Samuel Sheppard (writer)

[2] No record of his education survives, though he appears to have taken holy orders and become a Presbyterian minister: John Hackluyt, a rival writer, called Sheppard a "blasphemous Cleargy-spot".

[a][1] Sheppard commenced his literary career about 1606 as amanuensis to Ben Jonson, but wrote nothing himself till a later period.

[2] From 1646 to 1654 he wrote copiously, in news weeklies, prose reports, essays, poetry, and drama, about the events of the Civil War.

[2] Hᴇᴀᴠᴇɴʟʏ fair Urania's son, Thou that dwell'st on Helicon, Hymen, O thy brows impale, To the bride the bridegroom hale Take thy saffron robe and come With sweet-flowered marjoram; Yellow socks of woollen wear, With a smiling look appear; Shrill Epithalamiums sing, Let this day with pleasure spring; Nimbly dance; the flaming tree, Take in that fair hand of thine.

Let good auguries combine For the pair that now are wed; Let their joys be nourishèd Like a myrtle, ever green, Ownèd by the Cyprian queen, Who fosters it with rosy dew, Where her nymphs their sport pursue.