Biography
Herbert was the son of Richard Herbert of Montgomery Castle, and a younger brother of Edward Herbert, Baron Herbert of Cherbury and the poet George Herbert. (They were related to the Herberts who were the Earls of Pembroke, prominent figures in English government and society throughout the Jacobean and Caroline eras—William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, and his brother and successor Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, Lords Chamberlain.) Henry Herbert was knighted in 1623.
Henry Herbert's role as Master of the Revels involved reading and licensing plays and supervising all kinds of public entertainment. Officially, Herbert became Master of the Revels in 1641; in actuality he had been doing the work of the office since 1623. John Astley, the official Master from 1622 to his death in January 1641, had appointed Herbert his deputy in 1623; Herbert paid Astley £150 per year, in return for the income the office provided (and clearly, he wouldn't have continued this arrangement if it had not been profitable for him).
Read more about this topic: Henry Herbert (Master Of The Revels)
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“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)