Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

His Prayer to Ben Jonson

WHEN I a verse shall make,

Know I have pray’d thee,

For old religion’s sake,

Saint Ben, to aid me.

Make the way smooth for me,

When, I, thy Herrick,

Honouring thee on my knee

Offer my Lyric.

Candles I’ll give to thee,

And a new altar;

And thou, Saint Ben, shalt be

Writ in my psalter.