Part 55 (1/2)

Here he resided for twenty years, till ejected by the civil war. He seems all this time to have felt little relish either for his profession or paris.h.i.+oners. In the former, the cast of his poems shews that he must have been 'detained before the Lord;' and the latter he describes as a 'wild, amphibious race,' rude almost as 'salvages,' and 'churlish as the seas.' When he quitted his charge, he became an author at the mature age of fifty-six--publis.h.i.+ng first, in 1647, his 'n.o.ble Numbers; or, Pious Pieces;' and next, in 1648, his 'Hesperides; or, Works both Human and Divine of Robert Herrick, Esq.'--his ministerial prefix being now laid aside. Some of these poems were sufficiently unclerical--being wild and licentious in cast--although he himself alleges that his life was, s.e.xually at least, blameless. Till the Restoration he lived in Westminster, supported by the rich among the Royalists, and keeping company with the popular dramatists and poets. It would seem that he had been in the habit of visiting London previously, while still acting as a clergyman, and had become a boon companion of Ben Jonson. Hence his well-known lines--

'Ah, Ben!

Say how or when Shall we, thy guests, Meet at those lyric feasts, Made at the ”Sun,”

The ”Dog,” the ”Triple Tun,”

Where we such cl.u.s.ters had As made us n.o.bly wild, not mad?

And yet each verse of thine Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine.

My Ben!

Or come again, Or send to us, Thy wit's great overplus.

But teach us yet Wisely to husband it; Lest we that talent spend, And having once brought to an end That precious stock, the store Of such a wit, the world should have no more.'

With the Restoration, fortune began again to smile on our poet. He was replaced in his old charge, and seems to have spent the rest of his life quietly in the country, enjoying the fresh air and the old English sports--'repenting at leisure moments,' as Shakspeare has it, of the early pruriencies of his muse; or, as the same immortal bard says of Falstaff, 'patching up his old body' for a better place. The date of his death is not exactly ascertained; but he seems to have got considerably to the shady side of seventy years of age.

Herrick's poetry was for a long time little known, till worthy Nathan Drake, in his 'Literary Hours,' performed to him, as to some others, the part of a friendly resurrectionist. He may be called the English Anacreon, and resembles the Greek poet, not only in graceful, lively, and voluptuous elegance and richness, but also in that deeper sentiment which often underlies the lighter surface of his verse. It is a great mistake to suppose that Anacreon was a mere contented sensualist and shallow songster of love and wine. Some of his odes shew that, if he yielded to the destiny of being a Cicada, singing amidst the vines of Bacchus, it was despair--the despair produced by a degraded age and a bad religion--which reduced him to the necessity. He was by nature an eagle; but he was an eagle in a sky where there was no sun. The cry of a n.o.ble being, placed in the most untoward circ.u.mstances, is here and there heard in his verses, and reminds you of the voice of one of the trans.m.u.ted victims of Circe, or of Ariel from that cloven pine, where he

'howl'd away twelve winters.'

Herrick might be by const.i.tution a voluptuary,--and he has unquestionably degraded his genius in not a few of his rhymes,--but in him, as well as in Anacreon, Horace, and Burns, there lay a better and a higher nature, which the critics have ignored, because it has not found a frequent or full utterance in his poetry. In proof that our author possessed profound sentiment, mingling and sometimes half-lost in the loose, luxuriant leaf.a.ge of his imagery, we need only refer our readers to his 'Blossoms'

and his 'Daffodils.' Besides gaiety and gracefulness, his verse is exceedingly musical--his lines not only move but dance.

SONG.

1 Gather the rose-buds, while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying.

2 The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun, The higher he's a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he's to setting.

3 The age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer; But being spent, the worse and worst Times, still succeed the former.

4 Then be not coy, but use your time, And, whilst ye may, go marry; For having lost but once your prime, You may for ever tarry.

CHERRY-RIPE.

Cherry-ripe, ripe, ripe, I cry; Full and fair ones; come, and buy!

If so be you ask me where They do grow? I answer, there, Where my Julia's lips do smile; There's the land or cherry isle, Whose plantations fully show, All the year, where cherries grow.

THE KISS: A DIALOGUE.

1. Among thy fancies, tell me this: What is the thing we call a kiss?-- 2. I shall resolve ye what it is:

It is a creature, born and bred Between the lips, all cherry red; By love and warm desires 'tis fed; _Chor_.--And makes more soft the bridal bed:

2. It is an active flame, that flies First to the babies of the eyes, And charms them there with lullabies; _Chor_.--And stills the bride too when she cries:

2. Then to the chin, the cheek, the ear, It frisks and flies; now here, now there; 'Tis now far off, and then 'tis near; _Chor_.--And here, and there, and everywhere.

1. Has it a speaking virtue?--2. Yes.

1. How speaks it, say?--2. Do you but this, Part your join'd lips, then speaks your kiss; _Chor_.--And this love's sweetest language is.