" Yet it is strange that
a public which had a relish for Edmund Waller should neglect a poet who
was fifty times finer than Waller in his own specialty. What poet then,
or in the half-century that followed the Restoration, could have written
Corinna's Going a-Maying, or approached in kind the ineffable grace and
perfection to be found in a score of Herrick's lyrics?
The "Hesperides" was received with chilling indifference. None of
Herrick's great contemporaries has left a consecrating word concerning
it. The book was not reprinted during the author's lifetime, and for
more than a century after his death Herrick was virtually unread. In
1796 the "Gentleman's Magazine" copied a few of the poems, and two years
later Dr. Nathan Drake published in his "Literary Hours" three critical
papers on the poet, with specimens of his writings. Dr. Johnson omitted
him from the "Lives of the Poets," though space was found for half a
score of poetasters whose names are to be found nowhere else. In 1810
Dr.
Pages:
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154