202. HELL FIRE.

The fire of hell this strange condition hath, To burn, not shine, as learned Basil saith.

203. ABEL'S BLOOD.

Speak, did the blood of Abel cry To God for vengeance? Yes, say I, Ev'n as the sprinkled blood called on God for an expiation.

204. ANOTHER.

The blood of Abel was a thing Of such a rev'rend reckoning, As that the old world thought it fit Especially to swear by it.

205. A POSITION IN THE HEBREW DIVINITY.

One man repentant is of more esteem With God, than one that never sinned 'gainst Him.

206. PENITENCE.

The doctors, in the Talmud, say, That in this world one only day In true repentance spent will be More worth than heaven's eternity.

207. GOD'S PRESENCE.

God's present everywhere, but most of all Present by union hypostatical: God, He is there, where's nothing else, schools say, And nothing else is there where He's away.

Hypostatical, personal.

208. THE RESURRECTION POSSIBLE AND PROBABLE.

For each one body that i' th' earth is sown, There's an uprising but of one for one; But for each grain that in the ground is thrown, Threescore or fourscore spring up thence for one: So that the wonder is not half so great Of ours as is the rising of the wheat.

209. CHRIST'S SUFFERING.

Justly our dearest Saviour may abhor us, Who hath more suffered by us far, than for us.

210. SINNERS.

Sinners confounded are a twofold way, Either as when, the learned schoolmen say, Men's sins destroyed are when they repent, Or when, for sins, men suffer punishment.

211. TEMPTATIONS.

No man is tempted so but may o'ercome, If that he has a will to masterdom.

212. PITY AND PUNISHMENT.

God doth embrace the good with love; and gains The good by mercy, as the bad by pains.

213. GOD'S PRICE AND MAN'S PRICE.

God bought man here with His heart's blood expense; And man sold God here for base thirty pence.

214. CHRIST'S ACTION.

Christ never did so great a work but there His human nature did in part appear; Or ne'er so mean a piece but men might see Therein some beams of His Divinity: So that in all He did there did combine His human nature and His part divine.

215. PREDESTINATION.

Predestination is the cause alone Of many standing, but of fall to none.

216. ANOTHER.

Art thou not destin'd? then with haste go on To make thy fair predestination: If thou can'st change thy life, God then will please To change, or call back, His past sentences.

217. SIN.

Sin never slew a soul unless there went Along with it some tempting blandishment.

218. ANOTHER.

Sin is an act so free, that if we shall Say 'tis not free, 'tis then no sin at all.

219. ANOTHER.

Sin is the cause of death; and sin's alone The cause of God's predestination: And from God's prescience of man's sin doth flow Our destination to eternal woe.

220. PRESCIENCE.

God's prescience makes none sinful; but th' offence Of man's the chief cause of God's prescience.

221. CHRIST.

To all our wounds here, whatsoe'er they be, Christ is the one sufficient remedy.

222. CHRIST'S INCARNATION.

Christ took our nature on Him, not that He 'Bove all things loved it for the purity: No, but He dress'd Him with our human trim, Because our flesh stood most in need of Him.

223. HEAVEN.

Heaven is not given for our good works here; Yet it is given to the labourer.

224. GOD'S KEYS

God has four keys, which He reserves alone: The first of rain; the key of hell next known; With the third key He opes and shuts the womb; And with the fourth key he unlocks the tomb.

225. SIN.

There's no constraint to do amiss, Whereas but one enforcement is.

226. ALMS.

Give unto all, lest he, whom thou deni'st, May chance to be no other man but Christ.

227. HELL FIRE.

One only fire has hell; but yet it shall Not after one sort there excruciate all: But look, how each transgressor onward went Boldly in sin, shall feel more punishment.

228. TO KEEP A TRUE LENT.

Is this a fast, to keep The larder lean? And clean From fat of veals and sheep?

Is it to quit the dish Of flesh, yet still To fill The platter high with fish?

Is it to fast an hour, Or ragg'd to go, Or show A downcast look and sour?

No; 'tis a fast to dole Thy sheaf of wheat, And meat, Unto the hungry soul.

It is to fast from strife, From old debate And hate; To circumcise thy life.

To show a heart grief-rent; To starve thy sin, Not bin; And that's to keep thy Lent.

229. NO TIME IN ETERNITY.

By hours we all live here; in Heaven is known No spring of time, or time's succession.

230. HIS MEDITATION UPON DEATH.

Be those few hours, which I have yet to spend, Blest with the meditation of my end: Though they be few in number, I'm content: If otherwise, I stand indifferent. Nor makes it matter Nestor's years to tell, If man lives long and if he live not well. A multitude of days still heaped on, Seldom brings order, but confusion. Might I make choice, long life should be withstood; Nor would I care how short it were, if good: Which to effect, let ev'ry passing-bell Possess my thoughts, "Next comes my doleful knell": And when the night persuades me to my bed, I'll think I'm going to be buried. So shall the blankets which come over me Present those turfs which once must cover me: And with as firm behaviour I will meet The sheet I sleep in as my winding-sheet. When sleep shall bathe his body in mine eyes, I will believe that then my body dies: And if I chance to wake and rise thereon, I'll have in mind my resurrection, Which must produce me to that General Doom, To which the peasant, so the prince, must come, To hear the Judge give sentence on the throne, Without the least hope of affection. Tears, at that day, shall make but weak defence, When hell and horror fright the conscience. Let me, though late, yet at the last, begin To shun the least temptation to a sin; Though to be tempted be no sin, until Man to th' alluring object gives his will. Such let my life assure me, when my breath Goes thieving from me, I am safe in death; Which is the height of comfort: when I fall, I rise triumphant in my funeral.

Affection, partiality.

231. CLOTHES FOR CONTINUANCE.

Those garments lasting evermore, Are works of mercy to the poor, Which neither tettar, time, or moth Shall fray that silk or fret this cloth.

Tettar, scab.

232. TO GOD.

Come to me, God; but do not come To me as to the General Doom In power; or come Thou in that state When Thou Thy laws did'st promulgate, Whenas the mountain quaked for dread, And sullen clouds bound up his head. No; lay Thy stately terrors by To talk with me familiarly; For if Thy thunder-claps I hear, I shall less swoon than die for fear. Speak Thou of love and I'll reply By way of Epithalamy, Or sing of mercy and I'll suit To it my viol and my lute; Thus let Thy lips but love distil, Then come, my God, and hap what will.

Mountain, orig. ed. mountains.

233. THE SOUL.

When once the soul has lost her way, O then how restless does she stray! And having not her God for light, How does she err in endless night!

234. THE JUDGMENT-DAY.

In doing justice God shall then be known, Who showing mercy here, few prized, or none.

235. SUFFERINGS.

We merit all we suffer, and by far More stripes than God lays on the sufferer.

236. PAIN AND PLEASURE.

God suffers not His saints and servants dear To have continual pain or pleasure here; But look how night succeeds the day, so He Gives them by turns their grief and jollity.

237. GOD'S PRESENCE.

God is all-present to whate'er we do, And as all-present, so all-filling too.

238. ANOTHER.

That there's a God we all do know, But what God is we cannot show.

239. THE POOR MAN'S PART.

Tell me, rich man, for what intent Thou load'st with gold thy vestiment? Whenas the poor cry out: To us Belongs all gold superfluous.

240. THE RIGHT HAND.

God has a right hand, but is quite bereft Of that which we do nominate the left.

241. THE STAFF AND ROD.

Two instruments belong unto our God: The one a staff is and the next a rod; That if the twig should chance too much to smart, The staff might come to play the friendly part.

242. GOD SPARING IN SCOURGING.

God still rewards us more than our desert; But when He strikes, He quarter-acts His part.

243. CONFESSION.

Confession twofold is, as Austin says, The first of sin is, and the next of praise. If ill it goes with thee, thy faults confess: If well, then chant God's praise with cheerfulness.

244. GOD'S DESCENT.

God is then said for to descend, when He Doth here on earth some thing of novity; As when in human nature He works more Than ever yet the like was done before.

245. NO COMING TO GOD WITHOUT CHRIST.

Good and great God! how should I fear To come to Thee if Christ not there! Could I but think He would not be Present to plead my cause for me, To hell I'd rather run than I Would see Thy face and He not by.

246. ANOTHER TO GOD.

Though Thou be'st all that active love Which heats those ravished souls above; And though all joys spring from the glance Of Thy most winning countenance; Yet sour and grim Thou'dst seem to me If through my Christ I saw not Thee.

247. THE RESURRECTION.

That Christ did die, the pagan saith; But that He rose, that's Christians' faith.

248. CO-HEIRS.

We are co-heirs with Christ; nor shall His own Heirship be less by our adoption. The number here of heirs shall from the state Of His great birthright nothing derogate.

249. THE NUMBER OF TWO.

God hates the dual number, being known The luckless number of division; And when He bless'd each sev'ral day whereon He did His curious operation, 'Tis never read there, as the fathers say, God bless'd His work done on the second day; Wherefore two prayers ought not to be said, Or by ourselves, or from the pulpit read.

250. HARDENING OF HEARTS.

God's said our hearts to harden then, Whenas His grace not supples men.

251. THE ROSE.

Before man's fall the rose was born, St. Ambrose says, without the thorn; But for man's fault then was the thorn Without the fragrant rose-bud born; But ne'er the rose without the thorn.

252. GOD'S TIME MUST END OUR TROUBLE.

God doth not promise here to man that He Will free him quickly from his misery; But in His own time, and when He thinks fit, Then He will give a happy end to it.

253. BAPTISM.

The strength of baptism that's within, It saves the soul by drowning sin.

254. GOLD AND FRANKINCENSE.

Gold serves for tribute to the king, The frankincense for God's off'ring.

255. TO GOD.

God, who me gives a will for to repent, Will add a power to keep me innocent; That I shall ne'er that trespass recommit When I have done true penance here for it.

256. THE CHEWING THE CUD.

When well we speak and nothing do that's good, We not divide the hoof, but chew the cud; But when good words by good works have their proof, We then both chew the cud and cleave the hoof.

257. CHRIST'S TWOFOLD COMING.

Thy former coming was to cure My soul's most desp'rate calenture; Thy second advent, that must be To heal my earth's infirmity.

Calenture, delirium caused by excessive heat.

258. TO GOD, HIS GIFT.

As my little pot doth boil, We will keep this level-coil, That a wave and I will bring To my God a heave-offering.

Level-coil, the old Christmas game of changing chairs; to "keep level-coil" means to change about.

259. GOD'S ANGER.

God can't be wrathful: but we may conclude Wrathful He may be by similitude: God's wrathful said to be, when He doth do That without wrath which wrath doth force us to.

260. GOD'S COMMANDS.

In God's commands ne'er ask the reason why; Let thy obedience be the best reply.

261. TO GOD.

If I have played the truant, or have here Failed in my part, oh! Thou that art my dear, My mild, my loving tutor, Lord and God! Correct my errors gently with Thy rod. I know that faults will many here be found, But where sin swells there let Thy grace abound.

262. TO GOD.

The work is done; now let my laurel be Given by none but by Thyself to me: That done, with honour Thou dost me create Thy poet, and Thy prophet Laureate.

263. GOOD FRIDAY: REX TRAGICUS; OR, CHRIST GOING TO HIS CROSS.

Put off Thy robe of purple, then go on To the sad place of execution: Thine hour is come, and the tormentor stands Ready to pierce Thy tender feet and hands. Long before this, the base, the dull, the rude, Th' inconstant and unpurged multitude Yawn for Thy coming; some ere this time cry, How He defers, how loath He is to die! Amongst this scum, the soldier with his spear And that sour fellow with his vinegar, His sponge, and stick, do ask why Thou dost stay; So do the scurf and bran too. Go Thy way, Thy way, Thou guiltless man, and satisfy By Thine approach each their beholding eye. Not as a thief shalt Thou ascend the mount, But like a person of some high account; The Cross shall be Thy stage, and Thou shalt there The spacious field have for Thy theatre. Thou art that Roscius and that marked-out man That must this day act the tragedian To wonder and affrightment: Thou art He Whom all the flux of nations comes to see, Not those poor thieves that act their parts with Thee; Those act without regard, when once a king And God, as Thou art, comes to suffering. No, no; this scene from Thee takes life, and sense, And soul, and spirit, plot and excellence. Why then, begin, great King! ascend Thy throne, And thence proceed to act Thy Passion To such an height, to such a period raised, As hell, and earth, and heav'n may stand amazed. God and good angels guide Thee; and so bless Thee in Thy several parts of bitterness, That those who see Thee nail'd unto the tree May, though they scorn Thee, praise and pity Thee. And we, Thy lovers, while we see Thee keep The laws of action, will both sigh and weep, And bring our spices to embalm Thee dead; That done, we'll see Thee sweetly buried.

Scurf and bran, the rabble.

264. HIS WORDS TO CHRIST GOING TO THE CROSS.

When Thou wast taken, Lord, I oft have read, All Thy disciples Thee forsook and fled. Let their example not a pattern be For me to fly, but now to follow Thee.

265. ANOTHER TO HIS SAVIOUR.

If Thou be'st taken, God forbid I fly from Thee, as others did: But if Thou wilt so honour me As to accept my company, I'll follow Thee, hap hap what shall, Both to the judge and judgment hall: And, if I see Thee posted there, To be all-flayed with whipping-cheer, I'll take my share; or else, my God, Thy stripes I'll kiss, or burn the rod.

266. HIS SAVIOUR'S WORDS GOING TO THE CROSS.

Have, have ye no regard, all ye Who pass this way, to pity Me, Who am a man of misery!

A man both bruis'd, and broke, and one Who suffers not here for Mine own, But for My friends' transgression!

Ah! Sion's daughters, do not fear The cross, the cords, the nails, the spear, The myrrh, the gall, the vinegar;

For Christ, your loving Saviour, hath Drunk up the wine of God's fierce wrath; Only there's left a little froth,

Less for to taste than for to show What bitter cups had been your due, Had He not drank them up for you.

267. HIS ANTHEM TO CHRIST ON THE CROSS.

When I behold Thee, almost slain, With one and all parts full of pain: When I Thy gentle heart do see Pierced through and dropping blood for me, I'll call, and cry out, thanks to Thee.

Vers. But yet it wounds my soul to think That for my sin Thou, Thou must drink, Even Thou alone, the bitter cup Of fury and of vengeance up.

Chor. Lord, I'll not see Thee to drink all The vinegar, the myrrh, the gall:

Vers. Chor. But I will sip a little wine; Which done, Lord, say: The rest is Mine.

268.

This crosstree here Doth Jesus bear, Who sweet'ned first The death accurs'd. Here all things ready are, make haste, make haste away; For long this work will be, and very short this day. Why then, go on to act: here's wonders to be done Before the last least sand of Thy ninth hour be run; Or ere dark clouds do dull or dead the mid-day's sun. Act when Thou wilt, Blood will be spilt; Pure balm, that shall Bring health to all. Why then, begin To pour first in Some drops of wine, Instead of brine, To search the wound So long unsound: And, when that's done, Let oil next run To cure the sore Sin made before. And O! dear Christ, E'en as Thou di'st, Look down, and see Us weep for Thee. And tho', love knows, Thy dreadful woes We cannot ease, Yet do Thou please, Who mercy art, T' accept each heart That gladly would Help if it could. Meanwhile let me, Beneath this tree, This honour have, To make my grave.

269. TO HIS SAVIOUR'S SEPULCHRE: HIS DEVOTION.

Hail, holy and all-honour'd tomb, By no ill haunted; here I come, With shoes put off, to tread thy room. I'll not profane by soil of sin Thy door as I do enter in; For I have washed both hand and heart, This, that, and every other part, So that I dare, with far less fear Than full affection, enter here. Thus, thus I come to kiss Thy stone With a warm lip and solemn one: And as I kiss I'll here and there Dress Thee with flow'ry diaper. How sweet this place is! as from hence Flowed all Panchaia's frankincense; Or rich Arabia did commix, Here, all her rare aromatics. Let me live ever here, and stir No one step from this sepulchre. Ravish'd I am! and down I lie Confused in this brave ecstasy. Here let me rest; and let me have This for my heaven that was Thy grave: And, coveting no higher sphere, I'll my eternity spend here.

Panchaia, a fabulous spice island in the Erythrean Sea.

270. HIS OFFERING, WITH THE REST, AT THE SEPULCHRE.

To join with them who here confer Gifts to my Saviour's sepulchre, Devotion bids me hither bring Somewhat for my thank-offering. Lo! thus I bring a virgin flower, To dress my Maiden Saviour.

271. HIS COMING TO THE SEPULCHRE.

Hence they have borne my Lord; behold! the stone Is rolled away and my sweet Saviour's gone. Tell me, white angel, what is now become Of Him we lately sealed up in this tomb? Is He, from hence, gone to the shades beneath, To vanquish hell as here He conquered death? If so, I'll thither follow without fear, And live in hell if that my Christ stays there.

Of all the good things whatsoe'er we do, God is the {ARCHE}, and the {TELOS} too.



POEMS

NOT INCLUDED IN HESPERIDES.

THE DESCRIPTION OF A WOMAN.

Whose head, befringed with bescattered tresses, Shows like Apollo's when the morn he dresses,[B] Or like Aurora when with pearl she sets Her long, dishevell'd, rose-crown'd trammelets: Her forehead smooth, full, polish'd, bright and high Bears in itself a graceful majesty, Under the which two crawling eyebrows twine Like to the tendrils of a flatt'ring vine, Under whose shade two starry sparkling eyes Are beautifi'd with fair fring'd canopies. Her comely nose, with uniformal grace, Like purest white, stands in the middle place, Parting the pair, as we may well suppose. Each cheek resembling still a damask rose, Which like a garden manifestly show How roses, lilies, and carnations grow, Which sweetly mixed both with white and red, Like rose leaves, white and red, seem[C] mingled. Then nature for a sweet allurement sets Two smelling, swelling, bashful cherrylets, The which with ruby redness being tipp'd, Do speak a virgin, merry, cherry-lipp'd. Over the which a neat, sweet skin is drawn, Which makes them show like roses under lawn: These be the ruby portals, and divine, Which ope themselves to show a holy shrine Whose breath is rich perfume, that to the sense Smells like the burn'd Sabean frankincense: In which the tongue, though but a member small, Stands guarded with a rosy-hilly wall; And her white teeth, which in the gums are set Like pearl and gold, make one rich cabinet. Next doth her chin with dimpled beauty strive For his white, plump, and smooth prerogative; At whose fair top, to please the sight, there grows The fairest[D] image of a blushing rose, Mov'd by the chin, whose motion causeth this, That both her lips do part, do meet, do kiss; Her ears, which like two labyrinths are plac'd On either side, with rich rare jewels grac'd, Moving a question whether that by them The gem is grac'd, or they grac'd by the gem. But the foundation of the architect Is the swan-staining, fair, rare, stately neck Which with ambitious humbleness stands under, Bearing aloft this rich, round world of wonder. Her breast, a place for beauty's throne most fit, Bears up two globes where love and pleasure sit, Which, headed with two rich, round rubies, show Like wanton rosebuds growing out of snow; And in the milky valley that's between Sits Cupid, kissing of his mother queen, Fingering the paps that feel like sieved silk, And press'd a little they will weep pure milk. Then comes the belly, seated next below, Like a fair mountain in Riphean snow, Where Nature, in a whiteness without spot, Hath in the middle tied a Gordian knot. Now love invites me to survey her thighs, Swelling in likeness like two crystal skies, Which to the knees by Nature fastened on, Derive their ever well 'greed motion. Her legs with two clear calves, like silver tri'd, Kindly swell up with little pretty pride, Leaving a distance for the comely[E] small To beautify the leg and foot withal. Then lowly, yet most lovely stand the feet, Round, short and clear, like pounded spices sweet, And whatsoever thing they tread upon They make it scent like bruised cinnamon. The lovely shoulders now allure the eye To see two tablets of pure ivory From which two arms like branches seem to spread With tender rind[F] and silver coloured, With little hands and fingers long and small To grace a lute, a viol, virginal. In length each finger doth his next excel, Each richly headed with a pearly shell. Thus every part in contrariety Meet in the whole and make a harmony, As divers strings do singly disagree, But form'd by number make sweet melody.

[B] MS. blesses.

[C] MS. lye.

[D] MS. blessed.

[E] MS. beauteous.

[F] W.R. vein'd.

MR. HERRICK: HIS DAUGHTER'S DOWRY.

Ere I go hence and be no more Seen to the world, I'll give the score I owe unto a female child, And that is this, a verse enstyled My daughter's dowry; having which, I'll leave thee then completely rich. Instead of gold, pearl, rubies, bonds Long forfeit, pawned diamonds Or antique pledges, house or land, I give thee this that shall withstand The blow of ruin and of chance. These hurt not thine inheritance, For 'tis fee simple and no rent Thou fortune ow'st for tenement. However after times will praise, This portion, my prophetic bays, Cannot deliver up to th' rust, Yet I keep peaceful in my dust. As for thy birth and better seeds (Those which must grow to virtuous deeds), Thou didst derive from that old stem (Love and mercy cherish them), Which like a vestal virgin ply With holy fire lest that it die. Grow up with milder laws to know At what time to say aye or no; Let manners teach thee where to be More comely flowing, where less free. These bring thy husband, like to those Old coins and medals we expose To th' show, but never part with. Next, As in a more conspicuous text, Thy forehead, let therein be sign'd The maiden candour of thy mind; And under it two chaste-born spies To bar out bold adulteries, For through these optics fly the darts Of lust which set on fire our hearts. On either side of these quick ears There must be plac'd, for seasoned fears Which sweeten love, yet ne'er come nigh The plague of wilder jealousy. Then let each cheek of thine entice His soul as to a bed of spice Where he may roll and lose his sense, As in a bed of frankincense. A lip enkindled with that coal With which love chafes and warms the soul, Bring to him next, and in it show Love's cherries from such fires grow And have their harvest, which must stand The gathering of the lip, not hand; Then unto these be it thy care To clothe thy words in gentle air, That smooth as oil, sweet, soft and clean As is the childish bloom of bean, They may fall down and stroke, as the Beams of the sun the peaceful sea. With hands as smooth as mercy's bring Him for his better cherishing, That when thou dost his neck ensnare, Or with thy wrist, or flattering hair, He may, a prisoner, there descry Bondage more loved than liberty. A nature so well formed, so wrought To calm and tempest, let be brought With thee, that should he but incline To roughness, clasp him like a vine, Or like as wool meets steel, give way Unto the passion, not to stay; Wrath, if resisted, over-boils, If not, it dies or else recoils. And lastly, see you bring to him Somewhat peculiar to each limb; And I charge thee to be known By n'other face but by thine own. Let it in love's name be kept sleek, Yet to be found when he shall seek It, and not instead of saint Give up his worth unto the paint; For, trust me, girl, she over-does Who by a double proxy woos. But lest I should forget his bed, Be sure thou bring a maidenhead. That is a margarite, which lost, Thou bring'st unto his bed a frost Or a cold poison, which his blood Benumbs like the forgetful flood. Now for some jewels to supply The want of earrings' bravery For public eyes; take only these Ne'er travelled for beyond the seas; They're nobly home-bred, yet have price Beyond the far-fet merchandise: Obedience, wise distrust, peace, shy Distance and sweet urbanity; Safe modesty, lov'd patience, fear Of offending, temperance, dear Constancy, bashfulness and all The virtues less or cardinal, Take with my blessing, and go forth Enjewelled with thy native worth. And now if there a man be found That looks for such prepared ground, Let him, but with indifferent skill, So good a soil bestock and till; He may ere long have such a wife Nourish in's breast a tree of life.

MR. ROBERT HERRICK: HIS FAREWELL UNTO POETRY.

I have beheld two lovers in a night Hatched o'er with moonshine from their stolen delight (When this to that, and that to this, had given A kiss to such a jewel of the heaven, Or while that each from other's breath did drink Health to the rose, the violet, or pink), Call'd on the sudden by the jealous mother, Some stricter mistress or suspicious other, Urging divorcement (worse than death to these) By the soon jingling of some sleepy keys, Part with a hasty kiss; and in that show How stay they would, yet forced they are to go. Even such are we, and in our parting do No otherwise than as those former two Natures like ours, we who have spent our time Both from the morning to the evening chime. Nay, till the bellman of the night had tolled Past noon of night, yet wear the hours not old Nor dulled with iron sleep, but have outworn The fresh and fairest nourish of the morn With flame and rapture; drinking to the odd Number of nine which makes us full with God, And in that mystic frenzy we have hurled, As with a tempest, nature through the world, And in a whirlwind twirl'd her home, aghast At that which in her ecstasy had past; Thus crowned with rosebuds, sack, thou mad'st me fly Like fire-drakes, yet didst me no harm thereby. O thou almighty nature, who didst give True heat wherewith humanity doth live Beyond its stinted circle, giving food, White fame and resurrection to the good; Shoring them up 'bove ruin till the doom, The general April of the world doth come That makes all equal. Many thousands should, Were't not for thee, have crumbled into mould, And with their serecloths rotted, not to show Whether the world such spirits had or no, Whereas by thee those and a million since, Nor fate, nor envy, can their fames convince. Homer, Musaeus, Ovid, Maro, more Of those godful prophets long before Held their eternal fires, and ours of late (Thy mercy helping) shall resist strong fate, Nor stoop to the centre, but survive as long As fame or rumour hath or trump or tongue; But unto me be only hoarse, since now (Heaven and my soul bear record of my vow) I my desires screw from thee, and direct Them and my thoughts to that sublim'd respect And conscience unto priesthood; 'tis not need (The scarecrow unto mankind) that doth breed Wiser conclusions in me, since I know I've more to bear my charge than way to go, Or had I not, I'd stop the spreading itch Of craving more, so in conceit be rich; But 'tis the God of Nature who intends And shapes my function for more glorious ends. Kiss, so depart, yet stay a while to see The lines of sorrow that lie drawn in me In speech, in picture; no otherwise than when, Judgment and death denounced 'gainst guilty men, Each takes a weeping farewell, racked in mind With joys before and pleasures left behind; Shaking the head, whilst each to each doth mourn, With thought they go whence they must ne'er return. So with like looks, as once the ministrel Cast, leading his Eurydice through hell, I strike thy love, and greedily pursue Thee with mine eyes or in or out of view. So looked the Grecian orator when sent From's native country into banishment, Throwing his eyeballs backward to survey The smoke of his beloved Attica; So Tully looked when from the breasts of Rome The sad soul went, not with his love, but doom, Shooting his eyedarts 'gainst it to surprise It, or to draw the city to his eyes. Such is my parting with thee, and to prove There was not varnish only in my love, But substance, lo! receive this pearly tear Frozen with grief and place it in thine ear. Then part in name of peace, and softly on With numerous feet to hoofy Helicon; And when thou art upon that forked hill Amongst the thrice three sacred virgins, fill A full-brimm'd bowl of fury and of rage, And quaff it to the prophets of our age; When drunk with rapture curse the blind and lame, Base ballad-mongers who usurp thy name And foul thy altar; charm some into frogs, Some to be rats, and others to be hogs; Into the loathsom'st shapes thou canst devise To make fools hate them, only by disguise; Thus with a kiss of warmth and love I part Not so, but that some relic in my heart Shall stand for ever, though I do address Chiefly myself to what I must profess. Know yet, rare soul, when my diviner muse Shall want a handmaid (as she oft will use), Be ready, thou for me, to wait upon her, Though as a servant, yet a maid of honour. The crown of duty is our duty: well Doing's the fruit of doing well. Farewell.

Shoring, copies soaring.

A CAROL PRESENTED TO DR. WILLIAMS, BISHOP OF LINCOLN AS A NEW-YEAR'S GIFT.

Fly hence, pale care, no more remember Past sorrows with the fled December, But let each pleasant cheek appear Smooth as the childhood of the year, And sing a carol here. 'Twas brave, 'twas brave, could we command the hand Of youth's swift watch to stand As you have done your day; Then should we not decay. But all we wither, and our light Is spilt in everlasting night, Whenas your sight Shows like the heavens above the moon, Like an eternal noon That sees no setting sun.

Keep up those flames, and though you shroud Awhile your forehead in a cloud, Do it like the sun to write In the air a greater text of light; Welcome to all our vows, And since you pay To us this day So long desir'd, See we have fir'd Our holy spikenard, and there's none But brings his stick of cinnamon, His eager eye or smoother smile, And lays it gently on the pile, Which thus enkindled, we invoke Your name amidst the sacred smoke.

Chorus. Come then, great Lord. And see our altar burn With love of your return, And not a man here but consumes His soul to glad you in perfumes.

SONG. HIS MISTRESS TO HIM AT HIS FAREWELL.

You may vow I'll not forget To pay the debt Which to thy memory stands as due As faith can seal it you; Take then tribute of my tears, So long as I have fears To prompt me I shall ever Languish and look, but thy return see never. Oh then to lessen my despair Print thy lips into the air, So by this Means I may kiss thy kiss Whenas some kind Wind Shall hither waft it, and in lieu My lips shall send a 1000 back to you.

UPON PARTING.

Go hence away, and in thy parting know 'Tis not my voice but Heaven's that bids thee go; Spring hence thy faith, nor think it ill desert I find in thee that makes me thus to part. But voice of fame, and voice of Heaven have thundered We both were lost, if both of us not sundered. Fold now thine arms, and in thy last look rear One sigh of love, and cool it with a tear. Since part we must, let's kiss; that done, retire With as cold frost as erst we met with fire; With such white vows as fate can ne'er dissever, But truth knit fast; and so, farewell for ever.

UPON MASTER FLETCHER'S INCOMPARABLE PLAYS.

Apollo sings, his harp resounds: give room, For now behold the golden pomp is come, Thy pomp of plays which thousands come to see With admiration both of them and thee. O volume! worthy, leaf by leaf and cover, To be with juice of cedar wash'd all over; Here words with lines and lines with scenes consent To raise an act to full astonishment; Here melting numbers, words of power to move Young men to swoon and maids to die for love. Love lies a-bleeding here, Evadne, there Swells with brave rage, yet comely everywhere; Here's A mad lover, there that high design Of King and no King, and the rare plot thine. So that whene'er we circumvolve our eyes, Such rich, such fresh, such sweet varieties Ravish our spirits, that entranc'd we see None writes love's passion in the world like thee.

THE NEW CHARON:

UPON THE DEATH OF HENRY, LORD HASTINGS.

The musical part being set by Mr. Henry Lawes.

THE SPEAKERS,

CHARON AND EUCOSMIA.

Euc. Charon, O Charon, draw thy boat to th' shore, And to thy many take in one soul more. Cha. Who calls? who calls? Euc. One overwhelm'd with ruth; Have pity either on my tears or youth, And take me in who am in deep distress; But first cast off thy wonted churlishness. Cha. I will be gentle as that air which yields A breath of balm along the Elysian fields. Speak, what art thou? Euc. One once that had a lover, Than which thyself ne'er wafted sweeter over. He was—— Cha. Say what? Euc. Ah me, my woes are deep. Cha. Prithee relate, while I give ear and weep. Euc. He was a Hastings; and that one name has In it all good that is, and ever was. He was my life, my love, my joy, but died Some hours before I should have been his bride. Chorus. Thus, thus the gods celestial still decree, For human joy contingent misery. Euc. The hallowed tapers all prepared were, And Hymen call'd to bless the rites. Cha. Stop there. Euc. Great are my woes. Cha. And great must that grief be That makes grim Charon thus to pity thee. But now come in. Euc. More let me yet relate. Cha. I cannot stay; more souls for waftage wait And I must hence. Euc. Yet let me thus much know, Departing hence, where good and bad souls go? Cha. Those souls which ne'er were drench'd in pleasure's stream, The fields of Pluto are reserv'd for them; Where, dress'd with garlands, there they walk the ground Whose blessed youth with endless flowers is crown'd. But such as have been drown'd in this wild sea, For those is kept the Gulf of Hecate, Where with their own contagion they are fed, And there do punish and are punished. This known, the rest of thy sad story tell When on the flood that nine times circles hell. Chorus. We sail along to visit mortals never; But there to live where love shall last for ever.

EPITAPH ON THE TOMB OF SIR EDWARD GILES AND HIS WIFE IN THE SOUTH AISLE OF DEAN PRIOR CHURCH, DEVON.

No trust to metals nor to marbles, when These have their fate and wear away as men; Times, titles, trophies may be lost and spent, But virtue rears the eternal monument. What more than these can tombs or tombstones pay? But here's the sunset of a tedious day: These two asleep are: I'll but be undress'd And so to bed: pray wish us all good rest.



NOTES.



NOTES.

569. And of any wood ye see, You can make a Mercury. Pythagoras allegorically said that Mercury's statue could not be made of every sort of wood: cp. Rabelais, iv. 62.

575. The Apparition of his Mistress calling him to Elysium. An earlier version of this poem was printed in the 1640 edition of Shakespeare's poems under the title, His Mistris Shade, having been licensed for separate publication at Stationers' Hall the previous year. The variants are numerous, and some of them important. l. 1, of silver for with silv'rie; l. 3, on the Banks for in the Meads; l. 8, Spikenard through for Storax from; l. 10 reads: "Of mellow Apples, ripened Plums and Pears": l. 17, the order of "naked younglings, handsome striplings" is reversed; in place of l. 20 we have:—

"So soon as each his dangling locks hath crown'd With Rosie Chaplets, Lilies, Pansies red, Soft Saffron Circles to perfume the head";

l. 23, to for too unto; l. 24, their for our; ll. 29, 30:—

"Unto the Prince of Shades, whom once his Pen Entituled the Grecian Prince of Men";

l. 31, thereupon for and that done; l. 36, render him true for show him truly; l. 37, will for shall; l. 38, "Where both may laugh, both drink, both rage together"; l. 48, Amphitheatre for spacious theatre; l. 49, synod for glories, followed by:—

"crown'd with sacred Bays And flatt'ring joy, we'll have to recite their plays, Shakespeare and Beamond, Swans to whom the Spheres Listen while they call back the former year[s] To teach the truth of scenes, and more for thee, There yet remains, brave soul, than thou can'st see," etc.;

l. 56, illustrious for capacious; l. 57, shall be for now is [Jonson died 1637]; ll. 59-61:—

"To be of that high Hierarchy where none But brave souls take illumination Immediately from heaven; but hark the cock," etc.;

l. 62, feel for see; l. 63, through for from.

579. My love will fit each history. Cp. Ovid, Amor. II. iv. 44: Omnibus historiis se meus aptat amor.

580. The sweets of love are mixed with tears. Cp. Propert. I. xii. 16: Nonnihil adspersis gaudet Amor lacrimis.

583. Whom this morn sees most fortunate, etc. Seneca, Thyest. 613: Quem dies vidit veniens superbum Hunc dies vidit fugiens jacentem.

586. Night hides our thefts, etc. Ovid, Ars Am. i. 249:—

Nocte latent mendae vitioque ignoscitur omni, Horaque formosam quamlibet illa facit.

590. To his brother-in-law, Master John Wingfield. Of Brantham, Suffolk, husband of the poet's sister, Mercy. See 818, and Sketch of Herrick's Life in vol. i.

599. Upon Lucia. Cp. "The Resolution" in Speculum Amantis, ed. A. H. Bullen.

604. Old Religion. Certainly not Roman Catholicism, though Jonson was a Catholic. Herrick uses the noun and its adjective rather curiously of the dead: cp. 82, "To the reverend shade of his religious Father," and 138, "When thou shalt laugh at my religious dust". There may be something of this use here, or we may refer to his ancient cult of Jonson. But the use of the phrase in 870 makes the exact shade of meaning difficult to fix.

605. Riches to be but burdens to the mind. Seneca De Provid. 6: Democritus divitias projecit, onus illas bonae mentis existimans.

607. Who covets more is evermore a slave. Hor. I. Ep. x. 41: Serviet aeternum qui parvo nesciet uti.

615. No Wrath of Men. Cp. Hor. Od. III. iii. 1-8.

616. To the Maids to walk abroad. Printed in Witts Recreations, 1650, under the title: Abroad with the Maids.

618. Mistress Elizabeth Lee, now Lady Tracy. Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas, first Lord Leigh of Stoneleigh, in Warwickshire, married John, third Viscount Tracy. She survived her husband two years, and died in 1688.

624. Poets. Wantons we are, etc. From Ovid, Trist. ii. 353-4:—

Crede mihi, mores distant a carmine nostri: Vita verecunda est, Musa jocosa, mihi.

625. 'Tis cowardice to bite the buried. Cp. Ben Jonson, The Poetaster, I. 1: "Envy the living, not the dead, doth bite"; perhaps from Ovid, Am. I. xv. 39: Pascitur in vivis livor; post fata quiescit.

626. Noble Westmoreland. See Note to 112.

Gallant Newark. Robert Pierrepoint was created Viscount Newark in 1627 and Earl of Kingston in the following year. But Herrick is perhaps addressing his son, Henry Pierrepoint, afterwards Marquis of Dorchester (see 962 and Note), who during the first Earl of Kingston's life would presumably have borne his second title.

633. Sweet words must nourish soft and gentle love. Ovid, Ars Am. ii. 152: Dulcibus est verbis mollis alendus amor.

639. Fates revolve no flax they've spun. Seneca, Herc. Fur. 1812: Durae peragunt pensa sorores, Nec sua retro fila revolvunt.

642. Palms ... gems. A Latinism. Cp. Ovid, Fasti, i. 152: Et nova de gravido palmite gemma tumet.

645. Upon Tears. Cp. S. Bernard: P[oe]nitentium lacrimae vinum angelorum.

649. Upon Lucy. Printed in Witts Recreations, 1650, under the title, On Betty.

653. To th' number five or nine. Probably Herrick is mistaking the references in Greek and Latin poets to the mixing of their wine and water (e.g., Hor. Od. III. xix. 11-17) for the drinking of so many cups.

654. Long-looked-for comes at last. Cp. G. Herbert, preface to Sibbes' Funeral Sermon on Sir Thomas Crew (1638): "That ancient adage, 'Quod differtur non aufertur' for 'Long-looked-for comes at last'".

655. The morrow's life too late is, etc. Mart. I. xvi. 12: Sera nimis vita est crastina: vive hodie.

662. O happy life, etc. From Virg. Georg. ii. 458-9:—

O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint Agricolas.

It is not uncharacteristic that these fervid praises of country life were left unfinished.

664. Arthur Bartly. Not yet identified.

665. Let her Lucrece all day be. From Martial XI. civ. 21, 22:—

Lucretia toto Sis licet usque die: Laida nocte volo.

Neither will Famish me, nor overfill. Mart. I. lviii. 4: Nec volo quod cruciat, nec volo quod satiat.

667. Be't for my Bridal or my Burial. Cp. Brand, vol. ii., and Coles' Introduction to the Knowledge of Plants: "Rosemary and bayes are used by the commons both at funerals and weddings".

672. Kings ought to be more lov'd than fear'd. Seneca, Octavia, 459: Decet timeri Caesarem. At plus diligi.

673. To Mr. Denham, on his prospective poem. Sir John Denham published in 1642 his Cooper's Hill, a poem on the view over the Thames towards London, from a hill near Windsor.

675. Their fashion is, but to say no, etc. Cp. Montaigne's Essais, II. 3, p. 51; Florio's tr. p. 207: "Let it suffice that in doing it they say no and take it".

676. Love is maintained by wealth. Ovid, Rem. Am. 746: Divitiis alitur luxuriosus amor.

679. Nero commanded, but withdrew his eyes. Tacit. Agric. 45: Nero subtraxit oculos, jussitque scelera, non spectavit.

683. But a just measure both of Heat and Cold. This is a version of the medieval doctrine of the four humours. So Chaucer says of his Doctor of Physic:—

"He knew the cause of every maladye, Were it of hoot or cold, or moyste, or drye, And where engendered and of what humour".

684. 'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering. The Epistle for Mid-Lent Sunday was from Galat. iv. 21, etc., and contained the words: "Jerusalem, quae est Mater nostra". On that Sunday people made offerings at their Mother Church. After the Reformation the natural mother was substituted for the spiritual, and the day was set apart for visiting relations. Excellent simnel cakes (Low Lat., siminellus, fine flour) are still made in the North, where the current derivation of the word is from Sim and Nell!

685. To the King. Probably written in 1645, when Charles was for a short time in the West.

689. Too much she gives to some, enough to none. Mart. XII. x.; Fortuna multis dat nimis, satis nulli.

696. Men mind no state in sickness. There is a general resemblance in this poem to the latter part of Hor. III. Od. i., but I have an uneasy sense that Herrick is translating.

697. Adversity. Printed in Witts Recreations, 1650.

702. Mean things overcome mighty. Cp. 486 and Note.

706. How roses came red. Cp. Burton, Anat. Mel. III. ii. 3: "Constantine (Agricult. xi. 18) makes Cupid himself to be a great dancer: by the same token that he was capering among the gods, he flung down a bowl of nectar, which, distilling upon the white rose, ever since made it red".

709. Tears and Laughter. Bishop Jebb quotes a Latin couplet inscribed on an old inn at Four Crosses, Staffordshire:—

Fleres si scires unum tua tempora mensem: Rides, cum non sit forsitan una dies.

710. Tully says. Cic. Tusc. Disp. III. ii. 3: Gloria est frequens de aliquo, fama cum laude.

713. His return to London. Written at the same time as his Farewell to Dean Bourn, i.e., after his ejection in 1648, the year of the publication of the Hesperides.

715. No pack like poverty. Burton, Anat. Mel. iii. 3: {Ouden penias baryteron esti phortion}. "No burden, saith Menander, is so intolerable as poverty."

718. As many laws, etc. Tacit. Ann. iii. 27: Corruptissima in republica plurimae leges.

723. Lay down some silver pence. Cp. Bishop Corbet's The Faeryes Farewell:—

"And though they sweep their hearths no less Than maids were wont to do, Yet who of late for cleanliness Finds sixpence in her shoe?"

725. Times that are ill ... Clouds will not ever, etc., two reminiscences of Horace, II. Od. x. 17, and ix.

727. Up tails all. This tune will be found in Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Time, vol. i. p. 196. He notes that it was a favourite with Herrick, who wrote four other poems in the metre, viz.: The Hag is Astride, The Maypole is up, The Peter-penny, and Twelfth Night: or, King and Queen. The tune is found in Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book, and in the Dancing Master (1650-1690). It is alluded to by Ben Jonson, and was a favourite with the Cavaliers.

730. Charon and Philomel. This dialogue is found with some slight variations of text in Rawlinson's MS. poet. 65. fol. 32. The following variants may be noted: l. 5, voice for sound; l. 7, shade for bird; l. 11, warbling for watching; l. 12, hoist up for thus hoist; l. 13, be gone for return; l. 18, praise for pray; l. 19, sighs for vows; l. 24, omit slothful. The dialogue is succeeded in the MS. by an old catch (probably written before Herrick was born):—

"A boat! a boat! haste to the ferry! For we go over to be merry, To laugh and quaff, and drink old sherry".

After the catch comes the following dialogue, written (it would seem) in imitation of Herrick's Charon and Philomel: the speakers' names are not marked:—

"Charon! O Charon! the wafter of all souls to bliss or bane! Who calls the ferryman of Hell? Come near and say who lives in bliss and who in pain. Those that die well eternal bliss shall follow. Those that die ill their own black deeds shall swallow. Shall thy black barge those guilty spirits row That kill themselves for love? Oh, no! oh, no! My cordage cracks when such foul sins draw near, No wind blows fair, nor I my boat can steer. What spirits pass and in Elysium reign? Those harmless souls that love and are beloved again. That soul that lives in love and fain would die to win, Shall he go free? Oh, no! it is too foul a sin. He must not come aboard, I dare not row, Storms of despair my boat will overblow. But when thy mistress (?) shall close up thine eyes then come aboard, Then come aboard and pass; till then be wise and sing."

"Then come aboard" from the penultimate line and "and sing" from the last should clearly be struck out.

739. O Jupiter, etc. Eubulus in Athenaeus, xiii. 559: {O Zeu polytimet', eit' ego kakos pote ero gynaikas? ne Di' apoloimen ara; panton ariston ktematon}. Comp. 885.

743. Another upon her Weeping. Printed in Witts Recreations, 1650, under the title: On Julia's Weeping.

745. To Sir John Berkeley, Governour of Exeter. Youngest son of Sir Maurice Berkeley, of Bruton, in Somersetshire; knighted in Berwick in 1638; commander-in-chief of all the Royalist forces in Devonshire, 1643; captured Exeter Sept. 4 of that year, and held it till April 13, 1646. Created Baron Berkeley of Stratton, in Cornwall, 1658; died 1678.

749. Consultation. As noted in the text, this is from Sallust, Cat. i.

751. None sees the fardell of his faults behind. Cp. Catullus, xxii. 20, 21:—

Suus cuique attributus est error, Sed non videmus manticae quod in tergo est,

or, perhaps more probably from Seneca, de Ira, ii. 28: Aliena vitia in oculis habemus; a tergo nostra sunt.

755. The Eye. AEschyl. Fragm. in Plutarch, Amat. 21: {Neas gynaikos ou me me lathe phlegon Ophthalmos, hetis andros e gegeumene}.

756. To Prince Charles upon his coming to Exeter. In August, 1645.

761. The Wake. Printed in Witts Recreations, 1650, under the title: Alvar and Anthea.

763. To Doctor Alabaster. William Alabaster, or Alablaster, born at Hadleigh, Suffolk (1567); educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge; a friend of Spencer; was converted to Roman Catholicism while chaplain to the Earl of Essex in Spain, 1596. In 1607 he began his series of apocalyptic writings by an Apparatus in Revelationem Jesu Christi. On visiting Rome he was imprisoned by the Inquisition, escaped, and returned to Protestantism. Besides his theological works, he published (in 1637) a Lexicon Pentaglotton. Died April, 1640.

766. Time is the bound of things, etc. From Seneca, Consol. ad Marc. xix.: Excessit filius tuus terminos intra quos servitur ... mors omnium dolorum solutio est et finis.

771. As I have read must be the first man up, etc. Hor. I. Ep. vi. 48: Hoc primus repetas opus, hoc postremus omittas.

Rich compost. Cp. the same thought in 662.

772. A Hymn to Bacchus. Printed, with the misprint Bacchus for Iacchus in l. 1, in Witts Recreations, 1650.

Brutus ... Cato. Cp. Note to 4 and 8.

774. If wars go well, etc. Tacitus, Ann. iii. 53: cum recte factorum sibi quisque gratiam trahant, unius [Principis scil.] invidia ab omnibus peccatur.

775. Niggards of the meanest blood. Seneca, de Clem. i. 1: Summa parsimonia etiam vilissimi sanguinis.

776. Wrongs, if neglected, etc. Tacit. Ann. iv. 34: [Probra] spreta exolescunt, si irascare agnita videntur.

780. Kings ought to shear, etc. A saying of Tiberius quoted by Suetonius: Boni pastoris est tondere oves, non deglubere. Herrick probably took it from Ben Jonson's Discoveries.

784-7. Ceremonies for Christmas. More will be found about the Yule-log in Ceremonies for Candlemas Day (893); cp. also The Wassail (476).

788. Power and Peace. From Tacitus, Ann. iv. 4: Quanquam arduum sit eodem loci potentiam et concordiam esse.

789. Mistress Margaret Falconbridge. A daughter, probably, of the Thomas Falconbridge of number 483.

797. Kisses. Printed in Witts Recreations, 1650, with omission of me in l. 1.

804. John Crofts, Cup-bearer to the King. Third son of Sir John Crofts, of Saxham, Suffolk. We hear of him in the king's service as early as 1628, and two years later Lord Conway, in thanking Wm. Weld for some verses sent him, hopes "the lines are strong enough to bind Robert Maule and Jack Crofts from ever more using the phrase". So Jack was probably a bit of a poet himself. He may be the Mr. Crofts for assaulting whom George, Lord Digby, was imprisoned a month and more, in 1634.

807. Man may want land to live in. Tacitus, Ann. xiii. 56: Addidit [Boiocalus] Deesse nobis terra in qua vivamus, in qua moriamur non potest, quoted by Montaigne, II. 3.

809. Who after his transgression doth repent. Seneca, Agam. 243: Quem poenitet peccasse paene est innocens.

810. Grief, if't be great 'tis short. Seneca, quoted by Burton (II. iii. 1, Sec. 1): "Si longa est, levis est; si gravis est, brevis est. If it be long, 'tis light; if grievous, it cannot last."

817. The Amber Bead. Cp. Martial's epigram quoted in Note to 497. The comparison to Cleopatra is from Mart. IV. xxxii.

818. To my dearest sister, M. Mercy Herrick. Not quite five years his senior. She married John Wingfield, of Brantham, Suffolk, to whom also Herrick addresses a poem.

820. Suffer that thou canst not shift. From Seneca; the title from Ep. cvii.: Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis, the epigram from De Provid. 4, as translated by Thomas Lodge, 1614, "Vertuous instructions are never delicate. Doth fortune beat and rend us? Let us suffer it"—whence Herrick reproduces the printer's error, Vertuous for Vertues (Virtue's).

821. For a stone has Heaven his tomb. Cp. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med. Sec. 40: "Nor doe I altogether follow that rodomontado of Lucan (Phars. vii. 819): Coelo tegitur qui non habet urnam,

He that unburied lies wants not his hearse, For unto him a tomb's the universe".

823. To the King upon his taking of Leicester. May 31, 1645, a brief success before Naseby.

825. 'Twas Caesar's saying. Tiberius ap. Tacit. Ann. ii. 26: Se novies a divo Augusto in Germaniam missum plura consilio quam vi perfecisse.

830. His Loss. A reference to his ejection from Dean Prior.

837. Mistress Amy Potter. Daughter of Barnabas Potter, Bishop of Carlisle, Herrick's predecessor at Dean Prior.

839. Love is a circle ... from good to good. So Burton, III. i. 1, Sec. 2: Circulus a bono in bonum.

844. TO HIS BOOK. Make haste away. Martial, III. ii. Ad Librum suum—Festina tibi vindicem parare, Ne nigram cito raptus in culinam Cordyllas madida tegas papyro, Vel thuris piperisque sis cucullus. To make loose gowns for mackerel. From Catullus, xcv. 1:—

At Volusi annales Paduam morientur ad ipsam, Et laxas scombris saepe dabunt tunicas.

846. And what we blush to speak, etc. Ovid, Phaedra to Hipp. 10: Dicere quae puduit scribere jussit amor.

849. 'Tis sweet to think, etc. Seneca, Herc. Fur. 657-58: Quae fuit durum pati Meminisse dulce est.

851. To Mr. Henry Lawes, the excellent composer of his lyrics. Henry Lawes (1595-1662), the friend of Milton, admitted a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, 1625. In the Noble Numbers he is mentioned as the composer of Herrick's Christmas Carol and the first of his two New-Year's Gifts. Lawes also set to music Herrick's Not to Love, To Mrs. Eliz. Wheeler (Among the Myrtles as I walked), The Kiss, The Primrose, To a Gentlewoman objecting to him his Grey Hairs, and doubtless others.

852. Maidens tell me I am old. From Anacreon:

{Legousin hai gynaikes Anakreon geron ei k.t.l.}

With a significant variation—"Ill it fits"—for {mallon prepei}.

859. Master J. Jincks. Not identified.

861. Kings seek their subjects' good, tyrants their own. Aristot. Politics, iii. 7: {kalein eiothamen ton men monarchion ten pros to koinon apoblepousan sympheron basileian ... he tyrannis esti monarchia pros to sympheron to tou monarchountos}.

869. Sir Thomas Heale. Probably a son of the Sir Thomas Hele, of Fleet, Co. Devon, who died in 1624. This Sir Thomas was created a baronet in 1627, and according to Dr. Grosart was one of the Royalist commanders at the siege of Plymouth. He died 1670.

872. Love is a kind of war. Ovid, Ars Am. II. 233, 34:—

Militiae species amor est: discedite segnes! Non sunt haec timidis signa tuenda viris.

873. A spark neglected, etc. Ovid, Rem. Am. 732-34:—

E minimo maximus ignis erit. Sic nisi vitaris quicquid renovabit amorem, Flamma redardescet quae modo nulla fuit.

874. An Hymn to Cupid. From Anacreon:—

{Onax, ho damales Eros kai Nymphai kyanopides porphyree t' Aphrodite sympaizousin ... gounoumai se, k.t.l.}

885. Naught are all women. Burton, III. ii. 5. Sec. 5.

907. Upon Mr. William Lawes, the rare musician. Elder brother of the more famous Henry Lawes; appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, 1602, and also one of Charles I.'s musicians-in-ordinary. When the Civil War broke out he joined the king's army and was killed by a stray shot during the siege of Chester, 1645. He set Herrick's Gather ye rosebuds to music.

914. Numbers ne'er tickle, etc. Martial, I. xxxvi.:—

Lex haec carminibus data est jocosis, Ne possint, nisi pruriant, juvare.

918. M. Kellam. As yet unidentified. Dr. Grosart suggests that he may have been one of Herrick's parishioners, and the name sounds as of the west country.

920. Cunctation in correction. Is Herrick translating? According to a relief at Rome the lictors' rods were bound together not only by a red thong twisted from top to bottom, but by six straps as well.

922. Continual reaping makes a land wax old. Ovid, Ars Am. iii. 82: Continua messe senescit ager.

923. Revenge. Tacitus, Hist. iv. 3: Tanto proclivius est injuriae quam beneficio vicem exsolvere; quia gratia oneri, ultio in quaestu habetur.

927. Praise they that will times past. Ovid, Ars Am. iii. 121:—

Prisca juvent alios: ego me nunc denique natum Gratulor; haec aetas moribus apta meis.

928. Clothes are conspirators. I can suggest no better explanation of this oracular epigram than that the tailor's bill is an enemy of a slender purse.

929. Cruelty. Seneca de Clem. i. 24: Ferina ista rabies est, sanguine gaudere et vulneribus; (i. 8), Quemadmodum praecisae arbores plurimis ramis repullulant [H. uses repullulate, -tion, 336, 794], et multa satorum genera, ut densiora surgant, reciduntur; ita regia crudelitas auget inimicorum numerum tollendo. Ben Jonson, Discoveries (Clementia): "The lopping of trees makes the boughs shoot out quicker; and the taking away of some kind of enemies increaseth the number".

931. A fierce desire of hot and dry. Cp. note on 683.

932. To hear the worst, etc. Antisthenes ap. Diog. Laert. VI. i. 4, Sec. 3: {Akousas pote hoti Platon auton kakos legei Basilikon ephe kalos poiounta kakos akouein}, quoted by Burton, II. iii. 7.

934. The Bondman. Cp. Exodus xxi. 5, 6: "And if the servant shall plainly say: I love my master, my wife, and my children: I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever".

936. My kiss outwent the bonds of shamefastness. Cp. Sidney's Astrophel and Stella, sonnet 82. For not Jove himself, etc., cp. 10, and note.

938. His wish. From Martial, II. xc. 7-10:—

Sit mihi verna satur: sit non doctissima conjux: Sit nox cum somno, sit sine lite dies, etc.

939. Upon Julia washing herself in the river. Imitated from Martial, IV. xxii.:—

Primos passa toros et adhuc placanda marito Merserat in nitidos se Cleopatra lacus, Dum fugit amplexus: sed prodidit unda latentem, Lucebat, totis cum tegeretur aquis. Condita sic puro numerantur lilia vitro, Sic prohibet tenuis gemma latere rosas, Insilui mersusque vadis luctantia carpsi Basia: perspicuae plus vetuistis aquae.

940. Though frankincense, etc. Ovid, de Medic. Fac. 83, 84:—

Quamvis thura deos irataque numina placent, Non tamen accensis omnia danda focis.

947. To his honoured and most ingenious friend, Mr. Charles Cotton. Dr. Grosart annotates: "The translator of Montaigne, and associate of Izaak Walton"; but as the younger Cotton was only eighteen when Hesperides was printed, it is perhaps more probable that the father is meant, though we may note that Herrick and the younger Cotton were joint-contributors in 1649 to the Lacrymae Musarum, published in memory of Lord Hastings. For a tribute to the brilliant abilities of the elder Cotton, see Clarendon's Life (i. 36; ed. 1827).

948. Women Useless. A variation on a theme as old as Euripides. Cp. Medea, 573-5:—

{chren gar allothen pothen brotous paidas teknousthai, thely d' ouk einai genos; choutos an ouk en ouden anthropois kakon.}

952. Weep for the dead, for they have lost the light, cp. Ecclus. xxii. 11.

955. To M. Leonard Willan, his peculiar friend. A wretched poet; author of "The Phrygian Fabulist; or the Fables of AEsop" (1650), "Astraea; or True Love's Mirror" (1651), etc.

956. Mr. John Hall, Student of Gray's Inn. Hall remained at Cambridge till 1647, and this poem, which addresses him as a "Student of Gray's Inn," must therefore have been written almost while Hesperides was passing through the press. Hall's Horae Vacivae, or Essays, published in 1646, had at once given him high rank among the wits.

958. To the most comely and proper M. Elizabeth Finch. No certain identification has been proposed.

961. To the King, upon his welcome to Hampton Court, set and sung. The allusion can only be to the king's stay at Hampton Court in 1647. Good hope was then entertained of a peaceful settlement, and Herrick's ode, enthusiastic as it is, expresses little more than this.

For an ascendent, etc.: This and the next seven lines are taken from phrases on pp. 29-33 of the Notes and Observations on some passages of Scripture, by John Gregory (see note on N. N. 178). According to Gregory, "The Ascendent of a City is that sign which riseth in the Heavens at the laying of the first stone".

962. Henry, Marquis of Dorchester. Henry Pierrepoint, second Earl of Kingston, succeeded his father (Herrick's Newark) July 30, 1643, and was created Marquis of Dorchester, March, 1645. "He was a very studious nobleman and very learned, particularly in law and physics." (See Burke's Extinct Peerages, iii. 435.)

When Cato, the severe, entered the circumspacious theatre. The allusion is to the visit of Cato to the games of Flora, given by Messius. When his presence in the theatre was known, the dancing-women were not allowed to perform in their accustomed lack of costume, whereupon the moralist obligingly retired, amidst applause.

966. M. Jo. Harmar, physician to the College of Westminster. John Harmar, born at Churchdown, near Gloucester, about 1594, was educated at Winchester and Magdalen College, Oxford; was a master at Magdalen School, the Free School at St. Albans, and at Westminster, and Professor of Greek at Oxford under the Commonwealth. He died 1670. Wood characterises him as a butt for the wits and a flatterer of great men, and notes that he was always called by the name of Doctor Harmar, though he took no higher degree than M.A. But in 1632 he supplicated for the degree of M.B., and Dr. Grosart's note—"Herrick, no doubt, playfully transmuted 'Doctor' into 'Physician'"—is misleading. He may have cared for the minds and bodies of the Westminster boys at one and the same time.

The Roman language.... If Jove would speak, etc. Cp. Ben Jonson's Discoveries: "that testimony given by L. Aelius Stilo upon Plautus who affirmed, "Musas si latine loqui voluissent Plautino sermone fuisse loquuturas". And Cicero [in Plutarch, Sec. 24] "said of the Dialogues of Plato, that Jupiter, if it were his nature to use language, would speak like him".

967. Upon his spaniel, Tracy. Cp. supra, 724.

971. Strength, etc. Tacitus, Ann. xiii. 19: Nihil rerum mortalium tam instabile ac fluxum est, quam fama potentiae, non sua vi nixa.

975. Case is a lawyer, etc. Martial, I. xcviii. Ad Naevolum Causidicum. Cum clamant omnes, loqueris tu, Naevole, tantum.... Ecce, tacent omnes; Naevole, dic aliquid.

977. To his sister-in-law, M. Susanna Herrick. Cp. supra, 522. The subject is again the making up of the book of the poet's elect.

978. Upon the Lady Crew. Cp. Herrick's Epithalamium for her marriage with Sir Clipsby Crew, 283. She died 1639, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

979. On Tomasin Parsons. Daughter of the organist of Westminster Abbey: cp. 500 and Note.

983. To his kinsman, M. Thomas Herrick, who desired to be in his book. Cp. 106 and Note.

989. Care keeps the conquest. Perhaps jotted down with reference to the Governorship of Exeter by Sir John Berkeley: see Note to 745.

992. To the handsome Mistress Grace Potter. Probably sister to the Mistress Amy Potter celebrated in 837, where see Note.

995. We've more to bear our charge than way to go. Seneca, Ep. 77: quantulumcunque haberem, tamen plus superesset viatici quam viae, quoted by Montaigne, II. xxviii.

1000. The Gods, pillars, and men. Horace's Mediocribus esse poetis Non homines, non di, non concessere columnae (Ars Poet. 373). Latin poets hung up their epigrams in public places.

1002. To the Lord Hopton on his fight in Cornwall. Sir Ralph Hopton won two brilliant victories for the Royalists, at Bradock Down and Stratton, January and May, 1643, and was created Baron Hopton in the following September. Originally a Parliamentarian, he was one of the king's ablest and most loyal servants.

1008. Nothing's so hard but search will find it out. Terence, Haut. IV. ii. 8: Nihil tam difficile est quin quaerendo investigari posset.

1009. Labour is held up by the hope of rest. Ps. Sallust, Epist. ad C. Caes.: Sapientes laborem spe otii sustentant.

1022. Posting to Printing. Mart. V. x. 11, 12:—

Vos, tamen, o nostri, ne festinate, libelli: Si post fata venit gloria, non propero.

1023. No kingdoms got by rapine long endure. Seneca, Troad. 264: Violenta nemo imperia continuit dies.

1026. Saint Distaff's Day. "Saint Distaff is perhaps only a coinage of our poet's to designate the day when, the Christmas vacation being over, good housewives, with others, resumed their usual employment." (Nott.) The phrase is explained in dictionaries and handbooks, but no other use of it is quoted than this. Herrick's poem was pilfered by Henry Bold (a notorious plagiarist) in Wit a-sporting in a pleasant Grove of New Fancies, 1657.

1028. My beloved Westminster. As mentioned in the brief "Life" of Herrick prefixed to vol. i., all the references in this poem seem to refer to Herrick's courtier-days, between leaving Cambridge and going to Devonshire. He then, doubtless, resided in Westminster for the sake of proximity to Whitehall. It has been suggested, however, that the reference is to Westminster School, but we have no evidence that Herrick was educated there.

Golden Cheapside. My friend, Mr. Herbert Horne, in his admirably-chosen selection from the Hesperides, suggests that the allusion here is to the great gilt cross at the end of Wood Street. The suggestion is ingenious; but as Cheapside was the goldsmiths' quarter this would amply justify the epithet, which may indeed only refer to Cheapside as a money-winning street, as we might say Golden Lombard Street.

1032. Things are uncertain. Tiberius, in Tacitus, Annal. i. 72: Cuncta mortalium incerta; quantoque plus adeptus foret, tanto se magis in lubrico.

1034. Good wits get more fame by their punishment. Cp. Tacit. Ann. iv. 35, sub fin.: Punitis ingeniis gliscit auctoritas, etc., quoted by Bacon and Milton.

1035. Twelfth Night: or King and Queen. Herrick alludes to these "Twelfth-Tide Kings and Queens" in writing to Endymion Porter (662), and earlier still, in the "New-Year's Gift to Sir Simeon Steward" (319) he speaks—

"Of Twelfth-Tide cakes, of Peas and Beans, Wherewith ye make those merry scenes, Whenas ye choose your King and Queen".

Brand (i. 27) illustrates well from "Speeches to the Queen at Sudley" in Nichols' Progresses of Queen Elizabeth.

"Melib[oe]us. Cut the cake: who hath the bean shall be king, and where the pea is, she shall be queen.

Nisa. I have the pea and must be queen.

Mel. I the bean, and king. I must command."

1045. Comfort in Calamity. An allusion to the ejection from their benefices which befel most of the loyal clergy at the same time as Herrick. It is perhaps worth noting that in the second volume of this edition, and in the last hundred poems printed in the first, wherever a date can be fixed it is always in the forties. Equally late poems occur, though much less frequently, among the first five hundred, but there the dated poems belong, for the most part, to the years 1623-1640. Now, in April 29, 1640, as stated in the brief "Life" prefixed to vol. i., there was entered at Stationers' Hall, "The severall poems written by Master Robert Herrick," a book which, as far as is known, never saw the light. It was probably, however, to this book that Herrick addressed the poem (405) beginning:—

"Have I not blest thee? Then go forth, nor fear Or spice, or fish, or fire, or close-stools here";

and we may fairly regard the first five hundred poems of Hesperides as representing the intended collection of 1640, with a few additions, and the last six hundred as for the most part later, and I must add, inferior work. This is borne out by the absence of any manuscript versions of poems in the second half of the book. Herrick's verses would only be passed from hand to hand when he was living among the wits in London.

1046. Twilight. Ovid, Amores, I. v. 5, 6: Crepuscula ... ubi nox abiit, nec tamen orta dies.

1048. Consent makes the cure. Seneca, Hippol. 250: Pars sanitatis velle sanari fuit.

1050. Causeless whipping. Ovid, Heroid. v. 7, 8: Leniter ex merito quicquid patiare, ferendum est; Quae venit indignae poena, dolenda venit. Quoted by Montaigne, III. xiii.

1052. His comfort. Terence, Adelph. I. i. 18: Ego ... quod fortunatum isti putant, Uxorem nunquam habui.

1053. Sincerity. From Hor. Ep. I. ii. 54: Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcunque infundis acescit. Quoted by Montaigne, III. xiii.

1056. To his peculiar friend, M. Jo. Wicks. See 336 and Note. Written after Herrick's ejection. We know that the poet's uncle, Sir William Herrick, suffered greatly in estate during the Civil War, and it may have been the same with other friends and relatives. But there can be little doubt that the poet found abundant hospitality on his return to London.

1059. A good Death. August. de Disciplin. Christ. 13: Non potest male mori, qui bene vixerit.

1061. On Fortune. Seneca, Medea, 176: Fortuna opes auferre non animum potest.

1062. To Sir George Parry, Doctor of the Civil Law. According to Dr. Grosart, Parry "was admitted to the College of Advocates, London, 3rd Nov., 1628; but almost nothing has been transmitted concerning him save that he married the daughter and heir of Sir Giles Sweet, Dean of Arches". I can hardly doubt that he must be identified with the Dr. George Parry, Chancellor to the Bishop of Exeter, who in 1630 was accused of excommunicating persons for the sake of fees, but was highly praised in 1635 and soon after appointed a Judge Marshal. If so, his wife was a widow when she came to him, as she is spoken of in 1638 as "Lady Dorothy Smith, wife of Sir Nicholas Smith, deceased". She brought him a rich dower, and her death greatly confused his affairs.

1067. Gentleness. Seneca, Phoen. 659: Qui vult amari, languida regnet manu. And Ben Jonson, Panegyre (1603): "He knew that those who would with love command, Must with a tender yet a steadfast hand, Sustain the reins".

1068. Mrs. Eliza Wheeler. See 130 and Note.

1071. To the Honoured Master Endymion Porter. For Porter's patronage of poetry see 117 and Note.

1080. The Mistress of all singular Manners, Mistress Portman. Dr. Grosart notes that a Mrs. Mary Portman was buried at Putney Parish Church, June 27, 1671, and this was perhaps Herrick's schoolmistress, the "pearl of Putney".

1087. Where pleasures rule a kingdom. Cicero, De Senect. xii. 41: Neque omnino in voluptatis regno virtutem posse consistere. He lives who lives to virtue. Comp. Sallust, Catil. 2, s. fin.

1088. Twice five-and-twenty (bate me but one year). As Herrick was born in 1591, this poem must have been written in 1640.

1089. To M. Laurence Swetnaham. Unless the various entries in the parish registers of St. Margaret's, Westminster, refer to different men, this Lawrence Swetnaham was the third son of Thomas Swettenham of Swettenham in Cheshire, married in 1602 to Mary Birtles. Lawrence himself had children as early as 1629, and ten years later was church-warden. He was buried in the Abbey, 1673.

1091. My lamp to you I give. Allusion to the {Lampadephoria} which Plato (Legg. 776B) uses to illustrate the succession of generations. So Lucretius (ii. 77): Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.

1092. Michael Oulsworth. Michael Oulsworth, Oldsworth or Oldisworth, graduated M.A. from Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1614. According to Wood, "he was afterwards Fellow of his College, Secretary to Earl of Pembroke, elected a burgess to serve in several Parliaments for Sarum and Old Sarum, and though in the Grand Rebellion he was no Colonel, yet he was Governor of Old Pembroke, and Montgomery led him by the nose as he pleased, to serve both their turns". The partnership, however, was not eternal, for between 1648 and 1650 Oldisworth published at least eight virulent satires against his former master.

1094. Truth—her own simplicity. Seneca, Ep. 49: (Ut ille tragicus), Veritatis simplex oratio est.

1097. Kings must be dauntless. Seneca, Thyest. 388: Rex est qui metuit nihil.

1100. To his brother, Nicholas Herrick. Baptized April 22, 1589; a merchant trading to the Levant. He married Susanna Salter, to whom Herrick addresses two poems (522, 977).

1103. A King and no King. Seneca, Thyest. 214: Ubicunque tantum honeste dominanti licet, Precario regnatur.

1118. Necessity makes dastards valiant men. Sallust, Catil. 58: Necessitudo ... timidos fortes facit.

1119. Sauce for Sorrows. Printed in Witts Recreations, 1650. An equal mind. Plautus, Rudens, II. iii. 71: Animus aequus optimum est aerumnae condimentum.

1126. The End of his Work. Printed in Witts Recreations, 1650, under the title: Of this Book. From Ovid, Ars Am. i. 773, 774:—

Pars superest caepti, pars est exhausta laboris: Hic teneat nostras anchora jacta rates.

1127. My wearied bark, etc. Ovid, Rem. Am. 811, 812:—

fessae date serta carinae: Contigimus portum, quo mihi cursus erat.

1128. The work is done. Ovid, Ars Am. ii. 733, 734:—

Finis adest operi: palmam date, grata juventus, Sertaque odoratae myrtea ferte comae.

1130. His Muse. Cp. Note on 624.



NOBLE NUMBERS.

3. Weigh me the Fire. 2 Esdras, iv. 5, 7; v. 9, 36: "Weigh me ... the fire, or measure me ... the wind," etc.

4. God ... is the best known, not.... August. de Ord. ii. 16: [Deus] scitur melius nesciendo.

5. Supraentity, {to hyperontos on}, Plotinus.

7. His wrath is free from perturbation. August. de Civ. Dei, ix. 5: Ipse Deus secundum Scripturas irascitur, nec tamen ulla passione turbatur. Enchir. ad Laurent. 33: Cum irasci dicitur Deus, non significatur perturbatio, qualis est in animo irascentis hominis.

9. Those Spotless two Lambs. "This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the Lord: two lambs of the first year without spot, day by day, for a continual burnt-offering." (Numb. xxviii. 3.)

17. An Anthem sung in the Chapel of Whitehall. This may be added to Nos. 96-98, and 102, the poems on which Mr. Hazlitt bases his conjecture that Herrick may have held some subordinate post in the Chapel Royal.

37. When once the sin has fully acted been. Tacitus, Ann. xiv. 10: Perfecto demum scelere, magnitudo ejus intellecta est.

38. Upon Time. Were this poem anonymous it would probably be attributed rather to George Herbert than to Herrick.

41. His Litany to the Holy Spirit. We may quote again from Barron Field's account in the Quarterly Review (1810) of his cross-examination of the Dean Prior villagers for Reminiscences of Herrick: "The person, however, who knows more of Herrick than all the rest of the neighbourhood we found to be a poor woman in the 99th year of her age, named Dorothy King. She repeated to us, with great exactness, five of his Noble Numbers, among which was his beautiful 'Litany'. These she had learnt from her mother, who was apprenticed to Herrick's successor at the vicarage. She called them her prayers, which she said she was in the habit of putting up in bed, whenever she could not sleep; and she therefore began the 'Litany' at the second stanza:—

'When I lie within my bed,' etc."

Another of her midnight orisons was the poem beginning:—

"Every night Thou dost me fright, And keep mine eyes from sleeping," etc.

The last couplet, it should be noted, is misquoted from No. 56.

54. Spew out all neutralities. From the message to the Church of the Laodiceans, Rev. iii. 16.

59. A Present by a Child. Cp. "A pastoral upon the Birth of Prince Charles" (Hesperides 213), and Note.

63. God's mirth: man's mourning. Perhaps founded on Prov. i. 26: "I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh".

65. My Alma. The name is probably suggested by its meaning "soul". Cp. Prior's Alma.

72. I'll cast a mist and cloud. Cp. Hor. I. Ep. xvi. 62: Noctem peccatis et fraudibus objice nubem.

75. That house is bare. Horace, Ep. I. vi. 45: Exilis domus est, ubi non et multa supersunt.

77. Lighten my candle, etc. The phraseology of the next five lines is almost entirely from the Psalms and the Song of Solomon.

86. Sin leads the way. Hor. Odes, III. ii. 32: Raro antecedentem scelestum Deseruit pede Poena claudo.

88. By Faith we ... walk ..., not by the Spirit. 2 Cor. v. 7: "We walk by faith, not by sight". 'By the Spirit' perhaps means, 'in spiritual bodies'.

96. Sung to the King. See Note on 17.

Composed by M. Henry Lawes. See Hesperides 851, and Note.

102. The Star-Song. This may have been composed partly with reference to the noonday star during the Thanksgiving for Charles II.'s birth. See Hesperides 213, and Note.

We'll choose him King. A reference to the Twelfth Night games. See Hesperides 1035, and Note.

108. Good men afflicted most. Taken almost entirely from Seneca, de Provid. 3, 4: Ignem experitur [Fortuna] in Mucio, paupertatem in Fabricio, ... tormenta in Regulo, venenum in Socrate, mortem in Catone. The allusions may be briefly explained for the unclassical. At the siege of Dyrrachium, Marcus Cassius Scaeva caught 120 darts on his shield; Horatius Cocles is the hero of the bridge (see Macaulay's Lays); C. Mucius Scaevola held his hand in the fire to illustrate to Porsenna Roman fearlessness; Cato is Cato Uticensis, the philosophic suicide; "high Atilius" will be more easily recognised as the M. Atilius Regulus who defied the Carthaginians; Fabricius Luscinus refused not only the presents of Pyrrhus, but all reward of the State, and lived in poverty on his own farm.

109. A wood of darts. Cp. Virg. AEn. x. 886: Ter secum Troius heros Immanem aerato circumfert tegmine silvam.

112. The Recompense. Herrick is said to have assumed the lay habit on his return to London after his ejection, perhaps as a protection against further persecution. This quatrain may be taken as evidence that he did not throw off his religion with his cassock. Compare also 124.

All I have lost that could be rapt from me. From Ovid, III. Trist. vii. 414: Raptaque sint adimi quae potuere mihi.

123. Thy light that ne'er went out. Prov. xxxi. 18 (of 'the Excellent Woman'): "Her candle goeth not out by night". All set about with lilies. Cp. Cant. Canticorum, vii. 2: Venter tuus sicut acervus tritici, vallatus liliis.

Will show these garments. So Acts ix. 39.

134. God had but one son free from sin. Augustin. Confess. vi.: Deus unicum habet filium sine peccato, nullum sine flagello, quoted in Burton, II. iii. 1.

136. Science in God. Bp. Davenant, on Colossians, 166, ed. 1639; speaking of Omniscience: Proprietates Divinitatis non sunt accidentia, sed ipsa Dei essentia.

145. Tears. Augustin. Enarr. Ps. cxxvii.: Dulciores sunt lacrymae orantium quam gaudia theatorum.

146. Manna. Wisdom xvi. 20, 21: "Angels' food ... agreeing to every taste".

147. As Cassiodore doth prove. Reverentia est enim Domini timor cum amore permixtus. Cassiodor. Expos. in Psalt. xxxiv. 30; quoted by Dr. Grosart. My clerical predecessor has also hunted down with much industry the possible sources of most of the other patristic references in Noble Numbers, though I have been able to add a few. We may note that Herrick quotes Cassiodorus (twice), John of Damascus, Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, St. Bernard, St. Augustine (thrice), St. Basil, and St. Ambrose—a goodly list of Fathers, if we had any reason to suppose that the quotations were made at first hand.

148. Mercy ... a Deity. Pausanias, Attic. I. xvii. 1.

153. Mora Sponsi, the stay of the bridegroom. Maldonatus, Comm. in Matth. xxv.: Hieronymus et Hilarius moram sponsi p[oe]nitentiae tempus esse dicunt.

157. Montes Scripturarum. See August. Enarr. in Ps. xxxix., and passim.

167. A dereliction. The word is from Ps. xxii. 1: Quare me dereliquisti? "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" Herrick took it from Gregory's Notes and Observations (see infra), p. 5: 'Our Saviour ... in that great case of dereliction'.

174. Martha, Martha. See Luke x. 41, and August. Serm. cii. 3: Repetitio nominis indicium est dilectionis.

177. Paradise. Gregory, p. 75, on "the reverend Say of Zoroaster, Seek Paradise," quotes from the Scholiast Psellus: "The Chaldaean Paradise (saith he) is a Quire of divine powers incircling the Father".

178. The Jews when they built houses. Herrick's rabbinical lore (cp. 180, 181, 193, 207, 224), like his patristic, was probably derived at second hand through some biblical commentary. Much of it certainly comes from the Notes and Observations upon some Passages of Scripture (Oxford, 1646) of John Gregory, chaplain of Christ Church, a prodigy of oriental learning, who died in his 39th year, March 13, 1646. Thus in his Address to the Reader (3rd page from end) Gregory remarks: "The Jews, when they build a house, are bound to leave some part of it unfinished in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem," giving a reference to Leo of Modena, Degli Riti Hebraici, Part I.

180. Observation. The Virgin Mother, etc. Gregory, pp. 24-27, shows that Sitting, the usual posture of mourners, was forbidden by both Roman and Jewish Law "in capital causes". "This was the reason why ... she stood up still in a resolute and almost impossible compliance with the Law.... They sat ... after leave obtained ... to bury the body."

181. Tapers. Cp. Gregory's Notes, p. 111: "The funeral tapers (however thought of by some) are of the same harmless import. Their meaning is to show that the departed souls are not quite put out, but having walked here as the children of the Light are now gone to walk before God in the light of the living."

185. God in the holy tongue. J. G., p. 135: "God is called in the Holy Tongue ... the Place; or that Fulness which filleth All in All".

186, 187, 188, 189, 197. God's Presence, Dwelling, etc. J. G., pp. 135-9: "Shecinah, or God's Dwelling Presence". "God is said to be nearer to this man than to that, more in one place than in another. Thus he is said to depart from some and come to others, to leave this place and to abide in that, not by essential application of Himself, much less by local motion, but by impression of effect." "With just men (saith St. Bernard) God is present, in veritate, in deed, but with the wicked, dissemblingly." "He is called in the Holy Tongue, Jehovah, He that is, or Essence." "He is said to dwell there (saith Maimon) where He putteth the marks ... of His Majesty; and He doth this by His Grace and Holy Spirit."

190. The Virgin Mary. J. G., p. 86: "St. Ephrem upon those words of Jacob, This is the House of God, and this is the Gate of Heaven. This saying (saith he) is to be meant of the Virgin Mary ... truly to be called the House of God, as wherein the Son of God ... inhabited, and as truly the Gate of Heaven, for the Lord of heaven and earth entered thereat; and it shall not be set open the second time, according to that of Ezekiel (xliv. 2): I saw (saith he) a gate in the East; the glorious Lord entered thereat; thenceforth that gate was shut, and is not any more to be opened (Catena Arab. c. 58)."

192. Upon Woman and Mary. The reference is to Christ's appearance to St. Mary Magdalene in the Garden after the Resurrection, John xx. 15, 16.

193. North and South. Comp. Hesper. 429. Observation. J. G., pp. 92, 93: "Whosoever (say the Doctors in Berachoth) shall set his bed N. and S., shall beget male children. Therefore the Jews hold this rite of collocation ... to this day.... They are bound to place their ... house of office in the very same situation ... that the uncomely necessities ... might not fall into the Walk and Ways of God, whose Shecinah or dwelling presence lieth W. and E."

195. Noah the first was, etc. Cp. Gregory, Notes, p. 28.

201. Temporal goods. August., quoted by Burton, II. iii. 3: Dantur quidem bonis, saith Austin, ne quis mala aestimet, malis autem ne quis nimis bona.

203. Speak, did the blood of Abel cry, etc. Cp. Gregory's Notes, pp. 118: "But did the blood of Abel speak? saith Theophylact. Yes, it cried unto God for vengeance, as that of sprinkling for propitiation and mercy."

204. A thing of such a reverend reckoning. Cp. Gregory, 118-9: "The blood of Abel was so holy and reverend a thing, in the sense and reputation of the old world, that the men of that time used to swear by it".

205. A Position in the Hebrew Divinity. From Gregory's Notes, pp. 134, 5: "That old position in the Hebrew Divinity ... that a repenting man is of more esteem in the sight of God than one that never fell away".

206. The Doctors in the Talmud. From Gregory's Notes, l.c.: "The Doctors in the Talmud say, that one day spent here in true Repentance is more worth than eternity itself, or all the days of heaven in the other world".

207. God's Presence. Again from Gregory's Notes, pp. 136 sq.

208. The Resurrection. Gregory's Notes, pp. 128-29, translating from a Greek MS. of Mathaeus Blastares in the Bodleian: "The wonder of this is far above that of the resurrection of our bodies; for then the earth giveth up her dead but one for one, but in the case of the corn she giveth up many living ones for one dead one".

243. Confession twofold is. August, in Ps. xxix. Enarr. ii. 19: Confessio gemina est, aut peccati, aut laudis.

254. Gold and frankincense. St. Matt. ii. 11. St. Ambrose. Aurum Regi, thus Deo.

256. The Chewing the Cud. Cp. Lev. xi. 6.

258. As my little pot doth boil, etc. This far-fetched little poem is an instance of Herrick's habit of jotting down his thoughts in verse. In cooking some food for a charitable purpose he seems to have noticed that the boiling pot tossed the meat to and fro, or "waved" it (the priest's work), and that he himself was giving away the meat he lifted off the fire, the "heave-offering," which was the priest's perquisite. This is the confusion or "level-coil" to which he alludes.



NOTES TO ADDITIONAL POEMS.

The Description of a Woman. Printed in Witts Recreations, 1645, and contained also in Ashmole MS. 38, where it is signed: "Finis. Robert Herrick." Our version is taken from Witts Recreations, with the exception of the readings show and grow (for shown and grown, in ll. 15 and 16). The Ashmole MS. contains in all thirty additional lines, which may or may not be by Herrick, but which, as not improving the poem, have been omitted in our text in accordance with the precedent set by the editor of Witts Recreations.

Mr. Herrick: his Daughter's Dowry. From Ashmole MS. 38, where it is signed: "Finis. Robt. Hericke."

Mr. Robert Herrick: his Farewell unto Poetry. Printed by Dr. Grosart and Mr. Hazlitt from Ashmole MS. 38. I add a few readings from Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 22, 603, where it is entitled: Herrick's Farewell to Poetry. The importance of the poem for Herrick's biography is alluded to in the brief "Life" prefixed to vol. i.