Henry Vaughan

Henry Vaughan: Tretower, near Crickhowell

Henry Vaughan, a Breckonshire man, lived virtually the whole of his life within a one mile radius of the house in which he was born. The Vaughan family home was at Tretower, near Crickhowell, Breckonshire (now Powys).

Henry's father contrived to lose the substantial part of the family's wealth and the family was compelled to move house about five miles west of Tretower, to Newton by Usk. Today that house is a neat farmhouse, beside the main road from Crickhowell to Brecon. In this house at Newton, Henry, with his twin brother Thomas, was born on 17th April 1621. His early life appears to have been idyllic, and the experience of those early years no doubt helped shape the views he was later to hold about the purity and spiritual insight possessed in a special measure by young children.

Vaughan's early education, begun in 1632, was entrusted to the Rev. Matthew Herbert, rector of the nearby Langattock parish, a noted and respected schoolmaster. Henry lived with the Herbert family, holding his tutor in the most affectionate regard. Referring to this time Henry wrote:

Wales gave me birth in the place where Father Usk launches down from windswept mountains to wander in broad valleys. Then Herbert, a man most expert in learning, the master of Latin scholarship, took me under his serene protection and under his guidance I progressed from six years. This one man bestowed a double bounty: learning and love.

Henry's twin brother was admitted to Oxford University in May 1638 and it is probable that Henry went with him to Jesus College. Although there are no official records of Henry's time at Oxford in 1673, he wrote to the biographer John Aubrey about those days:

I stayed not at Oxford to take any degree, but was sent to London, being then destined by my father for the study of the law which the sudden eruption of our late Civil War wholly frustrated.

Eventually, in 1647, Henry Vaughan returned to Newton by Usk; he married Catherine Wise and practised as 'a physic' – a physician – in and around Brecon. Catherine died after childbirth and Henry married her sister Elizabeth, even though such a marriage was contrary to canon law.

Following a stressful law suit, brought against him by his own children, Henry Vaughan was compelled to move from Newton to Scethrog – or 'Sketh-rock' in Henry's spelling – half-a-mile west of Newton. Here Henry lived until his death. The house, now called Scethrog House, was originally a Welsh long-house, having been enlarged in 1619 (or possibly 1691). Although subsequently other additions were made to the house, it is believed that much of the original panelling and most of the widows in the part of the house in which Henry lived may have been preserved. On a sunny March afternoon, the present owner kindly showed me around the house. She informed me that until about 1950 the house contained above the fire-place an oak panel, inscribed with Henry Vaughan's signature; this panel was removed to another house in the village, since when it has been lost.

Henry Vaughan worshipped in the church at Llansantffraed-juxta-Usk. The church Vaughan knew was demolished in 1884, with the present church being built on the site. Vaughan died on 23rd April 1695 and was buried in the church yard. This was an unusual arrangement for the times. It had been his request to be buried in the open spaces of the Usk valley, under a yew tree and in sight of the peacefully meandering river, the Brecon Beacons to the south-west and the Black Mountains to the north-east. His tomb, still well-preserved, is under the north wall of the Churchyard, capped with an unostentatious heavy tombstone, on which is carved his crest and in plain, bold lettering the Latin epitaph he composed:

HENRY VAUGHAN MD

THE SILURIST

An Unprofitable SERVANT

THE GREATEST SINNER

LIES HERE

Glory Mercy

"The Silurist", please see Note 1 below

Henry Vaughan's most important collection of poems is 'Silex Scintillans' [Sparks From Flint] and owes a great and acknowledged debt to George Herbert. Vaughan referred to himself as 'the least' of Herbert's 'many pious converts'. During a serious illness (probably during 1650), Henry seems to have experienced deep spiritual impressions. A 'converting' illness was not the only thing Henry Vaughan seems to have shared with Julian of Norwich; they also shared a similar depth and quality of spiritual insight.

Vaughan makes clear that his insights into spiritual truth came not through mystical meditation but from God's Word written, the book being his spiritual food and drink and his 'life's guide'. (See note 2 below)

In the preface to his collection of sacred verse, Vaughan argues that secular poetry is of no value and a misuse of time, serving only to deepen the sin and guilt of both the writer and the reader. His sense of personal guilt is obvious; he had, prior to his conversion, written nothing but secular verse, much of it 'fashionable love poetry'. Now, in contrast, Vaughan extols the value of Christian verse, as George Herbert also in his two poems, both with the title 'Jordan'. Vaughan always considered Herbert to have been the originator of truly sacred poetry.

Comparisons between the poems of George Herbert and Henry Vaughan generally come down in Herbert's favour. Vaughan, nevertheless, frequently achieves 'an exquisite fantasy of expression, beyond the reach of George Herbert' (Chambers Biographical Dictionary).

While Henry Vaughan did not enjoy Herbert's natural facility or aristocratic pedigree, his accomplishments and influence are not to be under-estimated.  It was Vaughan's short poem 'The Retreat' that suggested to Wordsworth his own masterpiece, 'Ode on the Intimations of Immortality'.

Vaughan absorbed Herbert's verse into his spiritual bloodstream and the influence of Herbert's verse on Henry Vaughan may be seen not only in his poetic style but also in his choice of themes, the shared titles of a considerable number of poems, a common phraseology and a shared determination to write for the glory of God.

(1) Henry Vaughan liked to use this strange, anachronistic title; it refers to an ancient British tribe, the Silures, who had lived in this region of Wales.

(2) To the Holy Bible . Some Christians seem to find a problem with those who see into what Scripture says; the man who can, in Herbert's words, by looking through 'the glass…the heav'n espie.' They tend to label such a person 'a mystic' and condemn his insight. Maybe they have not seen what Vaughan so clearly saw; he tells us in his poem To the Holy Bible that there he found: '…that pearl I sought elsewhere. Gladness, and peace, and hope, and love/the secret favours of the Dove/her quickening kindness, smiles and kisses/exalted pleasures, crowning blisses/Fruition, union, glory, life/Thou* didst lead to, and still all strife.' [* Vaughan's reference here is to 'The Holy Bible'].