Now, Now, The Mirth Comes - The Hymns and Carols of Christmas

“Now, Now The Mirth Comes”
Lord, 'tis Thy plenty-dropping hand
That soiles my land;
And giv'st me for my bushell sowne,
Twice ten for one.
This is an excerpt from a longer poem, "A Thanksgiving To God, For His House." The
full poem is found in the Appendix.
It is unknown whether or not Herrick wrote any substantial volume of poetry after the
publication of Hesperides in 1648, but only a very few have yet been found, and none after
1649. Most consider it unlikely that his pen was silent in the 25 years until his death.
In the years following his removal from Dean Prior in 1648, deprived of income, he
lived a life of penury and dependence. This poem from Hesperides perhaps reflects the
feelings he would experience during these years:
Once poore, still penurious.
Goes the world now, it will with thee goe hard:
The fattest Hogs we grease the more with Lard.
To him that has, there shall be added more;
Who is penurious, he shall still be poore.
However, with the restoration of Charles II. in 1662, he was again restored to his
modest position in Devon. He resided there until his death in October 1674 at the age of
eighty-three. He was a life-long bachelor, and penned several poems concerning this decision,
including this one, titled “His Answer to a Question:”
Some would know
Why I so
Long still doe tarry,
And ask why
Here that I
Live, and not marry?
Thus I those
Doe oppose;
What man would be here,
Slave to Thrall,
If at all
He could live free here?
It is believed that many of the women mentioned in his romantic poetry were fictional.
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