Rev. Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick was born in London and served as an apprentice to his uncle, a goldsmith and jeweller to the king, before entering St. John's College Cambridge as a fellow-commoner in 1613 (B.A. 1617; M.A. 1620); he was ordained in 1623 and was chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham on the Isle of Rhe expedition in 1627. Herrick was (unhappily) the rector of Dean Prior, a remote parish in Devonshire from 1629 until 1647 when he was ejected and lived in Westminster, and again from 1662 to his death in 1674.

TEXT RECORDS:

1648A Nuptiall Song, or Epithalamie, on Sir Clipseby Crew and his Lady.
1648An Epithalamie to Sir Thomas Southwell and his Ladie.

PUBLICATIONS:

Hesperides: or, the works both humane and divine. 1648.
Select poems from the Hesperides, ed. John Nott. 1810.
Works. 2 vols, 1823.
Works. 2 vols, 1825.
Poetical works, ed. L. C. Martin. 1956, 1965.
Complete poetry, ed. J. Max Patrick. 1963.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

St. John's College Cambridge
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts
Trinity College Cambridge

clergyman
poet

Rev. William Alabaster
William Browne of Tavistock
Thomas Carew
Charles Cotton
Sir William Davenant
Sir John Denham
Rev. Thomas Heyrick
Ben Jonson
Henry Lawes
Endymion Porter
George Sandys
John Selden

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL; DLB.

[Portrait in Hesperides (1648)]; Edward Phillips, Theatrum Poetarum (1675); William Winstanley, Lives of the most famous English Poets (1687); Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses (1690-91; 1721); James Granger, Biographical History (1769; 1824) [portrait]; George Ellis, Specimens of Early English Poetry (1790; 1801); "Robert Herrick" Gentleman's Magazine 66 (June, August 1796) 461-62, 645-46, 67 (February 1797) 102-03; Samuel Egerton Brydges, "Herrick and Theatrum Poetarum" Gentleman's Magazine 74 (1804) 912-13; Nathan Drake, "On the Life, Writings, and Genius of Robert Herrick" Literary Hours (1804); Peter L. Courtier, ed., Lyre of Love (1806); Censura Literaria 3 (1807) 234-38; "Robert Herrick" The Cabinet NS 1 (January-February 1809) 22-24, 112-17; Barron Field in Quarterly Review 4 (August 1810); "Anecdotes of Robert Herrick" Gentleman's Magazine 80 (December 1810) 541-42; T. B., "Robert Herrick" The Reflector 1 (1811) 242-44; "Remarks on Robert Herrick, and his Poetical Compositions" Universal Magazine NS 16 (April 1811) 276-78; Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); Bliss, Athenae Oxonienses (1815); Thomas Campbell, Specimens of the British Poets (1819); Ezekiel Sanford, British Poets (1819); Retrospective Review 5 (1822) 156-80; Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); "Robert Herrick" Literary Chronicle 8 (19 August 1826) 523; Robert Aris Willmott, Lives of Sacred Poets (1834); Richard Cattermole, Sacred Poetry of the Seventeenth Century (1836); Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); Mary Russell Mitford, "Robert Herrick — George Wither" in Recollections (1852) 142-51; Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Thomas Corser, Collectanea Anglo-Poetica 7 (1877) 201-08; The English Poets, ed. Thomas Humphry Ward (1880); A. W. Pollard, "Herrick and his Friends" Macmillan's Magazine 67 (1892); H. M. Sanders, "Robert Herrick" Gentleman's Magazine 280 (1896); Wright, West-Country Poets (1896) 244-45; Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); F. W. Moorman, Robert Herrick (1910); Venn and Venn, Alum. Cant. (1922-27); Bush, OHEL (1945); George Walter Scott, Robert Herrick 1591-1674 (1975); Elizabeth H. Hageman, Robert Herrick: A Reference Guide (1983); Saunders, Renaissance Poets (1983); Roger B. Rollin, Robert Herrick (1992; Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Rev. Robert Herrick:

1.	1658  Anonymous, in "Upon the Infernal Shades of the Author's Poems" Thomas Flatman, Naps upon Parnassus (1658) sig. A3v.
2.	1796  Eugenio, "Biographical Notes on Robert Herrick" Gentleman's Magazine 66 (June 1796) 461-62.
3.	1796  Leviter-Eruditus, "Herrick" Gentleman's Magazine 66 (August 1796) 645.
4.	1797  John Nichols, "Letters of Robert Herrick" Gentleman's Magazine 66 (February 1797) 102-03.
5.	1800  Nathan Drake, in Literary Hours (1800) 1:14.
6.	1804  Nathan Drake, "On the Life, Writings, and Genius of Robert Herrick" Literary Hours (1804) 3:25-88.
7.	1807  Samuel Egerton Brydges, in Censura Literaria 3 (1807) 234-38.
8.	1809  John Nott?, "Ancient English Poetry. Robert Herrick" The Cabinet NS 1 (January-February 1809) 22-24, 112-17.
9.	1810 ca.  Samuel Egerton Brydges, 1810 ca.; in Russell, Book of Authors (1869) 57.
10.	1810  Barron Field, Review of Select Poems from the Hesperides ed. Nott; Quarterly Review 4 (August 1810) 165-72.
11.	1812  Isaac D'Israeli, in "Illusions of Writers in Verse" Calamities of Authors (1812); Works (1881) 5:214-15.
12.	1819  Leigh Hunt, in The Indicator (1819-21; 1845) 1:33.
13.	1819  Thomas Campbell, in "Essay on English Poetry" Specimens of the British Poets (1819; 1841) lxxx.
14.	1820  William Hazlitt, in Lectures chiefly on the Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth (1820; 1845) 157.
15.	1822  Anonymous, in Retrospective Review 5 (1822) 157-58.
16.	1824  Thomas Frognall Dibdin, in Library Companion (1824; 1825) 2:710-11n.
17.	1824  Bryan Waller Procter, in Effigies Poeticae, or, the Portraits of the British Poets (1824) 44-45.
18.	1825 ca.  Robert Southey, 1825 ca.; Common-Place Book (1849-51) 4:304.
19.	1826  Phi, "Robert Herrick" The Literary Chronicle 8 (19 August 1826) 523.
20.	1826  Richard Ryan, "Robert Herrick" Poetry and Poets: being a Collection of the choicest Anecdotes relative to the Poets of every Age and Nation (1826) 2:148-54.
21.	1836  Richard Cattermole, in Sacred Poetry of the Seventeenth Century (1836) 2:309.
22.	1837  Henry Hallam, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries (1837-39; 1882) 3:260-61.
23.	1852  Mary Russell Mitford, "Old Poets. Robert Herrick — George Wither" Recollections of a Literary Life; or Books, Places, and People (1852) 142-51.
24.	1858  Samuel Austin Allibone, in Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882) 1:833.
25.	1860  George Gilfillan, in Specimens with Memoirs of the less-known British Poets (1860) 2:24-26.
26.	1862  Thomas Arnold, in A Manual of English Literature (1862; 1885) 286.
27.	1880  Edmund Gosse, in The English Poets: Selections with Critical Introductions, ed. Thomas Humphry Ward (1880) 2:124-29.
28.	1882  Epes Sargent, in Harper's Cyclopaedia of British and American Poetry (1882) 54.
29.	1882  Edmund Gosse, in "Essay on Pastoral Poetry" Complete Works of Spenser, ed. Grosart (1882-84) 3:xxxix-xl.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Rev. Robert Herrick:

1.	1675  Edward Phillips, in Theatrum Poetarum (1675) 2:162.
2.	1687  William Winstanley, Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687) 166-67.
3.	1690  Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses ed. Bliss (1815) 3:250-51.
4.	1769  James Granger, in Biographical History of England (1769; 1824) 3:136.
5.	1806  Peter L. Courtier, in Lyre of Love (1806) 1:75.
6.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 17:407-08.
7.	1815  Philip Bliss, Athenae Oxonienses (1815) 3:251-52.
8.	1819  Thomas Campbell, in Specimens of the British Poets (1819; 1845) 231.
9.	1834  Robert Aris Willmott, in Lives of Sacred Poets (1834) 192-95.
10.	1844  Robert Chambers, in Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844; 1850) 1:139-40.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1640 ca.  Bp. Joseph Hall:   Robert Herrick, "To Jos: Lo: Bishop of Exeter" 1640 ca.; Herrick, Hesperides (1648) 69-70.
2.	1647  John Fletcher:   Robert Herrick, "Upon Master Fletcher's incomparable Plays" Beaumont and Fletcher, Comedies and Tragedies (1647) sig. E.
3.	1648  Rev. William Alabaster:   Robert Herrick, "To Doctor Alablaster" Herrick, Hesperides (1648) 302.
4.	1648  Sir John Denham:   Robert Herrick, "To Mr. Denham, on his Prospective Poem" Herrick, Hesperides (1648) 275.
5.	1648  Ben Jonson:   Robert Herrick, "Upon Mr. Ben. Johnson. Epig." Herrick, Hesperides (1648) 173.
6.	1648  Henry Lawes:   Robert Herrick, "To M. Henry Lawes, the excellent Composer of his Lyricks" Herrick, Hesperides (1648) 326.