_ The comparison
of life and especially politics to a game of chess is probably an old
one.
of life and especially politics to a game of chess is probably an old
one.
John Donne
'Uti est ad intellectum ratiocinatio; ad id quod est, id quod
gignitur; ad aeternitatem, tempus; ad punctum medium, circulus; ita
est fati series mobilis ad Providentiae stabilem simplicitatem. '
Boethius. This is clearly what Donne has in view when he calls Destiny
the Commissary of God or declares that God made but doth not control
her. The idea of Fate in Greek thought which Christian Philosophy
had some difficulty in adjusting to its doctrines of freedom
and providence came from the astronomico-religious ideas of the
Chaldaeans. The idea of Fate 'arose from the observation of the
regularity of the sidereal movements'. Franz Cumont, _Astrology and
Religion among the Greeks and Romans_, 1912, pp. 28, 69.
l. 14. _wishing prayers. _ This may be a phrase corresponding to
'bidding prayers', but 'wishing' is comma'd off as a noun in some MSS.
and 'wishes' may be the author's correction.
PAGE =188=, l. 24. _dull Moralls of a game at Chests.
_ The comparison
of life and especially politics to a game of chess is probably an old
one. Sancho Panza develops it with considerable eloquence.
PAGE =188=. H: W: IN HIBER: BELLIGERANTI.
This poem is taken from the Burley MS. , where it is found along with
a number of poems some of which are by Donne, viz. : the _Satyres_, one
of the _Elegies_, and several of the _Epigrams_. Of the others this
alone has the initials 'J. D. ' added in the margin. There can
be little doubt that it is by Donne,--a continuation of the
correspondence of the years 1597-9 to which the last letter and
'Letters more than kisses' belong. In _Life and Letters of Sir Henry
Wotton_ Mr. Pearsall Smith prints what he takes to be a reply to this
letter and the charge of indolence. 'Sir, It is worth my wondering
that you can complain of my seldom writing, when your own letters come
so fearfully as if they tread all the way upon a bog. I have received
from you a few, and almost every one hath a commission to speak of
divers others of their fellows, like you know who in the old comedy
that asks for the rest of his servants. But you make no mention of
any of mine, yet it is not long since I ventured much of my experience
unto you in a long piece of paper, and perhaps not of my credit; it is
that which I sent you by A.
gignitur; ad aeternitatem, tempus; ad punctum medium, circulus; ita
est fati series mobilis ad Providentiae stabilem simplicitatem. '
Boethius. This is clearly what Donne has in view when he calls Destiny
the Commissary of God or declares that God made but doth not control
her. The idea of Fate in Greek thought which Christian Philosophy
had some difficulty in adjusting to its doctrines of freedom
and providence came from the astronomico-religious ideas of the
Chaldaeans. The idea of Fate 'arose from the observation of the
regularity of the sidereal movements'. Franz Cumont, _Astrology and
Religion among the Greeks and Romans_, 1912, pp. 28, 69.
l. 14. _wishing prayers. _ This may be a phrase corresponding to
'bidding prayers', but 'wishing' is comma'd off as a noun in some MSS.
and 'wishes' may be the author's correction.
PAGE =188=, l. 24. _dull Moralls of a game at Chests.
_ The comparison
of life and especially politics to a game of chess is probably an old
one. Sancho Panza develops it with considerable eloquence.
PAGE =188=. H: W: IN HIBER: BELLIGERANTI.
This poem is taken from the Burley MS. , where it is found along with
a number of poems some of which are by Donne, viz. : the _Satyres_, one
of the _Elegies_, and several of the _Epigrams_. Of the others this
alone has the initials 'J. D. ' added in the margin. There can
be little doubt that it is by Donne,--a continuation of the
correspondence of the years 1597-9 to which the last letter and
'Letters more than kisses' belong. In _Life and Letters of Sir Henry
Wotton_ Mr. Pearsall Smith prints what he takes to be a reply to this
letter and the charge of indolence. 'Sir, It is worth my wondering
that you can complain of my seldom writing, when your own letters come
so fearfully as if they tread all the way upon a bog. I have received
from you a few, and almost every one hath a commission to speak of
divers others of their fellows, like you know who in the old comedy
that asks for the rest of his servants. But you make no mention of
any of mine, yet it is not long since I ventured much of my experience
unto you in a long piece of paper, and perhaps not of my credit; it is
that which I sent you by A.
