“Give me a kiss, and to that kiss a score; Then to that twenty, add a hundred more: A thousand to that hundred: so kiss on, To make that thousand up a million. Treble that million, and when that is done, Lets kiss afresh, as when we first begun.”
Thou sail'st with others in this Argus here;
Nor wreck or bulging thou hast cause to fear;
But trust to this, my noble passenger;
Who swims with virtue, he shall still be sure
(Ulysses-like) all tempests to endure,
And 'midst a thousand gulfs to be secure.
_Bulging_, leaking.
72. UPON HIS SISTER-IN-LAW, MISTRESS ELIZABETH HERRICK.
First, for effusions due unto the dead,
My solemn vows have here accomplished:
Next, how I love thee, that my grief must tell,
Wherein thou liv'st for ever. Dear, farewell.
_Effusions_, drink-offerings.
73. OF LOVE. A SONNET.
How love came in I do not know,
Whether by the eye, or ear, or no;
Or whether with the soul it came
(At first) infused with the same;
Whether in part 'tis here or there,
Or, like the soul, whole everywhere,
This troubles me: but I as well
As any other this can tell:
That when from hence she does depart
The outlet then is from the heart.
74. TO ANTHEA.
Ah, my Anthea! Must my heart still break?
(_Love makes me write, what shame forbids to speak_.)
Give me a kiss, and to that kiss a score;
Then to that twenty add a hundred more:
A thousand to that hundred: so kiss on,
To make that thousand up a million.
Treble that million, and when that is done
Let's kiss 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 I'll speak when we meet both in bed.
75. THE ROCK OF RUBIES, AND THE QUARRY OF PEARLS.
Some 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 girl,
To part her lips, and show'd them there
The quarrelets of Pearl.
_Quarrelets_, little squares.
76. CONFORMITY.
Conformity was ever known
A foe to dissolution:
Nor can we that a ruin call,
Whose crack gives crushing unto all.
77. TO THE KING, UPON HIS COMING WITH HIS ARMY INTO THE WEST.
Welcome, most welcome to our vows and us,
Most great and universal genius!
“Each must in virtue strive for to excel ; That man lives twice that lives the first life well”
A little moth
Late fatten'd in a piece of cloth:
With withered cherries, mandrakes' ears,
Moles' eyes; to these the slain stag's tears
The unctuous dewlaps of a snail,
The broke-heart of a nightingale
O'ercome in music; with a wine
Ne'er ravish'd from the flattering vine,
But gently press'd from the soft side
Of the most sweet and dainty bride,
Brought in a dainty daisy, which
He fully quaffs up to bewitch
His blood to height; this done, commended
Grace by his priest; _the feast is ended_.
_Sagg_, laden.
_Bestrutted_, swollen.
294. EVENT OF THINGS NOT IN OUR POWER.
By time and counsel do the best we can,
Th' event is never in the power of man.
295. UPON HER BLUSH.
When Julia blushes she does show
Cheeks like to roses when they blow.
296. MERITS MAKE THE MAN.
Our honours and our commendations be
Due to the merits, not authority.
297. TO VIRGINS.
Hear, ye virgins, and I'll teach
What the times of old did preach.
Rosamond was in a bower
Kept, as Danae in a tower:
But yet Love, who subtle is,
Crept to that, and came to this.
Be ye lock'd up like to these,
Or the rich Hesperides,
Or those babies in your eyes,
In their crystal nunneries;
Notwithstanding Love will win,
Or else force a passage in:
And as coy be as you can,
Gifts will get ye, or the man.
_Babies in your eyes_, see Note to p. 17.
298. VIRTUE.
Each must in virtue strive for to excel;
_That man lives twice that lives the first life well_.
299. THE BELLMAN.
From noise of scare-fires rest ye free,
From murders _Benedicite_.
From all mischances that may fright
Your pleasing slumbers in the night,
Mercy secure ye all, and keep
The goblin from ye while ye sleep.
Past one o'clock, and almost two!
My masters all, good-day to you.
_Scare-fires_, alarms of fire.
300. BASHFULNESS.
Of all our parts, the eyes express
The sweetest kind of bashfulness.
301. TO THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED GENTLEMAN, MASTER EDWARD NORGATE, CLERK OF
THE SIGNET TO HIS MAJESTY. EPIG.
For one so rarely tun'd to fit all parts,
For one to whom espous'd are all the arts,
Long have I sought for, but could never see
Them all concentr'd in one man, but thee.
Thus, thou that man art whom the fates conspir'd
To make but one, and that's thyself, admir'd.
302. UPON PRUDENCE BALDWIN: HER SICKNESS.
Prue, my dearest maid, is sick,
Almost to be lunatic:
Æsculapius!
“I sing of brooks, 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.”
Throughout his work, whether when it is
strong, or in the less worthy portions, sanity, sincerity, simplicity,
lucidity, are everywhere the characteristics of Herrick: in these, not
in his pretty Pagan masquerade, he shows the note,--the only genuine
note,--of Hellenic descent. Hence, through whatever changes and fashions
poetry may pass, her true lovers he is likely to 'please now, and please
for long.' His verse, in the words of a poet greater than himself, is of
that quality which 'adds sunlight to daylight'; which is able to 'make
the happy happier.' He will, it may be hoped, carry to the many Englands
across the seas, east and west, pictures of English life exquisite
in truth and grace:--to the more fortunate inhabitants (as they must
perforce hold themselves!) of the old country, her image, as she was two
centuries since, will live in the 'golden apples' of the West, offered
to us by this sweet singer of Devonshire. We have greater poets, not a
few; none more faithful to nature as he saw her, none more perfect in
his art;--none, more companionable:--
F. T. P.
Dec. 1876
C H R Y S O M E L A
A SELECTION FROM THE LYRICAL POEMS OF ROBERT HERRICK
PREFATORY
1. THE ARGUMENT OF HIS BOOK
I sing of brooks, of blossoms, 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 bridal-cakes.
I write of Youth, of Love;--and have access
By these, to sing of cleanly wantonness;
I sing of dews, of rains, and, piece by piece,
Of balm, of oil, of spice, and ambergris.
I sing of times trans-shifting; and I write
How roses first came red, and lilies white.
I write of groves, of twilights, and I sing
The court of Mab, and of the Fairy King.
I write of Hell; I sing, and ever shall
Of Heaven,--and hope to have it after all.
2. TO HIS MUSE
Whither, mad maiden, wilt thou roam?
Far safer 'twere to stay at home;
Where thou mayst sit, and piping, please
The poor and private cottages.
Since cotes and hamlets best agree
With this thy meaner minstrelsy.
There with the reed thou mayst express
The shepherd's fleecy happiness;
And with thy Eclogues intermix:
Some smooth and harmless Bucolics.
There, on a hillock, thou mayst sing
Unto a handsome shepherdling;
Or to a girl, that keeps the neat,
With breath more sweet than violet.
“Bid me to live, and I will liveThy Protestant to be;Or bid me love, and I will giveA loving heart to thee.A heart as soft, a heart as kind,A heart as sound and freeAs in the whole world thou canst find,That heart Ill give to thee.Bid that heart stay, and it will stayTo honour thy decree;Or bid it languish quite away,Andt shall do so for thee.Bid me to weep, and I will weep,While I have eyes to see;And having none, yet I will keepA heart to weep for thee.Bid me despair, and Ill despair,Under that cypress tree;Or bid me die, and I will dareEen death, to die for thee.--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.”
“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old Time is still a-flying. And this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.”
“It takes great wit and interest and energy to be happy. The pursuit of happiness is a great activity. One must be open and alive. It is the greatest feat man has to accomplish.”
“Fair daffodils, we weep to see / You haste away so soon: / As yet the early-rising sun / Has not attained his noon.”
“Upon the Nipples of Julias Breast: Have ye beheld (with much delight) A red rose peeping through a white? Or else a cherry (double graced) Within a lily? Center placed? Or ever marked the pretty beam A strawberry shows half drowned in cream?”
“Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee, / The shooting-stars attend thee; / And the elves also,/ Whose little eyes glow, / Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee.”
“None pities him that is in the snare, who warned before, would not beware”
In vain our labours are whatsoeer they be unless God gives the Benediction.
Whenas in silks my Julia goes Then then methinks how sweetly flows The liquefaction of her clothes!
But neer the rose without the thorn.
Who covets more is evermore a slave.
Give if thou can an alms if not a sweet and gentle word.
Give me a kisse and to that kisse a score Then to that twenty adde a 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 Lets kisse afresh as when we first begun.
Like will to like each creature loves his kind.
You say to me-wards your affections strong Pray love me little so you love me long.
In prayer the lips neer act the winning part without the sweet concurrence of the heart.
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may Old Time is still aflying And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying.
