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.
be seen by us, doth therefore take an apparent body of good life and
works, so salvation requires an honest Christian.
Donne - 2
.
.
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.
In Jonson's _Poetaster_, 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's _Pliny_, 8. 43, _Of
Asses_.
PAGE =153=, 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
devotional _Auslegung 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 of _1633_ and the later editions. It is found
in several MSS. Some of these, on the other hand, like _1633-69_,
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 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.
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.
PAGE =154=, l. 107. _meanes blesse_. The reading of _1633_ has 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 altum
Semper urgendo neque, dum procellas
Cautus horrescis, nimium premendo
Litus iniquum.
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 in _Sat. _ 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_.
PAGE =154=. SATYRE III.
PAGE =155=, 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 the _Satyres_. 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 dicentes _quempiam militiae servientem a praesidio et
commissa sibi statione discedere_ contra 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 ([Greek: BIATHANATOS], &c. ) Donne discusses the permissible
approaches to suicide. An unpublished _Problem_ shows his knowledge of
John of Salisbury.
ll. 33-4. _Know thy foes, &c. _ I have followed the better MSS. here
against _1633_ and _L74_, _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.
PAGE =156=, l. 49. _Crantz. _ I have adopted the spelling of _W_, which
emphasizes the Dutch character of the name. The 'Crates' of _Q_ is
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.
PAGE =157=, ll. 69-71. _But unmoved thou, &c. _ As punctuated in the
old editions these lines are certainly ambiguous. The semicolon after
'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 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 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 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 the _Ave-Mary_ Bell 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 Friarly _ad religiones factitias_, (as the Romans
call well their orders of Religion), nor immuring it in a Rome, or
a Geneva; 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. ' _Sermons_ 80. 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' of
_1633_ to 'too'. It is a mere change of spelling and has the support
of both _H51_ and _W_. 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 in _1633_ of the full stop or colon
after 'doe', l. 85. Chambers prints:
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 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: 'Act _now_, 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 the
_Satyres_, 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 to _comprehend_ mysteries, but
all eyes can _apprehend_ them, dazzle as they may. ' Compare: 'In all
Philosophy there is not so darke a thing as light; As the sunne which
is _fons lucis naturalis_, the beginning of naturall light, is the
most evident 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 is _clearnesse_ it 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
more _easie_, for a child discerns it, nothing more _hard_ for no man
understands it. It is apprehensible by _sense_, and not comprehensible
by _reason_. If wee winke, wee cannot chuse but see it, if wee stare,
wee know it never the better. ' _Sermons_ 50. 36. 324.
PAGE =158=, 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.
PAGE =158=. SATYRE IIII.
This satire, like several of the period, is based on Horace's _Ibam
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 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 the _Satyres_ Donne 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.
I can trace no further resemblance.
l. 4. _A recreation to, and scarse map of this. _ I have ventured here
to restore, from _Q_ and 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).
PAGE =159=, l. 21. _seaven Antiquaries studies. _ Donne has more than
one hit at Antiquaries. See the _Epigrams_ and _Satyre 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's _The 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 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 unpopularity
in 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's _Annals_, iv. 234-5.
In the same year a bill was promoted in Parliament _against 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
considerable chapter 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's _Annals_, passim, and Meyer, _Die
Katholische Kirche unter Elisabeth_, 1910.
PAGE =160=, 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' of _A25_, _Q_, and the Dyce MS. But the last
two represent, I think, an early version of the _Satyres_, 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 his _Discoveries_: '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 wrote _Historiarum sui temporis Libri XLV. 1553_. Chambers
quotes from the _Nouvelle 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 a _Commentarius brevis
rerum in orbe gestarum ab anno 1550_ (1568), and a _Vitae Sanctorum,
1570 et seq. _ He was accused of inaccuracy by Protestant writers.
It is worth while noting that _Q_ and _O'F_ read '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), and _De 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
a _Dictionarium Octolingue_, and ultimately to a _Dictionarium XI
Linguarum_ (Basel, 1590).
l. 56. _Some other Jesuites. _ The 'other' is found only in _HN_, which
is no very reliable authority. Without it the line wants a 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. The _De
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, the _Vindiciae contra
Tyrannos_ was 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.
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.
In Jonson's _Poetaster_, 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's _Pliny_, 8. 43, _Of
Asses_.
PAGE =153=, 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
devotional _Auslegung 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 of _1633_ and the later editions. It is found
in several MSS. Some of these, on the other hand, like _1633-69_,
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 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.
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.
PAGE =154=, l. 107. _meanes blesse_. The reading of _1633_ has 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 altum
Semper urgendo neque, dum procellas
Cautus horrescis, nimium premendo
Litus iniquum.
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 in _Sat. _ 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_.
PAGE =154=. SATYRE III.
PAGE =155=, 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 the _Satyres_. 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 dicentes _quempiam militiae servientem a praesidio et
commissa sibi statione discedere_ contra 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 ([Greek: BIATHANATOS], &c. ) Donne discusses the permissible
approaches to suicide. An unpublished _Problem_ shows his knowledge of
John of Salisbury.
ll. 33-4. _Know thy foes, &c. _ I have followed the better MSS. here
against _1633_ and _L74_, _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.
PAGE =156=, l. 49. _Crantz. _ I have adopted the spelling of _W_, which
emphasizes the Dutch character of the name. The 'Crates' of _Q_ is
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.
PAGE =157=, ll. 69-71. _But unmoved thou, &c. _ As punctuated in the
old editions these lines are certainly ambiguous. The semicolon after
'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 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 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 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 the _Ave-Mary_ Bell 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 Friarly _ad religiones factitias_, (as the Romans
call well their orders of Religion), nor immuring it in a Rome, or
a Geneva; 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. ' _Sermons_ 80. 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' of
_1633_ to 'too'. It is a mere change of spelling and has the support
of both _H51_ and _W_. 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 in _1633_ of the full stop or colon
after 'doe', l. 85. Chambers prints:
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 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: 'Act _now_, 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 the
_Satyres_, 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 to _comprehend_ mysteries, but
all eyes can _apprehend_ them, dazzle as they may. ' Compare: 'In all
Philosophy there is not so darke a thing as light; As the sunne which
is _fons lucis naturalis_, the beginning of naturall light, is the
most evident 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 is _clearnesse_ it 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
more _easie_, for a child discerns it, nothing more _hard_ for no man
understands it. It is apprehensible by _sense_, and not comprehensible
by _reason_. If wee winke, wee cannot chuse but see it, if wee stare,
wee know it never the better. ' _Sermons_ 50. 36. 324.
PAGE =158=, 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.
PAGE =158=. SATYRE IIII.
This satire, like several of the period, is based on Horace's _Ibam
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 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 the _Satyres_ Donne 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.
I can trace no further resemblance.
l. 4. _A recreation to, and scarse map of this. _ I have ventured here
to restore, from _Q_ and 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).
PAGE =159=, l. 21. _seaven Antiquaries studies. _ Donne has more than
one hit at Antiquaries. See the _Epigrams_ and _Satyre 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's _The 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 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 unpopularity
in 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's _Annals_, iv. 234-5.
In the same year a bill was promoted in Parliament _against 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
considerable chapter 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's _Annals_, passim, and Meyer, _Die
Katholische Kirche unter Elisabeth_, 1910.
PAGE =160=, 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' of _A25_, _Q_, and the Dyce MS. But the last
two represent, I think, an early version of the _Satyres_, 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 his _Discoveries_: '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 wrote _Historiarum sui temporis Libri XLV. 1553_. Chambers
quotes from the _Nouvelle 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 a _Commentarius brevis
rerum in orbe gestarum ab anno 1550_ (1568), and a _Vitae Sanctorum,
1570 et seq. _ He was accused of inaccuracy by Protestant writers.
It is worth while noting that _Q_ and _O'F_ read '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), and _De 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
a _Dictionarium Octolingue_, and ultimately to a _Dictionarium XI
Linguarum_ (Basel, 1590).
l. 56. _Some other Jesuites. _ The 'other' is found only in _HN_, which
is no very reliable authority. Without it the line wants a 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. The _De
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, the _Vindiciae contra
Tyrannos_ was 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.
