Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Robert Herrick (1591–1674)

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 is raised, and when the sound

Of sacred orgies, flies around, around;

When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine,

Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine.