LIFE OF

ROBERT HERRICK.

BORN 1591.

HERRICK'S vein of poetry is very irregular, but where the ore is pure, it is of high value. His song beginning, "Gather the rose-buds while ye may,' is sweetly Anacreontic. Nichols, in his History of Leicestershire, has given the fullest account of his history hitherto published, and reprinted many of his poems, which illustrate his family connexions. He was the son of an eminent goldsmith in Cheapside, was born in London, and educated at Cambridge. Being patronized by the earl of Exeter, he was, in 1629, presented by Charles I. to the vicarage of Dean Prior, in Devonshire, from which he was ejected during the civil war, and then having assumed the habit of a layman, resided in WestAfter the Restoration he was replaced in his vicarage. To his Hesperides, or works human and divine, he added some pieces on religious subjects, where his volatile genius was not in her ele

minster.

ment.

ROBERT HERRICK.

SONG.

GATHER the rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a flying;

And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heav'n, the sun,
The higher he's a getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

The age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer; But being spent, the worse and worst Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And, whilst ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

E e 2

TO MEADOWS.

YE have been fresh and green,
Ye have been fill'd with flowers;
And ye the walks have been,

Where maids have spent their hours.

Ye have beheld where they
With wicker arks did come,

To kiss and bear away

The richer cowslips home.

You've heard them sweetly sing,
And seen them in a round,
Each virgin like a Spring
With honeysuckles crown'd.

But now we see none here,
Whose silv'ry feet did tread,
And, with dishevell❜d hair,

Adorn'd this smoother mead.

Like unthrifts, having spent

Your stock, and needy grown,

Ye're left here to lament

Your poor estates alone.