The maidens sang beautifully, so
Herrick took their name for his book, for it might well be that
the songs they sang were such as his. This garden of the
Hesperides was sometimes thought to be the same as the fabled
island of Atlantis of which we have already heard. And it was
here that, guarded by a dreadful dragon, grew the golden apples
which Earth gave to Hera on her marriage with Zeus.
The Hesperides is a collection of more than a thousand short
poems, a few of which you have already read in this chapter.
They are not connected with each other, but tell of all manner of
things.
Herrick was a religious poet too, and here is something that he
wrote for children in his Noble Numbers. It is called To his
Saviour, a Child: A Present by a Child.
"Go, pretty child, and bear this flower
Unto thy little Saviour;
And tell him, by that bud now blown,
He is the Rose of Sharon known.
When thou hast said so, stick it there
Upon his bib or stomacher;
And tell Him, for good hansel too,
That thou hast brought a whistle new,
Made of a clear, straight oaten reed,
To charm his cries at time of need.
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