Page149.Satyre II.

I shut my chamber doore, and come, lets goe.

Page149, ll. 100-4. My punctuation of these lines is a slight modification of that indicated byWandJC, which give the proper division of the speeches. The use of inverted commas would make this clearer, but Chambers' division seems to me (if I understand it) to give the whole speech, from 'But to me' to 'So is the Pox', to Donne's companion, which is to deprive Donne of his closing repartee. The Grolier Club editor avoids this, but makes 'Why he hath travelled long?' a part of Donne's speech beginning 'Our dull comedians want him'. I divide the speeches thus:—

Donne.Why stoop'st thou so?Companion.Why? he hath travail'd.Donne.Long?Companion.No: but to me (Donne interpolates'which understand none') he doth seem to bePerfect French and Italian.Donne.So is the Pox.

Donne.Why stoop'st thou so?

Companion.Why? he hath travail'd.

Donne.Long?

Companion.No: but to me (Donne interpolates'which understand none') he doth seem to bePerfect French and Italian.

Companion.No: but to me (Donne interpolates

'which understand none') he doth seem to be

Perfect French and Italian.

Donne.So is the Pox.

The brackets round 'which understand none' I have taken fromQ. I had thought of inserting them before I came on this MS. Of course brackets in old editions are often used where commas wouldbe sufficient, and one can build nothing on their insertion here in one MS. But it seems to me that these words have no point unless regarded as a sarcastic comment interpolated by Donne, perhapssotto voce. 'To you, who understand neither French nor Italian, he may seem perfect French and Italian—but to no one else.' Probably an eclectic attire was the only evidence of travel observable in the person in question. 'How oddly is he suited!' says Portia of her English wooer; 'I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany, and his behaviour everywhere.' Brackets are thus used by Jonson to indicate a remark interjectedsotto voce. See the quotation from thePoetasterin the note onThe Message(II. p.37). Modern editors substitute for the brackets the direction 'Aside', which is not in the Folio (1616).

ll. 1-4. It will be seen thatH51gives two alternative versions of these lines. The version of the printed text is that of the majority of the MSS.

Page150, ll. 15-16.As in some Organ, &c.Chambers prints these lines with a comma after 'move', connecting them with what follows about love-poetry. Clearly they belong to what has been said about dramatic poets. It is Marlowe and his fellows who are the bellows which set the actor-puppets in motion.

ll. 19-20.Rammes and slings now, &c.The 'Rimes and songs' ofPis a quaint variant due either to an accident of hearing or to an interpretation of the metaphor: 'As in war money is more effective than rams and slings, so it is more effective in love than songs.' But there is a further allusion in the condensed stroke, for 'pistolets' means also 'fire-arms'. Money is as much more effective than poetry in love as fire-arms are than rams and slings in war. Donne is Dryden's teacher in the condensed stroke, which 'cleaves to the waist', lines such as

They got a villain, and we lost a fool.

Page151, l. 33.to out-sweare the Letanie.'Letanie,' the reading of all the MSS., is indicated by a dash in1633and is omitted without any indication by1635-39. In1649-50the blank was supplied, probably conjecturally, by 'the gallant'. It was not till1669that 'Letanie' was inserted. In 'versifying' Donne'sSatyresPope altered this to 'or Irishmen out-swear', and Warburton in a note explains the original: 'Dr. Donne's is a low allusion to a licentious quibble used at that time by the enemies of the English Liturgy, who, disliking the frequent invocations in the Litanie, called them thetaking God's name in vain, which is the Scripture periphrasis for swearing.'

l. 36.tenements.Drummond inHNwrites 'torments', probably a conjectural emendation. Drummond was not so well versed in Scholastic Philosophy as Donne.

l. 44.But a scarce Poet.This is the reading of the best MSS., andI have adopted it in preference to 'But scarce a Poet', which is an awkward phrase and does not express what the writer means. Donne does not say that he is barely a poet, but that he is a bad poet. Donne uses 'scarce' thus as an adjective again inSatyre IV, l. 4 (where see note) and l. 240. It seems to have puzzled copyists and editors, who amend it in various ways. By 'jollier of this state' he means 'prouder of this state', using the word as in 'jolly statesmen', I. 7.

l. 48. 'language of the Pleas and Bench.' See Introductory Note for legal diction in love-sonnets.

Page152, ll. 62-3.but men which chuseLaw practise for meere gaine, bold soule, repute.

Page152, ll. 62-3.but men which chuse

Law practise for meere gaine, bold soule, repute.

The unpunctuated 'for meere gaine bold soule repute' of1633-69and most MSS. has caused considerable trouble to the editors and copyists. One way out of the difficulty, 'bold souls repute,' appears in Chambers' edition as an emendation, and before that in Tonson's edition (1719), whence it was copied by all the editions to Chalmers' (1810). Lowell's conjecture, 'hold soules repute,' had been anticipated in some MSS. There is no real difficulty. I had comma'd the words 'bold soule' before I examinedQ, which places them in brackets, a common means in old books of indicating an apostrophe. The 'bold soule' addressed, and invoked to esteem such worthless people aright, is the 'Sir' (whoever that may be) to whom the whole poem is addressed. A note inHNprefixed to this poem says that it is taken from 'C. B.'s copy', i.e. Christopher Brooke's. It is quite possible that thisSatyre, likeThe Storme, was addressed to him.

ll. 71-4.Like a wedge in a block, wring to the barre,Bearing-like Asses; and more shamelesse farre, &c.

ll. 71-4.Like a wedge in a block, wring to the barre,

Bearing-like Asses; and more shamelesse farre, &c.

These lines are printed as in1633, except that the comma after 'Asses' is raised to a semicolon, and that I have put a hyphen between 'Bearing' and 'like'. The lines are difficult and have greatly puzzled editors. Grosart prints fromH51and reads 'wringd', which, though an admissible form of the past-participle, makes no sense here. The Grolier Club editor prints:

Like a wedge in a block, wring to the bar,Bearing like asses, and more shameless farThan carted whores; lie to the grave judge; for ...

Like a wedge in a block, wring to the bar,

Bearing like asses, and more shameless far

Than carted whores; lie to the grave judge; for ...

Chambers adopts much the same scheme:

Like a wedge in a block, wring to the bar,Bearing like asses, and more shameless farThan carted whores; lie to the grave judge, for ...

Like a wedge in a block, wring to the bar,

Bearing like asses, and more shameless far

Than carted whores; lie to the grave judge, for ...

By retaining the comma after 'bar' in a modernized text with modern punctuation these editors leave it doubtful whether they do or do not consider that 'asses' is the object to 'wring'. Further, they connect 'and more shameless far than carted whores' closely with'asses', separating it by a semicolon from 'lie to the grave judge'. I take it that 'more shameless far' is regarded by these editors as a qualifying adjunct to 'asses'. This is surely wrong. The subject of the long sentence is 'He' (l. 65), and the infinitives throughout are complements to 'must': 'He must walk ... he must talk ... [he must] lie ... [he must] wring to the bar bearing-like asses; [he must], more shameless than carted whores, lie to the grave judge, &c.' This is the only method in which I can construe the passage, and it carries with it the assumption that 'bearing like' should be connected by a hyphen to form an adjective similar to 'Relique-like', which is the MS. form of 'Relique-ly' at l. 84. Certainly it is 'he', Coscus, who is 'more shameless, &c.,' not his victims. These are the 'bearing-like asses', the patient Catholics or suspected Catholics whom he wrings to the bar and forces to disgorge fines. Coscus, a poet in his youth, has become a Topcliffe in his maturer years. 'Bearing,' 'patient' is the regular epithet for asses in Elizabethan literature:

Asses are made to bear and so are you.Taming of the Shrew,II.i. 200.

Asses are made to bear and so are you.

Taming of the Shrew,II.i. 200.

In Jonson'sPoetaster, v. i, the ass is declared to be the hieroglyphic of

Patience, frugality, and fortitude.

Possibly, but it is not very likely, Donne refers not only to the stupid patience of the ass but to her fertility: 'They be very gainefull and profitable to their maisters, yielding more commodities than the revenues of good farmers.' Holland'sPliny, 8. 43,Of Asses.

Page153, l. 87.In parchments.The plural is the reading of the better MSS. and seems to me to give the better sense. The final 's' is so easily overlooked or confounded with a final 'e' that one must determine the right reading by the sense of the passage.

ll. 93-6.When Luther was profest, &c.The 'power and glory clause' which is not found in the Vulgate or any of the old Latin versions of the New Testament (and is therefore not used in Catholic prayers, public or private), was taken by Erasmus (1516) from all the Greek codices, though he does not regard it as genuine. Thence it passed into Luther's (1521) and most Reformed versions. In his popular and devotionalAuslegung deutsch des Vaterunsers(1519) Luther makes no reference to it.

l. 105.Whereas th'old ... In great hals.The line as I have printed it combines the versions of1633and the later editions. It is found in several MSS. Some of these, on the other hand, like1633-69, read 'where'; but 'where's' with a plural subject following was quite idiomatic. Compare: 'Here needs no spies nor eunuchs,' p.81, l. 39; 'With firmer age returns our liberties,' p.115, l. 77.

At p.165, l. 182, the MSS. point to 'cryes his flatterers' as the original version. See Franz,Shak.-Gram.§ 672; Knecht,Die Kongruenz zwischen Subjekt und Prädikat(1911), p. 28.

Donne has other instances of irregular concord, or of the plural form in 's', and 'th':

by thy fathers wrathBy all paines which want and divorcement hath. P.111, l. 8.Had'st thou staid there, and look'd out at her eyes,All had ador'd thee that now from thee flies. P.285, l. 17.Those unlick't beare-whelps, unfil'd pistoletsThat (more than Canon shot) availes or lets. P.97, l. 32.

by thy fathers wrathBy all paines which want and divorcement hath. P.111, l. 8.

by thy fathers wrath

By all paines which want and divorcement hath. P.111, l. 8.

Had'st thou staid there, and look'd out at her eyes,All had ador'd thee that now from thee flies. P.285, l. 17.

Had'st thou staid there, and look'd out at her eyes,

All had ador'd thee that now from thee flies. P.285, l. 17.

Those unlick't beare-whelps, unfil'd pistoletsThat (more than Canon shot) availes or lets. P.97, l. 32.

Those unlick't beare-whelps, unfil'd pistolets

That (more than Canon shot) availes or lets. P.97, l. 32.

The rhyme makes the form here indisputable. The MSS. point to a more frequent use of 'hath' with a plural subject than the editions have preserved. The above three instances seem all plurals. In other cases the individuals form a whole, or there is ellipsis:

All Kings, and all their favorites,All glory of honors, beauties, wits,The Sunne it selfe which makes times, as they passe,Is elder by a year, now, then it was.The Anniversarie, p.24, ll. 1-4.He that but tasts, he that devours,And he that leaves all, doth as well.Communitie, p.33, ll. 20-1.

All Kings, and all their favorites,All glory of honors, beauties, wits,The Sunne it selfe which makes times, as they passe,Is elder by a year, now, then it was.The Anniversarie, p.24, ll. 1-4.

All Kings, and all their favorites,

All glory of honors, beauties, wits,

The Sunne it selfe which makes times, as they passe,

Is elder by a year, now, then it was.

The Anniversarie, p.24, ll. 1-4.

He that but tasts, he that devours,And he that leaves all, doth as well.Communitie, p.33, ll. 20-1.

He that but tasts, he that devours,

And he that leaves all, doth as well.

Communitie, p.33, ll. 20-1.

Page 154, l. 107.meanes blesse. The reading of1633has the support of the best MSS. Grosart and Chambers prefer the reading of the later editions, 'Meane's blest.' This, it would seem to me, needs the definite article. The other reading gives quite the same sense, 'in all things means (i.e. middle ways, moderate measures) bring blessings':

Rectius vives, Licini, neque altumSemper urgendo neque, dum procellasCautus horrescis, nimium premendoLitus iniquum.Auream quisquis mediocritatemDiligit, tutus caret obsoletiSordibus tecti, caret invidendaSobrius aula.Horace,Odes, ii. 10.

Rectius vives, Licini, neque altumSemper urgendo neque, dum procellasCautus horrescis, nimium premendoLitus iniquum.

Rectius vives, Licini, neque altum

Semper urgendo neque, dum procellas

Cautus horrescis, nimium premendo

Litus iniquum.

Auream quisquis mediocritatemDiligit, tutus caret obsoletiSordibus tecti, caret invidendaSobrius aula.Horace,Odes, ii. 10.

Auream quisquis mediocritatem

Diligit, tutus caret obsoleti

Sordibus tecti, caret invidenda

Sobrius aula.

Horace,Odes, ii. 10.

The general tenor of the closing lines recalls Horace's treatment of the same theme inSat.ii. 2. 88, 125, more than either Juvenal,Sat.ix, or Persius,Sat.vi.

Grosart states that 'means, then as now, meant riches, possessions, but never the mean or middle'. But see O.E.D., which quotes for the plural in this sense: 'Tempering goodly well Their contrary dislikes with loved means.' Spenser,Hymns. In the singular Bacon has, 'But to speake in a Meane.'Of Adversitie.

Page155, l. 19.leaders rage.This phrase might tempt one to date the poem after the Cadiz expedition and Islands voyage, in both of which 'leaders' rage', i.e. the quarrels of Howard and Essex, and of Essex and Raleigh, militated against success; but it is too little to build upon. Donne may mean simply the arbitrary exercise of arbitrary power on the part of leaders.

ll. 30-2.who made thee to stand Sentinell, &c.'Souldier' is the reading of what is perhaps the older version of theSatyres. It would do as well: 'Quare et tibi, Publi, et piis omnibus retinendus est animus in custodia corporis; nec iniussu eius a quo ille est vobis datus ex hominum vita migrandum est, ne munus assignatum a Deo defugisse videamini.' Cicero,Somnium Scipionis.

'Veteres quidem philosophiae principes, Pythagoras et Plotinus, prohibitionis huius non tam creatores sunt quam praecones, omnino illicitum esse dicentesquempiam militiae servientem a praesidio et commissa sibi statione discederecontra ducis vel principis iussum. Plane eleganti exemplo usi sunt eo quod militia est vita hominis super terram.' John of Salisbury,Policrat.ii. 27.

Donne considers the rashness of those whom he refers to as a degree of, an approach to, suicide. To expose ourselves to these perils we abandon the moral warfare to which we are appointed. In his own work on suicide (ΒΙΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ, &c.) Donne discusses the permissible approaches to suicide. An unpublishedProblemshows his knowledge of John of Salisbury.

ll. 33-4.Know thy foes, &c.I have followed the better MSS. here against1633andL74,N,TCD. The dropping of 's' after 'foe' has probably led to the attempt to regularize the construction by interjecting 'h'is'. Donne has three foes in view—the devil, the world, and the flesh.

l. 35.quit.Whether we read 'quit' or 'rid' the construction is difficult. The phrase seems to mean 'to be free of his whole Realm'—an unparalleled use of either adjective.

l. 36.The worlds all parts.Here 'all' means 'every', but Shakespeare would make 'parts' singular: 'All bond and privilege of nature break,'Cor.V.iii. 25. Donne blends two constructions.

Page156, l. 49.Crantz.I have adopted the spelling ofW, which emphasizes the Dutch character of the name. The 'Crates ' ofQis tempting as bringing the name into line with the other classical ones, but all the other MSS. have an 'n' in the word. Donne has in view the 'schismatics of Amsterdam' (The Will) and their followers. The change to Grant or Grants shows a tendency in the copyists to substitute a Scotch for a Dutch name.

Page157, ll. 69-71.But unmoved thou, &c.As punctuated in the old editions these lines are certainly ambiguous. The semicolonafter 'allow' has a little less value than that of a full stop; that after 'right' a little more than a comma, or contrariwise. Grosart, Chambers, and the Grolier Club editor all connect 'and the right' with what precedes:

But unmoved thouOf force must one, and forced but one allow;And the right.

But unmoved thou

Of force must one, and forced but one allow;

And the right.

So Chambers,—Grosart and the Grolier Club editor place a comma after 'allow'. It seems to me that 'And the right' goes rather with what follows:

But unmoved thouOf force must one, and forced but one allow.And the right, ask thy father which is she.

But unmoved thou

Of force must one, and forced but one allow.

And the right, ask thy father which is she.

If the first arrangement be right, then 'And' seems awkward. The second marks two stages in the argument: a stable judgement compels us to acknowledge religion, and that there can be only one. This being so, the next question is, Which is the true one? As to that, we cannot do better than consult our fathers:

In doubtful questions 'tis the safest wayTo learn what unsuspected ancients say;For 'tis not likely we should higher soarIn search of Heaven than all the Church before;Nor can we be deceived unless we seeThe Scriptures and the Fathers disagree.Dryden,Religio Laici.

In doubtful questions 'tis the safest way

To learn what unsuspected ancients say;

For 'tis not likely we should higher soar

In search of Heaven than all the Church before;

Nor can we be deceived unless we see

The Scriptures and the Fathers disagree.

Dryden,Religio Laici.

'Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.' Deut. xxxii. 7.

l. 76.To adore, or scorne an image, &c.Compare: 'I should violate my own arm rather than a Church, nor willingly deface the name of Saint or Martyr. At the sight of a Cross or Crucifix I can dispense with my hat, but scarce with the thought or memory of my Saviour: I cannot laugh at, but rather pity the fruitless journeys of Pilgrims, or contemn the miserable condition of Friars; for though misplaced in circumstances, there is something in it of Devotion. I could never hear theAve-MaryBell without an elevation, or think it a sufficient warrant, because they erred in one circumstance, for me to err in all, that is in silence and dumb contempt.... At a solemn Procession I have wept abundantly, while my consorts blind with opposition and prejudice, have fallen into an excess of scorn and laughter.' Sir Thomas Browne,Religio Medici, sect. 3. Compare also Donne's letter To Sir H. R. (probably to Goodyere), (Letters, p. 29), 'You know I have never imprisoned the word Religion; not straightning it Friarlyad religiones factitias, (as the Romans call well their orders of Religion), nor immuring it in a Rome, or aGeneva; they are all virtual beams of one Sun.... They are not so contrary as the North and South Poles; and they are connaturall pieces of one circle. Religion is Christianity, which being too spirituall to be seen by us, doth therefore take an apparent body of good life and works, so salvation requires an honest Christian.'

l. 80.Cragged and steep.The three epithets, 'cragged', 'ragged', and 'rugged', found in the MSS., are all legitimate and appropriate. The second has the support of the best MSS. and is used by Donne elsewhere: 'He shall shine upon thee in all dark wayes, and rectifie thee in all ragged ways.'Sermons80. 52. 526. Shakespeare uses it repeatedly: 'A ragged, fearful, hanging rock,'Gent. of Ver.I.ii. 121; 'My ragged prison walls,'Rich. II,V.v. 21; and metaphorically, 'Winter's ragged hand,'Sonn.VI.i.

ll. 85-7.To will implyes delay, &c.I have changed the 'to' of1633to 'too'. It is a mere change of spelling and has the support of bothH51andW. Grosart and Chambers take it as the preposition following the noun it governs, 'hard knowledge to'—an unexampled construction in the case of a monosyllabic preposition. Franz (Shak.-Gram.§ 544) gives cases of inversion for metrical purposes, but only with 'mehrsilbigen Präpositionen', e.g. 'For fear lest day should look their shapes upon.'Mid. N. Dream,III.ii. 385.

Grosart, the Grolier Club editor, and Chambers have all, I think, been misled by the accidental omission in1633of the full stop or colon after 'doe', l. 85. Chambers prints:

To will implies delay, therefore now doHard deeds, the body's pains; hard knowledge toThe mind's endeavours reach.

To will implies delay, therefore now do

Hard deeds, the body's pains; hard knowledge to

The mind's endeavours reach.

The Grolier Club version is:

To will implies delay, therefore now doHard deeds, the body's pains; hard knowledge tooThe mind's endeavours reach.

To will implies delay, therefore now do

Hard deeds, the body's pains; hard knowledge too

The mind's endeavours reach.

The latter is the better version, but in each 'the body's pains' is a strange apposition to 'deeds' taken as object to 'do'. We do not 'do pains'. The second clause also has no obvious relation to the first which would justify the 'too'. If we close the first sentence at 'doe', we get both better sense and a better balance: 'Actnow, for the night cometh. Hard deeds are achieved by the body's pains (i.e. toil, effort), and hard knowledge is attained by the mind's efforts.' The order of the words, and the condensed force given to 'reach' produce a somewhat harsh effect, but not more so than is usual in theSatyres, and less so than the alternative versions of the editors. The following lines continue the thought quite naturally: 'No endeavours of the mind will enable us tocomprehendmysteries, but all eyes canapprehendthem, dazzle as they may.' Compare: 'In all Philosophy there is not so darke a thing as light; As the sunne which isfons lucis naturalis, the beginning of naturall light, is the mostevident thing to be seen, and yet the hardest to be looked upon, so is naturall light to our reason and understanding. Nothing clearer, for it isclearnesseit selfe, nothing darker, it is enwrapped in so many scruples. Nothing nearer, for it is round about us, nothing more remote, for wee know neither entrance, nor limits of it. Nothing moreeasie, for a child discerns it, nothing morehardfor no man understands it. It is apprehensible bysense, and not comprehensible byreason. If wee winke, wee cannot chuse but see it, if wee stare, wee know it never the better.'Sermons50. 36. 324.

Page158, ll. 96-7.a Philip, or a Gregory, &c.Grosart and Norton conjecture that by Philip is meant Melanchthon, and for 'Gregory' Norton conjectures Gregory VII; Grosart either Gregory the Great or Gregory of Nazianzus. But surely Philip of Spain is balanced against Harry of England, one defender of the faith against another, as Gregory against Luther. What Gregory is meant we cannot say, but probably Donne had in view Gregory XIII or Gregory XIV, post-Reformation Popes, rather than either of those mentioned above. Satire does not deal in Ancient History. The choice is between Catholic and Protestant Princes and Popes.

This satire, like several of the period, is based on Horace'sIbam forte via Sacra(Sat.i. 9), but Donne follows a quite independent line. Horace's theme is at bottom a contrast between his own friendship with Maecenas and 'the way in which vulgar and pushing people sought, and sought in vain, to obtain an introduction'. Donne, like Horace, describes a bore, but makes this the occasion for a general picture of the hangers-on at Court. A more veiled thread running through the poem is an attack on the ways and tricks of informers. The bore's gossip is probably not without a motive:

I ... felt my selfe thenBecoming Traytor, and mee thought I sawOne of our Giant Statutes ope his jawTo sucke me in.

I ... felt my selfe then

Becoming Traytor, and mee thought I saw

One of our Giant Statutes ope his jaw

To sucke me in.

The manner in which the stranger accosts him suggests the 'intelligencer': 'Two hungry turns had I scarce fetcht in this wast gallery when I was encountered by a neat pedantical fellow, in the forme of a Cittizen, who thrusting himself abruptly into my companie, like an Intelligencer, began very earnestly to question me.' Nash,Pierce Penniless.

In theSatyresDonne is always, though he does not state his position too clearly, one with links attaching him to the persecuted Catholic minority. He hates informers and pursuivants.

ll. 1-4. These lines resemble the opening of Régnier's imitation of Horace's satire:

Charles, de mes peches j'ay bien fait penitence;Or, toy qui te cognois aux cas de conscience,Juge si j'ay raison de penser estre absous.

Charles, de mes peches j'ay bien fait penitence;

Or, toy qui te cognois aux cas de conscience,

Juge si j'ay raison de penser estre absous.

I can trace no further resemblance.

l. 4.A recreation to, and scarse map of this.I have ventured here to restore, fromQand its duplicate among the Dyce MSS., what I think must have been the original form of this line. The adjective 'scarse' or 'scarce' used in this way ('a scarce poet', 'a scarce brook') is characteristic of Donne, and it always puzzled his copyists, who tried to correct it in one way or another, e.g. 'scarce a poet', II. 44; 'a scant brooke', IV. 240. It is inconceivable that they would have introduced it. The preposition 'to' governing 'such as' regularizes the construction, but would very easily be omitted by a copyist who wished to smooth the metre or did not at once catch its reference. Donne's use of 'scarse', like his use of 'Macaron' in this poem, is probably an Italianism; in Italian 'scarso' means 'wanting, scanty, poor'—'stretta e scarsa fortuna', 'E si riduce talvolta nell' Estate con si scarsa acqua', 'Veniva bellissima tanto quanto ogni comparazione ci saria scarsa', 'Ma l'ingegno e le rime erano scarse' (Petrarch).

Page159, l. 21.seaven Antiquaries studies.Donne has more than one hit at Antiquaries. See theEpigramsandSatyre V. The reign of Elizabeth witnessed a great revival of antiquarian studies and the first formation of an Antiquarian society: 'There was a time, most excellent king,' says a later writer addressing King James, 'when as well under Queen Elizabeth, as under your majesty, certain choice gentlemen, men of known proof, were knit together,statis temporibus, by the love of these studies, upon contribution among themselves: which company consisted of an elective president and of clarissimi, of other antiquaries and a register.' Oldys,Life of Raleigh, p. 317. He goes on to describe how the society was dissolved by death. In the list of names he gives there are more than seven, but it is just possible that Donne refers to some such society in its early stages.

l. 22.Africks monsters, Guianaes rarities.Africa was famous as the land of monsters. The second reference is to the marvels described in Sir Walter Raleigh'sThe discoverie of the large, rich and bewtiful Empire of Guiana, with a relation of the great and golden City of Manoa which the Spaniards call El Dorado, performed in the year 1595(pub. 1596). Among the monsters were Amazons, Anthropophagi,

and men whose headsDo grow beneath their shoulders.

and men whose heads

Do grow beneath their shoulders.

l. 23.Stranger then strangers, &c.The 'Stranger then strangest' of some MSS. would form a natural climax to the preceding list of marvels. But 'strangers' is the authoritative reading, and forms the transition to the next few lines. The reference is to the unpopularityin London of the numerous strangers whom wars and religious persecution had collected in England. Strype (Annals, iv) prints a paper of 1568 in which the Lord Mayor gives to the Privy Council an account of the strangers in London. In 1593 there were again complaints of their presence and threats to attack them. 'While these inquiries were making, to incense the people against them there were these lines in one of their libels: Doth not the world see that you, beastly brutes, the Belgians, or rather drunken drones and faint-hearted Flemings; and you fraudulent father (sic. Query'faitor[s]'), Frenchmen, by your cowardly flight from your own natural countries, have abandoned the same into the hands of your proud, cowardly enemies, and have by a feigned hypocrisy and counterfeit show of religion placed yourself here in a most fertile soil, under a most gracious and merciful prince; who hath been contented, to the great prejudice of her own natural subjects, to suffer you to live here in better case and more freedom then her own people—Be it known to all Flemings and Frenchmen that it is best for them to depart out of the realm of England between this and the 9th of July next. If not then to take that which follows: for that there shall be many a sore stripe. Apprentices will rise to the number of 2336. And all the apprentices and journeymen will down with the Flemings and strangers.'

Another libel was in verse, and after quoting it the official document proceeds: 'The court upon these seditious motives took the most prudent measures to protect the poor strangers, and to prevent any riot or insurrection.' Among other provisions, 'Orders to be given to appoint a strong watch of merchants and others, and like-handicrafted masters, to answer for their apprentices' and servants' misdoing.' Strype'sAnnals, iv. 234-5.

In the same year a bill was promoted in Parliamentagainst aliens selling foreign wares among us by retail, which Raleigh supported: 'Whereas it is pretended that for strangers it is against charity, against honour, against profit to expel them: in my opinion it is no matter of charity to relieve them. For first, such as fly hither have forsaken their own king: and religion is no pretext for them; for we have no Dutchmen here, but such as come from those princes where the gospel is preached; yet here they live disliking our church,' &c. Birch,Life of Raleigh, p. 163.

I have thought it worth while to note these more recent references as Grosart refers to the rising against strangers on May-day, 1517.

l. 29.by your priesthood, &c.In 1581 a proclamation was issued imposing the penalty of death on any Jesuits or seminary priests who entered the Queen's dominions, and in 1585 Parliament again decreed that all Jesuits and seminary priests were to leave the kingdom within forty days under the capital penalty of treason. The detection, imprisonment, torture, and execution of disguised priests form a considerablechapter in Elizabethan history. Donne's companion looks so strange that he runs the risk of arrest as a seminary priest from Rome, or Douay. See Strype'sAnnals, passim, and Meyer,Die Katholische Kirche unter Elisabeth, 1910.

Page160, l. 35.and saith: 'saith' is the reading of all the earlier editions, although Chambers and the Grolier Club editor silently alter it to an exclamatory 'faith'—turning it into a statement which Donne immediately contradicts. The 'saith' is a harshly interpolated 'so he says'. One MS. adds 'he', and possibly the pronoun in some form has been dropped, e.g. 'sayth a speakes'.

ll. 37-8.Made of the Accents, &c.It is perhaps rash to accept the 'no language' ofA25,Q, and the Dyce MS. But the last two represent, I think, an early version of theSatyres, and 'no language' (like 'nill be delayed',Epithal. made at Lincolns Inn) is just the sort of reading that would tend to disappear in repeated transmission. It is too bold for the average copyist or editor. But its boldness is characteristic of Donne; it gives a much better sense; and it is echoed by Jonson in hisDiscoveries: 'Spenser in affecting the ancients writ no language.' In like manner Donne's companion, in affecting the accents and best phrases of all languages, spoke none. I confess that seems to me a more pointed remark than that he spoke one made up of these.

l. 48.Jovius or Surius: Paolo Giovio, Bishop of Nocera, among many other works wroteHistoriarum sui temporis Libri XLV. 1553. Chambers quotes from theNouvelle Biographie Générale: 'Ses œuvres sont pleines des mensonges dont profita sa cupidité.'

Laurentius Surius (1522-78) was a Carthusian monk who wrote ecclesiastical history. Among his works are aCommentarius brevis rerum in orbe gestarum ab anno 1550(1568), and aVitae Sanctorum, 1570 et seq.He was accused of inaccuracy by Protestant writers. It is worth while noting thatQandO'Fread 'Sleydan', i.e. Sleidanus. John Sleidan (1506-56) was a Protestant historian who, like Surius, wrote both general and ecclesiastical history, e.g.De quatuor Summis Imperiis, Babylonico, Persico, Graeco, et Romano, 1556 (an English translation appeared in 1635), andDe Statu Religionis et Reipublicae, Carolo Quinto Caesare Commentarii(1555-9). The latter is a history of the Reformation written from the Protestant point of view, to which Surius' work is a reply. Sleidan's history did not give entire satisfaction to the reformers. It is quite possible that Donne's first sneer was at the Protestant historian and that he thought it safer later to substitute the Catholic Surius.

l. 54.Calepines Dictionarie.A well-known polyglot dictionary edited by Ambrose Calepine (1455-1511) in 1502. It grew later to aDictionarium Octolingue, and ultimately to aDictionarium XI Linguarum(Basel, 1590).

l. 56.Some other Jesuites.The 'other' is found only inHN, which is no very reliable authority. Without it the line wantsa whole foot, not merely a syllable. Donne more than once drops a syllable, compensating for it by the length and stress which is given to another. Nothing can make up for the want of a whole foot, though in dramatic verse an incomplete line may be effective. To me, too, it seems very like Donne to introduce this condensed and sudden stroke at Beza and nothing more likely to have been dropped later, either by way of precaution or because it was not understood. No one of the reformers was more disliked by Catholics than Beza. The licence of his early life, his loose Latin verses, the scurrilous wit of his own controversial method—all exposed him to and provoked attack. TheDe Vita et Moribus Theodori Bezae, Omnium Haereticorum nostri temporis facile principis, &c.: Authore Jacobo Laingaeo Doctore Sorbonico(1585), is a bitter and calumnious attack. There was, too, something of the Jesuit, both in the character of the arguments used and in the claim made on behalf of the Church to direct the civil arm, in Beza's defence of the execution of Servetus. Moreover, theVindiciae contra Tyrannoswas sometimes attributed to Beza, and the views of the reformers regarding the rights of kings put forward there, and those held by the Jesuits, approximate closely. (SeeCambridge Modern History, iii. 22,Political Thought in the Sixteenth Century, pp. 759-66.) In his subsequent attacks upon the Jesuits, Donne always singles out the danger of their doctrines and practice to the authority of kings. Throughout theSatyresDonne's veiled Catholic prejudices have to be constantly borne in mind.

Page161, l. 59.and so Panurge was.See Rabelais,Pantagruelii. 9. One day that Pantagruel was walking with his friends he met 'un homme beau de stature et elegant en tous lineaments de corps, mais pitoyablement navré en divers lieux, et tant mal en ordre qu'il sembloit estre eschappe es chiens'. Pantagruel, convinced from his appearance that 'il n'est pauvre que par fortune', demands of him his name and story. He replies; but, to the dismay of Pantagruel and his friends, his answer is couched first in German, then in Arabic (?), then in Italian, in English (or what passes as such), in Basque, in Lanternoy (an Esperanto of Rabelais's invention), in Dutch, in Spanish, in Danish, in Hebrew, in Greek, in the language of Utopia, and finally in Latin. '"Dea, mon amy," dist Pantagruel, "ne sçavez-vous parler françoys?" "Si faict tresbien, Seigneur," respondit le compaignon; "Dieu mercy! c'est ma langue naturelle et maternelle, car je suis né et ay esté nourry jeune au jardin de France: c'est Touraine."—"Doncques," dist Pantagruel, "racomtez nous quel est votre nom et dont vous venez."... "Seigneur," dist le compagnon, "mon vray et propre nom de baptesmes est Panurge."' Panurge was not much behind Calepine's Dictionary, and if Donne's companion spoke in the 'accent and best phrase' of all these tongues he certainly spoke 'no language'.

l. 69.doth not last: 'last' has the support of several good MSS.,'taste' (i.e. savour, go down, be acceptable) of some. It is impossible to decide on intrinsic grounds between them.

l. 70.Aretines pictures.The lascivious pictures of Giulio Romano, for which Aretino wrote sonnets.

l. 75.the man that keepes the Abbey tombes.See Davies' epigram,On Dacus, quoted in the general note on theSatyres.

l. 80.Kingstreet.From Charing Cross to the King's Palace at Westminster. It was for long the only way to Westminster from the north. 'The last part of it has now been covered by the new Government offices in Parliament Street'. Stow'sSurvey of London, ed. Charles Lethbridge Kingsford (1908), ii. 102 and notes.

ll. 83-7. I divide the dialogue thus:

Companion.Are not your Frenchmen neat?Donne.Mine? As you see I have but one Frenchman, look he follows me.Companion (ignoring this impertinence).Certes they (i.e. Frenchmen) are neatly cloth'd. I of this mind am, Your only wearing is your grogaram.Donne.Not so Sir, I have more.

Companion.Are not your Frenchmen neat?

Donne.Mine? As you see I have but one Frenchman, look he follows me.

Companion (ignoring this impertinence).Certes they (i.e. Frenchmen) are neatly cloth'd. I of this mind am, Your only wearing is your grogaram.

Donne.Not so Sir, I have more.

The joke turns on Donne's pretending to misunderstand the bore's colloquial, but rather affected, indefinite use of 'your'. Donne applies it to himself: 'You are mistaken in thinking that I have only one suit.' Chambers gives the whole speech, from 'He's base' to 'he follows me', to the bore. This gives 'Certes ... grogaram' to Donne, and the closing repartee to the bore. Chambers uses inverted commas, and has, probably by an oversight, omitted to begin a new speech at 'Mine'.

For 'your' as used by the bore compare Bottom's use of it inA Midsummer Nights Dream: 'I will discharge it in either your straw-coloured beard, or your orange-tawny beard', and 'there is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion'. In most of the instances quoted by Schmidt there is the suggestion that Shakespeare is making fun of an affectation of the moment. That Donne had a French servant appears from one of his letters: 'therefore I onely send you this Letter ... and my promise to distribute your other Letters, according to your addresses, as fast as my Monsieur can doe it.' To Sir G. B.,Letters, p. 201.

Page162, l. 97.ten Hollensheads, or Halls, or Stowes.Every reader of these old chroniclers knows how they mingle with their account of the greater events of each year mention of trifling events, strange births, fires, &c. This characteristic of the Chronicles is reflected in the History-Plays based on them. Nash complains of these 'lay-chroniclers that write of nothing but of Mayors and Sherifs, and the deere yere and the great frost'.Pierce Penniless.

ll. 98.he knowes; He knowes.I have followedD,H49,Lecin thus punctuating. To place the semicolon after 'trash' makes 'Oftriviall household trash' depend rather awkwardly on 'lye'. Donne does not accuse the chroniclers of lying, but of reporting trivialities.

Page163, l. 113-4.since The Spaniards came, &c.: i.e. from 1588 to 1597.

l. 117.To heare this Makeron talke.This is the earliest instance of this Italian word used in English which the O.E.D. quotes, and is a proof of Donne's Italian travels. TheVocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca(1747) quotes as an example of the word with this meaning,homo crassâ Minerva, in Italian:

O maccheron, ben hai la vista corta.Bellina,Sonetti, 29.

O maccheron, ben hai la vista corta.

Bellina,Sonetti, 29.

Donne's use of the word attracted attention. It is repeated in one of theElegies to the Author, and led to the absurd substitution, in the editions after1633, of 'maceron' for 'mucheron' (mushroom) in the epistle prefixed toThe Progress of the Soule.

l. 124.Perpetuities.'Perpetuities are so much impugned because they will be prejudiciall to the Queenes profitt, which is raised daily from fines and recoveries.'Manningham's Diary, April 22, 1602. Manningham refers probably to real property in which for many centuries the Judges have ruled there can be no inalienable rights, i.e. perpetuities. Donne's companion declares that such inalienable rights are being established in offices. One has but to read Donne's or Chamberlain's letters (or any contemporaries) to see what a traffic went on in reversions to offices secular and sacred.

l. 133.To sucke me in; for.... I have, with some of the MSS. and with Chambers and the later editions, connected 'for hearing him' with what follows. But1633and the better MSS. read:

To sucke me in for hearing him. I found....

Possibly this is right, but it seems to me better to connect 'for hearing him' with what follows. It makes the comparison to the superstition about communicating infection clearer: 'I found that as ... leachers, &c., ... so I, hearing him, might grow guilty and he free.' 'I should be convicted of treason; he would go free as a spy who had spoken treason only to draw me out'. See the accounts of trials of suspected traitors before Walsingham and others. It is on this passage I base my view that Donne's companion is not merely a bore, but a spy, or at any rate is ready to turn informer to earn a crown or two.

Page164, l. 148.complementall thankes.The word 'complement' or 'compliment' had a bad sense: 'We have a word now denizened and brought into familiar use among us, Complement; and for the most part, in an ill sense; so it is, when the heart of the speaker doth not answer his tongue; but God forbid but a true heart, and a faire tongue might very well consist together: As vertue itself receives an addition, by being in a faire body, so do good intentions of the heart, by being expressed in faire language. That man aggravates his condemnationthat gives me good words, and meanes ill; but he gives me a rich Jewell and in a faire Cabinet, he gives me precious wine, and in a clear glasse, that intends well, and expresses his good intentions well too.'Sermons80. 18. 176.

l. 164.th'huffing braggart, puft Nobility.I have followed the MSS. in inserting 'th'' and taking 'braggart' as a noun. It would be more easy to omit the article than to insert. Moreover 'braggart' is commoner as a noun. The O.E.D. gives no example of the adjectival use earlier than 1613. Compare:

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