, one of the minor poets, of very considerable merit, in the reign
, one of the minor poets, of very
considerable merit, in the reign of Charles I. was born in
London, but descended from an ancient and genteel family
in Leicestershire, the history of which is amply detailed
by the able historian of that county. He was the fourth
son of Nicholas Herrick, of St. Vedast, Foster-lane, by
Julian Stone his wife, and was born in August 1591. He
was educated at St. John’s college, Cambridge, from 1615
to 1617; and Wood, who indeed speaks with hesitation,
seems wrong in placing him in his Athenæ Oxonienses.
He is said to have afterwards removed to Trinity hall,
Cambridge; but nothing more of his academical progress
is known. Being patronised by the earl of Exeter, he was
presented by king Charles I. on the promotion of Dr. Potter to the see of Carlisle, to the vicarage of Dean Prior in
Devonshire, Oct. 1, 1629, where he became distinguished
for his poetical talents and wit. During the prevalence of
the parliamentary interest, he was ejected from his living,
and resided in London in St. Anne’s parish, Westminster,
until the Restoration, when he again obtained his vicarage.
The time of his death is not known. His poetical works
are contained in a scarce volume, entitled “Hesperides,
or the works, both humane and divine, of Robert Herrick,
Esq. London,
” 1643, 8vo. To this volume was appended
his “Noble numbers, or, his pious pieces,
” in which, says
Wood, “he sings the birth of Christ, and sighs for his
Saviour’s sufferings on the cross. These two books made
him much admired in the time they were published, and
especially by the generous and boon loyalists, who commiserated his sufferings.
” In 1810, Dr. Nott of Bristol published a selection from the “Hesperides,
” which may probably contribute to revive the memory of Herrick as a poet,
who certainly in vigour of fancy, feeling, and ease of vereification, is entitled to a superior rank among the bards
of his period, He is one of those, however, who will
require the selector’s unsparing hand, for, notwithstanding
his “pious pieces,
” there are too many of an opposite
description, which cannot, like his quaint conceits, be
placed to the account of the age in which he lived.