The Hesperides & Noble Numbers Part 106

649. _Upon Lucy._ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650, under the t.i.tle, _On Betty_.

653. _To th' number five or nine._ Probably Herrick is mistaking the references in Greek and Latin poets to the mixing of their wine and water (_e.g._, Hor. _Od._ III. xix. 11-17) for the drinking of so many cups.

654. _Long-looked-for comes at last._ Cp. G. Herbert, preface to Sibbes'

Funeral Sermon on Sir Thomas Crew (1638): "That ancient adage, 'Quod differtur non aufertur' for 'Long-looked-for comes at last'".

655. _The morrow's life too late is_, etc. Mart. I. xvi. 12: Sera nimis vita est crastina: vive hodie.

662. _O happy life_, etc. From Virg. _Georg._ ii. 458-9:--

O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint Agricolas.

It is not uncharacteristic that these fervid praises of country life were left unfinished.

664. _Arthur Bartly._ Not yet identified.

665. _Let her Lucrece all day be._ From Martial XI. civ. 21, 22:--

Lucretia toto Sis licet usque die: Laida nocte volo.

_Neither will Famish me, nor overfill._ Mart. I. lviii. 4: Nec volo quod cruciat, nec volo quod satiat.

667. _Be't for my Bridal or my Burial._ Cp. Brand, vol. ii., and Coles'

_Introduction to the Knowledge of Plants_: "Rosemary and bayes are used by the commons both at funerals and weddings".

672. _Kings ought to be more lov'd than fear'd._ Seneca, _Octavia_, 459: Decet timeri Caesarem. At plus diligi.

673. _To Mr. Denham, on his prospective poem._ Sir John Denham published in 1642 his _Cooper's Hill_, a poem on the view over the Thames towards London, from a hill near Windsor.

675. _Their fashion is, but to say no_, etc. Cp. Montaigne's _Essais_, II. 3, p. 51; Florio's tr. p. 207: "Let it suffice that in doing it they say no and take it".

676. _Love is maintained by wealth._ Ovid, _Rem. Am._ 746: Divitiis alitur luxuriosus amor.

679. _Nero commanded, but withdrew his eyes._ Tacit. _Agric._ 45: Nero subtraxit oculos, jussitque scelera, non spectavit.

683. _But a just measure both of Heat and Cold._ This is a version of the medieval doctrine of the four humours. So Chaucer says of his Doctor of Physic:--

"He knew the cause of every maladye, Were it of hoot or cold, or moyste, or drye, And where engendered and of what humour".

684. _'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering._ The Epistle for Mid-Lent Sunday was from Galat. iv. 21, etc., and contained the words: "Jerusalem, quae est Mater nostra". On that Sunday people made offerings at their Mother Church. After the Reformation the natural mother was subst.i.tuted for the spiritual, and the day was set apart for visiting relations. Excellent simnel cakes (Low Lat., _siminellus_, fine flour) are still made in the North, where the current derivation of the word is from _Sim_ and _Nell_!

685. _To the King._ Probably written in 1645, when Charles was for a short time in the West.

689. _Too much she gives to some, enough to none._ Mart. XII. x.; Fortuna multis dat nimis, satis nulli.

696. _Men mind no state in sickness._ There is a general resemblance in this poem to the latter part of Hor. III. _Od._ i., but I have an uneasy sense that Herrick is translating.

697. _Adversity._ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650.

702. _Mean things overcome mighty._ Cp. 486 and Note.

706. _How roses came red._ Cp. Burton, _Anat. Mel._ III. ii. 3: "Constantine (_Agricult._ xi. 18) makes Cupid himself to be a great dancer: by the same token that he was capering among the G.o.ds, he flung down a bowl of nectar, which, distilling upon the white rose, ever since made it red".

709. _Tears and Laughter._ Bishop Jebb quotes a Latin couplet inscribed on an old inn at Four Crosses, Staffordshire:--

Fleres si scires unum tua tempora mensem: Rides, c.u.m non sit forsitan una dies.

710. _Tully says._ Cic. _Tusc. Disp._ III. ii. 3: Gloria est frequens de aliquo, fama c.u.m laude.

713. _His return to London._ Written at the same time as his _Farewell to Dean Bourn_, _i.e._, after his ejection in 1648, the year of the publication of the _Hesperides_.

715. _No pack like poverty._ Burton, _Anat. Mel._ iii. 3: ??d?? pe??a?

a??te??? ?st? f??t???. "No burden, saith Menander, is so intolerable as poverty."

718. _As many laws_, etc. Tacit. _Ann._ iii. 27: Corruptissima in republica plurimae leges.

723. _Lay down some silver pence._ Cp. Bishop Corbet's _The Faeryes Farewell_:--

"And though they sweep their hearths no less Than maids were wont to do, Yet who of late for cleanliness Finds sixpence in her shoe?"

725. _Times that are ill ... Clouds will not ever_, etc., two reminiscences of Horace, II. _Od._ x. 17, and ix.

727. _Up tails all._ This tune will be found in Chappell's _Popular Music of the Olden Time_, vol. i. p. 196. He notes that it was a favourite with Herrick, who wrote four other poems in the metre, viz.: _The Hag is Astride_, _The Maypole is up_, _The Peter-penny_, and _Twelfth Night: or, King and Queen_. The tune is found in Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book, and in the _Dancing Master_ (1650-1690). It is alluded to by Ben Jonson, and was a favourite with the Cavaliers.

730. _Charon and Philomel._ This dialogue is found with some slight variations of text in Rawlinson's MS. poet. 65. fol. 32. The following variants may be noted: l. 5, _voice_ for _sound_; l. 7, _shade_ for _bird_; l. 11, _warbling_ for _watching_; l. 12, _hoist up_ for _thus hoist_; l. 13, _be gone_ for _return_; l. 18, _praise_ for _pray_; l.

19, _sighs_ for _vows_; l. 24, omit _slothful_. The dialogue is succeeded in the MS. by an old catch (probably written before Herrick was born):--

"A boat! a boat! haste to the ferry!

For we go over to be merry, To laugh and quaff, and drink old sherry".

After the catch comes the following dialogue, written (it would seem) in imitation of Herrick's _Charon and Philomel_: the speakers' names are not marked:--

"Charon! O Charon! the wafter of all souls to bliss or bane!

Who calls the ferryman of h.e.l.l?

Come near and say who lives in bliss and who in pain.

Those that die well eternal bliss shall follow.

Those that die ill their own black deeds shall swallow.

Shall thy black barge those guilty spirits row That kill themselves for love? Oh, no! oh, no!

My cordage cracks when such foul sins draw near, No wind blows fair, nor I my boat can steer.

What spirits pa.s.s and in Elysium reign?

Those harmless souls that love and are beloved again.

That soul that lives in love and fain would die to win, Shall he go free? Oh, no! it is too foul a sin.

He must not come aboard, I dare not row, Storms of despair my boat will overblow.

But when thy mistress (?) shall close up thine eyes then come aboard, Then come aboard and pa.s.s; till then be wise and sing."

"Then come aboard" from the penultimate line and "and sing" from the last should clearly be struck out.

739. _O Jupiter_, etc. Eubulus in Athenaeus, xiii. 559: ? ?e?

p???t??t', e?t' ??? ?a??? p?te ??? ???a??a?; ?? ??' ?p?????? ??a? p??t?? ???st?? ?t??t??. Comp. 885.