Possibly Herrick meant to translate the whole poem, which would explain his initial And. But cp. Ben Jonson's Engl. Gram. ch. viii.: "'And' in the beginning of a sentence serveth instead of an admiration".
[164]. To a Gentlewoman objecting to him his gray hairs. Mr. Hazlitt quotes an early MS. copy headed: "An old man to his younge Mrs.". The variants, as he observes, are mostly for the worse. The poem may have been suggested to Herrick by Anacreon, 6 [11]:—
Λέγουσιν αἱ γυναῖκες,
Ἀνακρέων, γέρων εἶ·
λαβὼν ἔσοπτρον ἄθρει
κόμας μὲν οὐκέτ' οὔσας κ.τ.λ.
[168]. Jos. Lo. Bishop of Exeter. Joseph Hall, 1574-1656, author of the satires.
[169]. The Countess of Carlisle. Lucy, the second wife of James, first Earl of Carlisle, the Lady Carlisle of Browning's Strafford.
[170]. I fear no earthly powers. Probably suggested by Anacreon [36], beginning: τί με τοὺς νόμους διδάσκεις; Cp. also 7 [15]: Οὔ μοι μέλει τὰ Γύγεω.
[172]. A Ring presented to Julia. Printed without variation in Witts Recreations, 1650, under the title: "With a O to Julia".
[174]. Still thou reply'st: The Dead. Cp. Martial, VIII. lxix. 1, 2:—
Miraris veteres, Vacerra, solos
Nec laudas nisi mortuos poetas.
[178]. Corinna's going a-Maying. Herrick's poem is a charming expansion of Chaucer's theme: "For May wol have no slogardye a night". The account of May-day customs in Brand (vol. i. pp. 212-234) is unusually full, and all Herrick's allusions can be illustrated from it. Dr. Nott compares the last stanza to Catullus, Carm. v.; but parallels from the classic poets could be multiplied indefinitely.