Barnfield, Richard (1574–1627)

English poet. His works include The Affectionate Shepherd (1594), a pastoral based on the Roman poet Virgil's second eclogue; Cynthia, with certaine Sonnets and the Legend of Cassandra (1595); and The Encomion of Lady Pecunia and other poems (1598).

The latter contains two of his best-known songs: ‘As it fell upon a day’ and ‘If music and sweet poetry agree’. These were reprinted in The Passionate Pilgrim (1599), and for many years were attributed to Shakespeare, whom Barnfield seems to have known.

Barnfield was born in Norbury, Shropshire, and spent most of his life in Stone, Staffordshire.