Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Heyrick, Thomas
HEYRICK, THOMAS (d. 1694), poet and divine, son of Thomas Heyrick of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, and grandson of Thomas Heyrick (or Herrick), elder brother of Robert Herrick the poet [q. v.], was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1670 and M.A. in 1675. In 1671 he was among the contributors to the collection of Cambridge verses on the death of Anne, duchess of York. He became curate of Market Harborough, and in 1685 published ‘The Character of a Rebel. A Sermon preached … on … the Day of Thanksgiving … for His Majesties Victory over the Rebels,’ London, 4to, with a dedication to Edward Griffin, esq., treasurer of the Great Chamber. His ‘Miscellany Poems’ appeared in 1691, 4to, with a dedication to the Countess of Rutland, and commendatory verses by Joshua Barnes, William Tunstall, and others. The long rambling Pindaric (which begins on sig. Q, with a new title-page), ‘The Submarine Voyage,’ is tiresome reading; but some of the shorter poems—‘On a Peacock,’ ‘On an Ape,’ ‘On the Crocodile,’ ‘On a Sunbeam,’ &c.—are quaint and fanciful. Heyrick has commendatory verses before Joshua Barnes's ‘History of Edward III,’ 1691. He was buried at Market Harborough on 4 Aug. 1694.
[Nichols's Leicestershire, ii. 502.]