TO SIR JOHN BERKLEY,
GOVERNOR
OF EXETER.
Robert Herrick
273.
742. UPON HER WEEPING.
She wept upon her cheeks, and weeping so,
She seem'd to quench love's fire that there did glow.
743. ANOTHER UPON HER WEEPING.
She by the river sat, and sitting there,
She wept, and made it deeper by a tear.
744. DELAY.
Break off delay, since we but read of one
That ever prospered by cunctation.
_Cunctation_, delay: the word is suggested by the name of Fabius
Cunctator, the conqueror of the Carthaginians, addressed by Virg.
(AEn. vi. 846) as "Unus qui nobis cunctando restituis rem".
745.
TO SIR JOHN BERKLEY, GOVERNOR OF EXETER.
Stand forth, brave man, since fate has made thee here
The Hector over aged Exeter,
Who for a long, sad time has weeping stood
Like a poor lady lost in widowhood,
But fears not now to see her safety sold,
As other towns and cities were, for gold
By those ignoble births which shame the stem
That gave progermination unto them:
Whose restless ghosts shall hear their children sing,
"Our sires betrayed their country and their king".
True, if this city seven times rounded was
With rock, and seven times circumflank'd with brass,
Yet if thou wert not, Berkley, loyal proof,
The senators, down tumbling with the roof,
Would into prais'd, but pitied, ruins fall,
Leaving no show where stood the capitol.
But thou art just and itchless, and dost please
Thy Genius with two strengthening buttresses,
Faith and affection, which will never slip
To weaken this thy great dictatorship.
_Progermination_, budding out.
_Itchless_, _i. e. _, with no itch for bribes.
746. TO ELECTRA. LOVE LOOKS FOR LOVE.
Love love begets, then never be
Unsoft to him who's smooth to thee.
Tigers and bears, I've heard some say,
For proffer'd love will love repay:
None are so harsh, but if they find
Softness in others, will be kind;
Affection will affection move,
Then you must like because I love.
747. REGRESSION SPOILS RESOLUTION.
Hast thou attempted greatness?
742. UPON HER WEEPING.
She wept upon her cheeks, and weeping so,
She seem'd to quench love's fire that there did glow.
743. ANOTHER UPON HER WEEPING.
She by the river sat, and sitting there,
She wept, and made it deeper by a tear.
744. DELAY.
Break off delay, since we but read of one
That ever prospered by cunctation.
_Cunctation_, delay: the word is suggested by the name of Fabius
Cunctator, the conqueror of the Carthaginians, addressed by Virg.
(AEn. vi. 846) as "Unus qui nobis cunctando restituis rem".
745.
TO SIR JOHN BERKLEY, GOVERNOR OF EXETER.
Stand forth, brave man, since fate has made thee here
The Hector over aged Exeter,
Who for a long, sad time has weeping stood
Like a poor lady lost in widowhood,
But fears not now to see her safety sold,
As other towns and cities were, for gold
By those ignoble births which shame the stem
That gave progermination unto them:
Whose restless ghosts shall hear their children sing,
"Our sires betrayed their country and their king".
True, if this city seven times rounded was
With rock, and seven times circumflank'd with brass,
Yet if thou wert not, Berkley, loyal proof,
The senators, down tumbling with the roof,
Would into prais'd, but pitied, ruins fall,
Leaving no show where stood the capitol.
But thou art just and itchless, and dost please
Thy Genius with two strengthening buttresses,
Faith and affection, which will never slip
To weaken this thy great dictatorship.
_Progermination_, budding out.
_Itchless_, _i. e. _, with no itch for bribes.
746. TO ELECTRA. LOVE LOOKS FOR LOVE.
Love love begets, then never be
Unsoft to him who's smooth to thee.
Tigers and bears, I've heard some say,
For proffer'd love will love repay:
None are so harsh, but if they find
Softness in others, will be kind;
Affection will affection move,
Then you must like because I love.
747. REGRESSION SPOILS RESOLUTION.
Hast thou attempted greatness?
