Life
The son of a gardener, he was educated at Westminster School and Oxford, and entered the Church, in which he obtained many preferments, e.g. James I., in consideration of his “fine fancy and preaching,” made him one of the royal chaplains. In 1620 he became vicar of Stewkley, and in the same year was made dean of Christchurch, Oxford. He later became Bishop of Oxford (1628) and then Bishop of Norwich (1632).
Corbet was noted as a practical joker and considered rather scatter-brained. He was celebrated for his wit, which sometimes classed as buffoonery. Reportedly, he was to give a sermon before James I and was so entertained playing with a ring the King gave him that he forgot the sermon altogether.
He knew both John Donne and Ben Jonson. His poems, which are often mere doggerel, were not published until after his death. They include Journey to France, Iter Boreale, the account of a tour from Oxford to Newark, and the Farewell to the Fairies. He wrote numerous ballads, which he would also sing.
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Famous quotes containing the word life:
“When once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value, then nothing comes more naturally to men than murder.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“It’s not that we have too much mother, but too little father. We can’t forgive our mothers for taking the place of our fathers until we are ready to see that the point of a man’s life is to be a father and a mentor, and we can’t do that because we don’t know how we would be a father or a mentor when we never had one.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)