The Hesperides & Noble Numbers/Hesperides/When He Would Have His Verses Read

by Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

8. WHEN HE WOULD HAVE HIS VERSES READ.

In sober mornings, do not thou rehearse
The holy incantation of a verse;
But when that men have both well drunk and fed,
Let my enchantments then be sung or read.

When laurel spirts i'th' fire, and when the hearth
Smiles to itself, and gilds the roof with mirth;
When up the thyrse^[1] is rais'd, and when the sound
Of sacred orgies^[2] flies, a round, a round.
When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine,
Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine.

Round, a rustic dance.
Cato, see Martial, x. 17, quoted in Note.

1. "A javelin twined with ivy" (Note in the original edition).
2. "Songs to Bacchus" (Note in the original edition.)