His researches were unsuccessful, but he met with an

to deal at night when unable to sleep. Among

HERRICA.

was ejected from his preferment by the Parliament, and place of his nativity.” Having assumed the habit of a layman, he resided in St. Anne's, Westminster, where he was principally supported by the Royalists. At the Restoration be recorered his living. The period of his

Herrick is usually admired as the gay writer of a beau. stul Anacreontic Song, and one or two poems plaintre character. The Noble Numbers, contain some touching strains of religious devotion. In an early at a visit to Dean Prior, and of the writer's en. derous to discover some memorials of the poem

of a more

he declared that be was "ravisht in spirit to be recalled from a long and irksome banishment" to the blest

death has not been ascertained *

number of the Quarterly Review, there was an account

When the house doth sigh and weep,
And the world is drown'd in sleep,
Yet mine eyes the watch do keep,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me.
When the passing bell doth toll,
And the Furies in a shoai,
Come to fright a parting soul,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me.
When the tapers now turn blue,
And the comforters are few,
And that number more than true;

Sweet Spirit, comfort me.
When the priest his lasi hath pray'd,
And I nod to what is said,
Because my speech is now decay'd,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me.
When the Tempter me pursu'th,
With the sins of all my youth,
And half demns me with untruth,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me,
When the flames and hellish cries,
Fright mine ears, and fright mine eyes,
And all terrors me surprise,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me.
When the judgment is revealid,
And that open d which was seald,
When to Thee I have appeald,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me The Thanksgiving for his House is too long to be extracted, but one stanza may be quoted, to show its peculiar merits :

old woman in the parish who repeated with great exact. end propriety five of the Noble Numbers

, which she called her prayers, and was accustomed to recite

them was the following exquisite "Litany to the Holy

Spirit: "

In the hour of my distress,
When temptations me oppress,
And when I my sins confess,
Sweet Spirit

, comfort me.
When I lie within my bed,
Sick at heart, and sick in bead,
And with doubts discomforted,
Sweet Spirit

, comfort me.

The fourth and 6th stanzas are omitted.

Some interesting particulars of his life, interspersed with a few more uapoetical letters, may be seen in the second part of the second volume Vicbois's History of Leicestershire,

The Dirge of Jephtha is also beautiful; the classical

reader wil notice the Græcism in these lines :-
if to these poems we add the Christmas Carol, the Star.
Sexy, and the White Island, or Place of the Blest, I think
it will be granted that Herrick's most lasting fame is

derived from his sacred compositions. The sentiments
chaste;" and impurity, we may believe, could never lin.
ger long in a mind that could give utterance to thoughts
d'o much feeling. Let us hope that when, in his touch.
ing words (to God in his sickness), he made his home

FERRICK.

Lori ar parch, as is my fate,

Both raid of state; And yet the threshold of my door Is wurde

by the poor.

Thou wonder of all maids list here, Of daughters all, the dearest dear; The eye of virgins, nay the Queen

Of this smooth green, And all sweet meads from whence we get

The primrose and the violet.

Thomas HEYWOOD was one of the most prolific dramatists in an age abounding in works of that description. He says, in the preface to the English Traveller, that he had " an entire hand, or at least a main finger," in two hundred and twenty plays. His copiousness was not the result of weak ss. Charles Lamb has commended, in fitting terms, that tearful pathos which cuts to the heart. But his name is only admitted into these pages in the more honourable character of a Sacred Poet. The Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels was published in 1635, and dedicated to Charles the First. It was the produce of his old age, and he cautions the reader in the preface "not to expect any new conceits from old heads," or to look for “green fruit from withered branches." The melody and grace of his dramas will be sought for in vain; unlike Sir Philip Sidney's poet, he does not present the reader at the entrance of the vineyard with a bunch of grapes, so that “full of the delicious flavour he may long to pass in farther:" bis manner, on the contrary, is somewhat harsh and unpolished, and he leads him through difficult and abrupt places; but the rugged path frequently ends in a garden. The poem is divided into nine books, to each of which is appended a commentary, evincing the writer's intimate acquaintance with the abstruser studies of theology. Modern students will hardly be persuaded to turn to this ponderous volume, yet it would well repay the trouble of perusal. Some of the Meditations possess a stern and solemn severity.

of some of his songs have unfortunately disposed us to negerd bim as the reverse of a religious poet; but he has said us, shat although his rhymes were wild, " his life was

in darkness and sorrow, the mercy of Him in whom be trusted, did indeed renew him, ever although“

withered flower *"

His Prayer for Absolution is full of piety :

For these my unbaptized rhymes, Writ in my wild unhallow'd times, For every sentence, clause, and word, That's not inlaid with thee, O Lord, Forgive me, God, and blot each line Out of my book that is not thine; But if'mongst all thou findest one Worthy thy denediction, That one of all the rest shall be The glory of my work, and me.

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