Ecroyd
Smith, however, attributes them to Robert Winstanley (born, 1646, at
Saffron Walden), younger brother of Henry Winstanley, the projector of
the Eddystone Lighthouse.
Smith, however, attributes them to Robert Winstanley (born, 1646, at
Saffron Walden), younger brother of Henry Winstanley, the projector of
the Eddystone Lighthouse.
Robert Herrick
Written by Poor Robin,
Knight of the burnt Island and a well-willer to the Mathematicks.
Calculated for the Meridian of Saffron Walden, where the Pole is
elevated 52 degrees and 6 minutes above the Horizon. London: Printed for
the Company of Stationers. "
In the 1667 issue the paragraph about the Pole runs: "Where the
Maypole is elevated (with a plumm cake on the top of it) 5 yards 3/4 above
the Market Cross". The mention of Saffron Walden had apparently been
ridiculed, and the author in this year joins in the laugh, and in 1669
omits the paragraph altogether. But what had Herrick at any time to do
with Saffron Walden, and why should the poet, whose politics, apart from
some personal devotion to Charles I. , were distinctly moderate, mix
himself up with an ultra-Cavalier publication? Also, if Herrick be "Poor
Robin" we must attribute to him, at least, the greater part of the
twenty-one "Poor Robin" publications, of which Mr. H. Ecroyd Smith gave
a list in _Notes and Queries_, 6th series, vii. 321-3, _e. g. _, "Poor
Robin's Perambulation from the Town of Saffron Walden to London" (1678),
"The Merrie Exploits of Poor Robin, the Merrie Saddler of Walden," etc.
These have been generally assigned to William Winstanley, the
barber-poet, on the ground of a supposed similarity of style, and from
"Poor Robin" having been written under a portrait of him. Mr.
Ecroyd
Smith, however, attributes them to Robert Winstanley (born, 1646, at
Saffron Walden), younger brother of Henry Winstanley, the projector of
the Eddystone Lighthouse. He assigns the credit of the "identification"
to Mr. Joseph Clark, F. S. A. , of the Roos, Saffron Walden, but does not
state the grounds which led Mr. Clark to his conclusion, in itself
probable enough. In any case there is no valid ground for connecting
Herrick either with the _Almanack_ or with any of the other "Poor Robin"
publications.
INDEX TO PERSONS MENTIONED.
Abdie, Lady. [_See_ Soame, Anne. ]
Alabaster, Doctor, II. 70.
Baldwin, Prudence,
I. 152, 189, 251
II. 78.
Knight of the burnt Island and a well-willer to the Mathematicks.
Calculated for the Meridian of Saffron Walden, where the Pole is
elevated 52 degrees and 6 minutes above the Horizon. London: Printed for
the Company of Stationers. "
In the 1667 issue the paragraph about the Pole runs: "Where the
Maypole is elevated (with a plumm cake on the top of it) 5 yards 3/4 above
the Market Cross". The mention of Saffron Walden had apparently been
ridiculed, and the author in this year joins in the laugh, and in 1669
omits the paragraph altogether. But what had Herrick at any time to do
with Saffron Walden, and why should the poet, whose politics, apart from
some personal devotion to Charles I. , were distinctly moderate, mix
himself up with an ultra-Cavalier publication? Also, if Herrick be "Poor
Robin" we must attribute to him, at least, the greater part of the
twenty-one "Poor Robin" publications, of which Mr. H. Ecroyd Smith gave
a list in _Notes and Queries_, 6th series, vii. 321-3, _e. g. _, "Poor
Robin's Perambulation from the Town of Saffron Walden to London" (1678),
"The Merrie Exploits of Poor Robin, the Merrie Saddler of Walden," etc.
These have been generally assigned to William Winstanley, the
barber-poet, on the ground of a supposed similarity of style, and from
"Poor Robin" having been written under a portrait of him. Mr.
Ecroyd
Smith, however, attributes them to Robert Winstanley (born, 1646, at
Saffron Walden), younger brother of Henry Winstanley, the projector of
the Eddystone Lighthouse. He assigns the credit of the "identification"
to Mr. Joseph Clark, F. S. A. , of the Roos, Saffron Walden, but does not
state the grounds which led Mr. Clark to his conclusion, in itself
probable enough. In any case there is no valid ground for connecting
Herrick either with the _Almanack_ or with any of the other "Poor Robin"
publications.
INDEX TO PERSONS MENTIONED.
Abdie, Lady. [_See_ Soame, Anne. ]
Alabaster, Doctor, II. 70.
Baldwin, Prudence,
I. 152, 189, 251
II. 78.
