' The
ambiguity accounts for the vacillation of the MSS.
ambiguity accounts for the vacillation of the MSS.
John Donne
' _Sermons_ 80.
52.
525.
Gardiner, writing of the treatment of Catholics under Elizabeth, says:
'Hard as this treatment was, it was made worse by the misconduct of
the constables and pursevants whose business it was to search for the
priests who took refuge in the secret chambers which were always to
be found in the mansions of the Catholic gentry. These wretches, under
pretence of discovering the concealed fugitives, were in the habit
of wantonly destroying the furniture or of carrying off valuable
property. ' _Hist. of England_, i. 97.
PAGE =171=, l. 91. The right reading of this line must be either (_a_)
that which we have taken from _N_ and _TCD_, which differs only by a
letter from that of _1633-69_; or (_b_) that of _A25_, _B_, and other
MSS. :
And div'd neare drowning, for what vanished.
The first refers to the suitor. He, like the dog, dives for what _has_
vanished; goes to law for what is irrecoverable. The second reading
would refer to the dog and continue the illustration: 'Thou art
the dog whom shadows cozened and who div'd for what vanish'd.
' The
ambiguity accounts for the vacillation of the MSS. and editions. The
reading of _1669_ is a conjectural emendation. The 'div'd'st' of some
MSS. is an endeavour to get an agreement of tenses after 'what's' had
become 'what'.
PAGE =172=. VPON MR. THOMAS CORYATS CRUDITIES.
These verses were first published in 1611 with a mass of witty and
scurrilous verses by all the 'wits' of the day, prefixed to Coryats
_Crudities hastily gobbled up in five months travells in France,
Savoy, Italy, Rhaetia . . . Newly digested in the hungry aire of
Odcombe, in the County of Somerset, and now dispersed to the
nourishment of the travelling members of this Kingdom_. Coryat was
an eccentric and a favourite butt of the wits, but was not without
ability as well as enterprise. In 1612 he set out on a journey
through the East which took him to Constantinople, Jerusalem, Armenia,
Mesopotamia, Persia, and India. In his letters to the wits at home he
sends greetings to, among others, Christopher Brooke, John Hoskins
(as 'Mr. Ecquinoctial Pasticrust of the Middle Temple'), Ben Jonson,
George Garrat, and 'M.
Gardiner, writing of the treatment of Catholics under Elizabeth, says:
'Hard as this treatment was, it was made worse by the misconduct of
the constables and pursevants whose business it was to search for the
priests who took refuge in the secret chambers which were always to
be found in the mansions of the Catholic gentry. These wretches, under
pretence of discovering the concealed fugitives, were in the habit
of wantonly destroying the furniture or of carrying off valuable
property. ' _Hist. of England_, i. 97.
PAGE =171=, l. 91. The right reading of this line must be either (_a_)
that which we have taken from _N_ and _TCD_, which differs only by a
letter from that of _1633-69_; or (_b_) that of _A25_, _B_, and other
MSS. :
And div'd neare drowning, for what vanished.
The first refers to the suitor. He, like the dog, dives for what _has_
vanished; goes to law for what is irrecoverable. The second reading
would refer to the dog and continue the illustration: 'Thou art
the dog whom shadows cozened and who div'd for what vanish'd.
' The
ambiguity accounts for the vacillation of the MSS. and editions. The
reading of _1669_ is a conjectural emendation. The 'div'd'st' of some
MSS. is an endeavour to get an agreement of tenses after 'what's' had
become 'what'.
PAGE =172=. VPON MR. THOMAS CORYATS CRUDITIES.
These verses were first published in 1611 with a mass of witty and
scurrilous verses by all the 'wits' of the day, prefixed to Coryats
_Crudities hastily gobbled up in five months travells in France,
Savoy, Italy, Rhaetia . . . Newly digested in the hungry aire of
Odcombe, in the County of Somerset, and now dispersed to the
nourishment of the travelling members of this Kingdom_. Coryat was
an eccentric and a favourite butt of the wits, but was not without
ability as well as enterprise. In 1612 he set out on a journey
through the East which took him to Constantinople, Jerusalem, Armenia,
Mesopotamia, Persia, and India. In his letters to the wits at home he
sends greetings to, among others, Christopher Brooke, John Hoskins
(as 'Mr. Ecquinoctial Pasticrust of the Middle Temple'), Ben Jonson,
George Garrat, and 'M.
