HERBERT, Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury in Shropshire, an eminent English writer, was born in 1581, and educated at Oxford, after which he travelled, and at his return was made a knight of the bath. James I. sent him as ambassador to Louis XIII. in behalf of the Protestants who were besieged in several cities of France; and he continued in this situation until he was recalled, on account of
Herbert. a dispute between him and the constable de Luines. In 1625 he was advanced to the dignity of baron of the kingdom of Ireland, by the title of Lord Herbert of Castle Island; and in 1631 to that of Lord Herbert of Cherbury in Shropshire. After the breaking out of the civil wars, he adhered to the parliament; and in 1644 obtained a pension, on account of his having been plundered by the king's forces. He wrote a History of the Life and Reign of Henry VIII., a treatise De Veritate, of considerable celebrity, and several other works. Lord Herbert died at London in 1648. This nobleman, according to Granger, "stands in the first rank of the public ministers, historians, and philosophers of his age. It is hard to say whether his person, his understanding, or his courage, was the most extraordinary; as the fair, the learned, and the brave held him in equal admiration. But the same man was wise and capricious; redressed wrongs, and quarrelled for punctilios; hated bigotry in religion, and was himself a bigot to philosophy. He exposed himself to such dangers as other men of courage would have carefully declined; and called in question the fundamentals of a religion which none had the hardiness to dispute besides himself."