It is an echo of:
He rode upon the cherubins and did fly;
He came flying upon the wings of the wind.
He rode upon the cherubins and did fly;
He came flying upon the wings of the wind.
John Donne
Translated and collected by Iohn Porie, late of
Gonevill and Caius College in Cambridge, 1600. ' Of the Niger he says:
'This land of Negros hath a mighty river, which taking his name of the
region is called Niger: this river taketh his originall from the east
out of a certain desert called by the foresaide Negros _Sen_ . . . Our
Cosmographers affirme that the said river of Niger is derived out of
Nilus, which they imagine for some certaine space to be swallowed up
of the earth, and yet at last to burst forth into such a lake as
is before mentioned. ' Pory is mentioned occasionally in Donne's
correspondence.
PAGE =247=, l. 50. _An Angell made a Throne, or Cherubin. _ See _Elegy
XI_, ll. 77-8 and note. Donne, like Shakespeare, uses 'Cherubin' as a
singular. There can be no doubt that the lines in _Macbeth_, I. vii.
21-3, should read:
And pity, like a naked new-born babe
Striding the blast, or heavens cherubins horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air, &c.
It is an echo of:
He rode upon the cherubins and did fly;
He came flying upon the wings of the wind.
Psalm xviii. 10.
'Cherubin' is a singular in Shakespeare, and 'cherubim' as a plural he
did not know.
l. 73. _a Lampe of Balsamum_, i. e. burning balsam instead of ordinary
oil: 'And as _Constantine_ ordained, that upon this day' (Christmas
Day), 'the Church should burne no Oyle, but Balsamum in her Lamps, so
let us ever celebrate this day, with a thankfull acknowledgment, that
Christ who is _unctus Domini_, The Anointed of the Lord, hath anointed
us with the Oyle of gladnesse above our fellowes. ' _Sermons_ 80. 7.
72.
ll. 75-7. _Cloath'd in, &c. _ Chambers's arrangement of these lines is
ingenious but, I think, mistaken because it alters the emphasis of the
sentences.
Gonevill and Caius College in Cambridge, 1600. ' Of the Niger he says:
'This land of Negros hath a mighty river, which taking his name of the
region is called Niger: this river taketh his originall from the east
out of a certain desert called by the foresaide Negros _Sen_ . . . Our
Cosmographers affirme that the said river of Niger is derived out of
Nilus, which they imagine for some certaine space to be swallowed up
of the earth, and yet at last to burst forth into such a lake as
is before mentioned. ' Pory is mentioned occasionally in Donne's
correspondence.
PAGE =247=, l. 50. _An Angell made a Throne, or Cherubin. _ See _Elegy
XI_, ll. 77-8 and note. Donne, like Shakespeare, uses 'Cherubin' as a
singular. There can be no doubt that the lines in _Macbeth_, I. vii.
21-3, should read:
And pity, like a naked new-born babe
Striding the blast, or heavens cherubins horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air, &c.
It is an echo of:
He rode upon the cherubins and did fly;
He came flying upon the wings of the wind.
Psalm xviii. 10.
'Cherubin' is a singular in Shakespeare, and 'cherubim' as a plural he
did not know.
l. 73. _a Lampe of Balsamum_, i. e. burning balsam instead of ordinary
oil: 'And as _Constantine_ ordained, that upon this day' (Christmas
Day), 'the Church should burne no Oyle, but Balsamum in her Lamps, so
let us ever celebrate this day, with a thankfull acknowledgment, that
Christ who is _unctus Domini_, The Anointed of the Lord, hath anointed
us with the Oyle of gladnesse above our fellowes. ' _Sermons_ 80. 7.
72.
ll. 75-7. _Cloath'd in, &c. _ Chambers's arrangement of these lines is
ingenious but, I think, mistaken because it alters the emphasis of the
sentences.
