ROBERT HERRICK

Nor need we here to fear the frown

Of court or crown : Where fortune bears no sway o'er things,

There all are kings. In this securer place we'll keep

As lull'd asleep; Or for a little time we'll lie

As robes laid by ; To be another day re- worn,

Turn'd, but not torn : Or like old testaments engross'd,

Lock'd up, not lost. And for a while lie here conceal'd,

To be reveal'd Next at the great Platonick year,

And then meet here.

��275. Litany to the Holy Spirit

IN the hour of my distress, When temptations me oppress, And when I my sins confess,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me ! When I lie within my bed, Sick in heart and sick in head, And with doubts discomforted,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me ! When the house doth sigh and weep, And the world is drown'd in sleep, Yet mine eyes the watch do keep,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me !

274. Platonick year] the perfect or cyclic year, when the sun, moon, and five planets end their revolutions together and start anew. See Titnazts, p. 39.

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