borough of Grimsby, and was duly returned for that constituency. At the next general election in 1818 he stood for Lincolnshire, but being in a hopeless minority, withdrew on the third day of the poll. Through Lord Fitzwilliam's interest he was returned in December 1819 for Peterborough, and was re-elected until 1832 without opposition. After that date he was frequently opposed, but continued to sit for Peterborough until his retirement in 1847. Heron was a constant speaker in the House of Commons, and among his proposals was a motion ‘respecting the vacating of seats in parliament on the acceptance of office,’ on which the Marquis of Northampton published a pamphlet of ‘Observations’ in 1835. He died suddenly at Stubton Hall in Lincolnshire on 29 May 1854. He married, at Cottesmore, Rutlandshire, on 9 Jan. 1792, Amelia, second daughter of Sir Horatio Mann of Boughton Malherbe, Kent. She predeceased him on 12 Dec. 1847. A monument to their memory was erected in Stubton churchyard by Mr. George Neville, the successor to the property. Heron built about 1800 the nave and tower of Stubton Church. He had no children, and at his death the baronetcy became extinct.
A volume of his ‘notes’ was printed anonymously for private circulation at Grantham in 1850, and reprinted for sale in 1851. They dealt mainly with politics and social economy, but included observations on natural history, drawn from the curious animals collected together in what was locally known as his ‘menagerie.’ In one passage he spoke of Croker as ‘one of the most determined jobbers,’ and in another referred to a ‘most malicious article’ of that critic in the ‘Quarterly Review.’ Croker revenged himself by a savage onslaught on the volume in the ‘Quarterly’ (1852, xc. 206–25).
[Gent. Mag. January 1792 p. 88, July 1854 pp. 74–5; Hasted's Kent, ii. 432, iii. 134; Geneal. Table of Heron Family, pt. ii.; Sir R. Heron's notes.]
HERRICK. [See also Hericke and Heyrick]
HERRICK, ROBERT (1591–1674), poet, fourth son of Nicholas Herrick, a goldsmith in Cheapside, by his wife Julian Stone, was baptised at the church of St. Vedast, Foster Lane, on 24 Aug. 1591. His father, who came of an ancient Leicestershire family of Heyricks or Eyrickes, died in November 1592 of injuries caused by a fall from an upper window of his house. It was suspected that the fall was not accidental; and Dr. Fletcher, bishop of Bristol, laid claim, as high almoner, to all his goods and chattels. The matter being referred to arbitration, the bishop was ultimately awarded 220l. out of the estate in full satisfaction of his claim. Two days before his death, or on the very day of his death, the elder Herrick had drawn up a will, leaving one-third of his property (which realised 5,000l.) to his wife, and two-thirds among his children. There were six surviving children, and a seventh (William) was posthumously born. From some verses ‘To the reverend shade of his religious Father’ it appears that the poet was long ignorant of his father's burial-place.
Their uncle, William, afterwards Sir William Hericke or Herrick [q. v.], became guardian to the children. On 25 Sept. 1607, Robert, who had probably been educated at Westminster School, was bound apprentice to his uncle for ten years. He did not serve out his apprenticeship, for in 1613 he was a fellow-commoner of St. John's College, Cambridge. Fourteen letters, chiefly applications for money, addressed by him from Cambridge to his uncle, are preserved at Beaumanor. It may be gathered from these letters that he was allowed (from his share of the property left by his father) 10l. a term for his expenses at college, that he found the allowance insufficient, and that the uncle supplemented it by grants (or loans) from his own pocket. ‘I could wish,’ writes Herrick, ‘chardges had leaden wings and Tortice feet to come vpon me; sed votis puerilibus opto.’ On one occasion he declares that his pecuniary troubles force him to neglect his studies, ‘whereas if you would be pleased to furnish me with so much that I might keepe beforehand with my Tutor, I doubt not but with quicke dispatch to attaine to what I ayme.’ With the twofold object of reducing his expenditure and of devoting himself to legal studies, he migrated in 1616 to Trinity Hall, where he proceeded B.A. in 1616–17, and commenced M.A. in 1620. From account-books preserved at Trinity Hall it appears that as late as 1629–30 he was in the hall's debt. Dr. Grosart contends that the entries in the steward's books refer to the poet's cousin, Robert Herrick, a son of Sir William Herrick; but there is no evidence to show that the cousin, who was educated at Oxford, studied at Trinity Hall.
On 2 Oct. 1629, shortly after his mother's death, Herrick was admitted to the living of Dean Prior, near Ashburton, Devonshire. Much of his poetry was written before he settled in Devonshire. Accustomed to cheerful society, he found the lonely life at Dean Prior irksome. He wistfully recalled the ‘lyric feasts,’ presided over by Ben Jonson, at ‘the Sun, the Dog, the Triple Tun.’ But he frankly acknowledged that his best poetry
