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 pleasure of the greatest number,' it is certain
that less stringent forms of reproduction are required and justified. The
great majority of readers cannot bring either leisure or taste, or
information sufficient to take them through a large mass (at any rate) of
ancient verse, not even if it be Spenser's or Milton's. Manners and modes
of speech, again, have changed; and much that was admissible centuries
since, or at least sought admission, has now, by a law against which protest is
idle, lapsed into the indecorous. Even unaccustomed forms of spelling are an
effort to the eye;--a kind of friction, which diminishes the ease and
enjoyment of the reader.
These hindrances and clogs, of very diverse nature, cannot be disregarded
by Poetry. In common with everything which aims at human benefit, she
must work not only for the 'faithful': she has also the duty of 'conversion.'
Like a messenger from heaven, it is hers to inspire, to console, to elevate:
to convert the world, in a word, to herself. Every rough place that slackens
her footsteps must be made smooth; nor, in this Art, need there be fear
that the way will ever be vulgarized by too much ease, nor that she will be
loved less by the elect, for being loved more widely.
