_
46:--"Si quis piorum manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum
corpore extinguuntur magnae animae".
46:--"Si quis piorum manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum
corpore extinguuntur magnae animae".
Robert Herrick - Hesperide and Noble Numbers
11-16 are transposed to
after l. 28; and "Are the expressions of that itch" is written "As
emblems will express that itch"; ll. 27, 28 appear as:--
"For that once lost thou _needst must fall
To one, then prostitute to all:_
And we then have the transposed passage:--
Nor so immurèd would I have
Thee live, as dead, _or_ in thy grave;
But walk abroad, yet wisely well
_Keep 'gainst_ my coming sentinel.
And think _each man thou seest doth doom
Thy thoughts to say, I back am come. _
Farther on we have the rather pretty variant:--
"Let them _call thee wondrous fair,
Crown of women_, yet despair".
Eight lines lower "virtuous" is read for "gentle," and the omission of
some small words throws some light on a change in Herrick's metrical
views as he grew older. The words omitted are bracketed:--
"[And] Let thy dreams be only fed
With this, that I am in thy bed.
And [thou] then turning in that sphere,
Waking findst [shall find] me sleeping there.
But [yet] if boundless lust must scale
Thy fortress and _must_ needs prevail
_'Gainst thee and_ force a passage in," etc.
Other variants are: "Creates the action" for "That makes the action";
"Glory" for "Triumph"; "my last signet" for "this compression"; "turn
again in my full triumph" for "come again, As one triumphant," and "the
height of womankind" for "all faith of womankind".
_The body sins not, 'tis the will_, etc. A maxim of law Latin: Actus non
facit reum nisi mens sit rea.
466. _To his Kinsman, Sir Thos. Soame_, son of Sir Stephen Soame, Lord
Mayor of London, 1589, and of Anne Stone, Herrick's aunt. Sir Thomas
was Sheriff of London, 1635, M. P. for the City, 1640, and died Jan. ,
1670. See Cussan's _Hertfortshire_. (_Hundred of Edwinstree_, p. 100. )
470. _Few Fortunate. _ A variant on the text (Matt. xx. 16): "Many be
called but few chosen".
479. _To Rosemary and Bays. _ The use of rosemary and bays at weddings
forms a section in Brand's chapter on marriage customs (ii. 119). For
the gilding he quotes from a wedding sermon preached in 1607 by Roger
Hacket: "Smell sweet, O ye flowers, in your native sweetness: be not
gilded with the idle art of man". The use of gloves at weddings forms
the subject of another section in Brand (ii. 125). He quotes Ben
Jonson's _Silent Woman_; "We see no ensigns of a wedding here, no
character of a bridal; where be our scarves and our gloves? "
483. _To his worthy friend, M. Thomas Falconbrige. _ As Herrick hints at
his friend's destiny for a public career, it seemed worth while to hunt
through the Calendar of State Papers for a chance reference to this
Falconbridge, who so far has evaded editors. He is apparently the Mr.
Thomas Falconbridge who appears in various papers between 1640 and 1644,
as passing accounts, and in the latter year was "Receiver-General at
Westminster".
_Towers reared high_, etc. Cp. Horace, _Od. _ II. x. 9-12.
Saepius ventis agitatur ingens
Pinus, et celsae graviore casu
Decidunt turres, feriuntque summos
Fulgura montes.
486. _He's lord of thy life_, etc. Seneca, _Epist. Mor. _ iv. : Quisquis
vitam suam contempsit tuae dominus est. Quoted by Montaigne, I. xxiii.
488. _Shame is a bad attendant to a state. _ From Seneca, _Hippol. _ 431:
Malus est minister regii imperii pudor.
_He rents his crown that fears the people's hate. _ Also from Seneca,
_Oedipus_, 701: Odia qui nimium timet regnare nescit.
496. _To his honoured kinsman, Sir Richard Stone_, son of John Stone,
sergeant-at-law, the brother of Julian Stone, Herrick's mother. He died
in 1660.
_To this white temple of my heroes. _ Ben Jonson's admirers were proud to
call themselves "sealed of the tribe of Ben," and Herrick, a devout
Jonsonite, seems to have imitated the idea so far as to plan sometimes,
as here, a Temple, sometimes a Book (see _infra_, 510), sometimes a City
(365), a Plantation (392), a Calendar (545), a College (983), of his own
favourite friends, to whom his poetry was to give immortality. The
earliest direct reference to this plan is in his address to John Selden,
the antiquary (365), in which he writes:--
"A city here of heroes I have made
Upon the rock whose firm foundation laid
Shall never shrink; where, making thine abode,
Live thou a Selden, that's a demi-god".
It is noteworthy that the poems which contain the clearest reference to
this Temple (or its variants) are mostly addressed to kinsfolk, _e. g. _,
this to Sir Richard Stone, to Mrs. Penelope Wheeler, to Mr. Stephen
Soame, and to Susanna and Thomas Herrick. Other recipients of the honour
are Sir Edward Fish and Dr. Alabaster, Jack Crofts, Master J. Jincks,
etc.
497. _All flowers sent_, etc. See Virgil's--or the Virgilian--_Culex_,
ll. 397-410.
_Martial's bee. _ See _Epig. _ IV. xxxii.
De ape electro inclusa.
Et latet et lucet Phaethontide condita gutta,
Ut videatur apis nectare clausa suo.
Dignum tantorum pretium tulit illa laborum.
Credibile est ipsam sic voluisse mori.
500. _To Mistress Dorothy Parsons. _ This "saint" from Herrick's Temple
may certainly be identified with the second of the three children
(William, Dorothy, and Thomasine) of Mr. John Parsons, organist and
master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey, where he was buried in
1623. Herrick addresses another poem to her sister Thomasine:--
"Grow up in beauty, as thou dost begin,
And be of all admired, Thomasine".
502. _'Tis sin to throttle wine. _ Martial, I. xix. 5: Scelus est
jugulare Falernum.
506. _Edward, Earl of Dorset_, Knight of the Garter, grandson of Thomas
Sackville, author of _Gorboduc_. He succeeded his brother, Richard
Sackville, the third earl, in 1624, and died in 1652. Clarendon
describes a duel which he fought with Lord Bruce in Flanders.
_Of your own self a public theatre. _ Cp. Burton (Democ. to Reader) "Ipse
mihi theatrum".
510. _To his Kinswoman, Mrs. Penelope Wheeler. _ See Note on 130.
511. _A mighty strife 'twixt form and chastity. _ Lis est cum formâ magna
pudicitiæ. Quoted from Ovid by Burton, who translates: "Beauty and
honesty have ever been at odds".
514. _To the Lady Crew, upon the death of her child. _ This must be the
child buried in Westminster Abbey, according to the entry in the
register "1637/8, Feb. 6. Sir Clipsy Crewe's daughter, in the North
aisle of the monuments. " Colonel Chester annotates: "She was a younger
daughter, and was born at Crewe, 27th July, 1631. She died on the 4th of
February, and must have been an independent heiress, as her father
administered to her estate on the 24th May following. "
515. _Here needs no Court for our Request. _ An allusion to the Court of
Requests, established in the time of Richard II. as a lesser Court of
Equity for the hearing of "all poor men's suits". It was abolished in
1641, at the same time as the Star Chamber.
517. _The new successor drives away old love. _ From Ovid, _Rem. Am. _
462: Successore novo vincitur omnis amor.
519. _Born I was to meet with age. _ Cp. 540. From Anacreon, 38 [24]:--
Ἐπείδη βρότος ἐτέχθην,
Βιότου τρίβον ὁδεύειν,
Χρόνον ἔγνων ὃν παρῆλθον,
Ὅν δ' ἔχω δραμεῖν οὐκ οἶδα·
Μέθετέ με, φρονίιδες·
Μηδέν μοι καὶ ὑμῖν ἔστω.
Πρὶν ἐμὲ φθάσῃ τὸ τέρμα,
Παίξω, γελάσω, χορεύσω,
Μετὰ τοῦ καλοῦ Λυαίου.
520. _Fortune did never favour one. _ From Dionys. Halicarn. as quoted by
Burton, II. iii. 1, § 1.
521. _To Phillis to love and live with him. _ A variant on Marlowe's
theme: "Come live with me and be my love". Donne's _The Bait_ (printed
in Grosart's edition, vol. ii. p. 206) is another.
522. _To his Kinswoman, Mistress Susanna Herrick_, wife of his elder
brother Nicholas.
523. _Susanna Southwell. _ Probably a daughter of Sir Thomas Southwell,
for whom Herrick wrote the Epithalamium (No. 149).
525. _Her pretty feet_, etc. Cp. Suckling's "Ballad upon a Wedding":--
"Her feet beneath her petticoat,
Like little mice stole in and out,
As if they feared the light".
526. _To his Honoured Friend, Sir John Mynts. _ John Mennis, a
Vice-Admiral of the fleet and knighted in 1641, refused to join in the
desertion of the fleet to the Parliament. After the Restoration he was
made Governor of Dover and Chief Comptroller of the Navy. He was one of
the editors of the collection called _Musarum Deliciæ_ (1656), in the
first poem of which there is an allusion to--
"That old sack
Young Herrick took to entertain
The Muses in a sprightly vein".
527. _Fly me not_, etc. From Anacreon, 49 [34]:--
Μή με φύγῃς, ὁρῶσα
Τὰν πολιὰν ἔθειραν· . . .
Ὅρα κἀν στεφάνοισιν
Ὅπως πρέπει τὰ λευκὰ
Ῥόδοις κρίν' ἐμπλακέντα.
529. _As thou deserv'st be proud. _ Cp. Hor. III. _Od. _ xxx. 14:--
Sume superbiam
Quaesitam meritis et mihi Delphica
Lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam.
534. _To Electra. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650, where it is
entitled _To Julia_.
536. _Ill Government. . . . When kings obey_, etc. From Seneca, _Octav. _
581:--
Male imperatur, cum regit vulgus duces.
545. _To his Worthy Kinsman, Mr. Stephen Soame_ (the son or, less
probably, the brother of Sir Thomas Soame): _One of my righteous tribe_.
Cp. Note to 496.
547. _Great spirits never with their bodies die. _ Tacit. _Agric.
_
46:--"Si quis piorum manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum
corpore extinguuntur magnae animae".
554. _Die thou canst not all. _ Hor. IV. _Od. _ xxx. 6,7.
556. _The Fairies. _ Cp. the old ballad of _Robin Goodfellow_:--
"When house or hearth doth sluttish lie,
I pinch the maids both black and blue";
and Ben Jonson's _Entertainment at Althorpe_, etc.
557. _M. John Weare, Councellour. _ Probably the same as "the
much-lamented Mr. J. Warr" of 134.
_Law is to give to every one his own. _ Cicero, _De Fin. _ v. : Animi
affectio suum cuique tribuens Justitia dicitur.
564. _His Kinswoman, Bridget Herrick_, eldest daughter of his brother
Nicholas.
565. _The Wanton Satyr. _ See Sir E. Dyer's _The Shepherd's Conceit of
Prometheus_:--
"Prometheus, when first from heaven high
He brought down fire, ere then on earth not seen,
Fond of delight, a Satyr standing by
Gave it a kiss, as it like sweet had been.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The difference is--the Satyr's lips, my heart,
He for a time, I evermore, have smart. "
So _Euphues_: "Satirus not knowing what fire was would needs embrace it
and was burnt;" and Sir John Davies, _False and True Knowledge_.
Transcriber's Endnotes
Numeration Errors in the Hesperides:
Errors in the numbering system, despite the corrections mentioned in
the NOTE TO SECOND EDITION, still exist in the text. A clear example
is shown by _569. UPON ELECTRA'S TEARS_ ending Vol. I, whilst Vol. II
begins with _569. A HYMN TO THE GRACES_. When the poems within the
APPENDIX OF EPIGRAMS are considered, more errors in the numeration
system become apparent.
Without an obvious solution to a discrepancy the numbers remain as
originally printed, however the following alterations have been made
to ensure any details in the NOTES section apply to the relevant
poem.
Page 204. OBERON'S PALACE. "444" changed to _443_.
"443. OBERON'S PALACE. "
Page 221. FEW FORTUNATE. "472" changed to _470_.
"470. FEW FORTUNATE. "
Page 223. THE WASSAIL. "478" changed to _476_.
"476. THE WASSAIL. "
Page 317. Note to 496. "512" changed to _510_.
". . . sometimes a Book (see infra, 510) . . . "
Page 321. Note to 545. "498" changed to _496_.
". . . Cp. Note to 496. . . . "
Page 322. Note to 564. "562" changed to _564_.
"564. _His Kinswoman, Bridget Herrick_, eldest . . . "
Page 322. Note to 565. "563" changed to _565_.
"565. _The Wanton Satyr. _ See Sir E. Dyer's . . . "
Typographical Errors:
Page 83. 178. CORINNA'S GOING. . . . "pries" corrected to _priest_.
"And chose their priest, ere we can cast off sloth:"
Page 137. 275. CROSSES. "goods" corrected to _good_.
"Though good things answer many good intents,"
Page 316. Note to 479. " owers" corrected to _flowers_.
"Smell sweet, O ye flowers, in your native sweetness:"
Unresolved Errors:
The following errors remain as printed:
In 405. TO HIS BOOK. , _Chipperfeild_, has been retained as it is
unclear whether this is a misprint, or intentional.
In 101. BARLEY-BREAK; OR, LAST IN HELL. No corresponding note can
be found for _Barley-break, a country game resembling prisoners'
base_.
ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS.
ROBERT HERRICK
THE HESPERIDES & NOBLE
NUMBERS: EDITED BY
ALFRED POLLARD
WITH A PREFACE BY
A. C. SWINBURNE
VOL. II.
_REVISED EDITION_
[Illustration]
LONDON: NEW YORK:
LAWRENCE & BULLEN, LTD. , CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS,
16 HENRIETTA STREET, W. C. 153-157 FIFTH AVENUE
1898. 1898.
HESPERIDES.
569. A HYMN TO THE GRACES.
When I love (as some have told,
Love I shall when I am old),
O ye Graces! make me fit
For the welcoming of it.
Clean my rooms, as temples be,
T' entertain that deity.
Give me words wherewith to woo,
Suppling and successful too;
Winning postures, and, withal,
Manners each way musical:
Sweetness to allay my sour
And unsmooth behaviour.
For I know you have the skill
Vines to prune, though not to kill,
And of any wood ye see,
You can make a Mercury.
_Suppling_, softening.
_Mercury_, god of eloquence and inventor of the lyre.
570. TO SILVIA.
No more, my Silvia, do I mean to pray
For those good days that ne'er will come away.
I want belief; O gentle Silvia, be
The patient saint, and send up vows for me.
573. THE POET HATH LOST HIS PIPE.
I cannot pipe as I was wont to do,
Broke is my reed, hoarse is my singing, too;
My wearied oat I'll hang upon the tree,
And give it to the sylvan deity.
574. TRUE FRIENDSHIP.
Wilt thou my true friend be?
Then love not mine, but me.
575. THE APPARITION OF HIS MISTRESS CALLING HIM TO ELYSIUM.
_Desunt nonnulla ----_
Come then, and like two doves with silv'ry wings,
Let our souls fly to th' shades where ever springs
Sit smiling in the meads; where balm and oil,
Roses and cassia crown the untill'd soil.
Where no disease reigns, or infection comes
To blast the air, but ambergris and gums
This, that, and ev'ry thicket doth transpire,
More sweet than storax from the hallowed fire,
Where ev'ry tree a wealthy issue bears
Of fragrant apples, blushing plums, or pears;
And all the shrubs, with sparkling spangles, shew
Like morning sunshine tinselling the dew.
Here in green meadows sits eternal May,
Purfling the margents, while perpetual day
So double gilds the air, as that no night
Can ever rust th' enamel of the light.
Here, naked younglings, handsome striplings, run
Their goals for virgins' kisses; which when done,
Then unto dancing forth the learned round
Commixed they meet, with endless roses crown'd.
And here we'll sit on primrose-banks, and see
Love's chorus led by Cupid; and we'll be
Two loving followers, too, unto the grove
Where poets sing the stories of our love.
There thou shalt hear divine Musæus sing
Of Hero and Leander; then I'll bring
Thee to the stand, where honour'd Homer reads
His Odysseys and his high Iliads;
About whose throne the crowd of poets throng
To hear the incantation of his tongue:
To Linus, then to Pindar; and that done,
I'll bring thee, Herrick, to Anacreon,
Quaffing his full-crown'd bowls of burning wine,
And in his raptures speaking lines of thine,
Like to his subject; and as his frantic
Looks show him truly Bacchanalian-like
Besmear'd with grapes, welcome he shall thee thither,
Where both may rage, both drink and dance together.
Then stately Virgil, witty Ovid, by
Whom fair Corinna sits, and doth comply
With ivory wrists his laureate head, and steeps
His eye in dew of kisses while he sleeps;
Then soft Catullus, sharp-fang'd Martial,
And towering Lucan, Horace, Juvenal,
And snaky Persius, these, and those, whom rage
(Dropt for the jars of heaven) fill'd t' engage
All times unto their frenzies,--thou shalt there
Behold them in a spacious theatre.
Among which glories, crowned with sacred bays
And flatt'ring ivy, two recite their plays--
Beaumont and Fletcher, swans to whom all ears
Listen, while they, like syrens in their spheres,
Sing their Evadne; and still more for thee
There yet remains to know than thou can'st see
By glim'ring of a fancy. Do but come,
And there I'll show thee that capacious room
In which thy father Jonson now is plac'd,
As in a globe of radiant fire, and grac'd
To be in that orb crown'd, that doth include
Those prophets of the former magnitude,
And he one chief; but hark, I hear the cock
(The bellman of the night) proclaim the clock
Of late struck one, and now I see the prime
Of day break from the pregnant east: 'tis time
I vanish; more I had to say,
But night determines here, away.
_Purfling_, trimming, embroidering.
_Round_, rustic dance.
_Comply_, encircle.
_Their Evadne_, the sister of Melantius in their play "The Maid's
Tragedy".
576. LIFE IS THE BODY'S LIGHT.
Life is the body's light, which once declining,
Those crimson clouds i' th' cheek and lips leave shining.
Those counter-changed tabbies in the air
(The sun once set) all of one colour are.
So, when Death comes, fresh tinctures lose their place,
And dismal darkness then doth smutch the face.
_Tabbies_, shot silks.
579. LOVE LIGHTLY PLEASED.
Let fair or foul my mistress be,
Or low, or tall, she pleaseth me;
Or let her walk, or stand, or sit,
The posture hers, I'm pleas'd with it;
Or let her tongue be still, or stir,
Graceful is every thing from her;
Or let her grant, or else deny,
_My love will fit each history_.
580. THE PRIMROSE.
Ask me why I send you here
This sweet Infanta of the year?
Ask me why I send to you
This primrose, thus bepearl'd with dew?
I will whisper to your ears:
The sweets of love are mix'd with tears.
Ask me why this flower does show
So yellow-green, and sickly too?
Ask me why the stalk is weak
And bending (yet it doth not break)?
I will answer: These discover
What fainting hopes are in a lover.
581. THE TITHE. TO THE BRIDE.
If nine times you your bridegroom kiss,
The tenth you know the parson's is.
Pay then your tithe, and doing thus,
Prove in your bride-bed numerous.
If children you have ten, Sir John
Won't for his tenth part ask you one.
_Sir John_, the parson.
582. A FROLIC.
Bring me my rosebuds, drawer, come;
So, while I thus sit crown'd,
I'll drink the aged Cæcubum,
Until the roof turn round.
_Drawer_, waiter.
_Cæcubum_, Cæcuban, an old Roman wine.
583. CHANGE COMMON TO ALL.
All things subjected are to fate;
Whom this morn sees most fortunate,
The evening sees in poor estate.
584. TO JULIA.
after l. 28; and "Are the expressions of that itch" is written "As
emblems will express that itch"; ll. 27, 28 appear as:--
"For that once lost thou _needst must fall
To one, then prostitute to all:_
And we then have the transposed passage:--
Nor so immurèd would I have
Thee live, as dead, _or_ in thy grave;
But walk abroad, yet wisely well
_Keep 'gainst_ my coming sentinel.
And think _each man thou seest doth doom
Thy thoughts to say, I back am come. _
Farther on we have the rather pretty variant:--
"Let them _call thee wondrous fair,
Crown of women_, yet despair".
Eight lines lower "virtuous" is read for "gentle," and the omission of
some small words throws some light on a change in Herrick's metrical
views as he grew older. The words omitted are bracketed:--
"[And] Let thy dreams be only fed
With this, that I am in thy bed.
And [thou] then turning in that sphere,
Waking findst [shall find] me sleeping there.
But [yet] if boundless lust must scale
Thy fortress and _must_ needs prevail
_'Gainst thee and_ force a passage in," etc.
Other variants are: "Creates the action" for "That makes the action";
"Glory" for "Triumph"; "my last signet" for "this compression"; "turn
again in my full triumph" for "come again, As one triumphant," and "the
height of womankind" for "all faith of womankind".
_The body sins not, 'tis the will_, etc. A maxim of law Latin: Actus non
facit reum nisi mens sit rea.
466. _To his Kinsman, Sir Thos. Soame_, son of Sir Stephen Soame, Lord
Mayor of London, 1589, and of Anne Stone, Herrick's aunt. Sir Thomas
was Sheriff of London, 1635, M. P. for the City, 1640, and died Jan. ,
1670. See Cussan's _Hertfortshire_. (_Hundred of Edwinstree_, p. 100. )
470. _Few Fortunate. _ A variant on the text (Matt. xx. 16): "Many be
called but few chosen".
479. _To Rosemary and Bays. _ The use of rosemary and bays at weddings
forms a section in Brand's chapter on marriage customs (ii. 119). For
the gilding he quotes from a wedding sermon preached in 1607 by Roger
Hacket: "Smell sweet, O ye flowers, in your native sweetness: be not
gilded with the idle art of man". The use of gloves at weddings forms
the subject of another section in Brand (ii. 125). He quotes Ben
Jonson's _Silent Woman_; "We see no ensigns of a wedding here, no
character of a bridal; where be our scarves and our gloves? "
483. _To his worthy friend, M. Thomas Falconbrige. _ As Herrick hints at
his friend's destiny for a public career, it seemed worth while to hunt
through the Calendar of State Papers for a chance reference to this
Falconbridge, who so far has evaded editors. He is apparently the Mr.
Thomas Falconbridge who appears in various papers between 1640 and 1644,
as passing accounts, and in the latter year was "Receiver-General at
Westminster".
_Towers reared high_, etc. Cp. Horace, _Od. _ II. x. 9-12.
Saepius ventis agitatur ingens
Pinus, et celsae graviore casu
Decidunt turres, feriuntque summos
Fulgura montes.
486. _He's lord of thy life_, etc. Seneca, _Epist. Mor. _ iv. : Quisquis
vitam suam contempsit tuae dominus est. Quoted by Montaigne, I. xxiii.
488. _Shame is a bad attendant to a state. _ From Seneca, _Hippol. _ 431:
Malus est minister regii imperii pudor.
_He rents his crown that fears the people's hate. _ Also from Seneca,
_Oedipus_, 701: Odia qui nimium timet regnare nescit.
496. _To his honoured kinsman, Sir Richard Stone_, son of John Stone,
sergeant-at-law, the brother of Julian Stone, Herrick's mother. He died
in 1660.
_To this white temple of my heroes. _ Ben Jonson's admirers were proud to
call themselves "sealed of the tribe of Ben," and Herrick, a devout
Jonsonite, seems to have imitated the idea so far as to plan sometimes,
as here, a Temple, sometimes a Book (see _infra_, 510), sometimes a City
(365), a Plantation (392), a Calendar (545), a College (983), of his own
favourite friends, to whom his poetry was to give immortality. The
earliest direct reference to this plan is in his address to John Selden,
the antiquary (365), in which he writes:--
"A city here of heroes I have made
Upon the rock whose firm foundation laid
Shall never shrink; where, making thine abode,
Live thou a Selden, that's a demi-god".
It is noteworthy that the poems which contain the clearest reference to
this Temple (or its variants) are mostly addressed to kinsfolk, _e. g. _,
this to Sir Richard Stone, to Mrs. Penelope Wheeler, to Mr. Stephen
Soame, and to Susanna and Thomas Herrick. Other recipients of the honour
are Sir Edward Fish and Dr. Alabaster, Jack Crofts, Master J. Jincks,
etc.
497. _All flowers sent_, etc. See Virgil's--or the Virgilian--_Culex_,
ll. 397-410.
_Martial's bee. _ See _Epig. _ IV. xxxii.
De ape electro inclusa.
Et latet et lucet Phaethontide condita gutta,
Ut videatur apis nectare clausa suo.
Dignum tantorum pretium tulit illa laborum.
Credibile est ipsam sic voluisse mori.
500. _To Mistress Dorothy Parsons. _ This "saint" from Herrick's Temple
may certainly be identified with the second of the three children
(William, Dorothy, and Thomasine) of Mr. John Parsons, organist and
master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey, where he was buried in
1623. Herrick addresses another poem to her sister Thomasine:--
"Grow up in beauty, as thou dost begin,
And be of all admired, Thomasine".
502. _'Tis sin to throttle wine. _ Martial, I. xix. 5: Scelus est
jugulare Falernum.
506. _Edward, Earl of Dorset_, Knight of the Garter, grandson of Thomas
Sackville, author of _Gorboduc_. He succeeded his brother, Richard
Sackville, the third earl, in 1624, and died in 1652. Clarendon
describes a duel which he fought with Lord Bruce in Flanders.
_Of your own self a public theatre. _ Cp. Burton (Democ. to Reader) "Ipse
mihi theatrum".
510. _To his Kinswoman, Mrs. Penelope Wheeler. _ See Note on 130.
511. _A mighty strife 'twixt form and chastity. _ Lis est cum formâ magna
pudicitiæ. Quoted from Ovid by Burton, who translates: "Beauty and
honesty have ever been at odds".
514. _To the Lady Crew, upon the death of her child. _ This must be the
child buried in Westminster Abbey, according to the entry in the
register "1637/8, Feb. 6. Sir Clipsy Crewe's daughter, in the North
aisle of the monuments. " Colonel Chester annotates: "She was a younger
daughter, and was born at Crewe, 27th July, 1631. She died on the 4th of
February, and must have been an independent heiress, as her father
administered to her estate on the 24th May following. "
515. _Here needs no Court for our Request. _ An allusion to the Court of
Requests, established in the time of Richard II. as a lesser Court of
Equity for the hearing of "all poor men's suits". It was abolished in
1641, at the same time as the Star Chamber.
517. _The new successor drives away old love. _ From Ovid, _Rem. Am. _
462: Successore novo vincitur omnis amor.
519. _Born I was to meet with age. _ Cp. 540. From Anacreon, 38 [24]:--
Ἐπείδη βρότος ἐτέχθην,
Βιότου τρίβον ὁδεύειν,
Χρόνον ἔγνων ὃν παρῆλθον,
Ὅν δ' ἔχω δραμεῖν οὐκ οἶδα·
Μέθετέ με, φρονίιδες·
Μηδέν μοι καὶ ὑμῖν ἔστω.
Πρὶν ἐμὲ φθάσῃ τὸ τέρμα,
Παίξω, γελάσω, χορεύσω,
Μετὰ τοῦ καλοῦ Λυαίου.
520. _Fortune did never favour one. _ From Dionys. Halicarn. as quoted by
Burton, II. iii. 1, § 1.
521. _To Phillis to love and live with him. _ A variant on Marlowe's
theme: "Come live with me and be my love". Donne's _The Bait_ (printed
in Grosart's edition, vol. ii. p. 206) is another.
522. _To his Kinswoman, Mistress Susanna Herrick_, wife of his elder
brother Nicholas.
523. _Susanna Southwell. _ Probably a daughter of Sir Thomas Southwell,
for whom Herrick wrote the Epithalamium (No. 149).
525. _Her pretty feet_, etc. Cp. Suckling's "Ballad upon a Wedding":--
"Her feet beneath her petticoat,
Like little mice stole in and out,
As if they feared the light".
526. _To his Honoured Friend, Sir John Mynts. _ John Mennis, a
Vice-Admiral of the fleet and knighted in 1641, refused to join in the
desertion of the fleet to the Parliament. After the Restoration he was
made Governor of Dover and Chief Comptroller of the Navy. He was one of
the editors of the collection called _Musarum Deliciæ_ (1656), in the
first poem of which there is an allusion to--
"That old sack
Young Herrick took to entertain
The Muses in a sprightly vein".
527. _Fly me not_, etc. From Anacreon, 49 [34]:--
Μή με φύγῃς, ὁρῶσα
Τὰν πολιὰν ἔθειραν· . . .
Ὅρα κἀν στεφάνοισιν
Ὅπως πρέπει τὰ λευκὰ
Ῥόδοις κρίν' ἐμπλακέντα.
529. _As thou deserv'st be proud. _ Cp. Hor. III. _Od. _ xxx. 14:--
Sume superbiam
Quaesitam meritis et mihi Delphica
Lauro cinge volens, Melpomene, comam.
534. _To Electra. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650, where it is
entitled _To Julia_.
536. _Ill Government. . . . When kings obey_, etc. From Seneca, _Octav. _
581:--
Male imperatur, cum regit vulgus duces.
545. _To his Worthy Kinsman, Mr. Stephen Soame_ (the son or, less
probably, the brother of Sir Thomas Soame): _One of my righteous tribe_.
Cp. Note to 496.
547. _Great spirits never with their bodies die. _ Tacit. _Agric.
_
46:--"Si quis piorum manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum
corpore extinguuntur magnae animae".
554. _Die thou canst not all. _ Hor. IV. _Od. _ xxx. 6,7.
556. _The Fairies. _ Cp. the old ballad of _Robin Goodfellow_:--
"When house or hearth doth sluttish lie,
I pinch the maids both black and blue";
and Ben Jonson's _Entertainment at Althorpe_, etc.
557. _M. John Weare, Councellour. _ Probably the same as "the
much-lamented Mr. J. Warr" of 134.
_Law is to give to every one his own. _ Cicero, _De Fin. _ v. : Animi
affectio suum cuique tribuens Justitia dicitur.
564. _His Kinswoman, Bridget Herrick_, eldest daughter of his brother
Nicholas.
565. _The Wanton Satyr. _ See Sir E. Dyer's _The Shepherd's Conceit of
Prometheus_:--
"Prometheus, when first from heaven high
He brought down fire, ere then on earth not seen,
Fond of delight, a Satyr standing by
Gave it a kiss, as it like sweet had been.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The difference is--the Satyr's lips, my heart,
He for a time, I evermore, have smart. "
So _Euphues_: "Satirus not knowing what fire was would needs embrace it
and was burnt;" and Sir John Davies, _False and True Knowledge_.
Transcriber's Endnotes
Numeration Errors in the Hesperides:
Errors in the numbering system, despite the corrections mentioned in
the NOTE TO SECOND EDITION, still exist in the text. A clear example
is shown by _569. UPON ELECTRA'S TEARS_ ending Vol. I, whilst Vol. II
begins with _569. A HYMN TO THE GRACES_. When the poems within the
APPENDIX OF EPIGRAMS are considered, more errors in the numeration
system become apparent.
Without an obvious solution to a discrepancy the numbers remain as
originally printed, however the following alterations have been made
to ensure any details in the NOTES section apply to the relevant
poem.
Page 204. OBERON'S PALACE. "444" changed to _443_.
"443. OBERON'S PALACE. "
Page 221. FEW FORTUNATE. "472" changed to _470_.
"470. FEW FORTUNATE. "
Page 223. THE WASSAIL. "478" changed to _476_.
"476. THE WASSAIL. "
Page 317. Note to 496. "512" changed to _510_.
". . . sometimes a Book (see infra, 510) . . . "
Page 321. Note to 545. "498" changed to _496_.
". . . Cp. Note to 496. . . . "
Page 322. Note to 564. "562" changed to _564_.
"564. _His Kinswoman, Bridget Herrick_, eldest . . . "
Page 322. Note to 565. "563" changed to _565_.
"565. _The Wanton Satyr. _ See Sir E. Dyer's . . . "
Typographical Errors:
Page 83. 178. CORINNA'S GOING. . . . "pries" corrected to _priest_.
"And chose their priest, ere we can cast off sloth:"
Page 137. 275. CROSSES. "goods" corrected to _good_.
"Though good things answer many good intents,"
Page 316. Note to 479. " owers" corrected to _flowers_.
"Smell sweet, O ye flowers, in your native sweetness:"
Unresolved Errors:
The following errors remain as printed:
In 405. TO HIS BOOK. , _Chipperfeild_, has been retained as it is
unclear whether this is a misprint, or intentional.
In 101. BARLEY-BREAK; OR, LAST IN HELL. No corresponding note can
be found for _Barley-break, a country game resembling prisoners'
base_.
ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS.
ROBERT HERRICK
THE HESPERIDES & NOBLE
NUMBERS: EDITED BY
ALFRED POLLARD
WITH A PREFACE BY
A. C. SWINBURNE
VOL. II.
_REVISED EDITION_
[Illustration]
LONDON: NEW YORK:
LAWRENCE & BULLEN, LTD. , CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS,
16 HENRIETTA STREET, W. C. 153-157 FIFTH AVENUE
1898. 1898.
HESPERIDES.
569. A HYMN TO THE GRACES.
When I love (as some have told,
Love I shall when I am old),
O ye Graces! make me fit
For the welcoming of it.
Clean my rooms, as temples be,
T' entertain that deity.
Give me words wherewith to woo,
Suppling and successful too;
Winning postures, and, withal,
Manners each way musical:
Sweetness to allay my sour
And unsmooth behaviour.
For I know you have the skill
Vines to prune, though not to kill,
And of any wood ye see,
You can make a Mercury.
_Suppling_, softening.
_Mercury_, god of eloquence and inventor of the lyre.
570. TO SILVIA.
No more, my Silvia, do I mean to pray
For those good days that ne'er will come away.
I want belief; O gentle Silvia, be
The patient saint, and send up vows for me.
573. THE POET HATH LOST HIS PIPE.
I cannot pipe as I was wont to do,
Broke is my reed, hoarse is my singing, too;
My wearied oat I'll hang upon the tree,
And give it to the sylvan deity.
574. TRUE FRIENDSHIP.
Wilt thou my true friend be?
Then love not mine, but me.
575. THE APPARITION OF HIS MISTRESS CALLING HIM TO ELYSIUM.
_Desunt nonnulla ----_
Come then, and like two doves with silv'ry wings,
Let our souls fly to th' shades where ever springs
Sit smiling in the meads; where balm and oil,
Roses and cassia crown the untill'd soil.
Where no disease reigns, or infection comes
To blast the air, but ambergris and gums
This, that, and ev'ry thicket doth transpire,
More sweet than storax from the hallowed fire,
Where ev'ry tree a wealthy issue bears
Of fragrant apples, blushing plums, or pears;
And all the shrubs, with sparkling spangles, shew
Like morning sunshine tinselling the dew.
Here in green meadows sits eternal May,
Purfling the margents, while perpetual day
So double gilds the air, as that no night
Can ever rust th' enamel of the light.
Here, naked younglings, handsome striplings, run
Their goals for virgins' kisses; which when done,
Then unto dancing forth the learned round
Commixed they meet, with endless roses crown'd.
And here we'll sit on primrose-banks, and see
Love's chorus led by Cupid; and we'll be
Two loving followers, too, unto the grove
Where poets sing the stories of our love.
There thou shalt hear divine Musæus sing
Of Hero and Leander; then I'll bring
Thee to the stand, where honour'd Homer reads
His Odysseys and his high Iliads;
About whose throne the crowd of poets throng
To hear the incantation of his tongue:
To Linus, then to Pindar; and that done,
I'll bring thee, Herrick, to Anacreon,
Quaffing his full-crown'd bowls of burning wine,
And in his raptures speaking lines of thine,
Like to his subject; and as his frantic
Looks show him truly Bacchanalian-like
Besmear'd with grapes, welcome he shall thee thither,
Where both may rage, both drink and dance together.
Then stately Virgil, witty Ovid, by
Whom fair Corinna sits, and doth comply
With ivory wrists his laureate head, and steeps
His eye in dew of kisses while he sleeps;
Then soft Catullus, sharp-fang'd Martial,
And towering Lucan, Horace, Juvenal,
And snaky Persius, these, and those, whom rage
(Dropt for the jars of heaven) fill'd t' engage
All times unto their frenzies,--thou shalt there
Behold them in a spacious theatre.
Among which glories, crowned with sacred bays
And flatt'ring ivy, two recite their plays--
Beaumont and Fletcher, swans to whom all ears
Listen, while they, like syrens in their spheres,
Sing their Evadne; and still more for thee
There yet remains to know than thou can'st see
By glim'ring of a fancy. Do but come,
And there I'll show thee that capacious room
In which thy father Jonson now is plac'd,
As in a globe of radiant fire, and grac'd
To be in that orb crown'd, that doth include
Those prophets of the former magnitude,
And he one chief; but hark, I hear the cock
(The bellman of the night) proclaim the clock
Of late struck one, and now I see the prime
Of day break from the pregnant east: 'tis time
I vanish; more I had to say,
But night determines here, away.
_Purfling_, trimming, embroidering.
_Round_, rustic dance.
_Comply_, encircle.
_Their Evadne_, the sister of Melantius in their play "The Maid's
Tragedy".
576. LIFE IS THE BODY'S LIGHT.
Life is the body's light, which once declining,
Those crimson clouds i' th' cheek and lips leave shining.
Those counter-changed tabbies in the air
(The sun once set) all of one colour are.
So, when Death comes, fresh tinctures lose their place,
And dismal darkness then doth smutch the face.
_Tabbies_, shot silks.
579. LOVE LIGHTLY PLEASED.
Let fair or foul my mistress be,
Or low, or tall, she pleaseth me;
Or let her walk, or stand, or sit,
The posture hers, I'm pleas'd with it;
Or let her tongue be still, or stir,
Graceful is every thing from her;
Or let her grant, or else deny,
_My love will fit each history_.
580. THE PRIMROSE.
Ask me why I send you here
This sweet Infanta of the year?
Ask me why I send to you
This primrose, thus bepearl'd with dew?
I will whisper to your ears:
The sweets of love are mix'd with tears.
Ask me why this flower does show
So yellow-green, and sickly too?
Ask me why the stalk is weak
And bending (yet it doth not break)?
I will answer: These discover
What fainting hopes are in a lover.
581. THE TITHE. TO THE BRIDE.
If nine times you your bridegroom kiss,
The tenth you know the parson's is.
Pay then your tithe, and doing thus,
Prove in your bride-bed numerous.
If children you have ten, Sir John
Won't for his tenth part ask you one.
_Sir John_, the parson.
582. A FROLIC.
Bring me my rosebuds, drawer, come;
So, while I thus sit crown'd,
I'll drink the aged Cæcubum,
Until the roof turn round.
_Drawer_, waiter.
_Cæcubum_, Cæcuban, an old Roman wine.
583. CHANGE COMMON TO ALL.
All things subjected are to fate;
Whom this morn sees most fortunate,
The evening sees in poor estate.
584. TO JULIA.
