Elegie XII.

ll. 77-8.Pitty these Angels; yet their dignitiesPasse Vertues, Powers and Principalities.

ll. 77-8.Pitty these Angels; yet their dignities

Passe Vertues, Powers and Principalities.

There is a good deal of vacillation in the MSS. as to the punctuation of 'Angels yet', some placing the semicolon before, others after 'yet'. The difference is not great, but that which I have adopted, though it has least authority, brings out best what I take to be the meaning of these somewhat difficult lines. 'Pity these Angels, for yet (i.e. until they are melted down and lose their form) they, as good angels, are superior in dignity to Vertues, Powers, and Principalities among the bad angels.' The order of the Angelic beings, which the Middle Ages took from Pseudo-Dionysius, consisted of nine Orders in three Hierarchies. The first and highest Hierarchy included (beginning with the highest Order) Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones; the second, Dominions, Virtues, and Powers; the third, Principalities, Archangels, Angels. Thus the three Orders mentioned by Donne are all in rank superior to mere Angels; but the lowest Order of Good Angels is superior to the highest Order of Evil Spirits, although before their fall these belonged to the highest Orders. Probably, however, there is a second and satiric reference in Donne's words which explains his choice of Vertues, Powers, and Principalities. In the other sense of the words Angels are coins, money; and the power of money surpasses that of earthly Vertues, Powers, and Principalities. This may explain, further, why Donne singles out 'Vertues, Powers, and Principalities'. One would expect that, to make the antithesis between good and bad angels as complete as possible, he would have named the three highest orders, Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones. But the three orders which he does mention are the highest Orders which travel, as money does. The angels are divided intoAssistentesandAdministrates. To the former class belong all the Orders of the first Hierarchy, and the Dominions of the second. The Vertues are thus the highest Order ofAdministrantes. Aquinas,Summa, cxii. 3, 4. TheAssistentesare those who 'only stand and wait'.

Page99,l. 100.rot thy moist braine: So Sylvester'sDu Bartas,I.ii. 18:

the BrainDoth highest place of all our Frame retain,And tempers with its moistful coldness soTh'excessive heat of other parts below.

the Brain

Doth highest place of all our Frame retain,

And tempers with its moistful coldness so

Th'excessive heat of other parts below.

This was Aristotle's opinion (De Part. Anim.II. 7), refuted by Galen, who, like Plato, made the brain the seat of the soul and the generator of the animal spirits. See II. p.45.

Page100, ll. 112, 114.Gold is Restorative ... 'tis cordiall.'Most men say as much of gold, and some other minerals, as these havedone of precious stones. Erastus still maintaineth the opposite part, Disput. in Paracelsum, cap. 4, fol. 196, he confesseth of gold, that it makes the heart merry, but in no other sense but as it is in a miser's chest:

â€”â€”at mihi plaudoâ€”â€”simulac nummos contemplor in arcÃ¢

â€”â€”at mihi plaudo

â€”â€”simulac nummos contemplor in arcÃ¢

as he said in the poet: it so revives the spirits, and is an excellent receipt against melancholy,

For gold in phisik is a cordial,Therefore he lovede gold in special.'Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, Pt. 2, Sub. 4.

For gold in phisik is a cordial,

Therefore he lovede gold in special.'

Burton,Anatomy of Melancholy, Pt. 2, Sub. 4.

Page101, l. 37.And mad'st us sigh and glow: 'sigh and blow' has been the somewhat inelegant reading of all editions hitherto.

l. 42.And over all thy husbands towring eyes.The epithet 'towring' is strange and the MSS. show some vacillation. Most of them read 'towred', probably the past participle of the same verb, though Grosart alters to 'two red'â€”not a very poetical description.RP31here diverges fromH40and reads 'loured', perhaps for 'lurid', but both these MSS. alter the order of the words and attach the epithet to 'husbands', which is manifestly wrong, and the Grolier Club edition prints 'lowering' without comment, regarding, I suppose, 't' as a mistake for 'l'.

The 'towring' of1669andTCDis probably correct, being a bold metaphor from hawking, and having the force practically of 'threatening'. The hawk towers threateningly above its prey before it 'sousing kills with a grace'. If 'towring' is not right, 'lowring' is the most probable emendation.

Page102, l. 43.That flam'd with oylie sweat of jealousie.This is the reading of all the MSS., and as on the whole their text is superior I have followed it. If 'oylie' is, as I think, the right epithet, it means 'moist', as in 'an oily palm', with perhaps a reference to the inflammability of oil. If 'ouglie '(i.e. ugly) be preferred it is a forcible transferred epithet.

l. 49.most respects?This is the reading of all the MSS., and 'best' in1669is probably an emendation. The use of 'most' as an adjective, superlative of 'great', is not uncommon:

God's wrong is most of all.Shakespeare,Rich. III,IV.iv. 377.

God's wrong is most of all.

Shakespeare,Rich. III,IV.iv. 377.

Though in this place most master wear no breeches.Ibid.,2 Hen. VI,I.iii. 144.

Though in this place most master wear no breeches.

Ibid.,2 Hen. VI,I.iii. 144.

l. 54. I can make no exact sense of this line either as it stands in1669or in the MSS. One is tempted to combine the versions and read:

Yea thy pale colours, and thy panting heart,

the 'secrets of our Art' being all the signs by which they communicated to one another their mutual affection. But it is necessary to explain the presence of 'inwards' or 'inward' in both the versions.

Page103, l. 79.The Summer how it ripened in the eare; This fine passage has been rather spoiled in all editions hitherto by printing in this line 'yeare' for 'eare', even in modernized texts. The MSS. and the sense both show that 'eare' is the right word, and indeed I have no doubt that 'year' in1635was simply due to a compositor's or copyist's pronunciation. It occurs again in the 1669 edition in the songTwicknam Garden(p.28, l. 3):

And at mine eyes, and at mine years,

These forms in 'y' are common in Sylvester'sDu Bartas, e.g. 'yerst'. The O.E.D. gives the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries as those in which 'yere' was a recognized pronunciation of 'ear', but it is found sporadically later and has misled editors. Thus in Sir George Etherege's letter to the Earl of Middleton from Ratisbon, printed in Dryden'sWorks(Scott and Saintsbury), xi, pp. 38-40, some lines run:

These formed the jewel erst did graceThe cap of the first Grave o' the race,Preferred by Graffin MarianTo adorn the handle of her fan;And, as by old record appears,Worn since in Kunigunda's years;Now sparkling in the Froein's hair,No rocket breaking in the airCan with her starry head compare.

These formed the jewel erst did grace

The cap of the first Grave o' the race,

Preferred by Graffin Marian

To adorn the handle of her fan;

And, as by old record appears,

Worn since in Kunigunda's years;

Now sparkling in the Froein's hair,

No rocket breaking in the air

Can with her starry head compare.

In a modernized text, as this is, surely 'Kunigunda's years' should be 'Kunigunda's ears'.

ll. 93-4.That I may grow enamoured on your mind,When my own thoughts I there reflected find.

ll. 93-4.That I may grow enamoured on your mind,

When my own thoughts I there reflected find.

'I there neglected find' has been the reading of all editions hithertoâ€”a strange reason for being enamoured.

Page104, l. 96.My deeds shall still be what my words are now: 'words' suits the context better than either the 'deeds' of1635-69or 'thoughts' ofA25.

Page105, Â ll. Â 13-14.Liv'd Mantuan now againe,That foemall Mastix, to limme with his penne

Page105, Â ll. Â 13-14.Liv'd Mantuan now againe,

That foemall Mastix, to limme with his penne

Chambers, following the editions from1639onwards, drops the comma after 'Mastix', which suggests that Julia is the 'foemall Mastix', not Mantuan. By Mantuan he understands Virgil, and supposes there is a reference to the 'flammis armataque Chimaera' ofAen.vi. 289. The Mantuan of the text is the 'Old Mantuan' ofLove's Labour's Lost, iv. 2. 92. Donne calls Mantuan the scourge of women because of his fourth eclogueDe natura mulierum. Norton quotes from it:

Femineum servile genus, crudele, superbum.

The O.E.D. quotes from S. Holland,Zara(1656): 'It would have puzzell'd that Female Mastix Mantuan to have limn'd this she Chymera'â€”obviously borrowed from this poem. The dictionary gives examples of 'mastix' in other compounds.

The reference to Mantuan as a woman-hater is a favourite one with the prose-pamphleteers: 'To this might be addedMantuansinvective against them, but that pittie makes me refraine from renewing his worne out complaints, the wounds whereof the former forepast feminine sexe hath felt. I, but here theHomerof Women hath forestalled an objection, saying thatMantuanshouse holding of our Ladie, he was enforced by melancholic into such vehemencie of speech', &c. Nash,The Anatomy of Absurdity(ed. McKerrow, i. 12).

'Where I leave you to consider, Gentlemen, how far unmeete women are to have such reproches laid upon them, as sundrye large lipt fellows have done: who when they take a peece of work in hand, and either for want of matter, or lack of wit, are half gravelled, then they must fill up the page with slaundering of women, who scarsly know what a woman is: but if I were able either by wit or arte to be their defender, or had the law in my hand to dispose as I list, which would be as unseemely, as an Asse to treade the measures: yet, if it were so, I would correctMantuans Egloge, intituledAlphus: or els if the Authour were alive, I would not doubt to persuade him in recompence of his errour, to frame a new one,' &c. Greene,Mamillia(ed. Grosart), 106-7. Greene is probably the 'Homerof Women' referred to in the first extract.

l. 19.Tenarus.In theAnatomy of the World'Tenarif' is thus spelt in the editions of 1633 to 1669, and Grosart declared that the reference here is to that island. It is of course to 'Taenarus' in Laconia. There was in that headland a sulphurous cavern believed to be a passage to Hades. Through it Orpheus descended to recover Eurydice. Ovid,Met.x. 13; Paus. iii. 14, 25.

l. 28.self-accusing oaths: 'oaths' is the reading of the MSS., 'loaths' of the editions. The word 'loaths' in the sense of 'dislike, hatred, ill-will' is found as late as 1728 (O.E.D.). 'If your Horse ... grow to a loath of his meat.' Topsell (1607). A self-accusing loath may mean a hatred, e.g. of good, which condemns yourself. In the context, however, 'cavils, untroths,' I am inclined to think that 'oaths' is right. Among the malevolent evils with which her breast swarms are oaths accusing others of crimes, which accuse herself, either because she is willing to implicate herself so long as she secures her enemy's ruin, or because the information is of a kind that could be got only by complicity in crime.

Page106, l. 6.I touch no fat sowes grease.Probably 'I say nothing libellous as to the way in which this or that rich man has acquired his wealth'. I cannot find the proverb accurately explained, or given in quite this form, in any collection.

l. 10.will redd or pale.The reading of1669and the two MSS. is doubtless correct, 'looke' being an editorial insertion as the use of 'red' as a verb was growing rare. If 'looke' had belonged to the original text 'counsellor' would probably have had the second syllable elided. Compare:

Roses out-red their [i.e. women's] lips and cheeks,Lillies their whiteness stain.Brome,The Resolve.

Roses out-red their [i.e. women's] lips and cheeks,

Lillies their whiteness stain.

Brome,The Resolve.

l. 21.the number of the Plaguy Bill: i.e. the weekly bill of deaths by the plague. By a Privy Council order of April 9, 1604, the theatres were permitted to be open 'except ther shall happen weeklie to die of the Plague above the number of thirtie'. The number was later raised to forty. The theatres were repeatedly closed for this reason between July 10, 1606, and 1610. In 1609 especially the fear of infection made it difficult for the companies, driven from London, to gain permission to act anywhere. There were no performances at Court during the winter 1609-10. Murray,English Dramatic Companies.

l. 22.the Custome Farmers.The Privy Council registers abound in references to the farmers of the customs and their conflicts with the merchants. As they had to pay dearly for their farm, they were tempted to press the law against the merchants in exacting dues.

l. 23.Of the Virginian plot.Two expeditions were sent to Virginia in 1609, in May under Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, and Captain Newport, and at the end of the year under Lord de la Warr, 'who by free election of the Treasurer and counsell of Virginia, and with the full consent of the generality of that company was constituted and authorized, during his natural life to be Lord Governor and Captaine Generall of all the English Collonies planted, or to be planted in Virginia, according to the tenor of his Majesties letters patents granted that yeare 1609.' Stow. Speculation in Virginia stock was encouraged: 'Besides many noblemen, knights, gentlemen, merchants, and wealthy tradesmen, most of the incorporated trades of London were induced to take shares in the stock.' Hildreth,History of the United States, i. 108, quoted by Norton.

The meaning of 'plot' here is 'device, design, scheme' (O.E.D.), as 'There have beene divers good plottes devised, and wise counsells cast allready about reformation of that realme': Spenser,State of Ireland. Donne uses the word also in the more original sense of 'a piece of ground, a spot'. See p.132, l. 34.

l. 23-4.whether Ward ... the I(n)land Seas.I have taken 'Iland'1635-54as intended for 'Inland', perhaps written 'Ä¨land', not for 'Island'. The edition of 1669 reads 'midland', and there is no doubt that the Mediterranean was the scene of the career and exploits of the notorious Ward, whose head-quarters were at Tunis. The Mediterranean is called the Inland sea in Holland's translation of Pliny (Hist. of the World, III.The Proeme); and Donne uses the phrase (with a different application but one borrowed from this meaning) in theProgresse of the Soule, p.308, ll. 317-8:

as if his vast wombe wereSome Inland sea.

as if his vast wombe were

Some Inland sea.

Previous editors read 'Island seas' but do not explain the reference, except Grosart, who declares that the 'Iland seas are those around the West Indian and other islands. The Midland seas (as in1669) were probably the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Seas'. He cites no authority; nor have we proof that Ward was ever in these seas. Writing to Salisbury on the 7th of March, 1607-8, Wotton says: 'The voice is here newly arrived that Warde hath taken another Venetian vessel of good value, so as the hatred of him increaseth among them and fully as fast as the fear of him. These are his effects. Now to give your Lordship some taste of his language. One Moore, captain of an English ship that tradeth this way ... was hailed by him not long since a little without the Gulf, and answering that he was bound for Venice, "Tell those flat caps" (said he) "who have been the occasion that I am banished out of my country that before I have done with them I will make them sue for pardon." In this style he speaketh.' Pearsall Smith,Life and Letters of ... Wotton, ii. 415. Mr. Pearsall Smith adds in a note that Ward hoped to 'buy or threaten the English Government into pardoning him', and that some attempt was also made by the Venetian Government to procure his assassination.

If 'Island' be the right reading the sea referred to must be the Adriatic. The Islands of the Illyrian coast were at various times the haunt of pirates. But I have found no instance of the phrase in this sense.

l. 25.the Brittaine Burse.This was built by the Earl of Salisbury on the site of an 'olde long stable' in the Strand on the north side of Durham House: 'And upon Tuesday the tenth of Aprill this yeere, one thousand sixe hundred and nine, many of the upper shoppes were richly furnished with wares, and the next day after that, the King, Queene, and Prince, the Lady Elizabeth and the Duke of Yorke, with many great Lords, and chiefe Ladies, came thither, and were there entertained with pleasant speeches, giftes, and ingenious devices, and then the king gave it a name, and called it Brittaines Burse.' Stow,Chronicle, p. 894.

l. 27.Of new built Algate, and the More-field crosses.Aldgate, oneof the four principal gates in the City wall, was taken down in 1606 and rebuilt by 1609: Stow,Survey. Norton refers to Jonson'sSilent Woman,I.i: 'How long did the canvas hang afore Aldgate? Were the people suffered to see the city's Love and Charity while they were rude stone, before they were painted and burnished?'

'The More-field crosses' are apparently the walks at Moor-field. Speaking of the embellishment of London which ensued from the long duration of peace, Stow says, 'And lastly, whereof there is a more generall, and particular notice taken by all persons resorting and residing in London, the new and pleasant walks on the north side of the city, anciently called More fields, which field (untill the third yeare of King James) was a most noysome and offensive place, being a generall laystall, a rotten morish ground, whereof it tooke first the name.' Stow,Chronicle. For the ditches which crossed the field were substituted 'most faire and royall walkes'.

Page107, l. 41. The '(quoth Hee)' of the 1669 edition is obviously correct. 'Hee' is required both by rhyme and reason. Mr. Chambers has ingeniously put '"True" quoth I' into a parenthesis, as a remark interjected by the poet. But apart from the rhyme the 'quoth Hee' is needed to explain the transition to direct speech. Without it the long speech of the citizen begins very awkwardly.

ll. 42-44. These lines seem to echo the Royal Proclamation of 1609, though the reference is different: 'in this speciall Proclamation his Majestic declared how grievously, the people of this latter age and times are fallen into verball profession, as well of religion, as of all commendable morall vertues, but wanting the actions and deeds of so specious a profession, and the insatiable and immeasurable itching boldnesse of the spirits, tongues and pens of most men.' Stow,Chronicle.

l. 46.Bawd, Tavern-keeper, Whore and Scrivener; The singular number of the MS. gives as good a sense as the plural and a better rhyme.

l. 47.The much of Privileg'd kingsmen, and the storeOf fresh protections, &c.

l. 47.The much of Privileg'd kingsmen, and the store

Of fresh protections, &c.

'We have many bankrupts daily, and as many protections, which doth marvellously hinder all manner of commerce.' Chamberlain to Carleton, Dec. 31, 1612. By 'kingsmen' I understand noblemen holding monopolies from the King. I do not understand the 'kinsmen' of the editions. By 'protections' is meant 'exemptions from suits in law', especially suits for debt. The London tradesmen were much cheated by the protections granted to the servants and followers of members of Parliament.

l. 65.found nothing but a Rope.I cannot identify this Rope. In theAululariaof Plautus, when Euclio finds his treasure gone he laments in the usual manner. At l. 721 he says, 'Heu me miserum, misere perii, male perditu',pessume ornatus eo.' The last words may have been taken as meaning 'I have the rope round my neck'.

l. 12. FollowingRP31and also Jonson'sUnderwoodsI have taken 'at once' as going with 'Both hot and cold', not with 'make life, and death' as in1633-69. This is one of the poems which1633derived from some other source thanD,H49,Lec.

ll. 16-18 (all sweeter ... the rest) Chambers has overlooked altogether the1633reading 'sweeter'. He prints 'sweeten'd' from1635-69. It is clear from the MSS. that this is an editor's amendment due to Donne's 'all sweeter' suggesting, perhaps intentionally, 'all the sweeter'. By dropping the bracket Chambers has left at least ambiguous the construction of 17-18:And the divine impression of stolne kisses That sealed the rest.Does this, as in1633, belong to the parenthesis, or is 'the divine impression' to be taken with 'so many accents sweet, so many sighes' and 'so many oathes and teares' as part subject to 'should now prove empty blisses'. I prefer the1633arrangement, which has the support of the MSS., though the punctuation of these is apt to be careless. The accents, sighs, oaths, and tears were all made sweeter by having been stolen with fear and trembling. This is how the Grolier Club editor takes it; Grosart and Chambers prefer to follow1635-69.

Page 109, l. 34. I do not know whence Chambers derived his reading 'drift' for 'trust'â€”perhaps from an imperfect copy of1633. He attributes it to all the editions prior to 1669. This is an oversight.

Page110, ll. 59 f.I could renew, &c.Compare Ovid,Amores, III. ii. 1-7.

Non ego nobilium sedeo studiosus equorum;Cui tamen ipsa faves, vincat ut ille precor.Ut loquerer tecum veni tecumque sederem,Ne tibi non notus, quem facis, esset amor.Tu cursum spectas, ego te; spectemus uterqueQuod iuvat, atque oculos pascat uterque suos.O, cuicumque faves, felix agitator equorum!

Non ego nobilium sedeo studiosus equorum;

Cui tamen ipsa faves, vincat ut ille precor.

Ut loquerer tecum veni tecumque sederem,

Ne tibi non notus, quem facis, esset amor.

Tu cursum spectas, ego te; spectemus uterque

Quod iuvat, atque oculos pascat uterque suos.

O, cuicumque faves, felix agitator equorum!

A careful study of the textual notes to this poem will show that there is a considerable difference between the text of this poem as given for the first time in1635, and that of the majority of the MSS. It is very difficult, however, to decide between them as the differences are not generally such as to suggest that one reading is necessarily right, the other wrong. The chief variants are these: 7 'parents' and 'fathers'. Here I fancy the 'parents' of the MSS. is right, and that 'fathers' in the editions and in a late MS. likeO'Fis due to the identification of Donne's mistress with his wife. Only the father of Anne More was alive at the time of their first acquaintance. It is not at all certain, however, that this poem is addressed to Anne More, and in any caseDonne would probably have disguised the details. The change of 'parents' to 'fathers' is more likely than the opposite. In l. 12 'wayes' (edd.) and 'meanes' (MSS.) are practically indistinguishable; nor is there much to choose between the two versions of l. 18: 'My soule from other lands to thee shall soare' (edd.) and 'From other lands my soule towards thee shall soare' (MSS.). In each case the version of the editions is slightly the better. In l. 28, on the other hand, I have adopted 'mindes' without hesitation although here the MSS. vary. There is no question of changing the mind, but there is of changing the mind's habit, of adopting a boy's cast of thought and manner: as Rosalind says,

and in my heartLie there what hidden woman's fear there will,We'll have a swashing and a martial outside,As many other mannish cowards haveThat do outface it with their semblances.As You Like It, I. iii. 114-18.

and in my heart

Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will,

We'll have a swashing and a martial outside,

As many other mannish cowards have

That do outface it with their semblances.

As You Like It, I. iii. 114-18.

In l. 35 the reading 'Lives fuellers', i.e. 'Life's fuellers', which is found in such early and good MSS. asD,H49,LecandW, is very remarkable. If I were convinced that it is correct I should regard it as decisive and prefer the MS. readings throughout. But 'Loves fuellers', though also a strange phrase, seems more easy of interpretation, and applicable.

In l. 37 there can, I think, be no doubt that the original reading is preserved byA18,N,S,TCD, andW.

Will quickly knowe thee, and knowe thee, and, alas!

The sudden, brutal change in the sense of the word 'knowe' is quite in Donne's manner. The reasons for omitting or softening it are obvious, and may excuse my not restoring it. The whole of these central lines reveal that strange bad taste, some radical want of delicacy, which mars not only Donne's poems and lighter prose but even at times the sermons. In l. 49 the reading of the MSS.A18,N,TC;D,H49,Lec, andWis also probably original:

Nor praise, nor dispraise me; Blesse nor curse.

It is not uncommon in Donne's poetry to find a syllable dropped with the effect of increasing the stress on a rhetorically emphatic word, here 'Blesse'. An editor would be sure to supply 'nor'.

Lamb has quoted from this Elegy in his note to Beaumont and Fletcher'sPhilaster(Specimens of English Dramatic Poets, 1808). It is clear that he used a copy of the 1669 edition, for he reads 35 'Lives fuellers', and also 42 'Aydroptique' for 'Hydroptique'. Both these mistakes were corrected in1719. Donne speaks in his sermons of 'fuelling and advancing his tentations'.Sermons80. 10. 99.

Page112, l. 44.England is onely a worthy Gallerie: i.e. entrance hall or corridor: 'Here then is the use of our hope before death, thatthis life shall be a gallery into a better roome and deliver us over to a better Country: for,if in this life only,' &c.Sermons50. 30. 270. 'He made but one world; for, this, and the next, are nottwo Worlds;... They are nottwo Houses; This is theGallery, and that theBedchamberof one, and the same Palace, which shall feel no ruine.'Sermons50. 43. 399.

In connexion with the general theme of this poem it may be noted that in 1605 Sir Robert Dudley, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Leicester, who like Donne served in the Cadiz and Islands expeditions, left England accompanied by the beautiful Elizabeth Southwell disguised as a page. At this period the most fantastic poetry was never more fantastic than life itself.

l. 12.wide and farr.The MSS. here correct an obvious error of the editions.

Page114, l. 24. This line is found only inA10, which omits the next eleven lines. It may belong to a shorter version of the poem, but it fits quite well into the context.

Page115, l. 58.daring eyes.The epithet looks as though it had been repeated from the line above, and perhaps 'darling' or 'darting' may have been the original reading. However, both the MSS. agree with the editions, and the word is probably used in two distinct senses, 'bold, adventurous' with 'armes' and 'dazzling' with 'eyes'. Compare:

O now no moreShall his perfections, like the sunbeams, dareThe purblind world; in heaven those glories are.Campion,Elegie upon the Untimely Death of Prince Henry.Let his Grace go forwardAnd dare us with his cap like larks.Shakespeare,Henry VIII, III. ii. 282.

O now no moreShall his perfections, like the sunbeams, dareThe purblind world; in heaven those glories are.Campion,Elegie upon the Untimely Death of Prince Henry.

O now no more

Shall his perfections, like the sunbeams, dare

The purblind world; in heaven those glories are.

Campion,Elegie upon the Untimely Death of Prince Henry.

Let his Grace go forwardAnd dare us with his cap like larks.Shakespeare,Henry VIII, III. ii. 282.

Let his Grace go forward

And dare us with his cap like larks.

Shakespeare,Henry VIII, III. ii. 282.

This refers to the custom of 'daring' or dazzling larks with a mirror.

Page117, ll. 31-2.Men to such Gods, &c.Donne has in view here the different kinds of sacrifice described by Porphyry:

How to devote things living in due formMy verse shall tell, thou in thy tablets write.For gods of earth and gods of heaven each three;For heavenly pure white; for gods of earthCattle of kindred hue divide in three,And on the altar lay thy sacrifice.For gods infernal bury deep, and castThe blood into a trench. For gentle NymphsHoney and gifts of Dionysus pour.Eusebius:Praeparatio Evangelica, iv. 9(trans. E. H. Gifford, 1903).

How to devote things living in due form

My verse shall tell, thou in thy tablets write.

For gods of earth and gods of heaven each three;

For heavenly pure white; for gods of earth

Cattle of kindred hue divide in three,

And on the altar lay thy sacrifice.

For gods infernal bury deep, and cast

The blood into a trench. For gentle Nymphs

Honey and gifts of Dionysus pour.

Eusebius:Praeparatio Evangelica, iv. 9

(trans. E. H. Gifford, 1903).

l. 47.The Nose(like to the first Meridian) 'In the state of nature we consider the light, as the sunne, to be risen at the Moluccae, in the farthest East; In the state of the law we consider it as the sunne come to Ormus, the first Quadrant; but in the Gospel to be come to the Canaries, the fortunate Ilands, the first Meridian. Now whatsoever is beyond this, is Westward, towards a Declination.'Sermons80. 68. 688.

'Longitude is length, and in the heavens it is understood the distance of any starre or Planet, from the begining of Aries to the place of the said Planet or Starre ... Otherwise, longitude in the earth, is the distance of the Meridian of any place, from the Meridian which passeth over the Isles of Azores, where the beginning of longitude is said to be.'The Sea-mans Kalender, 1632. But ancient Cosmographers placed the first meridian at the Canaries. See note to p.187, l. 2.

Page118, l. 52.Not faynte Canaries but Ambrosiall.The 'Canary' of several MSS. is probably rightâ€”an adjective, like 'Ambrosiall'. By 'faynte' is meant 'faintly odorous' as opposed to 'Ambrosial', i.e. 'divinely fragrant; perfumed as with Ambrosia' (O.E.D.). 'Fruit that ambrosial smell diffus'd': Milton,Par. Lost, ix. 852. The text gives an earlier use of both these words in this meaning than any indicated by the O.E.D. William Morris uses the same adjective in a somewhat ambiguous way but meaning, I suppose, 'weak, ready to die':

Where still mid thoughts of August's quivering goldFolk hoed the wheat, and clipped the vine in trustOf faint October's purple-foaming must.Earthly Paradise, Atalanta's Race.

Where still mid thoughts of August's quivering gold

Folk hoed the wheat, and clipped the vine in trust

Of faint October's purple-foaming must.

Earthly Paradise, Atalanta's Race.

Page120, l. 17.then safely tread.The 'safely' of so many MSS., includingW, seems to me a more likely reading than 'softly'. The latter was probably suggested by the 'soft' of the following line. The 'safely' means of course that even without her shoes she will not be hurt.

l. 22.Ill spirits.It is not easy to decide between the 'Ill' of1669and some MSS. and the 'All' of some other MSS. Besides those enumerated, two lesser MSS., viz. the Sloane MSS. 542 and 1792, read 'all'.

InElegie IV, l. 68, 'all' is written for 'ill' inB.

Page121, l. 30.How blest am I in this discovering thee!The 'this' of almost all the MSS. is supported by the change of 'discovering' into 'discovery' ofB,O'F, one way of evading the rather unusual construction, 'this' with a verbal noun followed by an object. The alteration of 'this' to 'thus' in1669is another. But the construction, though bold, is not inexcusable, and Donne wishes to lay the stress not on the manner of the discovery, but on the discovery itself, comparing it (in a very characteristic manner) to the discovery ofAmerica. This figure alone is sufficient to establish Donne's authorship, for he is peculiarly fond of these allusions to voyages, using them again and again in his sermons. For the use of 'this' with the gerund compare: 'Sir,â€”I humbly thank you for this continuing me in your memory, and enlarging me so far, as to the memory of my Sovereign, and (I hope) my Master.'Letters, p. 306.

l. 32.Then where my hand is set, my seal shall be.Chambers reads 'my soul'â€”I do not know from what source. The metaphor is from signing and sealing.

ll. 35-8.Gems which you women use, &c.I have adopted several emendations from the MSS. In the edition of 1669 the lines are printed thus:

Jems which you women useAre like Atlantas ball: cast in men's views,That when a fools eye lighteth on a JemHis earthly soul may court that, not them:

Jems which you women use

Are like Atlantas ball: cast in men's views,

That when a fools eye lighteth on a Jem

His earthly soul may court that, not them:

I have adopted 'balls' from several MSS. as agreeing with the story and with the plural 'Gems'. I have taken 'are' with 'cast in mens views', regarding 'like Atlantas balls' as parenthetic. Both the metre and the sense of l. 38 are improved by reading 'covet' for 'court', though the latter has considerable support. The two words are easily confused in writing. I have adopted 'theirs' too in preference to 'that' because it is more in Donne's manner as well as strongly supported. 'A man who loves dress and ornaments on a woman loves not her but what belongs to her; what is accessory, not what is essential.' Compare:

For he who colour loves, and skin,Loves but their oldest clothes.

For he who colour loves, and skin,

Loves but their oldest clothes.

The antithesis 'theirs not them' is much more pointed than 'that not them'.

l. 46.There is no pennance due to innocence.I suspect that the original cast of this line was that pointed to by the MSS.,

Here is no penance, much less innocence:

Penance and innocence alike are clothed in white. The version in the text is a softening of the original to make it compatible with the suggestion that the poem could be read as an epithalamium. 'Why', says a note in the margin of the Bridgewater MS., 'may not a man write his own epithalamium if he can do it so modestly?'

Though not printed till 1802 there can be no doubt that this poem is by Donne. The MS. which Waldron used is the Dyce fellow ofJC. Compare Ovid,Amor.i. 9: 'Militat omnis amans, et habet sua castra Cupido.'

I have transferred this poem hither from its place in1635-69among the soberLetters to Severall Personages. It has obviously a closer relation to the Elegies, and must have been composed about the same time. Its genus is the Heroical Epistle modelled on Ovid, of which Drayton produced the most popular English imitations in 1597. Donne's was possibly evoked by these and written in 1597-8, but there is no means of dating it exactly. 'Passionating' and 'conceited' eloquence is the quality of these poems modelled on Ovid, and whatever one may think of the poem on moral grounds it is impossible to deny that Donne has caught the tone of the kind, and written a poem passionate and eloquent in its own not altogether admirable way. The reader is more than once reminded of Mr. Swinburne's far less conceited but more diffuseAnactoria.

l. 22.As Down, as Stars, &c.'Down' is probably correct, but the 'Dowves' (i.e. doves) ofPgives the plural as in the other nouns, and a closer parallel in poetic vividness. We get a series of picturesâ€”doves, stars, cedars, lilies. The meaning conveyed would be the same:

this handAs soft as doves-downe, and as white as it.Wint. Tale,IV.iv. 374.

this hand

As soft as doves-downe, and as white as it.

Wint. Tale,IV.iv. 374.

But of course swan's down is also celebrated:

Heaven with sweet repose doth crowneEach vertue softer than the swan's fam'd downe.Habington,Castara.

Heaven with sweet repose doth crowne

Each vertue softer than the swan's fam'd downe.

Habington,Castara.

Page125, l. 33. Modern editors separate 'thorny' and 'hairy' by a comma. They should rather be connected by a hyphen as inTCD.

l. 40.And are, as theeves trac'd, which rob when it snows.This is doubtless the source of Dryden's figurative description of Jonson's thefts from the Ancients: 'You track him everywhere in their snow.'Essay of Dramatic Poesy.

Page127. The dates of the two chief Marriage Songs are: the Princess Elizabeth, Feb. 14, 1613; the Earl of Somerset, Dec. 26, 1613. The third is an earlier piece of work, dating from the years when Donne was a student at Lincoln's Inn. It is found inW, following theSatyresandElegiesand preceding theLetters, being probably the only one written when the collection in the first part of that MS. was made.

While quite himself in his treatment of the theme of this kind of poem, Donne comes in it nearer to Spenser than in any otherkind. In glow and colour nothing he has written surpasses the Somerset Epithalamion:

First her eyes kindle other Ladies eyes,Then from their beams their jewels lusters rise,And from their jewels torches do take fire,And all is warmth and light and good desire.

First her eyes kindle other Ladies eyes,

Then from their beams their jewels lusters rise,

And from their jewels torches do take fire,

And all is warmth and light and good desire.

An Epithalamion, or Marriage Song, &c.'In February following, the Prince Palatine and that lovely Princess, the Lady Elizabeth, were married on Bishop Valentine's Day, in all the Pomp and Glory that so much grandeur could express. Her vestments were white, the Emblem of Innocency; her Hair dishevel'd hanging down her Back at length, an Ornament of Virginity; a Crown of pure Gold upon her Head, the Cognizance of Majesty, being all over beset with precious Gems, shininglike a Constellation; her Train supported by Twelve young Ladies in White Garments, so adorned with Jewels, that her passage looked like a Milky-way. She was led to Church by her Brother Prince Charles, and the Earl of Northampton; the young Batchelor on the Right Hand, and the old on the left.' Camden,Annales.

A full description of the festivities will be found in Nichol'sProgresses of King James, in Stow'sChronicle, and other works. In a letter to Mrs. Carleton, Chamberlain gives an account of what he saw: 'It were long and tedious to tell you all the particulars of the excessive bravery, both of men and women, but you may conceive the rest by one or two. The Lady Wotton had a gown that cost fifty pounds a yard the embroidery.... The Viscount Rochester, the Lord Hay, and the Lord Dingwall were exceeding rich and costly; but above all, they speak of the Earl of Dorset. But this extreme cost and riches makes us all poor.'Court and Times of James I, i. 226. The princess had been educated by Lord and Lady Harington, the parents of Donne's patroness, the Countess of Bedford. They accompanied her to Heidelberg, but Lord Harington died on his way home, Lady Harington shortly after her return. Donne had thus links with the Princess, and these were renewed and strengthened later when with Lord Doncaster he visited Heidelberg in 1619, and preached before her and her husband. He sent her his first printed sermon and hisDevotions upon Emergent Occasions, &c.(1624), and to the latter she, then in exile and trouble, replied in a courteous strain.

Page128. Compare with the opening stanzas Chaucer'sParliament of Foulesand Skeat's note (Works of Chaucer, i. 516). Birds were supposed to choose their mates on St. Valentine's Day (Feb. 14).

l. 42.this, thy Valentine.This is the reading of all the editions except1669and of all the MSS. except two of no independent value. I think it is better than 'this day, Valentine', which Chambers adopts from1669. The bride is addressed throughout thestanza, and it would be a very abrupt change to refer 'thou' in l. 41 to Valentine. I take 'this, thy Valentine' to mean 'this which is thy day,par excellence', 'thy Saint Valentine's day', 'the day which saw you paired'. But 'a Valentine' is a 'true-love': 'to be your Valentine' (Hamlet,IV.v. 50), and the reference may be to Frederick,â€”Frederick's Day is to become an era.

ll. 43-50. The punctuation of these lines requires attention. That of the editions, which Chambers follows, arranges them thus:

Come forth, come forth, and as one glorious flameMeeting Another growes the same,So meet thy Fredericke, and soTo an unseparable union goe,Since separationFalls not on such things as are infinite,Nor things which are but one, can disunite.You'are twice inseparable, great, and one.

Come forth, come forth, and as one glorious flame

Meeting Another growes the same,

So meet thy Fredericke, and so

To an unseparable union goe,

Since separation

Falls not on such things as are infinite,

Nor things which are but one, can disunite.

You'are twice inseparable, great, and one.

In this it will be seen that the clause 'Since separation ... can disunite' is attached to thepreviousverb. It gives the reason why they should 'go to an unseparable union'. In that which I have adopted, which is that of several good MSS., the clause 'Since separation ... can disunite' goes with whatfollows, explains 'You are twice inseparable, great, and one.' This is obviously right. My attention was first called to this emendation by the punctuation of the Grolier Club editor, who changes the comma after 'goe' (l. 46) to a semicolon.

l. 46.To an unseparable union growe.I have adopted 'growe' from the MSS. in place of 'goe' from the editions. The former are unanimous with the strange exception ofLec. This MS., which in several respects seems to be most like that from which1633was printed, varies here from its fellowsDandH49, probably for the same reason that the editor of1633did, because he did not quite understand the phrase 'growe to' as used here, and 'goe' follows later. But it is unlikely that 'goe' would have been changed to 'growe', and

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