ABSTRACT
In 1652 there appeared in print the quintessential portrayal of the ideal parish clergyman. In George Herbert’s prose masterpiece The Country Parson the reader is offered an attractive image of a devout, learned and self-giving religious leader, who cares deeply for even the humblest of his parishioners:
The Country Parson upon the afternoons in the weekdays, takes occasion to visit in person, now one quarter of his Parish, now another. For there he shall find his flock most naturally as they are, wallowing [i.e. engaged] in the midst of their affairs.1
