TO THE
COUNTESSE
OF BEDFORD.
John Donne
D.
gives no example of 'abstain' thus used without 'from'
before the object, and it is tempting with _1635-69_ and all the MSS.
to change 'For' to 'From'. But none of the MSS. has great authority
textually, and the 'For' in _1633_ is too carefully comma'd off to
suggest a mere slip. Probably Donne wrote the line as it stands. One
does not miss the 'from' so much when the verb comes so long after the
object. 'Abstain' acquires the sense of 'forgo'.
ll. 31-2. _And since they'are but her cloathes, &c. _ Compare:
For he who colour loves and skinne,
Loves but their oldest clothes.
_The Undertaking_, p. 10.
PAGE =218=.
TO THE COUNTESSE OF BEDFORD.
l. 13. _Care not then, Madam,'how low your praysers lye. _ I cannot but
think that the 'praysers' of the MSS. is preferable to the 'prayses'
of the editions. It is difficult to construe or make unambiguous sense
of 'how low your prayses lie'. Donne does not wish to suggest that the
praise is poor in itself, but that the giver is a 'low person'. The
word 'prayser' he has already used in a letter to the Countess
(p. 200), and there also it has caused some trouble to editors and
copyists.
ll. 20-1. _Your radiation can all clouds subdue;
But one, 'tis best light to contemplate you. _
Grosart and the Grolier Club editor punctuate these lines so as to
connect 'But one' with what precedes.
Your radiation can all clouds subdue
But one; 'tis best light to contemplate you.
I suppose 'death' in this reading is to be regarded as the one
cloud which the radiation of the Countess cannot dispel.
before the object, and it is tempting with _1635-69_ and all the MSS.
to change 'For' to 'From'. But none of the MSS. has great authority
textually, and the 'For' in _1633_ is too carefully comma'd off to
suggest a mere slip. Probably Donne wrote the line as it stands. One
does not miss the 'from' so much when the verb comes so long after the
object. 'Abstain' acquires the sense of 'forgo'.
ll. 31-2. _And since they'are but her cloathes, &c. _ Compare:
For he who colour loves and skinne,
Loves but their oldest clothes.
_The Undertaking_, p. 10.
PAGE =218=.
TO THE COUNTESSE OF BEDFORD.
l. 13. _Care not then, Madam,'how low your praysers lye. _ I cannot but
think that the 'praysers' of the MSS. is preferable to the 'prayses'
of the editions. It is difficult to construe or make unambiguous sense
of 'how low your prayses lie'. Donne does not wish to suggest that the
praise is poor in itself, but that the giver is a 'low person'. The
word 'prayser' he has already used in a letter to the Countess
(p. 200), and there also it has caused some trouble to editors and
copyists.
ll. 20-1. _Your radiation can all clouds subdue;
But one, 'tis best light to contemplate you. _
Grosart and the Grolier Club editor punctuate these lines so as to
connect 'But one' with what precedes.
Your radiation can all clouds subdue
But one; 'tis best light to contemplate you.
I suppose 'death' in this reading is to be regarded as the one
cloud which the radiation of the Countess cannot dispel.
