i, the ass is
declared
to be the
hieroglyphic of
Patience, frugality, and fortitude.
hieroglyphic of
Patience, frugality, and fortitude.
John Donne
.
.
[he must] wring to the bar bearing-like asses; [he must], more
shameless than carted whores, lie to the grave judge, &c. ' This is the
only method in which I can construe the passage, and it carries with
it the assumption that 'bearing like' should be connected by a hyphen
to form an adjective similar to 'Relique-like', which is the MS. form
of 'Relique-ly' at l. 84. Certainly it is 'he', Coscus, who is 'more
shameless, &c. ,' not his victims. These are the 'bearing-like asses',
the patient Catholics or suspected Catholics whom he wrings to the bar
and forces to disgorge fines. Coscus, a poet in his youth, has become
a Topcliffe in his maturer years. 'Bearing,' 'patient' is the regular
epithet for asses in Elizabethan literature:
Asses are made to bear and so are you.
_Taming of the Shrew_, II. i. 200.
In Jonson's _Poetaster_, v.
i, the ass is declared to be the
hieroglyphic of
Patience, frugality, and fortitude.
Possibly, but it is not very likely, Donne refers not only to the
stupid patience of the ass but to her fertility: 'They be very
gainefull and profitable to their maisters, yielding more commodities
than the revenues of good farmers. ' Holland's _Pliny_, 8. 43, _Of
Asses_.
PAGE =153=, l. 87. _In parchments. _ The plural is the reading of the
better MSS. and seems to me to give the better sense. The final 's'
is so easily overlooked or confounded with a final 'e' that one must
determine the right reading by the sense of the passage.
ll. 93-6. _When Luther was profest, &c. _ The 'power and glory clause'
which is not found in the Vulgate or any of the old Latin versions
of the New Testament (and is therefore not used in Catholic prayers,
public or private), was taken by Erasmus (1516) from all the Greek
codices, though he does not regard it as genuine. Thence it passed
into Luther's (1521) and most Reformed versions. In his popular and
devotional _Auslegung deutsch des Vaterunsers_ (1519) Luther makes no
reference to it.
shameless than carted whores, lie to the grave judge, &c. ' This is the
only method in which I can construe the passage, and it carries with
it the assumption that 'bearing like' should be connected by a hyphen
to form an adjective similar to 'Relique-like', which is the MS. form
of 'Relique-ly' at l. 84. Certainly it is 'he', Coscus, who is 'more
shameless, &c. ,' not his victims. These are the 'bearing-like asses',
the patient Catholics or suspected Catholics whom he wrings to the bar
and forces to disgorge fines. Coscus, a poet in his youth, has become
a Topcliffe in his maturer years. 'Bearing,' 'patient' is the regular
epithet for asses in Elizabethan literature:
Asses are made to bear and so are you.
_Taming of the Shrew_, II. i. 200.
In Jonson's _Poetaster_, v.
i, the ass is declared to be the
hieroglyphic of
Patience, frugality, and fortitude.
Possibly, but it is not very likely, Donne refers not only to the
stupid patience of the ass but to her fertility: 'They be very
gainefull and profitable to their maisters, yielding more commodities
than the revenues of good farmers. ' Holland's _Pliny_, 8. 43, _Of
Asses_.
PAGE =153=, l. 87. _In parchments. _ The plural is the reading of the
better MSS. and seems to me to give the better sense. The final 's'
is so easily overlooked or confounded with a final 'e' that one must
determine the right reading by the sense of the passage.
ll. 93-6. _When Luther was profest, &c. _ The 'power and glory clause'
which is not found in the Vulgate or any of the old Latin versions
of the New Testament (and is therefore not used in Catholic prayers,
public or private), was taken by Erasmus (1516) from all the Greek
codices, though he does not regard it as genuine. Thence it passed
into Luther's (1521) and most Reformed versions. In his popular and
devotional _Auslegung deutsch des Vaterunsers_ (1519) Luther makes no
reference to it.
