_ The meaning of this
verse, accepting the 1633 text, is: 'Admit this honest paper to swear
much love,--a love that will not change until with your elevation to
the peerage (or increasing eminence) it must be called _honour_ rather
than _love_.
verse, accepting the 1633 text, is: 'Admit this honest paper to swear
much love,--a love that will not change until with your elevation to
the peerage (or increasing eminence) it must be called _honour_ rather
than _love_.
John Donne
383.
PAGE =214=. TO SIR H. W. AT HIS GOING AMBASSADOR TO VENICE.
On July 8 O. S. , 1604, Wotton was knighted by James, and on the 13th
sailed for Venice. 'He is a gentleman', the Venetian ambassador
reported, 'of excellent condition, wise, prudent, able. Your serenity,
it is to be hoped, will be very well pleased with him. ' Mr. Pearsall
Smith adds, 'It is worth noting that while Wotton was travelling to
Venice, Shakespeare was probably engaged in writing his great Venetian
tragedy, _Othello_, which was acted before James I in November of this
year. '
PAGE =215=, ll. 21-4. _To sweare much love, &c.
_ The meaning of this
verse, accepting the 1633 text, is: 'Admit this honest paper to swear
much love,--a love that will not change until with your elevation to
the peerage (or increasing eminence) it must be called _honour_ rather
than _love_. ' (We _honour_, not _love_, those who are high above us. )
'But when that time comes I shall not more honour your fortune,
the rank that fortune gives you, than I have honoured your honour
["nobleness of mind, scorn of meanness, magnanimity" (Johnson)], your
high character, magnanimity, without it, i. e. when yet unhonoured. '
Donne plays on the word 'honour'.
Walton's version, and the slight variant of this in _1635-69_, give
a different thought, and this is perhaps the correct reading, more
probably either another (perhaps an earlier) version of the poet or an
attempt to correct due to a failure to catch the meaning of the rather
fanciful phrase 'honouring your honour'. The meaning is, 'I shall not
then more honour your fortune than I have your wit while it was still
unhonoured, or (_1635-69_) unennobled. ' The 1633 version seems to me
the more likely to be the correct or final form of the text, because
a reference to character rather than 'wit' or intellectual ability is
implied by the following verse:
But 'tis an easier load (though both oppresse)
To want then governe greatnesse, &c.
This stress on character, too, and indifference to fortune, is quite
in the vein of Donne's and Wotton's earlier verse correspondence and
all Wotton's poetry.
For the distinction between love and honour compare Lyly's _Endimion_,
V. iii. 150-80:
'_Cinthia. _ Was there such a time when as for my love thou
did'st vow thyself to death, and in respect of it loth'd thy
life? Speake Endimion, I will not revenge it with hate . .
PAGE =214=. TO SIR H. W. AT HIS GOING AMBASSADOR TO VENICE.
On July 8 O. S. , 1604, Wotton was knighted by James, and on the 13th
sailed for Venice. 'He is a gentleman', the Venetian ambassador
reported, 'of excellent condition, wise, prudent, able. Your serenity,
it is to be hoped, will be very well pleased with him. ' Mr. Pearsall
Smith adds, 'It is worth noting that while Wotton was travelling to
Venice, Shakespeare was probably engaged in writing his great Venetian
tragedy, _Othello_, which was acted before James I in November of this
year. '
PAGE =215=, ll. 21-4. _To sweare much love, &c.
_ The meaning of this
verse, accepting the 1633 text, is: 'Admit this honest paper to swear
much love,--a love that will not change until with your elevation to
the peerage (or increasing eminence) it must be called _honour_ rather
than _love_. ' (We _honour_, not _love_, those who are high above us. )
'But when that time comes I shall not more honour your fortune,
the rank that fortune gives you, than I have honoured your honour
["nobleness of mind, scorn of meanness, magnanimity" (Johnson)], your
high character, magnanimity, without it, i. e. when yet unhonoured. '
Donne plays on the word 'honour'.
Walton's version, and the slight variant of this in _1635-69_, give
a different thought, and this is perhaps the correct reading, more
probably either another (perhaps an earlier) version of the poet or an
attempt to correct due to a failure to catch the meaning of the rather
fanciful phrase 'honouring your honour'. The meaning is, 'I shall not
then more honour your fortune than I have your wit while it was still
unhonoured, or (_1635-69_) unennobled. ' The 1633 version seems to me
the more likely to be the correct or final form of the text, because
a reference to character rather than 'wit' or intellectual ability is
implied by the following verse:
But 'tis an easier load (though both oppresse)
To want then governe greatnesse, &c.
This stress on character, too, and indifference to fortune, is quite
in the vein of Donne's and Wotton's earlier verse correspondence and
all Wotton's poetry.
For the distinction between love and honour compare Lyly's _Endimion_,
V. iii. 150-80:
'_Cinthia. _ Was there such a time when as for my love thou
did'st vow thyself to death, and in respect of it loth'd thy
life? Speake Endimion, I will not revenge it with hate . .
