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add, that these shine out but as straggling stars in a clouded sky; and that in the entire collection of his works there is far more to pass over than to pause and admire; a selection of Herrick's poems would form so valuable and delightful a volume, I much wonder such a work has not yet been published.[1]
The gallant and graceful Earl Surrey, the lover of the fair Geraldine, has dedicated one of his sweetest sonnets to "A Description of Spring, in which eche thing renews, save only the lover."
The soote season, that bud and bloome forthe brings,
With grene hath clad the hill, and eke the vale;
The nightingall, with fethers new, she sings,
The turtle to her mate hath told her tale.
Somer is come; for every spray now springs,
The hart hath hung his old head on the pale,
The buck in brake his winter coat he flings,
The fishes flete with new repayred scale.
The adder all her slough away she flings
The swallow swift pursueth the flies smale,
The busy bee, her honey now she mings,
Winter is worne, that was the floure's bale;
And thus I see among these pleasant thynges
Eche care decays, and yet my sorrow sprynges.
Of all the attributes of Spring, Flowers take the precedence; the very mention of "the soote season" brings with it the thought of the "bud and bloom" that form its chiefest beauty, and ere
——— well aparelled April on the heel
Of limping Winter treads,
- ↑ "Choice fruits from Herrick's Hesperides" will shortly appear, edited by the Author of this volume.
