"Nor can we glory of a great
And stuffed magazine of wheat;
We have no bath
Of oil, but only rich in faith
O'er which the hand
Of fortune can have no command,
But what she gives not, she not takes,
But of her own a spoil she makes.
And stuffed magazine of wheat;
We have no bath
Of oil, but only rich in faith
O'er which the hand
Of fortune can have no command,
But what she gives not, she not takes,
But of her own a spoil she makes.
Robert Herrick
M.
John Wickes under the name of
Posthumus. _ There is an important version of this poem in Egerton MS. ,
2725, where it is entitled _Mr. Herrick's Old Age to Mr. Weekes_. I do
not think it has been collated before. Stanzas i. -vi. contain few
variants; ii. 6 reads: "Dislikes to care for what's behind"; iii. 6:
"Like a lost maidenhead," for "Like to a lily lost"; v. 8: "With the
best and whitest stone"; vi. 1: "We'll not be poor". After this we have
two stanzas omitted in 1648:--
"We have no vineyards which do bear
Their lustful clusters all the year,
Nor odoriferous
Orchards, like to Alcinous;
Nor gall the seas
Our witty appetites to please
With mullet, turbot, gilt-head bought
At a high rate and further brought.
"Nor can we glory of a great
And stuffed magazine of wheat;
We have no bath
Of oil, but only rich in faith
O'er which the hand
Of fortune can have no command,
But what she gives not, she not takes,
But of her own a spoil she makes. "
Stanza vii. , l. 2, has "close" for "both"; l. 3 "see" for "have"; l. 6,
"open" for "that cheap"; l. 7, "full" for "same". Stanzas x. -xvii. have
so many variants that I am obliged to transcribe them in full, though
they show Herrick not at his best, and the poem is not one to linger
over:--
10.
"Live in thy peace; as for myself,
When I am bruised on the shelf
Of Time, and _read
Eternal daylight o'er my head:_
When with the rheum,
_With_ cough _and_ ptisick, I consume
_Into an heap of cinders:_ then
The Ages fled I'll call again,
11.
"And with a tear compare these last
_And cold times unto_ those are past,
While Baucis by
_With her lean lips_ shall kiss _them dry
Then will we_ sit
By the fire, foretelling snow and sleet
And weather by our aches, grown
? Old enough to be our own
12.
"True Calendar [ ]
_Is for to know_ what change is near,
Then to assuage
The gripings _in_ the chine by age,
I'll call my young
Iulus to sing such a song
I made upon my _mistress'_ breast;
_Or such a_ blush at such a feast.
13.
"Then shall he read _my Lily fine
Entomb'd_ within a crystal shrine:
_My_ Primrose next:
A piece then of a higher text;
For to beget
In me a more transcendent heat
Than that insinuating fire
Which crept into each _reverend_ Sire,
14.
Posthumus. _ There is an important version of this poem in Egerton MS. ,
2725, where it is entitled _Mr. Herrick's Old Age to Mr. Weekes_. I do
not think it has been collated before. Stanzas i. -vi. contain few
variants; ii. 6 reads: "Dislikes to care for what's behind"; iii. 6:
"Like a lost maidenhead," for "Like to a lily lost"; v. 8: "With the
best and whitest stone"; vi. 1: "We'll not be poor". After this we have
two stanzas omitted in 1648:--
"We have no vineyards which do bear
Their lustful clusters all the year,
Nor odoriferous
Orchards, like to Alcinous;
Nor gall the seas
Our witty appetites to please
With mullet, turbot, gilt-head bought
At a high rate and further brought.
"Nor can we glory of a great
And stuffed magazine of wheat;
We have no bath
Of oil, but only rich in faith
O'er which the hand
Of fortune can have no command,
But what she gives not, she not takes,
But of her own a spoil she makes. "
Stanza vii. , l. 2, has "close" for "both"; l. 3 "see" for "have"; l. 6,
"open" for "that cheap"; l. 7, "full" for "same". Stanzas x. -xvii. have
so many variants that I am obliged to transcribe them in full, though
they show Herrick not at his best, and the poem is not one to linger
over:--
10.
"Live in thy peace; as for myself,
When I am bruised on the shelf
Of Time, and _read
Eternal daylight o'er my head:_
When with the rheum,
_With_ cough _and_ ptisick, I consume
_Into an heap of cinders:_ then
The Ages fled I'll call again,
11.
"And with a tear compare these last
_And cold times unto_ those are past,
While Baucis by
_With her lean lips_ shall kiss _them dry
Then will we_ sit
By the fire, foretelling snow and sleet
And weather by our aches, grown
? Old enough to be our own
12.
"True Calendar [ ]
_Is for to know_ what change is near,
Then to assuage
The gripings _in_ the chine by age,
I'll call my young
Iulus to sing such a song
I made upon my _mistress'_ breast;
_Or such a_ blush at such a feast.
13.
"Then shall he read _my Lily fine
Entomb'd_ within a crystal shrine:
_My_ Primrose next:
A piece then of a higher text;
For to beget
In me a more transcendent heat
Than that insinuating fire
Which crept into each _reverend_ Sire,
14.
