No More Learning

To read my book the virgin shy
May blush while Brutus standeth by,
But when he's gone, read through what's writ,
And never stain a cheek for it.

_Brutus_, see Martial, xi. 16, quoted in Note at the end of the volume.


7. TO HIS BOOK.

Come thou not near those men who are like bread
O'er-leaven'd, or like cheese o'er-renneted.


8. WHEN HE WOULD HAVE HIS VERSES READ.

In sober mornings, do not thou rehearse
The holy incantation of a verse;
But when that men have both well drunk and fed,
Let my enchantments then be sung or read.
When laurel spirts i'th' fire, and when the hearth
Smiles to itself, and gilds the roof with mirth;
When up the thyrse[C] is rais'd, and when the sound
Of sacred orgies[D] flies, a round, a round.
When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine,
Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine.

_Round_, a rustic dance.
_Cato_, see Martial, x. 17, quoted in Note.

[C] "A javelin twined with ivy" (Note in the original edition).
[D] "Songs to Bacchus" (Note in the original edition. )


9. UPON JULIA'S RECOVERY.

Droop, droop no more, or hang the head,
Ye roses almost withered;
Now strength and newer purple get,
Each here declining violet.
O primroses! let this day be
A resurrection unto ye;
And to all flowers ally'd in blood,
Or sworn to that sweet sisterhood:
For health on Julia's cheek hath shed
Claret and cream commingled;
And those her lips do now appear
As beams of coral, but more clear.

_Beams_, perhaps here = branches: but cp. 440.


10. TO SILVIA TO WED.

Let us, though late, at last, my Silvia, wed,
And loving lie in one devoted bed.
Thy watch may stand, my minutes fly post-haste;
No sound calls back the year that once is past.
Then, sweetest Silvia, let's no longer stay;
_True love, we know, precipitates delay. _
Away with doubts, all scruples hence remove;
_No man at one time can be wise and love. _


11. THE PARLIAMENT OF ROSES TO JULIA.