All the modern editors have printed 'Calais',
and Grosart considers the allusion to be to the Armada, Norton to the
'old wars with France'.
and Grosart considers the allusion to be to the Armada, Norton to the
'old wars with France'.
John Donne
PAGE =187=. TO S^r HENRY WOOTTON.
The date of this letter is given in two MSS. as July 20, 1598. Its
tone is much the same as that of the previous letter (p. 180) and
of both the fourth and fifth _Satyres_. The theme of them all is the
Court.
l. 2. _Cales or St Michaels tale. _ The point of this allusion was
early lost and has been long in being recovered. The spelling 'Calis'
is a little misleading, as it was used both for Calais and for
Cadiz. In Sir Francis Vere's _Commentaries_ (1657) he speaks of 'The
Calis-journey' and the 'Island voiage'. I have taken 'Cales' from some
MSS. as less ambiguous.
All the modern editors have printed 'Calais',
and Grosart considers the allusion to be to the Armada, Norton to the
'old wars with France'. The reference is to the Cadiz expedition
and the Island voyage: 'Why should I tell you what we both know? ' In
speaking of 'St. Michaels tale' Donne may be referring to the attack
on that particular island, which led to the loss of the opportunity
to capture the plate-fleet. But the 'Islands of St. Michael' was a
synonym for the Azores. 'Thus the ancient Cosmographers do place the
division of the East and Western Hemispheres, that is, the first term
of longitude, in the _Canary_ or fortunate Islands; conceiving these
parts the extreamest habitations Westward: But the Moderns have
altered that term, and translated it unto the _Azores_ or Islands
of St Michael; and that upon a plausible conceit of the small or
insensible variation of the Compass in those parts,' &c. Browne,
_Pseud. Epidem. _ vi. 7.
ll. 10-11. _Fate, (Gods Commissary)_: i. e. God's Deputy or Delegate.
