_To his
honoured
kinsman, Sir William Soame.
Robert Herrick
328. _Gold before goodness. _ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650, as _A
Foolish Querie_. The sentiment is from Seneca, _Ep. _ cxv. : An dives,
omnes quaerimus; nemo, an bonus. Cp. Juvenal, III. 140 sqq. ; Plaut.
_Menaechm. _ IV. ii. 6.
331.
_To his honoured kinsman, Sir William Soame. _ The second son of Sir
Stephen Soame, Lord Mayor of London in 1598. Herrick's father and Sir
Stephen married sisters.
_As benjamin and storax when they meet. _ Instances of the use of
"Benjamin" for gum benzoin will be found in the Dictionaries. Dr.
Grosart's gloss, "_Benjamin_, the favourite youngest son of the
Patriarch," is unfortunate.
336. _His Age: dedicated to . . . M. John Wickes under the name of
Posthumus. _ There is an important version of this poem in Egerton MS. ,
2725, where it is entitled _Mr. Herrick's Old Age to Mr.
