Cowley, even more than Pope and Macaulay, is the great example of the infant prodigy. When he was ten he wrote a long epical romance, _Piramus and Thisbe_ (1628), and two years later produced an even longer poem called _Constantia and Philetus_ (1630). All through his life he was active in the production of many kinds of work--poems, plays, essays, and histories. His best-known poem was _The Davideis_ (1637), a rather dreary epic on King David, in heroic couplets. Other poems were _The Mistress_ (1647), a collection of love-poems, and the _Pindarique Odes_, which are a curious hybrid between the early freedom of the Elizabethans and the classicism of the later generation. His prose works included his _Essays_ and _Discourse concerning Oliver Cromwell_ (1661). Both in prose and poetry Cowley was a man of various methods, showing the wavering moods of the transitional poet. His heroic couplets and irregular odes foreshadow the vogue of the approaching “correctness”; his essays, in their pleasant egoism and miscellaneous subject-matter, suggest Addison; and his prose style, plain and not inelegant, draws near to the mode of Dryden. His variety pleased many tastes; hence the popularity that was showered upon him during his day. But he excelled in no particular method; and hence the partial oblivion that has followed. =2. The Metaphysical Poets.= The works of this group of poets have several features in common: (i) the poetry is to a great extent lyrical; (ii) in subject it is chiefly religious or amatory; (iii) there is much metrical facility, even in complicated lyrical stanzas; (iv) the poetic style is sometimes almost startling in its sudden beauty of phrase and melody of diction, but there are unexpected turns of language and figures of speech (hence the name of the group). (_a_) =Robert Herrick (1591–1674)= was born in London, and educated at Westminster School and at Cambridge, where he lived for fourteen years. He was appointed to a living in Devonshire, where he died. His two volumes of poems are _Noble Numbers_ (1647) and _Hesperides_ (1648). Both are collections of short poems, sacred and profane. In them he reveals lyrical power of a high order; fresh, passionate, and felicitously exact, but at the same time meditative and observant. Herrick was strongly influenced by Jonson and the classics; he delighted in the good things of this world; but that did not prevent his having a keen enjoyment of nature and a fresh outlook upon life. Among the best known of his shorter pieces are _To Anthea_, _To Julia_, and _Cherry Ripe_. (_b_) =George Herbert (1593–1633)= was born at Montgomery Castle, educated at Westminster School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was appointed Fellow and reader, took holy orders, and was given in turn livings near Huntingdon and at Bemerton, near Salisbury.