Mr. Herrick

“ Herrick. We're not a ceremonious people here. We can't afford to be; neighbors are too scarce."
Wade thanked her and there was a moment's silence. Then Eve, who had been smilingly watching the players, turned with lowered voice.
"And sometimes when you come to see us, Mr. Herrick, won't you come through the gate in the hedge, please?" ”

“ If you fix it so I win, you will save me the money I have wagered. That’s all I ask, Merriwell. You may have every blamed dollar of the winnings to do with as you like.”
“Ten thousand!” exclaimed Frank. “Just what I need! Take me to Herrick!”
They found Herrick at the Hoffman House, and Herrick was surprised when Merriwell met him with a show of cordiality.
“Mr. Herrick,” said Frank, “Diamond tells me that your Unknown is not in condition and may lose the bout to-night.”
“That’s right,” nodded Herrick. “He’s as good as licked now. I’ve warned Jack to hedge.” ”

“ And the Doctor turned his twinkling gray eyes on Wade with smiling dismay.
"Try the rocking chair, Doctor Crimmins. Let me take your hat and cane."
"No, no, I'll just lay them here beside me. I see you've chosen the best room for your chamber, sir. You're not one of us, Mr. Herrick, that's evident. Here we make the best room into a parlor, the next into a sitting-room, the next into a spare room and sleep in what's left. We take good care of our souls and let our bodies get along as best they may. ”

“ The parting Verse or charge to his Supposed Wife when he travelled. MS. variants of this poem are found at the British Museum in Add. 22, 603, and in Ashmole MS. 38. Their title, "Mr. Herrick's charge to his wife," led Mr. Payne Collier to rashly identify with the poet a certain Robert Herrick married at St. Clement Danes, 1632, to a Jane Gibbons. The variants are numerous, but not very important. In l. 4 we have "draw wooers" for "draw thousands"; ll. 11-16 are transposed to after l. 28; and "Are the expressions of that itch" is written "As emblems will express that itch" ”

“ What other qualities characteristic of poetry appear in Mr. Herrick’s work?
4. With the structure of his earlier work compare that of the Memoirs of an American Citizen as showing an attempt at greater breadth of canvas and greater variety of tone. Trace this attempt further in his later work.
5. What evidences do you find in Mr. Herrick’s novels of a carefully wrought theory of the art of the novelist?
6. Someone has called Mr. Herrick “a discouraged idealist.” Is this just?
Bibliography
The Man Who Wins. 1895. Literary Love Letters and Other Stories. 1896. The Gospel of Freedom. 1898. ”

“ Dround leaned back wearily in his seat and sighed:—
"Yours is a very bold plan, Mr. Harrington. It might succeed if we could get the necessary financial support. But, as you know well enough, this is hardly the time to provide money for any venture. The banks would not look favorably upon such a speculative suggestion. We shall have to wait until better times."
"We can't wait," I said brusquely. "Bad times or not, we must act."
"Well, well, I will think it over. It is time for my medicine, isn't it, Jane?" he said, looking fretfully at his wife. ”

“ I feel that I know you very well. Mr. Dresser, your intimate friend, has spoken to me about you. Such an interesting man, a little erratic, like a genius, you know."
As Sommers remained stiffly mute, Miss M'Gann's remarks died away.
"There is nothing more to tell," he said, getting up. "Of course Mrs. Preston has had a very serious strain, and I,—her friends,—must see that she has rest."
"Sure," Miss M'Gann broke in warmly; "now a lot of us girls are going up to Plum Lake, Michigan, for four weeks. It would be good for her to be with a nice party—"
"We will see," the doctor said coldly. ”

“ The lawyers stretched themselves, chatted, and laughed. The raw district attorney had done his worst, and judging from Mr. Brinkerhoff's amiable smile, it was not very bad. The newspaper men scurried out of the room for the elevators,—there was good copy this afternoon!
Lane joined his wife after a few moments, and they left the court-room.
"Are you tired?" he asked solicitously. "It must have been dull for you, all that law talk."
"Oh, no! ... I think I was never so much interested in anything in my life," she replied with a long sigh. ”

“ Thrice, and above, bless'd, my soul's half, art thou
In thy both last and better vow:
Could'st leave the city, for exchange, to see
The country's sweet simplicity:
And it to know and practise, with intent
To grow the sooner innocent
By studying to know virtue, and to aim
More at her nature than her name.
The last is but the least; the first doth tell
Ways less to live than to live well:
And both are known to thee, who now can'st live
Led by thy conscience; to give
Justice to soon-pleased nature ”

“ Erard went on coolly. “I understand exactly the contempt a woman like your mother has for me, also the gossip my way of life furnishes my good friends. I am an adventurer. I came from a nasty back street of Jersey City, and according to report, I have managed to make the world support me in luxurious idleness. Why, only last week your uncle, that dear, gentle, old Mr. Anthon, said: ‘See here, my boy, I can’t conscientiously go on [70] supporting you over here and lending my reputation towards getting you patrons. ”

“ The light runabout whirled into the broad avenue of Grand Boulevard, and there Graves let the animal out for a couple of blocks. A thin smile of satisfaction wrinkled the contractor's bearded lips. Then he pulled on the reins, and turned in his seat to face the architect.
"I'm glad of this chance to get acquainted with you, Mr. Hart," he began pleasantly. "I have been thinking lately that we might be of some use to each other."
He paused to let his words sink into his companion's mind. Then he resumed in a reflective manner:—
"I ain't content to build just for other folks. ”

“ Harrington?" he said questioningly, taking my hand in a hesitating way, as though he were not quite sure about me yet. "Oh, yes! I am glad to see you again. How is Mr. Carmichael? Well, I hope, and prospering?"
The man's mind was a blank!
"Yes, Mrs. Dround and I have been abroad this winter," he continued, "but we have come back to live here. America is the proper place for Americans, I have always believed. I have no patience with those people who expatriate themselves. Yes, Mrs. Dround wanted me to take a place in Kent, but I would not listen to it. ”

“ He was a queer old farmer sort of politician. His successor, I fancy, will be some one quite different. That type of statesman has had its day! There is a career, now, if a man wanted it!... Why not think of it?
"Good-by, my friend. I had almost forgotten, as I forgot yesterday, to thank you for making me so rich! Mr. Carboner cabled me the terms of your settlement with Strauss. They were wicked!
"Jane Dround.
"It would not be the most difficult thing in the world to capture Parkinson's seat—if one were willing to pay the price!" ”

“ To take her by the either hand;
Nor car'st which comes the first, the foul or fair:
A wise man ev'ry way lies square,
And, like a surly oak with storms perplex'd,
Grows still the stronger, strongly vex'd. ”

“ Or smile more inly, lest thy looks beguile,"
we have the very inferior passage:—
"I prithee draw in
Thy gazing fires, lest at their sight the sin
Of fierce idolatry shoot into me, and
I turn apostate to the strict command
Of nature; bid me now farewell, or smile
More ugly, lest thy tempting looks beguile".
This MS. version is followed in the first published text in Witts Recreations, 1645.
130. Upon Mrs. Eliz. Wheeler. "The lady complimented in this poem was probably a relation by [Pg 269] marriage. Herrick's first cousin, Martha, the seventh daughter of his uncle Robert, married Mr. ”

“ I introduce this into the text from the Museum manuscript as agreeing with the
"Well, I can quaff, I see,
To th' number five
Or nine"
of A Bacchanalian Verse (Hesperides 653) , on which see Note. Dr. Grosart explains the Ashmole reading Wine by the Note "οἶνος and vinum both give five, the number of perfection"; but this seems too far-fetched for Herrick.
Kiss, so depart. By a strange freak Ashmole MS. writes Guesse, and the Museum MS. Ghesse; but the emendation Kiss (adopted both by Dr. Grosart and Mr. Hazlitt) cannot be doubted. ”

“ I pinch the maids both black and blue";
and Ben Jonson's Entertainment at Althorpe, etc.
557. M. John Weare, Councellour. Probably the same as "the much-lamented Mr. J. Warr" of 134.
Law is to give to every one his own. Cicero, De Fin. v.: Animi affectio suum cuique tribuens Justitia dicitur.
564. His Kinswoman, Bridget Herrick, eldest daughter of his brother Nicholas. ”

“ Have I divorc'd thee only to combine
In hot adult'ry with another wine?
True, I confess I left thee, and appeal
'Twas done by me more to confirm my zeal
And double my affection on thee, as do those
Whose love grows more inflam'd by being foes.
But to forsake thee ever, could there be
A thought of such-like possibility?
When thou thyself dar'st say thy isles shall lack
Grapes before Herrick leaves canary sack.
Thou mak'st me airy, active to be borne,
Like Iphiclus, upon the tops of corn. ”

“ Wealth cannot make a life, but love.
Nor art thou so close-handed but canst spend,
Counsel concurring with the end,
As well as spare, still conning o'er this theme,
To shun the first and last extreme.
Ordaining that thy small stock find no breach,
Or to exceed thy tether's reach:
But to live round, and close, and wisely true
To thine own self, and known to few.
Thus let thy rural sanctuary be
Elysium to thy wife and thee;
There to disport yourselves with golden measure:
For seldom use commends the pleasure.
Live, and live blest, thrice happy pair ”

“ Herrick's Noble Numbers seldom rises above the expression of a cheerful gratitude and contentment. He had not the subtlety and elevation of Herbert, but he surpassed him in the grace, melody, sensuous beauty, and fresh lyrical impulse of his verse. The conceits of the metaphysical school appear in Herrick only in the form of an occasional pretty quaintness. He is the poet of English parish festivals and of English flowers, the primrose, the whitethorn, the daffodil. He sang the praises of the country life, love songs to "Julia," and hymns of thanksgiving for simple blessings. ”

“ And keep one centre: this with that conspires
To teach man to confine desires
And know that riches have their proper stint
In the contented mind, not mint:
And can'st instruct that those who have the itch
Of craving more are never rich. ”

“ For whose affection, Lydia, I
(So fate spares her) am well content to die.
Lyd.My heart now set on fire is
By Ornithes' son, young Calais,
For whose commutual flames here I,
To save his life, twice am content to die. ”

“ The basin stands the board upon
To take the free oblation:
A little pin-dust, which they hold
More precious than we prize our gold
Which charity they give to many
Poor of the parish, if there's any. ”

“ It’s the night of all others I’d go somewhere—get something. No! I won’t give in. I’ll get away from it, forget it, and be happy again. I will—see me do it.... They dine at half-past eight. Have the carriage at eight. I shall be ready.”
He walked to and fro in the dressing-room, wishing to say something that could soften her mood. At last he put his hand gently on her beautiful bare shoulders and lowered his face to hers.
“We must take this together, love,” he whispered simply.
“Don’t speak of it!” she cried, drawing herself from his touch. “Don’t touch me. I shall go mad, mad! ”

“ As a pastoral lyrist Herrick stands first among English poets. His genius is limited in scope, and comparatively unambitious, but in its own field it is unrivalled. His tiny poems—and of the thirteen hundred that he has left behind him not one is long—are like jewels of various value, heaped together in a casket. ”

“ Harcourt laughed good-humouredly, almost paternally. “I was going, I declare, to commit the folly, unpardonable in my years, of offering a young man advice. I was going to say, my good lad, that from the poetic point of view, your visit here must have been so inspiring, so, what shall I say? so eminently successful, that it would be a thousand pities for you to prolong it. Disillusion,” he added, with a light sigh, “swiftly follows upon joy.”
Herrick chewed a thousand savage retorts, but let not one escape beyond his clenched teeth. ”

“ When the doctor asked me if he should try to save his life, I wanted him to die—oh, how I longed that the doctor would refuse to try! Well, he's alive. It is for life."
She seemed to see before her a long, toilsome ascent, to which she had been driven to put her feet.
"Think it over," the dentist counselled at last, despondently. "Sleep on it. There's Worcester, Ohio, and my sister-in-law."
Mrs. Preston smiled, and put on her hat.
"I've taken a lot of your time."
"That's no account, but I can't see what you came for. You won't let a feller help you." ”

“ Surely, it should make us rate it more highly. We may almost say that what Herrick borrowed was intrinsically of little more value than the tags from a Latin delectus. He breathed upon them and filled them with his music, so that they assimilate so admirably with his verse, that even when he printed them in italics the meaning of the change of type has long remained a secret to his commentators. It has become a commonplace of criticism to write of Herrick as a 'butterfly,' but he was really a conscious artist, and no mean one. ”