Eternal Lamp of Love, whose radiant flame
Out-_darts_ the heaven's Osiris; and thy _gems
Darken_ the splendour of his mid-day beams.
Out-_darts_ the heaven's Osiris; and thy _gems
Darken_ the splendour of his mid-day beams.
Robert Herrick - Hesperide and Noble Numbers
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. _de Ponto_, ix. 265:--
Non dubia est Ithaci prudentia sed tamen optat
Fumum de patriis posse videre focis.
_Upon the tops of corn. _ Virgil (_Æn. _ vii. 808-9) uses the same
comparison of Camilla: Illa vel intactae segetis per summa volaret
Gramina, nec teneras cursu laesisset aristas.
_Could the Egyptians seek Help from the garlick, onion and the leek. _
Cp. Numbers xi. 5, and Juv. , xi. 9-11.
_Cassius, that weak water-drinker. _ Not, as Dr. Grosart queries:
"Cassius Iatrosophista, or Cassius Felix? " but C. Cassius Longinus, the
murderer of Cæsar. Cp. Montaigne, II. 2, and Seneca, _Ep. _ 83: "Cassius
totâ vitâ aquam bibit" there quoted.
201. _To trust to good verses. _ Carminibus confide bonis. Ovid, _Am. _
III. ix. 39.
_The Golden Pomp is come. _ Aurea pompa venit, Ovid, _Am. _ III. ii. 44.
"Now reigns the rose" (nunc regnat rosa) is a common phrase in Martial
and elsewhere. For the "Arabian dew," cp. Ovid, _Sappho to Phaon_, 98:
Arabo noster rore capillus olet.
_A text . . . Behold Tibullus lies. _ Jacet ecce Tibullus: Vix manet e
tanto parva quod urna capit. Ovid, _Am. _ III. ix. 39.
203. _Lips Tongueless. _ Dr. Nott parallels Catullus, _Carm. _ lii.
(lv. ):--
Si linguam clauso tenes in ore,
Fructus projicies amoris omnes:
Verbosa gaudet Venus loquela.
208. _Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. _ Set to music by William Lawes in
Playford's second book of "Ayres," 1652. Printed in _Witts Recreations_,
1654, with the variants: "Gather _your_ Rosebuds" in l. 1; l. 4, _may_
for _will_; l. 6, _he is getting_ for _he's a-getting_; l. 8, _nearer to
his setting_ for _nearer he's to setting_. The opening lines are from
Ausonius, ccclxi. 49, 50 (quoted by Burton, _Anat. Mel. _ III. 2, 5 §
5):--
Collige, virgo, rosas, dum flos novus, et nova pubes,
Et memor esto aevum sic properare tuum:
cp. also l. 43:--
Quam longa una dies, ætas tam longa rosarum.
209. _Has not whence to sink at all. _ Seneca, _Ep. _ xx. : Redige te ad
parva ex quibus cadere non possis. Cp. Alain Delisle: Qui decumbit humi
non habet unde cadat.
211. _His poetry his pillar. _ A variation upon the Horatian theme:--
"Exegi monumentum aere perennius
Regalique situ pyramidum altius".
(III. _Od. _ xxx. )
212. _What though the sea be calm. _ Almost literally translated from
Seneca, _Ep. _ iv. : Noli huic tranquillitati confidere: momento mare
evertitur: eodem die ubi luserunt navigia sorbentur.
213. _At noon of day was seen a silver star. _ "King Charles the First
went to St. Paul's Church the 30th day of May, 1630, to give praise for
the birth of his son, attended with all his Peers and a most royal
Train, where a bright star appeared at High Noon in the sight of all. "
(_Stella Meridiana_, 1661. )
213. _And all most sweet, yet all less sweet than he. _ It is
characteristic of Herrick that in his _Noble Numbers_ ("The New-Year's
Gift") he repeats this line, applying it to Christ.
_The swiftest grace is best. _ Ὠκεῖαι χάριτες γλυκερώτεραι. Anth. Pal. x.
30.
214. _Know thy when. _ So in _The Star-song_ Herrick sings: "Thou canst
clear All doubts and manifest the where".
219. _Lord Bernard Stewart_, fourth son of Esme, third Duke of Lennox,
and himself created Earl of Lichfield by Charles I. He commanded the
king's troop of guards, and was killed at the battle of Rowton Heath,
outside Chester, Sept. 24, 1645.
Clarendon (_History of the Rebellion_, ix. 19) thus records his death
and character: "Here fell many gentlemen and officers of name, with the
brave Earl of Litchfield, who was the third brother of that illustrious
family that sacrificed his life in this quarrel. He was a very faultless
young man, of a most gentle, courteous, and affable nature, and of a
spirit and courage invincible; whose loss all men lamented, and the king
bore it with extraordinary grief. "
_Trentall. _ Properly a set of thirty masses for the repose of a dead
man's soul. Here and elsewhere Herrick uses the word as an equivalent
for dirge, but Sidney distinguished them: "Let dirige be sung and
trentalls rightly read. For love is dead," etc. "Hence, hence profane,"
is the Latin, _procul o procul este profani_ of Virg. _Æn. _ vi. 258,
where "profane" is only equivalent to uninitiated.
223. _The Fairy Temple. _ For a brief note on Herrick's fairy poems, see
Appendix. On the dedication to Mr. John Merrifield, Counsellor-at-Law,
Dr. Grosart remarks: "Nothing seems to be now known of Merrifield. It is
just possible that--as throughout the poem--the name was an invented
one, 'Merry Field'. " But the records of the Inner Temple show that the
Merrifields were a legal family from Woolmiston, near Crewkerne,
Somersetshire. John (son of Richard) Merrifield, the father, was
admitted to the Inner Temple in 1581, and John, the son, in 1611. This
latter must be Herrick's Counsellor. He rose to be a Master of the Bench
in 1638 and Sergeant-at-Law in 1660. He died October, 1666, aged 75, at
Crewkerne. On the other hand, it can hardly be doubted that Dr. Grosart
is right in regarding the names of the fairy saints as quite imaginary.
He nevertheless suggests SS. Titus, Neot, Idus, Ida, Fridian or
Fridolin, Trypho, Felan and Felix as the possible prototypes of "Saint
_Tit_, Saint _Nit_, Saint _Is_," etc. It should be noted that "Tit and
Nit" occur with "Wap and Win" and other obviously made-up names, in
Drayton's _Nymphidia_.
229. _Upon Cupid. _ Taken from Anacreon, 5 [59].
Στέφος πλέκων ποθ' εὗρον
ἐν τοῖς ῥόδοις Ἔρωτα·
καὶ τῶν πτερῶν κατασχών
ἐβάπτισ' εἰς τὸν οἶνον·
λαβὼν δ' ἔπινον αὐτόν,
καὶ νῦν ἔσω μελῶν μου
πτεροῖσι γαργαλίζει.
234. _Care will make a face. _ Ovid, _Ar. Am. _ iii. 105: Cura dabit
faciem, facies neglecta peribit.
235. _Upon Himself. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1654, under the
title: _On an old Batchelor_, and with the variants, _married_ for
_wedded_, l. 3, _one_ for _a_ in l. 4, and _Rather than mend me, blind
me quite_ in l. 6.
238. _To the Rose. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1654, with the
variants _peevish_ for _flowing_ in l. 4, _say, if she frets, that I
have bonds_ in l. 6, _that can tame although not kill_ in l. 10, and
_now_ for _thus_ in l. 11. The opening couplet is from Martial, VII.
lxxxix. :--
I, felix rosa, mollibusque sertis
Nostri cinge comas Apollinaris.
241. _Upon a painted Gentlewoman. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650,
under the title, _On a painted madame_.
250. _Mildmay, Earl of Westmoreland. _ See Note to 112. According to the
date of the earl's succession, this poem must have been written after
1628.
253. _He that will not love_, etc. Ovid, _Rem. Am. _ 15, 16:--
Si quis male fert indignae regna puellae,
Ne pereat nostrae sentiat artis opem.
_How she is her own least part. _ _Ib.
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. _de Ponto_, ix. 265:--
Non dubia est Ithaci prudentia sed tamen optat
Fumum de patriis posse videre focis.
_Upon the tops of corn. _ Virgil (_Æn. _ vii. 808-9) uses the same
comparison of Camilla: Illa vel intactae segetis per summa volaret
Gramina, nec teneras cursu laesisset aristas.
_Could the Egyptians seek Help from the garlick, onion and the leek. _
Cp. Numbers xi. 5, and Juv. , xi. 9-11.
_Cassius, that weak water-drinker. _ Not, as Dr. Grosart queries:
"Cassius Iatrosophista, or Cassius Felix? " but C. Cassius Longinus, the
murderer of Cæsar. Cp. Montaigne, II. 2, and Seneca, _Ep. _ 83: "Cassius
totâ vitâ aquam bibit" there quoted.
201. _To trust to good verses. _ Carminibus confide bonis. Ovid, _Am. _
III. ix. 39.
_The Golden Pomp is come. _ Aurea pompa venit, Ovid, _Am. _ III. ii. 44.
"Now reigns the rose" (nunc regnat rosa) is a common phrase in Martial
and elsewhere. For the "Arabian dew," cp. Ovid, _Sappho to Phaon_, 98:
Arabo noster rore capillus olet.
_A text . . . Behold Tibullus lies. _ Jacet ecce Tibullus: Vix manet e
tanto parva quod urna capit. Ovid, _Am. _ III. ix. 39.
203. _Lips Tongueless. _ Dr. Nott parallels Catullus, _Carm. _ lii.
(lv. ):--
Si linguam clauso tenes in ore,
Fructus projicies amoris omnes:
Verbosa gaudet Venus loquela.
208. _Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. _ Set to music by William Lawes in
Playford's second book of "Ayres," 1652. Printed in _Witts Recreations_,
1654, with the variants: "Gather _your_ Rosebuds" in l. 1; l. 4, _may_
for _will_; l. 6, _he is getting_ for _he's a-getting_; l. 8, _nearer to
his setting_ for _nearer he's to setting_. The opening lines are from
Ausonius, ccclxi. 49, 50 (quoted by Burton, _Anat. Mel. _ III. 2, 5 §
5):--
Collige, virgo, rosas, dum flos novus, et nova pubes,
Et memor esto aevum sic properare tuum:
cp. also l. 43:--
Quam longa una dies, ætas tam longa rosarum.
209. _Has not whence to sink at all. _ Seneca, _Ep. _ xx. : Redige te ad
parva ex quibus cadere non possis. Cp. Alain Delisle: Qui decumbit humi
non habet unde cadat.
211. _His poetry his pillar. _ A variation upon the Horatian theme:--
"Exegi monumentum aere perennius
Regalique situ pyramidum altius".
(III. _Od. _ xxx. )
212. _What though the sea be calm. _ Almost literally translated from
Seneca, _Ep. _ iv. : Noli huic tranquillitati confidere: momento mare
evertitur: eodem die ubi luserunt navigia sorbentur.
213. _At noon of day was seen a silver star. _ "King Charles the First
went to St. Paul's Church the 30th day of May, 1630, to give praise for
the birth of his son, attended with all his Peers and a most royal
Train, where a bright star appeared at High Noon in the sight of all. "
(_Stella Meridiana_, 1661. )
213. _And all most sweet, yet all less sweet than he. _ It is
characteristic of Herrick that in his _Noble Numbers_ ("The New-Year's
Gift") he repeats this line, applying it to Christ.
_The swiftest grace is best. _ Ὠκεῖαι χάριτες γλυκερώτεραι. Anth. Pal. x.
30.
214. _Know thy when. _ So in _The Star-song_ Herrick sings: "Thou canst
clear All doubts and manifest the where".
219. _Lord Bernard Stewart_, fourth son of Esme, third Duke of Lennox,
and himself created Earl of Lichfield by Charles I. He commanded the
king's troop of guards, and was killed at the battle of Rowton Heath,
outside Chester, Sept. 24, 1645.
Clarendon (_History of the Rebellion_, ix. 19) thus records his death
and character: "Here fell many gentlemen and officers of name, with the
brave Earl of Litchfield, who was the third brother of that illustrious
family that sacrificed his life in this quarrel. He was a very faultless
young man, of a most gentle, courteous, and affable nature, and of a
spirit and courage invincible; whose loss all men lamented, and the king
bore it with extraordinary grief. "
_Trentall. _ Properly a set of thirty masses for the repose of a dead
man's soul. Here and elsewhere Herrick uses the word as an equivalent
for dirge, but Sidney distinguished them: "Let dirige be sung and
trentalls rightly read. For love is dead," etc. "Hence, hence profane,"
is the Latin, _procul o procul este profani_ of Virg. _Æn. _ vi. 258,
where "profane" is only equivalent to uninitiated.
223. _The Fairy Temple. _ For a brief note on Herrick's fairy poems, see
Appendix. On the dedication to Mr. John Merrifield, Counsellor-at-Law,
Dr. Grosart remarks: "Nothing seems to be now known of Merrifield. It is
just possible that--as throughout the poem--the name was an invented
one, 'Merry Field'. " But the records of the Inner Temple show that the
Merrifields were a legal family from Woolmiston, near Crewkerne,
Somersetshire. John (son of Richard) Merrifield, the father, was
admitted to the Inner Temple in 1581, and John, the son, in 1611. This
latter must be Herrick's Counsellor. He rose to be a Master of the Bench
in 1638 and Sergeant-at-Law in 1660. He died October, 1666, aged 75, at
Crewkerne. On the other hand, it can hardly be doubted that Dr. Grosart
is right in regarding the names of the fairy saints as quite imaginary.
He nevertheless suggests SS. Titus, Neot, Idus, Ida, Fridian or
Fridolin, Trypho, Felan and Felix as the possible prototypes of "Saint
_Tit_, Saint _Nit_, Saint _Is_," etc. It should be noted that "Tit and
Nit" occur with "Wap and Win" and other obviously made-up names, in
Drayton's _Nymphidia_.
229. _Upon Cupid. _ Taken from Anacreon, 5 [59].
Στέφος πλέκων ποθ' εὗρον
ἐν τοῖς ῥόδοις Ἔρωτα·
καὶ τῶν πτερῶν κατασχών
ἐβάπτισ' εἰς τὸν οἶνον·
λαβὼν δ' ἔπινον αὐτόν,
καὶ νῦν ἔσω μελῶν μου
πτεροῖσι γαργαλίζει.
234. _Care will make a face. _ Ovid, _Ar. Am. _ iii. 105: Cura dabit
faciem, facies neglecta peribit.
235. _Upon Himself. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1654, under the
title: _On an old Batchelor_, and with the variants, _married_ for
_wedded_, l. 3, _one_ for _a_ in l. 4, and _Rather than mend me, blind
me quite_ in l. 6.
238. _To the Rose. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1654, with the
variants _peevish_ for _flowing_ in l. 4, _say, if she frets, that I
have bonds_ in l. 6, _that can tame although not kill_ in l. 10, and
_now_ for _thus_ in l. 11. The opening couplet is from Martial, VII.
lxxxix. :--
I, felix rosa, mollibusque sertis
Nostri cinge comas Apollinaris.
241. _Upon a painted Gentlewoman. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650,
under the title, _On a painted madame_.
250. _Mildmay, Earl of Westmoreland. _ See Note to 112. According to the
date of the earl's succession, this poem must have been written after
1628.
253. _He that will not love_, etc. Ovid, _Rem. Am. _ 15, 16:--
Si quis male fert indignae regna puellae,
Ne pereat nostrae sentiat artis opem.
_How she is her own least part. _ _Ib.
