"Live in thy peace; as for myself,
When I am bruised on the shelf
Of Time, and _read
Eternal daylight o'er my head:_
When with the rheum,
_With_ cough _and_ ptisick, I consume
_Into an heap of cinders:_ then
The Ages fled I'll call again,
11.
When I am bruised on the shelf
Of Time, and _read
Eternal daylight o'er my head:_
When with the rheum,
_With_ cough _and_ ptisick, I consume
_Into an heap of cinders:_ then
The Ages fled I'll call again,
11.
Robert Herrick
6 reads: "Dislikes to care for what's behind"; iii.
6:
"Like a lost maidenhead," for "Like to a lily lost"; v. 8: "With the
best and whitest stone"; vi. 1: "We'll not be poor". After this we have
two stanzas omitted in 1648:--
"We have no vineyards which do bear
Their lustful clusters all the year,
Nor odoriferous
Orchards, like to Alcinous;
Nor gall the seas
Our witty appetites to please
With mullet, turbot, gilt-head bought
At a high rate and further brought.
"Nor can we glory of a great
And stuffed magazine of wheat;
We have no bath
Of oil, but only rich in faith
O'er which the hand
Of fortune can have no command,
But what she gives not, she not takes,
But of her own a spoil she makes. "
Stanza vii. , l. 2, has "close" for "both"; l. 3 "see" for "have"; l. 6,
"open" for "that cheap"; l. 7, "full" for "same". Stanzas x. -xvii. have
so many variants that I am obliged to transcribe them in full, though
they show Herrick not at his best, and the poem is not one to linger
over:--
10.
"Live in thy peace; as for myself,
When I am bruised on the shelf
Of Time, and _read
Eternal daylight o'er my head:_
When with the rheum,
_With_ cough _and_ ptisick, I consume
_Into an heap of cinders:_ then
The Ages fled I'll call again,
11.
"And with a tear compare these last
_And cold times unto_ those are past,
While Baucis by
_With her lean lips_ shall kiss _them dry
Then will we_ sit
By the fire, foretelling snow and sleet
And weather by our aches, grown
? Old enough to be our own
12.
"True Calendar [ ]
_Is for to know_ what change is near,
Then to assuage
The gripings _in_ the chine by age,
I'll call my young
Iulus to sing such a song
I made upon my _mistress'_ breast;
_Or such a_ blush at such a feast.
13.
"Then shall he read _my Lily fine
Entomb'd_ within a crystal shrine:
_My_ Primrose next:
A piece then of a higher text;
For to beget
In me a more transcendent heat
Than that insinuating fire
Which crept into each _reverend_ Sire,
14.
"When the _high_ Helen _her fair cheeks
Showed to the army of the Greeks;_
At which I'll _rise_
(_Blind though as midnight in my eyes_),
And hearing it,
Flutter and crow, _and_, in a fit
Of _young_ concupiscence, and _feel
New flames within the aged steal_.
15.
"Thus frantic, crazy man (God wot),
I'll call to mind _the times_ forgot
And oft between
_Sigh out_ the Times that _we_ have seen!
_And shed a tear_,
And twisting my Iulus _hair_,
Doting, I'll weep and say (in truth)
Baucis, these were _the_ sins of youth.
16.
"Then _will I_ cause my hopeful Lad
(If a wild Apple can be had)
To crown the Hearth
(Lar thus conspiring with our mirth);
_Next_ to infuse
Our _better beer_ into the cruse:
Which, neatly spiced, we'll first carouse
Unto the _Vesta_ of the house.
17.
"Then the next health to friends of mine
_In oysters, and_ Burgundian wine,
_Hind, Goderiske, Smith,
And Nansagge_, sons of _clune[M] and_ pith,
Such _who know_ well
_To board_ the magic _bowl_, and _spill
All mighty blood, and can do more
Than Jove and Chaos them before_. "
[M] Clune = "clunis," a haunch.
This John Wickes or Weekes is spoken of by Anthony a Wood as a "jocular
person" and a popular preacher.
"Like a lost maidenhead," for "Like to a lily lost"; v. 8: "With the
best and whitest stone"; vi. 1: "We'll not be poor". After this we have
two stanzas omitted in 1648:--
"We have no vineyards which do bear
Their lustful clusters all the year,
Nor odoriferous
Orchards, like to Alcinous;
Nor gall the seas
Our witty appetites to please
With mullet, turbot, gilt-head bought
At a high rate and further brought.
"Nor can we glory of a great
And stuffed magazine of wheat;
We have no bath
Of oil, but only rich in faith
O'er which the hand
Of fortune can have no command,
But what she gives not, she not takes,
But of her own a spoil she makes. "
Stanza vii. , l. 2, has "close" for "both"; l. 3 "see" for "have"; l. 6,
"open" for "that cheap"; l. 7, "full" for "same". Stanzas x. -xvii. have
so many variants that I am obliged to transcribe them in full, though
they show Herrick not at his best, and the poem is not one to linger
over:--
10.
"Live in thy peace; as for myself,
When I am bruised on the shelf
Of Time, and _read
Eternal daylight o'er my head:_
When with the rheum,
_With_ cough _and_ ptisick, I consume
_Into an heap of cinders:_ then
The Ages fled I'll call again,
11.
"And with a tear compare these last
_And cold times unto_ those are past,
While Baucis by
_With her lean lips_ shall kiss _them dry
Then will we_ sit
By the fire, foretelling snow and sleet
And weather by our aches, grown
? Old enough to be our own
12.
"True Calendar [ ]
_Is for to know_ what change is near,
Then to assuage
The gripings _in_ the chine by age,
I'll call my young
Iulus to sing such a song
I made upon my _mistress'_ breast;
_Or such a_ blush at such a feast.
13.
"Then shall he read _my Lily fine
Entomb'd_ within a crystal shrine:
_My_ Primrose next:
A piece then of a higher text;
For to beget
In me a more transcendent heat
Than that insinuating fire
Which crept into each _reverend_ Sire,
14.
"When the _high_ Helen _her fair cheeks
Showed to the army of the Greeks;_
At which I'll _rise_
(_Blind though as midnight in my eyes_),
And hearing it,
Flutter and crow, _and_, in a fit
Of _young_ concupiscence, and _feel
New flames within the aged steal_.
15.
"Thus frantic, crazy man (God wot),
I'll call to mind _the times_ forgot
And oft between
_Sigh out_ the Times that _we_ have seen!
_And shed a tear_,
And twisting my Iulus _hair_,
Doting, I'll weep and say (in truth)
Baucis, these were _the_ sins of youth.
16.
"Then _will I_ cause my hopeful Lad
(If a wild Apple can be had)
To crown the Hearth
(Lar thus conspiring with our mirth);
_Next_ to infuse
Our _better beer_ into the cruse:
Which, neatly spiced, we'll first carouse
Unto the _Vesta_ of the house.
17.
"Then the next health to friends of mine
_In oysters, and_ Burgundian wine,
_Hind, Goderiske, Smith,
And Nansagge_, sons of _clune[M] and_ pith,
Such _who know_ well
_To board_ the magic _bowl_, and _spill
All mighty blood, and can do more
Than Jove and Chaos them before_. "
[M] Clune = "clunis," a haunch.
This John Wickes or Weekes is spoken of by Anthony a Wood as a "jocular
person" and a popular preacher.
