No More Learning

Beg for my pardon, Julia: _he doth win
Grace with the gods who's sorry for his sin_.
That done, my Julia, dearest Julia, come
And go with me to choose my burial room:
My fates are ended; when thy Herrick dies,
Clasp thou his book, then close thou up his eyes.


1096. ON HIMSELF.

One ear tingles; some there be
That are snarling now at me:
Be they those that Homer bit,
I will give them thanks for it.


1097. UPON KINGS.

_Kings must be dauntless; subjects will contemn
Those who want hearts and wear a diadem. _


1098. TO HIS GIRLS.

Wanton wenches, do not bring
For my hairs black colouring:
For my locks, girls, let 'em be
Grey or white, all's one to me.


1100. TO HIS BROTHER, NICHOLAS HERRICK.

What others have with cheapness seen and ease
In varnish'd maps, by th' help of compasses,
Or read in volumes and those books with all
Their large narrations incanonical,
Thou hast beheld those seas and countries far,
And tell'st to us what once they were, and are.
So that with bold truth thou can'st now relate
This kingdom's fortune, and that empire's fate:
Can'st talk to us of Sharon, where a spring
Of roses have an endless flourishing;
Of Sion, Sinai, Nebo, and with them
Make known to us the new Jerusalem;
The Mount of Olives, Calvary, and where
Is, and hast seen, thy Saviour's sepulchre.
So that the man that will but lay his ears
As inapostate to the thing he hears,
Shall by his hearing quickly come to see
The truth of travels less in books than thee.

_Large_, exaggerated.
_Incanonical_, untrustworthy.


1101. THE VOICE AND VIOL.

Rare is the voice itself: but when we sing
To th' lute or viol, then 'tis ravishing.


1102. WAR.

If kings and kingdoms once distracted be,
The sword of war must try the sovereignty


1103. A KING AND NO KING.

_That prince who may do nothing but what's just,
Rules but by leave, and takes his crown on trust. _


1104. PLOTS NOT STILL PROSPEROUS.

All are not ill plots that do sometimes fail;
Nor those false vows which ofttimes don't prevail.


1105. FLATTERY.