When Herrick was
appointed
to the
cure of Dean Prior in 1629, Williams had already lost favour at the
Court.
cure of Dean Prior in 1629, Williams had already lost favour at the
Court.
Robert Herrick - Hesperide and Noble Numbers
_ Ovid, _Remed.
Amor.
_ 746:
Divitiis alitur luxuriosus amor.
95. _Homer himself. _ Indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus. Horace,
_De Art. Poet. _ 359.
100. _To bread and water none is poor. _ Seneca, _Excerpt. _ ii. 887:
Panem et aquam Natura desiderat; nemo ad haec pauper est.
_Nature with little is content. _ Seneca, _Ep. _ xvi. : Exiguum Natura
desiderat. _Ep. _ lx. : parvo Natura dimittitur.
106. _A Country Life: To his brother, M. Tho. Herrick. _ "Thomas,
baptized May 12, 1588, was placed by his uncle and guardian, Sir William
Heyrick, with Mr. Massam, a merchant in London; but in 1610 he appears
to have returned into the country and to have settled in a small farm.
It is supposed that this Thomas was the father of Thomas Heyrick, who in
1668 resided at Market Harborough and issued a trader's token there, and
grandfather to the Thomas who was curate of Harborough and published
some sermons and poems. " Hill's _Market Harborough_, p. 122.
A MS. version of this poem is contained in Ashmole 38, from which Dr.
Grosart gives a full collation on pp. cli. -cliii. of his Memorial
Introduction. The MS. appears to follow an unrevised version of the
poem, and contains a few couplets which Herrick afterwards thought fit
to omit. The most important passage comes after line 92: "Virtue had,
and mov'd her sphere".
"Nor know thy happy and unenvied state
Owes more to virtue than to fate,
Or fortune too; for what the first secures,
That as herself, or heaven, endures.
The two last fail, and by experience make
Known, not they give again, they take. "
_Thrice and above blest. _ Felices ter et amplius, Hor. I. _Od. _ xiii. 7.
_My soul's half:_ Animæ dimidium meæ, Hor. I. _Od. _ iii. 8. The poem is
full of such reminiscences: "With holy meal and spirting (MS. crackling)
salt" is the "Farre pio et saliente mica" of III. _Od. _ xxiii. 20;
"Untaught to suffer poverty" the "Indocilis pauperiem pati" of I. _Od. _
i. 18; "A heart thrice wall'd" comes from I. _Od. _ iii. 9: Illi robur et
æs triplex, etc. Similar instances might be multiplied. Note, too, the
use of "Lar" and "Genius".
_Jove for our labour all things sells us. _ Epicharm. apud Xenoph.
_Memor. _ II. i. 20, τῶν πόνων Πωλοῦσιν ἡμῖν πάντα τἀγαθ' οἱ θεοί. Quoted
by Montaigne, II. xx.
_Wisely true to thine own self. _ Possibly a Shakespearian reminiscence
of the "to thine own self be true" in the speech of Polonius to Laertes,
Hamlet, I. iii. 78.
_A wise man every way lies square. _ Cp. Arist. _Eth. _ I. x. 11, ὡς ἀληθῶς
ἀγαθὸς καὶ τετράγωνος ἄνευ ψόγου.
_For seldom use commends the pleasure. _ Voluptates commendat rarior
usus. Juvenal, _Sat. _ xi. ad fin.
_Nor fear or wish your dying day. _ Summum nec metuas diem, nec optes.
Mart. X. xlvii. 13.
112. _To the Earl of Westmoreland. _ Mildmay Fane succeeded his father,
Thomas Fane, the first earl, in March, 1628. At the outbreak of the
Civil War he sided with the king, but after a short imprisonment made
his submission to the Parliament, and was relieved of the sequestration
of his estates. He subsequently printed privately a volume of poems,
called _Otia Sacra_, which has been re-edited by Dr. Grosart.
117. _To the Patron of Poets, M. End. Porter. _ Five of Herrick's poems
are addressed to Endymion Porter, who seems to have been looked to as a
patron by all the singers of his day. According to the inscription on a
medal of him executed by Varin in 1635, he was then forty-eight, so that
he was born in 1587, coming into the world at Aston-under-Hill in
Gloucestershire. He went with Charles on his trip to Spain, and after
his accession became groom of his bedchamber, was active in the king's
service during the Civil War, and died in 1649. He was a collector of
works of art both for himself and for the king, and encouraged Rob.
Dover's Cotswold games by presenting him with a suit of the king's
clothes. À Wood tells us this, and mentions also that he was a friend of
Donne, that Gervase Warmsely dedicated his _Virescit Vulnere Virtus_ to
him in 1628, and that in conjunction with the Earl of St. Alban's he
also received the dedication of Davenant's _Madagascar_.
_Let there be patrons_, etc. Burton, I. ii. 3, § 15. 'Tis an old saying:
"Sint Mæcenates, non deerunt, Flacce, Marones" (Mart. VIII. lvi. 5).
Fabius, Cotta, and Lentulus are examples of Roman patrons of poetry,
themselves distinguished. Cp. Juvenal, vii. 94.
119. _His tapers thus put out. _ So Ovid, _Am. _ iii. 9:--
Ecce puer Veneris fert eversamque pharetram
Et fractos arcus, et sine luce facem.
121. _Four things make us happy here. _ From
Ὑγιαίνειν μὲν ἄριστον ἀνδρὶ θνατῷ·
δεύτερον δὲ φυὰν καλὸν γενέσθαι·
τὸ τρίτον δὲ πλουτεῖν αδόλως·
καὶ τὸ τέταρτον, ἡβᾶν μετὰ τῶν φίλων.
(Bergk, _Anth. Lyr. _, _Scol. _ 8. )
123. _The Tear sent to her from Staines. _ This is printed in _Witts
Recreations_ with no other variation than in the title, which there
runs: "A Teare sent his Mistresse". Dr. Grosart notes that Staines was
at the time a royal residence.
128. _His Farewell to Sack. _ A manuscript version of this poem at the
British Museum omits many lines (7, 8, 11-22, 29-36), and contains few
important variants. "Of the yet chaste and undefiled bride" is a poor
anticipation of line 6, and "To raise the holy madness" for "To rouse
the sacred madness" is also weak. For the line and a half:--
"Prithee not smile
Or smile more inly, lest thy looks beguile,"
we have the very inferior passage:--
"I prithee draw in
Thy gazing fires, lest at their sight the sin
Of fierce idolatry shoot into me, and
I turn apostate to the strict command
Of nature; bid me now farewell, or smile
More ugly, lest thy tempting looks beguile".
This MS. version is followed in the first published text in _Witts
Recreations_, 1645.
130. _Upon Mrs. Eliz. Wheeler. _ "The lady complimented in this poem was
probably a relation by marriage. Herrick's first cousin, Martha, the
seventh daughter of his uncle Robert, married Mr. John Wheeler. " Nott.
132. _Fold now thine arms. _ A sign of grief. Cp. "His arms in this sad
knot". _Tempest. _
134. _Mr. J. Warr. _ This John Warr is probably the same as the "honoured
friend, Mr. John Weare, Councellour," of a later poem. Dr. Grosart
quotes an "Epitaph upon his honoured friend, Master Warre," by Randolph.
Nothing is known of him, but I find in the Oxford Register that a John
Warr matriculated at Exeter College, 16th May, 1619, and proceeded M. A.
in 1624. He may possibly be Herrick's friend.
137. _Dowry with a wife. _ Cp. Ovid, _Ars Am. _ ii. 155: Dos est uxoria
lites.
139. _The Wounded Cupid. _ This is taken from Anacreon, 33 [40]:--
Ἔρως ποτ' ἐν ῥόδοισιν
κοιμωμένην μέλιτταν
οὐκ εἶδεν, ἀλλ' ἐτοώθη
τὸν δάκτυλον· παταχθείς
τὰς χεῖρας ὠλόλυξεν·
δραμὼν δὲ καὶ πετασθεις
πρὸς τὴν καλὴν Κυθήρην
ὄλωλα, μᾶτερ, εἶπεν,
ὄλωλα κἀποθνήσκω·
ὄφις μ' ἔτυψε μικρός
πτερωτός, ὃν καλοῦσιν
μέλιτταν οἱ γεωργοί.
ἁ δ' εἶπεν· εἰ τὸ κέντρον
πονεῖ τὸ τᾶς μελίττας,
πόσον δοκεῖς πονοῦσιν,
Ἔρως, ὅσους σὺ βάλλεις;
142. _A Virgin's face she had. _ Herrick is imitating a charming passage
from the first Æneid (ll. 315-320), in which Æneas is confronted by
Venus:--
Virginis os habitumque gerens et virginis arma,
Spartanae vel qualis equos Threissa fatigat
Harpalyce volucremque fuga praevertitur Eurum.
Namque umeris de more habilem suspenderat arcum
Venatrix, dederatque comam diffundere ventis,
Nuda genu nodoque sinus collecta fluentis.
_With a wand of myrtle_, etc. Cp. Anacreon, 7 [29]:--
Ὑακινθίνῃ με ῥάβδῳ
χαλέπως, Ἔρως ῥαπίζων . . . εἶπε·
Σὺ γὰρ οὐ δύνῃ φιλῆσαι.
146. _Upon the Bishop of Lincoln's Imprisonment. _ John Williams
(1582-1650), Bishop of Lincoln, 1621; Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal,
1621-1625; suspended and imprisoned, 1637-1640, on a frivolous charge of
having betrayed the king's secrets; Archbishop of York, 1641. Save from
this poem and the _Carol_ printed in the Appendix we know nothing of his
relations with Herrick. He had probably stood in the way of the poet's
obtaining holy orders or preferment.
When Herrick was appointed to the
cure of Dean Prior in 1629, Williams had already lost favour at the
Court.
147. _Cynthius pluck ye by the ear. _ Cp. Virg. _Ecl. _ vi. 3: Cynthius
aurem Vellit et admonuit; and Milton's _Lycidas_, 77: "Phœbus replied
and touched my trembling ears".
_The lazy man the most doth love. _ Cp. Ovid, _Remed. Amor. _ 144: Cedit
amor rebus: res age, tutus eris. Nott. But Ovid could also write: Qui
nolet fieri desidiosus amet (1 _Am. _ ix. 46).
149. _Sir Thomas Southwell_, of Hangleton, Sussex, knighted 1615, died
before December 16, 1642.
_Those tapers five. _ Mentioned by Plutarch, _Qu. Rom. _ 2. For their
significance see Ben Jonson's _Masque of Hymen_.
_O'er the threshold force her in. _ The custom of lifting the bride over
the threshold, probably to avert an ill-omened stumble, has prevailed
among the most diverse races. For the anointing of the doorposts Brand
quotes Langley's translation of Polydore Vergil: "The bryde anoynted the
poostes of the doores with swynes' grease, because she thought by that
meanes to dryve awaye all misfortune, whereof she had her name in Latin
'Uxor ab unguendo'".
_To gather nuts. _ A Roman marriage custom mentioned in Catullus, _Carm. _
lxi. 124-127, the _In Nuptias Juliæ et Manlii_, which Herrick keeps in
mind all through this ode.
_With all lucky birds to side. _ Bona cum bona nubit alite virgo. Cat.
_Carm. _ lxi. 18.
_But when ye both can say Come. _ The wish in this case appears to have
been fulfilled, as Lady Southwell administered to her husband's estate,
Dec. 16, 1642, and her own estate was administered on the thirtieth of
the following January.
_Two ripe shocks of corn. _ Cp. Job v. 26.
153. _His wish. _ From Hor. _Epist. _ I. xviii. 111, 112:--
Sed satis est orare Jovem quæ donat et aufert;
Det vitam, det opes; æquum mî animum ipse parabo:
where Herrick seems to have read _qui_ for _quæ_.
157. _No Herbs have power to cure Love. _ Ovid, _Met. _ i. 523; id. _Her. _
v. 149: Nullis amor est medicabilis herbis. For the 'only one sovereign
salve' cp. Seneca, _Hippol. _ 1189: Mors amoris una sedamen.
159. _The Cruel Maid. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650, with no
other variant than the mistaken omission of "how" in l. 7. I do not
think that it has been yet pointed out that the whole poem is a close
imitation of Theocritus, xxiii. 19-47:--
Ἄγριε παῖ καὶ στυγνέ, κ. τ. λ.
Possibly Herrick meant to translate the whole poem, which would explain
his initial _And_. But cp. Ben Jonson's _Engl. Gram. _ ch. viii. : "'And'
in the beginning of a sentence serveth instead of an admiration".
164. _To a Gentlewoman objecting to him his gray hairs. _ Mr. Hazlitt
quotes an early MS. copy headed: "An old man to his younge Mrs. ". The
variants, as he observes, are mostly for the worse. The poem may have
been suggested to Herrick by Anacreon, 6 [11]:--
Λέγουσιν αἱ γυναῖκες,
Ἀνακρέων, γέρων εἶ·
λαβὼν ἔσοπτρον ἄθρει
κόμας μὲν οὐκέτ' οὔσας κ. τ. λ.
168. _Jos. Lo. Bishop of Exeter. _ Joseph Hall, 1574-1656, author of the
satires.
169. _The Countess of Carlisle. _ Lucy, the second wife of James, first
Earl of Carlisle, the Lady Carlisle of Browning's _Strafford_.
170. _I fear no earthly powers. _ Probably suggested by Anacreon [36],
beginning: τί με τοὺς νόμους διδάσκεις; Cp. also 7 [15]: Οὔ μοι μέλει τὰ
Γύγεω.
172. _A Ring presented to Julia. _ Printed without variation in _Witts
Recreations_, 1650, under the title: "With a O to Julia".
174. _Still thou reply'st: The Dead. _ Cp. Martial, VIII. lxix. 1, 2:--
Miraris veteres, Vacerra, solos
Nec laudas nisi mortuos poetas.
178. _Corinna's going a-Maying. _ Herrick's poem is a charming expansion
of Chaucer's theme: "For May wol have no slogardye a night". The account
of May-day customs in Brand (vol. i. pp. 212-234) is unusually full, and
all Herrick's allusions can be illustrated from it. Dr. Nott compares
the last stanza to Catullus, _Carm. _ v. ; but parallels from the classic
poets could be multiplied indefinitely.
_The God unshorn_ of l. 2 is from Hor. I. _Od_. xxi. 2: Intonsum pueri
dicite Cynthium.
181. _A dialogue between Horace and Lydia. _ Hor. III. _Od. _ ix.
_Ramsey. _ Organist of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1628-1634. Some of his
music still exists in MS.
185. _An Ode to Master Endymion Porter, upon his brother's death. _
Endymion Porter is said to have had an only brother, Giles, who died in
the king's service at Oxford, _i. e. _, between 1642 and 1646, and it has
been taken for granted that this ode refers to his death. The
supposition is possibly right, but if so, the ode, despite its beauty,
is so gratingly and extraordinarily selfish that we may wonder if the
dead brother is not the William Herrick of the next poem. The first
verse is, of course, a soliloquy of Herrick's, not, as Dr. Grosart
suggests, addressed to him by Porter. Dr. Nott again parallels Catullus,
_Carm_. v.
186. _To his dying brother, Master William Herrick. _ According to Dr.
Grosart and Mr. Hazlitt the poet had an elder brother, William,
baptized at St. Vedast's, Foster Lane, Nov. 24, 1585 (he must have been
born some months earlier, if this date be right, for his sister Martha
was baptized in the following January), and alive in 1629, when he acted
as one of the executors of his mother's will. But, it is said, there was
also another brother named William, born in 1593, after his father's
death, "at Harry Campion's house at Hampton". I have not been able to
find the authority for this last statement, which, as it asserts the
co-existence of two brothers, of the same name, is certainly surprising.
According to Dr. Grosart, it is the younger William who "died young" and
was addressed in this poem, but I must own to feeling some doubt in the
matter.
193. _The Lily in a Crystal. _ The poem may be taken as an expansion of
Martial, VIII. lxviii. 5-8:--
Condita perspicuâ vivit vindemia gemmâ
Et tegitur felix, nec tamen uva latet:
Femineum lucet sic per bombycina corpus,
Calculus in nitidâ sic numeratur aquâ.
197. _The Welcome to Sack. _ Two MSS. at the British Museum (Harl. 6931
and Add. 19,268) contain copies of this important poem. These copies
differ considerably from the printed version, are proved by small
variations to be independent of each other, and at the same time agree
in all important points. We may conclude, therefore, that they represent
an earlier version of the poem, subsequently revised by Herrick before
the issue of _Hesperides_. In the subjoined copy, in which the two MSS.
are corrected from each other, italics show the variations, asterisks
mark lines omitted in _Hesperides_, and a dagger the absence of lines
subsequently added.
"So _swift_ streams meet, so springs with gladder smiles
Meet after long divorcement _made by_ isles:
When love (the child of likeness) urgeth on
Their crystal _waters_ to an union.
So meet stol'n kisses when the moonie _night_
Calls forth fierce lovers to their wisht _delight_:
So kings and queens meet, when desire convinces
All thoughts, _save those that tend to_ getting princes.
As I meet thee, Soul of my life and fame!
Eternal Lamp of Love, whose radiant flame
Out-_darts_ the heaven's Osiris; and thy _gems
Darken_ the splendour of his mid-day beams.
Welcome, O welcome, my illustrious spouse!
Welcome as are the ends unto my vows:
_Nay_, far more welcome than the happy soil
The sea-scourged merchant, after all his toil,
Salutes with tears of joy, when fires _display_
The _smoking_ chimneys of his Ithaca.
Where hast thou been so long from my embraces,
Poor pitied exile? Tell me, did thy Graces
Fly discontented hence, and for a time
_Choose rather for_ to bless _some_ other clime?
†*_Oh, then, not longer let my sweet defer
*Her buxom smiles from me, her worshipper! _
Why _have those amber_ looks, the which have been
Time-past so fragrant, sickly now _call'd_ in
Like a dull twilight? Tell me, *_hath my soul
*Prophaned in speech or done an act that is foul
*Against thy purer essence? _ _For that_ fault
I'll expiate with sulphur, hair and salt:
And with the crystal humour of the spring
Purge hence the guilt, and kill _the_ quarrelling.
_Wilt_ thou not smile, _nor_ tell me what's amiss?
Have I been cold to hug thee, too remiss,
Too temperate in embracing? Tell me, has desire
To-thee-ward died in the embers, and no fire
Left in _the_ raked-up _ashes_, as a mark
To testify the glowing of a spark?
†_I must_ confess I left thee, and appeal
'Twas done by me more to _increase_ my zeal,
And double my affection[†]; as do those
Whose love grows more inflamed by being _froze_.
But to forsake thee, [†] could there _ever_ be
A thought of such-like possibility?
When _all the world may know that vines_ shall lack
Grapes, before Herrick _leave_ Canary sack.
*_Sack is my life, my leaven, salt to all
*My dearest dainties, nay, 'tis the principal
*Fire unto all my functions, gives me blood,
*An active spirit, full marrow, and, what is good,_
_Sack makes_ me _sprightful, airy_ to be borne,
Like Iphyclus, upon the tops of corn.
_Sack makes_ me nimble, as the wingèd hours,
To dance and caper _o'er the tops_ of flowers,
And ride the sunbeams. Can there be a thing
Under the _cope of heaven_ that can bring
More _joy_ unto my _soul_, or can present
My Genius with a fuller blandishment?
Illustrious Idol! _Can_ the Egyptians seek
Help from the garlick, onion and the leek,
And pay no vows to thee, who _art the_ best
God, and far more _transcending_ than the rest?
Had Cassius, that weak water-drinker, known
Thee in _the_ Vine, or had but tasted one
Small chalice of thy _nectar, he, even_ he
As the wise Cato had approved of thee.
Had not Jove's son, the _rash_ Tyrinthian swain
(Invited to the Thesbian banquet), ta'ne
Full goblets of thy [†] blood; his *_lustful_ sprite
_Had not_ kept heat for fifty maids that night.
†As Queens meet Queens, _so let sack come to_ me
_Or_ as Cleopatra _unto_ Anthonie,
When her high _visage_ did at once present
To the Triumvir love and wonderment.
Swell up my _feeble sinews_, let my blood
†Fill each part full of fire,* _let all my good_
_Parts be encouraged_, active to do
What thy commanding soul shall put _me_ to,
And till I turn apostate to thy love,
Which here I vow to serve, _never_ remove
Thy _blessing_ from me; but Apollo's curse
Blast _all mine_ actions; or, a thing that's worse,
When these circumstants _have the fate_ to see
The time _when_ I prevaricate from thee,
Call me the Son of Beer, and then confine
Me to the tap, the toast, the turf; let wine
Ne'er shine upon me; _let_ my _verses_ all
_Haste_ to a sudden death and funeral:
And last, _dear Spouse, when I thee_ disavow,
_May ne'er_ prophetic Daphne crown my brow. "
Certainly this manuscript version is in every way inferior to that
printed in the _Hesperides_, and Herrick must be reckoned among the
poets who are able to revise their own work.
_The smoky chimneys of his Ithaca. _ Ovid, I.
Divitiis alitur luxuriosus amor.
95. _Homer himself. _ Indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus. Horace,
_De Art. Poet. _ 359.
100. _To bread and water none is poor. _ Seneca, _Excerpt. _ ii. 887:
Panem et aquam Natura desiderat; nemo ad haec pauper est.
_Nature with little is content. _ Seneca, _Ep. _ xvi. : Exiguum Natura
desiderat. _Ep. _ lx. : parvo Natura dimittitur.
106. _A Country Life: To his brother, M. Tho. Herrick. _ "Thomas,
baptized May 12, 1588, was placed by his uncle and guardian, Sir William
Heyrick, with Mr. Massam, a merchant in London; but in 1610 he appears
to have returned into the country and to have settled in a small farm.
It is supposed that this Thomas was the father of Thomas Heyrick, who in
1668 resided at Market Harborough and issued a trader's token there, and
grandfather to the Thomas who was curate of Harborough and published
some sermons and poems. " Hill's _Market Harborough_, p. 122.
A MS. version of this poem is contained in Ashmole 38, from which Dr.
Grosart gives a full collation on pp. cli. -cliii. of his Memorial
Introduction. The MS. appears to follow an unrevised version of the
poem, and contains a few couplets which Herrick afterwards thought fit
to omit. The most important passage comes after line 92: "Virtue had,
and mov'd her sphere".
"Nor know thy happy and unenvied state
Owes more to virtue than to fate,
Or fortune too; for what the first secures,
That as herself, or heaven, endures.
The two last fail, and by experience make
Known, not they give again, they take. "
_Thrice and above blest. _ Felices ter et amplius, Hor. I. _Od. _ xiii. 7.
_My soul's half:_ Animæ dimidium meæ, Hor. I. _Od. _ iii. 8. The poem is
full of such reminiscences: "With holy meal and spirting (MS. crackling)
salt" is the "Farre pio et saliente mica" of III. _Od. _ xxiii. 20;
"Untaught to suffer poverty" the "Indocilis pauperiem pati" of I. _Od. _
i. 18; "A heart thrice wall'd" comes from I. _Od. _ iii. 9: Illi robur et
æs triplex, etc. Similar instances might be multiplied. Note, too, the
use of "Lar" and "Genius".
_Jove for our labour all things sells us. _ Epicharm. apud Xenoph.
_Memor. _ II. i. 20, τῶν πόνων Πωλοῦσιν ἡμῖν πάντα τἀγαθ' οἱ θεοί. Quoted
by Montaigne, II. xx.
_Wisely true to thine own self. _ Possibly a Shakespearian reminiscence
of the "to thine own self be true" in the speech of Polonius to Laertes,
Hamlet, I. iii. 78.
_A wise man every way lies square. _ Cp. Arist. _Eth. _ I. x. 11, ὡς ἀληθῶς
ἀγαθὸς καὶ τετράγωνος ἄνευ ψόγου.
_For seldom use commends the pleasure. _ Voluptates commendat rarior
usus. Juvenal, _Sat. _ xi. ad fin.
_Nor fear or wish your dying day. _ Summum nec metuas diem, nec optes.
Mart. X. xlvii. 13.
112. _To the Earl of Westmoreland. _ Mildmay Fane succeeded his father,
Thomas Fane, the first earl, in March, 1628. At the outbreak of the
Civil War he sided with the king, but after a short imprisonment made
his submission to the Parliament, and was relieved of the sequestration
of his estates. He subsequently printed privately a volume of poems,
called _Otia Sacra_, which has been re-edited by Dr. Grosart.
117. _To the Patron of Poets, M. End. Porter. _ Five of Herrick's poems
are addressed to Endymion Porter, who seems to have been looked to as a
patron by all the singers of his day. According to the inscription on a
medal of him executed by Varin in 1635, he was then forty-eight, so that
he was born in 1587, coming into the world at Aston-under-Hill in
Gloucestershire. He went with Charles on his trip to Spain, and after
his accession became groom of his bedchamber, was active in the king's
service during the Civil War, and died in 1649. He was a collector of
works of art both for himself and for the king, and encouraged Rob.
Dover's Cotswold games by presenting him with a suit of the king's
clothes. À Wood tells us this, and mentions also that he was a friend of
Donne, that Gervase Warmsely dedicated his _Virescit Vulnere Virtus_ to
him in 1628, and that in conjunction with the Earl of St. Alban's he
also received the dedication of Davenant's _Madagascar_.
_Let there be patrons_, etc. Burton, I. ii. 3, § 15. 'Tis an old saying:
"Sint Mæcenates, non deerunt, Flacce, Marones" (Mart. VIII. lvi. 5).
Fabius, Cotta, and Lentulus are examples of Roman patrons of poetry,
themselves distinguished. Cp. Juvenal, vii. 94.
119. _His tapers thus put out. _ So Ovid, _Am. _ iii. 9:--
Ecce puer Veneris fert eversamque pharetram
Et fractos arcus, et sine luce facem.
121. _Four things make us happy here. _ From
Ὑγιαίνειν μὲν ἄριστον ἀνδρὶ θνατῷ·
δεύτερον δὲ φυὰν καλὸν γενέσθαι·
τὸ τρίτον δὲ πλουτεῖν αδόλως·
καὶ τὸ τέταρτον, ἡβᾶν μετὰ τῶν φίλων.
(Bergk, _Anth. Lyr. _, _Scol. _ 8. )
123. _The Tear sent to her from Staines. _ This is printed in _Witts
Recreations_ with no other variation than in the title, which there
runs: "A Teare sent his Mistresse". Dr. Grosart notes that Staines was
at the time a royal residence.
128. _His Farewell to Sack. _ A manuscript version of this poem at the
British Museum omits many lines (7, 8, 11-22, 29-36), and contains few
important variants. "Of the yet chaste and undefiled bride" is a poor
anticipation of line 6, and "To raise the holy madness" for "To rouse
the sacred madness" is also weak. For the line and a half:--
"Prithee not smile
Or smile more inly, lest thy looks beguile,"
we have the very inferior passage:--
"I prithee draw in
Thy gazing fires, lest at their sight the sin
Of fierce idolatry shoot into me, and
I turn apostate to the strict command
Of nature; bid me now farewell, or smile
More ugly, lest thy tempting looks beguile".
This MS. version is followed in the first published text in _Witts
Recreations_, 1645.
130. _Upon Mrs. Eliz. Wheeler. _ "The lady complimented in this poem was
probably a relation by marriage. Herrick's first cousin, Martha, the
seventh daughter of his uncle Robert, married Mr. John Wheeler. " Nott.
132. _Fold now thine arms. _ A sign of grief. Cp. "His arms in this sad
knot". _Tempest. _
134. _Mr. J. Warr. _ This John Warr is probably the same as the "honoured
friend, Mr. John Weare, Councellour," of a later poem. Dr. Grosart
quotes an "Epitaph upon his honoured friend, Master Warre," by Randolph.
Nothing is known of him, but I find in the Oxford Register that a John
Warr matriculated at Exeter College, 16th May, 1619, and proceeded M. A.
in 1624. He may possibly be Herrick's friend.
137. _Dowry with a wife. _ Cp. Ovid, _Ars Am. _ ii. 155: Dos est uxoria
lites.
139. _The Wounded Cupid. _ This is taken from Anacreon, 33 [40]:--
Ἔρως ποτ' ἐν ῥόδοισιν
κοιμωμένην μέλιτταν
οὐκ εἶδεν, ἀλλ' ἐτοώθη
τὸν δάκτυλον· παταχθείς
τὰς χεῖρας ὠλόλυξεν·
δραμὼν δὲ καὶ πετασθεις
πρὸς τὴν καλὴν Κυθήρην
ὄλωλα, μᾶτερ, εἶπεν,
ὄλωλα κἀποθνήσκω·
ὄφις μ' ἔτυψε μικρός
πτερωτός, ὃν καλοῦσιν
μέλιτταν οἱ γεωργοί.
ἁ δ' εἶπεν· εἰ τὸ κέντρον
πονεῖ τὸ τᾶς μελίττας,
πόσον δοκεῖς πονοῦσιν,
Ἔρως, ὅσους σὺ βάλλεις;
142. _A Virgin's face she had. _ Herrick is imitating a charming passage
from the first Æneid (ll. 315-320), in which Æneas is confronted by
Venus:--
Virginis os habitumque gerens et virginis arma,
Spartanae vel qualis equos Threissa fatigat
Harpalyce volucremque fuga praevertitur Eurum.
Namque umeris de more habilem suspenderat arcum
Venatrix, dederatque comam diffundere ventis,
Nuda genu nodoque sinus collecta fluentis.
_With a wand of myrtle_, etc. Cp. Anacreon, 7 [29]:--
Ὑακινθίνῃ με ῥάβδῳ
χαλέπως, Ἔρως ῥαπίζων . . . εἶπε·
Σὺ γὰρ οὐ δύνῃ φιλῆσαι.
146. _Upon the Bishop of Lincoln's Imprisonment. _ John Williams
(1582-1650), Bishop of Lincoln, 1621; Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal,
1621-1625; suspended and imprisoned, 1637-1640, on a frivolous charge of
having betrayed the king's secrets; Archbishop of York, 1641. Save from
this poem and the _Carol_ printed in the Appendix we know nothing of his
relations with Herrick. He had probably stood in the way of the poet's
obtaining holy orders or preferment.
When Herrick was appointed to the
cure of Dean Prior in 1629, Williams had already lost favour at the
Court.
147. _Cynthius pluck ye by the ear. _ Cp. Virg. _Ecl. _ vi. 3: Cynthius
aurem Vellit et admonuit; and Milton's _Lycidas_, 77: "Phœbus replied
and touched my trembling ears".
_The lazy man the most doth love. _ Cp. Ovid, _Remed. Amor. _ 144: Cedit
amor rebus: res age, tutus eris. Nott. But Ovid could also write: Qui
nolet fieri desidiosus amet (1 _Am. _ ix. 46).
149. _Sir Thomas Southwell_, of Hangleton, Sussex, knighted 1615, died
before December 16, 1642.
_Those tapers five. _ Mentioned by Plutarch, _Qu. Rom. _ 2. For their
significance see Ben Jonson's _Masque of Hymen_.
_O'er the threshold force her in. _ The custom of lifting the bride over
the threshold, probably to avert an ill-omened stumble, has prevailed
among the most diverse races. For the anointing of the doorposts Brand
quotes Langley's translation of Polydore Vergil: "The bryde anoynted the
poostes of the doores with swynes' grease, because she thought by that
meanes to dryve awaye all misfortune, whereof she had her name in Latin
'Uxor ab unguendo'".
_To gather nuts. _ A Roman marriage custom mentioned in Catullus, _Carm. _
lxi. 124-127, the _In Nuptias Juliæ et Manlii_, which Herrick keeps in
mind all through this ode.
_With all lucky birds to side. _ Bona cum bona nubit alite virgo. Cat.
_Carm. _ lxi. 18.
_But when ye both can say Come. _ The wish in this case appears to have
been fulfilled, as Lady Southwell administered to her husband's estate,
Dec. 16, 1642, and her own estate was administered on the thirtieth of
the following January.
_Two ripe shocks of corn. _ Cp. Job v. 26.
153. _His wish. _ From Hor. _Epist. _ I. xviii. 111, 112:--
Sed satis est orare Jovem quæ donat et aufert;
Det vitam, det opes; æquum mî animum ipse parabo:
where Herrick seems to have read _qui_ for _quæ_.
157. _No Herbs have power to cure Love. _ Ovid, _Met. _ i. 523; id. _Her. _
v. 149: Nullis amor est medicabilis herbis. For the 'only one sovereign
salve' cp. Seneca, _Hippol. _ 1189: Mors amoris una sedamen.
159. _The Cruel Maid. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650, with no
other variant than the mistaken omission of "how" in l. 7. I do not
think that it has been yet pointed out that the whole poem is a close
imitation of Theocritus, xxiii. 19-47:--
Ἄγριε παῖ καὶ στυγνέ, κ. τ. λ.
Possibly Herrick meant to translate the whole poem, which would explain
his initial _And_. But cp. Ben Jonson's _Engl. Gram. _ ch. viii. : "'And'
in the beginning of a sentence serveth instead of an admiration".
164. _To a Gentlewoman objecting to him his gray hairs. _ Mr. Hazlitt
quotes an early MS. copy headed: "An old man to his younge Mrs. ". The
variants, as he observes, are mostly for the worse. The poem may have
been suggested to Herrick by Anacreon, 6 [11]:--
Λέγουσιν αἱ γυναῖκες,
Ἀνακρέων, γέρων εἶ·
λαβὼν ἔσοπτρον ἄθρει
κόμας μὲν οὐκέτ' οὔσας κ. τ. λ.
168. _Jos. Lo. Bishop of Exeter. _ Joseph Hall, 1574-1656, author of the
satires.
169. _The Countess of Carlisle. _ Lucy, the second wife of James, first
Earl of Carlisle, the Lady Carlisle of Browning's _Strafford_.
170. _I fear no earthly powers. _ Probably suggested by Anacreon [36],
beginning: τί με τοὺς νόμους διδάσκεις; Cp. also 7 [15]: Οὔ μοι μέλει τὰ
Γύγεω.
172. _A Ring presented to Julia. _ Printed without variation in _Witts
Recreations_, 1650, under the title: "With a O to Julia".
174. _Still thou reply'st: The Dead. _ Cp. Martial, VIII. lxix. 1, 2:--
Miraris veteres, Vacerra, solos
Nec laudas nisi mortuos poetas.
178. _Corinna's going a-Maying. _ Herrick's poem is a charming expansion
of Chaucer's theme: "For May wol have no slogardye a night". The account
of May-day customs in Brand (vol. i. pp. 212-234) is unusually full, and
all Herrick's allusions can be illustrated from it. Dr. Nott compares
the last stanza to Catullus, _Carm. _ v. ; but parallels from the classic
poets could be multiplied indefinitely.
_The God unshorn_ of l. 2 is from Hor. I. _Od_. xxi. 2: Intonsum pueri
dicite Cynthium.
181. _A dialogue between Horace and Lydia. _ Hor. III. _Od. _ ix.
_Ramsey. _ Organist of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1628-1634. Some of his
music still exists in MS.
185. _An Ode to Master Endymion Porter, upon his brother's death. _
Endymion Porter is said to have had an only brother, Giles, who died in
the king's service at Oxford, _i. e. _, between 1642 and 1646, and it has
been taken for granted that this ode refers to his death. The
supposition is possibly right, but if so, the ode, despite its beauty,
is so gratingly and extraordinarily selfish that we may wonder if the
dead brother is not the William Herrick of the next poem. The first
verse is, of course, a soliloquy of Herrick's, not, as Dr. Grosart
suggests, addressed to him by Porter. Dr. Nott again parallels Catullus,
_Carm_. v.
186. _To his dying brother, Master William Herrick. _ According to Dr.
Grosart and Mr. Hazlitt the poet had an elder brother, William,
baptized at St. Vedast's, Foster Lane, Nov. 24, 1585 (he must have been
born some months earlier, if this date be right, for his sister Martha
was baptized in the following January), and alive in 1629, when he acted
as one of the executors of his mother's will. But, it is said, there was
also another brother named William, born in 1593, after his father's
death, "at Harry Campion's house at Hampton". I have not been able to
find the authority for this last statement, which, as it asserts the
co-existence of two brothers, of the same name, is certainly surprising.
According to Dr. Grosart, it is the younger William who "died young" and
was addressed in this poem, but I must own to feeling some doubt in the
matter.
193. _The Lily in a Crystal. _ The poem may be taken as an expansion of
Martial, VIII. lxviii. 5-8:--
Condita perspicuâ vivit vindemia gemmâ
Et tegitur felix, nec tamen uva latet:
Femineum lucet sic per bombycina corpus,
Calculus in nitidâ sic numeratur aquâ.
197. _The Welcome to Sack. _ Two MSS. at the British Museum (Harl. 6931
and Add. 19,268) contain copies of this important poem. These copies
differ considerably from the printed version, are proved by small
variations to be independent of each other, and at the same time agree
in all important points. We may conclude, therefore, that they represent
an earlier version of the poem, subsequently revised by Herrick before
the issue of _Hesperides_. In the subjoined copy, in which the two MSS.
are corrected from each other, italics show the variations, asterisks
mark lines omitted in _Hesperides_, and a dagger the absence of lines
subsequently added.
"So _swift_ streams meet, so springs with gladder smiles
Meet after long divorcement _made by_ isles:
When love (the child of likeness) urgeth on
Their crystal _waters_ to an union.
So meet stol'n kisses when the moonie _night_
Calls forth fierce lovers to their wisht _delight_:
So kings and queens meet, when desire convinces
All thoughts, _save those that tend to_ getting princes.
As I meet thee, Soul of my life and fame!
Eternal Lamp of Love, whose radiant flame
Out-_darts_ the heaven's Osiris; and thy _gems
Darken_ the splendour of his mid-day beams.
Welcome, O welcome, my illustrious spouse!
Welcome as are the ends unto my vows:
_Nay_, far more welcome than the happy soil
The sea-scourged merchant, after all his toil,
Salutes with tears of joy, when fires _display_
The _smoking_ chimneys of his Ithaca.
Where hast thou been so long from my embraces,
Poor pitied exile? Tell me, did thy Graces
Fly discontented hence, and for a time
_Choose rather for_ to bless _some_ other clime?
†*_Oh, then, not longer let my sweet defer
*Her buxom smiles from me, her worshipper! _
Why _have those amber_ looks, the which have been
Time-past so fragrant, sickly now _call'd_ in
Like a dull twilight? Tell me, *_hath my soul
*Prophaned in speech or done an act that is foul
*Against thy purer essence? _ _For that_ fault
I'll expiate with sulphur, hair and salt:
And with the crystal humour of the spring
Purge hence the guilt, and kill _the_ quarrelling.
_Wilt_ thou not smile, _nor_ tell me what's amiss?
Have I been cold to hug thee, too remiss,
Too temperate in embracing? Tell me, has desire
To-thee-ward died in the embers, and no fire
Left in _the_ raked-up _ashes_, as a mark
To testify the glowing of a spark?
†_I must_ confess I left thee, and appeal
'Twas done by me more to _increase_ my zeal,
And double my affection[†]; as do those
Whose love grows more inflamed by being _froze_.
But to forsake thee, [†] could there _ever_ be
A thought of such-like possibility?
When _all the world may know that vines_ shall lack
Grapes, before Herrick _leave_ Canary sack.
*_Sack is my life, my leaven, salt to all
*My dearest dainties, nay, 'tis the principal
*Fire unto all my functions, gives me blood,
*An active spirit, full marrow, and, what is good,_
_Sack makes_ me _sprightful, airy_ to be borne,
Like Iphyclus, upon the tops of corn.
_Sack makes_ me nimble, as the wingèd hours,
To dance and caper _o'er the tops_ of flowers,
And ride the sunbeams. Can there be a thing
Under the _cope of heaven_ that can bring
More _joy_ unto my _soul_, or can present
My Genius with a fuller blandishment?
Illustrious Idol! _Can_ the Egyptians seek
Help from the garlick, onion and the leek,
And pay no vows to thee, who _art the_ best
God, and far more _transcending_ than the rest?
Had Cassius, that weak water-drinker, known
Thee in _the_ Vine, or had but tasted one
Small chalice of thy _nectar, he, even_ he
As the wise Cato had approved of thee.
Had not Jove's son, the _rash_ Tyrinthian swain
(Invited to the Thesbian banquet), ta'ne
Full goblets of thy [†] blood; his *_lustful_ sprite
_Had not_ kept heat for fifty maids that night.
†As Queens meet Queens, _so let sack come to_ me
_Or_ as Cleopatra _unto_ Anthonie,
When her high _visage_ did at once present
To the Triumvir love and wonderment.
Swell up my _feeble sinews_, let my blood
†Fill each part full of fire,* _let all my good_
_Parts be encouraged_, active to do
What thy commanding soul shall put _me_ to,
And till I turn apostate to thy love,
Which here I vow to serve, _never_ remove
Thy _blessing_ from me; but Apollo's curse
Blast _all mine_ actions; or, a thing that's worse,
When these circumstants _have the fate_ to see
The time _when_ I prevaricate from thee,
Call me the Son of Beer, and then confine
Me to the tap, the toast, the turf; let wine
Ne'er shine upon me; _let_ my _verses_ all
_Haste_ to a sudden death and funeral:
And last, _dear Spouse, when I thee_ disavow,
_May ne'er_ prophetic Daphne crown my brow. "
Certainly this manuscript version is in every way inferior to that
printed in the _Hesperides_, and Herrick must be reckoned among the
poets who are able to revise their own work.
_The smoky chimneys of his Ithaca. _ Ovid, I.
