Part 106 (1/2)

649. _Upon Lucy._ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650, under the t.i.tle, _On Betty_.

653. _To th' number five or nine._ Probably Herrick is mistaking the references in Greek and Latin poets to the mixing of their wine and water (_e.g._, Hor. _Od._ III. xix. 11-17) for the drinking of so many cups.

654. _Long-looked-for comes at last._ Cp. G. Herbert, preface to Sibbes'

Funeral Sermon on Sir Thomas Crew (1638): ”That ancient adage, 'Quod differtur non aufertur' for 'Long-looked-for comes at last'”.

655. _The morrow's life too late is_, etc. Mart. I. xvi. 12: Sera nimis vita est crastina: vive hodie.

662. _O happy life_, etc. From Virg. _Georg._ ii. 458-9:--

O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint Agricolas.

It is not uncharacteristic that these fervid praises of country life were left unfinished.

664. _Arthur Bartly._ Not yet identified.

665. _Let her Lucrece all day be._ From Martial XI. civ. 21, 22:--

Lucretia toto Sis licet usque die: Laida nocte volo.

_Neither will Famish me, nor overfill._ Mart. I. lviii. 4: Nec volo quod cruciat, nec volo quod satiat.

667. _Be't for my Bridal or my Burial._ Cp. Brand, vol. ii., and Coles'

_Introduction to the Knowledge of Plants_: ”Rosemary and bayes are used by the commons both at funerals and weddings”.

672. _Kings ought to be more lov'd than fear'd._ Seneca, _Octavia_, 459: Decet timeri Caesarem. At plus diligi.

673. _To Mr. Denham, on his prospective poem._ Sir John Denham published in 1642 his _Cooper's Hill_, a poem on the view over the Thames towards London, from a hill near Windsor.

675. _Their fas.h.i.+on is, but to say no_, etc. Cp. Montaigne's _Essais_, II. 3, p. 51; Florio's tr. p. 207: ”Let it suffice that in doing it they say no and take it”.

676. _Love is maintained by wealth._ Ovid, _Rem. Am._ 746: Divitiis alitur luxuriosus amor.

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 subst.i.tuted 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. III. _Od._ i., but I have an uneasy sense that Herrick is translating.

697. _Adversity._ Printed in _Witts Recreations_, 1650.

702. _Mean things overcome mighty._ Cp. 486 and Note.

706. _How roses came red._ Cp. Burton, _Anat. Mel._ III. ii. 3: ”Constantine (_Agricult._ xi. 18) makes Cupid himself to be a great dancer: by the same token that he was capering among the G.o.ds, he flung down a bowl of nectar, which, distilling upon the white rose, ever since made it red”.

709. _Tears and Laughter._ Bishop Jebb quotes a Latin couplet inscribed on an old inn at Four Crosses, Staffords.h.i.+re:--

Fleres si scires unum tua tempora mensem: Rides, c.u.m non sit forsitan una dies.

710. _Tully says._ Cic. _Tusc. Disp._ III. ii. 3: Gloria est frequens de aliquo, fama c.u.m laude.