Robert Herrick: To The Painter, To Draw Him A Picture.

TO THE PAINTER, TO DRAW HIM A PICTURE.
by Robert Herrick

COME, skilful Lupo, now, and take
Thy bice, thy umber, pink, and lake ;
And let it be thy pencil's strife,
To paint a Bridgeman to the life :
Draw him as like too, as you can,
An old, poor, lying, flattering man :
His cheeks bepimpled, red and blue ;
His nose and lips of mulberry hue.
Then, for an easy fancy, place
A burling iron for his face :
Next, make his cheeks with breath to swell,
And for to speak, if possible :
But do not so, for fear lest he
Should by his breathing, poison thee.

Bice, properly a brown grey, but by transference
from "blue bice" and "green bice," used for blue
and green.
Burling iron, pincers for extracting knots

Source:
Herrick, Robert. Works of Robert Herrick. vol I.
Alfred Pollard, ed.
London, Lawrence & Bullen, 1891. 46.

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