[254]. Gold and frankincense. St. Matt. ii. 11. St. Ambrose. Aurum Regi, thus Deo.
[256]. The Chewing the Cud. Cp. Lev. xi. 6.
[258]. As my little pot doth boil, etc. This far-fetched little poem is an instance of Herrick's habit of jotting down his thoughts in verse. In cooking some food for a charitable purpose he seems to have noticed that the boiling pot tossed the meat to and fro, or "waved" it (the priest's work), and that he himself was giving away the meat he lifted off the fire, the "heave-offering," which was the priest's perquisite. This is the confusion or "level-coil" to which he alludes.
NOTES TO ADDITIONAL POEMS.
[The Description of a Woman]. Printed in Witts Recreations, 1645, and contained also in Ashmole MS. 38, where it is signed: "Finis. Robert Herrick." Our version is taken from Witts Recreations, with the exception of the readings show and grow (for shown and grown, in ll. 15 and 16). The Ashmole MS. contains in all thirty additional lines, which may or may not be by Herrick, but which, as not improving the poem, have been omitted in our text in accordance with the precedent set by the editor of Witts Recreations.
[Mr. Herrick: his Daughter's Dowry]. From Ashmole MS. 38, where it is signed: "Finis. Robt. Hericke."
[Mr. Robert Herrick: his Farewell unto Poetry]. Printed by Dr. Grosart and Mr. Hazlitt from Ashmole MS. 38. I add a few readings from Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 22, 603, where it is entitled: Herrick's Farewell to Poetry. The importance of the poem for Herrick's biography is alluded to in the brief "Life" prefixed to vol. i.
For some sleepy keys the Museum MS. reads, the sleeping keys; for yet forc't they are to go it has and yet are forc't to go; drinking to the odd Number of Nine for Number of Wine, as to which see below; turned her home for twirled her home; dear soul for rare soul. All these are possible, but beloved Africa, and the omission of the two half lines, "'tis not need The scarecrow unto mankind," are pure blunders.