Donne does
not accuse the chroniclers of lying, but of reporting trivialities.
not accuse the chroniclers of lying, but of reporting trivialities.
John Donne
B.
,
_Letters_, p. 201.
PAGE =162=, l. 97. _ten Hollensheads, or Halls, or Stowes. _ Every
reader of these old chroniclers knows how they mingle with their
account of the greater events of each year mention of trifling events,
strange births, fires, &c. This characteristic of the Chronicles is
reflected in the History-Plays based on them. Nash complains of these
'lay-chroniclers that write of nothing but of Mayors and Sherifs, and
the deere yere and the great frost'. _Pierce Penniless. _
ll. 98. _he knowes; He knowes. _ I have followed _D_, _H49_, _Lec_
in thus punctuating. To place the semicolon after 'trash' makes 'Of
triviall household trash' depend rather awkwardly on 'lye'.
Donne does
not accuse the chroniclers of lying, but of reporting trivialities.
PAGE =163=, l. 113-4. _since The Spaniards came, &c. _: i. e. from 1588
to 1597.
l. 117. _To heare this Makeron talke. _ This is the earliest instance
of this Italian word used in English which the O. E. D. quotes, and is
a proof of Donne's Italian travels. The _Vocabolario degli Accademici
della Crusca_ (1747) quotes as an example of the word with this
meaning, _homo crassa Minerva_, in Italian:
O maccheron, ben hai la vista corta.
Bellina, _Sonetti_, 29.
_Letters_, p. 201.
PAGE =162=, l. 97. _ten Hollensheads, or Halls, or Stowes. _ Every
reader of these old chroniclers knows how they mingle with their
account of the greater events of each year mention of trifling events,
strange births, fires, &c. This characteristic of the Chronicles is
reflected in the History-Plays based on them. Nash complains of these
'lay-chroniclers that write of nothing but of Mayors and Sherifs, and
the deere yere and the great frost'. _Pierce Penniless. _
ll. 98. _he knowes; He knowes. _ I have followed _D_, _H49_, _Lec_
in thus punctuating. To place the semicolon after 'trash' makes 'Of
triviall household trash' depend rather awkwardly on 'lye'.
Donne does
not accuse the chroniclers of lying, but of reporting trivialities.
PAGE =163=, l. 113-4. _since The Spaniards came, &c. _: i. e. from 1588
to 1597.
l. 117. _To heare this Makeron talke. _ This is the earliest instance
of this Italian word used in English which the O. E. D. quotes, and is
a proof of Donne's Italian travels. The _Vocabolario degli Accademici
della Crusca_ (1747) quotes as an example of the word with this
meaning, _homo crassa Minerva_, in Italian:
O maccheron, ben hai la vista corta.
Bellina, _Sonetti_, 29.
