And now we must imagine first The elves present, to quench his thirst, Quite through the table, where he spies That was too coarse; but then forthwith With the red-capp'd worm, that is shut Brown as his tooth; a little moth, Late fatten'd in a piece of cloth; With wither'd cherries; mandrakes' ears; The broke heart of a nightingale His blood to height? This done, commended XCVIII. TO VIRGINS. HEAR, ye virgins; and I'll teach Kept, as Danäe in a tower; Or those babies in your eyes Gifts will get ye, or the man. XCIX. THE BELMAN. FROM noise of scarefires rest ye free; From murder's benedicite; From all mischances, that may fright The goblin from ye, while ye sleep! *This conceit, contained also in poem 11, is here still more beautifully touched upon . Besides the bards mentioned in my note to that poem, I find another who has ad opted it: When th' am'rous youth looks babies in your eyes. POEM XCIX.] In ancient times, the watchman, when he cried the hours, was accustomed likewise to recite bene Past one o'clock, and almost two; C. UPON PRUDENCE BALDWIN HER SICKNESS. PRU, my dearest maid, is sick, dictions, and other carmina, to drive away the fairies, and demons of the night. Thus Shakspeare, in his Cymbeline, Act 2. Sc. 2. From fairies, and the tempters of the night, Guard me, beseech ye! And Milton, in his Il Penseroso : The belman's drowsy charm, To bless the doors from nightly harm. Take the following lines also to the same purport: CARTWRIGHT's Ordinary. A. 3. Sc. 1. Herrick was alive to all the superstitions of his age; and his collection abounds with amulets, and charms against the fiends, and spectres of Gothic mythology. DRAKE. POEM C.] It would appear that our poet had a favourite maidservant, who was sometimes the subject of his song; and this is the first of his poems wherein we find her mentioned. Phillips, in his Theatrum Poetarum, very unjustly says, that he was influenced by no other nymph, or goddess than Pru; and Grainger, as unjustly and flippantly, adds, that, from the effects of her inspiration, she was but indif ferently qualified for a tenth muse. But Phillips surely had not seen his numerous verses to Julia, and those to Anthea, Dianeme, Electra, Sappho, Myrrha, Biancha, Corinna, and Perilla, as well as to other ladies of no fictitious name. CI. TO APOLLO. A SHORT HYMN. PHOEBUS, when that I a verse, CII. A HYMN TO BACCHUS. BACCHUS, let me drink no more; CIII. ON HIMSELF. HERE down my wearied limbs I'll lay, Just at the setting of the sun, POEM CII. This, and indeed the two preceding poems, shew how much Herrick had cultivated a taste for the chastity, and simplicity of the Greek epigram. Here I have found a chamber fit, God and good friends be thank'd for it! Where if I can a lodger be A little while, from tramplers free, At my uprising next, I shall, If not requite, yet thank ye all. Meanwhile, the holy-rood hence fright The fouler fiend, and evil spright, From scaring you or your's this night! CIV. UPON A CHILD THAT DIED. HERE she lies, a pretty bud, CV. CONTENT, NOT CATES. 'Tis not the food, but the content, That makes the table's merriment: Where trouble serves the board, we eat The platters there, as soon as meat. Of mutton, or of veal in it, Set on my table, trouble-free, More than a feast contenteth me. |