When the outburst came in 1642, he was thirty-four years
old, a solemn, cold, studious, thoughtful, and dogmatic Puritan. In 1624
he entered Christ College, Cambridge, where, from his delicate and
beautiful face and shy airs, he was called the "Lady of the College." It
is said that he left the university on account of peculiar views in
theology and politics; but eight years after, in 1632, he took his degree
as master of arts. Meanwhile, in December, 1629, he had celebrated his
twenty-first birthday, when the Star of Bethlehem was coming into the
ascendant, with that pealing, organ-like hymn, "On the Eve of Christ's
Nativity"--the worthiest poetic tribute ever laid by man, along with the
gold, frankincense, and myrrh of the Eastern sages, at the feet of the
Infant God:
See how from far upon the Eastern road,
The star-led wizards haste with odours sweet;
O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet;
Have thou the honour first thy Lord to greet,
And join thy voice unto the angel choir,
From out his secret altar touched with hallowed fire.
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