19,268) contain copies of this
important
poem.
Robert Herrick
24, 1585 (he must have been
born some months earlier, if this date be right, for his sister Martha
was baptized in the following January), and alive in 1629, when he acted
as one of the executors of his mother's will. But, it is said, there was
also another brother named William, born in 1593, after his father's
death, "at Harry Campion's house at Hampton". I have not been able to
find the authority for this last statement, which, as it asserts the
co-existence of two brothers, of the same name, is certainly surprising.
According to Dr. Grosart, it is the younger William who "died young" and
was addressed in this poem, but I must own to feeling some doubt in the
matter.
193. _The Lily in a Crystal. _ The poem may be taken as an expansion of
Martial, VIII. lxviii. 5-8:--
Condita perspicua vivit vindemia gemma
Et tegitur felix, nec tamen uva latet:
Femineum lucet sic per bombycina corpus,
Calculus in nitida sic numeratur aqua.
197. _The Welcome to Sack. _ Two MSS. at the British Museum (Harl. 6931
and Add.
19,268) contain copies of this important poem. These copies
differ considerably from the printed version, are proved by small
variations to be independent of each other, and at the same time agree
in all important points. We may conclude, therefore, that they represent
an earlier version of the poem, subsequently revised by Herrick before
the issue of _Hesperides_. In the subjoined copy, in which the two MSS.
are corrected from each other, italics show the variations, asterisks
mark lines omitted in _Hesperides_, and a dagger the absence of lines
subsequently added.
"So _swift_ streams meet, so springs with gladder smiles
Meet after long divorcement _made by_ isles:
When love (the child of likeness) urgeth on
Their crystal _waters_ to an union.
So meet stol'n kisses when the moonie _night_
Calls forth fierce lovers to their wisht _delight_:
So kings and queens meet, when desire convinces
All thoughts, _save those that tend to_ getting princes.
As I meet thee, Soul of my life and fame!
Eternal Lamp of Love, whose radiant flame
Out-_darts_ the heaven's Osiris; and thy _gems
Darken_ the splendour of his mid-day beams.
Welcome, O welcome, my illustrious spouse!
Welcome as are the ends unto my vows:
_Nay_, far more welcome than the happy soil
The sea-scourged merchant, after all his toil,
Salutes with tears of joy, when fires _display_
The _smoking_ chimneys of his Ithaca.
Where hast thou been so long from my embraces,
Poor pitied exile? Tell me, did thy Graces
Fly discontented hence, and for a time
_Choose rather for_ to bless _some_ other clime?
? *_Oh, then, not longer let my sweet defer
*Her buxom smiles from me, her worshipper! _
Why _have those amber_ looks, the which have been
Time-past so fragrant, sickly now _call'd_ in
Like a dull twilight?
born some months earlier, if this date be right, for his sister Martha
was baptized in the following January), and alive in 1629, when he acted
as one of the executors of his mother's will. But, it is said, there was
also another brother named William, born in 1593, after his father's
death, "at Harry Campion's house at Hampton". I have not been able to
find the authority for this last statement, which, as it asserts the
co-existence of two brothers, of the same name, is certainly surprising.
According to Dr. Grosart, it is the younger William who "died young" and
was addressed in this poem, but I must own to feeling some doubt in the
matter.
193. _The Lily in a Crystal. _ The poem may be taken as an expansion of
Martial, VIII. lxviii. 5-8:--
Condita perspicua vivit vindemia gemma
Et tegitur felix, nec tamen uva latet:
Femineum lucet sic per bombycina corpus,
Calculus in nitida sic numeratur aqua.
197. _The Welcome to Sack. _ Two MSS. at the British Museum (Harl. 6931
and Add.
19,268) contain copies of this important poem. These copies
differ considerably from the printed version, are proved by small
variations to be independent of each other, and at the same time agree
in all important points. We may conclude, therefore, that they represent
an earlier version of the poem, subsequently revised by Herrick before
the issue of _Hesperides_. In the subjoined copy, in which the two MSS.
are corrected from each other, italics show the variations, asterisks
mark lines omitted in _Hesperides_, and a dagger the absence of lines
subsequently added.
"So _swift_ streams meet, so springs with gladder smiles
Meet after long divorcement _made by_ isles:
When love (the child of likeness) urgeth on
Their crystal _waters_ to an union.
So meet stol'n kisses when the moonie _night_
Calls forth fierce lovers to their wisht _delight_:
So kings and queens meet, when desire convinces
All thoughts, _save those that tend to_ getting princes.
As I meet thee, Soul of my life and fame!
Eternal Lamp of Love, whose radiant flame
Out-_darts_ the heaven's Osiris; and thy _gems
Darken_ the splendour of his mid-day beams.
Welcome, O welcome, my illustrious spouse!
Welcome as are the ends unto my vows:
_Nay_, far more welcome than the happy soil
The sea-scourged merchant, after all his toil,
Salutes with tears of joy, when fires _display_
The _smoking_ chimneys of his Ithaca.
Where hast thou been so long from my embraces,
Poor pitied exile? Tell me, did thy Graces
Fly discontented hence, and for a time
_Choose rather for_ to bless _some_ other clime?
? *_Oh, then, not longer let my sweet defer
*Her buxom smiles from me, her worshipper! _
Why _have those amber_ looks, the which have been
Time-past so fragrant, sickly now _call'd_ in
Like a dull twilight?
