The Hesperides & Noble Numbers: Vol. 1 and 2Herrick, Robert
General
The Hesperides & Noble Numbers: Vol. 1 and 2
Herrick, Robert
Poetry
You say you're sweet; how should we know, I. 139.
You see this gentle stream that glides, II. 54.
Young I was, but now am old, I. 18.
APPENDIX OF EPIGRAMS, etc.
_NOTE._
_Herrick's coarser epigrams and poems are included in this_ Appendix.
_A few decent, but somewhat pointless, epigrams have been added._
APPENDIX OF EPIGRAMS.
5. [TO HIS BOOK.] ANOTHER.
Who with thy leaves shall wipe, at need,
The place where swelling piles do breed;
May every ill that bites or smarts
Perplex him in his hinder parts.
6. TO THE SOUR READER.
If thou dislik'st the piece thou light'st on first,
Think that of all, that I have writ, the worst:
But if thou read'st my book unto the end,
And still do'st this and that verse, reprehend;
O perverse man! if all disgustful be,
The extreme scab take thee, and thine, for me.
41. THE VINE.
I dreamt this mortal part of mine
Was metamorphos'd to a vine;
Which crawling one and every way
Enthrall'd my dainty Lucia.
Methought, her long small legs and thighs
I with my tendrils did surprise;
Her belly, buttocks, and her waist
By my soft nerv'lets were embrac'd;
About her head I writhing hung, }
And with rich clusters, hid among }
The leaves, her temples I behung: }
So that my Lucia seem'd to me
Young Bacchus ravish'd by his tree.
My curls about her neck did crawl,
And arms and hands they did enthrall:
So that she could not freely stir,
All parts there made one prisoner.
But when I crept with leaves to hide
Those parts, which maids keep unespy'd,
Such fleeting pleasures there I took,
That with the fancy I awoke;
And found, ah me! this flesh of mine
More like a stock than like a vine.
64. ONCE POOR, STILL PENURIOUS.
Goes the world now, it will with thee go hard:
The fattest hogs we grease the more with lard.
To him that has, there shall be added more;
Who is penurious, he shall still be poor.
99. UPON BLANCH.
Blanch swears her husband's lovely; when a scald
Has blear'd his eyes: besides, his head is bald
Next, his wild ears, like leathern wings full spread,
Flutter to fly, and bear away his head.
109. UPON CUFFE. EPIG.
Cuffe comes to church much: but he keeps his bed
Those Sundays only whenas briefs are read.
This makes Cuffe dull; and troubles him the most,
Because he cannot sleep i' th' church free cost.
_Briefs._--Letters recommending the collection of alms.
110. UPON FONE A SCHOOLMASTER. EPIG.
Fone says, those mighty whiskers he does wear
Are twigs of birch, and willow, growing there:
If so, we'll think too, when he does condemn
Boys to the lash, that he does whip with them.
126. UPON SCOBBLE. EPIG.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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