Ransome 2008
Ransome, Joyce. "George Herbert, Nicholas Ferrar, and the 'Pious Works' of Little Gidding." George Herbert Journal 31.1-2 (2007/8): 1-19.,
Turner's biography of Ferrar contains comments Herbert made to Ferrar; see 1-2, where they are quoted
night vigils
family knew the meditative work of St. Francis de Sales and John Cosin's Devotions
The Temple: "All we can document of his response to The Temple is the brief preface and the business problems involved in its publication. On the other hand, the nieces who produced the fair copy obviously had opportunity for careful reading, and it is hard to imagine that they never talked of it within the family circle. Their brother-in-law, Joshua Mapletoft, wrote appreciative comments to Ferrar from Essex and complained of the shortage of available copies. 21 Ferrar’s sister, Susanna Collet, sent copies to her scapegrace son, Edward, in the East Indies in the hope that he would take its message to heart." (4-5)
Valdes -- Ferrar unconcerned about dangers of enthusiasm -- unclear whether Herbert knew of Ferrar's intentions to anonymously publish his comments on the translation -- Cambridge censors refused to bulish it or Ferrar's translation of Ludovico Carbone's book on catechizing children -- book finally published 1 year after Ferrar's death at Oxford, Thomas JAckson providing the necessary approval
"In 1632, in the face of increasing and divisive emphasis on ritual conformity in the Church of England, Valdes’s book constituted a reminder that what really mattered was inward transformation. In Herbert’s words, Valdes’s work should be published for his expression of “the intent of the gospel in the acceptation of Christs righteousness” and for his “observation of the working of Gods kingdom within us.” The great appeal of The Temple to people of as different theological views as King Charles I and Richard Baxter suggested the irenic possibilities of such a treatment that emphasized inner experience. By the same token a Christocentric and experiential focus enabled the Catholic (albeit heterodox) Valdes to avoid such divisive issues as predestination and election, ecclesiastical authority, liturgy, and sacraments and could only have reinforced Ferrar’s hope that his work would have a similar appeal." (11-12)
temperance and restricted diet; translation of Luigi Cornaro's A Treatise of Temperance and Sobriety and translation of Lessius (13)