Herrick, therefore, seems to have
blundered
in the Christian
name.
name.
Robert Herrick
III.
ii.
6.
451. _To the right gracious Prince, Lodowick, Duke of Richmond and
Lennox. _ There appears to me to be a blunder here which Dr. Grosart and
Mr. Hazlitt do not elucidate, by recording the birth of Lodowick, first
Duke of Richmond, in 1574, his succession to the Lennox title in 1583,
creation as Duke of Richmond in May, 1623, and death in the following
February. For this first duke was no "stem" left "of all those three
brave brothers fallen in the war," and the allusion here is undoubtedly
to his nephews--George, Lord d'Aubigny, who fell at Edgehill; Lord John
Stewart, who fell at Alresford; and Lord Bernard Stewart (Earl of
Lichfield), who fell at Rowton Heath. In elucidation of Herrick's Dirge
(219) over the last of these three brothers, I have already quoted
Clarendon's remark, that he was "the third brother of that illustrious
family that sacrificed his life in this quarrel," and it cannot be
doubted that Herrick is here alluding to the same fact. The poem must
therefore have been written after 1645, _i. e. _, more than twenty years
after the death of Duke Lodowick. But the duke then living was James,
who succeeded his father Esme in 1624, was recreated Duke of Richmond in
1641, and did not die till 1655. It is true that there was a brother
named Lodovic, but he was an abbot in France and never succeeded to the
title.
Herrick, therefore, seems to have blundered in the Christian
name.
453. _Let's live in haste. _ From Martial, VII. xlvii. 11, 12:--
Vive velut rapto: fugitivaque gaudia carpe:
Perdiderit nullum vita reversa diem.
457. _While Fates permit. _ From Seneca, _Herc. Fur. _ 177:--
Dum Fata sinunt,
Vivite laeti: properat cursu
Vita citato, volucrique die
Rota praecipitis vertitur anni.
459. _With Horace_ (IV. _Od. _ ix. 29):--
Paulum sepultae distat inertiae
Celata virtus.
451. _To the right gracious Prince, Lodowick, Duke of Richmond and
Lennox. _ There appears to me to be a blunder here which Dr. Grosart and
Mr. Hazlitt do not elucidate, by recording the birth of Lodowick, first
Duke of Richmond, in 1574, his succession to the Lennox title in 1583,
creation as Duke of Richmond in May, 1623, and death in the following
February. For this first duke was no "stem" left "of all those three
brave brothers fallen in the war," and the allusion here is undoubtedly
to his nephews--George, Lord d'Aubigny, who fell at Edgehill; Lord John
Stewart, who fell at Alresford; and Lord Bernard Stewart (Earl of
Lichfield), who fell at Rowton Heath. In elucidation of Herrick's Dirge
(219) over the last of these three brothers, I have already quoted
Clarendon's remark, that he was "the third brother of that illustrious
family that sacrificed his life in this quarrel," and it cannot be
doubted that Herrick is here alluding to the same fact. The poem must
therefore have been written after 1645, _i. e. _, more than twenty years
after the death of Duke Lodowick. But the duke then living was James,
who succeeded his father Esme in 1624, was recreated Duke of Richmond in
1641, and did not die till 1655. It is true that there was a brother
named Lodovic, but he was an abbot in France and never succeeded to the
title.
Herrick, therefore, seems to have blundered in the Christian
name.
453. _Let's live in haste. _ From Martial, VII. xlvii. 11, 12:--
Vive velut rapto: fugitivaque gaudia carpe:
Perdiderit nullum vita reversa diem.
457. _While Fates permit. _ From Seneca, _Herc. Fur. _ 177:--
Dum Fata sinunt,
Vivite laeti: properat cursu
Vita citato, volucrique die
Rota praecipitis vertitur anni.
459. _With Horace_ (IV. _Od. _ ix. 29):--
Paulum sepultae distat inertiae
Celata virtus.
