It is to this accidental banishment to Devon that
we owe the cluster of exquisite pieces descriptive of obsolete rural
manners and customs--the Christmas masks, the Twelfth-night mummeries,
the morris-dances, and the May-day festivals.
The November following Herrick's appointment to the benefice was marked
by the death of his mother, who left him no heavier legacy than "a ringe
of twenty shillings." Perhaps this was an understood arrangement between
them; but it is to be observed that, though Herrick was a spendthrift in
epitaphs, he wasted no funeral lines on Julian Herrick. In the matter of
verse he dealt generously with his family down to the latest nephew.
One of his most charming and touching poems is entitled To His Dying
Brother, Master William Herrick, a posthumous son. There appear to
have been two brothers named William. The younger, who died early, is
supposed to be referred to here.
The story of Herrick's existence at Dean Prior is as vague and bare of
detail as the rest of the narrative.
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