SELECTIONS FROM HERRICK'S POEMS.

THE neglect into which the works of Ideaincx have fallen, is often a matter of astonishment with the readers of English poetry. Possessing great sprightliness with an unrivalled fancy, and feli- city of expression, he has also a charming grace and wantonness of manner, to which the pointed brilliancy of MOORE (whose style, indeed, is founded on Healuicies,) is artful meretricious- ness; his illustrations are apt and appropiate to the original image ; and his conceits, though the opposite to a pure taste, are as natural as such things can be. Yet with so many excellences, and a diction unaffected by time, the works of HERRICK are all but fbr- otten : a selection is rarely met with ; and the popular know- ledge of him is confined to an occasional extract in specimens of our poets, or a piece which some adventitious circumstance brings into vogue. The grossness and indecency, not only of language but idea, which is met with in Mumma, is not sufficient to explain this neglect; for many of his poems are entirely free from this critical crime, and the subjects of some do not admit of it. His obscurity arises from another and a deeper cause. The excellence of HER- RICK is one of manner ; his matter is borrowed, or trivial, or un- natural. Nor is this all : his subjects, his poetical ornaments, and his method of handling, as a painter would term it, are in- fected with the fashion of his age, or copied from antiquity. Hence his shorter pieces are mostly unreal ; and lie wanted strength, variety, and substance for longer works. His staple materials are mythology, or conceits. Sometimes " Roses became Red," be- cause, " being vanquisht quite" in a trial whether they or his Sappho's bosom were whitest, they " blusht" and retained the co- lour; at another time, Cupid, dancing among the flowers; dropt some nectar. which e"-d the rose. A cherry weeps, because his Julia's lip " outrcds" it ; and the poet advises the fruit to be com- posed, because rubies, corals, and searlets, all wonder at the lip's hue. In his little fables or allegories, he sometimes translates ANACREON, sometimes imitates him, in his odes he proceeds in the same manner, or takes a thought from a classic, and carries out a new idea; as, after catching a hint from the opening of Hou.tee's Ode to Bacchus,

"Quo me, Bacche, rapis ? tui Plenum!"

he sinks to a lower key- ' e Whither dost thou hurry me, Bacchus, being full of thee ? This way, that way, that way this, Here and there a fresh love is ; That doth like me, this (loth please:

Thus a thousand mistresses I have now ; yet I alone, Having all, enjoy not one."

There are better things than those we have enumerated,—that is to say, things more conformable to general nature or the indigenous feelings of his country. One of the happiest, perhaps, is his advice to Virgins : but even if this be analyzed, it will be found that its chief charm is in its manner, for the ideas are as old as the elder Greeks.

TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME.

Gather Tc rose-buds while ye may ; Old lime is still allying;

And this same flower, that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaveu, the sun, The higher he's agetting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer lie's to setting.

That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are wanner ; But, being spent, the worst ; and worse

Times still succeed the former. Then be not coy, but use your time;

And while ye may, go marry ; For, having lost but once your prime, You may for ever tarry.

His ode called "No Loathesomeness in Love," and beginning,

"What I fancy I mmrove, No dislike there is in love,"

is.airy and gay ; but there is an incongruity between the opening and the close ; and perhaps it is rather an exercise of the fancy than an expression of sentiment, or even of reason. The last remark, too, is applicable to the following verses ; which are curious as having suggested the song of " Careless " in the School for Scandal. SHERIDAN, however, has the advantage in the propnety with which "Here's to the Maiden" is introduced.

LOVE DLSMAERS-NrymiNG.

Whatsoever thing I see, Rich, or poor although it be, 'Tis a mistress unto me.

Be my maiden fair, or brown, Does she smile, or does she frown, Still I write a sweetheart down.

Be she rough or smooth of skin, When I touch, I then begin For to let affection in.

Be she bald, or does she wear Locks incurled of other hair, I shall find enchantment there.

Be she whole, or be she rent, So my fancy be content, She's to me most excellent.

Be she fat, or be she lean,

Be she sluttish, be she clean,

I'm a man for every scene.

Hearticx sometimes took up the native mythology of fairies

and witches; but he was scarcely successful, at least if compared with SHAKSPERE, BEN JONSON, or MILTON. He wanted earnest- ness, and that consistency which springs from belief, or its sem- blance. Take as an example,

TIIE 1121.0.

The hag is astride

This night for to ride,

The Devil and she together, Through thick and through thin, Now out and then in, Though ne'er so foul be the weather.

A thorn or a bur

She takes for a spur; With a lash of a bramble she rides now;

Through brakes and through briers,

O'er ditches and mires,

She follows the spirit that guides now.

No beast for his food

Dares now range the wood, But hushed in his lair he lies lurking; While mischiefs by these, On land and on seas,

At noon of night are aworking.

The storm will arise, And trouble the skies This night; and, more for the wonder,

The ghost from the tomb

Affrighted shall come,

Called out by the clap of the thunder.

The present Selection, prepared by the late Mr. &mar, and published by his executors, contains as much as any modern reader 1;11der:r.,..,f aneuther with whan every 'lover of poetry, or every person interested in the progress of our literature and language, should be acquainted. Besides some miscellaneous poems and selections from the Hesperides, the volume contains upwards of ninety Amatory Odes, a doaen specimens from the Pastorals and Fairy-Land, twenty Anacreontic and Bacchanalian Odes, with three-and-twenty pieces termed Moral and Pathetic, though not always rigidly conforming to that character. A Life of Heitincx is prefixed ; in which the zeal and diffuseness of the antiquary some- times triumphs over the acumen and taste of the biographer. An ingenious attempt, however, is made to illustrate the character and feelings of HERRICK by some personal poems.