Complete poems; edited with memorial-introd. and notes by Alexander B. Grosart

(Carl?
ROBERT HERRICK.

PRINTED BY ROBERT ROBERTS,
BOSTON.

THE

COMPLETE POEMS

OF

ROBERT HERRICK.

EDITED,

WITH

iflcmorial^ntroHiiction anU /*Jote0,

BY THE

REV. ALEXANDER B. GROSART.

IN THREE VOLUMES.— VOL. I.

ILonDon :

CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1876.

PR

V.

To
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE, ESQ.

MY DEAR SIR,

It is a very great pleasure to be allowed to
dedicate this first adequate edition of the Poetry of
HERRICK — to you. I asked this, in order to express
my sense of the privilege with which you honour me
in your old-fashionedly long and full letters on literary
matters ; and also, of the rare combination in your
person, of supreme original genius in many directions
with the most painstaking and laborious research into
our earlier literature, and a swift, almost prodigal
recognition of others, whether dead or living.

No more than can any, will you admire everything
in the Hesperides. But I shall be disappointed if you
do not ratify my decision to reproduce the whole rather
than excise. -^

I have worked prolongedly and thoroughly on these
three volumes. I place them beneath penetrative but
most human eyes in yours.
I am,

My dear Sir,

Ever faithfully,
ALEXANDER B. GROSART.

vii.

Preface.

T^HERE have been EIGHT complete and distinct
editions of the Poems of HERRICK, since he him
self, in 1647-8, published his " Hesperides, or Works
Both Humane and Divine of ROBERT HERRICK, Esq"
— the 'Divine* moiety being dated 1647 ("I647-8),
and separately paged and forming the closing and not
the opening portion of the book. It seems clear that a
very large impression must have been taken of the first
edition; for it sufficed for the demands of the Cavaliers
and of The Restoration and until well on in the iQth
century. One curious typographical difference in copies
of the same-dated volume suggests that the types may
have been kept standing for awhile. In the Hesperides
page 207, while the catchword " n. Where" is found
in some — as in my own — the stanza to which it belongs
is dropped out and page 208 commences with

" 12. It is vain to sing or stay."
In most copies that I have examined and had reported
on, the stanza appears as in our Vol. II. page 129.

To SYLVANUS URBAN, Esq., (NICHOLS) — clarum et
venerabile nonien to every one who really loves our olden
literature and to whom he is a genuine personality —

PREFACE.

belongs the honour of having been the first in later
times to recall attention to the (then) long-neglected
Poet. This was in the Gentleman }s Magazine for 1796
and 1797. Following his "Letters" came in 1798
DR. NATHAN DRAKE'S still most pleasant Literary
Hours (Vol. III., ist edition : Nos. 42, 43, and 44, 3rd
edition, 1804) on the Life, Writings and Genius of
HERRICK, with well-put quotations, and genial if not
always accurate criticism. Some years later (1810) Dr.
NOTT, of Bristol, published the following : — " Select
Poems from the Hesperides or Works both Human and
Divine, of Robert Herrick, Esq, with Occasional
Remarks by J. N. Accompanied also with the Head,
Autographe [sic] and Seal of the Poet. Bristol, Printed
and published by J. M. Gutch, 15 Small Street. Sold
also by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme,
Paternoster Row, and I. Miller, 72, Chancery Lane,
London, n.d. (8VO pp. viii and 253)." On this Selection
the well-known friend of Coleridge and Lamb and other
contemporary 'mighties' — Mr. BARRON FIELD (not
SOUTHEY as frequently stated) wrote a chatty critique in
the Quarterly Review (for August 1810).* Not until

* Peter Cunningham, Esq., in Notes and Queries, ist s. x. 27,
compared with Walford's edition of the Hesperides, p.iii., and 1846
edition, (infra) I. xviii.

PREFACE. ix.

1823 was a complete edition furnished. This was done
with admirable carefulness and enthusiasm by the late
accomplished THOMAS M AITLAND, Esq. , of Dundrennan ,
Advocate, afterwards as a Judge of the Scottish Court
of Session, named LORD DUNDRENNAN. It was in
two volumes, post 8VO, and a few copies in small
4to : " Edinburgh Reprinted for W. and C. Tait.
MDCCCXXIII." On the title-page is a woodcut of the
bust of Herrick with his autograph. Prefixed is a
Biographical Notice (pp. v. — xxx.) : Vol. I. pp. 288 :
Vol. II., pp. 296, followed by pp. 38 Table of Contents
to both volumes. In 1825 a limited number of " re
mainder " copies of Lord Dundrennan's edition having
been purchased by the late WILLIAM PICKERING, he
gave them fresh title-pages with his original motto
" Perennis et Fragrans," and a steel portrait by
WORTHINGTON. Otherwise the books are identical.

In August 1822, in Ttie Retrospective Review (Vol. V.
p. 156) Lord Dundrennan's edition was examined in a
delightful Paper — the Writer of which one would
gladly know. In 1839 appeared "Selections from the
Hesperides and Works of the Rev. Robert Herrick
(Antient) Vicar of Dean-Prior, Devon. By the late
CHARLES SHORT, Esq., F.R.S. and F.S.A. London:
John Murray, Albemarle Street. MDCCCXXXIX. (pp.

PREFACE.

xiv. and 216.) In 1844 was published in paper covers
2 vols. i6mo. an unpretentious but not at all an un
worthy little edition intrinsically " edited by HENRY G.
CLARKE" (London: H. G. Clarke & Co.). In 1846
came William Pickering's typographically beautiful
and attractive edition : 2 vols., cr. 8VO, and a few on
large paper. The Editor was neither vigilant nor
capable. The Writer of the Memoir disclaimed the
editing.f He was the late SAMUEL WELLER SINGER.
He might equally have relinquished any merit for his
Memoir seeing that as Mr. Hazlitt not unjustly remarks,
it is " but a lame paraphrase of that attached to the
edition of 1823," and altogether is perfunctorily done.J
In 1848 was published "Selections from Herrick for
Translation into Latin Verse with a short Preface by
the Rev. A. J. Macleane, M.A., Trinity College, Cam
bridge, Principal of Brighton College (London : George
Bell; pp. 79, i6mo.) Other complete editions appeared
in 1850 and 1852 — each in 2 vols. That of 1852, two
vols. i2mo., was published by Bohn (Vol. I. pp. 213 :
Vol. II., pp. 238). In 1856, Pickering's of 1846 was
reprinted in the United States : " Boston : Little,
Brown, & Co. : Vol. I., pp. 340 : Vol. II., pp. 298)

t Notes and Queries, ist s. Vol. I. p. 459.
t Vol. I. p. v.

PREFACE. xi.

In 1859 we have the following : "The Poetical Works
of Robert Herrick, containing his " Hesperides " and
" Noble Numbers." With a Biographical Memoir by
E. Walford, M.A., Late Scholar of Baliol Coll., Oxford.
London : Reeves and Turner, 238 Strand. 1859.
(Post 8VO, pp. xi. and 608) ; and finally in 1869,
this : — " Hesperides the Poems and other Remains of
Robert Herrick now First Collected. Edited by
W. Carew Hazlitt. London : John Russell Smith,
Soho Square, 1869. (2 vols., cr. 8VO : Vol. I. pp. xxx.
and i — 255 : Vol. II., pp. 256— 526 : copies also on
large paper). Mr. HAZLITT disavows responsibility for
the text, which is virtually that of Pickering's of 1846 ;
but in the Biographical Notice he has intercalated
some additions and corrections within brackets, and in
Appendices added Poems from MSS., etc. Of these
and the different editions enumerated more will be
found in the Memorial-Introduction (II. Critical).

For all these Eight editions the admirer of Herrick
is grateful. None is without its own merits. Therefore
none ought to be undervalued.

Now for the present edition. It is distinguished
from preceding by these things : —
i. The text is for the first time reproduced in integrity
(a) from the Author's own edition of 1647-8 —

PREFACE.

Italics, capitals and punctuation being his own,
save that his list of errata and a few others over
looked by him have been put right : (b) from
other books and from MSS. with exact collation of
the originals whether printed or MS.

2. For the first time an effort has been made to anno

tate and illustrate wherever there seemed a call for
it. Hitherto except Dr. Nott's occasional Notes
to his " Selections," nothing has been done worth
while even to explain words and allusions, or to
inform on names, &c. The Author's own few
Notes bear his initial ( H ) ; a few from Dr. Nott
bear his initial (N). For the rest, in Thomas
Fuller's phrase " my meannesse is responsible "
(Abel Redevivus : Ep. ded. 1651),

3. For the first time the facts and circumstances of the

Life are fully told. Hitherto the Memoirs have
been meagre and fragmentary. On almost every
point in the Biography new information is now
given, previous errors corrected, and old data
brought into their places.

4. For the first time an attempt at an adequate Estimate

of these Poems and of the Man is made. This
forms the second division of the Memorial-Intro
duction.

PREFACE. xiii.

5. For the first time there is given a thorough Glossarial

Index, Index of first lines, and other helpful ap
paratus. • 4

6. The Portrait (on steel) is for the first time true to

the original of 1647-8. Of it I speak in relation
to others elsewhere.

As I must fully concede, Herrick is one of
those Poets of whom more than most of equal
kind and quality of genius, a Selection rather than
a Collection in entirety, might plausibly be deemed
preferable and at this day sufficient. Dr. Nott's and
Short's and Macleane's were very acceptable, as far as
they went ; and still more so I do not doubt will be
Mr. FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE'S announced " Selec
tions" for the " Golden Treasury" series of Messrs.
Macmillan & Co. " Selections " such as the last, will
carry Herrick whither we would scarcely choose to
have the whole carried ; for we would not choose to
have our wives or children come on the sorrowful nasti-
nesses of too many of the (so-called) Epigrams and occa
sional lines of the other Poems. But seeing that the
existence of Nott's and Short's and Macleane's and now
of Mr. Palgrave's " Selections " makes it unnecessary
for such to possess Herrick completely, there remains
consideration for others. For my part I am clear that

xiv. PREFACE.

in the interest of students of our Literature and of our
national morals and progress, it is a thing of truthful
ness that any book that is called for ought to be fur
nished honestly. Only so can genuine verdicts be
arrived at ; only so can the History of our national Lite
rature be written in the knowledge of its formative and
informing elements ; and above all, only so is it possible
to solve questions that are thickening on us, questions
that take us to the very roots of our national life
and activity. Personally, I frankly acknowledge that I
should not elect to publish completely either Herrick
or Donne or others ; but since they are imperatively
and encreasingly demanded, it is, I must repeat, a thing
of truth as against falsehood that the Works shall be
made accessible in integrity of text — all save students
of our Literature being warned off to " Selections "
specially provided. It isn't a matter of casuistry but
of indisputable honour if the thing is to be done at all
— not to say that your compiler of " Selections " like
your fine-nosed searcher after heresy, is too often ex
tremely unpoetic, unsympathetic and narrow in his
vision, and grubs up the Passion-flower or moth-wing-
like Pansy because forsooth, a slug has trailed across
it, sightless to the glory of bloom and tint as to the
iridiscence of even the slug's pathway.

PREFACE. xv.

I have right cordially to thank several literary friends
for willing aid rendered me in these volumes. Fore
most, as usual, is my very dear friend DR. BRINSLEY
NICHOLSON with his ever-fecund resources and untiring
painstaking, and next to him MR. FRANCIS T. PALGRAVE.
When I had finished my annotation, the ' copy ' was
submitted to these two good friends, with the result of
enriching my Notes considerably. The Rev. W. E.
BUCKLEY, M.A., of Middleton Cheney, Banbury, the
Rev. THOMAS ASHE, M.A. (now of Crewe), JOHN
SHELLY, Esq., Plymouth, GEORGE H. WHITE, Esq.,
Glenthorn, Devon, have favoured me with their occa
sional notes and suggestions. For genealogical and other
.data I owe emphatic thanks to COLONEL CHESTER, of
Bermondsey, the Rev. THOMAS PELHAM DALE, M.A.,
St. Vedast, London, the Rev. W. T. FREER, M.A.,
Houghton-on-the-Hill, Leicester, and Miss HERRICK
MACAULAY, Leicester, the Rev. L. R. CARTER, M.A.,
Brantham, Suffolk, the late W. PERRY-HERRICK, Esq.,
Beaumanor, W. A. ABRAM, Esq., Blackburn, and W.
H. CHAPPELL, Esq., London. In certain of the
patristic references ( all loose ) I was helped by
PROFESSOR LIGHTFOOT, of Cambridge ; and FATHER
PURBRICK, of Stonyhurst, as always, freely opened to
me the noble Library of the College. I must add that,

xvi. PREFACE.

repeatedly, the Printer of these books (MR. ROBERT
ROBERTS, of Boston), who is of the nearly defunct type
of literary craftsmen, has laid me under pleasant obliga
tion in various ways.

And so I commend ROBERT HERRICK to the present
generation and coming generations : —

" Thou living voice from olden times,

That like a spirit travellest on
From lip to lip, from heart to heart

Linking our own to those long gone :
'Tis with a throbbing heart I hear

Thy well-known voice of harmonies,
Float — like past boyhood, — on my ear,

With old ancestral memories I
Oh T thou art as an unseen soul

That communes with us, till we be
Quite space-and-time free, blended all

With thy deep essence lovingly :
Thou art a stirring note, blown on

Imagination's magic horn,
But out of date in these dull days,

When Faith is of her visions shorn."

(HENRY ELLISON.)

ALEXANDER B. GROSART.

St. George's Vestry,

June i Qth, 1876.

PREFACE. xvii.

POSTSCRIPT.

In my Essay I give reasons for rejecting poems
ascribed to Herrick by Mr. W. C. Hazlitt in his
edition of the Works ; here it may be well to repeat
that one of the Poems (I. Description of a Woman)
that he imagined had not before been printed,
appeared in "Wit's Recreations" (1640) ; and that one
of the alleged new pieces (On Julia's Weeping) forms
one of the couplets in Hesperides. More remarkable
still, instead of the " six or eight " poems of the Hes
perides that Mr. Hazlitt states had originally appeared
in " Wit's Recreations," no fewer than 62 so appeared —
all as noticed in the places.

XIX.

Contents.

PAGE

DEDICATION . , . , v

PREFACE ...... . . . vii

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION : I. Biographical . xxxi
„ „ II. Critical. . . cxi

„ „ Appendix . cclxxvii

HESPERIDES .. »• 7-182

Title-page . * ~ ~ . * . 3.

Verse- Dedication. . . . . . . 5

The Argument of his Book .... 7

To his Muse . » . . . . 8

To his Booke * . . . . . .10

Another « • ' * * » . . . .10

Another .• » . . . . . .10

To the soure Reader 1 1

To his Booke 1 1

When h^ would have his verses read . . .11

Upon Julias Recovery 12

To Silvia to wed ....... 13

The Parliament of Roses to Julia . . .13
No Bashfulnesse in begging .... 14

The Frozen Heart 14

To Perilla 14

A Sorrg to the Maskers 15

To Per-enna ....... 16

Treason 16

Two Things Odious 16

To his Mistresses .. . . . . .17

The Wounded Heart 17

xx. CONTENTS.

HESPE RIDES (continued)

No Loathsomnesse in love

ToAnthea

The Weeping Cherry ......

Soft Musick

The Difference betwixt Kings and Subiects

His Answer to a Question .....

Upon Julia's Fall

Expences Exhaust ......

Love what it is

Presence and Absence

No Spouse but a Sister

The Pomander Bracelet

The shooe tving . . . . .

The Carkanet .......

His sailing from Julia .....

How the Wall-flower came first, and why so

called ........ 24

Why Flowers change colour .... 25

To his Mistresse objecting to him neither Toying

or Talking . . . . . . .25

Upon the losse of his Mistresses ... 27

The Dream 27

The Vine 28

To Love ........ 29

I On himselfe . . . . . .29

Love's play at Push-pin 29

The Rosarie 30

Upon Cupid 30

The Parcae, or, Three dainty Destinies. The

Armilet 31

CONTENTS.

PAGE

HESPERIDES (continued)

Sorrowes succeed 31

Cherry-pit 32

To Robin Red-brest 32

Discontents in Devon \ 32

To his Paternall Countrey . . . . -33

Cherrie-ripe 33

To his Mistresses 33

To Anthea . . ; . , . . .34

The Vision to Electra . . . . -34

Dreames 35

Ambition .'. ., ,t . . . -35

His request to Julia 35

Money gets the masterie 35

The Scar-fire 35

Upon Silvia, a Mistresse 36

Cheerfulnesse in Charitie : or, The sweet Sacrifice 36

Once poore, still penurious 37

Sweetnesse in Sacrifice 37

Steame in Sacrifice 37

Upon Julia's Voice 37

Againe 38

All things decay and die 38

The succession of the foure sweet months . . 38

No Shipwrack of Vertue. To a friend . . 39

Upon hisSister-in-Law, Mistresse Elizab : Herrick 39

Of Love. A Sonet 39

To Anthea 40

The Rock of Rubies : and The quarrie of Pearls 41

Conformitie ....... 41

xxii. CONTENTS.

HESPERIDES (continued)
To the King, Upon his comming with his Army

into the West

Upon Roses

To the King and Queene, upon their unhappy

distances

Dangers wait on Kings

The Cheat of Cupid : or, The ungentle guest .
To the reverend shade of his religious Father
Delight in Disorder . .

To his Muse

Upon Lpve .......

To Dean-bourn, a rude River in Devon : by

which sometimes he lived

Kissing Usurie

To Julia

To Laurels

His Cavalier . . . . .

Zeal required in Love .

The Bag of the Bee . . .

Love kill'd by Lack

To his Mistresse ......

To the generous Reader ....

To Criticks

Duty to Tyrants

Being once blind, his request to Biancha

Upon Blanch

No want where there's little ....
Barly- Break : or, Last in Hell ....
The Definition of Beauty . ....

CONTENTS. xxiii.

PAGE

HESPE RIDES (continued)

To Dianeme 56

To Anthea lying in bed 56

To Electra 57

A Country-life : to his Brother, M. Tho : Herrick 57

Divination by a Daffadill 64

To the Painter, to draw him a Picture . . 65

Upon Cuffe. Epig 66

Upon Fone a School- master. Epig. ... 66

A Lyrick to Mirth 66

To the Earle of Westmerland .... 67

Against Love 68

Upon Julia's Riband 68

The frozen Zone : or, Julia disdainfull . . 68
An Epitaph upon a sober Matron . . .69

To the Patron of Poets, M. End : Porter . . 71)

The sadnesse of things for Sapho's sicknesse . 70

Leanders Obsequies 71

Hope Heartens 71

Foure things make us happy here . . .71

His parting from Mrs. Dorothy Keneday . . 72

The Teare sent to her from Stanes ... 72
Upon one Lillie, who marryed with a maid call'd

Rose 74

An Epitaph upon a child ..... 74

Upon Scobble. Epig. 75

The Houre-glasse ....... 75

His Fare- well to Sack 76

Upon Glasco. Epig 78

Upon Mrs. Eliz : Wheeler, under the name of

Amarillis 79

CONTENTS.

HESPE RIDES (continued)
The Custard . . . . . . .80

The Myrrha hard-hearted ..... 80

The Eye ........ 81

Upon the much lamented, Mr. J. Warr . . 81

Upon Gryll ....... 82

The suspition upon his over-much familiarity with

a Gentlewoman ...... 82

Single-life most secure ..... 84

The Curse. A Song ...... 84

The wounded Cupid. Song .... 84

To Dewes. A Song ....... 85

Some comfort in calamity ..... 86

The Vision ....... 86

Love me little, love me long .... 87

Upon a Virgin kissing a Rose .... 87

Upon a Wife that dyed mad with Jealousie . 87

Upon the Bishop of Lincolne's Imprisonment . 88

Disswasions from Idlenesse .... 89

Upon Strut ....... 90

An Epithalamie to Sir Thomas Southwell and his

Ladie ........ 90

Teares are Tongues ...... 100

* [Epitaph] Upon a young mother of many children 100

To Electra ........ 100

His wish . . . . . . . . 101

His Protestation to Perilla ..... 101

Love perfumes all parts ..... 102

To Julia ........ 102

On himselfe . ...... 103

(r

CONTENTS. xxv.

PAGE

HESPERIDES (continued)
Vertue is sensible of suffering .... 103

The cruell Maid 103

To Dianeme 105

To the King, To cure the Evill . . . .105

His misery in a Mistresse 106

Upon Jollies wife 107

To a Gentlewoman objecting to him his gray

haires . ....'.< . . . . 107
To Cedars . . . ... . . . .108

Upon Cupid . 108

How Primroses came green . . . .109

To Jos : Lo : Bishop of Exeter . . . .109
Upon a black Twist, rounding the Arme of the

Countesse of Carlile no

On himselfe . . . . . . .ill

Upon Pagget .'. ill

A Ring presented to Julia 112

To the Detracter . . . . . . .113

Upon the same 114

Julia's Petticoat 114

To Musick .. 115

Distrust 115

Corinna's going a Maying 116

On Julia's breath 119

Upon a Child. An Epitaph . . . .120
A Dialogue betwixt Horace and Lydia, Trans
lated Anno 1627, and set by Mr. Ro : Ramsey 120
— The captiv'd Bee : or, The Little Filcher . .121
Upon Prig 123

xxvi. CONTENTS.

HESPERIDES (continued)

Upon Batt 123

An Ode to Master Endymion Porter, upon his

Brothers death 124

To his dying Brother, Master William Herrick . 125

The Olive Branch 126

Upon Much-more. Epig. . . . . .127

To Cherry-blossomes . ' . . . .127

How Lillies came white 127

To Pansies 128

On Gelli-flowers begotten 128

The Lilly in a Christal 129

To his Booke 131

Upon some women ...... 132

Supreme fortune falls soonest . . . 133

The Welcome to Sack 133

Impossibilities to his friend ..... 137

Upon Luggs. Epig 138

Upon Gubbs. Epig. . . • . . .138
To live merrily, and to trust to Good Verses . 138
Faire dayes : or, Dawnes deceitfull . . .141
Lips Tonguelesse ...... 141

To the Fever, not to trouble Julia . . .142

To Violets 143

Upon Bunce. Epig 144

To Carnations. A Song . . . . .144
To the Virgins, to make much of Time . . 144

Safety to look to ones selfe 145

To his Friend, on the untuneable Times . .146
His Poetrie his Pillar . . . .146

CONTENTS.

HESPE RIDES (continued)
Safety on the Shore .... . 147

A Pastorall upon the Birth of Prince Charles,
Presented to the King, and Set by Mr. Nic :
Laniere , u. . . . 148

To the Lark ...... .150

The Bubble. A Song . . 151

A Meditation for his Mistresse . . 152

The bleeding hand : or, The sprig of Eglantine

given to a maid .... . 153

Lyrick for Legacies 153

A Dirge upon the Death of the Right Valiant

Lord, Bernard Stuart 154

To Perenna, a Mistresse ... . 155

Great boast, small rost . . 155

Upon a Bleare-ey'd woman . . . .156
The Fairie Temple : or, Oberon's Chappell.
Dedicated to Mr. John Merrifield, Coun
sellor at Law ; .... .156

The Temple .156

To Mistresse Katherine Bradshaw, the lovely,

that crowned him with Laurel . . .163
The Plaudite, or end of life . .164

To the most vertuous Mistresse Pot, who many

times entertained him . .165

To Musique, to becalme his Fever . . . 165
Upon a Gentlewoman with a sweet Voice . .167

Upon Cupid 167

Upon Julia's breasts 168

Best to be merry 168

CONTENTS.

HESPE RIDES (continued)

The Changes. To Corinna 168

No Lock against Letcherie 169

Neglect 169

L\ Upon himselfe . . . . . . 1 70

Upon a Physitian 170

Upon Sudds a Laundresse 170

To the Rose. Song 170

Upon Guesse. Epig 171

To his Booke 171

Upon a painted Gentlewoman . . . -171
Upon a crooked Maid . . . .172

Draw Gloves 172

To Musick, to becalme a sweet-sick-youth . .172
To the High and Noble Prince, George, Duke,

Marquesse, and Earle of Buckingham . 173

His Recantation . . . . . 173

The comming of good luck . . . 1 74

The Present : or, The Bag of the Bee . .174
On Love . . . . . . . .174

The Hock-cart, or Harvest home : To the Right
Honourable, Mildmay, Earle of Westmor
land 175

The Perfume . . . . . . .178

Upon her Voice 178

Not to love . . . . . . .178

To Musick. A Song 179

To the Western wind 1 79

Upon the death of his Sparrow. An Elegie . 180
To Primroses fill'd with morning-dew . .181

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

XXXI.

Memorial-Introduction.

I. BIOGRAPHICAL.

ERRICK himself proudly recalls his
" deare ancestrie " generally, and spe
cifically works into his Book " of the
Just " — of which more in the sequel —
celebrations of many members of his family on both
sides, as well direct as indirect (by marriages). It
seems therefore only fitting that in the outset his Bio
grapher should avail himself of recently-given details
of Pedigree, corrective of and supplementary to Nichols,
and others.1

The earliest known seat in England of the Herricks
was Stretton Magna or Great Stretton, (Leicestershire)

1 Nichols' History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester
(Vol. II. part ii. p. 615 and pp. 502-3) has been displaced in so far
as the district embraced by the later book is concerned, by the
following n\ost laborious local history : " The History of Market
Harborough with that portion of the Hundred of Gartree, Leicester
shire, containing the parishes of Baggrave, Billesdon [etc., etc., etc.]

with an account of the Lords of the Manors and their

Pedigrees ; and a list of the Patrons and Rectors of each Living ;
a Description of the Churches, Monuments, &c., by John Harwood
Hill, B.A., F.S.A., Leicester : printed for the subscribers (and not

xxxii. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

and which is sometimes called Bishop Stretton, from
being the birth-place of Robert Eyrick, Bishop of Lich-
field, who in 1378 founded a 'Chantry' there. It is
told of him that at the time of his consecration he was
" obliged to have some one to read the profession of
canonical obedience before the Archbishop, as he could
not read " 2 — no unusual thing then. Earlier still, viz.
in 1334, Isabella, wife of Ivo Herrick — Ivo suggesting
the Norse traditionary lineage from Erik — " recovered
seisin in relation to the Manor of Stretton, from Matilda,
daughter of Ivo Eyrick, of three and a half acres and
one messuage."3 The following is the Pedigree of
Eyrick of Great Stretton.

Eyrick of Stretton, temp Henry III. = —

Alan Eyrick, of Stretton = — 2. Henry Eyrick, of Stretton = —

Robert Eyrick, of Stretton. John Eyrick, of Stretton = —

Robert Eyrick, of Stretton = Joanna

i. Sir William Eyrick, of 2. Robert Eyrick, Bp. John Eyrick, of
Stretton, Kent, from of Lichfield, ob. 1385. Adelena, Stretton.
whom descend the
Ey ricks of Hough ton.

published) by Ward and Sons, 1875, folio pp. xvi. and 345. In
these genealogical details Mr. Hill is my authority, unless other
wise marked. " Hill, as before, p. no. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid, p. 123.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

The Stretton Eyricks — as represented by Sir William
Eyrick, Knt. — are next found at Houghton, anciently
called Houkton, Hohtone, Houltone, and Houghton-
on-the-Hill, about six miles from Leicester. The story
of this ' Lordship ' is a stirring and various-coloured
one. Many lustrous names figure in it, especially the
Zouches or La Zouches, Ferrers, Erdingtons, and Beau-
monts, and later the Freers. The Church — dedicated
to St. Catharine — lies in a light of ancient glory. One
of the most venerable ' Rectors ' was Tobias Heyricke
B.D. 1605, who died in 1627. The branches of the
Houghton Herricks are manifold. I can only record
the more noticeable. As at Stretton the spelling of the
name was Ericke, Eyreke or Eyrick. Robert Ericke
of Houghton, had two sons, by Agnes his wife : Robert,
who died without issue, and Thomas, " of Houghton-
on-the-Hill, Gent," who afterwards settled at Leicester.
This Thomas is the first of the name that appears in
the Corporation-Books of Leicester, where he is men
tioned as a member of that body in 1511. He died
" about six years afterwards, most probably in early life,
as he never executed the office of chief magistrate of
Leicester." His Will is dated 1517. Nicholas and
John, the two sons of this Thomas Eyrick, became
freemen of Leicester in 1535 Nicholas, the eldest,
c

xxxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

was Mayor of Leicester in 1552, and "had, it is
believed, two sons, Thomas and John." John, as
appears by the Corporation-Books was made free in
1568; and he had a son (probably named John) for
"old John, in his Will dated in 1588, gives a small
legacy to his godson, the son of his cousin John Eyrick;
and it is well known that in those days uncles called
their nephews cousins."5 John Eyrick, the younger son
of Thomas, was twice Mayor of Leicester; and by
Mary, his wife, daughter of John Bond, of Ward End,
otherwise Little Bromwich, in the county of Warwick,
Esquire, had five sons and seven daughters.6 The
following curious epitaph of this John Heyrick and
Mary, his wife, is in St. Martin's Church, Leicester, on
an upright marble, at the East end of the North aisle,
in what is still called Heyrick's Chapel : —

" Here lieth buried the body of JOHN HEYRICKE, late of
this parish, who departed this life ye 2nd of April, 1589,
beinge about the age of 76. He did marrie the
daughter of John Bond, of Wardend, of the county of
Warwicke, Esquire, who lived with ye saide Marie in

5 See this curiously illustrated by " The London Prodigal" who
invariably calls his uncle " uncle," while the uncle as invariably
calls the nephew " cousin."

6 Ibid, p. 1 1 8. Interesting data are here given on all these
" sons and daughters " — not necessary to be furnished by us.

MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION. xxxv.

one house, full 52 years; and in all that time never
buried man, woman, nor childe, though they were
sometimes 20 in a household. He had issue by the
said Marie, 5 sonns and 7 daughters, viz : Robert,
Nicholas, Thomas, John, and William ; and daughters,
Ursula, Agnes, Elizabeth, Ellen, Christian and Alice.
The said John was Mayor of this towne in anno 1559 ;
and again in anno 1572. The said MARIE departed
this Hfe ye 8th of December, 1611, being of the age 97
years. She did see before her departure, of her chil
dren, and her children's children^ to the number
of 142."?

Robert Heyricke, the first son of John and Mary
thus celebrated, was three times Mayor of Leicester,
and was M.P. for the borough, with John Chyppyndale,
Esq., " the indenture of whose return is dated nth of
October. — 30 Elizabeth*"8 He had large property,
being possessed of the Franciscan, or Grey, and the
Augustus Friars, in Leicester, with a considerable
estate adjoining to the latter, besides other estates;
and although he had eleven children, was a great bene
factor to the town of Leicester.

In 1598, "were granted from the Herald's office,
unto Robert and William Herrick, the sonns of John
Heyrick, the sonne of Thomas- Herick, alias Erick, of

7 Ibid, p. 118. * £bid> pp. 118-19.

MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

Houghton, in the county of Leicester, gent, and their
posterity for ever. — A certain creast or badge, ivy, on a
wreath of these colours, a bull's head Argent, yssuing
forth of a laurell garland, the mussell, ears, and homes
tipped Sable, to be annexed and borne with their
auncient coat of armes, which is, Silver, a fess verrey Or,
and Gules."9

The old Alderman Heyrick died in 1618, and is
thus described on an upright stone in St. Martin's.—

" Here lieth the bodie of Robert Herick, Ironmonger and
Alderman of Leicester, who had been thrise Maior
thereof. Hee was the eldest son to John Herrick and
Marie, and had two sonnes and 9 daughters by one
wife, with whom he lived 51 years. At his death he
gave away 16 pound 10 shillings a yeare to good uses.
He lived 78 years : and after dyed very godly the
1 4th of June, 1618. All flesh is grasse : but younge
and ould must die : and so we pass in judgment by
and by."1

The Portrait of this Robert Herrick is still preserved
in the Town Hall of Leicester, thus inscribed :

" His picture whom you here see,

When he is dead and rotten ;

By this shall he remembered be,

When he would be forgotten.

9 Ibid, p. 119. l Ibid, p. 116.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xxxvii.

The descendants of these Leicester Herricks gave
various clergymen to the Church of England and
eminent citizens to London and elsewhere.2 Two
things in their descent and intermarriages claim passing
notice from their linking on to still greater modern
names, viz., i. That an Abigail Erick, of Leicester,
(probably of the family of the first Nicholas) married
in 1665, Jonathan Swift, of Leicestershire, father of the
Dean of St. Patricks. 2. That Anne, daughter of the
Rev. Samuel Heyrick, M.A., Rector of Bramton Ash,
co. Northampton, married the Rev. Aulay Macaulay,
vicar of Rothley and brother of Zachary Macaulay,
father of Lord Macaulay.

Turning back now to Nicholas Heyrick, the second
son of John and Mary of the epitaph before given, he
was "articled in or before the year 1556, to a gold
smith of eminence in Cheapside, London, in which
place and profession he afterwards himself settled."3
By a lucky accident I have obtained the record of his
marriage-license as granted by the Bishop of London.
It was issued "8 Dec. 1582 " and the parties are des
cribed as " Nicholas Herycke, Goldsmith, and Julian
Stone, spinster, of the city of London." They were

s Ibid, pp. 119 — 121. 3 Ibid, p. I2K

xxxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

"to marry at St. Leonard's, Bromley, co. Middlesex."4
This Julian Stone is usually described as a daughter of
William Stone, of Segenhoe, in Bedfordshire, Esquire ;
but Segenhoe did not come to the Stones until 1632 ;
so that such description is by prolepsis.5 She was
sister to Anne, Lady Soame, wife of Sir Stephen
Soame, Knight, Lord Mayor of London (1598). For
tunately the Registers of their Parish Church — St.
Vedast, Foster Lane, London — escaped the fire ; and
I am enabled by the kindness of the present Rector
(the Rev. Thomas Pelham Dale, M.A.) to furnish
hitherto unknown family details, as follows : —

1. William Herricke sonne to Nicholas Herricke was
baptized thexxiiii. day of November 1585.

2. Martha Herricke the daughter of Nicholas Herricke
was baptized the xxiith day of January, 1586.

3. Mercie the daughter of Nicholas Herricke was bap
tized the xxiith day of December, 1586.

4. Thomas Herricke sonne to Nicholas Herricke was
baptized the viith day of May, 1588.

5. Nicholas Herricke sonne to Nicholas Herricke was
baptized the xxijth of April 1589.

6. Anne Herricke the daughter of Nicholas Herricke was
baptized the xxvi day of July 1590

7. Robert Herricke sonne to Nicholas Herricke was bap-
itized the xxiiii day of August 1591.

4 Through Colonel Chester, Bermondsey, London.
* Ibid, — who has supplied me with .the facts.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xxxix.

There was a posthumous son, William (born 1593)
as appears by a poem in the Hesperides. The 'Robert'
of this Register was our Poet. So that it is seen his
great-grandfather was Thomas Eyrick of Houghton-on-
the-Hill (ob. 1517) — his grandfather, John Eyrick of
Leicester, son of Thomas (ob. 1589) — his father,
Nicholas Herricke or Heyrick, 2nd son of John of
Leicester. He was named ' Robert ' after the famous
Robert of Leicester as is proved by a small legacy to
him as his 'godsonne.'6 Very soon after the birth of
Robert a dark shadow fell across the hearth and house
hold in Cheapside — for the father died in 1592, and
was buried on " the ixth day " of the month.7 Family
papers at Beaumanor inform us that the death was
caused by a fall from an upper window of his own
house. These also reveal that at the time the fall was
suspected to have been not accidental but intentional.
The Will — which it is our privilege to print for the first

6 In his Will in 1617 he leaves "To Robert Heyricke my
brother Nicholas's son, my godson, five pounds."

7 Usually he is said to have died on the gth November, but the
entry in the Register of Vedast, Foster Lane, is : — " Nicholas
Herricke a goldsmith was buried the iyth day of November 1592."
This would seem to indicate that he died on the very day of making
his Will (;th). He could hardly have been buried on the same day
that he died.

MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

time from the original, and which is dated only two days
before the funeral, gives no suspicion of suicide. It
thus runs — literatim : —

" In the name of God Amen The seaventhe Daye of
November A thousand ffive hundreth ninety twoe I Nicho
las Hericke goldsmith of perfecte memorye in sowle but
sicke in bodye Doe make and ordayne this my Last will
and testament wherein I Doe commend my Sowle to the
handes of Almighty god And my Bodye to be buryed in the
parrishe Churche of S* ffosters My worldly goods I will and
give as the Lorde hathe given me freely in this sorte My
state is worthe three thowsand poundes I giue to my
Loving wyfe Julyan Hericke the thirde parte which is one
thowsand poundes And the twoe partes to be Devided my
funeralls being Discharged amongest my six children my
twoe Brothers Robert and William chefe overseers And my
sonnes Thomas and Nicholas wholle and sole Executors
This I request my brethren to see performed Nicholas
Hericke Witnesses William Herricke Helyn Holden8
V.H."

This Will is stated by Mr. Hazlitt9 and others not to
have been forthcoming on the death ; but as it bears

& Letters of Administration were granted in the Prerogative Court
of Canterbury 13 Feb. 1592-3 to Robert Herricke, brother of testa
tor, during the minority of Thomas and Nicholas Herricke the sons
and executors named in the will, the relict Julian Herricke having
renounced. Recorded in Book " Nevell," folio 95.

* Biographical Notice, as before, p. xiii.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xli.

that Letters of Administration were granted in the
Prerogative Court of Canterbury so early as Feb. i3th
1592-3, this must be a mistake. All the more deplor
able consequently was it that rumours swiftly taken up
by Dr. Fletcher, Bishop of Bristol, as High Almoner,
led to a claim by him on the whole " goods and
chattels " of the alleged suicide. After weary and
wearing litigation, the matter was referred to arbitration,
and the Bishop was awarded ^220 only, "in satis
faction of all pretensions." It was ^220 taken grasp-
ingly from the " widow and the fatherless " — one of,
alas ! many unscrupulous actions of this constantly
impecunious Bishop. (Sorrow it is to us thus to speak
of the father of John Fletcher and a brother of the noble
Dr. Giles Fletcher, father of Phineas and Giles
Fletcher.)1

The surroundings of Robert as a child, then little
more than a year old, as of the entire family, were thus
black enough ; but their worldly prospects were not alto
gether inauspicious. If not to be regarded as wealthy,
Nicholas Herrick must have been in fairly easy circum
stances. By his Will (supra) he himself estimated his
entire property at .£3000 ; but it realized actually
^5000, which may be set down as equal to ^25,000
to-day. Early in 1593 came a posthumous child, who

1 Beaumanor MSS.

xlii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

was named William, the " dying brother " of some
touching lines in the Hesperides? As he was born
at Harry Campion's house at Hampton, [Court] the
widow appears to have retired thither. From an enig
matical reference to his father's burial-place it looks as
though a shadow of mystery was allowed to hang over
his memory.3 He thus writes of him : —

" To the reverend shade of his religious Father.
That for seven Lusters I did never come
To doe the Rites to thy Religious Tombe ;
That neither haire was cut, or true teares shed
By me, o'r thee, ( 'as justments to the dead)
Forgive, forgive me ; since I did not know
Whether thy bones had here their Rest, or no.
But now 'tis known, Behold ; behold, I bring
Unto thy Ghost th' Effused Offering :
And look, what Smallage, Night-shade, Cypresse, Yew,
Unto the shades have been, or now are due,
Here I devote ; And something more then so ;

1 come to pay a Debt of Birth I owe.

Thou gav'st me life ( but mortal ) ; For that one
Favour, He make full satisfaction ;
For my life mortall, Rise from out my Herse,
And take a life immortall from my verse."4

2 Vol. I. p. 125.

3 Probably the body had been secretly buried and the place kept
secret in fear of its being buried as that of a suicide. The rapidity
of the burial, two days or less after death, is significant certainly.

« Vol. I., PP. 45-6.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xliii.

As annotated in the place ' seven Lusters ' is = 35
years, and gives 1626 as the date of the long-delayed
filial tribute. This was only three years before the
mother's death. It is not easy in our dim light to ex
plain the son's ignorance of his father's burial-place ;
but if the litigation extended over years and years, he
may intend a sub-allusion in ' Rest ' to the undecided
question as to suicide or accident — the former involving
ecclesiastically an unconsecrate grave and a darkened
memory — for the Bishop in his greed made no pitiful
allowance for so much as temporary insanity, even sup
posing his intended self-destruction had been true. As
an infant of 14 months only, he could himself have no
personal recollections. Be this as it may, by the Will
the children were confided to the guardianship of their
uncle, William Herrick, (afterward from the boring skil
fully of a diamond for the King, created Sir William)
— who was also a goldsmith in Cheapside and pros
perous in every way.5 From our Poet's kindly recol
lections of "beloved Westminster" it may be pretty
safely assumed that that venerable School may claim

* In Appendix A to this Memorial-Introduction will be found
genealogical and other details on the Beaumanor Herricks ; and
also in Appendix B a fuller notice than hitherto of one eminent
member of the family, the Warden of Manchester College.

xliv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

him for a pupil1. Mr. Walfard observes ori this : " He
certainly speaks of the youthful amusements of rowing
and swimming in connection with his " beloved West
minster " in a way which would all but warrant us in
asserting that he was educated at Westminster School ;
and the assertion would be strongly confirmed by the
evident saturation of his mind with the writings of
classical authors, to an extent scarcely ever found
except in the case of those whose early years have been
spent at an English public school," (p. v.). It is to be
regretted that the early Registers of this renowned School
have all perished ; but I agree with Mr. Walford that
his way of celebrating his " beloved Westminster" seems
to indicate the School and not his after home-residence.
The amusements point to boyhood, not to the later
abode in "St. Anne's, Westminster." The fact that
his little brother William was born at Hampton gives
vividness to his mention of the villages on the Thames,
whither he steered, " Richmond, Kingstone and
Hampton-Court." If he came and went to School
at Westminister from Hampton it is not difficult to
understand his " Tears to Thamasis."

There were four boys in all, and their guardian
seems to have seen to their several occupations with
characteristic carefulness (in a double sense, as will

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xlv.

appear). The post-natus William died young : Thomas
was placed with Mr. Massam, a merchant in London ;
but in 1 6 10 he retired to the country and settled in a
small farm — as immortalized in one of his brother's most
Horatian and sustained poems (" A Country Life : to
his brother M. Tho : Herrick"),6 and Nicholas, was simi
larly settled early in life in London, and traded to the
Levant. Another poem, addressed to him, shows that
he had travelled much by sea and land, including
Jerusalem ("To his Brother, Nicholas Herrick").7
Robert was in like manner destined to follow in his
father's footsteps; for from the original Indentures which
are at Beaumanor, we learn he was " bound apprentice "
on the 25th September, 1607, "for ten years" to his
uncle and guardian. Ten years would bring us forward
to 1617-18; but the pact must have been broken,8

6 Hill, as before, p. 122. It is supposed that this Thomas was
father of Thomas Heyricke, who in 1668, resided at Market Har-
borough and issued a trader's token there ; and grandfather to a
Thomas Herrick who was curate of Market Harborough, and who
published some Sermons and Poems.

7 Ibid, p. 122. In 1634 his pedigree is entered in the Visitation
of London ; and he had then by his wife Susanna, d. of William
Salter, 3 sons and 3 daughters. He was living in 1648 when
the Hesperides was published.

* ' Broken.' That is in so far as young Herrick was concerned,

xlvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

seeing that he is found addressing his uncle from
(probably) Cambridge so early as September, 1613,
and in all likelihood he had proceeded thither some
time previously. In 1613 he was in his 2ist year, and
youths went to College from their 14th to their i7th year.
From the loss of the University and College registers and
other documents, it is impossible to trace him exactly ;
but there can be no question that he proceeded to the
University. Mr. Walford casts doubt on his ever
having been of St. John's College, and in all Professor
Mayor's bulky tomes from the Baker MSS. his name is
sought for in vain, albeit innumerable nobodies (or
bodies only) have found, perhaps inevitably, devout
record and eulogy therein.9 It is singular that both
the,se scholars should have overlooked the fact that two
of his Letters are expressly dated " Cambridg : St.
Johns " and that in a third in a receipt, he designates
himself a " Fellow Commoner of Sfc. Johns Colledg in

who certainly ceased to be an ' apprentice.' It has been suggested
to me that his dependence upon his uncle for the quarterly doles of
his own patrimony even after his coming of age, is to be accounted
for by the apprentice bond being still in force. It is noteworthy in
regard to this that the money-letters cease about the date of the
expiry of the apprentice term.

9 Memoir, as before, p. v. : and History of St. John's College,
Cambridge, 2 vols., 8vo, 1869.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xlvii.

Cambridg." There is thus absolute certainty as to his
having entered and attended at S*. John's College.

His guardian-uncle, though the " Fellow Commoner "
was in his 2ist-23d years, kept a discreditably tight
rein on his nephew's expenditure. In the first of four
teen letters preserved at Beaumanor, the student seeks
" fifteen pounds " for his brother Thomas.1 It has all
the stiffness and stateliness of etiquette demanded from
young men (and eke young ladies) of the period, in
their approaches to their seniors and (technically)
superiors — even in the case of sons and daughters to
their parents. We must pause to read it :

LETTER I.

[September, 1613.]

" SR. — Syth the qvallitie of the Time, and extreamitie of
my Brothers occasions forse me, I first shew my deutie, and
next entreat you to furnish my Brother with 15 pounds,
which he would needes borrow of me, and because his
vrgent occasions stand in so vehement a manner, I am
willing to pleasure him, still relying vpon your Worships

1 Nichols in his Leicestershire was the first to print some of
these Letters. Mr. Hazlitt printed them in extenso as an Appendix,
but faultily. I have had the advantage of collating his text with the
originals, through their owner, the late W. Perry-Herrick, Esq., of
Beaumanor. Eheu ! He has recently died, and in him the English
Herricks become apparently extinct. There are others in the United
States.

xlviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

fauour, and trusting that I shall not seem offensiue to you
nor engender any cause of dislike in my proceeding : I
haue writ thus much at the request of my Brother, though
indeed I was vnwilling to acquaint you in this busines, yet
pray, Sr, iustly waigh each thing in equall ballances : I
still runn headlong into your Worships debt. I trust you will
be pleased, though I vnwillingly acquaint you with this.
Thus hauing rudely made known the effect of the matter,
I with my endles deutie take my leaue, liuing to be
comanded by you and yours for euer :

ROBERT HERICK."

[Endorsement :]

" To the right worl. Sr William Hearick
at Beaumanor or els where."

A second Letter but without time-date, though from
echo of words used in the preceding, most probably
written very soon after it — has under all its phrases of
respect an under-tone of plaint if not complaint of his
"constrained necessitie." The explanation of the evident
sore feeling of the Writer is to be found in this, that
every one of the payments in these letters was simply
out of his own "little fortune," which amounted to from
^470 to .£660 (= ^2500 now). It was hard to have
what was his own doled out meagrely, in this knowledge.
This second letter intimates a very bare ' setting up '
at the University. Had the nephew-apprentice irri
tated the old knight by violating his indenture to him ?
We can only conjecture. Here is

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xlix.

LETTER II.

" Cambridg : St. Johns.

" Sr. — Considering the importunitie of my own affaires,
and the last testimonie of your so euident loue, makes me
to run headlong between two ineuitable difficulties, but
desirous of equall performance : the shortness of this shall
not hinder the one, nor I trust detract from the other : Sr,
vnderstand that my hart (more feruently then my pen can
express) speaks my deuout thanks, and ioyes in no greater
thing then this, that it can see some sparkes of your con-
ceald affection : I haue not as hitherto acquainted you
with the chardg I Hue in, but your self can iudg, by my
often (as now at this time) writing for mony, which when I
doe, it is for no impertinent expens, but for constraind
necessitie : for be your self the iudg, when aboue twentie
pounds will not suffice the house, not reckening with it
commoditie for my self (I meane apparell nor other
complements) nor tuition mony nor other sundrie occasions
for chardges, this but considered, there is no reasonable
soule, but will kindly and indulgently censure of my lyfe
and me. Had I but a competent estate to mayntayne my
self, to my title, I could presume of as soone atayning to ye
end of the efficient cause — my coming, — as he that hath
stronger cause and fortune : Sr, I know you vnderstand
me, and did you but know how disfurnished I came to
Cambridg, without bedding (which I yet want) and other
necessaries, you would (as I now trust you will) better your
thoughts towards me, considering of my forc't expence.
Sr, I entreat you to furnish me with ten pounds this
quarter ; for the last mony which I receaud came not till

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

the last quarter had almost spent it self, which now con-
straines me so suddenly to write for more. Good Sr,
forbeare to censure me as prodigall, for I endeuour rather
to strengthen (then debilitate) my feeble familie fortune.
I should fill much paper, if I should follow my passions ;
but I will break off, only entreating you (yf there be no
waye for me to leade a lyfe here) that then you would
write me your counsell how I maye learn to liue. In hope
that you will some waye effectuate my desires, with all
respect of deutie and obseruance, I forstop 2 my passage.
" Euer to be at comand and studious to please,

" R. HEARICK."
[Endorsement :]

" To his- most careftill Vncle Sr Willi :
Hearick dwelling- at London in
Wood-streete.'^

There was a little break of sarcasm surely in that
endorsement "To his most carefull Vncle" as within
in the phrase, " concealed affection."

Still at 8*. John's College, a third letter brings the
student before us in the same attitude of formal and
punctilious obeisance to the grand city-uncle and evi
dently hampered for books and scholarly necessities,
after a fashion not at all creditable to his guardian.
In the last letter he had said " I should fill much paper
if I should follow my passions ; but I will break off,
only entreating you (yf there be no waye for me to leade

2 1 stop my going on earlier than I otherwise would.

MEMORIA L-INTRODUCTION. \\,

a lyfe Here) that then you would write me your coun-
sell how I rnaye leame to Hue." Surely this was most
reasonable? With his youth passing away and his
future indefinite, he now still more passionately longs
to be and to do something, e.g. " because that Time
hath devoured some yeeres, I am the more importunate
in the crauing." One is reminded of a greater Poet
who similary marked the flight of his years and
mourned grandly over uneffected purpose and hinder
ing circumstance. Before we turn to this letter we
may pause to read Milton's great sonnet : —

" On his having arrived at the age of twenty -three.

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,

Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year !

My hasting days fly on with full career,

But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.

Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth
That I to manhood am arrived so near ^
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th.

Yet, be it less or more, or soon or slow,

tit shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
oward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven.
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task- Master's eye.
do not think that I do wrong to Herrick when

ME MORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

I judge that in these years there came no such
vision of the ' great Task-Master's eye ' to him.
It were of the Pleasures of Imagination rather than of
the Pleasures of Hope, to think of him as, thus far, more
than impulsively ardent in the acquisition of that odd
and discursive learning which characterizes his Poems.
His fierce Norse blood, I fear, made the ' flesh ' rather
than the ' spirit ' master — as the Puritans would have
phrased it There was evidently, as yet, no fixed
purpose of studying for ' holy orders ; ' and so, as
evidently, he gave full swing to what were accounted
lay-liberty to quaff of all cups that might be put to his
lips. Even later he had to accuse himself of "wild,
unhallowed rhymes," and contemporary with his attend
ance at the University the manners were gay (in a
sorrowful sense), and not a few of the students (so-
called) uncleanly. Evidently 'evil reports ' reached
the old gentleman — Herrick's uncle — concerning him ;
for he deprecates his suspicions (in Letter X). Now for

LETTER HI.

From St. Johns in Cambridg.
" Qui timide rogat,
Negare docet."

" Are the minds of men immutable ? and will they rest
in only one opinion without the least perspicuous shewe of

ME MORI A L-INTROD UCTION.

chaing ? O no, they cannot, for Tempora mutantur et nos
mutamur in illis : it is an old but yet young saying in our
age, as times chainge, so mens minds are altered : O
would . . . .3 weere scene, for then some pittying Planet
would with a dr [op of] deaw refreash my withered hopes,
and giue a lyfe to that which [is about ?] to die ; the bodie
is presented by foode, and lyfe by hope, which (but want
ing either of these conseruers) faint, feare, fall, freese, and
die. Tis in your power to cure all, to infuse by a pro
fusion a duble lyfe into a single bodie. Homo homini
Deus : man should be soe, and he is commanded so ; but,
fraile and glass-lik, man proues brittle in many things.
How kind Arcisilaus the philosopher was vnto Apelles the
painter, Plutark in his Morals will tell you ; which should
I heere depaint, the length of my letter would hide the
sight of my Labour, which that it may not, I bridle in my
Quill, and mildly, and yet I feare too rashly, and too boldly,
make knowne and discouer [that] which my modestie
would conceale : and this is all : my studie craues but your
assistance to furnish hir with bookes, wherein she is most
desirous to laboure ; blame not hir modest boldnes, but suffer
the aspertions [=sprinklings} of your loue to distill vpon hir,
and next to Heauen she will consecrate hir laboures vnto you,
and because that Time hath deuoured some yeeres, I am-
the more importunate in the crauing : suffer not the
distance to hinder that which I know your disposition will
not denie. And now is the time (that florida &tas) which
promises frutifulness for hir former barrenness, and wisheth

1 The corners of the original are somewhat injured, and hence
certain words are illegible.

liv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

all to hope : As euery thing will haue in time an end, so
this, which though it would extend it self and ouerflow its
bounds I forceibly withstand it. Wishing this worlds
happines to follow and attend you in this lyf, and that with
a triumphant crown of glorie you maye be crowned in the
best world to come. *' ROBERT HEARICK."

[Endorsement:]
" To the very Worshipf [ul] His

Vncle Sr W[ill.] Hearicke dwelling

at London in Woodstreete. These."

These Letters (I. to III.) belong to 1613-14. So
that 1615, which has hitherto been given as the year of
his going to Cambridge, is proved to be much too late.
The next two Letters — as shown by the receipt at the
foot of the first — belong to January, 1615-6 : another
to February, 1616 : another to April, 1616. These
have all the same 'burden' of " mitte pecuniam? as it
so happens (what must be repeated and remembered)
that this one thing was all that led to correspondence
between nephew and niggard uncle — who gave (of
what was not his own but simply held in trust) as if a
personal bestowment. These four further Letters follow
successively : —

LETTER IV.

" Cambridg. [January, 1615-16.

SR. — Your prosperitie desired and the good success of
your issue, I pronounce my deutie, and wish some felicitie

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. lv.

to my self (as all other creatures do). I entreat you (as
heretofore) so now to paye to Mr. Adrian Morrus, book
seller in the black fryers, the some of tenn pounds, who
hath payd the same some at Cambridg : I cannot meet the
expence for want of primarie consideration ; be you but
pleas'd, and I shall iustifie the expectation (which I trust
is religious) of all men. My prayers begin at home, but
end at you their obiect. Bless me with your countenance,
and I shall Hue triumphant, and my weake hopes will
receaue vigour. Yf you reflect vpon .... I am all yours
and completely yours for euer obsequious,

" ROBIN HARicK."4

[Endorsement :]

" To the right Worpfl. his louing Vncle
Sr William Hearick dwelling at
London in great Wood-
street. This."

LETTER V.

" Cambridge, [January, 1616.]

" Before you vnceald my letter (right wor11.) it cannot be
doubted but you had perfect knowledg of the essence of my
writing, before you reade it; for custome hath made you
expert in my playne songe (mitte pecuniam) that beeing
the cause sine qua non, or the power that giues lyfe and
beeing to each matter. I delight not to draw your imagi-

4 The request was granted, and at the foot of the letter appears
Robert Martin's receipt for £10 to be paid to Herrickj this bears
date Jan. 24, 1615-16. The present letter is not in the poet's hand
writing, but seems to have been written for him, and his name
added playfully.

Ivi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

nation to inextricable perplexities, or knit vp my Love in
indissoluable knotts, but make no other exposition but the
literall sence, which is to entreat you to paye to Mr. Adrian
Morice the some of tenn pounds as customarily, and to
take a note of his hand for the receit, which I desire may
be effected brefly, because the circumstance of the time
must be expressed. I perceaue I must crie with the
afflicted vsquequo, vsquequo, Domine. Yet I haue confi
dence that I Hue in your memorie, howsoeuer Time brings
not the thing hoped for to its iust maturity ; but my beleef
is stronge, and I do establish my hopes on rocks, and feare
no quick-sands, be you my firme assistant, and good effects
(produced from virtuous causes) follow. So shall my wishes
pace with yours for the suplement of your owne happi
ness and the perfection of your owne posterity.
" Euer to be commanded,

" ROBERT HEARICK.

"To paye to Mr. Brunt Bookseller in Paules church
yarde the some aboue named.

LETTER VI.

" Chambridge [February, 1616.]

." Because my Commencment is at hand (worthie Sir), I
am compeld to write, though it be with a violent relucta-
tion ; for what hermonie can be effected when there is
diuision 'twixt the hart and hand ; want and chardge
admit no sympathie, because they are of diffring natures,
not conuertibles. Yet volens, nolens, it must be done, and
as heretofore so now I desire your worship to paye to this
Bearer, Mr. Hotchkin, the dew of tenn pounds for my vse
at Chambridge. I haue runn thorough the most of the

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ivii.

expense which is not much, but in respect of disabilitie.
Yf it may please you to remember me like a trew Mae
cenas, I shall glory in that my Tale hath raysd me vp a
Friend to share in my passions —

' Multorum manibus grande leuatur onus.'

Many hands make light worke ; your healpe can make my
burden light. I atend your pleasure, and as I hope such
wilbe my hap, I haue fayth in the goodness of your Nature.
Attending with patience the complement and consumma
tion of my hopes.

" Euer obseruant

" to your benignant

"fauours, R. HEARIK."*

" Bis dat qui cito dat."
[Endorsement :]

" To the right worU. his louing vncle
Sr William Hearick dwelling
at London in Great
Woodstreet.
This."

LETTER VII.

" Camb. [April, 1616.]

" Sir, that which makes my letter to be abortive and
borne before maturitie, is and hath been my Commenc-
ment, which I haue now ouergonn, though I confess with
many a throe and pinches of the purse ; but it was neces-
sarie, and the prize was worthie the ha^arde ; which makes
me less sensible of the expence, by reason of a titular

5 The acknowledgment of the person who was appointed to receive
this sum, is at the foot of the letter as elsewhere.

Iviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

prerogatiue — & bonum est prodire in bono. The essence
of my writing is (as heretofore) to entreat you to paye for
my use to Mr. Arthour Johnson bookseller in Paules
church yard the ordinarie sume of tenn pounds, and that
with as much sceleritie as you maye, though I could wish
chardges had leaden wings and Tortice feet to come vpon
me ; sed votis puerilibus opto. Sr, I fix my hopes on Time
and you ; still gazing for an happie flight of birdes, and
the refreshing blast of a second6 winde. Doubtfull as yet
of either Fortunes, I liue, hoarding vp prouision against
the assault of either. Thus I salute your Vertues.

" Hopefull R. HEARICK."

It has already been stated that there is no trace of
Herrick's matriculation at either St. John's College, or
at Trinity Hall, or at the Registry ; but from the last it is
found that he took his B.A. degree from Trinity Hall in
1616-7, when he signed himself ' Robertus Hearick.'7
He must have migrated from St. John's to Trinity Hall
in 1616; and thus the letters dated by Mr. Hazlitt8
1617, belong to 1615-6 ; for in the last of the next group
he is still a " fellow commoner of St. John's colledg."
As these additional letters are read, be it still borne in

6 The Latin secundus = favourable, profiting.

7 Unfortunately only the year-dates are recorded. Mr. William
Aid. Wright, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge, was so good as
to favour me with this and another entry at the Registry.

8 Edition of Herrick, as before, pp. 492-94 et seqq.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. lix.

mind, that their monotonous refrain of 'money' is in
consequence of the correspondence being practically so
many receipts for (apparently) quarterly payments of the
"customarye ;£io." Again these Letters follow suc
cessively : —

LETTER VIII.

" Health from Heauen.

" Chambridg.

" Sr. — I haue long since expected your return in that
your long absence hath made me want that which your
presence could haue remedied. I trust you are not igno
rant what my meaning is ; may it therefore please you to
send me £10, for my ocasions require so much ; and the
long time that your Worship hath been absent from
London hath compelled me to runne somewhat deepe
into my Tailours debt. I entreat your Worship to send
me a part of my stipend with all possible sceleritie, for
want of which so necessarie helpe, cares greatly posses me,
and force me contrarie to my wish, in some sort to neglect
my study ; whereas yf you would be pleased to furnish me
with so much, that I might keepe beforehand with my Tutor,
I doubt not but with quicke dispatch to attaine to what I
ayme. Thus trusting that you will in some sort be mind-
full of me, in sending me that which I haue writ for, with
my eternall deutie to your self for euer, togeither with my
Ladie, I finish.

" For euer readie

" to be comanded

" during mortallitie

" ROBERT HEARICK."

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" I entreate your worship to furnish me with so much as
will serue me till the Natiuitie."
[Endorsement :]

" To the right worll. his carefull vncle Sr
William Hearick. These be delivered
at his house in London."

LETTER IX.

" From Cambridg.

" Sr. — I am loath, yet pforce I must, beeing ouerruled
by necessitie, trouble you. I haue, before the birth of this
letter, sent others which peraduenture haue been stayed by
infortunitie ; but I trust this will manifest itself. Let it not
seeme offensiue, though I exceede a little in length, for
your Worships long beeing in the Cuntrie, hath constrained
me contrarie to my will to become a debter to my instruct',
— wherfore let me entreat your worship to be mindfull of
me, and that this weeke I may receaue it ; for my extreames
be such that vnless I attaine what now I desire, I shalbe
constrained to make a iourney to London to satisfie the
mind of my Tutour. Good Sr, consider this, and redresse
it, and I shall for euer in deutie show my self most abun
dantly thankfull. I trust this little will suffice to explain
my great want, and I hope you will in some sorte bee
carefull for my credit, which wilbe weak, except I hear
from your worship this weeke. I will not extend too farr,
but with my deutie to you and my Ladie, I for this time
cease. " Being euer, obsequious to both,

"ROBERT HEARICK."

[Endorsement :]

" To the Right worshipfull his louing vncle
Sr Willia Hearick dwelling at
London in Great Wood-
street, Giue this."

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixi.

LETTER X.

" Chambridge.

"Sr. — Though my seruice be late, yet better thus then
neuer ; it is in you to pardon what I haue so long neglected,
and I beleeue you will. I will come speadily and person
ally to attend you at London, and will bring your bond
along; to which end (necessitie constrayning me) I entreate
you out of my litle possession to deliver to this bearer the
customarye £10, without which I cannot meate9 my ioyr-
ney : I vnderstand it is troublesom to you for the quarterly
dispatch, and I am honestly sorrowfull for your disease.
Pardon me, and mayntayn some good opinion of me, that
what I haue lost heretofore in your estimation, time and
my endeuours may redeeme it. Trusting to which I offer
vp to them, and to your self, the sacrifice of my vowes.

"ROBERT HEARICKE."
[Endorsement :]

" To his lovinge Vncle Sr William Hearicke

dwellinge at Westminster

this del. del."

LETTER XL

" Cambridg, nth of October.

" Sr. — My deutie remembred to your self and La : the
cause essentiall is this : That I would entreat you to paye
to this bringer (to Mr. Adrian Morrus book seller in the
black friers,) the some of £10 the which my Tutor hath
receaued, to be payde at London. I have business that
drawes me from prolixitie; and I craue pardon for this
rudeness, still expecting the sun-shine of youre fauour and

9 =- meet, the expenses of.

Ixii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

the daye of happiness. I end with my prayers for your
preseruation and health, the best terrestriall good. Long lyf
and the aspertions [ = sprinklings] of Heauen fall vpon you.

" Yours euer

" obsequious

"R. HEARICK."
[Endorsement :]

" To the right worll., &c."

LETTER XII.

" Cambridg.

" Sir, — I presume again e to present another Embassador,
who, in the best eloquence that was taught him, aboun-
dingly thanks you for the larg extent of your favor and
kindness; which, though present time denies to mak any
ostentation of desert, yet future .... crownes the expec
tation of the hopefull; and because the urgent extreamite
and vnexpected occasion of chamber roome instigats me to
such importunate demands, I am bold to entreat you that
the mony might this week be sent me, for necessitie fer
vently requires it ; and I am sorrie to be the subiect of so
great a molestation to your Worship; but, trusting on
your patience, I am bold to saye that generous minds still
haue the best contentment, and willingly healp where there
is an euidencie of want. Thus hoping to triumph in the
victorie of my wishes, by being not frustraeted in my
expectatio, I take my leaue, and eternally thank you. Liuing
to be comanded by you and yours to the end of mortalitie.
" Euer most

" obsequious

"ROBERT HEARICK."

" Be it known to all, that I Robert Hearick, Fellow com-

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixiii.

moner of St. Johns colledg in Cambridg, acknowledg my
self to stand indebited unto my vncle, Sir Will. Hearick,
of London, in the some of tenn pounds, for so much
receaued of him ; to be repayde vnto him a[t] all times : I
saye, receaued tenn pounds by me, Robert Hearick."
[Endorsement :]

" To the right worll. his vncle Sr Willi : Hearicke

dwelling at London in Great Wood

strete giue This."

The wording of the receipt seems to show that
Herrick had either come to the end of his own money
or that the money was a loan over and above his allow
ance. These importunities for books and necessaries
recall that through the same years, and at the same Uni
versity, George Herbert was writing in much the same
strain to his good and generous step-father, Sir John

Danvers. It will put the blame on the guardian-uncle,

i • *

and lighten the pecuniary-iteration of these letters, to show

that apart from the monies being from his own patrimony,
his requests were really necessities — not forgetting that
Herbert's love of * gay-dress ' probably carried him
further than Herrick. I cull one characteristic letter
from Herbert, as thus : —

Sir,

I dare no longer be silent, lest while I think I am
modest, I wrong both my self and also the confidence my
friends have in me ; wherefore I will open my case unto

Ixiv. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

you, which I think deserves the reading at the least ; and
it is this — I want books extremely. You know, sir, how I
am now setting foot into divinity, to lay the platform of my
future life; and shall I then be fain always to borrow
books and build on another's foundation ? What trades
man is there who will set up without his tools ? Pardon my
boldness, sir, it is a most serious case, nor can I write coldly
in that wherein consisteth the making good of my former
education, of obeying that Spirit which hath guided me
hitherto, and of atchieving my (I dare say) holy ends. This
also is aggravated in that I apprehend what my friends
would have been forward to say if I had taken ill courses,
' Follow your book, and you shall want nothing.' You
know, sir, it is their ordinary speech, and now let them
make it good ; for since I hope I have not deceived their
expectation, let not them deceive mine. But perhaps they
will say, ' You are sulky ; you must not study too hard.'
It is true, God knows, I am weak, yet not so but that every
day I may step towards my journey's end; and I love my
friends so well as that if all things proved not well, I had
rather the fault should be on me than on them. But they
will object again, ' What becomes of your annuity?' Sir,
if there be any truth in me, I find it little enough to keep
me in health. You know I was sick last vacation, neither
am I yet recovered, in that I am fain ever and anon to buy
somewhat tending towards my health; for infirmities are
both painful and costly. Now this Lent I am forbid utterly
to eat any fish, so that I am fain to dyet in my chamber at
mine own cost ; for in our publick halls you know, is nothing
but fish and white meats ; out of Lent also twice a week, on
Fridays and Saturdays, I must do so, which yet sometimes

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixv.

I fast. Sometimes also I ride to Newmarket, and there lie
a day or two for fresh air ; all which tend to avoiding of
costlier matters if I should fall absolutely sick. I protest
and vow I even study thrift, and yet I am scarce able with
much ado to make one half year's allowance shake hands
with the other. And yet if a book of four or five shillings
come in my way, I buy it, though I fast for it; yea some
times of ten shillings. But, alas, sir, what is that to those
infinite volumes of divinity, which yet every day swell and
grow bigger ? Noble sir, pardon my boldness, and con
sider but these three things : first, the bulk of divinity ;
secondly, the time when I desire this (which is now, when I
must lay the foundation of my whole life) ; thirdly, what I
desire and to what end — not vain pleasures nor to a vain
end. If then, sir, there be any course, either by engaging
my future annuity, or any other way, I desire you sir, to be
my mediator to them in my behalf.

Now I write to you, Sir, because to you I have ever
opened my heart ; and have reason by the patents of your
perpetual favour to do so still, for I am sure you love your
faithful servant GEORG HERBERT.

"Trin. Coll. March 18. 1617." »

Far different was the response to the " sweet Singer "
of " The Temple " from that to the poet of " Hes-
perides " ; and for my part, across the centuries, I cry,
Beshrew the close-fisted old Knight.

1 Prose of Herbert in Fuller Worthies' Library : Vol. iii. of Com
plete Works, pp. 485-6.

e

Ixvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Like Herbert, Robert Herrick had undoubtedly pro
ceeded to the University with a vague intention to study
for the Church ; and, like him, he ought now to have
been " setting foot into divinity." But his next letter
brings him before us as doubtful whether to direct " his
study" to Divinity or to Law. This letter also belongs
to 1616. It follows : —

LETTER XIII.

" After my abundant thanks for your last great loue
(worthie Sir), proud of your fauoure and kindness shewne
by my Ladie to my vnworthy selfe, thus I laye open my
selfe ; that, for as much as my continuance will not long
consist in the spheare where I now moue, I make known my
thoughts, and modestly craue your counsell, whether it
were better for me to direct my study towards the lawe or
not ; which yf I should (as it will not be impertinent), I
can with facilitie laboure my self into another colledg
appointed for the like end and studyes, where I assure my
self the charge will not be so great as where I now exist ;
I make bold freely to acquaint you with my thoughts ; and
I entreat you answeare me : this being most which checks
me, that my time (I trust) beeing short, it may be to a
lesser end and smaller purpose; but that shalbe as you
shall lend direction. Nothing now remaines but my perfect
thankfullness and remembrance of your hopefull promises;
which when Heauen, working with you, shall bring them to
performance, I shall triumph in the victorie of my wishes ;
till when, my prayers shall inuocate Heauen to powre vpon

ME MORI A L- IN TROD UCTION. Ixvii .

you and your posteritie the utmost of all essentiall happi
ness. " Yours euer seruicable

" R. HEARICK."

The closing Letter is dated " Trinitie Hall, Cam
bridge," and is pathetic in its references to his "ebbing
estate " — by which I understand that Sir William had told
him his .£400 to ^500 was nearly exhausted ; nor less
so his resolution in his new College "to Hue recluse, till
Time contract me to some other calling, striuing now
with myself (retayning vpright thoughts) both sparingly
to Hue and thereby to shun the current of expence."
The yearly amount allowed was (apparently) at most
^£40, and had it been from Sir William himself instead of
from his own " little portion," Herrick might have had
no great ground of complaint. As it was he certainly
had ground of complaint It is likewise to be noted
that though Robert (Sir William's elder brother) was
associated with him as ' overseer ' of the Will, the
Knight seems practically to have ignored him from the
outset and acted alone. The last letter thus runs : —

LETTER XIV.

" Trinitie Hall, Camb.

" Sr. — The confidence I haue of your bothe virtuous and
generous disposition makes me (though with some honest
reluctation) the seldomer to solicite you; for I haue so

Ixviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

incorporated beleef into me, that I cannot chuse but per-
swade my self that (though absent) I stand imprinted in
your memorie ; and the remembrance of my last beeing at
London serud for an earnest motiue (which I trust Hues yet
vnperisht) to the effectuating of my desire, which is not but
in modesty ambitious, and consequently virtuous ; but,
where freeness is euident, there needs no feere for forward
ness ; and I doubt not (because fayth giues boldness) but
that Heauen, togeither with your self, will bring my ebbing
estate to an indifferent tyde; meane while I hope I haue
(as I presume you know) changd my colledg for one where
the quan[ti]tie of expence wilbe shortned, by reason of the
priuacie of the house, where I propose to Hue recluse, till
Time contract me to some other calling, striuing now with
my self (retayning vpright thoughts) both sparingly to Hue,
and thereby to shun the current of expence. This is my desire
(which I entreat may be performd) that Mr. Adrian Morrus,
bookseller of the black fryers, maye be payd ten pounds as
heretofore, and to take his acquittance. Trusting whereto,
He terminate your sight, and end ; hoping to see your dayes
many and good ; and prosperitie to crown your self and
issue. " Euer seruiceable

" to your Virtues,

" R. HEARICK."

It rouses one to remember that to the guardian-uncle
to whom these letters were addressed, an additional
quarterly allowance to his nephew would have been as
nothing. But he was adding broad acre to broad acre,
and ambitious to found a family away down in ances-

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixix.

tral Leicestershire. That in his land-hunger (of which
the greater Sir Walter Scott later spoke so penitently )
he was not over scrupulous, appears by this damning
record in the MSS. of the House of Lords :

"1640-1, Jan. 15. — Petition of Elizabeth Smyth, the poor
distressed widow of Christopher Smyth, deceased, that
Sir William Herrick may be called upon to answer for
detaining from her a certain estate in the county of
Leicester, part of the manor of Beaumanor, to which
the Court of Chancery decreed that she is entitled."2

From the indefiniteness of the phrase "till Time
shall contract me to some other calling " in the final
letter that remains, it would seem that the proposed
change from Divinity to Law was left undetermined.
The only further record of him at the University is
that he took his M.A degree in 1620, signing himself
* Robert Hearick.' In this year, thereupon, he most
probably left Cambridge. As he was not a Fellow, it is
not likely that he would continue in residence. Be
sides, had he remained and * taught', there must have
been some memorials of his teaching and pupils.
Certain entries found by Mr. Riley in the Steward's
Book, and printed in the Second Report of the Royal

* Fourth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manu
scripts : Part I. Report and Appendix : p. 40.

Ixx. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

Commission on Historical Manuscripts (pp. 121-123)
have been too hastily assigned to our Robert Herrick.
His nephew — Robert 3rd son of Sir William Herricke,
who was " baptized the viii. day of February, 1598," at
St. Vedast's Church, Foster Lane, London,3 was much
more probably the person whose indebtedness to his
college is therein recorded. Extending as these
entries do to 1629-30, or fully nine years after his
M.A. degree, it surely bears on the face of it, that it
could not be our Robert, and on the other hand, it
would be quite in keeping with the Beaumanor Knight's
penuriousness and begrudging, so to hamper his own
son as to compel him to leave there a small debt,
unliquidated.4

3 From the Register by the present Rector, as before. See also
Appendix A to this Memorial-Introduction.

4 I place here Mr. Riley's notes :

"A small memorandum [among Trinity Hall MSS.] without any
date, but belonging, no doubt, to the year 1630, bearing reference
to Robert Herrick, who had been a member of the College, (the
well-known author of the " Hesperides ") — The names of those that
are to be sued. Will. Wake, 5^ i8s. 6d. obol. Thomas Creake,
besides ' prae manibus ' [a name apparently given to caution-
money] deducted 4^ 2s. Jet. Herricke 3^ * prae manibus ' being
deducted, 7^ 165. gd. The Steward's accounts of 1629 and 30
follow shortly after, in both of which Herrick's name appears, as
debited with 10/165. yd. against it, the largest sum debited against

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixxi.

A study of the facts, leaves the impression that on
closing his attendance at the University in 1620 (as
supra) Herrick — then in his 29th year — came to
London, with his future uncertain, but ready to plunge
into all the gaieties of ' town.' To these years —
1620-28-9 — belong (meo judicio) : —

" Those Lyric feasts
Made at the Sun,
The Dog, the Triple Tun,"

any one in the list: reference will again be found made toHerrick's

name in the sequel (p. 122) " Also a paper book, pamphlet

form, entitled — " The Steward his accompt of the whole Commons
Booke, the 3rd of October 1623." In this book, col. 2. of page 3,
under (tr.), — " Names of those who were in College on the 3rd day
of October 1623, and their debts." Herrick is named, as then
owing the steward 575. J(L (p. 123). I must add to what is said
in the text, that had these entries referred to our Herrick, I should
have expected that he would be called ' Mr. Herricke.' Walford
mistakenly says there is an entry of indebtedness at Trinity Hall in
1617 (p. v). There is no such entry. The earliest is 1623, and
the others 1630 — at which time he was incumbent of Dean Prior.
Anthony a- Wood mistook our Herrick' s cousin Robert for him, and
so entered him as of Oxford. The cousin may have attended both
Universities — as was common — and in such case it was natural
that his father would send him to the same College at which his
nephew had attended. Supra, it was not exactly ' caution,' nor
even earnest, but so much being already paid. Be it also noted
that the £'] i6s. Qd. and £3 make up the same amount and debt
as before — viz., jfcio i6s. 9d.

Ixxii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

of which he sang so proudly. To them also belong the
still more boastful reminiscences of his " Farewell vnto
Poetrie," as thus : —

" Wee .... haue spent our tyme

Both from the morning to the euening chyme ;
Nay, till the bell-man of the night had tould
Past noone of night, yett weare the howers not old,
Nor dull'd with yron sleeps, but haue out-worne
The fresh and fayrest flourish of the morne
With flame, and rapture ; drincking to the odd
Number of wyne, which makes vs full with God,
And yn that misticke frenzie, wee haue hurl'de,
(As with a tempeste) nature through the worlde,
And yn a whirl-wynd twirl'd her home, agast
Att that which in her extasie had past."

(Vol. III. p. 102.)

Nor may we doubt that his " Farewell to Sack " and
" Welcome to Sack " find place in the same group.

Be it noted that while the later ' innes ' of assembly,
" The Sun, the Dog, the Triple Tun" are celebrated,
nowhere is the earlier " Mermaid," or " Mitre," or the
after-frequented "Windmill" (1605) so much as named.
Be it also noted that it would have simply been impos
sible for Herrick to have met Shakespeare at "The Mer
maid" and not have recalled the meeting. As we read his
" Apparition of his Mistresse calling him to Elysium "

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixxiii.

(Vol. II. pp. 1 73-4) with its lofty praise of Beaumont and
Fletcher and Jonson, we instinctively ask, ' Where is
Shakespeare all this time?' But by 1611 — at latest-
he had gone down to Stratford-on-Avon, and our Poet
celebrates only the contemporaries he actually knew.
Every one carries in his memory the verse-letter of
Beaumont to Ben Jonson of " The Mermaid " : —

What things have we seen

Done at the Mermaid ! heard words that have been

So nimble and so full of subtle flame,

As if that any one from whence they came

Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,

And had resolv'd to live a fool the rest

Of his dull life ; then when there hath been thrown

Wit able enough to justify the town

For three days past ; wit that might warrant be

For the whole city to talk foolishly,

Till that were cancell'd ; and when that was gone,

We left an air behind us, which alone

Was able to make the two next companies

(Right witty, though but downright fools) more wise."

But these days were early, when Sir Walter Raleigh
founded ' The Club,' and when Herrick was much too
young to have joined; and onward, as first 'appren
tice ' goldsmith, and next at College in (probably)
1612-13, he cannot be supposed to have found his way

Ixxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

within the ' charmed circle.' Accordingly I am not
satisfied that because he refers to the unfavourable
reception of the Alchemist, which was brought out in
1 6 10, or because in his lines to John Fletcher he
speaks of the power of his Maid's Tragedy (which was
produced in 1611) to make "young men swoon,"
he knew either personally so early as 1610-11. But
there is abundant evidence that later he did know per-
v sonally Ben Jonson. It was, however, later — viz., from
1620 forward. When the Master of Arts, in 1620,
came to town, the purple splendour was still in the air
if not in the sky, though the sun had sunk and only
stars gleamed. Besides " immortal Ben," if Shake
speare and Francis Beaumont were gone, there still
remained John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, William
Browne and Richard Corbet, James Shirley and William
Cartwright, Thomas Carew and venerable John Selden.
I can very well believe that, bound apprentice to his
v goldsmith-uncle on 2 5th September, 1607, while the
Poet of the " mountain belly and the rocky face " was
bringing out his Volpone, and Epicene, and Alchemist,
and Catiline, and at "Whitehall, and the " Court," his
unapproachable Masques, as of the Masque of Queens
and Oberon, the Fairy Prince — the young apprentice

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixxv.

paid furtive visits to the theatres.5 His " Fairie
Temple," and " Oberon's Feast," and others, were
written early ; and therefore, one can understand with
what rotund and thundering mouth * great Ben ' would
give their conceiver admittance among his sons. But
whatever slighter acquaintance there may have been
whilst he was passing out of his teens, the likelihoods
are that — as above — it was not until 1620 that he
" quaffed the mighty bowl " and mingled in those
"brave translunary scenes." Perchance in his occa
sional visits to London while at the University he may
have looked in upon the great compotators, and so
paved the way for full fellowship on leaving it. By
1620 he had unquestionably composed some, at least,
and some of his daintiest Poems (exclusive of the
' Fairy ' ones). It was " in the season? that is in
youth, he sang : —

" Of brooks, of blossomes, buds and bowers
Of April, May, of June and July flowers ;"

and so he could carry proof of his poetic vocation to
the august brethren. With Ben Jonson for ' Master,'

5 Volpone, 1605, &c., published 1608 — shows a long run:
Epicene, 1609 : Alchemist, 1 6 10: Catiline, 161 1 : Bartholomew
Fair not till 1614.

Ixxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

there were others subsidiary. I think it is manifest
that he elected his subjects and formed his style after
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (in his sweeter and lowlier
vein, and in his epithets), ROBERT GREENE, and JAMES
SHIRLEY — exclusive of the Classics. The first in his
" Come live with me, and be my love," is echoed in
his rural pieces. Then his favourite vocabulary of
dews and nard, wine and ambrosia, amber and flames,
and spices, white brows, golden hair, cherry lips, eyes
that brighten, lily cheeks, ' silver shine,' kisses and
clasps, maidens and virgins and ' maidenheads,' favourite
flowers as roses, lilies, daisies and daffodils, and out-of-
the-way words as ' chequered ' and l diapered ' and
' enamell'd ' and the like, are all found in Greene. One
could imagine it was from the Hesperides such things as
these have been gathered : —

" Her hair of golden hue doth dim the beames
That proud Apollo giveth from his coach."

(II. 215, Dyce.)

" Her lips are roses over-wash'd with dew
Or like the purple of Narcissus* flower." (Ib. p. 228.)

" Her cheeks like ripen'd lilies steep'd in wine

When first her fair delicious cheeks were wrought,
Aurora brought her blush, the morn her white ;

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixxvii.

Both so combin'd as passed Nature's thought,
CompiFd those pretty orbs of sweet delight."

(Ib. p. 230.)

" Thine eyes are likte the glow-worms in the night."

(It. p. 232.)

- " Enchanted fits of lunacy." (Ib. p. 236.)

" Her haire as Gorgon's foul retorting snakes."

(Ib. p. 237.)

" As air perfum'd with amber is her breath."

" Like lilies dipt in Bacchus' choicest wine." (Ib. p. 254.)

" Her amber trammels did my heart dismay."

(Ib. p. 254.)

[Flora] " Curld locks of amber hair." (Ib. p. 243.)

— " Her mantle chequer'd all with gaudy green."

(Ib. p. 26.)

" And bade my lambs to feed on daffadil." (Ib. p. 284.)
" Behold my cell, built in a silent shade." (Ib. p. 246.)

Nor is it only in single words and turns that Greene is
inevitably recalled. His " Ode " and " The Palmer's
Ode " and the " Penitent Palmer's Ode " have the very
touch of Herrick's ' Fairy ' poems : —

" Down the valley 'gan he track
Bag and bottle at his back,
In a surcoat all of gray :
Such wear palmers on the way,

Ixxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

When with scrip and staff they see

Jesus5 grave on Calvary." (Ib. p. 243.)

Again, in Francesco's Ode are other characteristics : —

" Eyes that lighten, and do shine
Beams of love that are divine,
Lily cheeks, whereon beside
Buds of roses show their pride,
Cherry lips, which did speak,
Words that made all hearts to break,
Words most sweet, for breathe was sweet,
Such perfume for loue is meet,
Precious words, as hard to tell
Which more pleased, wit or smell." (Ib. p. 249.)

Once more, Infida's Song : —

" Thy face as fair as Paphos' brooks, —
Wherein fancy baits her hooks.
Thy cheeks like cherries that do grow
Amongst the autumn mounts of snow ;
Thy lips vermilion full of loue,
Thy neck of siluer white as doue,
Thine eyes, like flames of holy fires
Burn all my thoughts with sweet desires/*

(Ib. pp. 252-3.)

Further :—

" White her brow, her face was fair
Amber breath perfum'd the air ;

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixxix.

Rose and lily both did seek

To show their glories on her cheek :

Love did nestle in her looks

Baiting there her sharpest hooks ;

Gold her hair, bright her eyne,

Like to Phoebus in his shine." (Ib. p. 299.)

And here, as already noticed, is an odd but recurring
word of Herrick : —

" Meads that erst with green were spread
With choice flowers diap'red." (Ib. p. 302.)

Herrick's " Charon and the Nightingale " (II. 224) and
" The New Charon" (III. no) were certainly inspired
by Greene's " Eurymachus' Fancy in the prime of his
Affection," and it is only fair to the earlier singer to
give here this more complete example of him : —

" As thus I sat, disdaining of proud love,

Have over, ferryman, there cried a boy ;

And with him was a paragon for hue,

A lovely damsel, beauteous and coy ;

And there

With her

A maiden, cover'd with a tawny veil,
Her face unseen for breeding lovers bale.
I stirr'd my boat, and when I came to shore,
The boy was wing'd ; methought it was a wonder;
The dame had eyes like lightning, or the flash
That runs before the hot report of thunder ;

Ixxx. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Her smiles

Were sweet,

Lovely her face ; was ne'er so fair a creature,
For earthly carcass had a heavenly feature.
My friend, quoth she, sweet ferryman, behold,
We three must pass, but not a farthing fare ;
But I will give, for I am Queen of Love,
The brightest lass thou lik'st unto thy share ;

Choose where

Thou lov'st,

Be she as fair as Love's sweet lady is,
She shall be thine, if that will be thy bliss.
With that she smil'd with such a pleasing face
As might have made the marble rock relent ;
And I that triumph'd in disdain of love,
Bad fie on him that to fond love was bent,

And then

Said thus,

So light the ferryman, for love doth care,
As Venus pass not, if she pay no fare.
At this a frown sat on her angry brow ;
She winks upon her wanton son hard by,
He from a quiver drew a bolt of fire,
And aim'd so right as that he pierc'd mine eye ;

And then

Did she

Draw down the veil that hid the virgin's face,
Whose lovely beauty lighten'd all the place."

(pp. 259-60, as before.)

The closing line is worthy of Spenser, and there is
nothing finer in the Hesperides.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixxxi.

James Shirley's " Poems " published in 1646 had long
circulated in MS., and I find the original of Herrick's
Julia in his Odelia, and in his " To L. for a Wreath of
Bays sent him," I discern the prototype of his " Wel
come to Sack," and ever and anon peculiar ways of
putting things and celebrations of feminine graces,
that Herrick must have seen. Of Shirley I can find
space only for a single quotation. It reminds us in
parts of Herrick's "Welcome to Sack" (I. 133) and *
"Farewell to Sack" (I. 76), and also of his Lines "To
Mistresse Katharine Bradshaw, the lovely, that crowned
him with Laurel" (1.163). There is much of their
abandon and ecstatic fancies :

To L.for a Wreath of Bays sent him.
" Soul of my Muse, what active unknown fire
Already doth thy Delphick wreath inspire !
O' th' sudden, how my faculties swell high,
And I am all a powerful prophesy !
Sleep, ye dull Csesars, Rome will boast in vain
Your glorious triumphs ; one is in my brain
Great as all yours ; and circled with thy bays,
My thoughts take empire o'er all land and seas :
Proof against all the planets, and the stroke
Of thunder, I rise up Augustus' oak,
Within my guard of laurel, and made free
From age, look fresh still as my Daphnean tree.

f

Ixxxii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

My fancy's narrow yet, till I create

For thee another world, and in a state

As free as innocence, shame all poets and wit,

To climb no higher than Elysium yet,

Where the pale lovers meet, and teach the groves

To sigh, and sing vain legends of their loves ;

We will have other flights, and taste such things

Are only fit for sainted queens and kings.

Musaeus, Homer and ye sacred rest

Long since believ'd in yr own ashes blest,

Awake, and live again ! and having wrote

One story, wish your songs forgot,

And yourselves too : but one high subject must

In spite of death and time, new soul yr dust.

What cannot I command I what can a thought

Be now ambitious of, but still be brought

By virtue of my charm ? I will undo

The year, and at my pleasure make one new,

All spring, whose blooming paradise but when

I list, shall with one frown wither again.

Astrologers, leave searching the vast skies :

Teach them all fate, O Delia, from thine eyes ;

All that was earth resolves my spirits free,

I have nothing left now but my soul and thee."

(Works by Gifford & Dyce, vi., pp. 413-14.)

I cannot doubt that besides those named, he had
studied Barnabe Barnes and Richard Barnfield and other
of the early Singers. With an absolute and unique
originality Herrick, nevertheless, reveals that, Bee-like,

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixxxiii.

he gathered his honey from many flowers. Yet was
it his boast that anything he took was ' adopted, not
stolen,' as thus : —

Upon his Verses*
" What off-spring other men have got,

The how, where, when, I question not.

These are the Children I have left ;

Adopted some ; none got by theft.

But all are toucht (like lawfull plate)

And no Verse illegitimate." (Vol. II. p. 223.)

He had been a Poet at Cambridge, and came to
' town ' all ringing with his poetic readings and his
own fine imaginings. It was something that there
were still surviving so many who could appreciate his
rare gift.6

During the year 1620 onward, it is just possible that

6 I wish here to express my admiration for a brilliant paper on
Robert Herrick, by Mr. Edmund W. Gosse, which appeared in
Comhill (August, 1875). I am unlucky enough to be compelled
to express and vindicate differences (as above and onward) in
several important points of fact, and likewise in criticism ; but
none the less do I appreciate the fine spirit of the paper, and its
finished workmanship. Besides, Mr. Gosse was really the first to
write in full sympathy with Herrick's genius, and to try to indi
cate (if not always accurately) his reading. See II. Critical,
for remarks on Mr. Gosse's conception (eheu ! misconception) of
Herrick in relation to the events and circumstances of the period,
and other matters.

Ixxxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

through his uncle he was received at Court. His
later royal poems " sung at Whitehall " and his usual
language to the King and Queen, suggest that he had
been for years known to them, if certain also suggest that
he met with inevitable courtly disappointments — as
George Herbert too had to confess. The only really
dated poem is his rendering of the " Dialogue betwixt
Horace and Lydia," which is inscribed " Translated
anno 1627," and " set by Mr. Ro. Ramsey." To have
found such a distinguished composer as Ramsey to
' set ' his verses, is surely declarative of a position
already gained ; for Ramsey, and Laniere, and Wilson,
and the Lawes' — all of whom ' set ' his poems — moved
in the Court and among the " Upper Ten."

In 1629 two important events in Herrick's life took
place. The first — hitherto unascertained — was the
death of his mother. I am able to give here, for
the first time, her Will, which is again literatim, as
follows : —

"In the name of God, Amen, I, Julian Hirricke of Branta,
in the Countie of Suff., Gent., being in perfect memorie,
(thankes bee vnto God) yet remembringe the vncertainty
of this life, doe make my last will and Testament in forme
following, ffirst I bequeath my soule vnto God my mercifull
ftather, And my bodie to to bee buried at the place of my
departure. Impr. I will & bequeath to my daughter Wing-

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixxxv.

feild one hundred pounds. Item to my sonne Wingfield,
Twenty pounds. It. to my Grandchild Mercy Wingfield,
fiftie pounds. It. to theire sonne, Humphrey Wingfeld,
Twentie pounds. It. to their sonne, John, Tenne pounds,
and to theire sonne, Willm, ten pounds. It. to my sonne, \
Willm Herricke, one hundred pounds ; and to his two
children, ten pounds apeece. To my Goddaughter, Ellis,
my lesser Cutt worke handkerchiefe. To his wife, a Ringe
of Twenty shillings. To my two sonnes, Nicholas and \l
Robert, either of them a Ringe of Twenty shillings apeece. j
To my sonne Willm, his wife, a Ringe of Twenty shillings.
It. to Dr. Jones, fortie shillings. It. to Mr. Herdson, three
pounds ; to his wife, my saddle and cloth. Item to Mr.
Cauldred, a Ringe of Twenty shillings. Item to Charls
Cutler, Twenty shillings. To Laurence Crick, Twenty
shillings. To mine owne maide, Twenty shillings, besides
her wages. It. to An Tomson, twenty shillings. To
Humph : Huggins, Twenty shillings. It. to Nurse Lawter,
Twenty shillings. To the Coachma, tenne shillings. It.
to the boye in the Kitchin, Ten shillings. To the maides
now in the house, ten shillings apeece. To the poore of
Branta, fortie shillings. All the rest of my goods now at
Branta I bequeath to my daughter Wingfeld, the siluer
skillet and plate, after her decease, to Mercy, her daughter.
And I doe appoint my sonne Willm and my daughter
Wingfeld my Executors, and my sonne Wingfeld supra-
uisor of this my last Will. In witnes whereof I haue here-
vnto set my scale the fewer and Twentieth of August, One
thousand six hundred twenty nine, Julian Hirricke.

" Sealed and deliuered in the presence of Ro : Grimble,

Ixxxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

John Rand. — Nowe Lord letst thie Servant depart in
peace."7

Recorded in Book " Ridley " at folio 97.

This Will was proved in the Prerogative Court of
Canterbury 5th November, 1629, by William Herricke
(not Hirricke or Hiricke as the mother spelled) the son
and Mary Wingfield the daughter of the testatrix, the
executors named by her. So that she probably died
shortly after making these arrangements. That she
came to be resident at Brantham in Suffolk, is explained
by her daughter ' Mercie ' having married there. Un
fortunately the Register of Brantham does not com
mence until 1634 ; but until comparatively recent
years Wingfields are found in the register and Parish.
All that Robert and his elder brother Nicholas received
was " a ringe of twenty shillings " apiece. Sir William
Herrick does not get even a ' ringe ' — a suggestive
omission in the remembrance that he had been one of
the two "chief overseers." The solitary reference
to his mother does not indicate any very warm re
gard ; and it is noticeable that he who wrote Epi
taphs so incomparably for so many, left none for
her, neither aught of memorial-verse.

7 Obtained through Colonel Chester, as before.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixxxvii.

The second event of the year 1629 is his taking
orders, and his presentation to the ' living ' of Dean
Prior in Devon. I know not on what authority it has
been stated that it was through the (then) Earl of Exeter
the 'presentation' was obtained. The fact is that the
vicar of Dean Prior, — Potter — several of whose family
find a place in Hesperides — being promoted to the
bishopric of Carlisle, he was admitted thereto on 2nd
October, 1629. What bishop gave him 'orders' has
not been transmitted. From his Lines to Williams
Bishop of Lincoln on his imprisonment, one might
suspect that he had thrown obstacles in the way of
his ordination. But it may be that the felt injury was
neglect or even flouting by that most astute but unpo-
etical dignitary, of the earlier " Charoll," which the Poet
had sent him. Nor have we any light on the long
delay from 1620 to (apparently) 1629, that is until
nearly his 40th year, in seeking, or at least being made
' priest.' His motif for seeking ordination was at any
rate not mercenary, or for "a piece of bread." He
asserts this unmistakably in his impassioned " Farewell
vnto Poetrie," as thus : —

-"'TVs not need

(The skarcrow vnto mankinde) that doth breed

Ixxxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Wiser conclusions in mee, since I knowe

I've more to beare my chardges, then way to goe ;

Or had I not, I'de stopp the spreading itch

Off craueing more : soe yn conceipt bee ritch ;

But tis the god of nature ivho yntends,

And shaps my function for more glorious ends : "

To-day a more charming portion of the great Vine
yard (to fitly appropriate Bible language) than Dean
Prior is scarcely conceivable. Leaving Brent — a
station on the South Devon Railway, about 16 miles
from Plymouth, — you take the road in a north-easterly
direction, passing just below the edge of the moor.
The road is not particularly beautiful or interesting, but
you get glimpses of the hills sometimes on your left,
and a mile and a half from Brent there are a few old
cottages, and then the road passes through a fordable
stream by a clump of trees, and from a little stone
bridge for foot passengers that they call in Devonshire
a clam, you look over the hedge to your right upon
rich meadows, well backed with wood. Another mile
and you come to the narrow lane on the right which
leads down to Dean Church, i.e. the Church and vicarage
and a small farm-house and a few cottages clustered
round them. The Church town as it is called in Devon
and Cornwall, lies in a small but deep valley. Look-

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. Ixxxix.

ing down upon them from the high road, the church
and houses seem sunk among the trees. The trees
now standing are all of recent growth, but from the
sheltered situation of the little valley, it was probably
always well wooded. About a mile further on is Dean
Prior, another little hamlet, close to which stands Dean
Court, now a farm, but anciently a great manor-house.
In Herrick's time it was beautified by Sir Edward
Giles, the lord of the manor, who left his family-seat at
Bowden near Totness, and came thither to reside a few
years before his death in 1637. Close to this hamlet
of Dean Prior — (which en passant gets its name from
the manor having been, up to the Reformation, the
property of the Priory of Plympton) the little river
Dean flows down to join the Dart near Buckfastleigh,
a market-town a mile further on the road to Ashburton.
The stream flows from the moor through one of the
coombs, or deep and wooded valleys which abound on
the borders of Dartmoor. Like all Devonshire streams
it has a rocky bed. The wood through which it
bickers is called Deany Wood, and just above the wood
is another little hamlet called Dean Combe. These
three hamlets, Dean Combe, Dean Prior and Dean
Church, all within the parish of Dean, form as it were
the points of a triangle, of which each side is about

xc. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

three-quarters of a mile in length. The parish contains
4,165 acres, and in 1871 the population was 400, the
number of people having diminished since the begin
ning of the present century, and being probably less
than it was in Herrick's time. According to the Clergy
List the tythe-rent charge is now about ^230 a year
with 93 acres of glebe. The old manor-house — Dean
Court — was the only great house in the parish. From
Sir Edward Giles, who enlarged the house and made a
park, and apparently kept up some state there, it
passed into the family of Yarde, and from them — long
after Herrick's death — by marriage, to the Bullers.
Lord Churston, the present head of the Buller family,
is now lord of the manor, but Dean Court is shorn of
its grandeur, and is now an ordinary farm-house, with
but few remains of its ancient dignity.

Two centuries and a half ago Dean Prior was remote
from literary society, and its parishioners not very
capable of giving intellectual sympathy to their Vicar.
The change from London to " dull Devonshire " and
the " loathed West " to such a sociable and erewhile
pleasure-taking nature must have been in Dominie
Sampson's exclamation — prodigious ! The links that
bound him to the great Metropolis were not easily
severed. From his " loopholes of retreat" he looked

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xci.

thitherward. Within a few months of his settlement
he wrote " A Pastoral upon the Birth of Prince
Charles," afterwards Charles II., and it is headed,
"Presented to the King," (Charles I.) "and set by
Mr. Nic. Laniere." Three years onward — 1633 — he
similarly greeted another royal birth, entitling his poem,
" The Poet's Good Wishes for the most hopeful and
handsome prince, the Duke of York," afterwards
James II. Later still, sick-at-heart, through hope long
deferred (I fear) he thus addressed his Muse on send
ing (as seems likely) a copy of Hesperides :

" Go wooe young Charles, no more to looke
Then but to read this in my booke :
How Herrick beggs, if that he can-
Not like the Muse, to loue the man
Who by the shepherds, sung long since
The starre-led birth of Charles the Prince."

namely his " Pastorall."

Thus was it continuously, on through the troublous
and dolorous years of conflict between Kingdom and
King. That he cultivated his gift as a Poet in Devon
shire is certain, albeit Hesperides in its order or dis- /
order violates all chronology and makes it impossible
to date earlier and later except occasionally. So far as
I have been able to trace, his first appearance in print

xcii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

was the anonymous publication of fragments of his
" Fairy " poems — so imperfect as to suggest that they
had been surreptitiously obtained. This was in 1635,
in a delicious little booklet called, " A Description of
the King and Queene of Fayries, their habit, fare, their
abode, pompe and state. Beeing very delightfull to the
sense, and full of mirth."8 Ben Jonson's death took
place on 6th of August, i6379; but Herrick did not
contribute to " lonsonus Virbivs " (1638). Within
the next few years he must have been well known as a
Poet j for when in 1640 there came out " Wit's Recrea
tions " there were included in it no fewer than 62 of the
poems contained in Hesperides afterwards, and one
("Description of a Woman") not reprinted therein.
In common with the entire collection, these are all
without name or even initials ; but they establish their
authoritative publication by the author's own most
careful revision and reproduction of them subsequently.1
It is noticeable that so much from him should have
found place in a book that was the first to bring to-

8 This will likely be reproduced as one of my " Occasional
Issues."

9 It is usually said to have been i6th August. Whether it was
old or new style I am not aware. If new style it would be =
1 8th August.

1 See II. Critical for more on " Wit's Recreations."

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xciii.

gether — sadly intermixed, no doubt — some of the most
choice pieces of the greater poets and a few originals,
as of Richard Crashaw's immortal " Wishes," if some
what poorly given. The probabilities are that he came
and went between Devonshire and London. The
provincial Winters could not but be dull and lonely ;
and for the elder generation of his poetic contem
poraries there were rising into notice Carew and
Lovelace, Denham and Suckling, and Charles Cotton,
with all of whom he formed friendships apparently.

Of his life as a clergyman — except in the lights and
shadows of touching memorial and ' epitaph ' verses
beyond all Greek and Roman exquisiteness, and
marriage greetings comparable with Catullus at his
best, and stinging and rough epigrams hitting off his
parishioners emulative of Martial at his worst, in Hes-
perides — we know very little. That he entered on his
office with a real sense of new responsibilities, and that
he was resolved to be delivered from all that would
hinder his consecration to its manifold duties, is certain.
This indeed is made to stand out very definitely, in a
sense, awfully — though, strange to say, it has escaped
all his Biographers. Among the Ashmolean MSS. a
little poem — complete in itself, and not a fragment — is
informed with a passion and has over it a shadow of

xciv. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

solemnity most unusual to Herrick, and declarative of a
resolute breaking off from earlier entanglements and
self-indulgences, and a profound sense of being now a
' priest of the Most High God,' and so set apart for
holy and celestial work. We know that he remained
unmarried ; and hence there was reality in the " Fare
well " of this remarkable poem. Let us study it,
meditatively : —

" Vpon Parting.

Goe hence away, and in thy parting know
'Tis not my voice, but heauens that bidds thee goe ;
Spring hence thy faith, nor thinke it ill desart
I finde in thee, that makes me thus to part.
But voice of fame, and voice of heauen haue thunderd
We both were lost, if both of us not sunderd :
Fould now thine armes, and in thy last looke reare
One Sighe of loue, and coole it with a teare :
Since part we must, let's kisse ; that done, retire
With as cold frost, as erst we mett with fire;
With such white vowes as fate can nere dissever,
But truth knitt fast ; and so farewell for euer."

Vol. III. p. 109.

It needs no italicizing or capitals to arrest attention to
the significance of these words : —

" Voice of fame and voice of heauen have thunderd
We both were lost, if both of us not sunderd :

and so farewell for euer."

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xcv.

There was probably folded up in this " Parting " such
unsuspected struggle and conquest as similarly unsus
pected, went on with Phineas Fletcher.2 Even his
Muse was to be forsaken, as his equally striking and
memorable " Farwell vnto Poetrie " remains to attest —
although it proved a mere mood, not an irreversible or
unreversed decision ; or rather, henceforward he would
1 sing ' his " Noble Numbers " rather than add to
" Hesperides." Will the Reader tarry at this point to
read and re-read this " Farwell " (Vol. III., pp. 101-6),
or at least the italicized lines in these two brief quota
tions from it : —

— " Vnto mee, bee onlye hoarse, since now
(Heauen and my soule beare record of my -vowe)
/, my desires screw from thee, and directe
Them and my thoughts to that sublimed respecte
And conscience imto priesthood." (p. 104.)

Then thus of higher aims in his after-verse : —

" Thus with a kisse of warmth, and loue, I parte
Not soe, but that some r clique yn my harte
Shall stand for euer, though I doe addresse
Chiefelye my selfe to what I must proffess :
Knowe yet (rare soule) when my diuiner muse
Shall want a hand-mayde (as she ofte will vse)

2 See my Memoir of Phineas Fletcher, F. W. Library edition of
his Works.

xcvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Bee readye, thou for mee, to ivayte vppon her,
Thoughe as a seruant, yet a tnayde of honor.
The crowne of dutye is our dutye : well
Doing's, the fruite of doinge well. Farewell."

(P. 106.)

Swift's and Sterne's Sermons remain to witness how
they could and actually did preach — to the confusion of
all theories and preconceptions about them, for where
do you find of their kind, better ? We have not this
advantage in the case of Herrick. Anthony a-Wood
characterizes his Sermons as " florid and witty [=wise]
discourses," but he shews himself ill-informed on him
in several ways. He states, too, that he was much
" beloved by the neighbouring gentry." A late
tradition, from the mouth of the "oldest inhabitant,"
aged 99, one Dorothy King, informs us that "he
one day threw his sermon at his congregation, cursing
them for their inattention."3 It has been said of
Sterne's portrait that it looks as if he were going to
fling his wig at his auditors. He had too keen a
sense of the ridiculous to have run such a grotesque
risk ; but somehow one does not feel it incongruous if
Herrick did what venerable Dorothy recalled. She
shewed that her old Vicar's memory was dear to her

3 Quarterly Review : Mr. Barren Field, as before.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xcvii.

by regularly using stray verses of his " Letanie " in
bed o' nights and preserving in her memory other
lines.4 I suspect that not in the pulpit, but as a free
and easy associate with the " neighbouring gentry," ,
and his humblest parishioners in their joys and
sorrows, amusements and superstitions, did the Vicar
exercise influence. From his repeated self-portraitures
and descriptions of his * cell ' (as he called his
Vicarage) it is abundantly manifest that if there were .'
high thinking, his ordinary living was homely. His
one house-keeper and servant, * Prue/ or Prudence ,.
Baldwin, lives " for all time " in Hesperides. His spa
niel ' Tracy' takes its place beside Cowper's and Scott's.
One other pet he has not celebrated. Dame Dorothy
King distinctly remembered that he had a " favourite %
pig, which he amused himself by teaching to drink out ^
of a tankard." This latter * favourite ' has been re
peated in our own day in a * parson ' of equal unique
ness of character and almost equal poetic genius — the
Vicar of Morwenstow, the Rev. Robert Stephen
Hawker, M.A., of whom his Biographer (the Rev.
S. Baring-Gould, M.A.) states : " He had a favourite
rough pony which he rode, and a black pig of Berk-

xcviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

shire breed, well cared for, washed and curry-combed,
which ran beside him when he went out for walks and
paid visits. Indeed, the pig followed him into ladies'
drawing-rooms, not always to their satisfaction. The
pig was called ' Gyp,' and was intelligent and obedient.
If Mr. Hawker saw that those whom he visited were
annoyed at the intrusion of the pig, he would order it
out, and the black creature shrunk out of the door,
with its tail out of curl."5 Elsewhere (II. Critical) it
will be amply shown that the Vicar of Dean Prior had
a deeper vein of Christian thoughtfulness than Hes-
perides, or even Noble Numbers hastily read, would lead
us to suppose. There will be found also a striking
undertone of melancholy. Fundamentally, it will
appear that no misconception is more absolute than
that he went on singing his jovial lyrics and throwing
off his light fantastiques of verse and broad epigrams
while the most disastrous events were occurring in the
nation. A thoughtful study of Hesperides reveals him
as moved in the deepest of him by every element of
the sorrowful national conflict, and that his gay l sing
ing ' was long prior to these years. There was gravity
all along in combination with his jesting, aye, even
when what was " not convenient " fell from him.

5 Page 20.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. xcix.

From 1629 to 1647 he continued Vicar of Dean •
Prior. Then came thundering " The Revolution,"
with Oliver Cromwell's truncheon as " Lord Protector,"
more potential than kingly sceptre gripped by Charleses.
John Selden was Herrick's friend " next to idolatry; "
but Herrick was an avowed Royalist and * Loyalist '-
that is to the King, rather than to the Kingdom. His
* Loyal ' poems are open-mouthed in his avowal of the
' divine right ' of kings to ' govern,' wrongly or rightly.
There are memorable bits that go to prove he saw with
tear-wet eyes, the madness of Charles I. and his ad
visers — saw the glory paling in his ideal sovereignty —
the rainbow vanishing" in a drizzle of bodiless rain ;
but substantially he held fast by the old anchor
of hereditary monarchy as such. As a consequence he
was disloyal to the Commonwealth and its 'government'
— a government built up, if as augustly, also against as
great odds as was the second Temple on Mount Zion.
One can understand the chivalry of such loyalty ;
especially as nowhere is there a ribald or even tart
word against the Roundheads or Cromwell personally ;
but we must equally comprehend the inevitableness of
the Vicar's removal. " Sober and learned " he might
or might not be — as John Walker in his folio of " Suf
ferings of the Clergy " 6 names him ; but then one true

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

to the powers that were, in every parish, was a neces
sity. And so Robert Herrick stepped out, and good
and brave and venerable JOHN SYMS stepped in. That
it was unreluctantly he gave way is loudly proclaimed
in his "Return to London" — all palpitating as the
poem is with gladfulness in once more being back in
his native country (as he designates it) and free from
his banishment. We must tarry to read this poem :

His returne to London.

From the dull confines of the drooping West,
To see the day spring from the pregnant East,
Ravisht in spirit, I come, nay more, I flie
To thee, blest place of my Nativitie !
Thus, thus with hallowed foot I touch the ground,
With thousand blessings by thy Fortune crown'd.
O fruitful Genius ! that bestowest here
An everlasting plenty, yeere by yeere.

0 Place ! O People ! Manners ! fram'd to please
All Nations, Customes, Kindreds, Languages !

1 am a free-born Roman ; suffer then,
That I amongst you live a Citizen.

London my home is : though by hard fate sent
Into a long and irksome banishment;
Yet since cal'd back ; henceforward let me be,
O native countrey, repossest by thee !
For, rather then Tie to the West return,
Pie beg of thee first here to have mine Urn.
Weak I am grown, and must in short time fall ;
Give thou my sacred Reliques Buriall.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ci.

It is evident that the ' outed ' Vicar's return to
Ixmdon was as of a Jew's from captivity and exile.
Walker (as before) states that "after his Ejectment he
returned to London, and having no fifths paid him, was
subsisted by Charity, until the Restoration." This
needs sifting — and shall now have it. First of all,
Mr. Walford, in sheer ignorance of the facts, sneers at
his " godly successor," repeatedly putting * godly' within
inverted commas. Now had he deigned to inquire,
instead of sneering, he would have superabundantly
discovered that John Syms was a man of men — an
humble, devoted, learned, conscience-ruled servant of
the ' great Taskmaster ' — a man whose memory bore
fragrance in it across a century and more, as well for
the multitude of his ' sufferings' on account of his heroic
Nonconformity, as for the meekness and modesty and
unclamorousness with which he bore them. Next, in
like ignorance of the facts, the non-payment of 'Fifths'
is turned not only into a sneer, but an accusation.
If, again, Wood and Mr. Walford and your ultra-
Churchmen had inquired, it would have been made
clear to them that in the case of such slender
* livings' to give ' Fifths' was an impossibility, if body
and soul were to be kept together, and that it was
only in such cases, naturally, as warranted the deduc-

cii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

tion, or in special circumstances, that 'Fifths' were due
to the ' outed ' clergyman. Then one is compelled to
remind your Mr. Walfords that when the later Ejection
of 24th August, 1662, was enforced, those who
returned' in not a solitary instance paid ' Fifths,' or
paid one sixpence to the then ' outed ' ; and yet these
" Two Thousand " were as learned, as cultured, as
' godly,' as consecrate (to say the least), and as lawfully
and ' divinely ' appointed as they were. More than
that : they were ' ejected ' not for disloyalty to an
earthly sovereign, but as being loyal to the King of
Kings as their consciences instructed them. I cry
shame on the ' restored,' who while ' out ' had regu
larly drawn their ' Fifths ' and more — and yet forgot
the good men and true who beyond the letter had kept
the law toward them. I protest with indignation
against such traducing of honourable and illustrious
men.

Further : the alleged poverty and ' subsisting by
charity ' is sheer nonsense. For, unlike most, Herrick
had innumerable wealthy relatives of the nearest, and
many open doors of welcome in brothers and sisters
well-married. It is out of the question to accredit
that all these resources were dried up. As a Royalist
in the Commonwealth, he doubtless had his hardships

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

and vexations ; but there is not one iota to warrant the
alleged abject poverty. We are the more disposed
to argue this from the numerous indications of the
most friendly relations being sustained by the Poet
with his family on both sides. The Stones and Soames
and Wingfields, and the other Herricks, and their sons
and daughters — all kindly remembered as ' kinsmen '
• — have prominent and heart-full celebration all through
Hesperides. Probably the origin of the whole misre
presentation is to be looked for in ' gossip ' concerning
gifts bestowed on him by noble and other friends, as
was the mode. That, like others, he received such
gifts, is evident by his acknowledgments to the Earl of
Pembroke, as thus : —

" You, my lord, are one, whose hand along
Goes with your mouth, or do's outrun your tongue,
Paying before you praise p, and cockring wit,
Give both the gold and garland unto it."

(Vol. II. p. 63.)

So " To the Patron of Poets, M. End. Porter":—

— " Let there be Patrons ; Patrons like to thee,
Brave Porter ! Poets ne'r will wanting be :
Fabius, and Cotta, Lentulus, all live
In thee, thou man of men ! who here dos't give
Not onely subject-matter for our wit,
But likewise oyle of maintenance to it.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Fcr which, before thy threshold, we'll lay downe
Our Thyrse, for Scepter, and our Bales for Crown."

(Vol. I. p. 70.)

: A brother of Endymion Porter may also have been
a 'patron'; but it must be remembered that the two
introductory stanzas of " An Ode to Master Endymion
Porter, upon his Brother's Death " are put into the
mouth of Endymion and express his loss, not Herrick's
own. Otherwise the second stanza would have sug
gested weighty obligation, if not dependence, e.g. : —

" Alas for me ! that I have lost

E'en all almost :

Sunk is my sight ; set is my Sun ;
And all the loome of life undone :
The staffe, the Elme, the prop, the sheltering wall,

Whereon my vine did crawl e,

Now, now, blowne downe ; needs must the old stock fall."

(Vol. I. p. 124.)

The opening precludes the application of this to
Herrick : —

" Not all thy flushing sunnes are set,
Herrick, as yet."

Such ' gifts ' partook not at all of the nature of elee
mosynary payments ; and yet I feel persuaded that
Anthony a-Wood had merely caught up a perverted

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cv.

rumour concerning them, and so wrote of his " subsist
ing by charity."

In 1647-8 he published his " Hesperides : Works
Humane and Divine," with his portrait — of which
more in the sequel — prefixed. He describes himself
as " Robert Herrick, Esq." ; so assuming the lay
character, as was possibly expedient, alike from the
circumstances and from the matter-of-fact that in so far
as the bulk of the poems went, they had been composed
by him while a layman. Elsewhere again (II. Critical)
I examine his matterful and marvellous double-volume.
Here it is sufficient to remark that never had the
Cavaliers so congenial a gift in a book — redolent as it
was of that type of wit with which they set " the table
in a roar."

A tradition lingered in Devonshire that Herrick was
the originator of " Poor Robin's Almanac " that ul
timately became renowned and held a long lease of
life, if indeed it do not still in humble guise circulate.
Nichols in his Leicestershire accepts the tradition as
possible, as he also accepts his (impossible) poverty
while in London. Others recalling that the Almanac
was first published in 1661 regard it as impossible. I
have disposed of the poverty in any pauper-sense ; but
I am inclined to accredit the tradition. For (i) The

MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

Restoration of " our most religious king " Charles II.
came with sudden unexpectedness ; so that such a
literary scheme might be extremely timely to Herrick,
and while all ready, years before, he may have simply
postponed publication until 1661. (2) It was not
until the 'Ejection 'of 24th August, 1662, that John
Syms was ' outed ' from Dean Prior ; and so Herrick
might still up to 1662 be gladly occupied in such a
venture. (3) Such a tradition could scarcely be
invented — for it was not a thing at all likely to be
ascribed to their Vicar by his Parishioners unless he
himself had told and owned it. (4) It is specially
to be remembered (albeit from Chaucer onward
* Robin ' was the accepted name for a simple rustic) that
both in his Poems, and in at least one letter, " Robin "
and " Robin Herrick" was his self-chosen playful way of
describing himself. An examination of the earlier ' Poor
Robin's ' Almanacs and of later, gives things that in my
judgment might have been written by Herrick.7 If only
we had the key — and a chance turning out of old MSS.

7 1 regret that space cannot be found for specimens. Had one
known absolutely that they were his, space must have been taken.
As it is, we must wait confirmation. The verses, sooth to say, are
not of high quality. Certes they are not equal to Hesperides,
though they must have come after.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cvii.

may any day put it into our hands — I imagine it would be
discovered that the Poet of the Hesperides and Noble
Numbers took part in the fecund literature of the period.
It seems inconceivable that he could give the world
" Hesperides " and " Noble Numbers," and then cease
production. And yet this must be believed if we set
aside anonymous writing ; for outside of his books, all
that persistent research has recovered is the tomb-inscrip
tion of his neighbours, Sir Edward and Lady Giles.
This, and the Poems from the Ashmolean and B.
Museum MSS. are the whole that have been added to his
' Works.' Here and there poems of the Hesperides
were inserted in after-books, e.g. in the ' Musarurri
Deliciae ' (1656) and the continuous editions of
" Wit's Recreations " and the like. How strangely
even Hesperides had fallen out of sight so early as
1657 is evidenced by Henry Hold's " Wit a sporting in
a pleasant Grove of New Fancies," wherein various of
its Poems were undetectedly appropriated bodily, and
others disguisedly.

Returned to Dean Prior after 24th August, 1662—
John Syms. still ' preaching' with splendid devotedness
and fearlessness of penalties in neighbouring villages —
Herrick was then in his 7ist-72d year ; but, in all like
lihood beneath his grey hairs carried as clear an intel-

cviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

lect and joyous a spirit as of old. He had vowed that
nothing should ever take him back to loathed Devon
shire : —

" A people currish ; churlish as the seas ;
And rude (almost) as rudest Salvages ;
With whom I did, and may re-sojourne when
Rockes turn to Rivers, Rivers turn to Men."
(Vol. I., p. 48.)

but mellowed and softened by the intervening years of
national and personal trial, he no doubt went back
gratefully and graciously. He was destined to reach
the " four score years " and upwards. There is an
inexplicable absence of contemporary notices of him.
How he bore himself in his white-headed old age there
is no light to see. At last the " lean fellow " who
beats all conquerors paid the ultimate call. He died
! in October, 1674, in his 83d year. As with George
Herbert, the exact day of his death cannot be fixed ;
but in the church-register at Dean-Prior is still pre
served this entry :

" Robert Herrick, vicker, was buried y6 i5th day of
October 1674."

His grave is unknown, or at least uncertain. There
is a characteristic introduction of himself in his epitaph
lines for Sir Edward and Lady Giles ; and if composed
long after their decease for a late-raised monument, the

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cix.

expectant attitude of the words I venture to italicise, is
significant and pathetic :

" Here's the Sun-set of a Tedious day :
These two asleep are : Vie but be Vndrest
And so to Bed : Pray wish us all Good Rest."

A collateral descendant (W. Perry-Herrick, Esq., of
Beaumanor Park, Leicestershire) erected a costly monu
ment to his memory in Dean Church. It is cut out of
a great block of Caen stone, and carven in fruit and
foliage. The inscription is on a brass plate and runs
as follows :

IN THIS CHURCHYARD LIE THE REMAINS OF

ROBERT HERRICK,

AUTHOR OF THE HESPERIDES AND OTHER POEMS,
OF AN ANCIENT FAMILY IN PRESENTED TO THIS LlVING

LlECESTERSHIRE, AND BORN BY KlNG CHARLES I., IN
IN THE YEAR 1591. HE WAS THE YEAR 1629. EjECTEDDU-
EDUCATED AT ST. JOHN'S RING THE COMMONWEALTH

COLLEGE AND TRINITY AND REINSTATED SOON

HALL, CAMBRIDGE. AFTER THE RESTORATION.

HE DIED VICAR OF THIS PARISH IN THE YEAR 1674.

Wt)i0 tablet toa0 (ZErecteft
To HIS MEMORY BY HIS KlNSMAN, WlLLIAM PERRY HERRICK

OF BEAUMANOR PARK, LEICESTERSHIRE, A.D. 1857.
" OUR MORTAL PARTS MAY WRAPT IN SEARE-CLOTHES LYE,
GREAT SPIRITS NEVER WITH THEIR BODIES DIE.*'

HESPERIDES.
VIRTUS OMNIA NOBILITAT.8

8 Works : Fuller Worthies' Library, Vol. II. p. 70.

ex. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

And so I leave my little Biography with the Reader,
asking him, if so he please, to turn next to II. Cri
tical. If in both I have sought to revive the 'fame'
of Herrick it has been with a recollection of the axiom
of Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, in his " Inquisition
vpon Fame and Honour " : —

" Thus see we, both the force and use of Fame ;
How States and men have honour by her stile,
And ecchoes that enuiron in Order's frame,
Which disproportion waiteth to beguile :

Fame walks in truth, and cherisheth her end,
Knowes neither why, nor how, yet is her friend."

(Works in F. W. L., ii. p. 70.)

CXI.

II. CRITICAL.

'T'HE outward Facts in the life of Herrick, even as
more matterfully told by us (I. Biographical) are
few and simple. None the less has he secured that
* eternity of &rja£' of which again and again he prophe
sied in his Hesperides. It is as Singer he is remem
bered ; and if his memory thus endure through rela
tively humble and fragile verse, it is only the old old
story of the fern in its little nook out-during the stately
Manor-house. Flowers bloom across the centuries,
while the rock crumbles and moulders. The merest
lilts and playthings of Poetry keep green and fragrant
the name of their Maker, when (so-called) ' great ' works
are benignantly covered with the fine small dust of
oblivion. And yet there is more, infinitely, than
flower-beauty or bird-like singing in Hesperides. Apollo
was still Apollo when he played his oaten reed; but Apollo
who played his oaten reed was the ' unshorn ' sun-god.
Similarly, if you look and listen whilst you read the Poetry
of Robert Herrick, you will discover that you have genius
of a unique and masterful sort — no mere dainty weaver
of words into rhyme. Greatness is not a synonym for

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

bulk. Perfectness, on however small a scale, is the
signet of the one man in ten thousand, whatever be his
material, and whatever his art. Keeping all this in
mind, I ask the Reader to accompany me in an exami
nation of the Works of Herrick so as to bring out their
and his characteristics — the latter the more necessary
because if not the Poet at least the Man has not been
adequately estimated ; contrariwise, has been mis-esti
mated. These six things I propose to look at /
successively : —

I. The Book in its arrangement or disarrangement :

of what it consists, and wherefore.

II. Evidences of patient and genuine workmanship.

III. What the Book tells of the Man and his relation

to his times.

IV. The specialities of his Poetry.

V. His assurance of fame.

VI. His Portrait.

I. The Book in its arrangement or disarrangement : of
what it consists, and wherefore. In " The Argument of
his Book," (I. p. 7-8) the 'argument' is sweetly and
alluringly put. As one is thankful to turn the leaf of
our (Authorised) English Bible, and pass from the pious
profanities and lying of the Epistle-dedicatory " to the
most high and mighty prince, James," so one inhales

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxiii.

with sense of relief from mephitic air the fresh
ness of the outburst that succeeds the verse-dedication
" To the most illustrious and most hopefull Prince,
Charles, Prince of Wales." One cannot read it too
often ; and so here it is : —

I sing of Brooks, of Blossomes, Birds, and Bowers :

Of April, May, of June, and July- Flowers.

I sing of May-poles, Hock-carts, Wassails, Wakes,

Of Bride- grooms, Brides, and of their Bridall-cakes.

\ write of Youth, of Love, and have Accesse

By these, to sing of cleanly- Wantonnesse.

I sing of Delves, of Raines, and piece by piece

Of Balme, of Oyle, of Spice, and Amber-Greece.

I sing of Times trans-shifting ; and I write

How Roses first came Red, and Lillies White.

\ write of Groves, of Twilights, and I sing

The Court of Mab, and of the Fairie-King.

\ write of Hell ; I sing (and ever shall)

Of Heaven, and hope to have it after all.

(Vol. I., pp. 7-8.)

With this ' argument ' for guide, it is not difficult to find
it fulfilled (filled full)— for, as in Noble Numbers, he
says of God : —

He gives not poorly, taking some
Between the finger, and the thumb ;
But, for our glut, and for our store,
Fine flowre prest down, and running o're.

(III. p. 146.)

cxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

But there is a great deal more in Hesperides than the
' argument ' promises. You come first of all on celebra
tions of eminent contemporaries and near relatives and
others, and then all-too-often on what are designated
' Epigrams.' Neither of these are in any way so much
as hinted at in the 'argument.' I notice this in the
outset because it gives a solution of different problems
that start themselves as you study the Book, and per
chance lightens, if it do not absolutely relieve, the
blame of those offences against good manners, and
even good breeding, that stain the pages.

The verse-celebrations addressed to friends and emi
nent contemporaries were evidently designed to form a
separate work from Hesperides. They are these — Upon
his Sister-in-Law, Mistresse Elizab : Herrick (I. p. 39).
To the reverend shade of his religious Father (I. pp.
45-6)— To the Earle of Westmerland (I. p. 67)— To
the Patron of Poets, M. End. Porter (I. p. 70) — His
parting from Mrs. Dorothy Keneday (I. p. 72) — Upon
Mrs. Eliz: Wheeler, under the name of Amarillis (I. p.
78-9) — To his dying brother, Master William Herrick
(I. p. 125-6) — To Mistresse Katherine Bradshaw, the
lovely, that crowned him with Laurel (I. pp. 163-4) —
To the most vertuous Mistresse Pot, who many times
entertained him (I. p. 165) — To the High and Noble

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxv.

Prince, George, Duke, Marquesse, and Earle of Buck
ingham (1/173) — Mrs. Eliz. Wheeler, under the name
of the lost Shepardesse (II. pp. 3-4) — To the most
accomplisht Gentleman Master Edward Norgate (II. p.
29 — To his honoured kinsman Sir William Soame (II.
p. 45) — To the Lady Mary Villars, Governesse to the
Princesse Henrietta (II. p. 56) — The meddow verse or
Aniversary to Mistris Bridget Lowman (II. pp. 60-1) —
To the right honourable Philip, Earle of Pembroke,
and Montgomery (II. pp. 62-3) — To the most learned,
wise, and Arch- Antiquary, M. John Selden (II. p. 65)
—To the most fair and lovely Mistris, Anne Soame,
now Lady Abdie (II. pp. 69-70) — Upon his Kinswoman
Mistris Elizabeth Herrick (II. pp. 70-1) — Upon M.
Ben Johnson — Another (II. pp. 78-9) — To his Nephew,
to be prosperous in his art of Painting (II. p. 79) — To
his Maid Prew (II. pp. 80-1) — To his peculiar friend,
Sir Edward Fish, Knight Baronet (II. p. 82) — To his
peculiar friend, Master Thomas Shapcott, Lawyer (II.
p. no) — To the right gratious Prince, Lodwick, Duke
of Richmond and Lenox (II. pp. 113-4) — To the Right
Honourable Mildmay, Earle of Westmoreland (II. p.
1 1 8)— To his Kinsman, Sir Tho. Soame (II. p. 124)—
To his worthy Friend, M. Tho. Falconbridge (II. p.
132)— To Sir Clisebie Crew (II. p. 134)— To his Hon-

cxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

cured Kinsman, Sir Richard Stone (II. pp. 139-40) —
To the right Honourable Edward Earle of Dorset
(II. p. 143) — To his Kinswoman, Mrs. Penelope
Wheeler (II. p. 145) — Another upon her (ibid) — To
Mistresse Mary Willand (II. p. 148)— To his Kins
woman, Mistresse Susanna Herrick (II. p. 152)— Upon
Mistresse Susanna Southwell her cheeks (II. p. 153) —
To his honoured friend, Sir John Myntz (II. p. 154) —
To his worthy Kinsman, Mr. Stephen Soame (II. p.
162) — To his Honoured friend, M. John Weare,
Councellour (II. p. 166) — Upon his Kinswoman, Mis
tresse Bridget Herrick (II. p. 169) — To his Brother in
Law, Master John Wingfield (II. p. 181) — His Prayer
to Ben Johnson (II. p. 185) — To his worthy friend, M.
Arthur Bartly (II. p. 216) — To M. Denham, on his
Prospective Poem (II. p. 220) — To Doctor Alablaster,
(II. pp. 258-59) — Upon his Kinswoman Mrs. M. S. (II.
pp. 259-60) — To his deare Valentine, Mistresse Margaret
Falconbrige (II. p. 272) — To his faithfull friend, Master
John Crofts, Cup-bearer to the King (II. pp. 276-7) —
To my dearest Sister M. Mercie Herrick (II. pp. 180-1)
—To Mistresse Amie Potter (II. 288) — To M. Henry
Lawes, the excellent Composer of his Lyricks (II. p.
293)— To his Friend, Master J. Jincks (II. p. 295) —
To his Honour'd Friend, Sir Thomas Heale (II. pp.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxvii.

298-9) — Vpon Ben Johnson and An Ode for him (III.
pp. 11-12)— To M. Kellam (III. pp. 14-15) — To his
honoured and most ingenious friend Mr. Charles
Cotton (III. p. 24) — To M. Leonard Willan his pecu
liar friend (III. p. 27) — To his worthy friend M. John
Hall, Student of Grayes-Inne (III. 27-8) — To the most
comely and proper M. Elizabeth Finch (III. pp. 28-9)
— Ultimus Heroum, or to the most learned, and to the
right Honourable Henry, Marquesse of Dorchester (III.
p. 31) — To his learned friend M. Jo. Harmar, Phisitian
to the Colledge of Westminster (III. pp. 32-3) — To his
Sister in Law, M. Susanna Herrick (III. p. 37) — Upon
the Lady Crew (III. p. 37)— Of Tomasin Parsons (III.
p. 38) — To his Kinsman, M. Tho: Herrick, who desired
to be in his Book (III. p. 39) — To the handsome Mis-
tresse Grace Potter (III. p. 43) — To his peculiar friend
M. Jo: Wicks (III. p. 65)— To Sir George Parrie,
Doctor of the Civill Law (III. p. 66) — A Dialogue be
twixt himselfe and Mistresse Eliza: Wheeler, under the
name of Amarillis (III. p. 69) — To the Honoured,
Master Endimion Porter (III. pp. 70-1) — The School
or Perl of Putney, the Mistress of all singular manners,
Mistresse Portman (III. pp. 73-4) — To M. Laurence
Swetnaham (III. p. 76) — To the most accomplisht
Gentleman Master Michael Oulsworth (III. pp. 77-8)
—To his Brother Nicolas Herrick (III. p. 80).

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

As the most of these ' celebrations/ compared with
the majority of the others, are of considerable extent,
it will be seen that their proportion to the whole is
large. Now turning to certain of them, there appear
various titles for the Book within which he was writing
the several tributes. Thus to Sir Edward Fish (i) : —

Since for thy full deserts (with all the rest

Of these chaste spirits, that are here possest

Of Life eternall) Time has made thee one,

For growth in this my rich Plantation. (II. p. 82.)

Again, to Sir Richard Stone (2) : —

To this white Temple of my Heroes, here
Beset with stately Figures (every where)

Come, thou." (II. p. 139.)

Once more, to Mrs. Penelope Wheeler (3) : —

Next is your lot (Faire) to be number'd one,

Here, in my Book's Canonization :

Late you come in ; but you a Saint shall be,

In Chiefe, in this Poetick Liturgie. (II. p. 145.)

Further, to Mr. Stephen Soame (4) : —

Nor is my Number full, till I inscribe

Thee sprightly Soame, one of my righteous Tribe

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxix.

Among which Holies, be Thou ever known,
Brave Kinsman, markt out with the whiter stone :
Which seals Thy Glorie ; since I doe prefer
Thee here in my eternall Calender. (II. p. 162.)

Again, to Dr. Alablaster (5) : —

Nor art thou lesse esteem'd, that I have plac'd
(Amongst mine honour'd) Thee (almost) the last.

(II. P- 258.)

Once more, to Susanna Herrick (6) : —

The Person crowns the Place ; your lot doth fall
Last, yet to be with These a Principall.
How ere it fortuned ; know for Truth, I meant
You a fore-leader in this Testament. (III. p. 37.)

Finally, to his kinsman, M. Tho. Herrick, who desired
to be in his Book (7) : —

Welcome to this my Colledge, and though late
Th'ast got a place here (standing candidate)
It matters not, since thou art chosen one
Here of my great and good foundation.

(III. p. 39-)

The first, by the use of " Plantation," might have
been interpreted as applicable to Hesperides, as such ;
but all the others point out definitely a Book of Friends,
a Book dedicated to their honour and poetic immortality.
Then the third to Mrs. Penelope Wheeler, while called

cxx. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" Late," is early in Hesperides, though well-advanced in
the list of those separately renowned; and so of Dr.
Alablaster, " almost the last" does not at all hold of his
place in Hesperides, neither is the sixth to Mrs.
Susanna Herrick " last." Besides, finally, the seventh
to M. Tho. Herrick recalls the first-announced purpose
of that Book in which he had " desired to be." Hence
I think most will agree with me that Herrick had a
manuscript book wherein he copied out his Verses to
the inner circle of his friends and compeers, and which
he pleasantly thought of, as a Gallery of Portraits, or a
Hall of Statues, or a College of good and great. Their
repeated annunciation of * immortality' would lead us
to conclude that they were meant one day to be
published. Add to these the royal and loyal poems —
of which anon — and the brilliant Epithalamiums and
tender Epitaphs and rural poems to his Brother, and
Crewe, and Pemberton, and sunny self-portraits — which
all more or less partake of the same character, — and we
can understand the Poet's lofty estimate of such a book
when it should be given to the world.

The Epigrams, in relation to the ' argument' are also
and likewise made conspicuous by its absolute silence
on them. Taken as a whole they were evidently written
off after a laugh over Martial, or at some odd or offend-

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxxi.

ing parishioners. With very rare exceptions they lack the |
keenness of the classical Epigram. With as rare excep
tions they are just so many * spots' of putridity placed
among the good things of the banquet. I cannot
suppose that their Author designed them for publica
tion, or at least, as part of Hesperides. A friend suggests
that the Vicar of Dean Prior answered his parishioners
as Solomon says the fool ought to be answered, that
is, descended to their low level and versified in their
own rough and coarse fashion the every-day subjects of
their unlicensed wit and mirth. It may have been so
— may be conceded that refinement would have been
cast away on such " currish " natives. None the less is
it to be lamented that their Vicar descended rather than
^sought to elevate theni. Yet must it be added that
among old clergymen, even down to our own day, an
extraordinary freedom of speech was common. A very
small grain of salt gave circulation to exceedingly broad
stories ; and notwithstanding, one could not doubt of
the reality of the worth of such ancient and jocund
clerics. The sorrow is that in Herrick's case his Epi
grams were printed and published — only let after-con
siderations thereon be weighed.

Had those poems announced in the ' argument'
alone been published, Hesperides had been such a gift

cxxii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

to our finest poetical literature, as should have remained
to-day unapproached for etherealness and delicacy, for
brightness and whiteness, for colour and fragrance and
melody. But self-evidently the Publisher had an eye
to the sale, and his own remuneration ; and on the
plea of slenderness if only such Poems composed the
volume, over-persuaded Herrick to entrust him with
his " Book of the Just" and his miscellaneous Manu
script of Epigrams and the like, and his marked copy
of "Wit's Recreations." Whereupon he or some
unskilled subordinate proceeded to intermix these
additions with the others. That the Poet himself had
nothing to do with the arrangement or disarrangement
lies on the surface. Thus " The Fairie Temple " of
which the last line is

" Goe's to the Feast that's now provided "

is separated from the Feast by nearly fifty pages, and
then after fully nine pages comes " Oberon's Palace,"
which begins " After the Feast." These three poems
were most certainly intended to form one, or to be set
together. Then " The Beggar to Mab " would natur
ally have followed the others. It may be presumed
that the beggar saw the fairy, banquet, and asked for a
share of the c'rumbs. Similarly one is constantly coming

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxxiii.

on poems in Hesperides utterly incongruous, yet associated .
You have such a blossoming of flowers, or such an incense
of scents, or such a healthy breath of vernal wind, or
such a vivid word-landscape as the setting of some fine
old English country usage, as thrills one ; and lo ! off
the same or next leaf you have an Epigram without one
grain of salt of wit, or some hit at a luckless parishioner,
or some outrage on common decency that might have
done for " Wit's Recreations " or the " Musarum
Deliciae," but which in Hesperides is a sorrow and a
scandal. I should very gladly have re-arranged the
whole, shovelling away the Epigrams bodily into an ap
pendix that might not be read, and as one removes a
snail from a lily's heart, occasional lines throughout.
But as the Book was published during the Author's
own life-time, it is too late, in an edition of his Works,
to venture on this. I have before noted that there
appeared in "Wit's Recreations" (1640), sixty-two
poems afterwards included in Hesperides. Mr. Hazlitt
has a section of his edition of Herrick which he en
titles " Poems Attributed to Herrick." They are the
following : —

1. King Oberon's Apparell.

2. The Fairy King.

3. The Fairy Queen, or the Fairies Fegaries.

cxxi v. ME MORI A L- INTROD UC TION.

4. Another Copy.

5. The Fayrie Kings Diet and Apparrell.

6. A Description of the Fairies' Revel and Feast.

7. To a Gentlewoman with one eye.

8. Domina Margarita Sandis : Anagramma.

9. On Chloris Walking in the Snow.

10. On Julia's Weeping.

11. On a Beautifull Virgin.

12. A Loving Bargain.

13. To Celia Weeping.

14. The Wake.

Except No. 10 — a couplet — which belongs to Hes-
perides (Vol. II., p. 250) and appears in its place
in Mr. Hazlitt's own edition — there is not a
shadow of authority for assigning any one of these to
Herrick. Nos. 7, 8, 9, n, 12, 13, and 14 were pub
lished in "Wit's Recreations" (1640) and seeing that
Herrick reclaimed no fewer than sixty-two Poems from
" Wit's Recreations " for Hesperides, and did not these,
this is decisive that they were not his ; while internally
no student of the Hesperides could for a moment
imagine them to belong to our Poet. Nos. i, 2, 3, 4,
5, and 6 are expressly assigned in three public MSS.
and in several others to their actual Authors. Thus
" King Oberon's Apparell " appeared in " Musarum

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxxv.

Delicise " (1655) and faultily in Poole's "English
Parnassus " (1657) — in both anonymously ; but in the
Rawlinson MS. Poet 147, p. 102, under the heading
of " The Faery King," it is signed Sr. S. St., and who
was meant thereby is ascertained from — among others
— the additional MSS. B. Museum 11,811, fol. 18,
where the name is written in full, S[ir] Simeon Steward,
which again agrees with MS. Malone, 17, and various
other MSS. known to me in private hands. To Sir
Simeon Steward therefore belongs " King Oberon's
Apparell," and so too, of course, the variant of it
(No. 2) " The Fairy King." In Hesperides there is a
verse-Letter to Sir Simeon Steward (Vol. II. pp. 36-39)
which prepares us to find him a writer of verse imita
tive or reflective of Herrick. Had " King Oberon's
Apparell " or " The Fairy King " been Herrick's own,
there was no reason whatever that when he published
his Fairy poems he should not have included it.
Nos. 3 and 4, "The Fairy Queen, or the Fairies
Fegaries," and " Another copy " exists in a number of
MSS., public and private, but in none is Herrick's
name found. It was printed fragmentarily in a little
volume already noticed, viz, " A Description of the
Queen of Fayries," etc., etc., (1635) an(* h'ke all there
in, anonymously ; but in MS. Ashmole 36, there is an

cxxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

endorsement, " To the right wo11, his moste deare and
much respected Father James Pagitt at Battersey,
present these." This may or may not mean that Pagitt
( films ) was the author. Mr. Hazlitt is disposed to
regard him as the transcriber only. Be this as it may
— but for myself it is just such a juvenile writing after
Herrick as one might expect in a young friend of his —
that Herrick is not its composer is again made sure by his
not reclaiming it for Hesperides, while he did so in the
case of another fragment which appeared in the same
volume — as will be seen immediately. Internally there
is the faint echo, but not at all the real voice of Herrick.
No. 5, " The Fayrie King's Diet and Apparrell," occurs
in the Rawlinson MS. Poet 142 (near the middle of the
volume). It is a somewhat stupid adumbration, of Nos.
i and 2, and Herrick's " Feast." The two parts in the
MS. are separated by a line. Mr. Hazlitt states that
" the writer of this collection evidently supposed them
to be portions of the same poem." This alleged 'sup
position' is not quite certain. The second part was
probably derived from an early MS. of Herrick's — as
in the sequel will appear. Nowhere is the first part
ascribed to him, and nobody worth considering will
agree with Mr. Hazlitt's haphazard ascription of it to
him. Still more emphatically must every one reject

ME MORI A L- IN TROD UCTION. cxx vii .

the possibility of Herrick perpetrating such rubbish as
No. 6, " A Description of the Fairies Revel and Feast."
In the Ashmole MS. 36, fol. 47, recto (not 45, as Mr.
Hazlitt) whence Mr. Hazlitt fetched it, has no author's
name attached. It is an outrage to make Herrick
responsible for such inartistic rhymes — our word re-
reminding that Mr. Hazlitt in st. 2d, 1. 3, misreads
* artistically ' for * artificially ' and otherwise mangles
what can hardly be made worse than the original.
No. 7, " To a Gentlewoman with One Eye," is found
in Rawlinson MS. 147, p. 13 (not 142, as Mr. Hazlitt)
and is signed " Henry Molle." In place of seeing
with Mr. Hazlitt that this is "unmistakeably" Herrick's,
no capable reader will discern anything in the lines that
could not have been written by Henry Molle or any
other, not excluding Mr. W. C. Hazlitt himself. Nos.
8, 9, n, 12, 13, and 14, having all been published in
"Wit's Recreations" (1640) whence Herrick re-claimed
sixty-two poems for Hesperides (as before) they are set
aside as not his, by the fact of his not claiming them.
This is additionally confirmed by his having, on the
other part, re-claimed No. 10 — as already pointed out.
Were it worth while, it might be shown to whom these
belong ; but not being Herrick's, there seems no call to
think more about them. It is with a sense of infinite

cxxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

relief that I have rescued Herrick from the imputation
of the authorship of so much additional trash. The
Publisher's unhappy mixture and intermixture of all
the Herrick MSS., good-naturedly entrusted to him by
their Writer, has wrought sufficient damage, without
more being contributed to the weeds and thorns and
nettles and pestilential growths of Hesperides. Our
section yclept ' Golden Apples ' it had been pity to
lose — the last. ' Epitaph on Sir Edward and Lady
Giles' being very fine — but these "Poems attributed
to Herrick," with the slight exception of the fragment
from an early MS. of the " Feast," are to be summarily
and gratefully rejected.

Let the student of Hesperides keep in his forgiving
recollection that for a great deal at any rate of the
incongruous arrangement or disarrangement of his
book, not Herrick, but JOHN WILLIAMS and FRANCIS
EGLESFIELD, his publishers, must be held answerable.
It would have been a ' gainful! loss ' had they not been
allowed access to the Epigrams. By their indiscrimi
nate insertion the Author's lines concerning the Errata
were additionally illustrated :

" For these Transgressions which thou here dost see,
Condemne the Printer, Reader, and not me ;
Who gave him forth good Grain, though he mistook
The Seed ; so sow'd these Tares throughout my Book."

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxxix.

II. Evidence of patient and genuine workmanship.
Differing from SIR PHILIP SIDNEY earlier, and GEORGE
HERBERT later, the Works " humane and divine " of
Herrick had the advantage that none were posthumous
— every " clause and word " having passed under his
own eye, although — as shewn — he allowed himself to
be over-persuaded by his Publishers to let them print
everything put into their hands in his MSS. But on
the other hand — especially in the light of ^hdjlmter-
mixture and disarrangement that have beeny&mon-
strated — it is a disadvantage that Hesperides and -Noble
Numbers remained in the one edition, without revision,
without revelation of the Poet's mind about his volume,
and besides, an absolute after-silence (except possible
anonymous writing) of upwards of a quarter of a
century. There are not consequently those printed
VARIOUS READINGS and Author's changes that so
often (as in Spenser, and Shakespeare, and Daniel,
and in modern days, Shelley, and Wordsworth, and
Tennyson) reveal to us the crystallization of thought
and the gradual perfection of the ultimate poem —
though, alas ! all too-often revealing strange and
almost incredible deterioration, e.g. even Spenser, and
1 )aniel, and Wordsworth, and Tennyson, are found to
spoil the very bloom, and to remove the fine powder

cxxx. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

of many of their most exquisite fancies. When there
fore I propose to give evidence of patient and genuine
workmanship, my meaning is not to bring forth from
Hesperides or Noble Numbers examples of supreme and
consummate workmanship. This I shall do in stating
the specialities of his Poetry. Here and now, through
Manuscripts that remain to us — none, unhappily, auto
graph — and through prior publication, as in "Wit's
Recreations" (1640), I wish to look in upon the
Poet at his fine work, and shew, in so far as within
these limits can be done, that Herrick's genius was
too substantive and non-accidental to have given us his
Lyrics and rural-breathed Poems off-hand (so-to-say).
That is, admitting the apopthegm, Ars est celare artem,
I therein as throughout, there was art as well as genius —
genius kindling and inspiring the flame, but art giving
it lustre, and setting it in its 'golden candlestick.' I
should stand in doubt of the reality of genius of any type
that was sundered from the long and ever-aspiring pa
tience of nicest and devoutest workmanship. Turning to
" Wit's Recreations," as might almost have been antici
pated, material for the evidence now sought is relatively
scanty. The likelihoods are that Herrick simply marked
his own Poems in a copy of the book and allowed his
Publishers to transfer them from " Wit's Recreations "

MEMORIA [^INTRODUCTION, cxxxi.

to Hesperides and Noble Numbers. Yet are there
noticeable, variants that are declarative of the
Author's revision. The following are the sixty-two
pieces that originally appeared in "Wit's Recreations "
— taken in the order in which they are found therein,
and on the left-hand side the places in our edition of
the Poems :

Hesperides. Wit's Recreations.

1. Vol. i. pp. Cherry Pit •;'•» * p. 457.

2. „ „ 47-8— Upon Love . p. 465.

3. „ „ 51-2 — TheBagof the Bee pp. 413-4.

4. „ „ 72-4 — The Teare sent to

her from Stanes. . pp. 339-40.

5. „ „ 76-78 — His Farewell to

Sack. . pp. 432-3.

6. „ „ 103-4 — The Cruell Maid pp. 342-3.

7. „ „ 106-7 — His Misery in a

Mistresse . . pp. 344-5.

8. „ „ 112-13 — A Ring presen

ted to Julia . . pp. 321-2.
9- » » 138— Upon Gubbs. Epig. p. 89.

10. „ „ 144-5— To the Virgins,

to make much of time pp. 474-5.

11. „ „ 170 — Upon Himselfe . p. 465.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Hesperides. Wit's Recreations.

12. Vol. I., pp. 170-1 — To the Rose . p. 459.

13. „ „ 171 — Upon Guesse. Epig. p. 91.

14. „ „ 171 — Upon a painted

gentlewoman . . . p. 92.

1 5. Vol. II. „ 2 — How violets came

blew . . pp. 461-2.

1 6. „ „ 32 — Upon a Child that

Dyed. . . . p. 254.

17. „ „ 42 — Gold before Goodnesse p. 95.

1 8. „ „ 55 — A short Hymne to

Venus p. 457.

19. „ „ 55-6 — Upon a delaying

Lady . . pp. 346-7.

20. „ „ 60 — Nothing Newe . p. 96.

21. „ „ 62 — Long and Lazie . p. 96.

22. „ „ 66 — Upon Wrinkles . p* 97.
23- „ „ 77— Upon Doll. Epig. p. 100.

24. „ „ 78 — Upon Skrew. Epig. p. 101.

25. „ „ 84-5— Upon Raspe. Epig. p.m.

26. „ „ 87-8 — Upon Himself . p. 157.

27. „ „ 88 — Another . . p. 126.

28. „ „ 88 — Upon Skinns. Epig. p. 104.

29. „ „ 90 — Upon Craw . . p. no.

30. „ „ in — To Oenone . . p. 475.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxxxiii.

Hesperides. Wit's Recreations.

31. Vol. II. pp. 148 — Change gives Con

tent . . . . p. 122.

32. „ „ 156-7 — To Electra . p. 349.

33. „ „ 172 — Upon Umber. Epig. p. 117.

34. „ „ 184 — Little and Loud . p. 167.

35. „ „ 189-90— To the Maides

to walk abroade . . ,, p. 366.

36. „ „ 203 — Upon a Child . t? p. 247.

37. „ „ 206 — Upon an old Man,

a Residenciarie . . p. 258.

38. „ „ 207 — Upon Cob. Epig. p. 118.

39. „ „ 207 — Upon Lucie. Epig. p. 121.

40. „ „ 207 — Upon Skoles. Epig. p. 128.

41. „ „ 217 — Upon Zelot . . p. 131.

42. „ „ 218 — Upon Crab. Epig. p. 132.

43. „ „ 222 — Deniall in Women,

no disheartening to

men . . p. 133.

44. „ „ 229 — Adversity . . p. 144.

45. „ „ 247 — Maid's Nays are

nothing . . . p. 149.

46. „ „ 250 — Another upon her

weeping . . . p. 150.

47- „ „ 256-7— The Walke . p. 372.

cxxxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Hesperides. Wit's Recreations.

48. Vol. II. pp. 263-4 — A Hymne to Bac
chus . . pp. 385-6.

49- „ „ 266— Anger p. 158.

50. „ „ 273— Upon Bice . p. 165.

51. „ „ 274 — Upon Trencherman p. 166.

52. „ „ 274— Kines p. 170.

53. „ „ 286 — Upon Purchin. Epig. p. 172.

54. „ „ 289— Upon a Maide . p. 259.
55- » » 289— Beauty p. 176.

56. „ „ 292 — Satisfaction for suf

ferings . p. 177.

57. Vol. III.,, 23 — An Hymne to

Love. . pp. 336-7.

58. „ „ 26 — Leven . . p. 214.

59. „ „ 55 — Upon Boreman. Epig. p. 215.

60. „ „ 75— Upon Gut . . p. 148.

6 1. „ „ 84 — Sauce for Sorrowes p. 116.

62. „ „ 87— The Ende of his

Worke . . . p. 221.

Looking now more closely at the Poems and Epi
grams, No. i in " Wit's Recreations," is in the indirect
form thus : —

ME MORI A L-INTROD UC TION. cxxx v .

Cherry-pit.

" Nicholas and Nell did lately sit
Playing for sport at Cherry-pit ;
They both did throw, and having thrown,
He got the pit, and she the stone."

In Hesperides it is direct, as thus : —

"Julia and I did lately sit,
Playing for sport, at cherry-pit :
She threw ; I cast ; and having thrown,
I got the pit, and she the stone.'*

In No. 2, which is headed 'On Love,' for 1. 3 in
Hesperides, "To signifie, in love my share," the original
reads, " To tell me that in love my share " : 1. 7, care
lessly as losing a rhyme with ' he ' reads, " That joynt
to ashes should be burnt," for " That joynt to ashes
burnt should be," — which ought perhaps to have been
adopted as our text. In No. 3, 1. i, in "Wit's Re
creations " has " To have the sweet Bag of the Bee,"
for " About the sweet bag of a bee ; " and 11. 7-8 :

" And taking from them each his flame,

With myrtle rods she whipt them."

for
" And taking thence from each his flame,

With rods of mirtle whipt them."

The ' About ' in L i is an after change.

cxxxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

In No. 4 in Hesperides the more definite inscription
is " The Teare sent to her from Stanes," that is from
the royal residence there, is in "Wit's Recreations,"
simply " A Tear sent to his Mistresse." Otherwise
only the orthography and punctuation differ. In No. 5
" His Farewell to Sack " of Hesperides is entitled " A
Farewell to Sack," and is enlarged from 36 lines to 54
lines, but with four remarkable lines, in turn, omitted.
So important a poem in every way as this " Farewell "
calls for a full record of all the variants. Lines 1-2 for
those in Hesperides : —

" Farewell, thou thing time-past so knowne, so deare
To me, as blood to life and spirit : Neare "

in " Wit's Recreations " read :—

" Farewell so true and dear

To me and near."

Line 3, " .... Kindred, friend or wife," for " Kin
dred, friend, man, wife;" 1. 4, " . . . . Soul to the
body" for "Soule to body;" 1. 6, " Of the yet chast,
and undefiled Bride " is transfigured in Hesperides into
" Of the resigning yet resisting bride." The Master's
touch ! LI. 7-8 are added : —

" The blisse of virgins ; foot-prints of the bed ;
Soft speech, smooth touch, the lips, the maiden-head."

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxxxvii.

LI. 9-10 for the original : —

" These and a thousand more could never be
More near, more dear, than thou wert once to me "

are altered to : —

" These, and a thousand sweets, co'd never be
So neare or deare as thou wast once to me."

LI. 1 1-22 are additions in Hesperides to which the criti
cal Student will do well to turn. They begin, "O thou
the drink of Gods and Angels ! wine," and end,
" Vexation of the mind and damn'd despaire." Line 23
of Hesperides, " Tis thou alone, who, with thy mystick
fan," at first read " 'Tis thou above, that . . . ."
L. 25, "To rouse the sacred madnesse, and awake,"
was originally " To raise the holy madnesse." L. 27
for the later "flashing" had "sketching." and 1. 28
" souls " for " soule." Lines 29-36 are another notice
able addition in Hesperides. Line 37 as now reads
" But why ? why longer do I gaze upon " for " But
why? why longer do I gaze afar." L. 39 read "when "
"sure." LI. 42-3 now : —

" Then know that Nature bids thee goe, not I :
'Tis her erroneous self has made a braine"

originally ran : —

" Know then 'tis Nature bids thee hence, not I ;
'Tis her erroneous self hath form'd my brain."

cxxxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

L. 45-6 in Hesperides read : —

" Prethee, not smile,
Or smile more inly, lest thy looks beguile."

Originally they were as follows, along with four other
lines cancelled in Hesperides : —

" I prethee draw in

Thy gazing fires, lest at their sight the sin
Of fierce Idolatry shoot unto me, and
I turn Apostate to the strict command
Of Nature ; bid me now farewell, or smile
More ugly, lest thy tempting looks beguile."

L. 47, for " denounc'd " read originally " pro-
nounc't;" 1. 49, "boldly" for "freely;" L 51 origin
ally read " And love, but not taste thee " for " And
love thee, but not taste thee ;" 1. 53, for " inadult'rate "
read " inadulterate ;" and, finally, 1. 54, " Hereafter
shall smell ..." originally read " Shall smell here
after." These various readings, insertions and the omis
sion, show how cunningly the Poet wrought out this
Donne-like poem — the omission, perhaps, the most
suggestive thing of the whole. No. 6, "The Cruell
Maid," except in o^hography and punctuation, as
always, in "Wit's Recreations " only drops the needed
" has " in 1. 7 of Hesperides. No. 7 is identical in

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxxxix.

both, save that in " Wit's Recreations " the heading is
"His misery" and in Hesperides "His misery in a Mis-
tresse." No. 8 in both is again identical, but in
" Wit's Recreations " the heading is as follows : —

With a (( )) to Julia.

No. 9 is the same in both. No. 10 in "Wit's Recrea
tions" is inscribed "To make much of Time;" in
Hesperides, " To the Virgins, to make much of Time ;"
and originally thus read in ist and 2nd : —

" Gather your Rose-buds whilst you may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And that same flower which smiles to-day
Too morrow may be dying.
The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun,
The higher he is getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer to his setting."

The text of Hesperides reveals dainty improving
touches (Vol. I., p. 144-5); the remaining stanzas agree
in both. No. 1 1 in " Wit's Recreations " is headed
" On an old Batchelour " instead of " Upon himselfe ;"
and in 1. 3 reads "married" for "wedded," in 1. 4
" one " for " a jot," and 1. 6 " Rather than mend me,

cxl. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

blind me quite," instead of the later " Rather than
mend, put out the light" No. 12, " To the Rose," in
st. ist, 1. 5, originally has " hath " for " has ;" st. 2d,
1. i, " If she frets, that" for " If she's fretfull, I ;" 1. 3,
" struggles " for " struggle ;" and 1. 5, " although not
kill " for " though not to kill." Nos. 13 and 14 agree,
only for " Gentlewoman " in Hesperides there was ori
ginally " Madam." No. 15, "How Violets came blew,"
is of a class that must have been a favourite with
Herrick. They are anything but admirable. Originally
this runs : —

How the Violets came blew.

The Violets, as poets tell,

With Venus wrangling went
Whether the Violets did excell

Or she in sweetest scent ;
But Venus having lost the day,

Poor Girle, she fell on you,
And beat you so, as some do say,

Her Blowes did make you blew."

(Vol. II. p. 2.)

Besides the correction of " Girles " for " Girle " in
1. 6, even this trifle shows revision. (Vol. II., p. 2.) Nos.
1 6 and 1 7 are the same in both, but the latter is originally
headed " A Foolish Querie " instead of " Gold before

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxli.

Goodnesse." No. 18 in "Wit's Recreations "is inscribed
" A vow to Cupid," and in Hesperides " A short hymne
to Venus ;" and so originally in 1. i reads " Cupids "
for " Goddesse," 1. 2 " like Pearl " for " with," 1. 3
" that I may " for " I may but," 1. 5 " I do " for " I
will." No. 19 is alike in both, but originally is headed
" A Check to her delay " for " Upon a delaying
Lady." Nos. 20 and 21 are nearly identical; but I
can suppose that it was with a chuckle that in the latter
the Author removed the hyphen from " be-long " that
your stupid reader might not catch the equivoque.
No. 2 2 is headed originally " To a stale Lady," and
in 1. i reads " Thy wrinkles are no more." Nos. 23,
24, and 25 are the same. No. 26 curiously enough in
1. 5 of Hesperides, " He to work, or pray," read origi
nally "or play." Nos. 27, 28, and 29 agree. No. 30,
" To Oenone," is inscribed originally " The Farewell
to Love and to his Mistresse." It is singular that in
both in st. ist, 1. 2, " won " should be mis-spelled
" one," and so remain, certes by inadvertence in my
own text. In st. 3d, 1. i, mis-reads " Court not both
or" for "Covet not both, but." No. 31 is originally
headed simply " Change," but in both are alike.
No. 32, "To Electra," is originally addressed "To
Julia," but otherwise both agree. Nos. 33 and 34

cxl. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

blind me quite," instead of the later " Rather than
mend, put out the light." No. 12, " To the Rose," in
st. ist, 1. 5, originally has " hath " for " has ;" st. 2d,
1. i, " If she frets, that " for " If she's fretfull, I ;" 1. 3,
''struggles" for "struggle;" and 1. 5, "although not
kill " for " though not to kill." Nos. 13 and 14 agree,
only for " Gentlewoman " in Hesperides there was ori
ginally " Madam." No. 15, "How Violets came blew,"
, is of a class that must have been a favourite with
Herrick. They are anything but admirable. Originally
this runs : —

How the Violets came blew.

The Violets, as poets tell,

With Venus wrangling went
Whether the Violets did excell

Or she in sweetest scent ;
But Venus having lost the day,

Poor Girle, she fell on you,
And beat you so, as some do say,

Her Blowes did make you blew."

(Vol. II. p. 2.)

Besides the correction of " Girles " for " Girle " in
1. 6, even this trifle shows revision. (Vol. II., p. 2.) Nos.
1 6 and 1 7 are the same in both, but the latter is originally
headed " A Foolish Querie " instead of " Gold before

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxli.

Goodnesse." No. 18 in "Wit's Recreations "is inscribed
" A vow to Cupid," and in Hesperides " A short hymne
to Venus ;" and so originally in 1. i reads " Cupids "
for " Goddesse," 1. 2 " like Pearl " for " with," 1. 3
" that I may " for " I may but," 1. 5 " I do " for " I
will." No. 19 is alike in both, but originally is headed
" A Check to her delay " for " Upon a delaying
Lady." Nos. 20 and 21 are nearly identical; but I
can suppose that it was with a chuckle that in the latter
the Author removed the hyphen from "be-long" that
your stupid reader might not catch the equivoque.
No. 2 2 is headed originally " To a stale Lady," and
in 1. i reads " Thy wrinkles are no more." Nos. 23,
24, and 25 are the same. No. 26 curiously enough in
1. 5 of Hesperides, " He to work, or pray," read origi
nally "or play." Nos. 27, 28, and 29 agree. No. 30,
" To Oenone," is inscribed originally " The Farewell
to Love and to his Mistresse." It is singular that in
both in st. ist, 1. 2, " won " should be mis-spelled
" one," and so remain, certes by inadvertence in my
own text. In st. 3d, 1. i, mis-reads " Court not both
or" for "Covet not both, but." No. 31 is originally
headed simply " Change," but in both are alike.
No. 32, "To Electra," is originally addressed "To
Julia," but otherwise both agree. Nos. 33 and 34

cxlii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

are the same, save that in the latter for " woman's" it
is originally " women's." No. 35, " To the Maids to
walke abroade," is originally inscribed " Abroad with
the Maids," but otherwise is alike in both. No. 36,
" Upon a child," is also left untouched in its pathetic
simpleness. To have changed a syllable would have
been as risky as trying to pluck a dewy flower with any
hope of preserving the dew. Abstention from altera
tion is in such instances truer insight than alteration. I
have not found anywhere that Herrick changed his
wording in his accepted perfect work. No. 37, "Upon
an Old Man, a Residenciarie," and Nos. 38, 39, 40,
41, 42, 43, 44, and 45 are nearly identical in both.
No. 39 substitutes "Lucie" in Hesperides for " Betty"
in " Wit's Recreations," and in No. 40 an obvious slip
of " and blast " for " one blast " is corrected in
Hesperides. It is satisfying that only to a slight extent
did Herrick bestow an after-look on his Epigrams.
No. 46 is the couplet that, though it did appear in
Hesperides, Mr. Hazlitt printed from " Wit's Recrea
tions " as a new poem. No. 47, " The Wake," is in
"Wits' Recreations" headed " Alvar and Anthea ;"
otherwise is identical in both. There follows " The
Wake " in " Wit's Recreations," and Herrick probably
gave the new name of " The Wake " to the other

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxliii.

expressly to disown " The Wake " that so follows ; and
yet Mr. Hazlitt has " attributed " it to him ! No. 48
in Hesperides removes an unneeded " a " in 1. 4 of the
penultimate stanza. Nos. 49, 50, 51, 52, and 53 are
the same in both, except in Hesperides a lacking " the "
is supplied in No. 52. No. 54, " Upon a Maide," is
again characteristically left untouched. Nos. 55 and 56
are once more identical, only the latter was originally
inscribed "Satisfaction." Nos. 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, and
62 are alike in both; but in No. 62 the heading is
" Of this Booke." It is surely declarative of perfunc
tory study of Herrick that the present edition is the
first to bring to light these various readings. Mr.
Hazlitt contented himself with lazily remarking : " Six
or eight other poems [i.e., in addition to those which
we have seen are not Herrick's at all] also occur, but
the text presents no noticeable variations from that given
in the common printed collection " (I. vi.) and noting
a few of the altered headings.

Passing now to those Poems that are preserved in
MSS. — public and private — it is of the deepest interest
to read these earlier texts in the light of that adopted
and published in Hesperides. Mr. Hazlitt has a section
in his edition called " Different Versions of Poems
already Printed," and there is one other somewhat

cxliv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

noticeable. I am not aware that any of these have

been submitted to critical examination or comparison.

The first is in Harleian MS., 6917, fol. 10, and is an

early version of the brilliant " Nuptiall Song, or

Epithalamie on Sir Clipseby Crew and his Lady "

(Vol. II. pp. 12-20). The opening of this poem has been

cited to show that Milton had read it and remembered

, it in his choruses in "Samson Agonistes." I cannot

.

say that I discern such remembrance or use of this
" Epithalamie ;" but it has all Milton's early luscious-
ness and stateliness. In 1. 3 " faire injewel'd May "
was originally written " faire enamelPd May," and 1. 10
for "emergent" reads "emerging." Inl. 14 for "Tread
ing upon vermilion " there was " Throwing about ver
milion." The following entire stanza was rejected in
Hesperides just after the preceding : —

" Lead on faire paranymphs, the while her eyes
Guilty of somewhat, ripe the strawberries

And cherries in her cheekes ; there's creame
Already spillt, her rayes must gleame

Gently Thereon,
And soe begett lust and temptation,

To surfeit and to hunger;

Helpe on her pace, and, though she lagg, yet stirre
Her homewards ; well she knowes
Her heart's at home howere she goes."

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxlv.

In the next stanza, 1. 4, for the original, perhaps more
realistic " Spirting forth pounded cinnamon," Hesperi-
des gave ' perspiring,' and in 1. 7, "Who would not then
consume " for the later " Who therein wo'd not con
sume." In the succeeding stanza the MS. mis-spells

* margerum' for 'marjoram' (1. 2); and in 1. 4, reads

* thy' for ' the bridegroom,' and 1. 6 'besparckling' for
1 disparkling;' and in the last line " Or like a firebrand
he will waste," for " Or else to ashes he will waste."
Then comes in this fragmentary stanza, which again is
omitted in Hesperides : —

" See how he waves his hand, and though his eyes
Shootes forth his iealous soule, for to surprize
And ravish you, his bride : do you
Not now perceiue the soule of C. C. =Clipseby
Your mayden knight [Crew.

With kisses to inspire

You with his iust and holy ire."

The next stanza in the MS. begins, " If so glide
through the ranks of virgins, passe," for " Slide by the
bankes of virgins then, and passe," — the latter giving her
the motion of a stream. In 1. IQ Hesperides substitutes
" as doth a fish," for " as doe the fish." Once more an
omitted stanza succeeds : —
k

cxlvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" Why then goe forward sweet auspicious bride,
And come upon your bridegroome like a tyde,
Bearing downe time before you, hye
Swell, mixe, and loose your sailes ; implye

Like streames which flow
Encurlld together, and noe difference show

In their silver waters ; runne
Into your selues like wooll together spunne ;
Or blend so as the sight
Of two makes one hermaphrodite.*'

In the following stanza 1. i has originally " confesse
you wise," for "confesse y'are wise," and the change
gives that ripple in the flow of his rhythm, which
Herrick loved and affected. In 1. 2 for the later, " In
dealing forth those," he had written, " In drawing
forth those." The felicitous close of this stanza was
worked out, not struck out as at a heat. The MS. has

" On then, and though y'are slow
In going, yet however goe."

In Hesperides with cunning imitativeness of the linger
ing yet wistful motion, it reads : —

" On then, and though you slow-
Ly go, yet, howsoever, go."

| The divided word here and elsewhere is a trick caught

MEMORIA ^INTRODUCTION, cxlvii.

from his favorite Catullus. Two omitted stanzas come
next :—

" How long soft bride shall your deare [Brides'-maids]

make

Loue to your welcome with the mistick cake,
How long, oh pardon, shall the house
And the smooth handmaids pay their vowes,

With oyle and wine,
For your approach, yet see their altars pine ?

How long shall the page, to please
You, stand for to surrender up the keyes
Of the glad house ? come, come,
Or Lar will freeze to death at home.

Welcome at last unto the threshold, Time
Throaned in a saffron euening, seemes to chyme
All in ; kisse, and so enter ; if
A prayer must be said, be brief ;

The easy gods
For such neglect, haue only myrtle rodds

To stroake not strike ; feare you

Not more, milde nymph, then they would haue you doe ;
But dread that you doe more offend
In that you doe beginne, then end."

In stanza yth, L 6 originally read : —

" Us (and God shield her) "

changed into " The house (love shield her) "....; in
1. 10, ' has' for 'your.' Again two omitted stanzas are
here in the MS. : —

cxlviii . ME MORI A L-INTROD UCTION.

" What though your laden altar now has wonne
The creditt from the table of the sunne
For earth and sea ; this cost
On you is altogether lost,

Because you feede
Not on the flesh of beasts, but on the seede

Of contemplation, your
Your eyes are they, wherewith you draw the pure

Elixar to the minde,

Which sees the body fedd, yet pined.

If you must needs for ceremonies sake
Blesse a sacke possett, lucke goe with you, take
The night charme quickly, you have spells
And magick for to ende, and hells

To passe, but such,
And of such torture, as noe God would grudge

To Hue therein for euer, frye,
I, and consume, and grow againe, to dye

And Hue, and in that case

Love the damnation of that place."

In the succeeding stanza, 1. i, for 'kind truths' the
MS. writes ' sweet ' : 1. 2 drops in MS. ' and,' and in 1.
3 begins ' And ' for ' But ' : 1. 6, ' Hearing ' for ' Tell
ing.' In the next stanza, 1. 2 originally reads " noe "
for " no strife," and 1. 3, " Further then vertue lends "
for " Further then gentlenes tends " : 1. 4, ' catching
at ' for ' striving for ' : 1. 8, ' gentle ' and ' fragrous ' for

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxlix.

* youthfull' - and 'fragrant.' In stanza nth, 11. 5-6,
which originally read

" List, oh how
Euen heauen giues up his soule betweene you now "

are changed into : —

" O marke yee how
The soule of Nature melts in numbers ; now " :

1. 7, " Marke how " for " See a." In the next stanza,
1. 2 originally has ' rising ' for the later ' swelling,' and
in line 3,

" Tempting thee too too modest "

for Hesperides

" Tempting the two too modest " :
1. 7, ' hugge you ' for ' hugge it ' : 11. 8-9,

" Your selues unto that mayne, in the full flow
Of the white pride "

for

" Your selues into the mighty over-flow -
Of that white pride " :

1. 10, ' The Starrs ' for ' The night.' Stanza isth, L i in
MS. reads "You see 'tis ready" for "The bed is
ready " : 1. 7, " And doe it in the full reach " for " And
do it to the full ; reach " : 1. 8, " High in your owne

cl. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

conceipts, and rather teach " for " High in your con-
ceipt, and some way teach" : 1. 10, 'Sport' for ' Play.'
In Hesperides there follows next the second of the last
two omitted stanzas before "If you must needs," &c.,
with only one noticeable reading in the last line of ' con
fusion ' for ' damnation ' — not an improvement if it be a
softening of the passionate thought. In the MS. is
here another omitted stanza :

" And now y'haue wept enough, depart, yon starres
Begin to pinke, as weary that the warres =grcnv small
Know so long treaties ; beate the drumme
Aloft, and like two armies, come

And guild the field ;
Fight brauely for the flame of mankinde, yeeld

Not to this, or that assault,
For that would proue more heresy then fault,

In combatants to flye,

Fore this or that hath gott the victory."

In stanza 15, 1. 3, originally, it reads "with ribbe of
rocke and brasse " for the later " with rock or walles of
brasse " : and in the last line ' sheetes ' for ' sheet '
oblivious of line 2d. In the closing stanza, line 28, for
the Hesperides misprint of ' that, that ' the MS. reads
* that the.' In the place I corrected it preferably with
'two' as in the next line. The MS. is signed "R.
Herrick." It will reward the Student to ponder and

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cli.

compare these abundant various readings, and to con
sider the opulence that could dispense with the omis
sions. There are bits in the omissions that one is
grateful to have from the MS., although as a whole the
Poet showed nicety of taste, as well as sound judgment
in erasing them. The next Poem, " Herrick's Sack,"
in the Rawlinson MS. poet 142, is an imperfect copy
of his " Welcome to Sack." I have recorded its very
unimportant variants in my examination of the text in
" Wit's Recreations," compared with the fuller version
in Hesperides* A third MS., viz. Ashmole 38, p. 90,
Art. no, is a similar inaccurate copy of his great poem
to his brother, Thomas Herrick. It is headed, " In
praise of the Country Life." Most of the various
readings are the Scribe's blunders, and call for no
detailed notice ; but here and there, certain enable
us to follow the shaping of the final text, e.g. 1. 3,
" Canst leave the cittie, with exchange, to see," for
"Couldst leave the city, for exchange, to see ": 1. 10,
" Wayes not to liue but to liue well," for " Wayes
lesse to live then to live well " : 1. 22, " That mange,"
for " That plague " : 1. 23, " sparing," for " wane " :
1. 26, "quench," for " coole." In the MS., 1L 28-30
do not appear, and instead this couplet : —

8 See pages cxxxvi-viii.

clii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" The first is Naturs end : this doth imparte
Least thankes to Nature, most to art " :

Line 31 reads, " But that which next creates thy
happye life," for " But that which most makes sweet
thy country life " : and there follow in these MSS. two
omitted lines : —

" And in thy sense her chaster thoughtes commend
Not halfe soe much the act, as end " :

— a wise omission certainly. Line 43 reads in the MS.,
' crawling ' for ' feebly ' : 1. 46, ' bediapered ' for
'enameled': 1. 51, ' vowes ' for 'comes': 1 52,
" rau'nous wolfe the wolly sheep," for " rav'ning wolves
the fleecie sheep": 1-55, 'selfe' [not 'sleepe/ as in
Mr. Hazlitt's] for < rest ' : 1. 57, ' Crowes ' for ' Warnes ' :
1. 60, 'crackling' for 'spirting' : 1. 61, 'thumb thus'
for ' thumb this sentence ' : 1. 61, ' Jove ' for ' God ' :
1. 65, ' farthest Inde ' for ' Western Inde ' : 1. 66, ' lye '
for ' fly ' : 1. 68, ' securer ' for ' securest ' : 1. 70, ' better '
for ' whiter ' : 1. 78, ' Viewing ' for ' Seeing ' : 1. 79,
" By their shadowes, their substances," for " By those
fine shades, their substances " : 1. 80, ' borrowing ' for
' taking small ' : 1. 81, ' seal'd ' for ' deafe ' : 1. 85,
' Fame tells the states ' [not ' of/ as in Mr. Hazlitt's]
for ' Fame tell of states ' : 1. 90, " Vice is vicegerent

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cliii.

at the courte," for " Vice rules the most, or all at
court " : 1. 91, ' godly ' for ' pious ' : 1. 92, ' Vertue had
moued jn her sphere ' for ' Vertue had, and mov'd her
sphere.' Here follow these omitted lines in the MS: —

" Nor knowe thy happye and vn-enuey'd state

Owes more to vertue then too fate, = to

Or fortune too ; for what the first secures,
That as herselfe, or Heauen, indures.

The two last fayle, and by experience make
Knowne, not they giue againe, they take " :

Then 1. 93 reads, " But thou not fearest them," for
" But thou liv'st fearlesse": 1. 95, ' hopes stronge built,'
for ' thoughts prepaid ' : 1. 96, ' For to salute her,' for
* To take her by ' : 1. 99, 'sturdye' for 'surly' — the latter
a mistaken reading certainly : 1. 101, ' braue ' for
' bold ' : 1. 109, ' toothe ' for ' mouth ' : 1. 1 1 1, ' cheer '
for 'fare': and 1. 112, 'deare' for 'rare.' Here next
comes (after 1. 1 1 6) in the MS. this omitted couplet : —

" Canst drinke in earthen cuppes which ne're contayne
Colde hemlocke, or the lizzards bane " :

1. 117, "Nor is ytt fitt thou keep'st, " for "Nor is it
that thou keep'st" : 1. 128, ' build ' for ' make ' : 1. 132,
'flye' for 'shun': 1. 135, " neate, firme, close, and
true," for ''and close, and wisely true": 1. 145, "Till

cliv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

then, lett faith soe prompt your Hues yee may," for
" Till when, in such assurance, live ye may."

The next MS., viz. Ashmole 38, p. 93, Art. in, is
headed, " Mr. Herricke his Charge to his Wife." Had
this not been included in Hesperides, we should
naturally have concluded that it was by that cousin
Robert Herrick whose marriage Mi. J Payne Collier
having stumbled on, he at once set down as me Poet's,
forgetful of all the facts.9 Besides the Ashmole MS.,
the Kingsborough-Hazelwood MS. of my friend W. F.
Cosens, Esq., London, has another version. Both
pretty closely follow the same text. Neither offers much
worthy of special record ; but the following may in
terest from Mr. Cosens MS. : — 1. 4, 'woers by thy
haire ' for ' thousands with a haire ' : 1. 10, * things ' for
'that': 1. 1 8, 'beauty 'for ' feature': 1. 24, "emblems
which express the itch " for " are the expressions of
that itch" : 11. 27-8:

9 Bibliographical Account I. 370. Mr. Collier's record is : " As
a small, but new contribution to the biography of Herrick, we may
add here the registration of his marriage at St. Clement's Danes,
Westminster: — '5 June, 1632. Robert Herrick and Jane
Gibbons.' All that we have hitherto known, we believe, is that
the Christian name of his wife was Jane." Contrariwise, all that
we have hitherto known, and still know, is that Herrick lived and
died a bachelor.

ME MORI A L- 1 NT ROD UC TION. cl v.

" For that once lost thou needs must fail
To one, then prostitute to all "

for

" For that once lost, thou't fall to one
Then prostrate to a million " :

Lines 11-16 of Hesperides that follow the last couplet
in the MS., and closing thus : —

" And thinke, each man thou seest doth dome
Thy thoughts to say I backe am come " :

Lines 38-9,

" Let them call thee wondrous faire
Crowne of woeman, yett despaire "

for

" Let them enstile thee fairest faire
The pearle of princes, yet despair " :

1. 47, ' vertuous' for 'gentle ' : 11. 55-6 :

" Thy fortres, and must needs prevaile
Gainst thee and force "

for

" Thy fortress, and will needs prevaile :
And wildly force " :

1. 65, « Creates ' for ' That makes ' : 1. 67, ' Glory' for

clvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

1 Triumph ' : 1. 70, ' Take my last regret ' for ' Take
this compression ' : 1. 79, ' Sharp ' for ' Lean ' : 1. 80,
" In my full triumph " for " its one triumphant " : 1. 81,
" In thee, the height," for " In thee all faith."

In Harleian MS. 6917, fol. 48 (verso) is an early copy
of the supreme " Mad Maid's Song," than which nothing
out of the snatches put in the mouth of Ophelia is
more conquering in its simple pathos. The variants are
slight, e.g. st. i, 1. 2, ' morrow ' for ' morning' (repeated) :
1. 4, < All dabbled ' for ' Bedabled ' : st. 2, 1. 3, < teares '
for ' flowers ' : 1. 4, ' was ' for ' is ' : st. 5, 1. i, ' I hope '
for ' I know': st. 7, 1. 2, ' balsome ' for ' cow-slips.'
Perhaps the substitution of ' morning ' in Hesperides
for ' morrow ' was a mistake : and ' tears ' for ' flowers ' :
and at least ' balsome ' for ' cow-slips ' had been pre
ferable.

The next MS., " Charon and the Nightingale," from
Rawlinson MS., poet 65, fol. 32, is a fuller copy of
"Charon and Phylomel, a Dialogue sung," of Hes
perides (Vol. II. , pp. 244-5). Only 11. i — 26 are in
Hesperides — the remainder is additional. Before giving
the additions, these variants between the MS. and
Hesperides text of the opening portion, call for record,
passing over others of trivial moment : — 1. 5, ' voice '
for ' sound ' : 1. 6, ' what ' for ' where ' : 1. 7, ' shade '

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. civil.

for 'bird': 1. n, 'warbling' for 'watching': 1. 12,
1 made me hoist up sail ' for ' made me thus hoist
saile': 1. 13, Tie be gone' for Tie returne': 1. 18,
' praise ' for ' pray ' : 1. 19, * sighs ' for ' vowes ' : 1. 22,
' in ' for ' with ' : 1. 24, « Our passage ' for * Our ' sloth-
full passage.' The new MS. commences after 1. 26,
" Who els with tears wo'd doubtless drown my ferry "
(in MS. " our wherry") — as thus : —

" A boat, a boat, hast to the ferry,
For we goe over to be merry,
To laugh & quaff and drink old sherry.
[Phil] Charon, O Charon, the wafter of all soules to bliss

or bain,

[Char.] Who calls the ferryman of Hell ?
[Phil.] Come neer & say who lives in bliss & who in pain :
[Char.] Those that dye well eternall bliss shall follow,

Those that dye ill, their own black deeds shall

swallow.
[Phil.] Shall thy black barg those guilty spirits row

That kill themselves for love? [Char.] Oh no, oh

no,

My cordage cracks when such foule sins draw neer,
No winde blows fair nor I my boat can steer.
[Phil.] What spirits pass & in elizium reign ?
[Char] Those harmless soules that love & are belovd again.
[Phil.] That soule that lives in love & faign would dye to

win

Shall he goe free ? [Char.] Oh no, it is too foul a
sin.

clviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

He must not come aboard, I dare not row,

Storms of dispair my boat will over-blow.

But when thy m? shall close up thine eys then come

aboard =misery

Then come aboard & pass; till then be wise &

synge."

It will be observed by the critical reader that there is
a resemblance in thought in this MS. portion to the
"New Charon" (Vol. III., p. no). But whether it
be or be not Herrick's, it does not agree with the
former part ; for in it she is a shade, and in this she is
not dead. Perhaps the explanation is that this portion
may have been a first sketch, and the other an expan
sion j and that afterwards the thought in the later was
used in the " New Charon." I ask if the inserted
song, " A boat, a boat," &c., be not a catch that does
not belong to Herrick ? and I note that the unfinished
character of the MS. is shown by the last couplet not
rhyming.

Rawlinson MS. 147 Poet. p. 14, gives us an interest
ing variant of " To a Gentlewoman objecting to him
his Grey Haires " (Vol. I. p. 107) as thus : —

"An old Man to his yon ge Mrs.
Am I despis'd because you say
And I beleiue that I am gray ?
Know lady you haue but your day,

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clix.

And night will come when man will sweare
Time hath spitt now upon your hayre.
Then when in your glasse you seeke,
And find no roses on your cheeke,
No, nor the bud at least to show,
Where such a fayre carnation grew,
And such a smiling tulippe too.
Ah ! then too late close in your chamber keeping,

It will be told

That you are old,
By those true teares y'are weepinge."

We have now reached the " Fairy " Poems, and it
is of rarest interest to mark the fine and subtle working
on these most dainty and delicate-fancied productions
of Herrick's imaginative vein. The first is " King
Oberon's Pallace." Mr. Hazlitt prints it in his Appen
dix (Vol. II. pp. 466-470), but has neglected to state
whence he derived it. It is found in Ashmole MS. 38,
p. 101 and 1 1 8. This MS. omits the opening (11. 1-8).
Thereafter, 1. 9, reads " Of peltish waspes, well knowne
his guarde " for the less accurate " we'l know his
guard " of Hesperides ; 11. 20-1, " the grass of Lemster
ore, soberlye sparkling," for "the finest Lemster ore
mildly desparkling," 1. 29, " girdle" for "ceston":
1. 30, " The eyes of all doth straight bewitch " for " All
with temptation doth bewitch." After 1. 37 the MS.
inserts these twenty-seven singular enumerative lines : —

clx. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" And further of, some sorte of peare,
Apple or plume is neatly layde =plum

(As yf yt were a tribute payde)
By the round vrchin ; l some mixt wheat
The which the ant did taste, not eate :
Deafe nutts,2 softe lewes-eares, and some thinne
Chipping, the mice filcht from the binn
Of the graye farmer ; and to theis
The scrappes of lentells, chitted pease,
Dryed hony-combes, browne acorne cupps,
Out of the which hee sometymes sups
His hearby-broath ; and theis close by
Are puckered bullas, cankers, and dry
Kernells and withered hawes; the rest
Are trinketts falne from the kytes neast,
As buttered bread, the which the wilde
Birde snatcht away from the crying childe ;
Blew pynes, taggs, sepcus, beades and things
Of higher price, as halfe jett rings,
Ribands, and then some silken shreakes
To virgines lost att barlye breakes ;
Many a purse- stringe, manye a threade
Of gould and silver there is spread.

Lyes here about ; and as wee ghesse,
Some bitte of thymbles seeme to dresse
The braue cheafe worke ; and for to faue
The easie excellence of the caue
Squirrells, &c."

1 *= hedge-hog rolled up. 2 = hollow nuts.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxi.

Then comes substantially the same as in Hesperides,
but with certain variations — e.g.t 1. 47 in the MS. reads
" Serue here, bothe which in-chequered " for " Are
neatly here enchequered," and then the continuation
runs : —

" With castors doucettes (which poore thay
Bitt off themselues, to scape away)
Browne toade-stones, ferrettes eyes, the gumm " :

1. 51, " Hand enchasing here those wartes " for " With
hand enchasing here those warts" : 1. 55, 'slye' badly for
<shie': 1. 6 2, 'richly 'for 'neatly': 1. 64, 'roche' for'fish':
1. 69, ' caue ' for ' roome ' : 1. 70, " Can gett reflection

from their jemmes " for " Can make reflected " :

1. 73, * Candle-masse ' for ' taper-light ' : 1. 80, ' con-
uenient ' for ' obedient ' : 1. 84, * whiter ' for ' luckie ' :
1. 88, ' spungie ' for ' spunge-like ' : 1. 98, " Wee call
the files of mayden-heades " for " Broke at the losse of
maiden-heads " : 1. 99, ' soft ' for ' pure ' : 1. 100,
'Which* for 'Dropt': 1. 101, 'are shed when' for
' when panting ' : 1. 112,' yearne ' for ' flax.'

The next ' Fairy ' poem is " Kinge Oberon's Feast,"
from Ashmole MS. 38, p. 100, Art. 117. As in the
former, the MS. omits the opening, (11. 1-6) and begins

1

clxii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" A little mushromp table spread
After the dance " :—

for

" A little mushroome table spred,
After short prayers *' : —

11.3-4:-

" A yeallowe corne of heckey wheate
With some small sandye greets; to eate" =grits

for

" A moon-parcht grain of purest wheat
With some small glitt'ring gritt, to eate " :

1. 8, "Wee dare not thinke" for "We must not think":
1. 10, "His fier, the pittering grasshopper" for "His
spleen, the chirring grasshopper " : 1. 1 1, ' prussing * for
* puling/ After 1. 1 2 comes an omitted couplet :

" The humming dor, the dyinge swann,
And each a choyse musitian " :

1. 1 6, ' besweeted ' for l besweetned ' : 11. 21-21

-" but with a little

Neate cole alaye of cvckoes spittle,"

for "Of that we call " : 1. 25-8 :—

" but hee not spares

To feed vppon the candide hayres

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxiii.

Of a dryed canker, with a sagg

And well bee-strutted bee's sweet bagg "

for

-" but then forthwith

He ventures boldly on the pith

Of sugred rush, and eates the sagge," &c.

I. 29, " Shocking" for " Gladding." Then come these
five lines that are in part inserted a little onward in
Hesperides : —

" A pickled magget and a drye
Hipp, with a red-cappt worme that's shutt
Within the carcasse of a nutt,
Browne as his tooth : and with the fatt
And well broyl'd inch-pin of a batt" :

II. 32-3 read

" A bloated eare-wigg, with the pythe
Of sugred rush, he gladds hym with "

for

" A bloated earewig, and a flie ;
With the red-capt worme," &c.,

and then follow these lines (in the MS) : —

" But most of all the glow-worme's fier
(As much bewitching his desire
To knowe his queene) must with the fair
Fetcht binding ielley of a stair,
The silke wormes seed "

clxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

1. 42, 'fruittfulT for * flattering '—the latter used re
peatedly by Herrick (in III. " Golden Apples ") : 1. 45,
'adaysy challice' for 'a dainty daizie.' This Poem
appeared originally in a small volume more than once
mentioned by us, viz., " A Description of the King and
Queene of Fayries," &c. (1635) ; and this probably was
Herrick's first printed production. The first form was
very imperfect, and I deem it expedient to reprint it
here literatim for comparison — as thus : —

"A Description of his Dyet.
Now they the Elves within a trice,
Prepar'd a feast lesse great than nice.
Where you may imagine first,
The Elves prepare to quench his thirst,
In pure seed Pearle of Infant dew
Brought and sweetned with a blew
And pregnant Violet ; which done
His killing eies begin to runne
Quite ore the table, where he spyes
The homes of water'd Butter-flies.
Of which he eats, but with a little
Neat coole allay of Cuckowe spittle.
Next this the red cap worme thats shut
Within the concave of a nut.
Moles eyes he tastes, then Adders eares ;
To these for sauce the slaine stagges teares,
A bloated earewig, and the pith
Of sugred rush he glads him with.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxv.

Then he takes a little Mothe,

Late fatted in a scarlet cloth,

A Spinners ham, the beards of mice,

Nits carbonado'd, a device

Before unknowne ; the blood of fleas

Which gave his Elveships stomacke ease.

The unctuous dew tops of a Snaile,

The broke heart of a Nightingale,

Orecome in musicke, with the sagge

And well bestrutted Bees sweet bagge.

Conserves of Atomes, and the mites,

The silke wormes sperme, and the delights

Of all that ever yet hath blest

Fayrie land : so ends his feast."

If it were needful it would not be difficult to extend
these various readings from other MSS., public and pri
vate. A number have been kindly sent to me and
otherwise pointed out ; but enough have been adduced
to convince that, in common with the greatest and most
spontaneous of our Poets, Herrick worked with a fine
artistic patience and genuine concentration and con
secration on his Verse. What is accidentally revealed
in those thus minutely examined and reported on by
us, warrants the conclusion that thus was it throughout.
The student of our language and literature will be
thankful for this additional evidence of highest art in
combination with highest genius (of its kind), and will

clxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

(I hope) be helped to discern with what admirable in
sight and ear our Poet changed and omitted. To him
equally with Ben Jonson may be applied William
Cartwright's inestimable praise : —

" Where are they now that cry thy Lamp did drink
More Oyl than th' Author Wine, while he did think ?
We do embrace their slander; thou hast writ
Not for Dispatch but Fame; no Market Wit;
'Twas not thy Care that it might pass and sel
But that it might endure, and be done well ;
Nor wouldst thou venture it unto the Ear
Until the File would not make smooth, but wear."

(Poems, as before, p. 314.)

That Herrick did use the * File ' cunningly and
patiently is everywhere apparent ; and in anticipation
of apparently an early death and before he should be
' in print ' be appealed to Julia : —

"Julia, if I chance to die
Ere I print my poetry,
I most humbly thee desire
To commit it to the fire :
Better 'twere my Book were dead
Then to live not perfected " (Vol. I. p. 35.)

and elsewhere :

" Parcell-gilt Poetry.

Let's strive to be THE BEST ; the Gods, we know it,
Pillars and men, hate an indifferent poet."

(Vol. III. p. 46.)

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxvii.

III. What the Book tells of the Man and his relation
to his times. — The merest glance over the manifold
headings of the Poems, longer and shorter, si Hesperides
and Noble Numbers, reveals that Herrick was not at all
reluctant to tell the world of himself. Even in cases
wherein he might have concealed his own personality
he prefers revelation of it to concealment, silvern
speech to golden silence — e.g., in "Wit's Recreations"
certain quaint lines had been inscribed " Of an old
batchelor," but when they were transferred to Hesperides
he bravely substitutes " Upon Himself " (Vol. I.
p. 170); and so, too, with "Cherry Pit" in "Wit's
Recreations" indirect, while in Hesperides direct "Julia
and I."1 This is typical. If it were harsh to allege
that he " wore his heart upon his sleeve for daws to
peck at," one must recognize a frank volubility and a
fearless confidentialness about Robert Herrick by
Robert Herrick, that are extremely noticeable. No
more than Cromwell does he seek to tone down either
the coppery hue of that feature which was so prominent

1 I refer here simply to the change to " Julia and I." Of course
it is clear he had other motives for the alteration, e.g. the first
form shows he wrote for the sake of the equivoque, and then he
altered it for the sake of better effect. The equivoque and meaning
conveyed in his equivoque was also too gross for him to speak it
really as of himself.

clxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

in Bardolph, or to remove his warts. This suggests
another element — his fundamental truthfulness. It is
not simply that there is realism of description and utter
nakedness of discovery, but that, whether grave or gay,
you have a sense of absolute integrity of confession and
profession. Both may mainly relate to moods and
swift-coming and as swift-going thought and emotion ;
but then it is so because the man was a phenomenal
man, a man of sudden moods, as changeful and as un
expected as the patterns made by a kaleidoscope. For
sooth there is often and often the same wonder over
the verse-record, touched with imaginative splendours,
as over the strange beauty shapened and coloured
therein out of bits of broken glass and other valueless
scraps. You turn to a poem headed " Of Himself,"
and lo ! the starting-point is a mere nothing, but before
the close you are startled with something that lifts you
up and ennobles the common-place. To take a repre- -
sentative example. — Like Thomas Randolph, he had
lost a ringer, and so he must ' sing ' of the loss — not for
Noble Numbers, but for Hesperides — and here is the
result, one which the Reader might do worse than
meditate on a little : —

" Upon the losse of his Finger.

One of the five straight branches of my hand

Is lopt already; and the rest but stand

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxix.

Expecting when to fall : which soon will be ;
First dyes the Leafe, the Bough next, next the Tree."

(Vol. II. p. 170.)

Compare this with the volatile Randolph's apostrophe
to his finger lost in a scuffle : —

" deare finger, though thou be

Cut from those muscles governed thee.

And had thy motion at command ;

Yet still as in a margent stand

To point my thoughts to fix upon

The hope of Resurrection :

And since thou canst no finger be,

Be a death's-head to humble me,

Till death doth threat her sting in vain,

And we in heaven shake hands again."

(Poems : 1652 pp. 121-2.)

How much truer and simpler and right from the
heart is the pathos of Herrick I over against the mere I
4 trick ' of Randolph. One accepts as real the one :
as in reading his George Herbert-like " Necessary
Observations," the tongue in cheek is inevitably called
up in the other. I say this as judging by the ultimate ' v

impression left on the student of Herrick and of blaz% \ ^\

i
Randolph. Herrick ' convinces ' you of his truthful- ; \*A

ness, whether he aspire or grovel. It were easy to
multiply similar engrandeuring and entendering of very

clxx. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

ordinary things ; but all along J wish rather to lead the
way than to exhaust those characteristics that have
suggested themselves to me.

Springing out of these unlocked for touches of gravity
and art of the Poet as distinguished from the mere
rhymer, is another element still more largely present
in Hesperides and Noble Numbers when you are vigi-
'lant in looking for it. I refer to an unlifted shadow of
• melancholy that must have lain broad and black over
Herrick. Joyousness is not at all in contradiction with
•' this, any more than is the shadow with the real bright
ness of the light whose shadow it is. Your ' merry '
nature — merry toward others, through keen self-repres
sion and self-denial — has often a dark thread inter
woven in it. I find this melancholy (the ' Melan
cholia' of Robert Burton) in the perpetually-recurring
thought of death in the Poetry of Herrick. The inter
mixture of the Poems — before accounted for — is apt to
hide this ; but when you read pencil in hand, you are
struck with the fascinating frequency of allusion to ' the
end ' of all ; your ear, once open, catches tones and
semi-tones of an unmoving sense of mortality and un
certainty ; you see the gleam of tears in the very sun
beams of laughter. His " Gather ye rosebuds " is only
a lighter setting to music of an habitual thought in this

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxxi.

so blithe and whole-hearted Singer. This is the more
remarkable as a recollection of the facts of his Life
(I. Biographical) makes it certain that the largest
proportion of his Poems must have been written when
he was comparatively young. Nevertheless, his * gray
hairs' and death come in with a peculiar iteration among
the earliest.2 As we have already seen, the very remark
able Lines from the Ashmolean MS. entitled "Vpon
Parting" ("Golden Apples," Vol. III. p. 109) mark his
disentanglement from all his " Mistresses " (in the
poetic, and only subsidiarily actual sense of l sweet
hearts') on his assuming 'holy orders.' The other poem,
" The Farewell vnto Poetrie " (Ibid pp. 101-6), is
kindredly serious. About to be made ' priest,' he
means to do his duty. Now all this was in or before
1629, when he was 'ordained' and installed as Vicar
of Dean Prior. By 1629, consequently, or in his 38th
year, his ' Antheas,' and ' Perillas,' and ' Julias,' and

3 Herrick's melancholy and thoughts of death are abiding, not
transient, much less mere phrases. An unpublished autograph
note of Voltaire to Lord Chesterfield gives an example of the mere
jesting-phrase reference to death — as follows : —

" Si je ne suis pas mort, je Serai a vos ordres, si je suis mort, je
vous en demande pardon d'avance. V."

A my lord.

Comte Chesterfield : 1772 or 1773 : MSS. at Bretby Park.

clxxii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

1 Silvias,' and all the bevy of fair girls and women were
of the Past — earlier in his * wild, unhallowed ' youth-
hood and later after leaving the University and being
resident in town, prior to ordination, and when he was
of the ' Sun,' and the ' Dog,' and the ' Triple Tun,'
and other great gatherings, social and literary ; and
yet it is in these relatively early poems the deepest
and saddest notes are found. Let us glance over the
Book to briefly indicate (by italics) and illustrate this,
— going from the opening pages onward. Thus " To
Perilla " he writes, — the last line (italicized) being very
fine in another aspect than what is now being looked
at:—

"Ah, my Perilla ! do'st thou grieve to see
Me, day by day, to steale away from thee ?
Age cals me hence, and my gray haires bid come,
And haste aivay to mine eternal home ;
'Twill not be long (Perilla) after this,
That I must give thee the supremest kisse :

Dead 'when 1 am

Follow me weeping to my Turfe, and there
Let fall a Primrose, and with it a teare :
Then lastly, let some weekly-strewings be
Devoted to the memory of me :
Then shall my Ghost not walk about, but keep
Still in the coole, and silent shades of sleep."

(Vol. I. pp. 14-150

MEMORIA ^INTRODUCTION. clxxiii.

Again, in his " To Robin Red-brest " how touch-
ingly does he go away back as when a little child on
the child's legend in all lands of the " Babes in the
Wood," and seek a friend in the * house-hold ' bird of
" the red stomacher" : —

" To Robin Red-brest.

Laid out for dead, let thy last kindnesse be
With leaves and mosse-work for to cover me :
And while the Wood-nimphs my cold corps inter,
Sing thou my Dirge, sweet-warbling Chorister !
For Epitaph, in Foliage, next write this,
Here, here the Tomb of Robin Herrick is ! "

(Vol. I. p. 32.)

Once more, " To Anthea," as to " Perilla," we
have this ; and, as in I. Biographical I have re
marked, it is surely very clear that under these fanciful
names a real love-story of his youth is concealed,
making us think of his bachelorhood as constrained by
some disappointment in a first love : —

" To Anthea.

Now is the time, ivhen all the lights •wax dim ;
And thou (Anthea) must withdraw from him
Who "was thy servant. Dearest, bury me
Under that Holy-oke, or Gospel-tree :
Where (though thou see'st not) thou may'st think upon
Me, when thou yeerly go'st Procession :

clxxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Or, for mine honour, lay me in that Tombe
In 'which thy sacred Reliques shall ha-ve roome.
For my Embalming (Sweetest) there will be
No Spices wanting, when I'm laid by thee."

(Vol. I. p. 34.)

Yet again, how unforced, how inevitable, how soft
and tender is his : —

" Divination by a Daffadill.
When a Daffadill I see,
Hanging down his head tj wards me ;
Guesse I may, what I must be :
First, I shall decline my head ;
Secondly, I shall be dead ;
Lastly, safely buryed. (Vol. I. p. 64.)

Tenderer still is this : —

" Upon his eye-sight failing him.

I beginne to waine in sight ;
Shortly I shall bid goodnight :
Then no gazing more about,
When the Tapers once are out."

(Vol. II. p. 131.)

Even when he is wearing, if not motley, at least the
vine-wreath of Anacreon or the violets of Catullus, he
semi-unconsciously deepens his raillery of " The cruell
maid " into passionate entreaty, as thus : —

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxxv.

— " Pie trouble you no more ; but goe
My ivay, "where you shall never know
What is become of me : there I
Will find me out a path to die ;
Or learne some way how to forget
You, and your name, for ever " :

and again :

'yet this thing doe,

That my last Vow commends to you :

When you shall see that I am dead,

For pitty let a teare be shed ;

And (with your Mantle o're me cast)

Give my cold lips a kisse at last :

If twice you kisse, you need not feare,

That I shall stir, or live more here."

(Vol. I. pp. 103-104.)

Still more interpenetrated and penetratively, is

" The Olive Branch.
Sadly I ivalk't ivithin the field,
To see what comfort it wo'dyeeld ;
And as I "went my private "way,
An Olive-branch before me lay :
And seeing it, I made a stay.
And took it up, and view'd it ; then
Kissing the Omen, said Amen :
Be, be it so, and let this be
A Divination unto me :
That in short time my ivoes shall cease ;
And Love shall crcrwn my End with Peace"

(Vol. I. pp. 126-7.)

clxxvi. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

Very striking is the working in of himself and his antici
pated early death in the else gay rather than sombre
" Meditation for his Mistresse." He has likened her
to 'Tulip,' and 'July-flower/ and ' Rose,' and 'faire-set
Vine,' and ' Balme,' and ' dainty Violet ' ! Then, like
one of Mozart's marvellous notes in his Choruses, there
is this close :

" You are the Queen all flowers among,
But die you must (faire Maide) ere long,
As He, the maker of this Song" (Vol. I. p. 152.)

Similarly in " The Changes. To Corinna "—

" Time, ere long, will come and plow
Loathed Furrowes in your brow :
And the dimnesse of your eye
Will no other thing imply,

But you must die

As -well as I." (Vol. I. p. 169.)

These will suffice to satisfy the Reader that not only
was there beneath Herrick's moods of mirth and boist-
crousness an abiding element of melancholy, but besides,
a deeper vein of thinking and feeling than is commonly
suspected. This leads me to speak of another element
in the make of the man that demands statement and
insistence, seeing that inattention to it does him no ordi
nary injustice — his love of country, his Shakespeare-like

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxxvii.

proudness of being an Englishman. This comes out
very delightfully in the fulness and fine credulity of his
celebration of English ways and habits, and even
superstitions. For where will you find such pictures
of England's flowers and herbage, the freshness and
brightness of her sunshine, and rains, and dews, the
fragrance of her blossoms, and buds, and leafage, and
fruits; the deliciousness of her bird-filled woodland
and lanes, and twilights, the daintiness of her Christ
mas, and other home and harvest ordinances and cus
toms, as Hock-cart, May-pole Morris dance, Wake,
Quintell, Trentall, Twelfth Night, the heartiness and
opulence of her firesides, gentle and simple, the exquisite-
ness and delicate fancies of her 'Fairy' lore, the peerless
loveliness of her 'fair women/ and the imperial brains of
her ' brave men,' the thorough gladness of the brown
lads and ruddy lasses in the comely country round, or
quaffing their nut-brown ale. So that his own appeal
and request when he would have his verses read must
be remembered by those who would drink in their
finest inspiration — as thus : —

" In sober mornings, doe not thou reherse
The holy incantation."of a verse ;
But when that men have both well drunke, and fed,
Let my Enchantments then be sung, or read.

m

clxxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

When Laurell spirts 'ith' Jire, and 'when the Hearth
Smiles to it selfe, and guilds the roofe ivith mirth ;
When up the Thyrse is rais'd, and when the sound
Of sacred Orgies flyes, A round, A round ;
When the Rose raignes, and locks 'with ointments shine,
Let rigid Cato read these Lines of mine.9*

(Vol. I. pp. 11-12.)

But if more occult not a whit less pervading is the
further evidence that Herrick, more than most of his
contemporaries, felt keenly all through the tragedy of
the Civil War, the vastness of the issues and the mourn-
fulness of the conflict. When — as with his melancholy
— you study Hesperides and Noble Numbers with this in
mind, you are surprised and touched by the depth
and strength of emotion as he writes of the men and
the events of his age. In I. Biographical, I have
stated that he was a Royalist, and ' loyal ' to the
King as against the Kingdom. In his case, as in many
others, I have recognised the chivalry of his loyalty.
If I must side with Cromwell not Charles, or with the
Nation and not the Court, I none the less honour such
as sacrificed everything in fealty to their convictions
and principles. But underlying Herrick's Royalism and
loyalty, there was open-eyed and sad-hearted insight
into the high-handed procedure of his sovereign and
his advisers, and a yearning for a way of escape and

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxxix.

reconciliation. To those consequently who have turned
to Hesperides as a mere Garden of Flowers, and Fruit,
and Birds, and rural sights and fragrancies, and colours,
and sounds, it is necessary to assert that his Poems, when
adequately studied, give us unmistakable evidence that
in him all the lights and shadows, the successes and
disasters, the angers and estrangements, the wisdom
and unwisdom of thick-coming occurrences were re
flected. The evidence here is so universal that I must
content myself with typical examples. At a chance
opening of his Book take this to begin with : —

To his Friend on the untunable Times*
" Play I co'd once ; but (gentle friend) you see
My Harp hung up, here on the Willow tree-
Sing I co'd once ; and bravely too enspire,
(With luscious Numbers) my melodious Lyre..
Draw I co'd once (although not stocks or stones,.
Amphion-like) men made of flesh and bones,
Whether I wo'd ; but (ah !) I know not how,
I feele in me, this transmutation now.
Griefe, (my deare friend) has first my Harp unstrung ;
Wither'd my hand, and palsie-struck my tongue."

(Vol. I. p. 146.)
Again: —

On Himselfe.

" Aske me, why I do not sing
To the tension of the string,

clxxx. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

As I did, not long ago,
When my numbers full did flow ?
Griefe (ay me !) hath struck my Lute,
And my tongue at one time mute."

(Vol. II. pp. 45-6.)

Once more : —

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 He hang upon the Tree,
And give it to the Silvan deitie." (Vol. II. p. 172.)

Again : —

His 'wish to privacie.
" Give me a Cell

To dwell,
Where no foot hath

A path :
There will I spend,

And end
My 'wearied yeares

In teares." (Vol. II. p. 262.)

Again : —

His Answer to a friend.

" You aske me what I doe, and how I live ?
And (Noble friend) this answer I must give :
Drooping, I draw on to the vaults of death,
O're which you'l walk, when I am laid beneath."
(Vol. III. pp. 50-51.)

MEMORIA L-INTRODUCTION. clxxxi.

Further : —

His change.

" My many cares and much distress,
Has made me like a wilderness :
Or (discompos'd) Pm like a rude,
And all-confused multitude :
Out of my comely manners worne;
And as in meanes, in minde all torne."

(Vol. III. p. 51.)

There are many such personal plaints ; but there are
more than these. His expressly 'royal' poems directly
addressed to the King and his followers were natural
enough from him. Their ' loyalty ' lies on the surface.
It needs not that I should quote from them. But with
all his ' royalism ' and ' loyalty/ how deep was his ,
lamentation over kingly and courtly vengeances, and
how burning his shame over incompetence among
high-advisers. Take this : —

Clemency.

" For punishment in warre, it will suffice,
If the chiefe author of the faction dyes ;
Let but few smart, but strike a feare through all :
Where the fault springs, there let the judgement fall."

(Vol. II. p. 470

So, too, in his " Pitie to the Prostrate " : —

dxxxii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" 'Tis worse then barbarous cruelty to show
No part of pitie on a conquer'd foe."

(Vol. II. p. 163.)

This latter may have been a groan for the beaten King
— and this also : —

Change common to all.
" All things subjected are to Fate;
Whom this Morne sees most fortunate,
The Ev'ning sees in poor estate."

(Vol. II. p. 179-)

How pathetic his verses to Wicks : —

" Wave seen the past-best Times, and these
Will nere return." (Vol. II. p. 48.)

Similarly, in his " Parting Verse " : —

" As for myself, since time a thousand cares
And griefs hath fil'de upon my silver hairs."

(Vol. II. p. 61.)

Again, in his "Lachrimae, or Mirth turn'd to Mourning":

" Call me no more,

As heretofore,
The musick of a Feast ;
Since now (alas)
The mirth that was
In me, is dead or ceast." (Vol. II. p. 67.)

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxxxiii.

Once more, " To his Booke " :—

" He's greedie of his life, who will not fall,
Whenas a publick mine bears down All."

(Vol. II. p. 87.)

0

So in his " Pastorall sung to the King " :

" Bad are the times. And wors then they are we :
Troth, bad are both; worse fruit, and ill the tree."

and the close : —

" The shades grow great ; but greater grows our sorrow,
But lets go steepe
Our eyes in sleepe ;
And meet to weepe

To morrow." (Vol. II. pp. 93-96.

He could see the evil of ' royal ' favouritism to the un
worthy, -as thus: —

Pollicie in Princes.

" That Princes may possesse a surer seat,
'Tis fit they make no One with them too great."

(Vol. II. p. 101.)

I think this must refer to Edgehill : —

Haste hurtfulL

" Haste is unhappy : what we rashly do
Is both unluckie ; I, and foolish too.

clxxxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Where War with rashnesse is attempted, there
The soldiers leave the Field with equall feare."

(Vol. II. p. 279.)

There returns his own personal grief : —

His iveaknesse in ivoes.
" I cannot suffer ; and in this, my part
Of Patience wants. Grief breaks the stoutest Heart."

(Vol. II. p. in.)

Here is the cry of a pathetic heart pierced to the core : —

Upon the troublesome times.
" O ! Times most bad,
Without the scope

Of hope
Of better to be had !

Where shall I goe,
Or whither run

To shun
This publique overthrow ?

No places are
(This I am sure)

Secure
In this our wasting Warre.

Some storms w'ave past ;
Yet we must all
Down fall,
And perish at the last.'*

(Vol. II. pp. 183-4-)

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxxxv.

It was a mistaking of the coming down of a palace-
ceiling (so to say) for the ruin of the ever-enduring
dome of the sky (when // was only beclouded) ; none
the less real were the pain and the trial. How curiously
intermixed is his " Bad season makes the Poet sad," as
thus :—

" Dull to my selfe, and almost dead to these
My many fresh and fragrant Mistresses :
Lost to all Musick now ; since every thing
Puts on the semblance here of sorrowing.
Sick is the Land to'th' heart; and doth endure
More dangerous faintings by her desp'rate cure.
But if that golden Age wo'd come again,
And Charles here Rule, as he before did Raign ;
If smooth and unperplext the Seasons were,
As when the Siveet Maria lived here :
I sho'd delight to have my Curies halfe drown'd
In Tyrlan Dtrwes, and Head with Roses crown'd.
And once more yet (ere I am laid out dead)
Knock at a Starre with my exalted Head." ^

(Vol. II. pp. 187-8.)

As shewn by the absence of the Queen, these lines must
have been written after July, 1644. The facts give a
keener edge to the couplet entitled " Love ' : —

" This Axiom I have often heard,
Kings ought to be more lov'd then fear'd"

(Vol. II. p. 220.)

clxxxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

and again : —

True safety.

" 'Tis not the Walls, or purple that defends
A Prince from Foes ; but 'tis his Fort of Friends."

(Vol. II. p. 237.)

and once more : —

Clemency in Kings.

" Kings must not only cherish up the good,
But must be niggards of the meanest bloud."

(Vol. II. p. 266.)

and yet again, very articulately : —

Moderation.

" In things a moderation keepe,
Kings ought to sheare, not skin their sheefe."

(Vol. II. p. 267.)

Further : —

Bad Princes pill their People.
" Like those infernall Deities which eate
The best of all the sacrificed meate ;
And leave their servants, but the smoak & sweat :
So many Kings, and Primates too there are,
Who claim the Fat, and Fleshie for their share,
And leave their subjects but the starved ware."

(Vol. II. p. 284.)

' Primates ' is peculiarly significant — Laud being in
tended, doubtless. Again : —

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxxxvii.

Kings and Tyrants.

" 'Twixt Kings & Tyrants there's this difference known,
Kings seek their Subjects1 good : Tyrants their onvne."

(Vol. II. p. 296.)

Again, indignant over the shorn ears and slit nostrils of
Prynne, and Burton, and Bastwicke, and which we
have Dean Hook telling us to-day Laud did not
sanction — " except perhaps by his vote" ! ! ! — is this : —

Cruelty.

" Tis but a dog-like madnesse in bad Kings,
For to delight in wounds and murderings.
As some plants prosper best by cuts and blowes ;
So Kings by killing doe encrease their foes."

(Vol. III. p. 18.)

Once more : —

Patience in Princes.

" Kings must not use the Axe for each offence :
Princes cure some faults by their patience."

(Vol. III. p. 46.)

Significant is this : —

Examples, or like Prince, like people.
" Examples lead us, and wee likely see,
Such as the Prince is, will his People be."

(Vol. II. p. 256.)

Further, boldly, and yet with a sad pensiveness : —

clxxxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" We two (as Reliques left) will have

One Rest, one Grave.
And, hugging close, we will not feare

Lust entring here :
Where all Desires are dead, or cold

As is the mould :
And all Affections are forgot,

Or Trouble not.
Here, here the Slaves and Pris'ners be

From Shackles free :
And Weeping Widowes long opprest

Doe here find rest.
The wronged Client ends his Lawes

Here, and his Cause.
Here those long suits of Chancery lie

Quiet, or die :
And all Star-Chamber-Bils doe cease,

Or hold their peace.
Here needs no Court for our Request,

Where all are best ;
All wise; all equall; and all just

Alike iW dust.
Nor need we here to feare the frowne

Of Court, or Crown.
Where Fortune bears no sivay o're things,

There all are Kings." (Vol. II. p. 147.)
Again : —

Gentlenesse.

" That Prince must govern with a gentle hand,
Who will have love comply with his command."

(Vol. III. p. 68.)

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. clxxxix.

Finally, I know nothing more affecting than his address
" To his angrie God," with himself wounded in and out,
and his outlook ominous and spectral : —

" Through all the night

Thou dost me fright,
And hold'st mine eyes from sleeping ;

And day, by day,

My Cup can say,
My wine is mixt with weeping.

Thou dost my bread

With ashes knead,
Each evening and each morrow :

Mine eye and eare

Do see, and heare
The coming in of sorrow.

Thy scourge of steele,

(Ay me!) I feele,
Upon me beating ever :

While my sick heart

With dismall smart
Is disacquainted never.

Long, long, I'm sure,

This can't endure ;
But in short time 'twill please Thee,

My genrie God,

To burn the rod,
Or strike so as to ease me." (Vol. III. p. 141.)

I venture to assume that now it has been made good

cxc. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

that Herrick was no heathen Anacreon or Catullus
' singing ' jocundly his own mirthfulness, and singing
heedless of the mighty ongoings that contemporaneously
through long years reverberated over the land. I
therefore quote, if in sorrow and wonder, yet also
thankfully — because it puts effectively a long-prevalent
misunderstanding and misconception of our Poet —
from MR. EDMUND W. GOSSE'S paper in Cornhill
(August, 1875). "This period was one of great lyrical
ability ; the drama was declining under Massinger [?]
and Shirley, and all the young generation of poets,
brought up at the feet of Jonson and Fletcher, were
much more capable of writing songs than plays. In
deed no one can at this time determine what degree of
technical perfection English literature might not have
attained if the Royalist lyrists had been allowed to
sun themselves unmolested about the fountains of
Whitehall, and, untroubled by the grave question of
national welfare, had been able to give their whole at
tention to the polishing of their verses. In fact, how
ever, it will be noticed that only one of the whole
school was undisturbed by the political crisis. The
weaker ones, like Lovelace, were completely broken by
it ; the stronger, like Suckling, threw themselves into
public affairs with a zeal and intensity that supplied

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxci.

the place of the artificial excitement of poetry so com
pletely as to put a stop to their writing altogether.
Herrick alone, with unfashionable serenity, continued
to pipe out his pastoral ditties, and crown his head
with daffodils, when England was torn to pieces with
the most momentous struggle for liberty that her annals
can present. To the poetic student he is, therefore, of
special interest, as a genuine specimen of an artist,
pure and simple. Herrick brought out the Hesperides
a few weeks before the King was beheaded, and people
were invited to listen to little madrigals upon Julia's
stomacher at the singularly inopportune moment when
the eyes of the whole nation were bent on the unprece
dented phenomenon of the proclamation of an English
republic. To find a parallel to such unconsciousness
we must come down to our own time, and recollect
that Theophile Gautier took occasion of the siege of
Paris to revise and republish Emaux et Camees " (pp.
176-7). I feel sure that no one will be more eager
than Mr. Gosse to recall his hard and utterly erroneous
judgment of Herrick. I must iterate and re-iterate,
that in no contemporary do you find such multiplied,
poignant, over-mastering, and nevertheless unclamorous
1 consciousness ' of these ' troublous times.' The imagi
nary coincidence of the publication of Hesperides with

cxcii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

the beheading of the King is singularly unfortunate.
The title-page of Noble Numbers is 1647, and that of
Hesperides 1648. The Book came out early in 1648.
The King was beheaded January 3oth, 1649. Equally
mistaken is the notion that " the little madrigals upon
Julia's stomacher " and the like belong to the period of
the nation's throes for liberty. They were certainly of
his earliest, many probably of 1610-12, and assuredly
all, or nearly all, prior to 1629 ; or well-nigh, even in
the latter, a good quarter of a century before the Civil
War and its mournful strife and dolour. I would re
call that even his ' flower ' verses were all early ; for
thus "To Flowers " does he ' sing ' :—

" In time of life, I grac't ye with my Verse."

(Vol. I. p. 57-)

and when he thinks of his imperishable Lyrics, he
exclaims : —

" Before I 'went
To banishment
Into the loathed West ;
I co'd rehearse
A Lyrick verse,
And speak it with the best."

(Vol. II. p. 67-8.)
that is before 1629.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxciii.

Going on from his undoubted patriotism, I wish to
put stress on this thing of the chronology of the Poems
of Herrick, for another reason. There no doubt still
remains in the Epigrams, inexplicable contradiction to
Noble Numbers, and to much of deepest and greatest
in Hesperides. There must have been a streak of

animalism to the last in him as in Rabelais, and

and Sterne ; for I dare not conceal, if I might, his
portraits of parishioners, and loathsome allusions to
corns, and toes, and sweat, and stinks, and " raw eyes,"
and " gum of the eyes," and " running ears," such as
a Satyr given pen and ink might have written. But it
does lift off a weight of blame and incongruity to keep
fast hold of the simple matter-of-fact that his love-
lays, and endless flaming after ' Mistresses/ and riot
of self-indulgence in sack, and ' winking wine,' and such
hilariousness and abandon as are not for an instant to
be associated with a clergyman, WERE ALL THE PRO ;

DUCT OF HIS ' LAY ' YEARS, AND SOCIAL MEETINGS WITH

JONSON AND HIS COMPEERS. I would re-affirm that
" Robert Herrick, Esq." on his title-page was intended,
as it was fitted, to disassociate his Poems — as a whole
— from his ' clerical ' years. It was long before even
1629 he sang : —

cxciv. MEMORIA L-INTROD UCTION.

" I feare no Earthly Powers,
But care for crowns of flowers ;
And love to have my Beard
With Wine and Oil besmear'd.
This day He drowne all sorrow ;
Who knowes to live to-morrow ? "

(Vol. I. p. in.)

Here spoke the young man * about town/ with his
bones full of marrow, and his blood of fire, and his
entire temperament pleasure-loving and sensuous. I
quote again from Mr. Gosse that again the reader may
be forewarned and forearmed against his further funda
mental misconception of Herrick, through forgetfulness
that the one set or dass of Poems was sundered by a
quarter-of-a-century at least from the other. Not in
his " dreary Devonshire vicarage," but when his ' fine
frenzy' was kindled by the guests of "The Dog,"
and "The Sun," and "The Triple Tun," was he
so ' outspoken ' in his " half-classical dreams about
Favonius and Iris, and in flowery mazes of sweet
thoughts about fair^ half-imaginary women." With
these preliminary words, here is our further quotation,
after above lines, " I fear no earthly powers " : —
" This was his philosophy, and it is not to be distin
guished from that of Anacreon or Horace. One
knows not how the old pagan dared be so outspoken

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxcv.

in his dreary Devonshire vicarage, with no wild friends
to egg him on, or to applaud his fine frenzy. His
Epicureanism was plainly a matter of conviction, and
though he wrote Noble Numbers, preached sermons,
and went through all the perfunctory duties of his
office [ Not a shadow of proof of the * duties of his
office ' having been ' perfunctory'], it is not in these
that he lives and has his pleasure, but in half-classical
dreams about Favonius and Iris, and in flowery
mazes of sweet thoughts about fair, half-imaginary
women. It matters little to him what divinity he
worships, if he may work daffodils into the god's bright
hair. In one hand he brings a garland of yellow
flowers for the amorous head of Bacchus, with the
other he decks the osier-cradle of Jesus with roses and
Lent-lilies. He has no sense of irreverence in this
rococo devotion. It is the attribute, and not the
Deity he worships. There is an airy frivolity, an easy
going callousness of soul that makes it impossible for
him to feel very deeply " (p. 180). A thousand and a
thousand times * No.' My gifted friend is oblivious of
dates, and imposed on by the intermixture of earlier
and later, light and serious,, through the Publishers',
not the Author's, arrangement or disarrangement of
Hesperides. I am beyond measure astounded that a

MEMORIA L-INTROD UCTION.

critic of the calibre and the weight of Mr. Gosse could
deliberately write such a paradox of Herrick, as that
his was " an easy-going callousness of soul that makes
it impossible for him to feel very deeply " ! Contrari
wise, ' callousness ' is the very antipodes of his nature
in its surcharge of the emotional, and ' depth,' the one
word to express his ' feeling,' in what of truest and
noblest he has given us. I must add that there was
no simulation, but intense fervour and sincerity in his
passion at the moment, and for the moment, if it is to
be conceded that it was also as changeable as Robert
Burns's in the eighteenth century. Hence, as criticism,
it is bewilderingly the reverse of the fact when Mr.
Gosse thus further writes : — " There is a total want of
passion in his language about women — the nearest
approach to it, perhaps,*is in the wonderful song ' To
Anthea,' when the lark-like freshness of the ascending
melody closely simulates intense emotion — with all his
warmth of fancy and luxurious animalism, he thinks
more of the pretty 'eccentricities of dress than the
charms the garments curtain. He is enraptured with
the way in which the Countess of Carlisle wears a
riband of black silk twisted round her arm ; he palpitates
with pleasure when Mistress Katherine Bradshaw puts a
crown of laurel on his head, falling on one knee, we

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxcvii.

may believe, and clasping his hands as he receives it.
He sees his loves through the medium of shoe-strings
and pomander bracelets, and is alive, as no poet has
been before or since, to the picturesqueness of dress.
Everybody knows his exquisite lines about the " tem
pestuous petticoat," and his poems are full of little
touches no less delicate than this" (p. 180). Read
cum grano salts there is truth in his eye to " the pic
turesqueness of dress " ; but a very little study of the
poems referred to will satisfy that the Wearers, not the
1 dress/ inspired him to sing, and that his fault was not
lack, but exuberance and wildness of ' passion.'

Within these wider relations of Herrick to his times,
and the insight which they give us into his bearing
through periods of national peril and sorrow, there was
his every-day life at Dean Prior. Looked at broadly,
Mr. Gosse has well sketched it for us, as follows : —
" In many sweet and sincere verses he gives us a char
ming picture of the quiet life he led in the Devonshire
parsonage, that he affected to loathe so much. The
village had its rural and semi-pagan customs, that
pleased him thoroughly. He loved to see the brown
lads and lovely girls, crowned with daffodils and daisies,
dancing in the summer evenings in a comely country
round; he delighted in the may-pole, ribanded and

cxcviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

garlanded like a thyrsus, reminding his florid fancy of
Bacchus and the garden-god. There were morris-
dances at Dean Prior, wakes and quintels ; mummers,
too, at Christmas, and quaint revellings at Twelfth
Night, with wassail bowls and nut-brown mirth; and
we can imagine with what zeal the good old pagan
would encourage these rites against the objections of
any round-head Puritan who might come down with
his new-fangled Methodistical notions to trouble the
sylvan quiet of Dean Prior. For Herrick the dignity
of episcopal authorship had no charm, and thunders
of Nonconformity no terror. Busier minds were at
this moment occupied with Holy Living and Holy
Dying, and thrilled with the Sermons of Calamy. It is
delightful to think of Herrick, blissfully unconscious of
the tumult of tongues and all the windy war, more
occupied with morris-dances and barley-breaks than with
prayer-book or Psalter. The Revolution must indeed
have come upon him unaware" (p. 181). Bating the
reference to the illustrious and venerable Calamy,
whose matterful sermons had Mr. Gosse read, he
would have spared his (I fear intended) sneer, and the
already pointed out mistake that in his seclusion the
Vicar was ' unaware ' of the march of events to ' The
Revolution,' — this vivifies to us the long-past ' resi-

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cxcix.

dence.' I feel disposed to acquiesce in the phrase of
the " Devonshire parsonage, that he affected to loath."
I suspect his objurgations and ' parish ' Epigrams,
were written during Winter, when the air was chill, and
the roads miry, and society gone to town. One
cannot credit that Poems so informed with the breath
of the country, and so pulsating with love for every
thing rural and primitive, were not inspired by true
enjoyment. It could only have been in a fit of bile,
or when the old rhyme of ' rainy Devonshire ' was
being monotonously accomplished, that he thus wrote :

Upon himself.

" Come, leave this loathed Country-life, and then
Grow up to be a Roman Citizen.
Those mites of Time, which yet remain unspent,
Waste thou in that most Civill Government.
Get their comportment, and the gliding Tongue
Of those mild Men, thou art to live among :
Then being seated in that smoother Sphere,
Decree thy everlasting Topick there. =abode

And to the Farm-house nere return at all,
Though Granges do not love thee, Cities shall.'19

(Vol. II. p. U6-7.)1

1 It may be noted here, en passant, that in Randolph's finest
poem, " An Ode to M. Anthony Stafford to hasten him into the

cc. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Let us read the ancient rhyme as the key to such
irate loathing : —

" The West wind comes and brings us rain,
The East wind blows it back again ;
The South wind brings us rainy weather,
The North wind cold and rain together.
When the sun in red doth set,
The next day surely will be wet.
But if the sun should set in gray
The next will be a rainy day !
When buds the ash before the oak,
Then, that year, there'll be a soak,
But should the oak precede the ash,
Then expect a rainy splash."

Country " you have the obverse of the medal. The opening will

illustrate : —

" Come spurre away,

I have no patience for a longer stay ;

But must go down,

And leave the changeable noise of this great Town.
I will the Countreye see,
Where all simplicity,
Though hid in gray,
Doth look more gay
Than fopery in plush and scarlet clad.

Farewell you Citty-wits that are
Almost at Civill-warre :
'Tis time that I grow wise when all the world grows mad."

(Poems 1652, pp. 61-64.)

ME MORI A L- 1 NT ROD UC TION. cci .

If the ' Western Wind,' like North, and South, and
East, brought rain, and rain, and rain, it got other
messages from the Poet too, as thus : —

" Sweet western wind, whose luck it is,

(Made rivall with the aire,)
To give Perenna's lip a kisse,
And fan her wanton haire.
Bring me but one, Tie promise thee,

Instead of common showers,
Thy wings shall be embalm'd by me,
And all beset with flowers."

(Vol. I. p. 179.)

Nay, more, his " Noble Numbers " at least were the
product of "dull Devonshire"; and so he gratefully
sums up his " Discontents in Devon " :

" More discontents I never had,
Since I was born, then here ;
Where I have bee'n, and still am sad,

In this dull Devon-shire.
Yet, justly too, I must confesse,

I ne'r invented such
Ennobled numbers for the Presse,
Then where I loath'd so much."

(Vol. I. p. 32.)

Then there is the title of his Book, Hesperides,
which, if with a sly reminder of * dragons/ also tells of

ccii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

): " Golden Apples " from the West. There are home-
Poems, that transparently assure us of real contentment
and happiness. It will do us all good towead " His
Grange, or private wealth," thus : —

" Though Clock,
To tell how night drawes hence, I've none,

A Cock,
I have, to sing how day drawes on.

I have
A maid (my Preiv) by good luck sent,

To save
That little, Fates me gave or lent.

A Hen
I keep, which creeking day by day,

Tells when
She goes her long white egg to lay.

A Goose
I have, which, with a jealous eare,

Lets loose
Her tongue, to tell what danger's neare.

A Lamb
I keep (tame) with my morsells fed,

Whose Dam
An Orphan left him (lately dead).

A Cat
I keep, that playes about my House,

Grown fat,
With eating many a miching Mouse.

To these

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cciii.

A Trasy I do keep, whereby

I please
The more my rurall privacie :

Which are
But toyes, to give my heart some ease :

Where care
None is, slight things do lightly please."

(Vol. II. pp. 240-1.)

Other Poems — homelier and in a lower key — give
equal testimony; and his actual return in 1662 is
still more consolatory. It was inevitable, that, buried
in * the country ' — he went to Dean Prior in October —
he would yearn after old days and the old associates in
London ; but from 1646 to 1662 would suffice for
town, especially with the grand men of his youth all
gone. And so he would ' travel West/ not grudgingly
or sadly, but thankfully. His Epigrams on obnoxious
parishioners would be long forgotten ; but there is
proof that his Noble Numbers and his rural pieces
were ' learned by heart ' (Scotice), and long lingered "in
aged memories. Then Devonshire had still its old-man
nered usages and ' characters,' its feminine loveliness, its
' tors,' and vales, and shadowy lanes ; its primroses and
violets, wild roses, wild strawberries and honeysuckle,
cowslips and daffodils; and the lark, and nightingale, and
robin, and thrush. April and May, and June, and

cciv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

July, would bring the old games, and the old mirth in
the old gatherings. Even the slighted months then as
now would yield him their own profuse beauty of
ivy, and fern, and hedgerow. I like to picture the
mellowed septuagenarian giving a kiss, glowing as
thirty years before, to the ' maiden ' whom he had
baptized, and whose parents he had married. His hair
might be white, but his heart was as young as ever.
Broad of jest, perchance, and laughter-loving still,
— loud, not low, — abhorrent of pretence, keen-eyed to
sanctimoniousness taking the guise of saintliness, but
soft-hearted and generous to the last ; not " an old
Pagan," but a hale, old-fashioned Churchman, who
loved the ancient forms and ancient prayers, and
ancient usages altogether, and who, not brazenly and
merely orthodoxally, had with stooped head said in
1648 :—

" I sing, and ever shall

Of Heaven, AND HOPE TO HAVE IT AFTER ALL/*

(Vol. I. p. 8.)

His relation to his Contemporaries I have already in-
dicated in I. Biographical. Too early for know
ing Shakespeare — away down in Stratford, not in
London, unless on a chance-visit — we have found him

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccv.

couched at the feet of * Rare Ben,' and a welcome guest
among the immortals. It is pleasant to read his gene
rous praise of his younger brethren — as DENHAM and
CHARLES COTTON. They in turn, doubtless, looked
up to him. Two of his poems got among the posthu
mously-published Poems of Thomas Carew, viz, " The
Enquiry" (Vol. II., p. 3), and "The Primrose"
(Vol. II., p. 177). Both appeared in "Wit's Recrea
tions" (1640), and both were reclaimed from thence for
Hesperides. It is most likely in tacit reference to these
and possibly others, that he affirmed his express pro
prietorship of all, as thus : —

" Upon his Verses.

What off-spring other men have got,
The how, where, when, I question not.
These are the Children I have left ;
Adopted some ; none got by theft.
But all are toucht (like lawfull plate)
And no Verse illegitimate." (Vol. II. p. 223.)

It is more than satisfying that the great and good
John Selden, though no Royalist, won his reverence
and affection. It is characteristic of the spacious-
hearted man that he had words of praise and recog
nition for merit wherever met His judgments
are invariably sound. It surprised me, I own, to come

ccvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

on his estimate of Mildmay, Earl of Westmoreland, as
a Poet ; but, guided by his estimate, to his privately-
printed " Otia Sacra ", I was more than rewarded.
Until the whole is given (in my " Occasional Issues ")
let this little poem gain for itself a reading, as warranting
Herrick's counsel to ' print ' : —

Quid amabilius.
If I must needs Discover
I am in Love : be Christ again my Lover,

And let His Passion bring
My actions to their touch and censuring :

Who in this world was born,
Liv'd in it, and was put to death with scorn,

That I to Sin might die,
Being born again to live eternally :
Thus PI no longer make
Addresses to my Glass for this curies sake,

Or that quaint garb, whereby
I may enchanted be with flattery :
Nor on luxurious vow,
Becircling Rosebuds seek to gird my brow ;

But with a melting thought
Bring home that Ransom whereat twas bought,

In Contemplation
Of that same Platted Crown He once had on.

And when my Glove or Shoo
Want Ribbond, call for th' Nails that pierced Him too :

Else farther to be drest,
Borrow the Tincture of His naked brest :

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccvii.

Nor wash, but in Soul Pride,
Then use no other Bason but His Side :

So, up and ready, think
How He, for Me, low in the grave did sink,

That I again might rise
With Him, who was both Priest and Sacrifice,

To make atonement in
The Difference 'twixt his Father's wrath, Mans* sin ;

Whereto it must remain,
That I through Faith requite this love again.

(Otia Sacra, p. 70.) V

IV. Tfie specialities of his Poetry. — I do not say that
' specialities ' is the best possible word to express my
purpose in the present observations ; but I wanted
to mark out something more definite than * character
istics ' — all the more that I have already stated and
illustrated his * characteristics ' as Man and Poet in
working out a higher object. These five things include
what I wish to note for the Reader : —

1. His imaginative realism.

2. His realistic imaginativeness.

3. His exquisiteness and brightness of fancies.

4. His allusive readinr

5. His sacred verse.

i. His imaginative realism. I am thinking now of the
fidelity with which he puts before you what he elects to

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

i sing ' of. He can be as coarsely and offensively
realistic as any be-praised Dutch ' interior ' painter ;
and he is by no means fastidious in his choice of sight
or theme. But at his best his realism is touched like
the opal-edge of clouds just after sunset, with imagina
tion. Look at his Primroses. They are not mere
' yellow primroses,' not even Wordsworth's interpene
trated with matter of direct ethical and spiritual teach
ing, but himself ageing, what a light of glory lies on them
as 'fill'd with dew' they interpret the changefulness of
human experiences. Let us read : —

" To Primroses Jill' d 'with morning-dew.

i . Why doe ye weep, sweet Babes ? can Tears
Speak griefe in you,
Who were but borne
Just as the modest Morne
Teem'd her refreshing dew ?
Alas, you have not known that shower,
That marres a flower ;
Nor felt th'unkind
Breath of a blasting wind ;
Nor are ye worne with years ;

Or warpt, as we,
Who think it strange to see,
Such pretty flowers, (like to Orphans young,)
To speak by Teares, before ye have a Tongue.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccix.

2. Speak, whimp'ring Younglings, and make known
The reason, why
Ye droop, and weep ;
Is it for want of sleep ?
Or Childish Lullabie ?
Or that ye have not seen as yet
The Violet ?
Or brought a kisse
From that Sweet-heart, to this ?
No, no, this sorrow shown
By your teares shed,
Wo'd have this Lecture read,
That things of greatest, so of meanest worth,
Conceiv'd with grief are, and with teares brought forth."

(Vol. I. pp. 181-2.)

Of the same type, but though worn through quotation,
not nearly so fine as the ' Primroses ' nor so original, is
his " Gather ye Rose-buds while ye may."1 This imagi
nativeness is absent from none of those Poems that
give Herrick his peculiar place among the Poets of
England ; and I call attention to it, because it is so
common to take him at his lowly self-estimate, and look
no deeper, e. g. thus, Mr. Gosse writes of Hesperides, as

1 Mr. Robert Roberts, of Boston, has recently issued a delightful
booklet yclept " Poesies of Roses " (8vo. pp. 22) wherein he has
brought together several interesting variants on " Gather ye Roses.**
In Forbes' Cantus a poor answer to Herrick is found.

ccx. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" songs, children of the West, brought forth in the soft,
sweet air of Devonshire." " The Poet," says he,
" strikes a key-note with wonderful sureness in the
opening couplets of the opening poem : —

' I sing of brookes, of blossoms, birds and bowers,
Of April, May, of June, and July flowers.
I sing of maypoles, hock-carts, wassails, wakes,
Of bridegrooms, brides, and of their bridal cakes/

It would not have been easy to describe more cor
rectly what he does sing of. The book is full of all
those pleasant things of spring and summer, full of
young love, happy nature, and the joy of mere existence.
As far as flowers are concerned, the atmosphere is full
of them. One is pelted with roses and daffodils from
every page, and no one dares enter the sacred precincts
without a crown of blossoms on his hair. Herrick's
sun might be that stray Venus of Botticelli's, which
rises, rosy and dewy, from a sparkling sea, blown at by
the little laughing winds, and showered upon with vio
lets and lilies of no earthly growth. He tells us that for
years and years his muse was content to stay at home,
or, straying from village to village, to pipe to handsome
young shepherds and girls of flower-sweet breath, but
that at last she became ambitious to try her skill at

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxi.

Court, and so came into print in London. In other
words, these little poems circulated widely in manu
script long before they were published " (p. 182). All
true so far as it goes ; but beyond the ' simple sights '
and transfiguring the humblest ' flowers,' there is a subtle
light, sometimes pure as the white light, sometimes pur
pled ; and pensive thoughtfulness and tender meditative-
ness born of imagination — not an imagination grand as
Dante's or Milton's, but of kin with Spenser in his
* gentle ' mood, and infinitely above your modern word-
painter whose realism is a bootless effort to transform
the pen into a brush. It matters not what Herrick
describes — he gives you its very " form and pressure,"
and over it, as the seven-fold rainbow breaking into in
effable fragments under its load of rain, or before the
blast of the wind ; and better than saint's nimbus, you
have the ' final touch ' in epithet or in break of music,
that differentiates the Poet from the Versifier. Even
when it is the artificial — not nature — he sings of, there
is this presence of the Poet's imaginativeness. Thus in
his " Bracelet of Pearls : to Silvia," you have not only
nicest and daintiest, not coarse workmanship, but the
suggestion of a whole sphere of living romance, and
that by one name linking on to the great Past. Again
let us read :

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" I Brake thy Bracelet 'gainst my will ;

And, wretched, I did see
Thee discomposed then, and still
Art discontent with me.

One jemme was lost ; and I will get

A richer pearle for thee,
Then ever, dearest Silvia, yet

Was drunk to Antonie.

Or, for revenge, Tie tell thee what
Thou for the breach shalt do ;

First, crack the strings, and after that,
Cleave thou my heart in two."

(Vol. II. pp. 230-1.)

I do not deem it expedient to enlarge on this ; but
if the Reader will turn to " A Country Life : to his
Brother, M. Tho: Herrick" (Vol. I. pp. 57-64), and to
"The Hock-Cart or Harvest-home, to the Earl of
Westmoreland" (Vol. I. pp. 175-8), the former being
on Horatian wings — one of Herrick's best-sustained
and noblest flights, and the latter deliciously fresh and
vivid, and with a matchless flavour of dear old England
— he will discover abundant evidence of that imagi
nativeness that suffuses his realism which I am now
insisting upon. Then in his " Panegerick to Sir Lewis
Pemberton" (Vol. II. p. 71) he will find the same
speciality, and humour and vigour besides.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxiii.

Finally here, " No one has ever known better than
Herrick how to seize, without effort, and yet to absolute
perfection, the pretty points of modern pastoral life.
Of all these poems of his, none surpasses ' Corinna's
going a-Maying,' which has something of Wordsworth's
faultless instinct and delicate perception.1 The picture
given here of the slim boys and the girls in green
gowns going out singing into the corridors of blossom
ing whitethorn, when the morning sky is radiant in all
its 'fresh-quilted colours,' is ravishing, and can only
be compared for its peculiar charm with that other
where the maidens are seen at sunset, with silvery
naked feet and dishevelled hair crowned with honey
suckle, bearing cowslips home in wicker baskets.
Whoever will cast his eye over the pages of Hesperides
will meet with myriads of original and charming
passages of this kind :

' Like to a solemn sober stream
Bankt all with lilies, and the cream
Of sweetest cowslips filling them.'

the * cream of cowslips ' being the rich yellow antlers
of water-lilies. Or thus, comparing a bride's breath to
the faint, sweet odour of the earth : —

1 I venture to add that Herrick's "Christian Militant" (Vol. II.
p. 40) may take its place beside Wordsworth's " Happy Warrior."

ccxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

' A savour like unto a blessed field
When the bedabbled morn
Washes the golden ears of corn.'

[I intercalate that in 1. i the allusion is Biblical, viz.
to Genesis xxvii. 27.] Or thus, a sketched interior : —

' Yet can thy humble roof maintain a choir

Of singing crickets by the fire,
And the brisk mouse may feed herself with crumbs,
Till that the green-eyed kitling comes.'

"Nor did the homeliest details of the household
escape him. At Dean Prior his clerical establishment
consisted of Prudence Baldwin, his ancient maid; of
a cock and hen, a goose, a tame lamb, a cat, a spaniel,
and a pet pig, learned enough to drink out of a
tankard ; and not only did the genial Vicar divide his
loving attention between the various members of this
happy family, but he was wont, a little wantonly one
fears, to gad about to wakes and wassailings, and to
increase his popular reputation by showing off his
marvellous learning in old rites and ceremonies. These
he has described with loving minuteness, and not these
only, but even the little acts of cookery do not escape
him. Of all his household poems not one is more
characteristic and complete than the ' Bride-cake,'

ME MORI A L-INTROD UCTION. ccxv.

which we remember naving had recited to us years ago
with immense gusto, at the making of a great pound
cake, by a friend now widely enough known as a
charming follower of Herrick's poetic craft : —

' The Bride-cake.

This day, my Julia, thou must make
For Mistress Bride, the wedding cake ;
Knead but the dough, and it will be
To paste of almonds turned by thee,
Or kiss it, but once or twice,
And for the bride-cake there'll be spice.' "

(Mr. Gosse, as before, pp. 184-5.)

What a vision of Julia in her radiant beauty all rosy
under such a compliment has the most prosaic reader
in " The Bride-cake." And so it is throughout. Not
one of even the * household poems ' is without its touch
of imaginative realism.

2. His realistic imaginativeness. I refer here mainly
to his Poems of 'Fairy,' wherein you have not such
thin bodiless Impersonations as in COLLINS' Ode. to
the Passions, and even in Gray (if I may dare the
heresy), but substantive and living. On this Mr. Gosse
(as before) writes finely, though in one place mis
takenly, as we shall see : — " Before we turn to more
general matters, there is one section of the Hesperides

ccxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

that demands a moment's attention, that namely, de
voted to the description of Fairyland and its inhabi
tants. -We have seen that it was, probably, the per
formance of Ben Jonson's pretty masque of ' Oberon '
that set Herrick dreaming about that misty land where
elves sit eating butterflies' horns round little mushroom
tables, or quaff draughts

' Of pure seed-pearl of morning dew,
Brought and besweetened in a blue,
And pregnant Violet.'

/ And with him the poetic literature of Fairyland ended.
He was its last laureate, for the Puritans thought its
rites, though so shadowy, superstitious, and frowned
upon their celebration, while the whole temper of the
Restoration, gross and dandified at the same time, was
foreign to Such pure play of the imagination. But
some of the greatest names of the great period had
entered its sacred bounds and sung its praises.
Shakespeare had done it eternal honour in Mid
summer Night's Dream, and Drayton had written
an elaborate epic (?) The Court of Faerie. Jonson's
friend, Bishop Corbet, had composed fairy ballads that
had much of Herrick's lightness about them. It was
these literary traditions that Herrick carried with him

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxvii.

into the West ; it does not seem that he collected any
fresh information about the mushroom world in Devon
shire ; we read nothing of river-wraiths or pixies in his
poems. He adds, however, a great deal of ingenious
fancy to the stores he received from his elders, and his
fairy-poems, all written in octo-syllabic verse, as though
forming parts of one projected work, may be read with
great interest as a kind of final compendium of all
that the poets of the iyth century imagined about
fairies" (pp. 186).

Mr. Gosse is again strangely wrong as to the source
of Herrick's ' Fairy ' poems. Misled by the title — and
the mere title or one word ' Oberon ' never could sug
gest such poems — he assigns to Jonson his inspiration.
But Jonson's ' Oberon ' has nothing whatever on Fairies
or Fairy-land ; nor indeed were such dainty things at all
in his way. One is indeed puzzled at the absence of
the ' Fairies ' in 'Oberon' until it is found that Jonson's
' Oberon ' is a prince of sixteen. Herrick's splendid
praise of * Rare Ben ' and occasional touches, as in his
" Delight in Disorder " (Vol. I. 46) assure us that he
was his willing subject ; but in not one bit could he
have been indebted to him for his ' Fairy ' creations.
For them it is a pleasure to think of Drayton's Nymph-
idia and Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream and

ccxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Romeo and Juliet. Thither and not at all in Jonson's
spectacular ' Oberon ' must we look for Herrick's pre
parative reading and impress.1

Let the reader turn and return on these 'Fairy' poems.
Let him note their quaintness, their apt names, their sly
humour, their fantastique of exploit, their oddity of
invention, their drollery of feasting, their jets of tricksy
wit, their quizzical hitting of modern foibles through
superstitious rites (the Poet's pen transfixing the
vinegar-faced fool as with a needle), their ripple of
soft laughter, their swift changefulness (as of peacock's
crest, or humming-bird's breast, or dove's neck), their
ingenuous credulities. I know not that anywhere we
can turn to Poems of Imagination so ' compact,' and at
/ the same time so airy, so real-seeming and yet of
subtlest imagination. It is well to read the whole
group successively but together, viz. " The Fairie
Temple; or Oberon's Chappell " (Vol. I. pp. 156-163),
and "Oberon's Feast" (VoL II. pp. 24-27), and
"Oberon's Palace" (Vol. II. pp. 104-9), and "The
Beggar" (Vol. II. pp. 202-3), and " The Hagg" (Vol.
II. pp. 205-6).2

1 See before on Herrick's reading of Marlowe and Greene
and Shirley.
" Even in Thomas Randolph's Amyntas (1638) there are oddi-

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxix.

His " Epithalamiums " and other marriage and birth
day poems have the same speciality of realistic imagi
nativeness. You have the actual ' fair ladies ' and
' brave men/ but there is a splendour of imagination
prodigally lavished on the use and wont of 'good wishes.'
Of the Epithalamiums Mr. Gosse thus speaks : — " The
epithalamium is a form of verse which had a very bright
period of existence in England, and which has long
been completely extinct. [Revived gorgeously by
Dante G. Rossetti, as in a quieter way by Coventry
Patmore earlier.] Its theme and manner gave too
much opportunity to lavish adulation on the one hand,
and unseemly inuendo on the other, to suit the preciser
manners of our more reticent age, but it flourished for
the brief period contained between 1600 and 1650, and
produced some exquisite masterpieces. The ' Epitha
lamium' and 'Prothalamion' of Spenser struck the key
note of a fashion that Drayton, Ben Jonson, [Donne] and

ties of 'Fairy ' possessions that might have been admitted into
41 Oberon's Palace," e.g. :—
" Do. A curious Parke.

Pal'd round about with Pick-teeth.
lo. Besides a house made all of mother of Pearle ;

An Ivory Tenniscourt.
Dor. A nut-meg Parlour.
lo. A Saphyre dary-roome.
Dor. A Ginger Hall." (1640 ed. p. 34.)

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

others adorned, and of which Herrick was the last, and
far from the least ardent votary. His confidential muse
was delighted at being asked in to arrange the cere
monies of a nuptial feast, and described the bride and
her surroundings with a world of pretty extravagance.
Every admirer of Herrick should read the ' Nuptial
Ode on Sir Clipseby Crew and his Lady.' It is ad
mirably fanciful, and put together with consummate
skill. It opens with a choral out-burst of greeting to
the bride : —

* What's that we see from far ? the spring of day
Bloom'd from the east, or fair enjewelled May
Blown out of April ? or some new
Star filled with glory to our view

Reaching at heaven,
To add a nobler planet to the seven ? '

Less and less dazzled, he declares her to be some
goddess floating out of Elysium in a cloud of tiffany.
He leaves the church treading upon scarlet and amber,
and spicing the chafed air with fumes of Paradise.
Then they watch her coming towards them down the
shining street, whose very pavement breathes out
spikenard. But who is this that meets her ? Hymen
with his fair white feet, and head with marjoram

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxxi.

crowned, who lifts his torch, and, behold ! by his side
the bridegroom stands, flushed and ardent. Then the
maids shower them with shamrock and roses, and so
the dreamy verses totter under their load of perfumed
words, till they close with a benediction over the new
married couple, and a peal of maiden laughter over
love anci its flower-like mysteries" (p, 186). Fit com
panion for the Clipseby Crew " Nuptial Ode " is the
" Epithalamie to Sir Thomas Southwell and his Ladie"
(Vol. I. pp. 90-99) which holds its own even beside
Donne's.

Another group of Poems that illustrate his realistic
imaginativeness is what may be called his verse-gifts —
of which he must have been lavish — to friends and
neighbours. These were evidently flung off at the mo
ment; but the most careless (as a rule) reveal the
inspired Singer. His celebrations of his own numerous
family of brothers and sisters — his guardian-uncle, Sir
William Herrick, notably absent, as the old * curmud
geon' (Scottce) deserved — and his mother's circle of
relatives and kinsmen, are charming. Among the
former, as though to favour the Poet, was his sweet-
named sister ' Mercy.' Among the latter, men of mark
in the ' city ' and State, and otherwise — as the Soames
and Stones and the like. A careful study of these will re-

ccxxii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

ward, for they will be found not exaggerate, but true,
imaginative, but realistic. I should scarcely know
where to hold my hand if I began quotation from these
Poems. I therefore will not begin ; but I cannot
withhold his own favourite, his " Lilly in a Christal,"
which in various ways still further exemplifies the
present speciality. In this instance the Poet was not
as so often wrong in his high and preferring estimate.

" The Lilly in a Christal.

You have beheld a smiling Rose

When Virgins hands have drawn

O'r it a Cobweb- Lawne :
And here, you see, this Lilly shows,

Tomb'd in a Christal stone,
More faire in this transparent case,

Then when it grew alone ; [than

And had but single grace.

You see how Creame but naked is ;

Nor daunces in the eye
Without a Strawberrie :

Or some fine tincture, like to this,

Which draws the sight thereto,
More by that wantoning with it ;

Then when the paler hieu [than

No mixture did admit.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxxii,.

You see how Amber through the streams

More gently stroaks the sight,
' With some conceal'd delight;
Then when he darts his radiant beams

Into the boundlesse aire :
Where either too much light, his worth

Doth all at once impaire,

Or set it little forth.

Put Purple grapes, or Cherries in-

To Glasse, and they will send

More beauty to commend
Them, from that cleane and subtile skin,

Then if they naked stood, {than

And had no other pride at all,

But their own flesh and blood,

And tinctures naturall.

Thus Lillie, Rose, Grape, Cherry, Creame,

And Straw-berry do stir

More love, when they transfer
A weak, a soft, a broken beame ;

Then if they sho'd discover [than

At full their proper excellence ;

Without some Scean cast over,
To juggle with the sense.

Thus let this Christal'd Lillie be

A Rule, how far to teach,

Your nakednesse must reach :
And that, no further, then we see

:cxxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Those glaring colours laid
By Arts wise hand, but to this end
They sho'd obey a shade ;
Lest they too far extend.

So though y'are white as Swan, or Snow,

And have the power to move

A world of men to love :
Yet, when your Lawns & Silks shal flow ;

And that white cloud divide
Into a doubtful Twi-light ; then,

Then will your hidden Pride

Raise greater fires in men."

(Vol. I. p. 129-31.)

I must content myself with two other examples of his
realistic imaginativeness as distinguished from his im
aginative realism — a distinction that it may be assumed
will be admitted after our remarks and illustrations —
namely, his " Amber Bead " and " Upon her Feet."
Take them both :—

" The Amber Bead.

I saw a Flie, within a Beade
Of Amber cleanly buried :
The Urne was little, but the room
More rich then Cleopatra's Tombe." \than
(Vol. II. p. 280.)

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxxv.

One does not think so much, on reading this little
snatch, of. Martial and his epigram (Book IV. 32)
which is elsewhere recalled by Herrick himself (" Upon
a Flie": Vol. II. p. 140) as of the lines attributed to no
less than Milton in our day by Professor Morley. For
my part I cannot accept the illustrious authorship ; but
it is interesting to find an echo of our Poet in its close,
as thus : —

" For so this little wanton elf
Most gloriously enshrined itself : —
A tomb whose beauty might compare
With Cleopatra's sepulchre."

Perhaps Martial was the source common to each, viz.
his 'Viper in Amber' (B. IV. 56); and the point is, that
the renowned Queen Cleopatra died by a ' viper '
(Shakespeare's 'worm') and had a tomb (with Anthony)
finished by Augustus, that long remained a world's
wonder.1 Now for

1 "In respect to the viper, Paley and Stone observe : " This must
be taken as a poetic hyperbole for some small creeping thing. The
point of the epigram, indeed, turns on its being a real snake ; but
this is hardly possible. The ancients were aware of the true na
ture of amber. See Pliny." These excellent scholars are mis
taken. A piece of amber has been found in Jutland that weighed
twenty -seven pounds ; and in the Royal Mineral Cabinet at Berlin

P

ccxxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Upon her feet.

" Her pretty feet

Like snailes did creep
A little out, and then,
As if they started at Bo- Beep,
Did soon draw in agen." (Vol. II. p. 153.)

I must pronounce this as truer and finelier wrought than
Sir John Suckling's every-where-known comparison to
mice, thus : —

" Her feet beneath her petticoat,
Like little mice, stole in and out,

As if they feared the light :
But oh ! she dances such a way
No sun upon an Easter day

Is half so fine a sight."

It was daring in Herrick to write down what he himself
had really seen, the quick movement — as of insects
antennae — of the snail's ' horns' if in the slightest
touched, whether by a hindering ' bent ' or falling dew-
is another piece weighing 13^ pounds. It is 13! inches long, 8£
inches broad, 5 inches and five-eighths high on the one side, and
3 1 inches on the other. Similar large pieces of gum-copal, with
insects, &c., imbedded, are found in Africa. See Livingstone's
" Last Journals," I. pp. 29, 182.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxxvii.

drop, or sound of human voice — for self-evidently that
was what the Poet had in recollection. I feel perfectly
satisfied that it originated with our Poet's actual observa
tion, and independent of Suckling's ballad, albeit none
would more relish the famous ballad when it reached
him, along with his own poems, in "Wit's Recreations"
of 1 640. The fact of prior publication (not necessarily
prior composition) of the " Wedding," and nevertheless
"Upon her feet" being given in Hesperides, assures
us that Herrick knew his own originality. You have
only to get over the association with the word and
thing ' snail,' and stoop to see the strange beauty of the
little creature, ay, even in its track as it innocently
' creeps ' along glisteringly, and, above all, its human-
eye-like sensitiveness to touch or sound, to clap hands
over Herrick's unique comparison of the ' pretty feet '
of " Mistresse Susanna Southwell."

3. His exquisiteness and brightness of fancy. These
are such specialities of Herrick's Poems that no one can
miss them — unless, like a blind man trampling over
flowers, he is eyeless and earless, and heartless as well.
His many Epitaphs and Memorial-verses first of all,
strike us for their delicacy and tenderness, in short, for
their unsurpassed exquisiteness. As less known than
others, I ask the Reader to dwell on this : —

ccxxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" An Epitaph upon a Virgin.

Here a solemne Fast we keepe,

While all beauty lyes asleep

Husht be all things ; no noyse here,

But the toning of a teare :

Or a sigh of such as bring

Cowslips for her covering/* (Vol. II. p. 113.)

Then how dainty and subtle and original-fancied is his
" Impossibilities to his Friend," as thus : —

" My faithful friend, if you can see
The Fruit to grow up, or the Tree :
If you can see the colour come
Into the blushing Peare, or Plum :
If you can see the water grow
To cakes of Ice, or flakes of Snow :
If you can see, that drop of raine
Lost in the wild sea, once againe :
If you can see, how Dreams do creep
Into the Brain by easie sleep :
Then there is hope that you may see
Her love me once, who now hates me/5

(Vol. I. p. 137-)

The conclusion is somewhat de trop, but the imagery
for the ' impossibilities,' of the ' colour ' coming into the
plum, of the l ice,' and of ' dreams/ seems to me super-

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxxix.

latively fine. Horace has nothing to equal, much less
surpass, "His Poetrie his Pillar." The light-hearted
Latin poet knew little of the pathos of this unsurpass
able little Poem, if his shout of * exegi ' tell us he had
the Poet's lofty self-estimate. Let the Reader again
' dwell ' on this, and mark -the exquisiteness of the
opening, and how the softness dilates into strength
and gives us a glimpse of Egypt and its thousands-
yeared 'pyramids.'

" His Poetrie his Pillar.

Onely a little more

I have to write,

Then He give o're,
And bid the world Good-night.

'Tis but a flying minute,

That I must stay,

Or linger in it ;
And then I must away.

O time that cut'st down all !

And scarce leav'st here

Memoriall
Of any men that were.

How many lye forgot

In Vaults beneath ?

And piece-meale rot
Without a fame in death ?

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Behold this living stone,

I reare for me,

Ne'r to be thrown
Downe, envious Time by thee.

Pillars let some set up,

(If so they please)

Here is my hope,
And my Pyramides." (Vol. I. p. 146.)

Of the same in kind and in elements as exquisitely done
as " His Poetrie His Pillar," and reminding us that he
should scarce have thanked his kinsman for the erection
of the recent great monument, but have preferred a yew
or beech to have flung their greenness and dropped
their cones and nuts in season over his grave, is his

"To Laurels.

A funerall stone,
Or Verse I covet none,
But onely crave
Of you, that I may have
A sacred Laurel springing from my grave :

Which being seen,
Blest with perpetuall greene,

May grow to be
Not so much call'd a tree,
As the eternall monument of me." (Vol. I. p. 50.)

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxxxi.

It were easy to multiply examples and proofs of his
exquisiteness of thinking and feeling and workman
ship. I can only tarry to illustrate his brightness of
fancy as in combination with his exquisiteness. Even
when he is pensive and 'melancholy,' there is this
colour and brightness. I invite the Student to read
and re-read this : —

" To Blossoms.

Faire pledges of a fruitfull Tree,
Why do yee fall so fast ?" &c.

(Vol. II. p. 124.)

Homelier — as was fitting — but all radiant with the glow
of gratitude that burned in his ' thankful heart/ is his
"Thanksgiving to God, for his home," wherein too
there are touches of exquisite perfectness, and the whole
such a poem as inevitably makes us love even to-day the
genial old Vicar in his lowly contentment and open-
handed bounty. Here it is : —

" Lord, Thou hast given me a cell
Wherein to dwell," &c.

(Vol. III. pp. 135-8.)

Next take his peerless "To Daffodils," than which
surely there is no flower-poem at once so weighty and

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

so sweet, so lovely and also impressive, consummate in
its art and enduring in its charm : —

" To Dajfadills.

1 . Faire Daffadills, we weep to see

You haste away so soone :
As yet the early-rising Sun
Has not attained his Noone.

Stay, stay,
Untill the hasting day

Has run

But to the Even-song ;

And, having pray'd together, we

Will go with you along.

2. We have short time to stay, as you,

We have as short a Spring;
As quick a growth to meet Decay,
As you, or any thing.

We die,
As your hours doe, and drie

Away,

Like to the Summers raine ;
Or as the pearles of Mornings dew
Ne'r to be found againe."

(Vol. II. p. 35.)

Finally : There is his " To Anthea " — one of various
to this * fair lady/ which, starting from the mere grass

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxxxiii.

as starts the lark, lifts us up like the lark into the
blinding summer sky, and fills even that vast cathedral
with melody : —

" To Anthea, "who may command

/him any thing.
Bid me to live, and I will live

Thy Protestant to be :
Or bid me love, and I will give
A loving heart to thee.

A heart as soft, a heart as kind,

A heart as sound and free,
As in the whole world thou canst find,

That heart He give to thee.

Bid that heart stay, and it will stay,

To honour thy Decree :
Or bid it languish quite away,

And't shall doe so for thee.

Bid me to weep, and I will weep,

While I have eyes to see :
And having none, yet I will keep

A heart to weep for thee.

Bid me despaire, and He despaire,

Under that Cypresse tree :
Or bid me die, and I will dare

E'en Death, to die for thee.

ccxxxiv. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

Thou art my life, my love, my heart,

The very eyes of me :
And hast command of every part,

To live and die for thee." (Vol. II. pp. 6-7.)

As distinguished from complete Poems, there are
lavishly scattered over Hesperides lines and couplets
and bits that equally show Herrick's exquisiteness and
brightness. Two recur on the instant. The first is of
Tears — " Teares are the noble language of the eye "
(Vol. I. p. 100). The other I will quote because
a parallel in a Master of his art, our living Poet-
Laureate, — who by the way, in our occasional foot
notes, is seen to have studied Herrick appreciatively —
is a typical instance of the ancient Poet's still more ex
quisite instinct in his choice of words. In his lines
" To Dianeme " he thus sang : —

" If thou composed of gentle mould

Art so unkind to me ;
What dismall Stories will be told

Of those that cruell be ?" (Vol. II. p. 285.)

Compare Tennyson : —

" Gently comes the world to those
That are cast in gentle mould.'*

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxxxv.

Surely * cast ' here completely spoils the idea ? And so
everywhere, nearly, you come on unexpected felicities,
as Mr. Gosse thus admirably and weightily, and with
fine insight sums up : — " We have now rapidly con
cluded the two volumes on which Herrick claims his
place among the best English lyrical poets. Had he
written twenty instead of two, he could not have im
pressed his strong poetic individuality more powerfully
on our literature than he has done in the Hesperides.
It is a storehouse of lovely things, full of tiny beauties
of varied kind and workmanship, like a box full of all
sorts of jewels, ropes of seed pearl, opals set in old-
fashioned shifting settings, antique gilt trifles sadly
tarnished by time, here a ruby, here an amethyst, and
there a shiny diamond, priceless and luminous, flashing
light from all its facets, and dulling the faded jewellery
with which it is so promiscuously huddled. What is so
very precious about the book is the originality and ver
satility of the versification. There is nothing too fan
tastic for the author to attempt, at least ; there is one
poem written in rhyming triplets, each line having only
two syllables [Vol. II. p. 127]. There are clear little
trills of sudden song, like the lines to the " Lark " ;
there are chance melodies that seem like mere wanton-

ccxxxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

ings of the air upon a wind-harp ; there are such har
monious endings, as this, ' To Music ' : —

' Fall on me like a silent dew,

Or like those maiden showers
Which, by the peep of day, do show
A baptism o'er the flowers.
Melt, melt my pains
With thy soft strains,
That, having ease me given,
With full delight
I leave this light
And take my flight
For heaven.'

With such poems as these, and with the delicious songs
of so many of Herrick's predecessors and compeers
before them, it is inexplicable upon what possible
grounds the critics of the eighteenth century can have
founded their astonishing dogma, that the first master
of English versification was Edmund Waller, whose
poems, appearing some fifteen years after the Hesperides,
are chiefly remarkable for their stiff and pedantic move
ment, and the brazen clang, as of stage armour, of the
dreary heroic couplets in which they shut. Where
Waller is not stilted, he owes his excellence to the
very source from which the earlier lyrists took theirs — a
study of nature and a free but not licentious use of pure

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxxxvii.

English. But not one of his poems, except * Go,
lovely Rose/ is worth the slightest of those delicate
warbles that Herrick piped out when the sun shone on
him, and the flowers were fresh " (p. 189). &

4. His allusive reading. I prefer ' reading' to 'learn
ing ' ; for there are proofs that ' learning ' was not
Herri ck's forte. His career at the University was
probably too much interrupted by ' escapes ' to town
and mingling with the gatherings of which Ben Jonson
was sovereign, to admit of steady and full acquirements
such as a College furnishes. The most that can be
said is that he was fairly well-read in the Greek and
Roman classics, and some of the Fathers — nothing
more. But his miscellaneous reading must have been
of the type of Robert Burton's or Thomas Fuller's. In
his "To Live Merrily" (Vol. I. p. 138) we have a vivid
enumeration of the ancient Poets he loved ; and I give
it here in full that there may follow on it Mr. Gosse's
remarks on his obligation to the classics : —

"To live merrily, and to trust to
Good Verses.

Now is the time for mirth,

Nor cheek, or tongue be dumbe :

For with the flowrie earth,
The golden pomp is come.

ccxxxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

The golden Pomp is come ;

For now each tree do's weare
(Made of her Pap and Gum)

Rich beads of Amber here.

Now raignes the Rose, and now
Th' Arabian Dew besmears

My uncontrolled brow,
And my retorted haires.

Homer, this Health to thee,
In Sack of such a kind,

That it wo'd make thee see,
Though thou wert ne'r so blind.

Next, Virgil, He call forth,
To pledge this second Health

In Wine, whose each cup's worth
An Indian Common-wealth.

A Goblet next He drink
To Ovid ; and suppose,

Made he the pledge, he'd think
The world had all one Nose.

Then this immensive cup

Of Aromatike wine,
Catullus, I quaffe up

To that Terce Muse of thine.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxxxix.

Wild I am now with heat;

O Bacchus ! coole thy Raies !
Or frantick I shall eate

Thy Thyrse, and bite the Bayes.

Round, round, the roof do's run ;

And being ravisht thus,
Come, I will drink a Tun

To my Propertius.

Now, to Tibullus, next,

This flood I drink to thee :
But stay ; I see a Text,

That this presents to me.

Behold, Tlbullus lies

Here burnt, whose smal return
Of ashes, scarce suffice

To fill a little Urne.

Trust to good Verses then ;

They onely will aspire,
When Pyramids, as men,

Are lost, i'th'funerall fire.

And when all Bodies meet

In Lethe to be drown 'd ;
Then onely Numbers sweet,

With endless life are crown 'd."

(Vol. I. pp. 138-41.)

ccxl. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

With this in recollection, Mr. Gosse (as before)
writes : — " It is an interesting speculation to consider
from what antique sources Herrick, athirst for the pure
springs of pagan beauty, drank the deep draughts of his
inspiration. Ben Jonson it was, beyond doubt, who first
introduced him to the classics, but his mode of accept
ing the ideas he found there, was wholly his own. In
the first place, one must contradict a foolish statement
that all the editors of Herrick have repeated, sheep-
like from one another, namely, that Catullus was
his great example and model. In the last edition of
the Hesperides I find the same old blunder : * There
is no collection of poetry in our language which more
nearly resembles the Carmina of Catullus.' In reality,
it would be difficult to name a lyric poet with whom he
has less in common than with the Veronese, whose
eagle-flights into the very noonday-depths of passion,
swifter than Shelley's, as flaming as Sappho's, have no
sort of fellowship with the pipings of our gentle and
luxurious babbler by the flowery brooks. In one of his
poems, 'To Live Merrily,' where he addresses the
various classical poets, and where, by the way, he tries
to work himself into a great exaltation about Catullus,
he does not even mention the one that he really took
most from of form and colour. No one carefully

ME MORI A L- INTRO D UCTION. ccxli .

reading the Hesperides can fail to be struck with the
extraordinary similarity they bear to the Epigrams of
Martial, and the parallel will be found to run through
out the writings of the two poets, for good and for bad,
the difference being that Herrick is as much a rural as
Martial an urban poet. But in the incessant references
to himself and his book, the fondness for gums and
spices, the delight in the picturesqueness of private
life, the art of making a complete and gem-like poem
in the fewest possible lines, the curious mixture of
sensitiveness and utter want of sensibility, the trick of
writing confidential little poems to all sorts of friends,
the tastelessness that mixes up obscene couplets with
delicate odes ' De Hortis Martialis ' or ' To Anthea ';
in all those and many more qualities one can hardly
tell where to look for a literary parallel more complete.
As far as I know, Herrick mentions Martial but once,
and then very slightly. He was fond of talking about
the old poets in his verse, but never with any critical
cleverness. The best thing he says about any of them
is said of Ovid in a pretty couplet. In a dream he
sees Ovid lying at the feet of Corinna, who presses

With ivory wrists his laureate head, and steeps
His eyes in dew of kisses while he sleeps.

ccxlii. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

How much further Herrick's learning proceeded it is
difficult to tell. Doubtless he knew some Greek ; he
mentions Homer and translates from Anacreon. The
English poets of that age, learned as many of them
were, do not seem to have gone much further than
Rome for their inspiration. Chapman is, of course, a
great exception. But none of them, as all the great
French poets of the Renaissance, went directly to the
Anthology. Perhaps Herrick had read the Planudian
Anthology, Theocritus and Anacreon. The little
piece called t Leander's Obsequies ' seems as
though it must be a translation of the epigram of
Antipater of Thessalonica. Curious to reflect that
at the very time that the Hesperides was printed,
Salmasius, soon to be hunted to death by the im
placable hatred of Milton, [?] was carrying about with
him in his restless wanderings the MS. of his great
discovery, the inestimable Anthology of Constantine
Cephalas. One imagines with what sympathetic
brotherliness the Vicar of Dean Prior would have
gossipped and glowed over the new storehouse of
Greek song. That the French poets of the century
before were known to Herrick is to me extremely
doubtful. One feels how much there was in such a
book as La Bergerie of Remy Belleau, in which our

MEMORIA L-INTRODUCTION. ccxliii.

poet would have felt the most unfeigned delight, but I
find no distinct traces of their style in his ; and unless
the Parisian editions of the classics influenced him, I
cannot think that he brought any honey, poisonous or
other, from France. His inspiration was Latin; that
of Ronsard and Jodelle essentially Greek. It was the
publication of the Anthology in 1531, and of Henry
Estienne's Anacreon in 1554, that really set the Pleiad
in movement, and founded Vecole gallo-grecque. It was
the translation of Ovid, Lucan, Seneca, and Virgil that
gave English Elizabethan poetry the startword."

(pp. 189-91.)

I fear I must repeat the (alleged) " foolish state
ment" of my editorial predecessors as to Herrick's
indebtedness to Catullus. The foot-notes go to show
frequent reminiscences and adaptations of the poet of
Verona (' adopted ' is his own word) ; and without
traversing the high praise of his " eagle flights " and
" very noonday-depths of passion, swifter than Shelley's,
as flaming as Sappho's," it has been shown earlier that
there was infinitely more of passion in our Poet than is
ordinarily supposed, and than is supposed by Mr.
Gosse, so that it is, I humbly think, a mistake to gen
eralize on the " pipings of our gentle and luxurious

ccxliv. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

babbler by the flowery brooks." The Carmina of
Catullus, alike in their lyrical fervour and intensity,
find more than " fellowship " in much of the Hesperides.
Certes for once that Martial is suggested, Catullus is
three times. More than this — it is in the offensive
Epigrams that had better been spared bodily that
Herrick goes to Martial. Startled by Mr. Gosse's
paradox, I have taken pains to re-read good old
Farnaby's natty edition of the Epigrammata, and my
original impression has been confirmed that, except
in instances of all but direct translation, and almost
wholly in the unsavoury Epigrams, Martial exercised but
slight influence, and all of it, unhappily, sinister. On
the other hand, there are in Hesperides notable in
debtedness to Catullus in what is most imperishable,
e.g. " To Anthea " (in first eight lines : Vol. I. p. 40) :
"Kissing Usurie" (Vol. I. p. 49): "The Vision"
(ibid, p. 86) : " Epithalamie to Sir Thomas Southwell
and his Ladie " (ibid, p. 90-9, et alibi] : " Corinna
going a Maying" (ibid, p. 116) : "An Ode to Master
Endymion Porter upon his Brothers death " (ibid, p.
124): "Lips Tongueless " (ibid, pp. 141-2) : " A re
quest to the Graces" (Vol. III. p. 13). Besides these
specific places, the student will again and again catch
the notes of the Carmina, often the more assuredly

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxlv.

from the peculiar turn given to the thought or image.
Apart from the Epigrams, which one must constantly
remember are the mere " farcing buckram " of the
Book, five or six faint echoes of Martial seem to me to
sum up Herrick's obligations to him.1

' Allusive reading ' rather than assimilative is what I
discover in Herrick's Poems. Certain of his words and
turns of phrase make you think of others, and others
keep ringing in your memory as you read ; but when
you recall them, you begin to suspect coincidence
rather than knowledge, and o' times are amused to
find that Herri ck is the precursor not follower. It

1 Including those in the Index of Names, the following it is be
lieved give references to every Epigram in Martial to which in the
slightest way Herrick alludes ; most are very slightly indeed re?-
membered: B. I, The Author to his Book (3), To Caesar (4), To
Decianus (8), To Julius (15), To Aelia (19), To Flaccus (57), Of
Manneia (83) : B. II, To Postumus (10) — perhaps the name of
Wickes (' Posthumus ') was taken from this and others kindred ;
To Pannicus (36), To Caecilianus (37), To Olus (68), To Quintilian
(90) : B. HI, On Sabdidus (17) : B. IV, On Cleopatra his wife (22),
To Domitian (27), To Hippodamus (31), On a Bee enclosed in
Amber (59): B. V, To his Readers (2), To Regulus (10) : B. VI,
To Marcianus (70) : B. VII, To his Book (84), On Papilus (94) :
B. VIII, To a friend (14) : B. XI, To his Readers (16) i B. XIII—
occasional dishes are recalled. The fingers of a single hand will
sum up actual indebtedness to Martial. Catullus and Horace and
Anacreon furnish a much more pervading element.

ccxlvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

may interest to give a few examples. In the place I
have quoted Milton in

" When I thy singing next shall heare
lie wish I might turne all to eare" (Vol. I., p. 38.)

Hook's Amanda — a sorry affair as a whole, but with
some few glorious things in it — has the same odd
fancy : —

" Sing on sweet Chauntresse soul of melodic ;
Closely attentive to thy harmonic :

The Heavens check't and stop't their rumbling spheres,
And all the world turned itself into eares." (p. 19.)

Nothing could be more unhappy than ' rumbling '
applied to the great silent 'spheres/ and there is a
dash of the grotesque in the huge impersonation of
'the world' — "turn'd into eares." Still, the idea is
there, and as Hook's Poems circulated long in Manu
script, it is quite possible it was original to him.
William Cartwright in his " Young Lord to his Mis
tress who had taught him a Song," has it also : —

" Whose Sounds do make me wish I were
•Either all Voice, or else all Eare."

(Poems 16, p. 208.)

ME MORI A L-INTROD UCTION. ccxlvii.

The conceit in " Electra's Tears," that from them
sprang sweet flowers, is frequent before and after.
None has used it with more graciousness than SIR
WILLIAM DAVENANT, as thus : —

" My Grave with Flowers let Virgins strow ;

Which, if thy Teares fall near them,
May so transcend in Scent and Show,
As thou wilt shortly weare them.

Such Flowers how much will Florists prize,

Which on a Lover growing,
Are water'd with his Mistress eyes,

With pity ever flowing.
A Grave so deckt, will, though thou art

Yet fearful to come nie me.
Provoke thee straite to break thy heart,

And lie down boldly by me.

Then ev'ry where all Bells shall ring,

All Light to Darkness turning,
Whilst ev'ry Quire shall sadly sing,

And Natures self weare mourning.
Yet we hereafter may be found,

By destinies right placing,
Making, like Flowers, Love under Ground,

Whose Rootes are still embracing."

(Works folio p. 318.)

ccxlviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

In the lines " To Oenone " we have this appeal :—

" For shame or pitty now encline,

To play a loving part ;
Either to send me kindly thine,
Or give me back my heart."

(Vol. II. p. in.)

Compare this with SIR JOHN SUCKLING (Remains :
1659, p. 6) :—

" I prethee send me back my heart,

Since I can not have thine :
For if from yours you will not part,
Why then should'st thou have mine ?"

His "Dreame " (Vol. II., p. 84) is of a slighter build
than Cartwright's, as thus: —

" I dream'd I saw my self lye dead,

And that my bed my coffin grew :
Silence and Sleep this strange sight bred,

But wak'd I found I liv'd anew.
Looking next morn on your bright face,

Mine Eyes bequeath'd mine Heart fresh pain,
A Dart rush'd in with every Grace,

And so I killM my self again :
O Eyes, what shall distressed Lovers do
If open you can kill, if shut you view."

(Poems, as before, p. 213.)

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccxlix.

Again, " Upon Electra " : —

" When out of bed my love doth spring,

' Tis but as day a- kindling :
But when she's up and fully drest,
'7w then broad Day throughout the East. "

(Vol. II., p. 86.)

I am willing to believe that Herrick may have thought
here of Chaucer : —

" Up roos the sonne, and up rose Emelye."

(Knight's Tale : Vol. I., p. 163, Bell.)

Or Davenant again : —

" Awake, awake, break through your Vailes of Lawne !
Then draw your Curtains and begin the Dawne."

(As before, p. 320.)

Daintier than all is Spenser's Una, who " made a sun
shine in a shady place" (F.Q. b.L c. 3). Herrick's, as
Sidney's " bean blossoms " and their rich fragrance is
one of several like favourites in the Hesperides. So too
Suckling addressing Herrick's Countess of Carlisle, as
did Cartwright and Waller and others, sings : —

" Didst thou not find the place inspir'd,
And flow'rs as if they had desir'd

ccl. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

No other Sun, start from their beds,
And for a sight steal out their heads ?
Heardst thou not musick when she talk't ?
And didst not find that as she walkt
She threw rare perfumes all about
Such as bean-blossoms newly out.

Or chafed spices give ?

" Upon my Lady Carliles walking in Hamp
ton Court Garden." (1646, p. 26.)

The "Apron of Flowers" (Vol. II., p. 249) has a fine
parallel in a Poet who is too little known, Thomas
Stanley, as thus : —

" Favonius the milder breath o' th' Spring,
When proudly bearing on his softer wing
Rich odours, which from the Panchean groves
He steals, as by the Phenix pyre he moves,
Profusely doth his sweeter theft dispence
To the next Roses blushing innocence,
But from the grateful Flower, a richer scent
He back receives then he unto it lent.
Then laden with his odours richest store,
He to thy Breath hasts ! to which these are poor ;
Which whilst the amorous wind to steal essaies,
He, like a wanton Lover 'bout thee playes, &c."

(Poems 1651, p. 6.)

It were easy to add almost ad infinitum to such
parallels. They practically leave Herrick's originality

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccli.

untouched. Of his anticipations of later Poets the most
noteworthy are these two : —

"A good death.

For truth I may this sentence tell
No man dies ill, that liveth well."

(Vol. III. p. 66.)

and

" Sins loath'd, and yet lov'd.

Shame checks our first attempts ; but then 'tis prov'd,
Sins first dislik'd, are after that belov'd."

(Vol. III. p. 156.)

The first has been re-written by Pope, thus : —

" For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight ;
He can't be wrong whose life is in the right."

(Essay on Man, ep. iii. 1. 305. )*

The second also by him, thus : —

" Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated, needs but to be seen ;
Yet, seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."

(Essay on Man, ep. ii. 1. 217.)

1 Better still Cowley on Crashaw : —

" His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might
Be wrong; his life, I'm sure was in the right."

cclii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

Finally here, if the Reader will turn to "The Country
Life" (Vol. II. pp. 212-15) and then to "L'Allegro,"
I shall be indeed mistaken if it be not conceded that
Milton remembered it to advantage therein.

5. His Sacred Verse. I am aware that it is usual
to regard Noble Numbers as an infinite falling off
from Hesperides\ nor would I dispute the verdict on
his Sacred Verse, taken as a whole. None the less is
it true that there are things in Noble Numbers that
only a man of unique genius could have written. Dr.
George Macdonald, in " Antiphon," seems to me to
hold the scales evenly, and to bring out specialities
worth bringing out. It is a joy to let such a Critic speak
for one, as thus (not omitting repetitions of prior given
facts) : — " We now come to a new sort, both of man
and poet — still a clergyman. It is an especial pleasure
to write the name of Robert Herrick among the poets
of religion, for the very act records that the jolly care
less Anacreon of the church, with his head and heart
crowded with pleasures, threw down at length his
wine-cup, tore the roses from his head, and knelt in the
dust.

"Nothing bears Herrick's name so unrefined as the
things Dr. Donne wrote in his youth • but the impres
sion made by his earlier poems is of a man of far

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. ccliii.

shallower nature, and greatly more absorbed in the
delights of the passing hour. In the year 1648, when
he was fifty-seven years of age, being prominent as a
Royalist, he was ejected from his living by the
dominant Puritans ; and in that same year he pub
lished his poems, of which the latter part and later
written is his Noble Numbers, or religious poems.
We may wonder at his publishing the Hesperides along
with them, but we must not forget that, while the
manners of a time are never to be taken as a justifica
tion of what is wrong, the judgment of man concerning
what is wrong will be greatly influenced by those
manners — not necessarily on the side of laxity. It is
but fair to receive his own testimony concerning
himself, offered in these two lines printed at the close
of his Hesperides :

' To his Book's end this last line he'd have plac't,
Jocond his Muse ivas, but his Life "was chast.' l

1 Herrick no doubt was thinking of Ovid (Trist. II. 353-4).

Crede mihi, mores distant a carmina nostri ;

Vita veracunda est, Musa jocosa, mihi ;"

and also perhaps of Martial (I. v.) " Lasciva est nobis pagina, vita
proba est." Cartwright was severe on the Poet's apology — for
certainly it was intended — when he wrote of Jonson : — " No need
to make good count'nance 111, and use the plea of strict life for a
looser muse " (Poems, as before, p. 314).

ccliv. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION.

"We find the same artist in the Noble Numbers as in
the Hesperides, but hardly the same man. However
far he may have been from the model of a clergyman
in the earlier period of his history, partly, no doubt,
from the society to which his power of song made him
acceptable, I cannot believe that these later poems are
the results of mood, still less the result of mere pro
fessional bias, or even sense of professional duty.

" In a good many of his poems he touches the heart of
truth ; in others, even those of epigrammatic form,
he must be allowed to fail in point as well as in
meaning. As to his art-forms, he is guilty of great
offences, the result of the same passion for lawless
figures and similitudes which Dr. Donne so freely
indulged. But his verses are brightened by a certain
almost childishly quaint and innocent humour ; while
the tenderness of some of them rises on the reader like
the aurora of the coming sun of George Herbert. I
do not forget that even if some of his poems were —
printed in 1639 [1635], years before that George
Herbert had done his work and gone home : my figure
stands in relation to the order I have adopted. Some
of his verse is homelier than even George Herbert's —
homeliest. One of its most remarkable traits is a
quaint thanksgiving for the commonest things by name

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclv.

—not the less real that it is sometimes even queer.
For instance:

' To God.

God gives not onely corne, for need,
But likewise sup'rabundant seed ;
Bread for our service, bread for shew ;
Meat for our meales, and fragments too :
He gives not poorly, taking some
Between the finger, and the thumb ;
But, for our glut, and for our store,
Fine flowre prest down, and running o're.'

" Here is another, delightful in its oddity. We can
fancy the merry yet gracious poet chuckling over the
vision of the child and the fancy of his words.

' A Grace for a Child.

Here a little child I stand,

Heaving up my either hand ;

Cold as Paddocks though they be,

Here I lift them up to Thee,

For a Benizon to fall

On our meat, and on us all. Amen?

(Vol. III. pp. 158-9.)

" I shall now give two or three of his longer poems,
which are not long, and then a few of his short ones.

cclvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

The best known is the following, but it is not so well
known that I must therefore omit it.

* His Letanie, to the Holy Spirit.

i. In the houre of my distresse,

When temptations me oppresse,' &c.

< The White Island: or place of the Blest.

In this world (the Isle of Dreames}
While we sit by sorrowes streames/ &c.

' To Death.

Thou bid'st me come away,
And Pie no longer stay,' &"c.

* Eternitie.

1. O Yeares ! and Age ! Farewell :

Behold I go,
Where I do know
Infinitieto dwell.

2. And these mine eyes shall see

All times, how they
Are lost i' th' Sea
Of vast Eternitie.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

cclvi'.

Where never Moone shall sway
The Starres ; but she
And Night, shall be

Drown'd in one endlesse Day.

' The goodnesse of his God.

When Winds and Seas do rage
And threaten to undo me,

Thou dost their wrath asswage,
If I but call unto Thee.

A mighty storm last night
Did seek my soule to swallow.

But by the peep of light
A gentle calm did follow.

What need I then despaire,

Though ills stand round about me ;
Since mischiefs neither dare

To bark, or bite without Thee ? '

< To God.

Lord, I am like to Misletoe
Which has no root, and cannot grow,
Or prosper, but by that same tree
It clings about ; so I by Thee.
What need I then to feare at all,
So long as I about Thee craule ?
But if that Tree sho'd fall, and die,
Tumble shall heav'n, and down will I.'
r

cclviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

" Here are now a few chosen from many that — to bor
row a term from Crashaw — might be called Divine
Epigrams.

' God, when He's angry/ &c. (Vol. III. p. 121.)

' God can't be wrathful,' &c. ( „ p. 215.)

« 'Tis hard to find God,' &c. ( „ p. 122.)

* God's rod doth watch,' &c. ( „ p. 125.)

* A man's transgression,' &c. ( „ p. 151.)
' God, when He takes,' &c. ( „ p. 156.)
' Humble we must be,' &c. ( „ p. 156.)
4 God Who's in Heaven,' &c. ( „ p. 188.)
' The same who crowns,' &c. ( „ p. 189.)
' God is so potent,' &c. ( „ p. 191.)
' Paradise is,' &c. ( „ p. 191.)
' Heaven is not given,' &c. ( „ p. 203.)

One more for the sake of Martha, smiled at by so
many because they are incapable either of her blame
or her sister's praise.

* The repetition of the name, made known
No other than Christ's full affection.'

(Vol. III. p. 191.)

And so farewell to the very lovable Robert Herrick."
(pp. 163-171). Turning back on these "good words,"
it may be that some, reading his " Letanie" for the first
time, or reading it afresh, may be disposed to wonder

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclix.

if not to condemn its levities, and if disposed to be
harsh, might even say that the ass's ear persists in
peeping out of Herrick's cleanest night-cap. But in
bits such as these in his " Letanie " —

" When the artlesse doctor sees =ivithout skill
No one hope, but of his fees,
And his skill runs on the lees ;

Sweet Spirit, comfort me !

When the tapers now burne blew,
And the comforters are fnv,
And that number more then true ;
Sweet Spirit, comfort me !"

there really was no irreverence, nothing save irrepress
ible humour and sense of the ridiculous side of human
nature, and scorn of all unrealities.1 It is of kin with
Sir Thomas More's jest within the gleam of the heads-

1 ' Art-lesse.' When I put ' without skill ' in the margin in its
place, I thought of the meaning as = skillessness or ignorance, and
certainly it might well apply to the then country practitioner in
Devonshire. My good friend Dr. Nicholson suggests that his
skillessness quoad the patient's state (supposed) is intended, and so
— when the doctor's art has become skilless or unable to relieve or
save. This seems to be suggested by the ' skill ' of third line —
which otherwise is contradictory — and yields a finer meaning.
There remains the jest on the ' fees,' with its further hint at isolation.

cclx. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

man's axe, and such sallies as have broken from your
witty men from stout Gilbert (Raleigh's brother-in-law)
to Robert Burns and Sydney Smith. I'd rather have
outspoken sincerity than sanctimonious demureness.
The incidental mention of George Herbert reminds us
that though his contemporary at Cambridge, Noble
Numbers shews only one distant echo of " The
Temple" in "His Saviour's Words, going to the Crosse"
(Vol. III. p. 219) and "Good Friday" (Vol. III. 216).
It has a touch of " 2. The Sacrifice," just as in
" Corinna going a-Maying " there may be heard the
sweet urgency of Richard Crashaw in his poem of "The
Morning" (Works I. pp. 237-9 in F. W. L.). It is
somewhat and inevitably repetitive, but Mr. Gosse's
criticism of the sacred Verse must also be given if, in
one instance at least, I must again dissent emphatic
ally. Thus he writes : —

" Appended to the Hesperides, but bearing date one
year earlier, is a little book of poems, similar to these
in outward form, but dealing with sacred subjects.
Here our pagan priest is seen, despoiled of his vine-
wreath and his thyrsus, doing penance in a white
sheet, and with a candle in his hand. That rubicund
visage, with its sly eye and prodigious jowl, looks
ludicrously out of place in the penitential surplice;

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclxi.

but he is evidently sincere, though not very deep, in

his repentance, and sings hymns of faultless orthodoxy,

with a loud and lusty voice, to the old pagan airs. Yet

they are not inspiriting reading, save where they are

least Christian ; there is none of the religious passion

of Crashaw, burning the weak heart away in a flame

of adoration, none of the sweet and sober devotion of

Herbert, nothing, indeed, from an ecclesiastical point

of view, so good as the best of Vaughan the Silurist ;

where the Noble Numbers are most readable is where

they are most secular. One sees the same spirit here

as throughout the worldly poems ; in a charming little

Ode to Jesus he wishes the Saviour to be crowned with

roses and daffodils, and laid in a neat white osier

cradle ; in The Present, he will take a rose to Christ,

and sticking it in His stomacher, beg for one ' melli

fluous kiss.' The epigrams of the earlier volume are

replaced in the Noble Numbers by a series of couplets,

attempting to define the nature of God, of which none

equals in neatness this, which is the last : —

' Of all the good things whatsoe'er we do
God is the 'Ap and the Tc'Aos too.'

As might be expected, his religion is as grossly
anthropomorphic as it is possible to be. He almost

cclxii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

surpasses those mediaeval priests of Picardy who
brought such waxen images to the Madonna's shrine
as no altar had seen since the cult of the Lampsacene,
in certain verses on the Circumcision, verses that are
more revolting in their grossness than any of those
erotic poems —

' unbaptised rhymes
Writ in my wild unhallowed times '-

for which he so ostentatiously demands absolution. It
is pleasant to turn from these to the three or four
pieces that are in every way worthy of his genius. Of
these the tenderest is the Thanksgiving, where he is
delightfully confidential about his food, thus : —

' Lord, I confess, too, when I dine

The pulse is Thine,
And all those other bits, that be

Placed there by Thee ;
The worts, the purslain, and the mess

Of water-cress.

'Tis thou that crown'st my glittering hearth

With guiltless mirth,
And giv'st me wassail-bowls to drink,

Spiced to the brink.'

And about his house : —

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclxiii.

' Like as my parlour, so my hall

And kitchen's small,
A little buttery, and therein
A little bin.'

" The wild and spirited Letanie is too well known to
be quoted here, but there are two very fine odes in the
Noble Numbers that are hardly so familiar. One is the
' Dirge of Jepthah's Daughter,' written in a wonder
fully musical and pathetic measure, and full of fine
passages, of which this is a fair sample : —

' May no wolf howl, or screech-owl stir
A wing about thy sepulchre !
No boisterous winds or storms come hither

To starve or wither

Thy soft sweet earth, but, like a spring,
Love keep it ever flourishing.'

" But beyond question the cleverest and at the same
time the most odd poem in the Noble Numbers is
4 The Widow's Tears ; or, Dirge of Dorcas,' a lyrical
chorus supposed to be wailed out by the widows over
the death-bed of Tabitha. The bereaved ladies dis
grace themselves, unfortunately, by the greediness of
their regrets, dwelling on the loss to them of the bread
— 'ay! and the flesh, for and the fish' — that Dorcas

cclxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

was wont to give them ; but the poem has stanzas of
marvellous grace and delicacy, and the metre in which
it is written is peculiarly sweet. But truly Herrick's
forte did not lie in hymn-writing, nor was he able to
refrain from egregious errors of taste, whenever he
attempted to reduce his laughing features to a proper
clerical gravity. Of all his solecisms, however, none is
so monstrous as one almost incredible poem ' To God/
in which he gravely encourages the Divine Being to read
his secular poems, assuring Him that

' Thou, my God, may'st on this impure look,
Yet take no tincture from my sinful book.'

For unconscious impiety this rivals the famous passage
in which Robert Montgomery exhorted God to ' pause
and think.'" (pp. 187-8). The supposed 'solecism ' is
surely a misapprehension. It is the utterance of peni
tent humility which discerns imperfection and stain
on its best, and rejoices to think of Him who is the
Light condescending to look on his Poems forgivingly;
and the 'take no tincture' is not a bathetic but a pathetic
version of Isaiah's cry : " Wo is me ! for I am un
done ; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips : for mine
eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts " (VI. 5).

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

cclxv.

Accordingly I have enforced it (in loco) with a line
from Cowper. <^>

V. His assurance of fame. This is too large an ele
ment in the Poetry of Herrick to be left un-noted. Any
one who studies the early literature of England must
have been struck with the grotesquely impossible expec-
itions of immortality cherished and published by mere *
rersifiers. You have the most serene self-laudation
and accusing committal of their Poems to the next cen
tury as distinguished from an ignorant and unsympa
thetic present time. The contrast between the Hope
and its failure has no doubt its ludicrous side, but it
has also something of pathos. But when you find
not merely aspiration but achievement, not only
prediction but the very ' stuff' of the imperishable,
you do well to pause and meditate ; for no man who
could write the " Mad Maid's Song," or " The Prim
roses fill'd with dew," or other of Herrick's pieces
already marked and examined, is to be regarded as an
Egotist in joyously and in perfect words singing his
jurance of fame, especially when, as in his case, the
imortality counted on is unexaggerate and modest,
and symbolized by the dew from the sky, not the great
dome of the sky itself, or as least and lowliest wild-
>wers live securely from age to age, carrying in

cclxvi. MEMORIA L-INTROD UCTION.

their bosom the tiny bit of colour, or the censer of fra
grance given them by Him who is The Gardener. The
pretender's assurance of ' fame ' is a tribute as it is a
foil to the true man's. It is to be questioned if there
can be actuality of possession of capacity above the ordi
nary and yet unconsciousness of it • and if consciously
held, it is simple trueness to the fact to utter it out.
Herrick's possession will not be gainsayed ; nor his
positive guerdons ; nor the certainty of an undying
memory within his own self-chosen realm of bright and
dainty, rural-breathed and divinely simple Poetry, with
o' times celestial tones as of the Lark " soaring and
singing, singing and soaring," right up to " Heaven's
gate." Quotations already made might suffice to con
firm his assurance of fame. But the " thirst for fame,"
as Mr. Gosse shews, "is unsatiable, and his hope of
gaining it intense"; his poetry is "his life and his
pyramides," a living pillar, never " to be thrown down
by envious Time," and it shall be the " honour of great
musicians to set his pieces to music when he is dead "
(as before, p. 180). Hence it demands more specific
exemplification. His anticipation as to 'good mu
sicians ' deeming it an ' honour ' to ' set ' his poems to
music, was abundantly fulfilled. Laniere and Wilson,
the Lawes and the most famous of the next generation

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclxvii.

did so ; and 'tis pity that to-day the Hesperides is not
more searched for worthier words than are furnished
for contemporary music. * At Court ' both his sacred
and secular pieces were " set to music," and sung at
Whitehall and elsewhere. But this was a mere acci
dent of that ' fame ' concerning which he cherished an
assurance. He ' sang ' perfectly, certain that his notes
were true. He * described/ and he was equally certain
that he gave back in his poems what he saw. He
* painted' and there could be no question of the
genuineness of his colours (as his epithets). He gave
' praise ' to another and another who sought a place in ,
his ' Book of the Just,' and he had the seer's burdened
eye to discern that it would endure, whatever might
become of the personality celebrated. And so through
out.

The most absolute expression of his assurance of ,
fame as a Poet is " His Poetrie his Pillar" (Vol. I., p.
146) ; but others strike the same key, e.g.

"On himself e.

Live by thy Muse thou shalt ; when others die,
Leaving no Fame to long Posterity :
When Monarchies trans-shifted are, and gone ;
Here shall endure thy vast Dominion.'*

(Vol. II. p. 182.)

cclxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

"To his Booke.

Thou art a plant sprung up to wither never,
But like a Laurell, to grow green for ever."

(Vol. I. p. 171.)

Nor must his before-mentioned hope through mu
sicians be omitted: —

"Upon himself.

Thou shalt not All die ; for while Love's fire

shines

Upon his Altar, men shall read thy lines ;
And learn'd Musicians shall to honour Herricks
Fame, and his Name, both set, and sing his Lyricks."

(Vol. II. p. 66.)

Still more characteristic is his

" Poetry perpetuates the Poet.

Here I my selfe might likewise die,
And utterly forgotten lye,
But that eternall Poetrie
Repullulation gives me here
Unto the thirtieth thousand yeere,
When all now dead shall re-appeare."

(Vol. II. p. 273.)

Finer and deeper still is his " To live merrily, and to
trust to good verses " : —

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclxix.

" Trust to good Verses then ;

They onely will aspire,
When Pyramids, as men,
Are lost, i'th'funerall fire.

And when all Bodies meet

In Lethe to be drown'd;
Then onely Numbers sweet,

With endless life are crown'd."

(Vol. I. p. 140.)

These must suffice. The assurance is positive, but, I
repeat, is modest. It is as the Poet of Love's altar-fire
and as * sweet ' he grounds his Hope. There are
behind this — like the horizon stretching away beyond
the barest patch of moorland — gnome-words declara
tive of a ' vast dominion ' and of * eternall ' renown ;
yet is his self-estimate humble and nicely true to his
self-knowledge. I think our dwelling upon it ought to
guide to more proportionate recognition of his genius,
that is, to the full extent he asserts.

VI. His Portrait. It will be noticed that Mr.
Gosse speaks of the " prodigious jowl " of Herrick.
This suffices to convince me that he has been taking
jither the preposterous enlargement by Schiavonetti
[in Nott's Selections, 1810), or the equally untrue
lesser enlargement of Worthington (Pickering, 1846),

cclxx. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

or the still more monstrous lithograph in Walford's
edition (1869) — coarse and vulgar — as the real like
ness of our Poet. None of these has any truth in it,
contrariwise, are lying in feature and expression and
everything. Lord Dundrennan's woodcut (1823) is
an outrage. That in the Library of Old Authors
(nominally Mr. Hazlitt's) which reproduces the whole
of the original engraving of Hesperides (1648) is a
great advance on all the others, or, rather, while it
shows conscientious work, the others are not for a mo
ment to be regarded. I was extremely anxious to give
one truer still ; and, unless I very much mistake, ours
will be accepted as closer to the original than anything
hitherto. The engraver (Mr. W. J. Alais) has made it
a task of love ; and the admirer of Herrick has now a
genuine replica (enlarged) of that Portrait which he
himself gave to the world, and which in its most
commanding aquiline nose, and twinkling eye under its
arched and shaggy pent-house, and slight moustache,
and short upper lip, and massive under-jaw, and
' juicy ' neck, with much of the voluptuous force of the
best type among the Roman emperors, and affluent
curls, interprets to us his Book, and unmistakably gives
us assurance of a Man, every inch of him. It speaks
much for his independence that at a time when pre-

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclxxi.

fatory verse-eulogies were the rule, and their absence
almost the exception, his Book came out with his own
self in it alone, save in the engraved Latin lines under
neath his bust-portrait. The I. H. C. of these Lines I
take to have been young John Hall, of Cambridge — to
whom in turn Herrick addressed a panegyric (Vol. III.,
pp. 27-8). Curiously enough, even Lord Dundrennan
and other after-critics have left uncorrected such plain
errors as ' minor es ' for ' minores,' and 'major es ' for
1 majores,' which, as Marshall was the engraver, recalls
Milton's Greek, that he caused his unfortunate engraver
innocently to place under his portrait. It may fitly
close these specialities to give the Verses and our verse-
translation : —

" Tempera cinxisset Foliorum densior umbra :

Debetur Genio Laurea Sylva tuo.
Tempora et Ilia Tibi mollis redimisset Oliva ;

Scilicet excludis Versibus Arma tuis.
Admisces Antiqua Novis, Jocunda Sevens :

Hinc Juvenis discat, Foemina, Virgo, Senex
Vt solo minores Phoebo, sic majores Unus
Omnibus Ingenio, Mente Lepore, Stylo.
Scripsit I. H. C."

In English take this : —

A denser shade of leaves thy brows should bind ;
A laurel grove is due to such a mind.

cclxxii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

The peaceful olive should those brows entwine,
For arms are banished from such verse as thine.
Old things with new thou blendest, grave with gay :
Hence young and old, mother and maid may say,
Phcebus except, all else thou dost outvie
In style, and beauty, and capacity.

Let Charles Short ("Selections" 1839) and the
Retrospective Review, now close these ''critical' observa
tions. The former thus speaks : — " Forgetting his
blemishes, and only estimating the character and ef
fusions of his felicitous genius, Herrick may safely be
pronounced one of the greatest of the English lyric
poets ; alternately gay and serious, lively and tender,
descriptive and didactic, his pages also record many
curious national customs and traditions ; and if this
had been his only merit, he might have deserved
thanks at least, and not severe censure. Then again,
he makes incursions into fairy-land with infinite success,
and these may be truly said to rival even Shakespeare
himself" (p. 34). Next, the Retrospective Review
(Vol. V. 1822) : — " Herrick is the most joyous and
gladsome of the bards, singing like the grasshopper, as
if he never would grow old ; he is as fresh as the
Spring, as blithe as Summer, and as ripe as Autumn.
We know of no English poet who is so abandonne', as

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclxxiii.

the French term it, who so wholly gives himself up to
his present feelings, who is so much heart and soul in
what he writes, and this not on one subject only, but
on all subjects alike. The spirit of song dances in his
veins, and gutters around his lips — now bursting into
the joyfur and hearty voice of the Epicurean, some
times breathing forth strains soft as the sigh of ' buried
love ' ; and sometimes uttering feelings of the most
delicate pensiveness. His poems resemble a luxuriant
meadow, full of king-cups and wild flowers, or a July
firmament sparkling with a myriad of stars. His fancy
fed upon all the fair and sweet things of nature ; it is
redolent of roses and geraniums ; it is as bright and
airy as the thistle-down, or the bubbles which laughing
boys blow into the air, where they float in a waving line
of beauty. Like the sun, it communicates a delight
and gladness to everything it shines upon, and is as
bright and radiant as his beams ; and yet many of his
pieces conclude with the softest touches of sensibility
and feeling. Indeed, it is that delicate pathos which
is, at the same time, natural and almost playful, which
most charms us in the writings of Herrick. And as for
his versification, it presents one of the most varied
specimens of the rhythmical harmony in the language,

cclxxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

flowing with an almost wonderful grace and flexibility "
(pp. 157-8). Again: "And now farewell, young
Herrick ! for yo-ung is thy poetry as thy wisdom is old :
and mayest thou flourish in immortal youth, thou boon
companion and most jocund songster ! May thy purest
poems be piped from hill to bill, throughout England ;
and thy spirit, tinged with superstitious lore, be glad
dened by the music ! May the flowers breath incense
to thy fame, for thou hast not left one of them unsung !
May the solitary springs and eircumambient air murmur
thy praises as thou hast warbled theirs ! And may
those who love well sing, and those who love well, sigh
sweet panegyrics to thy memory I Ours shall not be
wanting, for we have read thee much, and would fain
hope that this our paper, being nearly all made of thy
thoughts and language, may be liked as well as one like
thee is " (prx 1 79-180).

A " sweet singer " of Devonshire (Mortimer Collins)
has paid recent tribute to our Poet ; and if it be some
what thin, and if it be an anachronism at this time o'
day to connect 'hypocrite' with Oliver Cromwell, and
an impertinence to characterize the heroic and most
real Christianity of the Puritans and Nonconformists
as < cant,' it were pity to lose the little lilt. So " an'
it please thee," Reader, you have it: —

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclxxv.

Herrick.

i.
Strangely quiet are Devon's green glades

Under Apollo's noontide anger;
And the madid eyes of Devonshire maids [moist (ma-

Are full of a sweet and dreamy languor, didus]
Terribly twaddles the dreary " Times,"—

Little is good that's neoteric ;
So I'll lie on the turf beneath the limes

With a bottle of claret and rare old Herrick.

2.

Rare old Herrick, the Cavalier Vicar

Of pleasant Dean Prior by Totnes Town, —
Rather too wont in foaming liquor

The cares of those troublous times to drown, —
Of wicked wit by no means chary, —

Of ruddy lips not at all afraid ;
If you gave him milk in a Devonshire Dairy

He'd probably kiss the Dairymaid.

But loyal and true to Charles the Martyr,

To his high profession not untrue,
A poet who strained the poet's charter

Beyond its limits a point or two ;
Lover of ruby and amber wine,

Of joyous humour and charming girls,
Hater of cant about things divine,

Of hypocrite Cromwell and all his churls.

cclxxvi. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

4-
None ever touched with so fine a finger

The delicate lyre of English rhyme ;
He loved amid fresh flowers to linger

And he made their fragrance last through time ;
And the daffodil growing in Spring's soft track

Has a beauty mystic and esoteric,
Since its brief bright life, two centuries back,

Was made into verse by our Devonshire Herrick.

5-
Well the poet liked fair London city ;

He polished some of its choicest gems,
And wrote full many a lyric ditty,

In taverns over the sparkling Thames :
For those were the days when the Thames ran clear

Palace and shadowy lawn between,
And bays glittered with stately cheer,

And light feet danced upon Charing green.

6.
London town is another affair

Since Herrick wrote his perfect rhymes ;
But Devon has the same Elysian air

It had in the fine old Cavalier times ;
And he who cares little for all the hysteric

Trash which the "well-informed" reader sees,
Can't do better than study Herrick

With a flask of claret under the trees."

(Summer Songs by Mortimer Collins (1860) p. 114.)

ALEXANDER B. GROSART.

APPENDIX

TO

MEMORIAL- INTRODUCTION.

cclxxviii. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

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B.

RICHARD HEYRICK, OR
H ERRI C K.

Richard Heyrick (or Herrick) is by far the most
notable of the Herricks (the Poet excepted), and as a
striking contrast with his cousin, and as, moreover,
hitherto overlooked very much, it is most satisfactory
to be able to add here the following notices of him, for
which I am indebted to my excellent friend W. A.
Abram, Esq., of Blackburn, the Historian of Blackburn.

" Richard Heyrick, third son of Sir William Heyrick,
of Beaumanor Park, co. Leicester, was born in London
the 9th Sept., 1600. After receiving the elements of
learning at Merchant Taylor's school, he entered at
All Saints' College, Oxford; took the degree of M. A.
at the age of 20, and four years later, in 1624, was
elected a fellow of his College. On the petition of his
father, to whom the Royal house was under obligation
for pecuniary assistance, Richard Heyrick obtained
from Charles the First, in the year 1626, the promise
of the reversion of the Wardenship of Manchester

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclxxxi.

College after the decease of Richard Murray, Knt. By
the King's Charter to Christ's College, Manchester,
dated 30th Sept., 1635, Richard Heyrick was consti
tuted ' first warder of the said perpetual College.' He
came into possession of this appointment, then worth
about ^"700 per annum, at the age of 36. In his
ecclesiastical views, Warden Heyrick was a puritan of
Presbyterian tendencies in church government, and a
vehement hater of Popery and all its works. He
preached several set discourses in the Manchester
Collegiate Church, during the years 1638-40, against
Popery, which exhibit the intensity of his antagonism
to the Roman system and its adherents in England.
In 1641, he published in duodecimo ' Three Sermons
preached at the Collegiate Church, Manchester,' dedi
cated to the House of Commons ; one of the three
sermons was preached on the public Fast Day, 8th
July, 1640. Warden Heyrick drafted the address of
the Puritans of Lancashire to the King, at the outset of
the Civil War in 1644, which was subscribed by sixty-
four Knights and esquires, fifty-five divines, 740 gentle
men, and 7,000 freeholders and others. The same
year, somewhat later on, he was the first in Manchester
to subscribe the Solemn League and Covenant. During
the war, the Warden stoutly upheld the cause of Par-

cclxxxii. MEMORIAL-INTROD UCTION,

liament, and is said to have given the larger proportion
of his official income to provide pay for the forces gar
risoning Manchester. In 1646, the sequestration by
Parliament included the revenues of the College and
Church of Manchester ; but Warden Heyrick took the
opportunity of an invitation to preach before the House
of Commons to urge an appeal, which was successful,
for the restoration of the estate of his College. He
was a chief agent in the establishment of the Lancashire
Presbytery, Oct., 1646 ; and made a journey to London
in that year. In 1649, tne Republican soldiers under
Col. Thomas Birch broke into the Chapter House of
Manchester Collegiate Church, and seized the charters
of its endowment, which the Warden vainly essayed to
protect. These deeds were sent to London, and were
never recovered thereafter. The Commissioners of
sequestration granted to Herrick a small stipend of
^"100 per annum; but he regarded the College as
dissolved, and ceased to use the title of Warden. In
1651, Richard Heyrick was so imprudent as to proceed
to London for the purpose of joining with some Pres
byterians there in an attempt to excite a revolt against
the Republican party then in the ascendant ; the con
sequence being that after the battle of Worcester
Heyrick was arrested in Manchester, taken to London,

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclxxxiii.

and imprisoned, along with his son-in-law, Mr. Johnson.
Some of his confederates in the scheme of disaffection
were sentenced to death ; but friends at court protected
Heyrick, and obtained his liberation. Mr. Heyrick is
found presiding as Moderator at the synod of the
Lancashire Presbytery in October, 1657 ; and in May,
1658, he made a journey to London on church busi
ness. On the Restoration in 1660, the College of
Manchester was re-instated, and its endowments re
stored ; but Heyrick was temporarily in danger of being
supplanted in the office of Warden by one Dr. Woolley,
a royalist partizan. Henry Newcome in his journal
writes: — 'July 2, 1660. I heard of Mr. Heyrick's
going to London ; the cause was his wardenship was
claimed by Dr. Wolley, to whom King Charles I. in
the beginning of the war had granted it, for Mr. H.'s
delinquency; and so he was forced to go up to look after
it.' Eventually, the old Warden was restored to his
function. Heyrick preached the sermon at the Col
legiate Church, Manchester, on the Coronation Day
of Charles II., Tuesday, April 23, 1661. This dis
course was printed by the Manchester Royalists, with
an epistle to the preacher prefixed, who was not con
sulted in the publication. Warden Heyrick conformed,
but with some show of reluctance and humiliation,

cclxxxiv. MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION.

under the Act of Uniformity in 1662. He survived
this change in his profession five years, and died, aged
67, Aug. 6th, 1667. Mr. Newcome, his associate, records
the event : — ' I heard of the sudden and dangerous
sickness of poor Mr. Heyrick; insomuch that August ist
[1667], I went on purpose to see him. I found him
very ill. We returned to town on the Saturday,
August 3rd. August 5th was kept in private on his
behalf. I went every day to see him ; and on Tuesday
in the evening we had a report that he was better, and
went up to see him towards evening, and he was de
clining fast, insomuch that Mrs. Heyrick desired us
not to leave her ; and we did stay, and was at prayer
for him just as he died, about nine at night, on August
6th (Tuesday). . . August 9th (Friday) we buried my
old friend and colleague." By his first wife, Hellen,
daughter of Thomas Corbit, of Spranston, co. Norfolk,
Richard Heyrick had issue a son, Thomas, born Sept.
9th, 1632 ; and daughters, Mary, married Mr. John
Johnson, of Manchester; and Elizabeth, married,
April 1 7th, 1661, Rev. Richard Holbrook, of Salford.
His second wife was Anna Maria, daughter of Mr.
Erasmus Britton, merchant, of Hamburg ; by her he
had a son John, born in 1652, and died young; and a
daughter Hellen, married Thomas Radcliffe, Esq.

MEMORIAL-INTRODUCTION. cclxxxv.

Warden Heyrick's will bears date May 6th, 1661. His
memorial in Manchester Collegiate Church is a plate
of copper, within an oaken frame, and is fixed over
the entrance to the Chapter House.

HESPERIDES.

1

HESPERIDES: "

O R,

THE WORKS

BOTH

HUMANE & DIVINE

OF
ROBERT HERRICK Efq.

OVID.

Effugient avidos Carmina noflra Rogos.

L O N D ON,

Printed for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield,

and are to be fold at the Crown and Marygold

in Saint Pauls Church-yard. 1648.

ip
TO THE MOST

I L L VST RI O V S,

AND

Moft Hopefull PRINCE,
C H A R L E S M

Prince of Wales.1

Ell may my Book come forth like

Publique Day,
When fuch a Light as You are leads

the way :

Who are my Works Creator, and alone
The Flame of it, and the Expanfton.
And look how all thofe heavenly Lamps acquire
Light from the Sun, that inexhaufted* Fire :
So all my Morne, and Evening Stars from You
Have their Exigence, and their Influence too.
Full is my Book of Glories ; but all Thefe
By You become Immortall Subjlances.

Afterwards Charles II.

2 = inexhaustible.

FOr thefe Tranfgrefsions which thou here dojlfee,
Condemne the Printer, Reader, and not me ;
Who gave them forth good Grain, though he mi/look
The Seed ; fofow'd thefe Tares throughout my Book.

ERRATA.

PAge 33. line 10. read Rods [for frod']. p. 41. i. 19. r.
Gotiere [for 'Goteire']. p. 65 \. 12. r. only one [for
'our], p. 83. 1. 28. r. soft [for 'foft']. p. 88. 1. 26. r. the
floivrie [for 'flowrie' without 'the'] p. 91. 1. 29. r. such fears
[for 'Flesh-quakes'], p. 136. 1. 9. r. to thee the [for 'the'
dropped], p. 155. 1. 10. r. ivasht or*s to tell [for ' Washt o're'].
p. 166. 1. 10. r. his Lachrim^e [for 'Lacrime']. p. 181. 1. 10. r.
Ah ivoe is me, ivoe, ivoe is me [for ' Ah ! woe woe woe woe
woe is me'], p. 183. 1. 9. r. and thy brest [for 'bed'] p. 201. 1.
22. r. let chast [for 'yet'], p. 230. 1. 21. r. and hauing drunk [for
' havink ']. p. 260. 1. 26. r. to rise [for ' to kisse '] p. 335. 1. 17. r.
a "wife as [for ' or a wife '].

In the Divine.
Pag. 22. line 14. read 'where so ere he sees [for 'when he sees'].

Hitherto omitted e.g. by Dundrennan, Singer, Walford,
Hazlitt. Dr. Nott adopts and adapts the verses to the errata of his
" Selections," (18 10). The whole of these errata have been silently
corrected in our text.

1

HESPERIDES.

The Argument of his Book.

SING of Brooks, of Blossomes, Birds,

and Bowers :
Of April, May, of June, and July-

Flowers.

I sing of May-poles, Hock-carts* Wassails? Wakes?
Of Bride-grooms, Brides, and of their Bridall-cakes.
I write of Youth, of Love, and have Accesse
By these, to sing of cleanly- Wantonnesse.

4 Harvest-home cart : the last loaded in the harvest. So Hock-
tide or festival. It is curiously mixed up with the history of the
Danes in England. See Bailey, s. v. " The Hock-cart, Vol. I. pp.
172-8

* Wassail or wassel (waes hael A. S. 'be in health') — a liquor
made of apples, sugar and ale, which being freely partaken of at
Christmas or Twelfth-tide, led to the word meaning = hilarious, if
not drunken, bouts. So Shakespeare, "at wakes and wassails"
(Love's Labour Lost, v. 2).

9 A watch or vigil, ordinarily with a corpse at night.

B

HESPERIDES.

I sing of Dewes, of Raines, and piece by piece
Of Balme, of Oyle, of Spice, and Amber-Greece.1
I sing of Times trans-shifting; and I write
How Roses first came Red, and Lillies WJiite.
I write of Groves, of Twilights, and I sing
The Court of J/##, and of the JFairie-King.
I write of Hell ; I sing (and ever shall)
Of Heaven, and hope to have it after all.

To his Muse.
"Xl^HITHER, Mad maiden, wilt thou roame?

Farre safer 'twere to stay at home :
Where thou mayst sit, and piping please
The poore and private Cottages.
Since Coats,91 and Hamlets, best agree
With this thy meaner Minstralsie.

7 = Sea-born amber, i.e. amber gris (French) — one of theivarieties
of amber. See Cotgrave and notes in Marvell and Herbert, s. v.
(Fuller Worthies' Library and Aldine Poets).

b =cots, cottages, named in preceding line. Barnfield so spells
(Roxburghe Club edn). On the ' lore' of the word ' cote,' see H. Leo
in his treatise on Saxon Names of Places (Rectitudines Singularum
Personarum), translated by B. Williams : London, 1852, p. 55.
Dr. Nott, in his " Selections" (1810), on 11. 19-20 onward, anno
tates : Thus, too, Petrarch addresses and concludes his 26th Canzone:

O poverella mia, come se' rozza ;
Credo che tel corioschi ;
Rimanti in questi hoschi.

HESPER1DES.

There with the Reed, thou mayst expresse

The Shepherds Fleecie happinesse :

And with thy Eclogues intermixe

Some smooth, and harmlesse Beucolicks?

There on a Hillock thou mayst sing

Unto a handsome Shephardling ; J

Or to a Girle (that keeps the Neat) 2

With breath more sweet then Violet.

There, there, (perhaps) such Lines as These

May take the simple Villages.

But for the Court, the Country wit

Is despicable unto it.

Stay then at home, and doe not goe

Or flie abroad to seeke for woe.

Contempts in Courts and Cities dwell ;

No Critick haunts the Poore mans Cell :

Where thou mayst hear thine own Lines read

By no one tongue, there, censured.

That man's unwise will search for Illr

And may prevent it, sitting stilL

9 = pastoral songs or poems (bucolics).

1 Herrick affects such diminutives : see Glossarial Index, s. v.

2 = oxen or cows.

io HESPERIDES.

To his Booke.

thou didst keep thy Candor* undefil'd,
Deerely I lov'd thee ; as my first-borne child :
But when I saw thee wantonly to roame
From house to house, and never stay at home ;
I brake my bonds of Love, and bad thee goe,
Regardlesse whether well thou sped'st, or no.
On with thy fortunes then, what e're they be ;
If good lie smile, if bad He sigh for Thee.

Another.
HTO read my Booke the Virgin shie

May blush, (while Brutus ^ standeth by ;)
But when He's gone, read through what's writ,
And never staine a cheeke for it.

Another.
AX^HO with thy leaves shall wipe (at need)

The place, where swelling Piles do breed :
May every 111, that bites, or smarts,
Perplexe him in his hinder-parts.

3 = sincerity or integrity : metaphorically whiteness, as being un
published and so unhandled and unsoiled. See Glossarial-Index,
s. v.

4 Brutus and Cato are common -places of examples of severe vir
tue, as in " When he would have his verses read," (1. io) p. 6.

HESPERIDES. 1 1

To the soure Reader.

T F thou dislik'st the Piece thou light'st on first ;
Thinke that of All, that I have writ, the worst :
But if thou read'st my Booke unto the end,
And still do'st this, and that verse, reprehend :
O Perverse man ! If All disgustfull be,
The Extreame Scabbe take thee, and thine, for me.

To his Booke.

{~*OME thou not neere those men, who are like Bread
O're-leven'd \ or like Cheese o're-renetted.5

When he would have his verses read.
T N sober mornings, doe not thou reherse

The holy incantation of a verse ;
But when that men have both well drunke,6 and fed,
Let my Enchantments then be sung, or read.
When Laurell spirts 'ith' fire,7 and when the Hearth
Smiles to it selfe, and guilds the roofe with mirth ;

8 From rennet, the maw of a calf, used for making curds in curds
and cream and cheese.
6 St. John, ii., 10. 7 Folk-lore.

12 HESPERIDES.

When up the Thyrse* is rais'd, and when the sound
Of sacred Orgies 9 flyes, A round, A round ; 1
When the Rose raignes, and locks with ointments shine,
Let rigid Cato read these Lines of mine.

Upon Julias Recovery.
"TJROOP, droop no more, or hang the head,

Ye Roses almost withered ;
Now strength, and newer Purple get,
Each here declining Violet.
O Primroses ! let this day be
A Resurrection unto ye ;
And to all flowers ally'd in blood,
Or sworn to that sweet Sister-hood :
For Health on Julia's cheek hath shed
Clarret, and Creame commingled.
And those her lips doe now appeare
As beames2 of Corrall, but more cleare.

s A Javelin twind with Ivy. H. [And headed with pine-cones —
used in the rites and orgies of Bacchus.]

9 Songs to Bacchus. H. * = a call to dance ' a round,' not

' around, around.* 2 = branches or twigs.

HESPERIDES. 13

To Silvia to wed.
T ET us (though late) at last (my Silvia) wed ;

And loving lie in one devoted bed
Thy Watch may stand, my minutes fly poste haste ;
No sound calls back the yeere that once is past
Then sweetest Silvia, let's no longer stay ;
True love, we know, precipitates delay.
Away with doubts, all scruples hence remove ;
No man at one time, can be wise, and love.

The Parliament of Roses to Julia.
T DREAMT the Roses one time went

To meet and sit in Parliament :
The place for these, and for the rest
Of flowers, was thy spotlesse breast :
Over the which a State3 was drawne
Of Tiffanie,4 or Cob-web Lawne ;5
Then in that Parly f all those powers
Voted the Rose, the Queen of flowers.
But so, as that her self should be
The maide of Honour unto thee.

5 = canopy. * = thin silk or fine gauze. s = lawn as

delicately wrought as a spider's web.

6 Diminutive of Parliament (cf. L 2): Parley = conference and
discussion between enemies, while war is suspended.

14 HESPERIDES.

No Bashfulnesse in begging.
T^O get thine ends, lay bashfulnesse aside ;
Whofeares to aske, doth teach to be deny'd.

The Frozen Heart.
J FREEZE, I freeze, and nothing dwels

In me but Snow, and y sides.
For pitties sake, give your advice,
To melt this snow, and thaw this ice ;
Fie drink down Flames, but if so be
Nothing but love can supple me ;
I'le rather keepe this frost, and snow,
Then to be thaw'd, or heated so.

To Perilla.
A H, my Perilla ! do'st thou grieve to see

Me, day by day, to steale away from thee ?
Age cals me hence, and my gray haires bid come,
And haste away to mine eternal home ;
Twill not be long (Perilla) after this,
That I must give thee the supremest kisse :
Dead when I am, first cast in salt, and bring
Part of the creame from that Religious Spring;1

7 = sacred fountain : * creame.' Qu : foam or froth ? See Brand
under " Wells and Fountains."

HESPERIDES.

With which (Perilla) wash my hands and feet \
That done, then wind me in that very sheet
Which wrapt thy smooth limbs (when thou didst

implore

The Gods protection, but the night before)
Follow me weeping to my Turfe, and there
Let fall a Primrose, and with it a teare :
Then lastly, let some weekly-strewings 8 be
Devoted to the memory of me :
Then shall my Ghost not walk about, but keep
Still in the coole, and silent shades of sleep.

A Song to the Maskers.
down, and dance ye in the toyle
Of pleasures, to a Heate ;
But if to moisture, Let the oyle
Of Roses be your sweat.

2 Not only to your selves assume

These sweets, but let them fly ;
From this, to that, and so Perfume
E'ne all the standers by.

-of flowers on the grave. See Brand s. v. for a full account.

16 HESPERIDES.

3 As Goddesse Isis 9 (when she went,

Or glided through the street)
Made all that touch't her, with her scent,
And whom she touch't, turne sweet.

To Perenna.
"YyHEN I thy Parts runne o're, I can't espie

In any one, the least indecencie : a
But every Line and Limb diffused thence,
A faire, and unfamiliar excellence :
So, that the more I look, the more I prove,
Trier's still more cause, why I the more should love.

Treason.

^PHE seeds of Treason choake up as they spring,
He Acts the Crime, that gives it Cherishing.

Two Things Odious.

*T*WO of a thousand things, are disallow'd,
A lying Rich man, and a Poore man proud.

9 Cf. " Love perfumes all paths " onward : 1. 7, mythical.
1 = inelegance or disorder. So Milton, " Over thy decent shoul
ders drawn " (II Penseroso, 1. 36).

HESPERIDES. 17

To his Mistresses.
T_J ELPE me ! helpe me ! now I call

To my pretty Witchcrafts all ;
Old I am, and cannot do
That, I was accustom'd to.
Bring your Magicks, Spels, and Charmes,
To enflesh my thighs, and armes :
Is there no way to beget
In my limbs their former heat ?
jEson had ( as Poets faine ) 2
Baths that made him young againe :
Find that Medicine ( if you can )
For your drie-decrepid man :
Who would faine his strength renew,
Were it but to pleasure you.

The Wounded Heart.
QOME bring your sampler? and with Art,

Draw in't a wounded Heart :

And dropping here, and there :
Not that I thinke, that any Dart,

8 Ovid. Met. vii. 163, 250, &c.

3 Fine canvas on which ornamental wool-work, and sometimes in
silk, was wrought with the needle.

1 8 HESPERIDES.

Can make your's bleed a teare :
Or peirce it any where ;
Yet doe it to this end : that I,

May by

This secret see,
Though you can make
That Heart to bleed, your's ne'r will ake
For me.

No Loathsomnesse in love.
VfyfHAT I fancy, I approve,

No Dislike there is in love :
Be my Mistresse short or tall,
And distorted there-withall :
Be she likewise one of those,
That an Acre hath of Nose :
Be her forehead, and her eyes
Full of incongruities :
Be her cheeks so shallow too,
As to shew her Tongue wag through :
Be her lips ill hung, or set,
And her grinders black as jet ;
Ha's she thinne haire, hath she none,
She's to me a Paragon*

4 = equal, or compeer, i. e., the peerless or pattern one. See
Glossarial Index s. v.

H ESP BRIDES. 19

To Anthca.
T F, deare Anthea, my hard fate it be

To live some few-sad-howers after thee :
Thy sacred Corse with Odours I will burne ;
And with my Lawrell crown thy Golden Vrne.
Then holding up ( there ) such religious Things,
As were ( time past ) thy holy Filitings : 5
Nere to thy Reverend Pitcher* I will fall
Down dead for grief, and end my woes withall :
So three in one small plat7 of ground shall ly,
Anthea, Herrick, and his Poetry.

The Weeping Cherry.
T SAW a Cherry weep, and why ?

Why wept it ? but for shame,
Because ray Julia's lip was by,

And did out-red the same.
But, pretty Fondling,8 let not fall

A teare at all for that :
Which Rubies, Corralls, Scarlets, all

For tincture,9 wonder at.

5 = binding with fillets or bandages, and in the fillets themselves
as bindings, there were bands.

6 = that from which she made libations and sacrificed.

7 = small piece of ground : sometimes ' plot.'

* — foolish little thing. 9 = colour or hue.

20 HESPERIDES.

Soft Mustek.

HTHE mellow touch of musick most doth wound
The soule, when it doth rather sigh, then sound.

The Difference betwixt

Kings and Subiects.
'pWIXT Kings and Subjects ther's this mighty

odds,
Subjects are taught by Men; Kings by the Gods.

His Answer fo a Question.
COME would know

Why I so
Long still doe tarry,

And ask why

Here that I
Live, and not marry ?

Thus I those

Doe oppose;
What man would be here,

Slave to Thrall,

If at all
He could live free here ?

HESPERIDES. 21

Upon Julia's Fall.
T VLI A was carelesse, and withall,

She rather took,1 then 2 got a fall :
The wanton Ambler chanc'd to see
Part of her leggs sinceritie : 8
And ravish'd thus, It came to passe,
The Nagge ( like to the Prophets Asse,)
Began to speak, and would have been
A telling what rare sights h'ad seen :
And had told all ; but did refraine,
Because his Tongue was ty'd againe.

Expences Exhaust.
T I VE with a thrifty, not a needy Fate ;

Small shots ^ paid often, waste a vast estate.

Love what it is.

T OVE is a circle that doth restlesse move
In the same sweet eternity of love.

1 i. e. she might be said to have merited it.

' =than — and so throughout as placed in the margin.

3 =pureness. 4 •» debts.

22 HESPERWES.

Presence and Absence.

VyHEN what is lov'd is Present, love doth spring ;
But being absent, Love lies languishing.5

No Spouse but a Sister.
A BACHELOUR I will

Live as I have hVd still,
And never take a wife
To crucifie my life :
But this I'le tell ye too,
What now I meane to doe ;
A Sister ( in the stead
Of Wife) about I'le lead;6
Which I will keep embraced,
And kisse, but yet be chaste.

The Pomander'1 Bracelet.
'T'O me my Julia lately sent

A Bracelet richly Redolent :
The Beads I kist, but most lov'd her
That did perfume the Pomander.

5 Allusion to the flower Love-Lies-Bleeding.

6 i Corinthians, ix. 5.

7 =Pomme d'ambre (French), i. e. an amber apple (and some
times a pear) having been the form of a silver case within which the

HESPERIDES. 23

The shooe tying.
\NTHEA bade me tye her shooe ;

I did ; and kist the Instep too :
And would have kist unto her knee,
Had not her Blush rebuked me.

The Carkanet*
T NSTEAD of Orient Pearls, of Jet,

I sent my Love a Karkanet :
About her spotlesse neck she knit
The lace,9 to honour me, or it :
Then think how wrapt l was I to see
My Jet t'enthrall such Ivorie.

ball of various scents, mainly ambergris, was enclosed, having holes
pierced throughout, for escape of the perfume. A pomander bracelet
was made of these balls, &c. Such balls were supposed to be use
ful against infection so late as 1610. The Plague that year being
in Oxford, George Radcliflfe (afterwards Sir George) wrote that his
tutor " had sent him out of town, if he had desired it, and made him
a Pomander" (Churton's Life of Dean Nowell, pp. 21-2). Becon
named a rare little book of his " The Pomander of Prayers," (1578).

* The carcanet was a gold or other ornamental chain, or neck
lace, worn round the neck. Carcan originally signified an iron
collar to confine malefactors to a post. Nicot, in his Grand Dic-
tivmnre, defines it, omement d'or qu'on imst au col des demoiselles. N.

9 = the string of the carkanet or necklace.

1 =rapt, enraptured.

C

24 HESPERIDES.

His sailing from Julia.
T HEN that day comes, whose evening sayes I'm

gone

Unto that watrie Desolation :
Devoutly to thy Closet-gods 2 then pray,
That my wing'd Ship may meet no Remora?
Those Deities which circum-walk the Seas,
And look upon our dreadfull passages,
Will from all dangers, re-deliver me,
For one drink offering, poured out by thee.
Mercie and Truth live with thee ! and forbeare
(In my short absence) to unsluce 4 a teare :
But yet for Loves-sake, let thy lips doe this,
Give my dead picture one engendring kisse :
Work that to life, and let me ever dwell
In thy remembrance (Julia)* So farewell.

How the Wallflower came firsty and

why so called.
'\X7HY this Flower is now calPd so,

Last' sweet maids, and you shal know.

• = lares, of whom Herrick is so fond.

3 = hindrance : from the small fish or worm called a sea-lamprey
or suckstone, of which it was long a Vulgar Error that by attaching
itself to a ship's bottom it arrested its motion. See Bailey, s. v.

4 = lift the sluice to make way for a tear.

HESPERIDES. 25

Understand, this First-ling 5 was
Once a brisk and bonny Lasse,
Kept as close as Danae was :
Who a sprightly Springall* lov'd,
And to have it fully prov'd,
Up she got upon a wall,
Tempting down to slide withall :
But the silken twist unty'd,
So she fell, and bruis'd, she dy'd.
Love, in pitty of the deed,
And her loving-lucklesse speed,
Turn'd her to this Plant, we call
Now, The Flower of the Wall.

Why Flowers change colour.
HTHESE fresh beauties (we can prove)

Once were Virgins sick of love,
Turn'd to Flowers. Still in some
Colours goe, and colours come.

71? his Mistresse objecting to him neither

Toying or Talking.
VOU say I love not, 'cause I doe not play

Still with your curies, and kisse the time away.

* = first produce or offspring. G. 6 = a youth or stripling.

26 HESPERIDES.

You blame me too, because I cann't devise

Some sport, to please those Babies 7 in your eyes :

By Loves Religion, I must here confesse it,

The most I love, when I the least expresse it.

Small grief s find tongues :* Full Casques9 are ever found

To give, (if any, yet) but little sound.

Deep waters noyse-lesse are ; And this we know,

That chiding streams betray small depth below.1

So when Love speechlesse is, she doth expresse

A depth in love, and that depth, bottomlesse.

Now since my love is tongue-lesse, know me such,

Who speak but little, 'cause I love so much.

7 = the tiny face-reflection in the pupil of the eyes. This sportive
conceit, says Dr. Nott, was imagined perhaps before, and certainly
since Herrick wrote.

See where little Cupid lies

Looking babies in the eyes.
Thus in our looks some propagation lies,
For we make babies in each others eyes.
LITTLE, alias MOORE.

8 A common-place from classical rimes. The greatest of all is in
Shakespeare : " The grief that does not speak, whispers the o'er-
fraught heart, and bids it break" (Macbeth ir. 3).

9 = casks or barrels. * A classical common-place from
Ovid onward, and frequent in the Elizabethan poets.

HESPERIDES. _>7

Upon the losse of his Mistresses.
T HAVE lost, and lately, these

Many dainty Mistresses :
Stately Julia, prime of all ;
Sapho next, a principall :
Smooth Anthea, for a skin
White, and Heaven-like Chrystalline :
Sweet Electra, and the choice
Myrha, for the Lute, and Voice.
Next, Corinnay for her wit,
And the graceful use of it :
With Perilla : All are gone ;
Onely HerricHs left alone,
For to number sorrow by
Their departures hence, and die.

The Dream.
AT E thought (last night) Love in an anger came,

And brought a rod, so whipt me with the same :
Mirtle the twigs were, meerly to imply,
Love strikes, but 'tis with gentle crueltie.
Patient I was : Love pitifull grew then,
And stroak'd the stripes, and I was whole agen.
Thus like a Bee, Love-gentle stil doth bring
Hony to salve, where he before did sting.

28 HESPERIDES.

The Vine.
T DREAM'D this mortal part of mine

Was Metamorphoz'd to a Vine ;
Which crawling one and every way,
EnthralPd my dainty Lucia.
Me thought, her long small legs & thighs
I with my Tendrils did surprize ;
Her Belly, Buttocks, and her Waste
By my soft Nertflits 2 were embrac'd :
About her head I writhing 3 hung,
And with rich clusters (hid among
The leaves) her temples I behung :
So that my Lucia seem'd to me
Young Bacchus ravisht by his tree.4
My curies about her neck did craule,
And armes and hands they did enthrall :
So that she could not freely stir,
(All parts there made one prisoner).
But when I crept with leaves to hide
Those parts, which maids keep unespy'd,
Such fleeting pleasures there I took,
That with the fancie I awook ;
And found (Ah me !) this flesh of mine
More like a Stocky then like a Vine.

= diminutive of nerves. 3 = entwining.

Ivy, the vine — one of many myths concerning Dionysius.

HESPERIDES. 29

To Love.
T 'M free, from thee ; aud thou no more shalt heare

My puling Pipe to beat against thine eare :
Farewell my shackles, (though of pearle they be)
Such precious thraldome ne'r shall fetter me.
He loves his bonds, who when the first are broke,
Submits his neck unto a second yoke.

On himselje.

"YfOUNG I was, but now am old,
But I am not yet grown cold ;
I can play, and I can twine
'Bout a Virgin like a Vine :
In her lap too I can lye
Melting, and in fancie die:
And return to life, if she
Claps my cheek, or kisseth me ;
Thus, and thus it now appears
That our love out-lasts our yeeres.

LWJS play at Push-pin. 5
T OVE and my selfe (beleeve me) on a day

At childish Push-pin (for our sport) did play :
I put, he pusht,6 and heedless of my skin,
Love prickt my finger with a golden pin :

5 A child-game, with pins 'pushed' alternately. 6 I placed, he pushed.

30 HESPERIDES.

Since which, it festers so, that I can prove
'Twas but a trick to poyson me with love :
Little the wound was ; greater was the smart ;
The ringer bled, but burnt was all my heart,

The Rvsarie.
/""^NE ask'd me where the roses grew?

I bade him not goe seek ;
But forthwith bade my Julia shew
A bud in either cheek.r

Upon Cupid.
f~\ LD wives have often told, how they

Saw Cupid bitten by a flea :
And thereupon, in tears half drown'd,
He cry'd aloud, Help, help the wound :
He wept, he sobb'd, he call'd to some
To bring him Lint, and Balsamumy
To make a Tent? and put it in,
Where the Steletto* pierc'd the skin:
Which being done, the fretfull paine
Asswag'd, and he was well again.

7 Cf. « The Rock of Rubies * onward.

8 = plug for a wound. 9 = stilletto or dagger.

HESPE RIDES. 31

The Parcae, or, Three dainty Destinies.

The Armilet.1
T^HREE lovely Sisters working were

( As they were closely set )
Of soft and dainty Maiden-haire,2

A curious Armelet.
I smiling, ask'd them what they did ?

( Faire Destinies all three )
Who told me, they had drawn a thred

Of Life, and 'twas for me.
They shew'd me then, how fine 'twas spun

And I reply'd thereto,
I care not now how soone 'tis done,
Or cut, if cut by you.

Sorrowes succeed.

EN one is past, another care we have,
Thus woe succeeds a woe; as wave a wave.

1 = armlet : armilla, a bracelet worn on the wrist or arm.
" = A fern so called, found on walls and ruins, with an inner play
on the hair of a maiden.

32 HESPERIDES.

Cherry-pit.
T ULIA and I did lately sit

Playing for sport, at Cherry-pit : 3
She threw ; I cast ; and having thrown,
I got the Pit, and she the Stone.

To Robin Red-brest.
T AID out for dead, let thy last kindnesse be

With leaves and mosse-work for to cover me :
And while the Wood-nimphs my cold corps inter,
Sing thou my Dirge, sweet-warbling Chorister !
For Epitaph, in Foliage, next write this,
Here, here the Tomb of Robin Her rick is.

Discontents in Devon.
TV/TORE discontents I never had
Since I was born, then here ;
Where I have bee'n, and still am sad,

In this dull Devon-shire :
Yet justly too I must confesse ;

I ne'r invented such
Ennobled numbers for the Presse,
Then where I loath'd so much.

3 A child-game, in which they threw cherry-stones into a small
hole: "play at cherry-pit" (Twelfth Night, iii. 4).

HESPERIDES. 33

To his Paternall Countrey.
C\ EARTH ! Earth ! Earth ! heare thou my voice,

and be

Loving, and gentle for to cover me :
Banish'd from thee I live ; ne'r to return,
Unlesse thou giv'st my small Remains an Urne.

Cherrie-ripe.
r^HERRIE-ripe, Ripe, Ripe, I cry,

Full and faire ones ; come and buy :
If so be, you ask me where
They doe grow ? I answer, There,
Where my Jfu/ia>s lips doe smile ;
There's the Land, or Cherry-He :
Whose Plantations fully show
All the yeere. where Cherries grow.

To his Mistresses.
pUT on your silks ; and piece by piece

Give them the scent of Amber-Greece :4
And for your breaths too, let them smell
Ambrosia-like, or Nectarell;**
While other Gums their sweets perspire,
By your owne jewels set on fire.

4 See Glossarial Index, 2 v. 6 Probably a new-coined adjective
from nectar = nectar-like.

34 HESPERIDES.

To Anthea.
"^" Ow is the time, when all the lights wax dim ;

And thou (Anthea) must withdraw from him
Who was thy servant. Dearest, bury me
Under that Holy-oke, or Gospel-tree:^
Where (though thou see'st not) thou may'st think upon
Me, when thou yeerly go'st Procession :
Or for mine honour, lay me in that Tombe
In which thy sacred Reliques shall have roome.
For my Embalming (Sweetest) there will be
No Spices wanting, when I'm laid by thee.

The Vision to Electra.
T DREAM 'D we both were in a bed

Of Roses, almost smothered :
The warmth and sweetnes had me there
Made lovingly familiar ;
But that I heard thy sweet breath say,
Faults done by night, will blush by day :
I kist thee (panting), and I call
Night to the Record ! that was all.
But ah ! if empty dreames so please,
Love, give me more such nights as these.

6 At the processions or perambulations of the parish, the Gospel
was read at certain trees, thence called ' Gospel trees.' See Brand
(ed. Hazlitt) i. 112.

HESPERIDES. 35

Dreames.

"LJ ERE "we are all, by day : By night w'are hurl'd
By dreames, each one, into a sev'rall world.

Ambition.

T N man, Ambition is the common'st thing ;
Each one, by nature, loves to be a king.

His request to Julia.
T ULIA, if I chance to die
Ere I print my Poetry ;
I most humbly thee desire
To commit it to the fire :
Better 'twere my Book were dead,
Then to live not perfected.

Money gets the masterie.

JP IGHT thou with shafts of silver, and o'rcome,
When no force else can get the masterdome.

The Scar-fire^
V\fATER> water I desire,

Here's a house of flesh on fire :

7 =a fright by fire : query — a beacon of alarm (as of invasion).

36 HESPERIDES.

Ope' the fountains and the springs,
And come all to Buckittings :8
What ye cannot quench, pull downe ;
Spoile a house, to save a towne :
Better 'tis that one shu'd fall,
Then by one to hazard all.

Upon Silvia, a Mistresse.

vy HEN some shall say, Faire once my Silvia was ;
Thou wilt complaine, False now's thy Looking-

glasse :

Which renders that quite tarnisht, which was green ;
And Priceless9 now, what Peerless once had been :
Upon thy Forme more wrinkles yet will fall,
And comming downe, shall make no noise at all.

Cheerfulnesse in Charitie : or,

The sweet Sacrifice.
'"PIS not a thousand Bullocks thies

Can please those Heav'nly Deities,
If the Vower don't express
In his Offering, Cheerfulness.

s = filling of buckets. 9 = valueless.

HESPERIDES. 37

Once poor e, still penurious.

the world now, it will with thee goe hard :
^^i

The fattest Hogs we grease the more with Lard.

To him that has, there shall be added more ;
Who is penurious, he shall still be poore.

Sweetnesse in Sacrifice.
"T*IS not greatness they require,

To be offer'd up by fire :
But 'tis sweetness that doth please
Those Eternall Essences.

Steame in Sacrifice.

T F meat the Gods give, I the steame
High-towring wil devote to them :
Whose easie natures like it well,
If we the roste have, they the smell.

Upon Julia's Voice.
CO smooth, so sweet, so silv'ry is thy voice,

As, could they hear, the Damn'd would make no

noise ;

But listen to thee, (walking in thy chamber)
Melting melodious words to Lutes of Amber.1

1 Amber was used to adorn musical instruments : here used by
stress of rhyme.

38 HESPERIDES.

Againe.

Vy HEN I thy singing next shall heare,
He wish I might turne all to eare,2
To drink in Notes, and Numbers ; such
As blessed soules cann't heare too much :
Then melted down, there let me lye
Entranc'd, and lost confusedly ;
And by thy Musique strucken mute,
Die and be turn'd into a Lute.

All things decay and die.

A LL things decay with Time : The Forrest sees
The growth, and down-fall of her aged trees ;
That Timber tall, which three-score lusters stood
The proud Dictator of the State-like wood :3
I meane (the Soveraigne of all Plants) the Oke
Droops, dies, and falls without the cleavers stroke.

T7ie succession ofthefoure sweet months.
pIRST, April, she with mellow showrs

Opens the way for early flowers ;
Then after her comes smiling May,
In a more rich and sweet aray ;

3 Cf. Milton " all ear to hear " (P. L. IV. 1. 410).

3 Cf. Keats, " those green-robed senators of mighty woods."

HESPERIDES. 39

Next enters June, and brings us more
Jems, then those two, that went before :
Then (lastly) July comes, and she
More wealth brings in, then all those three.

No Shipwrack of Vertue. Ta a friend.
T^HOU sail'st with others in this Argus here ;

Nor wrack or Bulging* thou hast cause to feare :
But trust to this, my noble passenger ;
Who swims with Vertue, he shall still be sure
( #7jw«-like) all tempests to endure ;
And 'midst a thousand gulfs to be secure.

Upon his Sister-in-Law, Mistresse

Elizab : Herrick.
"pIRST, for Effusions5 due unto the dead,

My solemne Vowes have here accomplished :
Next, how I love thee, that my griefe must tell,
Wherein thou liv'st for ever. Deare farewell.

Of Love. A Sonet.
TLJ OW Love came in, I do not know,
Whether by th' eye, or eare, or no ;

4 Originally bilging, from bilge or the lower part of a ship, where
it swells out. * = outpourings.

40 HESPERWES.

Or whether with the soule it came
(At first) infused with the same ;
Whether in part 'tis here or there,
Or, like the soule, whole every where :
This troubles me : but I as well
As any other, this can tell ;
That when from hence she does depart,
The out-let then is from the heart.

To Anthea.6

A H my Anthea / Must my heart still break ?
(Love makes me write, what shame forbids to

speak.)

Give me a kisse, and to that kisse a score ;
Then to that twenty, adde an hundred more :
A thousand to that hundred : so kisse on,
To make that thousand up a million.
Treble that million, and when that is done,
Let's kisse afresh, as when we first begun.
But yet, though Love likes well such Scenes as these,
There is an Act that will more fully please :
Kissing and glancing, soothing, all make way
But to the acting of this private Play :
Name it I would ; but being blushing red,
The rest He speak, when we meet both in bed.

6 Imitation of Catullus in the first eight lines.

HESPERIDES. 41

The Rock of Rubies : and

The quarrie of Pear Is ?
COME ask'd me where the Rubies grew?

And nothing I did say :
But with my finger pointed to

The lips of Julia.
Some ask'd how Pearls did grow, and where ?

Then spoke I to my Girle,
To part her lips, and shew'd them there
The Quarelets8 of Pearl.

Conformitie.
CONFORMITY was ever knowne

A foe to Dissolution :
Nor can we that a ruine call,
Whose crack gives crushing unto all.

TO THE KING, Upon his comming with his

Army into the West.9

Y\f ELCOME, most welcome to our Vowes and us,
Most great, and universall Genius I

1 Cf. ' The Rosarie ' before.

8 A 'quarrel' is anything squared, glass, stone, tile, &c. (Fr :
Quarreau, verb quarrer, to square). A stone-quarry in various
English counties is called a ' quarrel.'

9 The King pursued Essex into Cornwall in August, 1644, where
he forced him to capitulate — a brief success in abounding disaster.

42 HESPERIDES.

The Drooping West, which hitherto has stood
As one, in long-lamented-widow-hood,
Looks like a Bride now, or a bed of flowers,
Newly refresh't, both by the Sun, and showers.
War, which before was horrid, now appears
Lovely in you, brave Prince of Cavaliers !
A deale of courage l in each bosome springs
By your accesse ; (O you the best of Kings !)
Ride on with all white2 Omens ; so that where,
Your Standard's up, we fix a Conquest there.

Upon Roses.
T J NDER a Lawne, then skyes more cleare,

Some ruffled Roses nestling were :
And snugging3 there, they seem'd to lye
As in a flowrie Nunnery :

They blush'd, and look'd more fresh then flowers [than
Quickned of late by Pearly showers ;
And all, because they were possest
But of the heat of Julids breast :
Which as a warme, and moistned spring,
Gave them their ever flourishing.

1 See Glossarial Index, s. v.

2 = auspicious. See Glossarial Index, s. v.

3 Snug — to lie close, to snudge.

HESPERIDES. 43

To the King and Queene, upon their

unhappy distances.^
Vy OE, woe to them, who (by a ball of strife)

Doe, and have parted here a Man and Wife :
CHARLS the best Husband, while MARIA strives
To be, and is, the very best of Wives :
Like Streams, you are divorc'd ; but 't will come, when
These eyes of mine shall see you mix agen.
Thus speaks the Okef here ; C. and M. shall meet,
Treading on Amber, with their silver-feet :
Nor wiPt be long, ere this accomplish'd be ;
The words found true, C. M. remember me.

Dangers wait on Kings.
A S oft as Night is banish'd by the Morne,

So oft, we'll think, we see a King new born.

The Cheat of Cupid : or,

The ungentle guest*
ONE silent night of late,

When every creature rested,

4 The Queen's absence from England is doubtless merely intended,
but there were rumours of domestic strife and consequent coldness, or
* distances.' 6 =the oracular tree, as the oaks of Dodona.

f> Anacreon : Ode 3 imitated.

44 HESPERIDES.

Came one unto my gate,
And knocking, me molested.

Who's that (said I) beats there,
And troubles thus the Sleepie ?

Cast off (said he) all feare,
And let not Locks thus keep ye.

For I a Boy am, who

By Moonlesse nights7 have swerved ;8
And all with showrs wet through,

And e'en with cold half starved.

I pittifull arose,

And soon a Taper lighted ;
And did my selfe disclose

Unto the lad benighted.

I saw he had a Bow,

And Wings too, which did shiver ;
And looking down below,

I spy'd he had a Quiver.

I to my Chimney's shine

Brought him (as Love professes)

7 " In the hush of moonless nights," Tennyson.
s = strayed or roved.

HESPERIDES. 45

And chafd his hands with mine,
And dry'd his dropping Tresses :

But when he felt him warm'd,

Let's try this bow of ours,
And string, if they be harm'd,

Said he, with these late showrs.

Forthwith his bow he bent,

And wedded string and arrow,
And struck me, that it went

Quite through my heart and marrow.

Then laughing loud, he flew

Away, and thus said flying,
Adieu, mine Host, Adieu,

He leave thy heart a dying.

To the reverend shade of his religious

Father.
HTHAT for seven Lusters I did never come

To doe the Rites to thy Religious Tombe ;
That neither haire was cut, or true teares shed
By me, o'r thee, (as justments* to the dead)

9 From the Latin justa, funeral obsequies : query — a coinage of
Herrick ?

46 HESPERIDES.

Forgive, forgive me ; since I did not know

Whether thy bones had here their Rest, or no.1

But now 'tis known, Behold ; behold, I bring

Unto thy Ghost th' Effused Offering :

And look, what Smallage,2 Night-shade, Cypresse, Yew,

Unto the shades have been, or now are due,

Here I devote ;3 And something more then so ;

I come to pay a Debt of Birth I owe.

Thou gav'st me life (but Mortall); For that one

Favour, He make full satisfaction j

For my life mortall, Rise from out thy Herse,

And take a life immortall from my Verse.

Delight in Disorder.
A SWEET disorder in the dresse

Kindles in cloathes a wantonnesse :
A Lawne about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction :
An erring4 Lace, which here and there
Enthralls the Crimson Stomacher :

1 Herrick was a baby of a year old only when his father died ; but
on this somewhat enigmatical celebration of him see our Memorial -
Introduction. Line 2nd 'seven Lusters Ms = 35 years, i. e. 1626 for
date of composition.

'2 Herb. See Glossarial Index, s. v. 3 = dedicate or consecrate.

4 = wandering.

HESPERIDES. 47

A Cuffe neglectfull, and thereby

Ribbands to flow confusedly :

A winning wave (deserving Note)

In the tempestuous petticote :

A carelesse shooe-string, in whose tye

I see a wilde civility :6

Doe more bewitch me, then when Art [than

Is too precise in every part.

To his Muse.
V\f ERE I to give thee Baptime* I wo'd chuse

To Christen thee, the Bride, the Bashfull

Muse,

Or Muse of Roses : since that name does fit
Best with those Virgin-verses thou hast writ :
Which are so cleane, so chast, as none may feare
Cato the Censor, sho'd he scan each here.

Upon Love.

T OVE scorch'd my finger, but did spare
The burning of my heart ;

* =good manners, easiness. Milton has " civil -suited morn."
(II Penseroso, 1. 122): later Dryden, "the sweet civilities of life."
See Memorial-Introduction for Ben Jonson's song in The Silent
Woman, " Still to be neat, still to be drest," &c.

6 — baptism. Query : from the French Bapt&me ?

48 HESPERIDES.

To signifie, in Love my share
Sho'd be a little part.

Little I love ; but if that he

Wo'd but that heat recall :
That joynt to ashes sho'd be burnt,

Ere I wo'd love at all.

To Dean-bourn, a rude River in Devon : by

which sometimes he lived.
"QEAN-BOURN, farewell; I never look to see

Deane, or thy watry incivility.
Thy rockie bottome, that doth teare thy streams,
And makes them frantick, ev'n to all extreames ;
To my content, I never sho'd behold,
Were thy streames silver, or thy rocks all gold.
Rockie thou art ; and rockie we discover
Thy men ; and rockie are thy wayes all over.
O men, O manners • There and ever knowne
To be A Rockie Generation !
A people currish ; churlish as the seas ;
And rude (almost) as rudest Salvages :7
With whom I did, and may re-sojourne when
Rockes turn to Rivers, Rivers turn to Men.

7 =

savages or uncivilized.

HESPERIDES. 49

Kissing Usurie.
"QIANCHA, Let

Me pay the debt
I owe thee for a kisse

Thou lend'st to me ;
And I to thee
Will render ten for this :

If thou wilt say,

Ten will not pay
For that so rich a one ;

He cleare the summe,

If it will come
Unto a Million.

He must of right,

To th'utmost mite,
Make payment for his pleasure ;8

By this, I guesse,

Of happinesse
Who has a little measure.

8 By Hazlitt and others the commencement is put first in this
stanza. Dr. Nott annotates — These lines breathe of Catullus and
Secundus. See of the former Carmen 5 ; and of the latter Basiam 6.

50 HESPERIDES.

To Julia.
T_T OW rich and pleasing thou, my Julia art,

In each thy dainty, and peculiar part !
First, for thy Queen-ship on thy head is set
Of flowers a sweet commingled Coronet :
About thy neck a Carkanet 9 is bound,
Made of the Rubie, Pearle, and Diamond:
A golden ring, that shines upon thy thumb : *
About thy wrist, the rich Dardamum?
Between thy Breasts (then Doune of Swans more white)
There playes the Saphire with the Chrysolite.
No part besides must of thy selfe be known, ,
But by the Topaze, Opal, Calcedon.

To Laurels.
A FUNERALL stone,

Or Verse I covet none,
But onely crave
Of you, that I may have
A sacred Laurel springing from my grave :

Which being seen,
Blest with perpetuall greene,

9 = chain for the neck, as before.

1 Rings used to be, oddly enough, worn on the thumb.

2 A Bracelet, from Dardanus so calPd. H.

HESPERIDES. 51

May grow to be
Not so much call'd a tree,
As the eternall monument of me.

His Cavalier.
C* I VE me that man, that dares bestride

The active sea-horse, & with pride,
Through that huge field of waters ride :3

Who, with his looks too, can appease
The ruffling winds and raging Seas,
In mid'st of all their outrages.

This, this a virtuous man can doe,
Saile against Rocks, and split them too ;
I ! and a world of Pikes passe through.

Zeal required in Love.

T 'LE doe my best to win, when'ere I wooe :
That man loves not, who is not zealous too.

The Bag of the Bee.
A BOUT the sweet bag of a Bee,
Two Cupids fell at odds ;

3 Cf. Byron of the Sea in close of Childe Harrtf vi : —
" I was as it were a child of thee,
And trusted to thy billows far and near,
And laid my hands upon thy mane."

52 HESPERIDES.

And whose the pretty prize shu'd be,
They vow'd to ask the Gods.

Which Venus hearing, thither came,
And for their boldness stript them :

And taking thence from each his flame ;
With rods of Mirtle whipt them.

Which done, to still their wanton cries,
When quiet grown sh'ad seen them,

She kist, and wip'd thir dove-like' eyes ;
And gave the Bag between them.4

Love kilVd by Lack.

T ET me be warme ; let me be fully fed :
Luxurious Love by Wealth is nourished.
Let me be leane, and cold, and once grown poore,
I shall dislike, what once I lov'd before.

To his Mistresse.

CHOOSE me your Valentine :5
Next, let us marry :

4 This little elegant composition is likewise found in a collection
of poetry entitled, Wit a sporting in a Pleasant Grove ofneu> Fancies,
by H. B. 1657. N-

6 No chronicle affords us any satisfactory information respecting
the rites of Saint Valentine, a Roman bishop beheaded under the

HESPERIDES. 53

Love to the death will pine,
If we long tarry.

Promise, and keep your vowes,

Or vow ye never :
Loves doctrine disallowes

Troth-breakers ever.

You have broke promise twice

(Deare) to undoe me ;
If you prove faithlesse thrice,

None then will wooe you.

To the generous Reader.
C EE, and not see ; and if thou chance t'espie

Some Aberrations in my Poetry ;
Wink at small faults, the greater, ne'rthelesse
Hide, and with them, their Father's nakedness.
Let's doe our best, our Watch and Ward to keep :
Homer himself, in a long work, may sleep.6

emperor Claudius, whose festival is observed on the i4th of February.
There is a rural tradition, that about this period birds chuse their
mates ; and it is a very ancient custom, on the day of the festival,
for young people, particularly among the lower orders, to select Val
entines, or sweethearts, by drawing of lots. N. See Brand s. n.
Chaucer and Lydgate celebrate the festival.

" Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus. Horace : Art. Poet.,
!• 359-

54 HESPERIDES.

To Criticks.
T LE write, because He give

You Criticks means to live :
For sho'd I not supply
The Cause, th'effect wo'd die.

Duty to Tyrants.
C* OOD princes must be pray'd for : for the bad

They must be borne with, and in rev'rence had.
Doe they first pill7 thee, next, pluck off thy skin?
Good children kisse the rods, that punish sin.
Touch not the Tyrant ; Let the Gods alone
To strike him dead, that but usurps a Throne.

Being once blind, his request to Biancha.
"\^7"HEN age or Chance has made me blind,

So that the path I cannot find :
And when my falls and stumblings are
More then the stones i'th' street by farre :
Goe thou afore ; and I shall well
Follow thy Perfumes by the smell :
Or be my guide ; and I shall be
Led by some light that flows from thee.
Thus held, or led by thee, I shall
In wayes confus'd, nor slip or fall.

7 = strip or peel : hence to spoil, to take away.

HESPERIDES. 55

Upon Blanch.
"DLANCH swears her Husband's lovely; when a

scald

Has blear'd his eyes : Besides, his head is bald.
Next, his wilde eares, like Lethern wings full spread,
Flutter to flie, and beare away his head.

No want where therds little.
'T'O Bread and Water none is poore ;

And having these, what need of more ?
Though much from out the Cess8 be spent,
Nature with little is content.

Barly-Break : or, Last in Hell?
AX7E two are last in Hell : what may we feare
To be tormented, or kept Pris'ners here ?
Alas ! If kissing be of plagues the worst,
We'll wish, in Hell we had been Last and First.

The Definition of Beauty.
"DEAUTY, no other thing is, then a Beame
Flasht out between the Middle and Extreame.

* =the count or accompt, t. e. the (total of the) income.
' A country game, celebrated finely by Sidney : Poems in Fuller
Worthies' Library, ii. 36 et seq.

E

56 HESPERIDES.

To Dianeme.
"QEARE, though to part it be a Hell,

Yet Dianeme, now farewell :
Thy frown (last night) did bid me goe ;
But whither, onely Grief do's know.
I doe beseech thee, ere we part,
( If mercifull, as faire thou art ;
Or else desir'st that Maids sho'd tell
Thy pitty by Loves-Chronicle)
O Dianeme, rather kill
Me, then to make me languish stil \
'Tis cruelty in thee to'thTieight,
Thus, thus to wound, not kill out-right :
Yet there's a way found (if thou please)
By sudden death to give me ease :
And thus devis'd, doe thou but this,
Bequeath to me one parting kisse :
So sup'rabundant joy shall be
The Executioner of me.

To Anthea lying in bed.
CO looks Anthea, when in bed she lyes,
Orecome, or halfe betray'd by Tiffanies

1 =fine silk or gauze, as before.

HESPERIDES. 57

Like to a Twi-light, or that simpring 2 Dawn,
That Roses shew, when misted o're with Lawn.
Twilight is yet, till that her Lawnes give way ;
Which done, that Dawne, turnes then to perfect day.

To Electra.
TV/T ORE white then whitest Lillies far,

Or Snow, or whitest Swans you are :
More white then are the whitest Creames, [than
Or Moone-light tinselling the streames :
More white then Pearls, or Junds thigh ;
Or Pelops Arme of Yvorie.
True, I confesse ; such Whites as these
May me delight, not fully please :
Till, like Ixioris cloud 3 you be
White, warme, and soft to lye with me.

A Country-life : to his Brother,

M. Tho : Herrick.4
HTHRICE, and above, blest (my soules halfe) art

thou,
In thy both Last, and Better Vow :

5 = pleasant — as a smile : deteriorated since.
* =the cloud in which Juno lay with him.
4 See Memorial-Introduction on this brother.

58 , HESPERIDES.

Could'st leave the City, for exchange, to see

The Countries sweet simplicity :
And it to know, and practice ; with intent

To grow the sooner innocent :
By studying to know vertue ; and to aime

More at her nature, then her name : \than

The last is but the least ; the first doth tell

J ay— *" ^

Wayes lesse to live, then to live well :
And both are knowne to thee, who now can'st live

Led by thy conscience ; to give
Justice to soone-pleas'd nature ; and to show,

Wisdome and she together goe,
And keep one Centre : This with that conspires,

To teach Man to ;confine desires :
And know, that Riches have their proper stint,5

In the contented mind, not mint.
And can'st instruct, that those who have the itch

Of craving more, are never rich.
These things thou know'st to'th'height, and dost
prevent

That plague ; because thou art content
With that Heav'n gave thee with a warie hand,

(More blessed in thy Brasse,6 then Land)

* = quantity. 6 = cash : a vulgarism since.

HESPERIDES. 59

To keep cheap Nature even, and upright ;

To coole, not cocker 7 Appetite.
Thus thou canst tearcely 8 live to satisfie

The belly chiefly j not the ejej
Keeping the barking stomach wisely quiet,

Lesse with a neat,9 then needfull diet. [than
But that which most makes sweet thy country life,

Is, the fruition of a wife :
Whom (stars consenting with thy Fate) thou hast

Got, not so beautifull, as chast :
By whose warme side thou dost securely sleep

(While Love the Centinell doth keep)
With those deeds done by day, which n'er affright

Thy silken slumbers in the night.
Nor has the darknesse power to usher in

Feare to those sheets, that know no sin.
But still thy wife, by chast intentions led,

Gives thee each night a Maidenhead.
The Damaskt medowes, and the peebly streames

Sweeten, and make soft your dreames : l
The Purling springs, groves, birds, and well-weav^d
Bowrs, -3

With fields enameled with flowers,

7 = pamper. 8 = cleanly. ' = elegant.

1 Intentionally a syllable short, as in others following.

60 HESPERIDES.

Present their shapes ; while fantasie discloses

Millions of Littles mixt with Roses.
Then dream, ye heare the Lamb by many a bleat

Woo'd to come suck the milkie Teat :
While Faunus in the Vision comes to keep,

From rav'ning wolves, the fleecie sheep.
With thousand such enchanting dreams, that meet

To make sleep not so sound, as sweet :
Nor can these figures so thy rest endeare,

As not to rise when Chantidere
Warnes the last Watch ; but with the Dawne dost rise

To. work, but first to sacrifice j
Making thy peace with heav'n, for some late fault,

With Holy-meale, and spirting-salt.2
Which done, thy painfull Thumb3 this sentence tells us,

Jove for our labour all things sells us.
Nor are thy daily and devout affaires

Attended with those desp'rate cares,
\Th' industrious Merchant has ; who for to find

Gold, runneth to the Western Inde,
And back again, (tortur'd with fears) doth fly,

Untaught to suffer Poverty.
But thou at home, blest with securest ease,

Sitt'st, anofbeleeVstjthat there be seas,

- Folk-lore. But cf. Leviticus c. iL 3 Ibid, but cf. S. Mark
s. 49,

HESPERIDES. 61

And watrie dangers ; while thy whiter hap,

But sees these things within thy Map.
And viewing them with a more safe survey,

Mak'st easie Feare unto thee say,
A heart thrice waWd with Oke, and brasse, that man

Had, first, diirst plow the Ocean *
I But thou at home without or tyde or gale,

Canst in thy Map securely saile :
Seeing those painted Countries ; and so/guesse/

By those fine Shades, their Substances :
And from thy Compasse taking small advice,

Buy'st Travell at the lowest price.
Nor are thine eares so deafe, but thou canst heare,

(Far more with wonder, then with feare) \than
Fame tell of States, of Countries, Courts, and Kings ;

Andf beleevel there be sijch things : j

r~ .^~~~^1 '" —

WEenoTtnese truths, thy happyer knowledge lyes,

More in thine eares, then in thine eyes.
And when thou hear'st by that too-true-Report,

Vice rules the Most, or All at Court :
Thy pious wishes are, (though thou not there)

Vertue had, and mov'd her Sphere.
But thou liv'st fearlesse ; and thy face ne'r shewes

Fortune when she comes, or goes.

4 Horace : Illi robur, &c., Odes i. 3.

6 See previous note on a lacking syllable.

62 HESPERWES.

But with thy equall thoughts, prepar'd dost stand,

To take her by the either hand :
Nor car'st which comes the first, the foule or faire ;

A wise man etfry way lies square^
And like a surly Oke with storms perplext ;

Growes still the stronger, strongly vext.
Be so, bold spirit j Stand Center-like, unmov'd ;

And be not onely thought, but prov'd
To be what I report thee ; and inure

Thy selfe, if want comes to endure :
And so thou dost : for thy desires are

Confin'd to live with private Larr: 7
Not curious whether Appetite be fed,

Or with the first, or second bread.
Who keep'st no proud mouth for delicious cates :

Hunger makes coorse meats, delicates.
Can'st, and unurg'd, forsake that Larded fare,

Which Art, not Nature, makes so rare ;
To taste boyl'd Nettles, Colworts, Beets, and eate

These, and sowre herbs, as dainty meat ?

6 Tennyson : " four-square to all the winds that blow." Origi
nally quoted by Aristotle (Ethics i. n, and Rhetoric iii. n, 2) from
Simonides : traced back to Pythagoras.

7 = Household god or house itself. ' Lara ' was a later mythical
coinage to account for the existence of the Lar. See Glossarial Index

HESPERIDES. 63

While soft Opinion makes thy Genius, say,

Content makes all Ambrosia.
Nor is it, that thou keep'st this stricter size 8

So much for want, as exercise :
To numb the sence of Dearth, which sho'd sinne
haste it,

Thou might'st but onely see't, not taste it.
Yet can thy humble roofe maintaine a Quire

Of singing Crickits by thy fire :
And the brisk Mouse may feast her selfe with crums,

Till that the green-e/d Kitling comes.
Then to her Cabbin, blest she can escape

The sudden danger of a Rape.
And thus thy little-well-kept stock doth prove,

Wealth cannot make a life, but Love.
Nor art thou so close-handed, but can'st spend

(Counsell concurring with the end)
As well as spare : still conning o'r this Theame,

To shun the first, and last extreame.
Ordaining that thy small stock find no breach,

Or to exceed thy Tether's reach :
But to live round, and close, and wisely true

To thine owne selfe ; 9 and knowne to few.

8 — assize. ' " To thine own self be true " (Hamlet i. 3).

64 HESPERIDES.

Thus let thy Rurall Sanctuary be

Elizium to thy wife and thee ;
There to disport your selves with goj^enjneasure :

For seldome1 use commends the pleasure.
Live, and live blest ; thrice happy Paire ; Let Breath,

But lost to one, be th' others death.
And as there is one Love, one Faith, one Troth,

Be so one Death, one Grave to both.2
Till when, in such assurance live, ye may

Nor feare, or wish your dying day.

Divination by a Daffadill.
HEN a Daffadill I see,

Hanging down his head t'wards me ;
Guesse I may, what I must be :
First, I shall decline my head ;
Secondly, I shall be dead ;
Lastly, safely buryed.

1 = unfrequent.

2 " We two will die the self-same day." Tennyson.

HESPERIDES. 65

To the Painter, to draw him a Picture.
/^OME, skilfull Lup<P, now, and take

Thy Bice,4 thy Vmber? Pink, and Lake;*
And let it be thy Pensils strife,
To paint a Bridgeman 7 to the life :
Draw him as like too, as you can,
An old, poore, lying, flatt'ring man :
His cheeks be-pimpled, red and blue ;
His nose and lips of mulbrie hiew.
Then for an easie fansie j place
A Burling 8 iron for his face :
Next, make his cheeks with breath to swell,
And for to speak, if possible :
But do not so ; for feare, lest he
Sho'd by his breathing, poyson thee.

3 Martial ? 4 A painting colour, either green or blue. Bailey s. v.
5 A dark and yellowish colour, so called from umbra, a shadow.
c A darker colour and not so rich as carmine — further removed
from vermilion than carmine.

7 Query — a real name of some (now forgotten) parishioner? It is
a Devonshire name, usually misprinted here ' bridgeman.'

8 = pincers or nippers.

66 HESPERIDES.

Upon Cuffe. Epig.
C* UFFE comes to church much ; but he keeps

his bed

Those Sundayes onely, whenas Briefs 9 are read.
This makes Cuffe dull ; and troubles him the most,
Because he cannot sleep i'th' Church, free-cost.

Upon Fone a School-master. Epig.
"p ONE sayes, those mighty whiskers he do's weare

Are twigs of Birch, and willow, growing there :
If so, we'll think too (when he do's condemne
Boyes to the lash) that he do's whip with them.

A Lyrick to Mirth.
Vy HILE the milder Fates consent,

Let's enjoy our merryment :
Drink, and dance, and pipe, and play ;
Kisse our Dollies 1 night and day :
Crown'd with clusters of the Vine ;
Let us sit, and quaffe our wine.

9 = letters -patent or licence for a collection for some charitable
object.

1 = sweet-hearts : deteriorated to prostitutes provincially, albeit a
' dolly-mop ' is still distinct from the open prostitute. Burns uses it
in his " Jolly Beggars," under the form of ' doxy,'

" His doxy lay within his arm" (1. 18).

HESPER1DES. 67

Call on Bacchus ; chaunt his praise ;
Shake the T/tyrse, and bite the Bayes :
Rouze Anacreon from the dead ;
And return him drunk to bed :
Sing o're Horace ; for ere long
Death will come and mar the song :
Then shall Wilson 2 and Gotiere*
Never sing, or play more here.

To the Earle of Westmerland*
AX7HEN my date's done, and my gray age

must die ;

Nurse up, great Lord, this my posterity :
Weak though it be ; long may it grow, and stand,
Shor'd 5 up by you, (Brave Earle of Westmerland.)

3 A celebrated composer and musician. See Memorial-Introduction.

3 In the errata this is corrected from ' Goteire » to Gotiere ' : query
— guitar? (See Glossarial Index, s. v.) Certainly no composer of
the name is known, albeit spelling his name Goutire, Dr. Nott de
scribes him as " a celebrated musical composer and lutanist, much
in favour with Charles the First." Probably in its variants it is the
French form of Walter. A friend informs me ' Cutierrer ' is a com
mon Spanish name.

4 This was Mildmay Fane, second Earl of Westmoreland. He
succeeded to the title on the death of his father, on 23rd March,
1628-9 > was twice married : died I2th Feb., 1665-6, and was buried
at Apthorpe co., Northampton. He was a Poet — as noticed onward.

' = propped.

68 HESPERDIES.

Against Love.
V\7"HEN ere my heart, Love's warmth, but enter-

taines,

O Frost ! O Snow ! O Haile ! forbid the Banes.6
One drop now deads a spark ; but if the same
Once gets a force, Floods cannot quench the flame
Rather then love, let me be ever lost ; [than

Or let me 'gender with eternall frost.

Upon Julia's Riband.

AS shews the Aire, when with a Rain-bow grac'd ;
So smiles that Riband 'bout my Julia's waste : 7

Or like Nay 'tis that Zonulet* of love,

Wherein all pleasures of the world are wove.

The frozen Zone : or, Julia disdainfull.
^HITHER? Say, whither shall I fly,

To slack these flames wherein I frie ? 9
To the Treasures, shall I goe,
Of the Raine, Frost, Haile, and Snow ?

6 =bans.

7 = waist. See Glossarial Index s. v. 8 Diminutive of zone.
9 Often used as Herrick does by Crashaw : deteriorated since.

HESPERIDES. 69

Shall I search the under-ground,

Where all Damps and Mists are found ?

Shall I seek (for speedy ease)

All the floods, and frozen seas ?

Or descend into the deep,

Where eternall cold does keep ?

These may coole ; but there's a Zone

Colder yet then any one :

That's my Julia *s breast : where dwels

Such destructive Ysicles ;
As that the Congelation will
Me sooner starve, then those can kill.

An Epitaph upon a sober Matron.
AlflTH blamelesse carriage, I livM here,

To' th' (almost) sev'n and fortieth yeare.
Stout sons I had, and those twice three ;
One onely daughter lent to me :
The which was made a happy Bride,
But thrice three Moones before she dy'd.
My modest wedlock, that was known
Contented with the bed of one.

yo HESPERIDES.

To the Patron of Poets, M. End : Porter.1
T ET there be Patrons ; Patrons like to thee,

Brave Porter ! Poets ne'r will wanting be :
Fabius, and Cotta, Lentulus, all live
In thee, thou Man of Men ! who here do'st give
Not onely subject-matter for our wit,
But likewise Oyle of Maintenance to it :
For which, before thy Threshold, we'll lay downe
Our Thyrse, for Scepter ; and our Baies for Crown.
For to say truth, all Garlands are thy due ;
The Laurell, Mirtle, Oke, and Ivie too.

The sadnesse of things for Sapho's sicknesse.
T ILLIES will languish ; Violets look ill ;

' Sickly the Prim-rose ; Pale the Daffadill :
That gallant Tulip will hang down his head,
Like to a Virgin newly ravished.
Pansies will weep ; and Marygolds will wither ;
And keep a Fast, and Funerall together,
If Sapho droop ; Daisies will open never,
But bid Good-night, and close their lids for ever.

1 One of the Wits of the period, but more famous for the many
verse and prose tributes paid him by contemporaries. He seems to
have been a kind of more prudent Benlowes, though not like him, a
poet. See Memorial-Introduction.

H ESP BRIDES. 71

Leanders Obsequies.

~V\T HEN as Leander young was drown 'd,
No heart by love receiv'd a wound ;
But on a Rock himselfe sate by,
There weeping sup'rabundantly.
Sighs numberlesse he cast about,
And all his Tapers thus put out :
His head upon his hand he laid ;
And sobbing deeply, thus he said,
Ah, cruell Sea ! and looking on't,
Wept as he'd drowne the Hellespont.
And sure his tongue had more exprest,
But that his teares forbad the rest.

Hope heartens.

VT ONE goes to warfare, but with this intent ;
The gaines must dead the feare of detriment.

Foure things make us happy here.
LJ EALTH is the first good lent to men ;

A gentle disposition then :
Next, to be rich by no by-wayes ;
Lastly, with friends t'enjoy our dayes.2

2 From a Greek Scolion, doubtfully ascribed to Simonides : cf.
Fragments, &c.

F

72 HESPERIDES.

His parting from Mrs. Dorothy Keneday.3
EN I did goe from thee, I felt that smart,
Which Bodies do, when Souls from them depart.
Thou did'st not mind it ; though thou then might'st see
Me turn'd to tears ; yet did'st not weep for me.
Tis true, I kist thee ; but I co'd not heare
Thee spend a sigh, t'accompany my teare.
Me thought 'twas strange, that thou so hard sho'dst

prove,

Whose heart, whose hand, whose ev'ry part spake love.
Prethee (lest Maids sho'd censure thee) but say
Thou shed'st one teare, whenas I went away ;
And that will please me somewhat : though I know,
And Love will swear't, my Dearest did not so.

The Teare sent to her from Stanes.4
i. /^LIDE, gentle streams, and beare
Along with you my teare
To that coy Girle ;
Who smiles, yet slayes
Me with delayes ;
And strings my tears as Pearle.

3 See Memorial-Introduction on this friend.

4 See Memorial-Introduction : = Stains, the royal residence.

HESPERIDES.

2. See ! see, she's yonder set,
Making a Carkanet

Of Maiden-flowers !
There, there present
This Orient,
And Pendant Pearle of ours.

3. Then say, I've sent one more
Jem to enrich her store ;

And that is all
Which I can send,
Or vainly spend,
For tears no more will fall.

4. Nor will I seek supply

Of them, the spring's once drie ;
But He devise,
(Among the rest)
A way that's best

How I may save mine eyes.

5. Yet say ; sho'd she condemne
Me to surrender them ;

Then say ; my part
Must be to weep
Out them, to keep
A poore, yet loving heart.

74 HESPERIDES.

6. Say too, She wo'd have this ;
She shall : Then my hope is,

That when I'm poore,

And nothing have

To send, or save ;
I'm sure she'll ask no more.

Upon one Lillie, who marryed with a maid

calVd Rose.

AA/'HAT times of sweetnesse this faire day fore
shows,

Whenas the Lilly marries with the Rose !
What next is lookt for ? but we all sho'd see
To spring from these a sweet Posterity.

An Epitaph upon a child.
y IB-GINS promis'd when I dy'd,

That they wo'd each Primrose-tide,
Duely, Morne and Ev'ning, come,
And with flowers dresse my Tomb.
Having promis'd, pay your debts,
Maids, and here strew Violets.

HESPERIDES. 75

Upon Scobble. Epig.
C COBBLE 5 for Whoredome whips his wife ; and

cryes,

He'll slit her nose ; But blubb'ring, she replyes,
Good Sir, make no more cuts i'th' outward skin,
One slit's enough to let Adultry in.

The Houre-glasse.
"T*HAT Houre-glasse, which there ye see

With Water fill'd, (Sirs, credit me)
The humour was, (as I have read)
But Lovers tears inchristalled.
Which, as they drop by drop doe passe
From th' upper to the under-glasse,
Do in a trickling manner tell,
(By many a watrie syllable)
That Lovers tears in life-time shed,
Do restless run when they are dead.

5 This is a Devonshire name — Scobell. In the Dean Priory Reg
ister we read : Jeffery Scobble th' elder buried the fifth day of Feb
ruary, 1654: he had a son named Ellis baptized in 1632. See
Memorial-Introduction on Devonshire names introduced by Herrick
in his Epigrams.

76 HESPERIDES.

His Fare-well to Sack.
T^AREWELL thou Thing, time-past so knowne, so

deare

To me, as blood to life and spirit : Neare,
Nay, thou more neare then kindred, friend, man, wife,
Male to the female, soule to body : Life [than

To quick [our] action,6 or the warme soft side
Of the resigning, yet resisting Bride.
The kisse of Virgins ; First-fruits of the bed ;
Soft speech, smooth touch, the lips, the Maiden-head :
These, and a thousand sweets, co'd never be
So neare, or deare, as thou w^st^xnce_to, me.
O thou the drink of Gods, and Angels ! Wine
That scatter'st Spirit and Lust ; whose purest shine,
More radiant then the Summers Sun-beams shows ;
Each way illustrious, brave ; and like to those
Comets we see by night ; whose shagg'd 7 portents
Fore-tell the comming of some dire events :
Or some full flame, which with a pride aspires,
Throwing about his wild, and active fires.

fi The meaning is that sack is to the male life to quick, i. e. make
lively his action — to the bride it is life to make quick or give life to
' her soft side.' Hence a distinctive pronoun is required, and I ven
ture to fill in ' our.' These early Poets allowed themselves licence of
speech on things about which silence had been golden.

'7 = shaggy, hairy-

HESPERIDES. 77

Tis thou, 'bove 8 Nectar, O Divinest soule !

(Eternall in thy self) that canst controule

That, which subverts whole nature, grief and care ;

Vexation of the mind, and damn'd Despaire.

Tis thou, alone, who with thy Mistick Fan,9

Work'st more then Wisdome, Art, or Nature can, [than

To rouze the sacred madnesse ; and awake

The frost-bound-blood, and spirits ; and to make

Them frantick with thy raptures, flashing through

The soule, like lightning, and as active too.

Tis not Apollo can, or those thrice three

Castalian sisters, sing, if wanting thee.

Horace, Anacreon both had lost their fame,

Hadst thou not fill'd them with thy fire and flame,

Ptuzbean splendour ! and thou Thespian spring !

Of which, sweet Swans must drink, before they sing

Their true-pac'd Numbers, and their Holy-Layes,

Which makes them worthy Cedar? and the bayes.

But why ? why longer doe I gaze upon

Thee with the eye of admiration ?

8 I print 'bove for ' above.'

9 =the mystica vannus lacchi of the ist Georgic.

1 Used for caskets ; or the oil used to preserve MSS. See Glossarial
Index.

78 HESPERIDES.

Since I must leave thee ; and enforc'd, must say

To all thy witching beauties, Goe, Away.

But if thy whimpring looks doe ask me why ?

Then know, that Nature bids thee goe, not I.

'Tis her erroneous self has made a braine

Uncapable of such a Soveraigne,

As is thy powerfull selfe. Prethee not smile ;

Or smile more inly ; lest thy looks beguile

My vowes denounc'd in zeale, which thus much show

thee,

That I have sworn, but by thy looks to know thee.
Let others drink thee freely ; and desire
Thee and their lips espous'd ; while I admire,
And love thee ; but not taste thee. Let my Muse
Faile of thy former helps \ and onely use
Her inadult'rate strength : what's done by me
Hereafter, shall smell of the Lamp,2 not thee.

Upon Glasco. Epig.

C* LA SCO had none, but now some teeth has got ;
Which though they furre,3 will neither ake. or
rot.

2 The classical common-place.

3 =grow foul. Cf. Martiall frequenter.

HESPERIDES. 79

Six teeth he has, whereof twice two are known
Made of a Haft, that was a Mutton-bone.
Which not for use, but meerly for the sight,
He weares all day, and drawes those teeth at night.

Upon Mrs. Eliz : Wheeler, under the name

of Amarillis.4
C WEET Amarillis, by a Spring's

Soft and soule-melting murmurings,
Slept ; and thus sleeping, thither flew
A Robin-red-brest ; who at view,
Not seeing her at all to stir,
Brought leaves and mosse to cover her :
But while he, perking,5 there did prie
About the Arch of either eye ;
The lid began to let out day ;
At which poore Robin flew away :
And seeing her not dead, but all disleav'd ;
He chirpt for joy, to see himself disceav'd.

4 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. N. See Memorial-
Introduction and onward. * =to hold, or toss up the head, pertly.

8o HESPERIDES.

The Custard.

17 OR second course, last night, a Custard came

To th'board, so hot, as none co'd touch the same :
Furze, three or foure times with his cheeks did blow
Upon the Custard, and thus cooled so ;
It seem'd by this time to admit the touch :
But none co'd eate it, 'cause it stunk so much.

To Myrrha hard-hearted.
pOLD now thine armes; and hang the head,

Like to a Lillie withered :
Next, look thou like a sickly Moone ;
Or like Jocasta in a swoone.6
Then weep, and sigh, and softly goe,
Like to a widdow drown'd in woe :
Or like a Virgin full of ruth,
For the lost sweet-heart of her youth :
And all because, Faire Maid, thou art
Insensible of all my smart ;
And of those evill dayes that be
Now posting on to punish thee.
The Gods are easie, and condemne
All such as are not soft like them.

0 Probably some (forgotten) Play is referred to.

HESPERIDES. 81

The Eye.
]Y/T AKE me a heaven ; and make me there

Many a lesse and greater spheare.
Make me the straight, and oblique lines ;
The Motions, Lations,7 and the Signes.
Make me a Chariot, and a Sun ;
And let them through a Zodiac run :
Next, place me Zones, and Tropicks there ;
With all the Seasons of the Yeare.
Make me a Sun-set ; and a Night :
And then present the Mornings-light
Cloath'd in her Chainlets8 of Delight.
To these, make Clouds to poure downe raine ;
With weather foule, then faire againe.
And when, wise Artist, that thou hast,
With all that can be, this heaven grac't ;
Ah ! what is then this curious skie,
But onely my Corinncts eye ?

Upon the much lamented, Mr. J. Warr.9

Wisdome, Learning, Wit, or Worth,
Youth, or sweet Nature, co'd bring forth,

7 In full — translations, or local motions.

8 = camlet : originally made of camel's hair and silk : camelot.

9 Not known.

82 HESPERWES.

Rests here with him ; who was the Fame,
The Volumne of himselfe, and Name.
If, Reader, then thou wilt draw neere,
And doe an honour to thy teare ;
Weep then for him, for whom laments
Not one, but many Monuments.

Upon Gryll.
C^RYLL eates, but ne're sayes Grace; To speak the

troth,

Gryll either keeps his breath to coole his broth ;
Or else because Grill's roste do's burn his Spit,
Gryll will not therefore say a Grace for it

The suspition upon his over-much familiarity
with a Gentlewoman.

AND must we part, because some say,

Loud is our love, and loose our play,
And more then well becomes the day ? [than

Alas for pitty ! and for us
Most innocent, and injur'd thus
Had we kept close, or play'd within,
Suspition now had been the sinne,
And shame had follow'd long ere this,
T'ave plagu'd, what now unpunisht is.
But we as fearlesse of the Sunne,
As faultlesse ; will not wish undone,

HESPER1DES. 83

What now is done : since where no sin

Unbolts the doore, no shame comes in.

Then, comely and most fragrant Maid,

Be you more warie, then afraid [than

Of these Reports ; because you see

The fairest most suspected be.

The common formes have no one eye,

Or eare of burning jealousie

To follow them : but chiefly, where

Love makes the cheek, and chin a sphere

To dance and play in : (Trust me) there

Suspicion questions every haire.

Come, you are faire ; and sho'd be seen

While you are in your sprightfull green :

And what though you had been embrac't

By me, — were you for that unchast ?

No, no, no more then is yond' Moone,

Which shining in her perfect Noone ;

In all that great and glorious light,

Continues cold, as is the night.

Then, beauteous Maid, you may retire ;

And as for me, my chast desire

Shall move t'wards you ; although I see

Your face no more : So live you free

From Fames black lips, as you from me.

84 HESPERIDES.

Single life most secure.
CUSPICION, Discontent, and Strife,
Come in for Dowrie with a Wife.

The Curse. A Song.
C* OE, perjur'd man ; and if thou ere return

To see the small remainders in mine Urne :
When thou shalt laugh at my Religious dust ;
And ask, Where's now the colour, forme and trust
Of Womans beauty ? and with hand more rude
Rifle the Flowers which the Virgins strew'd :
Know, I have pra/d to Furie, that some wind
May blow my ashes up, and strike thee blind.

The wounded Cupid. Song.1
C* UPID as he lay among

Hoses, by a Bee was stung.
Whereupon in anger flying
To his Mother, said thus crying ;
Help ! O help ! your Boy's a dying.
And why, my pretty Lad, said she ?
Then blubbering, replyed he,

1 Imitation of Anacreon : Od. 40.

HESPERIDES. 85

A winged Snake has bitten me,

Which Country people call a Bee.

At which she smil'd ; then with her hairs

And kisses drying up his tears :

Alas ! said she, my Wag ! if this

Such a pernicious torment is :

Come tel me then, how great's the smart

Of those, thou woundest with thy Dart !

To Dewes. A Song.
T BURN, I burn ; and beg of you

To quench, or coole me with your Dew.
I frie 2 in fire, and so consume,
Although the Bile be all perfume.
Alas ! the heat and death's the same ;
Whether by choice, or common flame :
To be in Oyle of Roses drown'd,
Or water ; where's the comfort found ?
Both bring one death ; and I die here,
Unlesse you coole me with a Teare :
Alas ! I call ; but ah ! I see
Ye coole, and comfort all, but me.

See Glossarial Index s. v.

86 HESPERIDES.

Some comfort in calamity.
'T'O conquer'd men, some comfort 'tis to fall
By th'hand of him who is the Generall.

The Vision.
CITTING alone (as one forsook)

Close by a Silver-shedding Brook ;
With hands held up to Love, I wept ;
And after sorrowes spent, I slept :
Then in a Vision I did see
A glorious forme appeare to me :
A Virgins face she had ; her dresse
Was like a sprightly Spartanesse.
A silver bow with green silk strung,
Down from her comely shoulders hung :
And as she stood, the wanton Aire
Dangled the ringlets of her haire.
Her legs were such Diana shows,
When tuckt up 3 she a-hunting goes ;
With Buskins shortned to descrie
The happy dawning of her thigh :
Which when I saw, I made accesse
To kisse that tempting nakednesse :

-1 Cf. Hymn to Ceres (erroneously) ascribed to Homer, 176, and
Catullus Nupt. Pel. et Thet., 128.

HESPERIDES. 87

But she forbad me, with a wand
Of Mirtle she had in her hand :
And chiding me, said, Hence, Remove,
Herricky thou art too coorse to love.

Lorn me little, love me long.
say, to me-wards your affection's strong ;
Pray love me little, so you love me long.
Slowly goes farre : the meane is best : Desire
Grown violent, do's either die, or tire.

Upon a Virgin kissing a Rose,
"pWAS but a single Rose,

Till you on it did breathe ;
But since (me thinks) it shows
Not so much Rose, as Wreathe.

Upon a Wife that dyed mad *with Jealousie.
JN this little Vault she lyes,

Here, with all her jealousies :
Quiet yet ; but if ye make
Any noise, they both will wake,
And such spirits raise, 'twill then
Trouble Death to lay agen.

G

88 HESPERWES.

Upon the Bishop of Lincolne's Imprisonment.^
"M" EVER was Day so over-sick with showres,
But that it had some intermitting houres.
Never was night so tedious, but it knew
The Last Watch out, and saw the Dawning too.
Never was Dungeon so obscurely deep,
Wherein or Light, or Day, did never peep.
Never did Moone so ebbe, or seas so wane,
But they left Hope-seed to fill up againe.
So you, my Lord, though you have now your stay,
Your Night, your Prison, and your Ebbe ; you may
Spring up afresh ; when all these mists are spent,
And Star-like, once more, guild 5 our Firmament.
Let but That Mighty Cesar speak, and then,
All bolts, all barres, all gates shall cleave j as when
That Earth-quake shook the house, and gave the stout
Apostles, way (unshackled) to goe out.6
This, as I wish for, so I hope to see ;
Though you (my Lord) have been unkind to me : 7

1 This ' imprisoned ' Bishop was the Statesman-Bishop Williams.
He was elected Bishop of Lincoln 3rd Aug., 1621, and consecrated
i ith Nov : translated to York in 1641.

5 =gild. ° Acts of the Apostles, c. xvi.

2 See Memorial-Introduction.

HESPERIDES. 89

To wound my heart, and never to apply,
(When you had power) the meanest remedy :
Well ; though my griefe by you was galPd,8 the more ;
Yet I bring Balme and Oile to heal your sore.

Disswasions from Idlenesse.
p YNTHIUS pluck ye by the eare,

That ye may good doctrine heare.
Play not with the maiden-haire ; 9
For each Ringlet there's a snare.
Cheek, and eye, and lip, and chin ;
These are traps to take fooles in.
Armes, and hands, and all parts else,
Are but Toiles, or Manicles
Set on purpose to enthrall
Men, but Slothfulls most of all.
Live employ'd, and so live free
From these fetters ; like to me
Who have found, and still can prove,
The lazie man the most doth love.1

8 *» to fret or rub. 9 See Glossarial Index s. v.

1 Thus the great master of Love's art : Cedit amor rebus ; res age,
tutus eris. Ovid. Remed. Amor. v. 1 5 1 . N.

90 HESPERIDES.

Upon Strut.
CTRUT, once a Fore-man of a Shop we knew ;

But turn'd a Ladies Usher now, ('tis true :)
Tell me, has Strut got ere a title more ?
No ; he's but Fore-man, as he was before.

An Epithalamie to Sir Thomas Southwell
and his Ladie?

i.
"M" OW, now's the time ; so oft by truth

Promis'd sho'd come to crown your youth.

Then Faire ones, doe not wrong

Your joyes, by staying long :

Or let Love's fire goe out,

By lingring thus in doubt :

But learn, that Time once lost,

Is ne'r redeem'd by cost.
Then away ; come, Hymen guide
To the bed, the bashfull Bride.

2 There appears to have been two Sir Thomas Southwells : one
settled in Ireland, and too early for this ' Epithalamie,' The other
was knighted 2ist July, 1615, and died in 1642. His relict, Mary,
administered to his estate i6th December, 1642, when he was de
scribed as of Angleton, in Sussex ( = Hangleton, near Brighton).
She died almost immediately after, as on 3oth January following,

HESPERIDES. 91

II.

Is it (sweet maid) your fault, these holy
Bridall-Rites goe on so slowly ?

Deare, is it this you dread,

The losse of Maiden-head ?

Beleeve me ; you will most

Esteeme it when 'tis lost :

Then it no longer keep,

Lest Issue lye asleep.
Then away ; come, Hymen guide
To the bed, the bashfull Bride.

m.

These Precious-Pearly-Purling 3 teares,
But spring from ceremonious feares.

And 'tis but Native shame,

That hides the loving flame :

And may a while controule

The soft and am'rous soule ;

But yet, Loves fire will wast

Such bashfulnesse at last.
Then away ; come, Hymen guide
To the bed, the bashfull Bride.

Sir Matthew Menes, K. B., administered to his estate, the relict Mary
being dead. This ' Epithalamie ' must have been written early.
3 See Glossarial Index s. v.

92 HESPERIDES.

IV.

Night now hath watch'd her self half blind ;
Yet not a Maiden-head resign'd !

Tis strange, ye will not flie

To Love's sweet mysterie.

Might yon Full-Moon the sweets

Have, promis'd to your sheets ;

She soon wo'd leave her spheare,

To be admitted there.
Then away ; come, Hymen guide
To the bed, the bashfull Bride.

v.

On, on devoutly, make no stay ;
While Domiduca 4 leads the way :

And Genius who attends

The bed for luckie ends : 5

Withfuno goes the houres,

And Graces strewing flowers.

And the boyes with sweet tune sing,

Hymen, O Hymen bring

4 A coined word, I presume, for the paranympha pronuba, or bride-
maid attending the bride. N. Dr. Nott is mistaken: it is one of the
eight nymphal names of Juno. Cf. Ben Jonson's Masque of Hymen,
and his notes thereon.

5 = the power that begets, the lingam deity.

HESPERfDES. 93

Home the Turtles ; Hymen guide
To the bed, the bashfull Bride.

VI.

Behold ! how Hymens Taper-light
Shews you how much is spent of night.

See, see the Bride-grooms Torch

Halfe wasted in the porch.

And now those Tapers five,

That shew the womb shall thrive :

Their silv'rie flames advance,

To tell all prosp'rous chance
Still shall crown the happy life
Of the good man and the wife.6

VII.

Move forward then your Rosie feet,

And make, what ere they touch, turn sweet7

6 Borne by the Quinque Cerei in Roman marriages, and supposed
by some to represent the highest number of births at one time.
Throughout Herrick combines classical customs with English, even,
when speaking of home festivities and evening merriments and
drinking.

7 " The meadows your walks have left so sweet," — Tennyson: and
again, "Her feet have touched the meadows and left the daisies
rosy " (Maud). Earlier in Herrick's great friend :

" Where she went the flowers took thickest root,
As she had sow'd them with her odorous foot."
(Sad Shepherd i. i).

94 HESPERIDES.

May all, like flowrie Meads
Smell, where your soft foot treads ;
And every thing assume
To it, the like perfume :
As Zephirus when he 'spires
Through Woodbine^ and Sweet-dryers*

Then away ; come Hymen, guide

To the bed, the bashfull Bride.

VIII-

And now the yellow Vaile,8 at last,
Over her fragrant cheek is cast.

Now seems she to expresse

A bashfull willingnesse :9

Shewing a heart consenting ;

As with a will repenting.

Then gently lead her on

With wise suspicion :
For that, Matrons say, a measure
Of that Passion sweetens Pleasure.

8 Saffron, the colour appropriated to> marriage, and in which
Hymen is always supposed to be dressed.

9 Tardet ingenuus pudor : Catullus. Epithal. Julie et Manlii.

Transfer oraine cum bono

Limen aureolos pedes. Idem. N.

HESPERIDES. 95

IX.

You, you that be of her neerest kin,
Now o're the threshold force her in.1
But to avert the worst ;
Let her, her fillets first
Knit to the posts2: this point
Remembring, to anoint
The sides : for 'tis a charme
Strong against future harme :
And the evil deads, the which
There was hidden by the Witch.

x.

O Venus ! thou, to whom is known
The best way how to loose the Zone
Of Virgins ! Tell the Maid,
She need not be afraid :
And bid the Youth apply
Close kisses, if she cry :
And charge, he not forbears
Her, though she wooe with teares.

1 The wife in Roman marriages was lifted over the threshold, for
which various differing reasons were alleged.

3 A custom in Roman marriages, as is the anointing with its
supposed averting power.

96 HESPERIDES.

Tel them, now they must adventer,
Since that Love and Night bid enter.

XI.

No Fatal Owle the Bedsted keeps,
With direful notes to fright your sleeps :

No Furies, here about,

To put the Tapers out,

Watch, or did make the bed :

Tis Omen full of dread :

But all faire signs appeare

Within the Chamber here.
Juno here, far off, doth stand
Cooling sleep with charming wand.

XII.

Virgins, weep not ; 'twill come, when,
As she, so you'l be ripe for men.

Then grieve her not, with saying

She must no more a Maying :

Or by Rose-buds devine,

Who'l be her Valentine.3

Nor name those wanton reaks4

Y'ave had at Early-breaks.

3 St. Valentine's day, Feb. I4th — the name drawn by lot thereon.
See Glossarial Index s. v. 4 = pranks.

HESPERIDES. 97

But now kisse her, and thus say,
Take time Lady while ye may.

XIII.

Now barre the doors, the Bride-groom puts
The eager Boyes to gather Nuts.5

And now, both Love and Time

To their full height doe clime :

O ! give them active heat

And moisture, both compleat :

Fit Organs for encrease,

To keep, and to release
That, which may the honour'd Stem
Circle with a Diadem.6

XIV.

And now, Behold ! the Bed or Couch

That ne'r knew Brides, or Bride-grooms touch,

Feels in it selfe a fire ;

And tickled with Desire,

6 The ceremony of throwing nuts at a wedding, which boys
scrambled for, was of Athenian origin. Besides Catullus, Virgil
and many other classic writers mention the custom ; hence nucibus
relictis became proverbial, for the renouncing of childhood. See
Persius, Sat. i., ver. 10. N. On line preceding : Claudite ostia vir-
gines : Catullus, as before.

* Proverbs xvii. 6.

98 HESPERIDES.

Pants with a Downie brest,

As with a heart possest :

Shrugging as it did move,

Ev'n with the soule of love.
And (oh !) had it but a tongue,
Doves, 'two'd say, yee bill too long.

xv.

O enter then ! but see ye shun
A sleep, untill the act be done.

Let kisses, in their close,

Breathe as the Damask Rose :

Or sweet, as is that gumme

Doth from Panchaia 7 come.

Teach Nature now to know,

Lips can make Cherries grow
Sooner, then she, ever yet,
In her wisdome co'd beget.

XVI.

On your minutes, hours, dayes, months, years,
Drop the fat blessing of the sphears.

That good, which HeaVn can give

To make you bravely live ;

7 See Glossarial Index s. v.

HESPERIDES. 99

Fall, like a spangling dew,8
By day, and night on you.
May Fortunes Lilly-hand
Open at your command ;
With all luckie Birds to side
With the Bride-groom, and the Bride.

XVII.

Let bounteous Fate your spindles full
Fill, and winde up with whitest wooll.9
Let them not cut the thred
Of life, untill ye bid.
May Death yet come at last ;
And not with desp'rate hast :
But when ye both can say,
Come, Let us now away.
Be ye to the Barn then born,
Two, like two ripe shocks of corn.

3 Cf. " The benediction of these covering heavens
Fall on your heads like dew,"

(Cymb., v. 5, 11. 350-1 : cf. Henry VIII., iv. 2, 1. 133.
' Cf. Ben Jonson's Hue and Cry after Cupid : —
[James coming]

" That was reserved until the Parcae spun
Their whitest wool ; and then his thread begun."

ioo HESPERIDES.

Teares are Tongues.
V\7HEN Julia chid, I stood as mute the while,

As is the fish, or tonguelesse Crocodile.1
Aire coyn'd to words, my Julia co'd not heare ;
But she co'd see each eye to stamp 2 a teare :
By which, mine angry Mistresse might descry,
Teares are the noble language of the eye.
And when true love of words is destitute,
The Eyes by tears speak, while the Tongue is mute.3

[Epitaph] Upon a young mother of many children.
T ET all chaste Matrons, when they chance to see

My num'rous issue : Praise, and pitty me.
Praise me, for having such a fruitfull wombe :
Pity me too, who found so soone a Tomb.

To Electra.
T LE come to thee in all those shapes

As Jove did, when he made his rapes :
Onely, He not appeare to thee,
As he did once to Semele.

1 Long a vulgar error.

2 = Coin — there being a parallelism with former line.

3 Cf. Sidney ' dumb eloquence,' and Daniel ' silent rhetoric ' in
Memorial-Introduction.

HESPERIDES 101

Thunder and Lightning He lay by,
To talk with thee familiarly.
Which done, then quickly we'll undresse
To one and th'others nakednesse.
And ravisht, plunge into the bed,
(Bodies and souls commingled)
And kissing, so as none may heare,
We'll weary 4 all the Fables 5 there.

His wish.
T T is sufficient if we pray

To Jove, who gives, and takes away :
Let him the Land and Living finde ;
Let me alone to fit the mind.

His Protestation to Perilla.
"\TOONE-DAY and Midnight shall at once be

scene :

Trees, at one time, shall be both sere and greene :
Fire and water shall together lye
In one-self-sweet-conspiring sympathie :
Summer and Winter shall at one time show
Ripe eares of corne, and up to th'eares in snow :

4 =wear out or exhaust. 6 i. e. told of Jove's amours.

102 HESPERIDES.

Seas shall be sandlesse ; Fields devoid of grasse ;
Shapelesse the world (as when all Chaos was)
Before, my deare Perilla, I will be
False to my vow, or fall away from thee.

Love perfumes all parts.
T F I kisse Anthea's brest,

There I smell the Phenix nest :
If her lip, the most sincere 6
Altar of Incense, I smell there.
Hands, and thighs, and legs, are all
Richly Aromaticall.
Goddesse Isis cann't transfer
Musks and Ambers more from her : 7
Nor ca&Juno sweeter be,
When she lyes with Jove, then she.

To Julia.
pERMIT me, Julia, now to goe away ;

Or by thy love, decree me here to stay.
If thou wilt say, that I shall live with thee :
Here shall my endless Tabernacle be :
If not, ( as banisht ) I will live alone
There, where no language ever yet was known.

8 = pure. 7 See Glossarial Index s. v.

HESPERIDES. 103

On himselfe.
T OVE-SICK I am, and must endure

A desp'rate grief, that finds no cure.
Ah me ! I try ; and trying, prove,
No Herbs have power to cure Love.
Only one Soveraign salve, I know,
And that is Death, the end of Woe.

Vertue is sensible of suffering.
HP HOUGH a wise man all pressures can sustaine ;

His vertue still is sensible of paine :
Large shoulders though he has, and well can beare,
He feeles when Packs 8 do pinch him ; and the where.

The cruell Maid.
^ND,9 Cruell Maid, because I see

You scornfull of my love, and me :
He trouble you no more ; but goe
My way, where you shall never know
What is become of me : there I
Will find me out a path to die ;
Or learne some way how to forget
You, and your name, for ever

* = loads. 9 Unusual to begin with 'And.' In our own gene
ration Dibdin starts off with " And have you not heard of a jolly
young waterman," &c. See Glossarial Index s. v.
H

104 HESPERIDES.

Ere I go hence ; know this from me,
What will, in time, your Fortune be :
This to your coynesse I will tell ;
And having spoke it once, Farewell.
The Lillie will not long endure ;
Nor the Snow continue pure :
The Rose, the Violet, one day
See, both these Lady-flowers decay :
And you must fade, as well as they.
And it may chance that Love may turn,
And (like to mine) make your heart bum
And weep to see*t , yet this thing doe,
That my last Vow commends to you :
When you shall see that I am dead,
For pitty let a teare be shed ;
And (with your Mantle o're me cast)
Give my cold lips a kisse at last :
If twice you kisse, you need not feare,
That I shall stir, or live more here.
Next, hollow out a Tombe to cover
Me ; me, the most despised Lover :
And write thereon, This, Reader, know.
Love kilVd this man.1 No more but so.

1 Huic misero fatum dura puella fuit. Propertius : Eleg. I. Lib.
2, ver. ult. N.

HESPERIDES. 105

To Dianeme.

C WEET, be not proud of those two eyes,
Which Star-like sparkle in their skies :
Nor be you proud, that you can see
All hearts your captives; yours, yet free :
Be you not proud of that rich haire,
Which wantons with the Love-sick aire :
Whenas that Rubie, which you weare,
Sunk from the tip of your soft eare,
Will last to be a precious Stone,
When all your world of Beautie's gone.

TO THE KING,

To cure the Evill.2

'T'O find that Tree of Life, whose Fruits did feed,

And Leaves did heale, all sicke of humane seed :
To finde Bethesda, and an Angel there,
Stirring the waters,3 I am come ; and here,
At last, I find, (after my much to doe)
The Tree, Bethesda, and the Angel too :

3 Scrofula being ' the King's evil ' the reference is to scrofulous
disease of the joints and limbs. See line 8. It is astonishing and
humiliating how long this superstitious belief in the royal touch
lingered. Originally it held a noble tradition. 3 St. John, c. v.

106 HESPERIDES.

And all in Your Blest Hand, which has the powers

Of all those suppling-healing herbs and flowers.

To that soft Charm, that Spell, that Magick Bough,

That high Enchantment I betake me now :

And to that Hand, (the Branch of Heavens faire Tree)

I kneele for help ; O ! lay that hand on me,

Adored Cesar! and my Faith is such,

I shall be heal'd, if that my KING but touch.

The Evill is not Yours : my sorrow sings,

Mine is the Evill, but the Cure, the KINGS.

His misery in a Mistresse.
^yATER, Water I espie :

Come, and coole ye; all who frie4
In your loves ; but none as I.

Though a thousand showres be

Still a falling, yet I see

Not one drop to light on me.

Happy you, who can have seas
For to quench ye, or some ease
From your kinder Mistresses.

I have one, and she alone,

Of a thousand thousand known,

Dead to all compassion.

4 See Glossarial Index s. v.

HESPERIDES. 107

Such an one, as will repeat

Both the cause, and make the heat

More by Provocation great.

Gentle friends, though I despaire
Of my cure, doe you beware
Of those Girles, which cruell are.

Upon Jollies wife.
, Jollies wife is lame ; then next, loose-hipt :

0B

Squint ey'd, hook-nos'd ; and lastly, Kidney-lipt.

To a Gentlewoman objecting to him
his gray haires.

A M I despis'd, because you say,

And I dare sweare, that I am gray ?
Know; Lady, you have but your day :
And time will come when you shall weare
Such frost and snow upon your haire ;
And when ( though long, it comes to passe )
You question with your Looking-glasse ;
And in that sincere5 Christall seek,
But find no Rose-bud in your cheek :
Nor any bed to give the shew
Where such a rare Carnation grew.

fi —truth-telling.

io8 HESPERIDES.

Ah ! then too late, close in your chamber keeping,

It will be told

That you are old ;
By those true teares y'are weeping.

To Cedars.
T F 'mongst my many Poems, I can see

One, onely, worthy to be washt by thee :6
I live for ever ; let the rest all lye
In dennes of Darkness, or condemn'd to die.

Upon Cupid.
T OVE, like a Gypsie, lately came ;

And did me much importune
To see my hand ; that by the same
He might fore-tell my Fortune.

He saw my Palme ; and then, said he,

I tell thee, by this score here ;
That thou, within few months, shalt be

The youthfull Prince D 'Amour here.

r> From Horace

" carmina fingi

Posse linenda cedro. . . ." (Epist. ad Pis. 332: vi. 11. 331-2).

Cf. " A Dirge Bernard Stuart," and Glossarial Index s. v.

But could the Bible-use of ' cedar ' be intended ? See Leviticus xiv.
4 : Num. xix. 6.

HESPERIDES. 109

I smil'd ; and bade him once more prove,7
And by some crosse-line show it ;

That I co'd ne'r be Prince of Love,
Though here the Princely Poet8

How Primroses came green.
"\71RGINS, time-past, known were these,

Troubled with Green-sicknesses,
Turn'd to flowers : Stil the hieu,
Sickly Girles, they beare of you.

To Jos : Lo: Bishop ^ Exeter.9
^Y\fHOM sho'd I feare to write to, if I can
Stand before you, my learn'd Diocesanl
And never shew blood-guiltinesse, or feare
To see my Lines Excathedrated here.
Since none so good are, but you may condemne ;
Or here so bad, but you may pardon them.
If then, (my Lord) to sanctifie my Muse
One onely Poem out of all you'l chuse ;
And mark it for a Rapture nobly writ,
Tis Good Confirm'd ; for you have Bishop't it

7 =try. 8 See Memorial-Introduction.

9 The illustrious and venerable Joseph Hall: born 1574: died
1656. His "Satires" are still quick as well as his "Medita
tions " &c. &c.

no HESPERIDES.

Upon a black Twist, rounding the Arme of
the

T SAW about her spotlesse wrist,

Of blackest silk, a curious twist ;
Which, circumvolving gently, there
EnthralFd her Arme, as Prisoner.
Dark was the Jayle \ but as if light
Had met t'engender with the night j
Or so, as Darknesse made a stay
To shew at once, both night and day.

1 This was most probably Margaret 3rd. d. of Francis Earl of
Bedford and lady of James Hay, the 2nd. of that name Earl of Car
lisle; who succeeded his father James 1636; she being the then
Countess at the time Herrick published his Hesperides. Yet might
the poet have written his Lines on the Lady Lucy, 2nd wife of James,
i st earl of Carlisle, who was celebrated for her wit and beauty,
and at the time Herrick' s book came out must have been about the
age of fifty ; she was d. of Henry Percy, Qth earl of Northumber
land : her character is found drawn up at the head of A Collection
of Letters made by Sir Tobie Mathews, Knight, and dedicated to her
ladyship : it is a curious and now rare little book, printed 1660.
Waller wrote many elegant verses on this " Bright Carlisle of the
court of heaven." N. The latter was all but certainly Herrick's
Countess. Davies of Hereford places her among his " Worthy
Persons."

HESPERIDES. in

One2 fancie more ! but if there be
Such Freedome in Captivity ;
I beg of Love, that ever I
May in like Chains of Darknesse lie.

On himselfe.
T FEARE no Earthly Powers ;

But care for crowns of flowers :
And love to have my Beard
With Wine and Oile besmear'd.
This day He drowne all sorrow ;
Who knowes to live to morrow?3

Upon Pagget.
T>AGGET, a School-boy, got a Sword, and then

He vow'd Destruction both to Birch, and Men :
Who wo'd not think this Yonker4 fierce to fight ?
Yet comming home, but somewhat late, (last night)
Untrusse, his Master bade him ; and that word
Made him take up his shirt, lay down his sword.

2 Misprinted " I " self-evidently an error for " one " which was
probably written as I = one fancy more.

3 So Mickle in the well-known Scottish song :

" The present moment is our ain
The neist we never saw."

4 = Youngster, youth.

ii2 HESPERIDES.

J

A Ring presented to Julia.
ULIA, I bring

To thee this Ring,5
Made for thy finger fit ;
To shew by this,
That our love is
(Or sho'd be) like to it.

Close though it be,

The joynt is free : •
So when Love's yoke is on,

It must not gall,

Or fret at all
With hard oppression.

But it must play

Still either way ;
And be, too, such a yoke,

As not too wide,

To over-slide ;
Or be so strait to choak.

So we, who beare,
This beame, must reare
Our selves to such a height :

5 Probably a geramal ring.

HESPERIDES. 113

As that the stay
Of either may
Create the burden light.

And as this round

Is no where found
To flaw, or else to sever :

So let our love

As endless prove ;
And pure as Gold for ever.

To the Detracter.

AIT HERE others love, and praise my Verses ; still
Thy long-black-Thumb-nail marks 'em out

for ill :

A fellon take it, or some Whit-flaw6 come
For to unslate, or to untile that thumb !
But cry thee Mercy : Exercise thy nailes
To scratch or claw, so that thy tongue not railes :
Some numbers prurient are, and some of these
Are wanton with their itch ; scratch, and 'twill please.

6 = Whit-low : a swelling at end of finger next the nail : vulgarly
whit-flow or flaw.

ii4 HESPERIDES.

Upon the same.
T ASK'T thee oft, what Poets thou hast read,

And lik'st the best ? Still thou reply'st, The dead.
I shall, ere long, with green turfs covered be ;
Then sure thou't like, or thou wilt envie me.

Julia's Petticoat.

'pHY Azure Robe, I did behold,
As ayrie as the leaves of gold :
Which erring7 here, and wandring there,

Pleas'd with transgression ev'ry where :

Sometimes 'two'd pant, and sigh, and heave,

As if to stir it scarce had leave :

But having got it ; thereupon,

' Two'd make a brave expansion.

And pounc't8 with Stars, it shew;d to me

Like a Celestiall Canopie.

Sometimes 'two'd blaze, and then abate,

Like to a flame growne moderate :

Sometimes away 'two'd wildly fling ;

Then to thy thighs so closely cling,

: blowing aside or deviating.

; sprinkled as was dust, before blotting-paper, over writing.

H ESP BRIDES. 115

That some conceit did melt me downe,
As Lovers fall into a swoone :
And all confus'd, I there did lie
Drown'd in Delights ; but co'd not die.
That Leading Cloud, I follow'd still,
Hoping t'ave scene of it my fill ;
But ah ! I co'd not : sho'd it move
To Life Eternal, I co'd love.

To Mustek.
"DEGIN to charme, and as thou stroak'st mine eares

With thy enchantment, melt me into tears.
Then let thy active hand scu'd o're thy Lyre :
And make my spirits frantick with the fire.
That done, sink down into a silv'rie straine ;
And make me smooth as Balme, and Oile againe.

Distrust.
*~TO safe-guard Man from wrongs, there nothing

must

Be truer to him,' then a wise Distrust. \than

And to thy selfe be best this sentence knowne,
Heare all men speak; but credit few or none.

ii6 HESPERIDES.

Corinna's going a Maying?

C* ET up, get up for shame, the Blooming Morne
Upon her wings presents the god unshorne.1
See how Aurora throwes her faire
Fresh-quilted colours2 through the aire :
Get up, sweet Slug-a-bed, and see
The Dew bespangling Herbe and Tree.

Each Flower has wept, and bow'd toward the East,

Above an houre since ; yet you not drest,
Nay ! not so much as out of bed ?
When all the Birds have Mattens seyd,
And sung their thankfull Hymnes : 'tis sin,
Nay, profanation to keep in,

Whenas a thousand Virgins on this day,

Spring, sooner then the Lark, to fetch in May. [than

Rise ; and put on your Foliage, and be scene

To come forth, like the Spring-time, fresh and greene ;

9 See Memorial-Introduction for parallels. Dr. Nott annotates
here : The ceremony of going a Maying, and the May Festivities, were
once of great notoriety : though now almost in disuse, or but faintly
shadowed in the lower orders of people: they were observed by
royalty even. Stowe, quoting Hall, gives an account of Henry VIII's
riding a Maying, with his queen, Catharine, to the high ground on
Shooter's Hill, accompanied by a train of the nobility.

1 = Apollo. 2 Cf. Milton's ' Nativity,' 1. 146, ' tissued clouds.'

HESPER1DES. 117

And sweet as Flora. Take no care

For Jewels for your Gowne, or Haire :

Feare not ; the leaves will strew

Gemms in abundance upon you :
Besides, the childhood of the Day has kept,
Against you come, some Orient Pearls unwept :

Come, and receive them while the light

Hangs on the Dew-locks of the night :

And Titan on the Eastern hill

Retires himselfe, or else stands still
Till you come forth. Wash, dresse, be briefe in

praying :
Few Beads3 are best, when once we goe a Maying.

Come, my Corinna, come ; and comming, marke

How each field turns a street ; each street a Parke
Made green, and trimm'd with trees : see how
Devotion gives each House a Bough,
Or Branch : Each Porch, each doore, ere this,
An Arke a Tabernacle is

Made up of white-thorn neatly enterwove ;

As if here were those cooler shades of love.4

3 = prayers.

4 It is an ancient custom in Devon and Cornwall to deck the
porches of houses with boughs of sycamore and hawthorn on May
day.

n8 HESPERIDES.

Can such delights be in the street,

And open fields, and we not see't ?

Come, we'll abroad ; and let's obay

The Proclamation made for May :
And sin no more, as we have done, by staying ;
But my Corinna, come, let's goe a Maying. *

There's not a budding Boy, or Girle, this day,
But is got up, and gone to bring in May.

A deale of Youth,5 ere this, is come

Back, and with White-thorn laden home.

Some have dispatcht their Cakes and Creame,

Before that we have left to dreame :
And some have wept, and woo'd, and plighted Troth,
And chose their Priest, ere we can cast off sloth :

Manyagreen-gown6 has been given ;

Many a kisse, both odde and even :

Many a glance too has been sent

From out the eye, Love's Firmament :
Many a jest told of the Keyes betraying
This night, and Locks pickt,7 yet w'are not a Maying.

5 See Glossarial Index s. v.

.£. Giving a maid a green gown was, in its purer sense, throwing
her on the grass sportively.

7 The usual rural tricks of sweathearts, with (unhappily) a double
meaning.

HESPERIDES. 119

Come, let us goe, while we are in our prime ;
And take the harmlesse follie of the time.

We shall grow old apace, and die

Before we know our liberty.

Our life is short ; and our dayes run

As fast away as do's the Sunne :
And as a vapour, or a drop of raine
Once lost, can ne'r be found againe :

So when or you or I are made

A fable, song, or fleeting shade ;

All love, all liking, all delight

Lies drown'd with us in endlesse night.8
Then while time serves, and we are but decaying ;
Come, my Corinna, come, let's goe a Maying.

On Julia's breath.
gREATHE, Julia, breathe, and Tie protest,

Nay more, Tie deeply sweare,
That all the Spices of the East
Are circumfused9 there.

8 This concluding stanza is in the same spirit with Catullus's
fifth Carmen. N. 9 = shed round about.

120 HESPERIDES.

Upon a Child. An Epitaph.
"RUT borne, and like a short Delight,

I glided by my Parents sight.
That done, the harder Fates deny'd
My longer stay, and so I dy'd.
If pittying my sad Parents Teares,
You'l spil a tear or two, with theirs :
And with some flowrs my grave bestrew,
Love and they'l thank you for't. Adieu.

A Dialogue betwixt Horace and Lydia,
Translated* Anno 1627, and set

by Mr. Ro : Ramsey.2
Hor. Vy HILE, Lydia, I was lov'd of thee,

Nor any was preferr'd 'fore me
To hug thy whitest neck : Then I, [than

The Persian King liv'd not more happily.

Lyd. While thou no other didst affect,
Nor Cloe was of more respect ;
Then Lydia, far-fam'd Lydia,
I flourish't more then Roman Ilia.

1 Horace : Carm. III. 9.

* The name of this Composer is not found in any of the musical
authorities.

HESP BRIDES. 121

Hor. Now Thracian Cloe governs me,
Skilfull i' th' Harpe, and Melodic :
For whose affection, Lydia, I
(So Fate spares her) am well content to die.

Lyd. My heart now set on fire is

By Ornithes sonne,3 young Calais ;
For whose commutuall flames here I
(To save his life) twice am content to die.

Hor. Say our first loves we sho'd revoke,
And sever'd, joyne in brazen yoke :
Admit I Cloe put away,
And love again love-cast-off Lydia ?

Lyd. Though mine be brighter then the Star ;

Thou lighter then the Cork by far ; [than

Rough as th' Adratick sea, yet I

Will live with thee, or else for thee will die.

The captitfd Bee: or, The Little Filcher.
/V S Julia once a-slumb'ring lay,
It chanc't a Bee did flie that way,

3 Me torret face mutua

Thurini Calais filius Ornyti (11. 14-15.)

122 HESPERIDES.

(After a dew, or dew-like shower)

To tipple freely in a flower.

For some rich flower, he took the lip

Of Julia, and began to sip ;

But when he felt he suckt from thence

Hony, and in the quintessence :

He drank so much he scarce co'd stir ;

So Julia took the pilferer.

And thus surpriz'd (as Filchers use)

He thus began himselfe t'excuse :

Sweet Lady-Flower, I never brought

Hither the least one theeving thought :

But taking those rare lips of yours

For some fresh, fragrant, luscious flowers :

I thought I might there take a taste,

Where so much sirrop ran at waste.

Besides, know this, I never sting4

The flower that gives me nourishing :

4 One would almost imagine that Herrick here had in view the
caution which Secundus gives the bee, in his Basia : and that the
little insect attended to it.

Heu I non est stimulis compungite molle labellum ;

Ex oculis stimulos vibrat et ilia pareis.
Credite non ullum patietur vulnus inultum :
Leniter innocuae mella legatis apes.

Joan. Sec. Basium, 19. N.

HESPERIDES. 123

But with a kisse, or thanks, doe pay
For Honie, that I beare away.
This said, he laid his little scrip
Of hony, 'fore her Ladiship :
And told her, (as some tears did fall)
That that, he took, and that was all
At which she smil'd ; and bade him goe
And take his bag ; but thus much know,
When next he came a-pilfring so,
He sho'd from her full lips derive,
Hony enough to fill his hive.

Upon Prig.
T)R1G now drinks Water, who before drank Beere :

What's now the cause ? we know the case is cleere
Look in Prig's purse, the chev'rell5 there tells you
Prig mony wants, either to buy, or brew.

Upon Batt.

"D^TT he gets children, not for love to reare 'em ;
But out of hope his wife might die to beare ;em.

= cheveril leather (purse) made of wild goats' skin: kid.

124 HESPERIDES.

An Ode to Master Endymion Porter,

upon his Brothers deathP
"M" OT all thy flushing Sunnes are set,

Herrick, as yet :

Nor doth this far-drawn Hemisphere
Frown, and look sullen eVry where.
Daies may conclude in nights ; and Suns may rest,7

As dead, within the West ;
Yet the next Morne, re-guild the fragrant East.8

Alas for me ! that I have lost

E'en all almost :

Sunk is my sight ; set is my Sun ;
And all the loome of life undone :
The staffe,9 the Elme, the prop, the shelt'ring wall

Whereon my Vine did crawle,
Now, now, blowne downe ; needs must the old stock fall.

6 See Memorial-Introduction, as before.

7 Here we have a beautiful amplification of the three following
lines from Catullus : —

Soles occidere, et redire possunt ;
Nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux,
Nox est perpetua una dormenda.
Carm. 5. N.

8 The first stanza is to be supposed as spoken by Porter.

9 = support or frame-work.

HESPERIDES. 125

Yet, Porter •, while thou keep'st alive,
In death I thrive :
And like a Phenix re-aspire
From out my Narde,1 and Fun'rall fire :
And as I prune my feathered youth, so I

Doe mar5! how I co'd die,
When I had Thee, my chiefe Preserver, by.

I'm up, I'm up, and blesse that hand,

Which makes me stand
Now as I doe ; and but for thee,
I must confesse, I co'd not be.
The debt is paid : for he who doth resigne2

Thanks to the gen'rous Vine ;
Invites fresh Grapes to fill his Presse with Wine.

To his dying Brother ', Master

William Herrick.3
T IFE of my life, take not so soone Thy flight,

But stay the time till we have bade Good night
Thou hast both Wind and Tide with thee ; Thy way
As soone dispatcht is by the Night, as Day.
Let us not then so rudely henceforth goe
Till we have wept, kist, sigh't, shook hands, or so.

1 = spice burned at the pyre. 2 = offer ?

3 See Memorial-Introduction.

126 HESPERIDES.

There's paine in parting ; and a kind of hell,

When once true-lovers take their last Fare-well.

What ? shall we two our endlesse leaves take here

Without a sad looke, or a solemne teare ?

He knowes not Love, that hath not this truth proved,

Love is most loth to leave the thing beloved.

Pay we our Vowes, and goe ; yet when we part,

Then, even then, I will bequeath my heart

Into thy loving hands : For He keep none

To warme my Breast, when thou my Pulse art gone.

No, here He last, and walk (a harmless shade)

About this Urne, wherein thy Dust is laid,

To guard it so, as nothing here shall be

Heavy, to hurt those sacred seeds of thee.

The Olive Branch.
C ADLY I walk't within the field,

To see what comfort it wo'd yeeld :
And as I went my private way,
An Olive-branch before me lay :
And seeing it, I made a stay.
And took it up, and view'd it ; then
Kissing the Omen^ said Amen :
Be, be it so, and let this be
A Divination unto me :

H ESP BRIDES. 127

That in short time my woes shall cease ; I
And Love shall crown my End with Peace.

Upon Much-more.4 Epig.
TV/I" UCH-MORE, provides, and hoords up like an

Ant ;

Yet Much-more still complains he is in want.
Let Much-more justly pay his tythes ; then try
How both his Meale and Oile will multiply.

To Cherry-blossomes.
"V^E may simper,5 blush, and smile,

And perfume the aire a-while :
But (sweet things) ye must be gone ;
Fruit, ye know, is comming on :
Then, Ah ! Then, where is your grace,
When as Cherries come in place ?

How Lillies came white.
AYHITE though ye be ; yet, Lillies, know,
From the first ye were not so :
But He tell ye
What befell ye ;

4 Like others in these Epigrams, this was no doubt chosen as
expressive of a greedy miserly fellow. Ben Jonson has similar char
acter-names in his Epigrams. 8 = look pleasant : deteriorated since.

128 HESPERIDES.

Cupid and his Mother lay

In a Cloud ; while both did play,

He with his pretty finger prest

The rubie niplet of her breast ;

Out of the which, the creame of light,

Like to a Dew,

Fell downe on you,
And made ye white.

To Pansies.
A H, cruell Love ! must I endure

Thy many scorns, and find no cure ?
Say, are thy medicines made to be
Helps to all others, but to me ?
He leave thee, and to Pansies come ;6
Comforts you'l afford me some :
You can ease my heart, and doe
What Love co'd ne'r be brought unto.

On Gelli-flowers begotten?
was't that fell but now
From that warme kisse of ours ?

6 "There is pansies, that's for thoughts," [good thoughts] . Ham
let IV., 5.

7 =gilli-flowers : the " Posie of Gilloflower " (1580) of Humph.
Gifford has immortalized the name.

H ESP BRIDES. 129

Look, look, by Love I vow
They were two Gelli-flowers.

Let's kisse, and kisse agen ;

For if so be our closes
Make Gelli-flowers, then

I'm sure they'l fashion Roses.

The Lilly in a Christal*
"V^OU have beheld a smiling Rose

When Virgins hands have drawn

O'r it a Cobweb-Lawne :
And here, you see, this Lilly shows,

Tomb'd in a Christal stone,
More faire in this transparent case,

Then when it grew alone ; {than

And had but single grace.

You see how Creame but naked is ;

Nor daunces in the eye

Without a Strawberrie :
Or some fine tincture,9 like to this,

8 See Memorial-Introduction. This was a favourite of Herrick's
own. See Glossarial Index under « christal.'

9 = colour, as in heraldic language. See Memorial-Introduction
on Herrick's feeling for colour.

1 3o HESPERIDES.

Which draws the sight thereto,
More by that wantoning with it ;

Then when the paler hieu [than

No mixture did admit.

You see how Amber through the streams

More gently stroaks the sight,

With some conceal'd delight ;
Then when he darts his radiant beams

Into the boundlesse aire :
Where either too much light, his worth
, Doth all at once impaire,

Or set it little forth.

Put Purple grapes, or Cherries in-

To Glasse, and they will send

More beauty to commend
Them, from that cleane and subtile skin,

Then if they naked stood, [than

And had no other pride at all,

But their own flesh and blood,

And tinctures naturall.

Thus Lillie, Rose, Grape, Cherry, Creame,

And Straw-berry do stir

More love, when they transfer
A weak, a soft, a broken beame ;

HESPERIDES. 131

Then if they sho'd discover [than

At full their proper excellence ;

Without some Scean cast over,
To juggle with the sense.

Thus let this Christard Lillie be

A Rule, how far to teach,

Your nakednesse must reach :
And that, no further, then we see

Those glaring colours laid
By Arts wise hand, but to this end

They sho'd obey a shade ;

Lest they too far extend.

So though y'are white as Swan, or Snow,

And have the power to move

A world of men to love :
Yet, when your Lawns & Silks shal flow ;

And that white cloud divide
Into a doubtful Twi-light ; then,

Then will your hidden Pride

Raise greater fires in men.

To his Booke.

T IKE to a Bride, come forth, my Booke, at last,
With all thy richest jewels over-cast :

1 32 HESPERIDES.

Say, if there be 'mongst many jems here ; one
Deservelesse of the name of Paragon .-1
Blush not at all for that ; since we have set
Some Pearls on Queens, that have been counterfet.

Upon some women.
'"THOU who wilt not love, doe this ;

Learne of me what Woman is.
Something made of thred and thrumme f
A meere Botch of all and some.3
Pieces, patches, ropes of haire ;
In-laid Garbage ev'ry where.
Out-side silk, and out-side Lawne ;
Sceanes4 to cheat us neatly drawne.
False in legs, and false in thighes ;
False in breast, teeth, haire, and eyes :
False in head, and false enough ;
Onely true in shreds and stuffe.

1 Herrick, following the French (see Cotgrave s. v.) uses paragon
as = peerless one or pattern. Shakespeare has the verb in the sense
of to compare as excellent (Ant. & Cl : i. 5) and also to excel
(Othello ii. i and cf. Henry VIII., ii. 4). See Glossarial Index s. v.

'2 =ends of weaver's warps or coarse yarn.

3 =the whole and parts.

4 Used as = screen. See Glossarial Index s. v.

HESPER1DES. 133

Supreme fortune falls soonest.

leanest Beasts in Pastures feed,
The fattest Oxe the first must bleed.

The Welcome to Sack*
CO soft streams meet, so springs with gladder

smiles

Meet after long divorcement by the lies :
When Love (the child of likenesse) urgeth on
Their Christal natures to an union.
So meet stolne kisses, when the Moonie nights
Call forth fierce Lovers to their wisht Delights :
So Kings 6° Queens meet, when Desire convinces6
All thoughts, but such as aime at getting Princes,
As I meet thee. Soule of my life, and fame !
Eternall Lamp of Love ! whose radiant flame
Out-glares the Heav'ns Osiris ;7 and thy gleams
Out-shine the splendour of his mid-day beams.
Welcome, O welcome my illustrious Spouse ;
Welcome as are the ends unto my Vowes :
I !8 far more welcome then the happy soile, [than
The Sea-scourg'd Merchant, after all his toile,

5 See Memorial-Introduction, on this. 6 = conquers.

7 The Sun. H. 8 =Ay : see Glossarial Index s. v.

i34 HESPERIDES.

Salutes with tears of joy; when fires betray

The smoakie chimneys of his Ithaca.

Where hast thou been so long from my embraces,

Poore pittyed Exile ? Tell me, did thy Graces

Flie discontented hence, and for a time

Did rather choose to blesse another clime ?

Or went'st thou to this end, the more to move me,

By thy short absence, to desire and love thee ?

Why frowns my Sweet ? Why won't my Saint confer

Favours on me, her fierce Idolater ?

Why are Those Looks, Those Looks the which have been

Time-past so fragrant, sickly now drawn in

Like a dull Twi-light ? Tell me ; and the fault

He expiate with Sulphur, Haire, and Salt :9

And with the Christal humour of the spring,

Purge hence the guilt, and kill this quarrelling.

Wo't thou not smile, or tell me what's amisse ?

Have I been cold to hug thee, too remisse,

Too temp'rate in embracing ? Tell me, ha's desire

To thee-ward dy'd i'th'embers, and no fire

Left in this rak't-up Ash-heap, £s a mark

To testifie the glowing of a spark ?

Have I divorc't thee onely to combine

In hot Adult'ry with another Wine ?

9 Folk-lore.

HESPERIDES.

135

True, I confesse I left thee, and appeale
Twas done by me, more to confirme my zeale,
And double my affection on thee ; as doe those,
Whose love growes more enflam'd, by being Foes.
But to forsake thee ever, coM there be
A thought of such like possibilitie ?
When thou thy selfe dar'st say, thy lies shall lack
Grapes, before Herrick leaves Canarie Sack.
Thou mak'st me ayrie, active to be i>orn,
Like Iphyclus? upon the tops of Corn.
Thou mak'st me nimble, as the winged howers,
To dance and caper on the heads of flowers,
And ride the Sun-beams. Can there be a thing
Under the heavenly Isis,1 that can bring
More love unto my life, or can present
My Genius with a fuller blandishment ?
Illustrious Idoll ! co'd th' ^Egyptians seek
Help from the Garlick, Onyon, and the Leek,
And pay no vowes to thee ? who wast their best
God, and far more transcendent then the rest ?
Had Cassius, that weak Water-drinker,2 known
Thee in thy Vine, or had but tasted one

» So Virgil of Camilla. > The Moon. H.

- Cassius latrosophista, or Cassius Felix ?

K

136 HESPERIDES.

Small Chalice of thy frantick liquor ; He

As the wise Cato had approv'd of thee.

Had not Joves* son, that brave Tyrinthian Swain,

(Invited to the Thesbian banquet) ta'ne

Full goblets of thy gen'rous blood ; his spright

Ne'r had kept heat for fifty Maids that night.

Come, come and kisse me ; Love and lust commends

Thee, and thy beauties ; kisse, we will be friends

Too strong for Fate to break us : Look upon

Me, with that full pride of complexion,

As Queenes, meet Queenes; or come thou unto me,

As Cleopatra came to Anthonie;

When her high carriage did at once present

To the Triumvir, Love and Wonderment.

Swell up my nerves with spirit ; let my blood

Run through my veines, like to a hasty flood.

Fill each part full of fire, active to doe

What thy commanding soule shall put it to.

And till I turne Apostate to thy love,

Which here I vow to serve, doe not remove

Thy Fiers from me ; but Apollo's curse

Blast these-like actions, or a thing that's worse ;

3 Hercules. H.

H ESP BRIDES. 137

When these Circumstants4 shall but live to see
The time that I prevaricate5 from thee.
Call me The sonne of Beere, and then confine
Me to the Tap, the Tost, the Turfe 6; Let Wine
Ne'r shine upon me ; May my Numbers all
Run to a sudden Death, and Funerall.
And last, when thee (deare Spouse) I disavow,
Ne'r may Prophetique Daphne crown my Brow.

Impossibilities to his friend.
AT Y faithful friend, if you can see

The Fruit to grow up, or the Tree :
If you can see the colour come
Into the blushing Peare, or Plum :
If you can see the water grow
To cakes of Ice, or flakes of Snow :
If you can see, that drop of raine
Lost in the wild sea, once againe :
If you can see, how Dreams do creep
Into the Brain by easie sleep :
Then there is hope that you may see
Her love me once, who now hates me.

4 = surroundings, environings. 6 = play fast and loose or betray,
6 = peat-fire?

138 HESPERWES.

Upon Luggs. Epig.
JC7GGS by the Condemnation of the Bench,

Was lately whipt for lying with a Wench.
Thus Paines and Pleasures turne by turne succeed :
He smarts at last, who do's not first take heed.

Upon Gubbs. Epig.

Q UBBS calls his children Riflings'1 : and wo'd bound
(Some say) for joy, to see those Kitlings drown'd.

To live merrily, and to trust to

Good Verses.
XJ OW is the time for mirth,

Nor cheek, or tongue be dumbe :
For with the flowrie earth,
The golden pomp is come.

The golden Pomp is come ;

For now each tree do's weare
( Made of her Pap8 and Gum )

Rich beads of Amber here.

7 «= kittens.

HESPERIDES. 139

Now raignes the Rose, and now
Th' Arabian Dew besmears

My uncontrolled brow,
And my retorted9 haires.

Homer, this Health to thee,
In Sack of such a kind,

That it wo'd make thee see,
Though thou wert ne'r so blind.

Next, Virgil, He call forth,
To pledge this second Health

In Wine, whose each cup's worth
An Indian Common-wealth.

A Goblet next He drink
To Ovid; and suppose,

Made he the pledge, he'd think
The world had all one Nose.1

Then this immensive2 cup
Of Aromatike wine,

:i — thrown back.

1 A play on the Poet's name of 'Naso,' and referring also to that
amorous disposition which was supposed to be indicated by a long
nose. 3 = measureless.

140 HESPERIDES.

Catullus, I quaffe up
To that Terce3 Muse of thine.

Wild I am now with heat ;

O Bacchus ! coole thy Raies !
Or frantick I shall eate

Thy Thyrse, and bite the Bayes.

Round, round, the roof do's run ;

And being ravisht thus,
Come, I will drink a Tun

To my Propertius.

Now, to Tibullus, next,
This flood I drink to thee :

But stay ; I see a Text,
That this presents to me.

Behold, Tibullus lies

Here burnt, whose smal return
Of ashes, scarce suffice

To fill a little Urne.

Trust to good Verses then ;

They onely will aspire,
When Pyramids, as men,

Are lost, i'th'funerall fire.

3 = terse.

HESPERIDES. 141

And when all Bodies meet

In Lethe to be drown'd ;
Then onely Numbers sweet,

With endless life are crown'd.

Faire dayes : or, Dawnes deceitful!.
"pAIRE was the Dawne ; and but e'ne now the Skies
Shew'd like to Creame, enspir'd4 with Straw
berries :

But on a sudden, all was chang'd and gone
That smil'd in that first-sweet complexion.
Then Thunder-claps and Lightning did conspire
To teare the world, or set it all on fire.
What trust to things below, whenas we see,
As Men, the Heavens have their Hypocrisie ?

Lips Tonguelesse?
T7OR my part I never care

For those lips, that tongue-ty'd are :

4 = breathed upon. See Glossarial Index s. v.

5 This little jeu-d'esprit is possibly grounded on the following lines:

Si linguam clauso tenes in ore,
Fructus projicies amoris omnes:
VerbosA gaudet Venus loquel&.

Catullus. Carm. 52. N.

142 HESPBRIDES.

Tell-tales I wo'd have them be
Of my Mistresse, and of me.
Let them prattle how that I
Sometimes freeze, and sometimes frie :
Let them tell how she doth move
Fore or backward in her love :
Let them speak by gentle tones,
One and th'others passions :
How we watch, and seldome sleep ;
How by Willowes we doe weep :
How by stealth we meet, and then
Kisse, and sigh, so part agen.
This the lips we will permit
For to tell, not publish it.

7o the Fever, not to trouble Julia.
'T'H'AST dar'd too farre .; but Furie now forbeare

To give the least disturbance to her haire :
But lesse presume to lay a Plait upon
Her skins most smooth, and cleare expansion.
?Tis like a Lawnie-Firmament as yet
Quite dispossest of either fray, or fret.
Come thou not neere that Filmne so finely spred,
Where no one piece is yet unlevelled.

HESPERIDES. 143

This if thou dost, woe to thee Furie, woe,

He send such Frost, such Haile, such Sleet, and Snow,

Such fears, quakes, Palsies, and such Heates as shall

Dead thee to th' most, if not destroy thee all.

And thou a thousand thousand times shalt be

More shak't thy selfe, then she is scorch't by thee.

To Violets.

i. \AfELCOME, Maids of Honour,
You doe bring
In the Spring ;
And wait upon her.

2. She has Virgins many,

Fresh and faire ;
Yet you are
More sweet then any. [than

3. Y'are the Maiden Posies,

And so grac't,
To be plac't,
Tore Damask Roses.

4. Yet though thus respected,

By and by

Ye doe lie,

Poore Girles, neglected.

144 HESPERIDES.

Upon Bunce. Epig.
ONY thou oVst me ; Prethee fix a day

For payment promis'd, though thou never pay
Let it be Doomes-day ; nay, take longer scope ;
Pay when th'art honest ; let me have some hope.

To Carnations. A Song.

1. C TAY while ye will, or goe ;

And leave no scent behind ye :
Yet trust me, I shall know

The place, where I may find ye :

2. Within my Lucia's cheek,

( Whose Livery ye weare )
Play ye at Hide or Seek,
I'm sure to find ye there.

To the Virgins, to make much of Tinted
i. QATHER ye Rose-buds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying :
And this same flower that smiles to day,
To morrow will be dying.

6 See Memorial-Introduction on this.

HESPERIDES. 145

2. The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun,

The higher he's a-getting •
The sooner will his Race be run,
And neerer he's to Setting.

3. That Age is best, which is the first,

When Youth and Blood are warmer ;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times, still succeed the former.

4. Then be not coy, but use your time ;

And while ye may, goe marry :
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

Safety to look to ones selfe.

my neighbour He not know,

.*.

Whether high he builds or no :
Onely this He look upon,
Firm be my foundation.
Sound, or unsound, let it be ;
'Tis the lot ordain'd for me.
He who to the ground do's fall,
Has not whence to sink at all.

146 HESPERIDES.

Jo his Friend, on the

untuneable Times.
pLAY I co'd once ; but (gentle friend) you see

My Harp hung up, here on the Willow tree.
Sing I co'd once ; and bravely too enspire,
(With luscious Numbers) my melodious Lyre.
Draw I co'd once (although not stocks or stones,
Amphton-lite) men made of flesh and bones,
Whether I wo'd; but (ah!) I know not how,
I feele in me, this transmutation now.
Griefe, (my deare friend) has first my Harp unstrung ;
Wither'd my hand, and palsie-struck my tongue.

His Poetrie his Pillar.

1. (~)NELY a little more

I have to write,
Then He give o're,
And bid the world Good-night.

2. Tis but a flying minute,

That I must stay,
Or linger in it ;
And then I must away.

HBSPBRIDBS. H7

3. O time that cut'st down all !

And scarce leaVst here
Memoriall
Of any men that were.

4. How many lye forgot

In Vaults beneath ?
And piece-meale rot
Without a fame in death ?

5. Behold this living stone,

I reare for me,
Ne'r to be thrown
Downe, envious Time by thee.

6. Pillars let some set up,

(If so they please)
Here is my hope,
And my Pyramides.1

Safety on the Shore.

though the sea be calme ? Trust to the
shore :

Ships have been drown'd, where late they danc't
before.

7 Note the pronunciation to rhyme with ' please ' — pyr-am-i-des.
Like statua, apostata, it had not yet been perfectly Anglicised.

148 HESPERIDES.

A Pastorallupon the Birth of Prince Charles,
Presented to the King, and Set by

Mr. Nic : Laniere.8

The Speakers, Mirtillo, Amintas, and Amarillis.
Amin. r^OOD day, Mirtillo. Mirl. And to you

no lesse :
And all faire Signs lead on our Shepardesse.

Amar. With all white luck to you. Mirt. But say,

what news
Stirs in our Sheep-walk ? Amin. None, save that my

Ewes,

My Weathers, Lambes, and wanton Kids are well,
Smooth, faire, and fat ; none better I can tell :
Or that this day Menalchas keeps a feast
For his Sheep-shearers. Mir. True, these are the least.
But, dear Amintas, and, sweet Amarillis,
Rest but a while here, by this bank of Lillies.

8 This was afterwards Charles II: born 1630 : Nicholas Laniere,
painter, engraver and musician, was born in Italy in 1568. He
came early in life to England. One of his chief compositions was
a Masque performed on the marriage of the Earl of Somerset with
the Countess of Essex. His own portrait, by himself, is in the
Music-School at Oxford. He died in November, 1646. This it will
be seen is another early poem. See Memorial-Introduction.

HESPERIDES. 149

And lend a gentle eare to one report

The Country has. Amint. From whence ? Amar.

From whence ? Mir. The Court.
Three dayes before the Shutting in of May,
(With whitest Wool9 be ever crown'd that day!)
To all our joy, a sweet-fac't child was borne,
More tender then the childhood of the Morne. [than

Chor. Pan pipe to him, and bleats of lambs and sheep,
Let Lullaby the pretty Prince asleep !

Mirt. And that his birth sho'd be more singular,
At Noone of Day, was scene a Silver Star,
Bright as the Wise-men's Torch, which guided them
To God's sweet Babe, when borne at Bethlehem y1
While Golden Angels (some have told to me )
Sung out his Birth with Heav'nly Minstralsie.

Amint. O rare ! Butis't a trespasse if we three
Sho'd wend along his Baby-ship to see ?

Mir. Not so, not so. Chor. But if it chance to prove
At most a fault, 'tis but a fault of love.

Amar. But, deare Mirtillo, I have heard it told,
Those learned men brought Incense, Myrrhe, and Gold,
From Countries far, with store of Spices, (sweet)
And laid them downe for Ofirings at his feet.2

9 See Glossarial Index s. v. * See Memorial-Introduction on this.
3 St. Matthew, ii. n.

150 HESPERIDES.

Mirt. Tis true indeed ; and each of us will bring
Unto our smiling, and our blooming King,
A neat, though not so great an Offering.

Amar. A Garland for my Gift shall be
Of flowers, ne'r suckt by th' theeving Bee :
And all most sweet ; yet all lesse sweet then he. [than

Amint. And I will beare along with you
Leaves dropping downe the honyed dew,
With oaten pipes, as sweet, as new.

Mirt. And I a Sheep-hook will bestow,
To have his little King-ship know,
As he is Prince, he's Shepherd too.

Chor. Come let's away, and quickly let's be drest,
And quickly give, The swiftest Grace is best.
And when before him we have laid our treasures,
We'll blesse the Babe, Then back to Countrie pleasures.

To the Lark.

QOOD speed, for I this day
Betimes my Mattens3 say :
Because I doe
Begin to wooe :
Sweet singing Lark,
Be thou the Clark,

3 = matins.

H ESP BRIDES. 151

And know thy when
To say, Amen.
And if I prove
Blest in my love ;
Then thou shalt be
High-Priest to me,
At my returne,
To Incense burne ;
And so to solemnize
Love's, and my Sacrifice.

The Bubble. A Song.
T^O my revenge, and to her desp'rate feares,

Flie, thou made Bubble of my sighs, and tears.
In the wild aire, when thou hast rowl'd about,
And (like a blasting Planet) found her out ;
Stoop, mount, passe by to take her eye, then glare
Like to a dreadfull Comet in the Aire :
Next, when thou dost perceive her fixed sight,
For thy revenge to be most opposite ;
Then like a Globe, or Ball of Wild-fire, flie,
And break thy self in shivers on her eye.

152 HESPERIDES.

A Meditation for his Mistresse.

1. VOU are a Tulip seen to day,

But (Dearest) of so short a stay ;
That where you grew, scarce man can say.

2. You are a lovely July-flower,

Yet one rude wind, or ruffling shower,
Will force you hence, (and in an houre.)

3. You are a sparkling Rose i'th'bud,

Yet lost, ere that chast flesh and blood
Can shew where you or grew, or stood.

4. You are a full-spread faire-set Vine,
And can with Tendrills love intwine,
Yet dry'd, ere you distill your Wine.

5. You are like Balme inclosed (well)
In Amber, or some Chrystall shell,
Yet lost ere you transfuse your smell.,

6. You are a dainty Violet,

Yet wither'd, ere you can be set
Within the Virgins Coronet.

7. You are the Queen all flowers among,
But die you must (faire Maid) ere long,
As He, the maker of this Song.

HESPERIDES. 153

The bleeding hand: or, The sprig of

Eglantine given to a maid.
"P ROM this bleeding hand of mine,

Take this sprig of Eglantine.
Which (though sweet unto your smell)
Yet the fretfull bryar will tell,
He who plucks the sweets shall prove
Many thorns to be in Love.

Ly rick for Legacies.
C* OLD I've none, for use or show,.

Neither Silver to bestow
At my death ; but thus much know,
That each Lyrick here shall be
Of my love a Legacie,
Left to all posterity.
Gentle friends, then doe but please,
To accept such coynes as these ;,
As my last Remembrances.

154 HESPERIDES.

A Dirge upon the Death of the Right Valiant

Lord, Bernard Stuart.4

"LJ ENCE, hence, profane ; soft silence let us have
While we this Trentall^ sing about thy Grave.
Had Wolves or Tigers seen but thee,
They wo'd have shew'd civility ; 6
And, in compassion of thy yeeres,
Washt those thy purple wounds with tears.
But since th'art slaine ; and in thy fall,
The drooping Kingdome suffers all.

Chor. This we will doe ; we'll daily come
And offer Tears upon thy Tomb :
And if that they will not suffice,
Thou shalt have soules for sacrifice.

4 Robert Heath, in his " Clarastella" (1650), has a poem in cele
bration of this Royalist Worthy (" Elegies " p. 8). This was Bernard
Stuart, fourth son of Esme, 3rd Duke of Lennox. He was com
mander of the King's troop of guards in the Civil Wars, and was
killed at Rowton Heath, near Chester, in 1645.

* Originally the Romish office for the dead, consisting of thirty
masses rehearsed for thirty days after the death of the person. Hence,
a dirge, but here used for a funeral song or lamentation.

6 = civilization.

HESP BRIDES. 155

Sleepe in thy peace, while we with spice perfume thee,
And Cedar 7 wash thee, that no times consume thee.

2. Live, live thou dost, and shalt ; for why ?
Soules doe not with their bodies die :
Ignoble off-springs, they may fall
Into the flames of Funerall :
Whenas the chosen seed shall spring
Fresh, and for ever flourishing.
Cho. And times to come shall, weeping, read thy

glory,

Lesse in these Marble stones, then in thy
story. [than

To Perenna, a Mistresse.
T^EARE Perenna, prethee come,

And with Smallage 8 dresse my Tomb :
Adde a Cyfiresse-sprig thereto,
With a teare ; and so Adieu.

Great boast, small rost.

QF Flanks and Chines of Beefe doth Gorrell boast
He has at home ; but who tasts boil'd or rost ?
Look in his Brine-tub, and you shall find there
Two stiife-blew-Pigs-feet, and a sow's cleft eare.

7 See Glossarial Index s. v. 8 Herb, as before.

156 HESPERIDES.

Upon a Bleare-ey'd woman.
D with yeeres, and bed-rid Mumma
lyes;
Dry-rosted all, but raw yet in her eyes.

The Fairie Temple : or, Oberon's Chappell.
Dedicated to Mr. John Merrifield,

Counsellor at Law?
"DARE Temples thou hast seen, I know,

And rich for in and outward show :
Survey this Chappell, built, alone,
Without or Lime, or Wood, or Stone :
Then say, if one th'ast scene more fine
Then this, the Fairies once, now Thine. [than

The Temple.
A WAY enchac't with glasse & beads

There is, that to the Chappel leads :
Whose structure (for his holy rest)
Is here the Halcioris^- curious nest :
Into the which who looks shall see
His Temple of Idolatry :

9 Nothing seems to be now known of Merrifield. It is just pos
sible that — as throughout the poem — the name was an invented one,
* Merry Field.' 1 Kingfisher.

HESPERIDES. 157

Where he of God-heads has such store,

As Rome's Pantheon had not more.

His house of &'mmon2 this he calls,

Girt with small bones, instead of walls.

First, in a Neech? more black then jet, [than

His Idol-Cricket there is set :

Then in a Polisht Ovall by

There stands his Idol-Beetle-flie :

Next in an Arch, akin to this,

His Idol-Canker* seated is :

Then in a Round, is plac't by these,

His golden god, Cantharides.

So that where ere ye look, ye see,

No Capitoll, no Cornish* free,

Or Freeze, from this fine Fripperie.

Now this the Fairies wo'd have known,

Theirs is a mixt Religion.

And some have heard the Elves it can*

Part Pagan, part Papisticall.

If unto me all Tongues were granted,

I co'd not speak the Saints here painted.

Saint Tit* Saint Nit? Saint /r,8 Saint Itis?

Who 'gainst Mabs-state plac't here right is.

2 2 Kings, v. 1 8. 3 = niche. 4 = worm.

5 = cornice : still pronounced ' cornish ' in Devon.

6 St. Titus. * St. Neot. 8 St. Idus. » St. Ida.

158 HESPERIDES.

Saint Will tfth Wispe (of no great bignes)

But alias call'd here Fatuus ignis.

Saint Frip? Saint Trip? Saint Fill? S. Fillie?

Neither those other-Saint-ships will I

Here goe about for to recite

Their number (almost) infinite,

Which one by one here set downe are

In this most curious Calendar.

First, at the entrance of the gate,

A little-Puppet-Priest doth wait,

Who squeaks to all the commers there,

Favour your tongues? who enter here.

Pure hands bring hither, without staine.

A second pules, Hence, hence, profane.

Hard by, i'th'shell of halfe a nut,

The Holy-water there is put :

A little brush of Squirrils haires,

(Compos'd of odde, not even paires)

Stands in the Platter, or close by,

To purge the Fairie Family.

1 St. Fridian or St. Fridolin. 2 St. Trypho. 3 St. Felan. 4 St.
Felix. Whilst I have given these Romish saints* names, I am not
sure but Herrick would have laughed loudly at my pains, and told
me that he merely gave such names as Fairy saints might have had.
Certes St. Will o' th* Wispc looks like this.

* =Favete linguis, &c. Horace, Od. iii. i, 2.

HESPE RIDES. 159

Neere to the Altar stands the Priest,
There ofFring up the Holy-Grist :6
Ducking in Mood, and perfect Tense,
With (much-good-do't him) reverence.
The Altar is not here foure-square,
Nor in a forme Triangular ;
Nor made of glasse, or wood, or stone,
But of a little Transverce bone ;
Which boyes, and Bruckel'd 7 children call
(Playing for Points and Pins) Cockall.8
Whose Linen-Drapery is a thin
Subtile and ductile Codlin's 9 skin ;
Which o're the board is smoothly spred,
With little Seale-work Damasked.
The Fringe that circumbinds 1 it too,
Is Spangle-work of trembling dew,
Which, gently gleaming, makes a show,
Like Frost-work glitt'ring on the Snow.

6 =holy grain. The reference is to the offering of the Host.

7 = begrimed, wet and dirty. Whence is it derived ? Nares s. v.
suggests 4 breeched' ; but it is a very unsavoury etymology, albeit not
far out here.

8 =the huckle or pastern -bone of the sheep, used for a game
played from classic times.

9 = codling : apple so called. l = binds it round.

160 HESPERIDES.

Upon this fetuous 2 board doth stand
Something for Skew-bread, and at hand
(Just in the middle of the Altar)
Upon an end, the Fairie-Psalter,
Grac't with the Trout-flies curious wings,
Which serve for watched 3 Ribbanings.
Now, we must know, the Elves are led
Right by the Rubrick, which they read.
And if Report of them be true,
They have their Text for what they doe ;
I4, and their Book of Canons too.
And, as Sir Thomas Parson 5 tells,
They have their Book of Articles :
And if that Fairie Knight not lies,
They have their Book of Homilies :
And other Scriptures, that designe
A short, but righteous discipline.
The Bason stands the board upon
To take the Free-Oblation :

2 =fetise, well-made, or neat, elegant.

3 = watched, dark blue. 4 =Ay. So in next page, 1. 22.
* This might be put as a general name for a clergyman ('parson '),

'Sir* being the olden designation of a priest. But the following
line, " that Fairie knight," looks as if some real person were meant.
Who?

HESPERIDES. 161

A little Pin-dust ; which they hold

More precious, then we prize our gold : [than

Which charity they give to many

Poore of the Parish, (if there's any).

Upon the ends of these neat Railes

(Hatcht,6 with the Silver-light of snails,)

The Elves, in formall manner, fix

Two pure, and holy Candlesticks :

In either which a small tall bent 7

Burns for the Altars ornament.

For sanctity, they have, to these,

Their curious Copes and Surplices

Of cleanest Cobweb, hanging by

In their Religious Vesterie.*

They have their Ash-pans, & their Brooms

To purge the Chappel and the rooms :

Their many mumbling Masse-priests here,

And many a dapper Chorister.

There ush'ring Vergers, here likewise,

Their Canons, and their Chaunteries :

Of Cloyster-Monks they have enow,

I, and their Abby-Lubbers 9 too :

6 = engraved: "This sword, silver'd and hatcht " : Chapman
(Bailey s. v.) 7 = blade of coarse grass or rush.

8 —vestry or church-room. * =lazy monks.

1 62 HESPERIDES.

And if their Legend doe not lye,

They much affect the Papacie :

And since the last is dead, there's hope,

Elve Boniface shall next be Pope.lQ

They have their Cups and Chalices ;

Their Pardons and Indulgences :

Their Beads of Nits,1 Bels, Books, & Wax

Candles (forsooth) and other knacks :

Their Holy Oyle, their Fasting-Spittle;

Their sacred Salt here, (not a little.)

Dry chips, old shooes, rags, grease, 6° bones ;

Beside their Fumigations,

To drive the Devill from the Cod-piece 2

Of the Fryar, (of work an odde-piece.)

Many a trifle too, and trinket,

And for what use, scarce man wo'd think it.

Next, then, upon the Chanters side

An Apples-core is hung up dry'd,

With ratling Kirnils, which is rung

To call to Morn, and Even-Song.

10 Is this a reference to some recent Papal election, of which ru
mours were circulating ?

1 = nuts in Devonshire, as in the local proverb "So many nits
[nuts], so many pits [graves]," which seems to point to the indi
gestible, and so deathly, nature of nuts taken in over-quantity.

2 See Glossarial Index s. v.

HESPERIDES. 163

The Saint, to which the most he prayes

And offers Incense Nights and dayes,

The Lady of the lobster 3 is,

Whose foot-pace he doth stroak and kisse ;

And, humbly, chives 4 of Saffron brings,

For his most cheerfull offerings.

When, after these, h'as paid his vows,

He lowly to the Altar bows :

And then he dons the Silk-worms shed,5

(Like a Turks Turbant* on his head),

And reverently departeth thence,

Hid in a cloud of Frankincense :

And by the glow-worms light wel guided,

Goes to the Feast that's now provided.

To Mistresse Katherine Bradshaw, the lovely,
that crowned him with Laurel.1

JY/T Y Muse in Meads has spent her many houres,
Sitting, and sorting severall sorts of flowers,

3 Who?

* =chip or shiver, and in a plant is the thread-like style and
stigma of the flower. Saffron is that part of the crocus. 5 Cocoon.

6 Italian and Spanish turbante — linen head-dress wreathed =
turban.

7 Impossible to identify. The Bradshaws were very numerous at
this period. No doubt a Devonshire Beauty.

1 64 HESPERIDES.

To make for others garlands : and to set
On many a head here, many a Coronet :
But, amongst All encircled here, not one
Gave her a day of Coronation ;
Till you (sweet Mistresse) came and enterwove
A Laurel for her, (ever young as love),
You first of all crown'd her • she must of due,
Render for that, a crowne of life to you.

The Plaudite, or end of life?

T F after rude and boystrous seas,

My wearyed Pinnace here finds ease :
If so it be I've gain'd the shore
With safety of a faithful Ore :
If having run my Barque on ground,
Ye see the aged Vessell crown'd :
What's to be done ? but on the Sands
Ye dance, and sing, and now clap hands.
The first Act's doubtfull, (but we say)
It is the last commends the Play.

8 These lines have an evident reference to the Phaselus of Catullus,
or fifth Carmen. N. Very slight indeed, if any such reference.

HESPERIDES. 165

To the most vertuous Mistresse Pot,
who many times entertained 7«>//.9
"VIT'HEN I through all my many Poems look,
And see your selfe to beautifie my Book ;
Me thinks that onely lustre doth appeare
A Light fill-filling all the Region here.
Guild still with flames this Firmament, and be
A Lamp Eternall to my Poetrie.
Which if it now, or shall hereafter shine,
Twas by your splendour (Lady), not by mine.
The Oile was yours ; and that I owe for yet :
He payes the halfe, who drfs confesse the Debt.

To Musique, to becalme his Fever.

i. /^HARM me asleep, and melt me so

With thy Delicious Numbers ;
That being ravisht, hence I goe
Away in easie slumbers.
Ease my sick head,
And make my bed,

Probably another character-name.

1 66 HESPERIDES.

Thou Power that canst sever
From me this ill :
And quickly still :
Though thou not kill
My Fever.

2. JThou sweetly canst convert the same

From a consuming fire,
Into a gentle-licking flame,
And make it thus expire.

Then make me weep

My paines asleep ;
And give me such reposes,

That I, poore I,

May think, thereby,

I live and die

'Mongst Roses.

3. Fall on me like a silent dew,

Or like those Maiden showrs,
Which, by the peepe of day, doe strew
A Baptime 10 o're the flowers.
Melt, melt my paines,
With thy soft straines ;

= baptism, as before. See Glossarial Index s. v.

HESPERIDES. 167

That having ease me given,
With full delight,
I leave this light ;
And take my flight
For Heaven.

Upon a Gentlewoman with a

sweet Voice.

CO long you did not sing, or touch your Lute,
We knew 'twas Flesh and Blood, that there sate

mute.

But when your Playing, and your Voice came in,
Twas no more you then, but a Cherubin.

Upon Cupid.1
AS lately I a Garland bound,

'Mongst Roses, I there Cupid found :
I took him, put him in my cup,
And drunk with Wine, I drank him up.
Hence then it is, that my poore brest
Co'd never since find any rest.

1 Imitation of the Pseudo-Anacreon, No. 59 (5 in Bergk's Lyr't
Poets.)

M

1 68 HESPERIDES.

Upon Julia's breasts.
T^ISPLAY thy breasts, my Julia, there let me

Behold that circummortall 2 purity :
Betweene whose glories, there my lips He lay,
Ravisht, in that faire Via Lactea.

Best to be merry.
"pOOLES are they, who never know

How the times away doe goe :
But for us, who wisely see
Where the bounds of black Death be :
Let's live merrily, and thus
Gratine the Genius?

The Changes, to Corinna.
"DE not proud, but now encline
Your soft eare to Discipline.
You have changes in your life,
Sometimes peace, and sometimes strife :
You have ebbes of face and flowes,
As your health or comes, or goes ;

- = more than mortal. (See Glossarial Index under circum.)
Perhaps a reference to the " glory M of purity that surrounds (the
head of) saints.. See " glories " in 1. 3.

:j Used in the Roman sense for guardian spirit or personal Lar

HESPERIDES. 169

You have hopes, and doubts, and feares
Numberlesse, as are your haires.
You have Pulses that doe beat
High, and passions lesse of heat*
You are young, but must be old,
And, to these, ye must be told,
Time, ere long, will come and plow
Loathed Furrowes in your brow :
And the dimnesse of your eye
Will no other thing imply,

But you must die

As well as I.

No Lock against Letcherie.
"D ARRE close as you can, and bolt fast too your

doore,

To keep out the Letcher, and keep in the whore :
Yet, quickly you'l see by the turne of a pin,
The Whore to come out, or the Letcher come in.

Neglect.

p^RT quickens Nature ; Care will make a face.
Neglected beauty perisheth apace.

4 = passions wanting in heat, i. e., depressing passions.

1 70 HESPERIDES.

Upon himself e.

I am, as some have said,
Because I've hVd so long a maid :
But grant that I sho'd wedded be,
Sho'd I a jot the better see ?
No, I sho'd think, that Marriage might,
Rather then mend, put out the light. [than

Upon a Physitian.
'"THOU cam'stto cure me (Doctor) of my cold,

And caught'st thy selfe the more by twenty fold :
Prethee goe home ; and for thy credit be
First cur'd thy selfe ; then come and cure me.

Upon Sudds a Laundresse.

CUDDS Launders Bands in pisse; and starches them
Both with her Husband's, and her own tough fleame.

To the Rose. Song.
i. C* OE, happy Rose, and enterwove

With other Flowers, bind my Love.
Tell her too, she must not be,
Longer flowing, longer free,
That so oft has fetter'd me.

5 = short-sighted or dim-sighted.

HESPERIDES. 171

2. Say (if she's fretfull) I have bands

Of Pearle, and Gold, to bind her hands :
Tell her, if she struggle still,
I have Mirtle rods, (at will)
For to tame, though not to kill.

3. Take thou my blessing, thus, and goe,
And tell her this, but doe not so,

Lest a handsome anger flye,
Like a Lightning, from her eye,
And burn thee up, as well as I.

Upon Guesse. Epig.

C* UESSE cuts his shooes, and limping, goes about
To have men think he's troubled with the Gout :
But 'tis no Gout (beleeve it) but hard Beere,
Whose acrimonious humour bites him [tjhere.

To his Booke.

'FHOU art a plant sprung up to wither never,
• But like a Laurell, to grow green for ever.

Upon a painted Gentlewoman.
EN say y'are faire ; and faire ye are, 'tis true ;
But (Hark !) we praise the Painter now, not you.

172 HESPERIDES.

Upon a crooked Maid.
£ ROOKED you are, but that dislikes not me;

So you be straight, where Virgins straight sho'd be.

Draw Gloves?
AT Draw-Gloves we'l play,

And prethee, let's lay
A wager, and let it be this ;
Who first to the Summe
Of twenty shall come,
Shall have for his winning a kisse.

To Mustek, to becalme a sweet-sick-youth.
/CHARMS, that call down the rnoon from out her sphere,

On this sick youth work your enchantments here :
Bind up his senses with your numbers, so,
As to entrance his paine, or cure his woe.
Fall gently, gently, and a while him keep
Lost in the civill Wildernesse of sleep : 7
That done, then let him, dispossest of paine,
>Like to a slumbring Bride, awake againe.

6 An old English sport or game. Cf. Strutt s. v.
-7 Cf. Maud :

"Hast given false death her hand, and stol'n away
To dreamful -wastes, where footless fancies dwell."

HESP BRIDES. 173

To the High and Noble Prince, GEORGE,
Duke, Marquesse, and Earle of

Buckingham.8

"M EVER my Book's perfection did appeare,
Til I had got the name of VILLARS here.
Now 'tis so full, that when therein I look,
I see a Cloud of Glory fills my Book.
Here stand it stil to dignifie our Muse,
Your sober Hand-maid ; who doth wisely chuse,
Your Name to be a Laureat- Wreathe to Hir,
Who doth both love and feare you Honoured Sir.

His Recantation.
JOVE, I recant,

And pardon crave,
That lately I offended,
But 'twas,
Alas,

To make a brave,9
But no disdaine intended.

No more He vaunt,
For now I see,
Thou onely hast the power,

8 The Buckingham of History. 9 —bravado.

174 HESPERIDES.

To find,
And bind
A heart that's free,
And slave 1 it in an houre.

The camming of good luck.
CO Good-luck came, and on my roofe did light,

Like noyse-lesse Snow ; or as the dew of night :
Not all at once, but gently, as the trees
Are, by the Sun-beams, tickePd by degrees.

The Present : or, The Bag of the Bee.
"pLY to my Mistresse, pretty pilfring Bee,

And say, thou bring'st this Hony-bag from me
When on her lip, thou hast thy sweet dew plac't,
Mark, if her tongue, but slily, steale a taste.
If so, we live ; if not, with mournfull humme,
Tole forth my death ; next, to my buryall come.

On Love.

J^OVE bade me aske a gift,
And I no more did move,2

= put it in bondage — as enslave ; and so Shakespeare.
= ask.

HESPERIDES. 175

But this, that I might shift
Still with my clothes, my Love :
That favour granted was ;

Since which, though I love many,
Yet so it comes to passe,

That long I love not any.

The Hock-cart, or Harvest home :

To the Right Honourable,

Mildmay, Earle of

Westmorland.3

toe, *

ile : '

By whose tough labours, and rough hands,
We rip up first, then reap our lands.
Crown'd with the eares of come, now come,
And, to the Pipe, sing Harvest home.
Come forth, my Lord, and see the Cart
Brest up with all the Country Art
See, here a Maukinf there a sheet,
As spotlesse pure, as it is sweet :

3 See former note on this poet-noble, and Memorial-Introduction.

4 = maulkin : cloth usually wetted and attached to a pole to clean
out a baker's oven-floor. In Devon, a cloth or clout generally.

Sons of Summer, by whose toile, \ \
We are the Lords of Wine and Oile :

1 76 HESPERIDES.

The Horses, Mares, and frisking Fillies,

(Clad, all, in Linnen, white as Lillies.)

The Harvest Swaines, and Wenches bound

For joy, to see the Hock-cart 5 crown'd.

About the Cart, heare, how the Rout

Of Rurall Younglings raise the shout ;

Pressing before, some coming after,

Those with a shout, and these with laughter.

Some blesse the Cart ; some kisse the sheaves ;

Some prank 6 them up with Oaken leaves :

Some crosse the Fill-horse;7 some with great

Devotion, stroak the home-borne wheat :

While other Rusticks, lesse attent

To Prayers, then to Merryment, [than

Run after with their breeches rent _

Well, on, brave boyes, to your Lords Hearth,

Glitt'ring with fire ; where, for your mirth,

Ye shall see first the large and cheefe

Foundation of your Feast, Fat Beefe :

With Upper Stories, Mutton, Veale

And Bacon, (which makes full the meale)

With sev'rall dishes standing by,

As here a Custard, there a Pie,

5 See Glossarial Index s. v.

6 = adorn. 7 = the shaft or fill horse.

HESPERIDES. 177

And here all-tempting Frumentie.7

And for to make the merry cheere,

If smirking 8 Wine be wanting here,

There's that, which drowns all care, stout Beere : ^j^if

Which freely drink to your Lords health, *$0 ^

Then to the Plough, (the Common-wealth)

Next to your Flailes, your Fanes,9 your Fatts ; 1

Then to the Maids with Wheaten-Hats :

To the rough Sickle, and crookt, Sythe,

Drink, frollick, boyes, till all be blythe.

Feed, and grow fat ; and as ye eat, ^ ( dfc**1

Be mindfull, that the lab'ring Neat.2-) * ^ \ '

(As you) may have their fill of meat.

And know, besides, ye must revoke

The patient Oxe unto the Yoke,

And all goe back unto the Plough

And Harrow, (though they'r hang'd up now.)

And, you must know, your Lords word's true,

Feed him ye must, whose food fils you.

And that this pleasure is like raine,

7 = hulled wheat boiled in milk and variously seasoned.

8 We say ' winking ' = sparkling.

' = fanners or fans, for winnowing: or perchance 'vanes' to
mark the wind = weather-cocks. I add the alternative because it is
used provincially in both senses. l =vats. - =oxen.

178 HESPERIDES.

Not sent ye for to drowne your paine,
But for to make it spring againe.

The Perfume.
'pO-MORROW, Julia, I betimes must rise,

For some small fault, to offer sacrifice :
The Altar's ready ; Fire to consume
The fat ; breathe thou, and there's the rich perfume.

Upon her Voice.
T ET but thy voice engender with the string,

And Angels will be borne, while thou dost sing.

Not to love.
TJT E that will not love, must be

My Scholar, and learn this of me :
There be in Love as many feares,
As the Summers Corne has eares :
Sighs, and sobs, and sorrowes more
Then the sand, that makes the shore : [than

Freezing cold, and fine heats,
Fainting swoones, and deadly sweats ;
Now an Ague, then a Fever,
Both tormenting Lovers ever.

HESPERIDES. 179

Wods't thou know, besides all these,
How hard a woman 'tis to please ?
How crosse, how sullen, and how soone
She shifts and changes like the Moone.
How false, how hollow she's in heart ;
And how she is her owne least part :3
How high she's priz'd, and worth but small ;
Little thou'lt love, or not at all.

To Mustek. A Song.
lyrUSICK, thou Queen of Heaven, Care-charming spel,

That strik'st a stilnesse into hell :
Thou that tam'st Tygers, and fierce storms (that rise)

With thy soule-melting Lullabies :

Fall down, down, down, from those thy chiming spheres,
To charme our soules, as thou enchant'st our eares.

To the Western wind.
i. C WEET Western Wind, whose luck it is,

( Made rivall with the aire )
To give Perennds lip a kisse,
And fan her wanton haire.

3 Meaning = very little herself, but chiefly and more usually some
body or something else : or perhaps more correctly " for every pas
sion something, and for no passion truly anything," as says Rosa
lind in As You Like It. •

i8o HESPERIDES.

2. Bring me but one, He promise thee,

Instead of common showers,
Thy wings shall be embalm'd by me,
And all beset with flowers.

Upon the death of his Sparrow.

An Elegie.
"VX^HY doe not all fresh maids appeare

To work Love's Sampler4 onely here,
Where spring-time smiles throughout the yeare ?
Are not here Rose-buds, Pinks, all flowers,
Nature begets by th' Sun and showers,
Met in one Hearce-cloth,5 to ore-spred
The body of the under-dead ?
Phillf the late dead, the late dead Deare,
O ! may no eye distill a Teare
For you once lost, who weep not here !

4 See Glossarial Index s. v. 5 = hearse-cloth (at funerals).

6 The use of ' Phil ' for the 'sparrow ' by Sir Philip Sidney, has
led to ludicrous misunderstanding of his " Astrophel and Stella."
Whence did Phil originate ? Probably from their note, which was
represented in English by ' phip, phip.' So in Skelton's elegy on
Philip Sparrow :

" And when I sayd Phyp Phip

Then he wold leape and skip."
See Lyly's Mother Bumbie.

HESPERIDES. 181

Had Lesbia (too-too-kind) but known
This Sparrow, she had scorn'd her own :
And for this dead which under-lies,
Wept out her heart, as well as eyes.
But endlesse Peace, sit here, and keep
My Phill, the time he has to sleep,
And thousand Virgins come and weep,
To make these flowrie Carpets show
Fresh, as their blood ; and ever grow,
Till passengers shall spend their doome,
Not Virgil's Gnat had such a Tomb.7

To Primroses fiWd with morning dew.
\X/"HY doe ye weep, sweet Babes? can Tears
Speak griefe in you,
Who were but borne
Just as the modest Mome
Teem'd 8 her refreshing dew ?
Alas, you have not known that shower,
That marres a flower ;
Nor felt th'unkind
Breath of a blasting wind ;
Nor are ye worne with yeares ;

7 Spurious : but Spenser translated it. s = poured out.

1 82 HESPERIDES.

Or warpt, as we,
Who think it strange to see,
Such pretty flowers, (like to Orphans young,)
To speak by Teares, before ye have a Tongue.

2. Speak, whimp'ring Younglings, and make known
The reason, why
Ye droop, and weep ;
Is it for want of sleep ?
Or childish Lullabie ?
Or that ye have not seen as yet
The Violet?.
Or brought a kisse
From that Sweet-heart, to this ?
No, no, this sorrow shown
By your teares shed,
Wo'd have this Lecture read,
That things of greatest, so of meanest worth,
Conceiv'd with grief are, and with teares brought forth.

END OF VOL. i.

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