From The Lyrical Poems Of Robert Herrick

Arranged with introduction by Francis Turner Palgrave




PREFACE


ROBERT HERRICK - Born 1591 : Died 1674


Those who most admire the Poet from whose many pieces a selection
only is here offered, will, it is probable, feel most strongly
(with the Editor) that excuse is needed for an attempt of an
obviously presumptuous nature. The choice made by any selector
invites challenge: the admission, perhaps, of some poems, the
absence of more, will be censured:--Whilst others may wholly
condemn the process, in virtue of an argument not unfrequently
advanced of late, that a writer's judgment on his own work is to
be considered final. And his book to be taken as he left it, or
left altogether; a literal reproduction of the original text
being occasionally included in this requirement.

If poetry were composed solely for her faithful band of true
lovers and true students, such a facsimile as that last indicated
would have claims irresistible; but if the first and last object
of this, as of the other Fine Arts, may be defined in language
borrowed from a different range of thought, as 'the greatest