his prescriptions”.

24. Se Defendendo, pp. 12-13.

25. Mercurius Rusticus (London, 1643), p. 8.

26. In Justitiarius Justificatus, Misc. Wks., III, 8-11, Wither cites reasons for Onslow's dislike after the Farnham affair. Chief of these, Wither believes, is his accepting the position of Colonel of Militia for Surrey without Onslow's consent, as a Member of Parliament. Libeling Onslow as “the greatest Favourer of Delinquents, and the most bitter and implacable Enemy” to the loyal supporters of the Parliament, Wither was examined by House of Commons, 7 August, 1646, imprisoned for about a year and a half, was likely released from paying £500 fine for attacking an M.P.

27. Vox Pacifica, Misc. Wks., II, 154-155. H. D. Traill, op. cit., IV, 210.

28. Carmen Eucharisticon, Misc. Wks., II, 3-8. See S. R. Gardiner, History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate (London, 1903), I, 102, for details of this battle.

29. Justitiarius Justificatus, pp. 8-12; see also Journals of the House of Commons, IV, 505; 639-640.

30. Calendar of State Papers (Domestic Series), 1650, p. 143; also, Journals of the House of Commons, VI, 518.

31. A Cordial Confection, pp. 7-8.

32. J. M. French, “Four Scarce Poems of George Wither”, HLB, II (Nov., 1931), 94-95, lists these recommendations given Wither from official records such as the Journal of the House of Commons, Calendar of State Papers, and from the poet's separate works.

33. History of England from Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the Civil War (London, 1884), VIII, 250.

34. Campo-Musae, Misc. Wks., I, 53.

35. Ibid., pp. 53-60. A Speech Without Doore (London, 1644), p. 8, deplores counselors' misleading the King.

36. Misc. Wks., II, 164.

37. Woodhouse, op. cit., p. 62.

38. Misc. Wks., V, 19.

39. Misc. Wks., IV, 32-36.

40. Vox Pacifica, Misc. Wks., II, 204-205. The DNB, VI, 584-585, states that George Eglisham (1612-1642) was a Scottish physician and poet who long enjoyed the favor of James I. In 1626, Eglisham published Prodonus Vindictae, a pamphlet that “openly accused Buckingham of having caused the deaths, by poison, of the Marquis of Hamilton and the late King, and petitioned Charles I and the Parliament to have the duke put on trial. … Proceedings were instituted against Eglisham and his assistants, but he retired to Brussels where he remained until his death”.

41. He particularly stresses that the King's public trial held before his execution exalts the nation's glory, and once again deplores the King's oppressive taxes, collusion with continental Catholic powers, and hypocrisy to faithful servants.

42. Campo-Musae, Misc. Wks., I, 48-50.

43. Misc. Wks., V, 77-78.

44. Misc. Wks., IV, 38-40.

45. Respublica Anglicana, Spenser Society (London, 1883), No. 36, p. 49. Although this tract has been questionably attributed to Wither largely because of its unusual style and personal attacks (such as that on Clement Walker), its direct spoken non-partisan views, bitter tone, and use of irony suggest Wither's work. His reference to Walker's History of Independency in Westrow Revived (1653) adds additional evidence to Respublica's being Wither's work. Furthermore, J. M. Clyde, Struggle for the Freedom of the Press (London, 1934), p. 153, argues that Wither “replied unofficially for the government in Respublica Anglicana” to Walker's attack against Parliament's attempt to control the press.

46. Ibid., p. 8.

47. Vox Pacifica, Misc. Wks., II, 63-64.

48. Misc. Wks., V, 14-18.

49. Major Wither's Disclaimer, Misc. Wks., I, 4-8.

50. A Cordial Confection, p. 26.

51. Mercurius Rusticus, pp. 2-7; 14. Here, Wither further recommends that scouts be chosen from those of proven loyalty and that forces, which should number 800 horse and 1200 dragoons, be equipped with firelocks instead of muskets.

52. A History of British Journalism (London, 1859), I, 46.

53. R. Willmott, Lives of the Sacred Poets (London, 1834), I, 152, explains that Wither probably wrote Mercurius Rusticus as a retort in kind to Sir John Berkenhead's Mercurius Aulicus (January, 1643), written on the request of Charles I. Because Berkenhead had satirically ascribed Aristotle's Works in English Metre to Wither (as we noted supra p. 88), Wither had no particular love for Berkenhead and dubbed him “false Aulicus” in The Great Assises Holden in Parnassus (1645).

54. The Speech Without Doore, p. 5.

55. Ibid., pp. 4-11. Journals of the House of Commons (9 February, 1642), II, 964.

56. Fides-Anglicana, Misc. Wks., V, 88-91.

57. Misc. Wks., I, 2-8.

58. Ibid., pp. 9-12. Wither also recommends use of lots in A Perpetual Parliament and in Furor Poeticus, III, 61-63 and V, 22.

59. W. Haller (ed.), Tracts on Liberty in the Puritan Revolution (New York, 1934), III, 291-294.

60. Misc. Wks., III, 45; 60-79.

61. The Petition and Narrative of George Wither, Misc. Wks., I, 1-7.

62. See Vaticinia Causuale, Misc. Wks., I, 4-16; A Suddain Flash, Misc. Wks., II, 1-41; Salt Upon Salt, Misc. Wks., IV, 36-40; and A Cordial Confection, pp. 6-8.

63. Salt Upon Salt, Misc. Wks., IV, 44.

64. A Cordial Confection, pp. 16-20; Furor Poeticus, Misc. Wks., V, 11-13.

65. Misc. Wks., I, 7-9. Two years previously in Speculum Speculativum, a typical work combining personal complaint and prophecy, Wither had “remembered” Charles that, because he was to enjoy greater power than any previous king, he must repent his sins, particularly guard against false courtiers who “confound and cumber” governors, and restore public faith by reparations to the oppressed (like Wither). See Speculum, Misc. Wks., V, 36-39; 77-84.

66. “George Wither”, p. 147. French's conclusion that Wither “had an active bias for whatever power was handiest” is unsympathetically unjust. He consistently pays loyalty to any power—monarchy, republic, even military dictatorship which governs with equity and honor. See Furor Poeticus, Misc. Wks., V, 18-23.

67. Misc. Wks., IV, 20.

68. Misc. Wks., V, 37.

69. Misc. Wks., V, 37-41.

70. Apparently Wither was arrested in May, 1660; was committed to Newgate August 22, 1660; transferred to the Tower March 24, 1661-'62; and finally released July 27, 1663. See S. Lee, “George Wither”, DNB [Dictionary of National Biography], XXI, 736.

71. The Prisoner's Plea, Misc. Wks., III, 10-11.

72. Improvement of Imprisonment (Misc. Wks., III), a miscellany of short pieces, is valuable for its record of Wither's hopes and fears during the first years of his detention in Newgate; More objective, however, is The Triple Paradox (1661), Misc. Wks., II. Alternating familiar themes such as the greed of churchmen with mature philosophic reflection, this work examines three paradoxes: that “Confinement is more safe than Liberty / Slander more advantageous than Praise / Poverty more profitable than Riches.”

73. A Memorandum to London, Misc. Wks., IV, 72. This refers to Robert Wither (d. 1677) and Elizabeth Wither Barry (d. 1707), who edited her father's Divine Poems (1688).

74. Ecchoes (Misc. Wks., VI) is mainly an anthology of prophetic passages taken from twenty-four previous works. It is identical with Fragmenta Prophetica (1669). Vaticinia (Misc. Wks., IV), besides its “destruction of Antichrist” theme, sheds light on Wither's views on Quakers and on the problem of evil.

75. Tuba Pacifica (1664), which we discussed in Ch. II, failed to prevent war between the English and Dutch. Two years later Wither wrote Sighs (Misc. Wks., III) to remind his fellow men that their continuing sinfulness will cause them to lose the war.

76. Paralellogrammaton, Spenser Society (London, 1882), No. 33, p. 40.

77. R. Willmott, Lives of the Sacred Poets (London, 1834), I, 187.

78. Others include Exercises Upon the First Psalm, Songs of the Old Testament, Hymnes and Songs of the Church and Psalmes of David noted already.

79. Paralellogrammaton, p. 105; Wither repeats these views quoted above almost completely in “An Answer to some Objections” in Three Private Meditations (1666), Misc. Wks., IV, 46-48.

80. Paralellogrammaton, p. 110.

81. “George Wither”, p. 280, in reference to Paralellogrammaton.

82. Development of Religious Toleration (Cambridge, 1936), II, 413.

83. Ibid., p. 419.

84. Paralellogrammaton, pp. 122-135.

85. Paul E. More & Frank L. Cross (eds.), Anglicanism, The Thought and Practice of the Church of England (London, 1935), pp. 105-106.

86. Misc. Wks., IV, 100.

87. Improvement of Imprisonment (1661), Misc. Wks., III, 102-103.

88. Meditations Upon the Lord's Prayer (London, 1665), p. 40.

89. Paralellogrammaton, pp. 113-114; 131-135. See also, Vox Pacifica, Misc. Wks., II, 127, in which the poet declares that enforcing men's religious beliefs by law is worse than enslaving their bodies.

90. Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer, p. 180.

91. Douglas Bush, English Literature in the Earlier Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1945), pp. 330-331.

92. Op. cit., II, 418.

93. Misc. Wks., V, 123.

94. Paralellogrammaton, p. 108.

95. Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer, “Preamble”.

96. Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer, p. 96.

97. Ibid., p. 79.

98. Paralellogrammaton, Spenser Society (London, 1882), pp. 68-69. See also Vaticinia Poetica, Misc. Wks., IV, 26-27, in which man's fall (when renewed by Grace) has exalted him higher than the angels.

99. Paralellogrammaton, p. 63.

100. Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer, pp. 123; 144-154.

101. Paralellogrammaton, pp. 43-44; also, Vaticinia Poetica, Misc. Wks., Spenser Society (London, 1875), IV, 10-13.

102. Vaticinia Poetica, 15-18.

103. Paralellogrammaton, pp. 48-58; see also for this prophecy these other works: Campo-Musae, Misc. Wks., I, 24-25; The Dark Lantern, Misc. Wks., III, 41-42; Speculum Speculativum, Misc. Wks., V, 141-45; and Vaticinia Poetica, Misc. Wks., IV, 5-10.

Bibliography

Primary

A list of George Wither's authentic published works. Since few of Wither's publications after 1625 are generally available, I have listed following every entry a reprint or microfilm, in which the work can be read.

A Preparation to the Psalter by Geo. Wyther (London, Nicolas Okes, 1619) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 37) (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1884).

Exercises upon the first Psalme. Both in Prose and Verse (London, Edward Griffin, 1620) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 34) (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1882).

The Songs of the Old Testament, Translated into English Measures: preserving the Naturall Phrase and genuine Sense of the Holy Text: and with as little circumlocution as in most prose Translations (London, T. S[nodham], 1621). Although this work is not included under the above title in the Spenser Society reprints, its substance is apparently included within Hymnes and Songs of the Church (1623) and also within Halelujah (1641).

The Hymnes and Songs of the Church, Divided into two Parts. The first Part comprehends the Canonicall Hymnes, and such parcels of Holy Scripture, as may properly be sung. … The Second Part consists of Spirituall Songs, appropriated to the severall Times and Occasions observable in the Church of England (London, A. Mathews, 1623) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 30) (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1881).

Britain's Remembrancer, Containing a Narrative of the Plague lately past; a Declaration of the Mischiefs present; and a Prediction of Judgments to come (if Repentance prevent not) (London, 1628) (= Publications of the Spenser Society Nos. 28 (Pt. I) & 29 (Pt. II)) (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1879-1880).

The Psalmes of David, Translated into Lyrick-Verse, according to the Scope of the Original, And Illustrated with a Short Argument and a briefe Prayer, or Meditation before, and after, every Psalme (The Netherlands, Cornelius Gerrits van Breughel, 1632) (= Publications of the Spenser Society Nos. 31 (Pt. I) and 32 (Pt. II)) (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1881-1882).

A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne, quickened with Metricall Illustrations, both Morall and Divine: and disposed into Lotteries, that Instruction and Good Counsell, may be furthered by an Honest and Pleasant Recreation (London, Henry Taunton, 1635). Rare book, University of Missouri, Columbia.

Halelujah, or Britans Second Remembrancer, bringing to remembrance (in praisefull and Poenitential Hymns, Spirituall Songs, and Morall-Odes) Meditations, advancing the Glory of God, in the practice of pietie and Vertue (London, 1641) (= Publications of the Spenser Society Nos. 26 (Pt. I) and 27 (Pt. II)) (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1878-1879).

Mercurius Rusticus, or, A Countrey Messenger. Informing divers things worthy to be taken notice of for the furtherance of those proceedings which concerne the Publique Peace and Safety (London), 1643, Microfilm, Harvard University Library.

Campo-Musae, or the Field-Musings of Captain George Wither, touching his Military Ingagement for the King and Parliament, the Justnesse of the same, and the present distractions of these Islands (London, R. Austin and A. Coe, 1643) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 12). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. I (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1872).

Se Defendendo, A Shield, and Shaft, against Detraction. Opposed and Drawn by Capt. George Wither, by Occasion of Scandalous Rumours touching his deserting Farnham Castle; and some other malicious Aspersions (London, 1643) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 12). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. I (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1872).

The Speech without Doore, Delivered July 9, 1644 in the absence of the speaker, and in the hearing of above 0000003 [sic] Persons, then Present; who unanimously consented to all the Propositions therein contained, and voted the same fit to be further divulged, as very pertinent to the publike welfare (London, 1644), Microfilm, Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Letters of Advice, Touching the Choice of Knights and Burgesses (London, R[obert] A[ustin], 1644) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 12). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. I (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1872).

The Great Assises Holden in Parnassus by Apollo and His Assessours (London, Richard Cotes, 1645). Edited by Hugh Macdonald (= Luttrell Reprints No. 6) (Oxford, Basil Blackwell for the Luttrell Society, 1948).

Vox Pacifica, A voice tending to the Pacification of God's Wrath; and offering those Propositions, or Conditions, by the acceptation, and performance whereof, in some good measure, a firme and continuing Peace may be obtained (London, Robert Austin, 1645) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 13). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. II (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1873).

Justitiarius Justificatus, The Justice justified. Being, an Apologeticall Remonstrance, delivered to the Honourable Commissioners, of the Great Seale, by George Wither, Esquire (London, 1646) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 16). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. III (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1874).

Opobalsamum Anglicanum, An English Balme, lately pressed out of a Shrub, and spread upon these Papers, for the Cure of some Scabs, Gangrenes and Cancers indangering the Bodie of this Commonwealth (London, 1646) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 22). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. V (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1877).

Prosopopoeia Britannica, Britans Genius, or Good-Angel, personated; Reasoning and advising, touching the Games now playing, and the Adventures now at Hazard in these Islands; and presaging, also, some future things, not unlikely to come to passe (London, R. Austin, 1648) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 18). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. IV (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1875).

Carmen Eucharisticon, A Private Thank-Oblation exhibited to the Glory of the Lord of Hosts, for timely and wonderfull Deliverance, vouchsafed to this Nation, in the routing of a numerous Army of Irish Rebells before Dublin, by the Sword of his valiant Servant, Michael Jones, Lieutenant-Generall for the Parliament of England (London, Robert Austin, 1649) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 13). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. II (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1873).

Respublica Anglicana, or the Historie of the Parliament in their late Proceedings, wherein the Parliament and the Army are vindicated from the calumnies cast upon them in that libellous History of Independency, and the falshoods, follies, raylings, impieties, and blasphemies, in that Libell detected (London, F. Leach, 1650) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 36) (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1883).

Three Grains of Spirituall Frankincense, Infused into Three Hymnes of Praise; and Humbly offered toward the publike Thanksgiving, commanded by Authority of Parliament to be celebrated throughout the Commonwealth of England, the 30th of this present January, 1650 (London, R. Austin, 1651) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 22). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. V (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1877).

The British Appeals with God's Mercifull Replies, on behalf of the Commonwealth of England (London, R[obert] A[ustin], 1651), Microfilm, Harvard University Library.

Westrow Revived, A Funerall Poem without Fiction (London, F. Neile, 1653) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 16). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. III (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1874).

The dark Lantern, containing a dim Discoverie, in Riddles, Parables, and Semi-Riddles, intermixt with Cautions, Remembrances and Predictions, as they were promiscuously and immethodically represented to their Author, in his Solitary Musings, the third of November 1652, about Midnight (London, R. Austin, 1653) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 16). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. III (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1874).

The Perpetuall Parliament, Being the Result of a Contemplative Vision, revealing a probable means of making this Parliament to be both perpetuall, and acceptable to these Nations, if they so please (London, R. Austin, 1653) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 16). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. III (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1874). This poem is bound with The Dark Lantern (1653).

Vaticinium Causale, A Rapture occasioned by the Miraculous Deliverances of His Highness the Lord Protector, from a Desperate Danger (London, T. Ratcliffe & E. Mottershed, 1655) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 12). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. I (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1872).

A Suddain Flash timely Discovering Some Reasons wherefore, the stile of Protector, should not be deserted by these Nations, with some others things, by them very considerable (London, 1657) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 13). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. II (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1873).

Salt upon Salt, Made out of certain Ingenious Verses upon the Late Storm and the Death of His Highness Ensuing (London, 1659) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 18). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. IV (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1875).

A Cordial Confection, to strengthen their Hearts whose Courage begins to fail, by the Armies late dissolving the Parliament (London, James Cottrel, 1659), Microfilm, Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Furor-Poeticus (i.e.) Propheticus, A Poetick-Phrensie. It is the result of a private-musing, occasioned by a publike report in the country, of the Parliaments restauration by General George Moncke, in February 1659, and meditated soon after the said General's arrival in London (London, James Cottrel, 1660) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 22). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. V (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1877).

Fides-Anglicana, Or a Plea for the Publick-Faith of these Nations, Lately pawned, forfeited and violated by some of their former Trustees, to the rendering it as infamous, as Fides-Punica was heretofore (London, 1660) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 22). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. V (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1877).

Speculum Speculativum, or, A Considering-Glass; being an inspection into the present and late sad Condition of these Nations; with some Cautional Expressions made thereupon, by George Wither, immediately after His Majesties Restauration: to preserve in himself and others a Christian Obedience to God's various dispensations (London, 1660) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 22). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. V (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1877).

Vox Vulgi, a poem in censure of the Parliament of 1661 … now first edited from the original Manuscript, together with an unpublished letter from Wither to J. Thurloe, by Rev. W. D. Macray. Anecdota Bodleiana. Gleanings from Bodleian MSS., Nos. 1-2 (Oxford and London, J. Parker & Company, 1879).

A Triple Paradox, Affixed to a Counter-Mure praised against the Furious Batteries of Restraint, Slander and Poverty, the three Grand Engines of the World, the Flesh and the Devil (London, 1661) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 13). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. II (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1873).

An Improvement of Imprisonment, Disgrace, Poverty, into Real Freedom; Honest Reputation; Perdurable Riches; evidenced in a few Crums and Scraps lately found in a Prisoner's basket at Newgate (London, 1661) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 16). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. III (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1874).

The Prisoners Plea: Humbly Offered in a Remonstrance; With a Petition Annexed, To the Commons of England in Parliament Assembled (London, 1661) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 18). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. IV (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1875).

Verses Intended to the King's Majesty by Major George Wither, whilst he was a Prisoner in Newgate (London, 1662) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 12). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. I (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1872).

Paralellogrammaton, An Epistle to the three Nations of England, Scotland, and Ireland; whereby their Sins being Parallel'd with those of Judah and Israel, they are forewarned, and exhorted to a timely Repentance, lest they incur the like Condemnation. … (London, 1662) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 33) (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1882).

Tuba-Pacifica, Seasonable Precautions, whereby is sounded forth a Retreat from the War intended between England and the United Provinces of Lower Germany (London, 1664) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 16). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. III (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1874).

Meditations upon the Lords Prayer, with a Preparatory Preamble to the Right Understanding and the True Use of this Pattern. Contemplated by the Author, during the time, wherein his House was visited by the Pestilence 1665, and is dedicated to them by whose Charity, God preserved him and his Family from perishing in their late Troubles (London, 1665). Microfilm, Huntington Library, San Marino, California. At the end of this work is included The Warning Piece to London, made up of five stanzas to be inserted between stanzas of the hymn which concludes Meditations.

A Memorandum to London, Occasioned by the Pestilence, there begun this present year MDCLXV, and humbly offered to the Lord Maior, Aldermen and Commonalty of the said City (London, 1665) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 18). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. III (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1875).

Ecchoes from the Sixth Trumpet, Reverberated by a Review of Neglected Remembrances: Abbreviating Precautions and Predictions heretofore published at several Times, upon sundry Occasions, to forewarn what the Effects of Divine Justice would be, as soon as our Sinnes were full ripe, if not prevented by timely Repentance (London, 1666) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 24). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. VI (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1878). A medley of quotations from previous prophetic works, Ecchoes includes, among others, three works not separately issued by the Spenser Society: Boni Ominis Votum (1656), An Address to the Members of Parliament in their Single Capacities (1657), and A Cause Allegorically Stated (1658).

Vaticinia Poetica, Or, rather A Fragment of some Presages, long since written, and also, of some lately composed; which (though the Beginning, and later End be clipt off) are neither altogether imperfect, nor impertinent, to these Times (London, 1666) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 18). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. IV (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1875).

Three Private Meditations, which being, for the most Part, of Publick Concernment, are therefore Published, by their Author, Geo. Wither (London, 1666) (= Publications of the Spenser Society No. 18). Miscellaneous Works of George Wither Pt. IV (Manchester, Charles Simms, 1875).

Divine Poems (by way of Paraphrase) on the Ten Commandments. Illustrated with twelve copper Plates, showing how Personal Punishments have been inflicted on the Transgressors of these Commandments as is recorded in the Holy Scripture (London, T. S., 1688), Microfilm, Newberry Library, Chicago.

Secondary

Andrews, A., History of British Journalism, from the Foundation of the Newspaper Press in England, to the Repeal of the Stamp Act in 1855, Vol. I (London, R. Bentley, 1859).

Bliss, P. (ed.), Anthony à Wood's Athenae Oxoniensis, Vols. II & III (London, F. C. & J. Rivington, 1817).

Bush, Douglas, English Literature in the Earlier Seventeenth Century, 1600-1660 (London, Oxford University Press, 1945).

Carlson, Norman, “George Wither: A Troublesome Litigious Man“, Dissertation Abstracts, XXXIII (1962).

Clyde, William, Struggle for the Freedom of the Press from Caxton to Cromwell (= St. Andrew's University Publications No. 37) (London, Oxford University Press, 1934).

Dowden, Edward, Puritan and Anglican. Studies in Literature (London, Paul, French, Trubner, 1900).

French, J. M., “George Wither”. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of English, Harvard University, 1928 (Microfilm, University of Missouri Library).

———, “Four Scarce Poems of George Wither”, Huntington Library Bulletin, II (May, 1931), 91-121.

Gardiner, Samuel R., History of England From the Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the Civil War, 1603-1642, Vol. VIII (London, Longmans, Green, & Company, 1884).

Haller, William (ed.), Tracts on Liberty in the Puritan Revolution (1638-1647), 3 vols. (New York, Columbia University Press, 1934).

Jordan, W. K., The Development of Religious Toleration in England (1603-1640), Vol. II (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1936).

More, Paul E. and Cross, Frank L. (eds.), Anglicanism, The Thought and Practice of the Church of England, Illustrated from the Religious Literature of the Seventeenth Century (London, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1935).

Sidgwick, Frank, The Poetry of George Wither, Vols. I & II (London, A. H. Bullen, 1902).

Willmott, Robert A., Lives of the Sacred Poets, Vol. I (London, John Parker, 1834).

Woodhouse, A. S. (ed.), Puritanism and Liberty, Being the Army Debates (1647-9) from the Clarke Manuscripts with Supplementary Documents (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1951).