12 s. i. MAR. 11, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
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*35. Lieut.-General George Deare, Bengal Artillery, d. Mar. 5, 1823, a. 70.
30. Jane, w. of Robt. Farquhar of Portland Place, of Newark, Renfrew, and of the islands of Antigua and Grenada, b. at Rotherhithe, Surrey, Mar. 26, 1757; d. in Portland Place, Nov. 7, 1834. Robert Farquhar, Esq., was born at Kintore, Aberdeen, June 19, 1755, and d. at Keswick, Jan. 29, 1836.
17 Ashley Mansions, S.W.
(To be continued.)
SOME NOTES ON HERRICK.
The references are to Grosart's edition, but Mr. Pollard's and Prof. Moorman's have been consulted.
I. 40 ('How Love came in,' l. 6), "like the soule, whole every where."—A reference to the scholastic doctrine of the soul as "tota in toto et tota in qualibet parte."
I. 73 ('Glide gentle streams,' stanza 4), "the spring's once drie."—"Spring's" in modern spelling would be "springs" (plural).
I. 76 (first lines of 'His Fare-well to Sack'):
Farewell thou Thing, time-past so knowne, so deare
To me, as blood to life and spirit: Neare,
Nay, thou more neare then kindred, friend, man, wife,
Male to the female, soule to body: Life
To quick [our] action, or the warme soft side 5
Of the resigning, yet resisting Bride.
The kisse of Virgins. . . .
Soft speech, smooth touch, the lips. . . .
These, and a thousand sweets, co'd never be
So neare, or deare, as thou wast once to me.10
Grosart justifies his insertion of "our" in l. 5:—
"The meaning is that sack is to the male life to quick, i.e., make lively his action—to the bride it is life to make quick or give life to 'her soft side.' Hence a distinctive pronoun is required."
It seems to me that Grosart's interpretation of ll. 4-6 interrupts the sense. Ll. 9 and 10 show that everything mentioned before has been mentioned as an example of something near or dear. I think, therefore, that the colon after "body" in l. 4 should be disregarded, as one must clearly disregard =the full stop after "Bride," and the sense should run on: "more near than life is near to quick action, more near than [to the bridegroom] the warm soft side," &c.
It is true that l. 5 will metrically bear the insertion of an extra syllable. But if "action" be trisyllabic (cp. "admiration," l. 38), the line is not weaker than the last line of the poem:—
Hereafter, shall smell of the Lamp, not thee.
I. 174 ('Fly to my Mistresse, pretty pilfring Bee').—There is an interesting variant of this first line (not mentioned by Prof. Moorman) in Add. MS. 15,227, fo. 3 v.:
Fly to my Mistresse, yellow-footed bee.
II. 25 ('Shapcot! to thee,' ll. 15, 16), "to stir | His Spleen," i.e., I suppose, to stir his mirth, the spleen being the seat of laughter.
II. 37 ('No news of Navies,' l. 7), "wring | The free-born Nosthrill of the King." With the spelling "wring" for "ring" cp. that of "bewray" for "beray," II. 196 ('What made that mirth,' l. 2).
II. 49 ('Ah Posthumus!' stanza 6), "although we have | No roofs of Cedar, nor our brave Baiæ."—For "our brave" one would conjecture "outbrave." The word "outbrave," Prof. Moorman tells me, is used by Herrick more than once.
Mr. Pollard prints some additional verses of this poem from a MS. source. In the last verse perhaps "Smith" is the "J. Smith" who was Mennes's collaborator in the 'Musarum Deliciæ.'
II. 61 ('Loth to depart,' ll. 5, 6), "since time a thousand cares | And griefs hath fil'de upon my silver hairs."—"Fil'de" is explained by Grosart "=defiled," Pollard prints it "fill'd." I should read "pil'de" (= piled).
II. 74 ('Till I shall come again,' ll. 65, 66), "The Phesant, Partridge, Gotwit, Reeve, Ruffe, Raile, | The Cock, the Curlew, and the quaile."—Cp. Ben Jonson, Epigram ci., 'Inviting a Friend to Supper': "I'll tell you . . . .Of partridge, pheasant, woodcock and godwit, | Knat, rail and ruff."
II. 105 ('After the Feast,' ll. 27, 28), 'farre more | Soft then the finest Lemster ore."—"Lemster ore" is explained by Grosart as "Leominster wool." Cp. J. Howell, 'Epistolæ Ho-elianæ,' iv. 28:—
"I know, being so near Lemster's- Ore, that you dwell in a gentle Soil, which is good for Cheese, as well as for Cloth."
III. 165 ('Tell us, thou clear').—Cp. Song of Solomon vi. 1-3.
III. 204 ('Is this a Fast?').—Cp. Isaiah lviii. 4-7.
Mr. Pollard's edition, II. 270 ('Charon, O Charon').—Eucosmia, or Lord Hastings's betrothed, was seemingly a daughter of Sir Theodore Turquet de Mayerne. See Dorothy Osborne's Letters and Judge Parry's note on Letter 28 ("Everyman's Library").
