Living
To the right Honourable Mildmay, Earle of Westmorland..
From Hesperides (1648)
YOu are a Lord, an Earle, nay more, a Man,
Who writes sweet Numbers well as any can:
If so, why then are not These Verses hurld,
Like Sybels Leaves, throughout the ample world?
What is a Jewell if it be not set
Forth by a Ring, or some rich Carkanet?
But being so; then the beholders cry,
See, see a Jemme (as rare as Baelus eye.)
Then publick praise do's runne upon the Stone,
For a most rich, a rare, a precious One.
Expose your jewels then unto the view,
That we may praise Them, or themselves prize You.
Vertue conceal'd (with Horace you'l confesse)
Differs not much from drowzie slothfullnesse.
Cite this poem
MLA
Herrick, Robert. “To the right Honourable Mildmay, Earle of Westmorland..” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/herrick/460/.
Chicago
Herrick, Robert. “To the right Honourable Mildmay, Earle of Westmorland..” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/herrick/460/.
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