No More Learning

679. _Nero commanded, but withdrew his eyes. _ Tacit. _Agric. _ 45: Nero
subtraxit oculos, jussitque scelera, non spectavit.

683. _But a just measure both of Heat and Cold. _ This is a version of
the medieval doctrine of the four humours. So Chaucer says of his Doctor
of Physic:--

"He knew the cause of every maladye,
Were it of hoot or cold, or moyste, or drye,
And where engendered and of what humour".

684. _'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering. _ The Epistle for Mid-Lent Sunday
was from Galat. iv. 21, etc. , and contained the words: "Jerusalem, quae
est Mater nostra".
On that Sunday people made offerings at their Mother
Church. After the Reformation the natural mother was substituted for the
spiritual, and the day was set apart for visiting relations. Excellent
simnel cakes (Low Lat. , _siminellus_, fine flour) are still made in the
North, where the current derivation of the word is from _Sim_ and
_Nell_!

685. _To the King. _ Probably written in 1645, when Charles was for a
short time in the West.

689. _Too much she gives to some, enough to none. _ Mart. XII. x. ;
Fortuna multis dat nimis, satis nulli.

696. _Men mind no state in sickness. _ There is a general resemblance in
this poem to the latter part of Hor.