No More Learning

Had Cassius, that weak water-drinker, known
Thee in _the_ Vine, or had but tasted one
Small chalice of thy _nectar, he, even_ he
As the wise Cato had approved of thee.
Had not Jove's son, the _rash_ Tyrinthian swain
(Invited to the Thesbian banquet), ta'ne
Full goblets of thy [? ] blood; his *_lustful_ sprite
_Had not_ kept heat for fifty maids that night.
? As Queens meet Queens, _so let sack come to_ me
_Or_ as Cleopatra _unto_ Anthonie,
When her high _visage_ did at once present
To the Triumvir love and wonderment.
Swell up my _feeble sinews_, let my blood
? Fill each part full of fire,* _let all my good_
_Parts be encouraged_, active to do
What thy commanding soul shall put _me_ to,
And till I turn apostate to thy love,
Which here I vow to serve, _never_ remove
Thy _blessing_ from me; but Apollo's curse
Blast _all mine_ actions; or, a thing that's worse,
When these circumstants _have the fate_ to see
The time _when_ I prevaricate from thee,
Call me the Son of Beer, and then confine
Me to the tap, the toast, the turf; let wine
Ne'er shine upon me; _let_ my _verses_ all
_Haste_ to a sudden death and funeral:
And last, _dear Spouse, when I thee_ disavow,
_May ne'er_ prophetic Daphne crown my brow. "

Certainly this manuscript version is in every way inferior to that
printed in the _Hesperides_, and Herrick must be reckoned among the
poets who are able to revise their own work.

_The smoky chimneys of his Ithaca. _ Ovid, I. _de Ponto_, ix. 265:--

Non dubia est Ithaci prudentia sed tamen optat
Fumum de patriis posse videre focis.

_Upon the tops of corn. _ Virgil (_AEn. _ vii.
808-9) uses the same
comparison of Camilla: Illa vel intactae segetis per summa volaret
Gramina, nec teneras cursu laesisset aristas.

_Could the Egyptians seek Help from the garlick, onion and the leek. _
Cp. Numbers xi. 5, and Juv. , xi. 9-11.

_Cassius, that weak water-drinker. _ Not, as Dr. Grosart queries:
"Cassius Iatrosophista, or Cassius Felix? " but C. Cassius Longinus, the
murderer of Caesar. Cp. Montaigne, II. 2, and Seneca, _Ep. _ 83: "Cassius
tota vita aquam bibit" there quoted.