ferent from them in the circumstance of birth, and in his relation to the life of the Court circle.

He was also the

only one of the group to complete his university course; and his life-work, the ministry, was far removed from theirs of soldier, courtier, diplomat, "fine gentleman."

Life. Herrick was the son of a London goldsmith, and was born in London in 1591. Upon the death of his father

Attended by Herrick, also by Wyatt, Ascham, Jonson, and Wordsworth. in the following year, his mother removed to the village of Hampton, about twelve miles away, where she and her son remained until his sixteenth year. Apprenticed then to his uncle, he spent six years at the goldsmith's trade in the City, during which time he met Ben Jonson and wrote some poems. In 1613, at the very late age (for those days-compare Bacon, page 57) of twenty-two, Herrick entered the university at Cambridge, from which he received the Master's degree four years later. Of his life for the succeeding ten years little is known; but in 1627 he entered the minis

"I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds and bowers;
Of April, May, of June, and July flowers.

I sing of May-poles, hock-carts,' wassails, wakes;
Of bride-grooms, brides, and of their bridal-cakes,
I write of youth, of love,

I sing of dews, of rains,

I write of groves, of twilights, and I sing
The court of Mab, and of the Fairy-king.
I write of hell; I sing, and ever shall

Of heaven, and hope to have it after all."

This poem suggests that he drew on every portion of his experience for subjects: and it is clear that his experience was far broader than that of his companions in "society verse." His long residence in Devonshire is responsible for his verses dealing with the various aspects of nature, and his vocation naturally led to meditation on the future life.

That he aimed as did hardly another (unless Carew) at perfection of technique and finish" is shown by His Request to Julia:

"Julia, if I chance to die

Ere I print my poetry,
I most humbly thee desire
To commit it to the fire:

Better 'twere my book were dead,

Than to live not perfected."

Pastoral Poems. - Judged by an absolute standard,

if such a thing be possible, Herrick is probably more the artist in his poems to Julia, Silvia, Sapho, in How Roses Came Red, To the Virgins to Make Much of Time, and other

1 The hock-cart (for "hockey-cart") was the last cart loaded at harvest.