river of Virgil, to the souls who drink of him, Herrick offers
'securos latices.' He is conspicuously free from many of the
maladies incident to his art. Here is no overstrain, no
spasmodic cry, so wire-drawn analysis or sensational rhetoric, no
music without sense, no mere second-hand literary inspiration, no
mannered archaism:--above all, no sickly sweetness, no subtle,
unhealthy affectation. Throughout his work, whether when it is
strong, or in the less worthy portions, sanity, sincerity,
simplicity, lucidity, are everywhere the characteristics of
Herrick: in these, not in his pretty Pagan masquerade, he shows
the note,--the only genuine note,--of Hellenic descent. Hence,
through whatever changes and fashions poetry may pass, her true
lovers he is likely to 'please now, and please for long.' His
verse, in the words of a poet greater than himself, is of that
quality which 'adds sunlight to daylight'; which is able to 'make
the happy happier.' He will, it may be hoped, carry to the many
Englands across the seas, east and west, pictures of English life
exquisite in truth and grace:--to the more fortunate inhabitants
(as they must perforce hold themselves!) of the old country, her
image, as she was two centuries since, will live in the 'golden
apples' of the West, offered to us by this sweet singer of
Devonshire. We have greater poets, not a few; none more faithful
to nature as he saw her, none more perfect in his art;--none,
more companionable:--

F. T. P.
Dec. 1876