Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/201

Rh he remained for 10 years. Thereafter he went to Camb., took orders, and was in 1629 presented by Charles I. to the living of Dean Prior, a remote parish in Devonshire, from which he was ejected in 1647, returning in 1662. In the interval he appears to have lived in Westminster, probably supported, more or less, by the gifts of wealthy Royalists. His Noble Numbers or Pious Pieces was pub. in 1647, his Hesperides or Works both Human and Divine in 1648, and the two together in one vol. in the latter year. Over 60, however, of the lighter poems included in Hesperides had previously appeared anonymously in a collection entitled Wit's Recreations. H.'s early life in London had been a free one, and his secular poems, in which he appears much more at ease than in his sacred, show him to have been a thorough Epicurean, though he claims that his life was not to be judged by his muse. As a lyric poet H. stands in the front rank for sweetness, grace, and true poetic fire, and some of his love songs, e.g. Anthea, and Gather ye Rose-buds, are unsurpassed in their kind; while in such exquisite little poems as Blossoms, Daffodils, and others he finds a classic expression for his love of nature and country life. In his epigrams, however, he falls much below himself. He has been described as "the most frankly pagan of English poets."

Poems ed. by Nutt (1810), (1876), Pollard (preface by, 1891).

 Author:John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871).—S. of Sir William H., the eminent astronomer and discoverer of the planet Uranus, was b. at Slough, and ed. at Camb., where he was Senior Wrangler and first Smith's prizeman. He became one of the greatest of English astronomers. Among his writings are treatises on Sound and Light, and his Astronomy (1831) was for long the leading manual on the subject. He also pub. Popular Lectures and Collected Addresses, and made translations from Schiller, and from the Iliad.

 Author:James Hervey (1714-1758).—Religious writer, Rector of Weston Pavell, Northants, was the author of Meditations among the Tombs (1745-47), Theron and Aspasio, and other works, which had a great vogue in their day. They are characterised by overwrought sentiment, and overloaded with florid ornament. H. was a devout and unselfish man, who by his labours broke down a delicate constitution.

 Author:John Hervey (1696-1743).—Writer of memoirs, was a younger s. of the 1st Earl of Bristol. Entering Parliament he proved an able debater, and held various offices, including that of Lord Privy Seal. He was a favourite with Queen Caroline, and a dexterous and supple courtier. He wrote Memoirs of the Reign of George II., which gives a very unfavourable view of the manners and morals of the Court. It is written in a lively, though often spiteful style, and contains many clever and discriminating character sketches. He was satirised by under the name of "Sporus" and "Lord Fanny."

 Author:Peter Heylin (1600-1662).—Ecclesiastical writer, b. at Burford, Oxon., was one of the clerical followers of Charles I., who