22 [15].
"But since it must be done, despatch and sew
Up in a sheet your Bride, and what if so
It be with rib of Rock and Brass,ye]
Yea tower her up, as Danae was,
Think you that this,
Or Hell itself, a powerful Bulwark is?ye]
I tell you no; but like a
Bold bolt of thunder he will make his way,
And rend the cloud, and throw
The sheet about, like flakes of snow.
23 [16].
"All now is hushed in silence: Midwife-moon
With all her Owl-ey'd issue begs a boon
Which you must grant; that's entrance with
Which extract, all we † call pith
And quintessence
Of Planetary bodies; so commence,
All fair constellations
Looking upon you that the Nations
Springing from to such Fires
May blaze the virtue of their Sires."
—R. Herrick.
The variants in this version are not very important; one of the most noteworthy, round for ground, in stanza 5 [4], was overlooked by Dr. Grosart in his collation. Of the seven stanzas subsequently omitted several are of great beauty. There are few happier images in Herrick than that of Time throned in a saffron evening in stanza 11. It is only when
