Various writers have taken a different view of the
subject; but it is inconceivable that a clergyman with a fitting sense
of his function could have written certain of the poems which Herrick
afterward gave to the world--those astonishing epigrams upon his rustic
enemies, and those habitual bridal compliments which, among his personal
friends, must have added a terror to matrimony. Had he written only
in that vein, the posterity which he so often invoked with pathetic
confidence would not have greatly troubled itself about him.
It cannot positively be asserted that all the verses in question relate
to the period of his incumbency, for none of his verse is dated, with
the exception of the Dialogue betwixt Horace and Lydia. The date of some
of the compositions may be arrived at by induction. The religious pieces
grouped under the title of Noble Numbers distinctly associate themselves
with Dean Prior, and have little other interest. Very few of them are
"born of the royal blood." They lack the inspiration and magic of his
secular poetry, and are frequently so fantastical and grotesque as to
stir a suspicion touching the absolute soundness of Herrick's mind at
all times.
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