ROBERT HERRICK GRADUATED FROM TRINITY HALL WITH A B.A. in 1617 and received his M.A. three years later. But the training was wasted on him, as his six years' attempt to be a goldsmith had also been wasted, for Herrick did not become a lawyer. Instead, three years later, he turns up in the company of his close friend, John Weekes. Weekes had been in training for the ministry, and when he entered the Church Herrick entered it with him.
On the twenty-fourth of April, 1623, Robert Herrick and John Weekes stood in the presence of Thomas Dove, Bishop of Peterborough, and by him were ordained deacons in the Church of England. It was a solemn ceremony, the same ritual in which George Herbert took part a few years later, and it testified that Herrick and Weekes were "inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost . . . to serve God, for the promoting of His glory and the edifying of His people."
Their next step was to be ordained priests. The Church of England had originally decreed that a full year must elapse before a deacon could receive this ordination, so that his fitness for his vocation could be fully tested. It was four years at least before George Herbert took this final step and assumed the cure of souls. But so scrupulous a conscience was not usual, and the Church had modified its original rule. There was now a waiting period of only three months, and Herrick and Weekes were free to return during the next Ember week if they were "faithful and diligent" as deacons.
In flat disregard of this rule, Herrick and Weekes presented themselves before the Bishop on the twenty-fifth of April, the day after they had become deacons. And the Bishop of Peter-