No More Learning

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:
Duræ 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: Pœnitentium lacrimæ 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 Cæsarem. 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, quæ
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: Οὐδὲν πενίας
βαρύτερόν ἐστι φόρτιον. "No burden, saith Menander, is so intolerable as
poverty. "

718. _As many laws_, etc. Tacit. _Ann. _ iii. 27: Corruptissima in
republica plurimæ 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: Ὠ Ζεῦ
πολυτίμητ', εἶτ' ἐγὼ κακῶς ποτε | ἐρῶ γυναῖκας; νὴ Δί' ἀπολοίμην ἄρα· |
πάντων ἄριστον κτημάτων. 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 Irá_, ii. 28: Aliena vitia in
oculis habemus; à tergo nostra sunt.

755. _The Eye. _ Æschyl. _Fragm. _ in Plutarch, _Amat. _ 21: Νέας γυναικὸς
οὔ με μὴ λάθῃ φλέγων Ὀφθαλμὸς, ἥτις ἀνδρὸς ᾖ γεγευμένη.

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: cùm rectè factorum
sibi quisque gratiam trahant, unius [Principis scil. ] invidiâ 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] Deësse nobis terra in quâ vivamus, in quâ 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, § 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. _
§ 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".