These lines from _W_ make the sense more
complete and the transition to the closing invocation less abrupt.
complete and the transition to the closing invocation less abrupt.
John Donne
L.
l. 2. _My Sun is with you. _ Here, as in the letter 'To Mr. C. B. ' (p.
208), reference is made to some lady whose 'servant' Donne is. See the
note to that poem and the quotation from Sir Henry Wotton. It seems to
me most probable that the person referred to was neither Ann More nor
any predecessor of her in Donne's affections, but some noble lady to
whom the poet stood in the attitude of dependence masking itself in
love which Spenser occupied towards Lady Carey, and so many other
poets towards their patronesses. But in regard to all the references
in these letters we can only grope in darkness. As Professor
Saintsbury would say, we do not _really know_ to whom one of the
letters was addressed.
PAGE =214=, ll. 11-12.
These lines from _W_ make the sense more
complete and the transition to the closing invocation less abrupt.
'Sacrifice my heart to that beauteous Sunne; and since being with her
you are in Paradise where joy admits of no addition, think of me
at the sacrifice'; and then begins the prayer to his friend as an
interceding saint. See note to p. 24, l. 22.
The lines seem to have been dropped, not in printing, but at some
stage in transcription, for I have found them in no MS. but _W_.
l. 20. _Thy Sonne ne'r Ward_: i. e. 'May thy son never become a royal
ward, to be handed over to the guardianship of some courtier who will
plunder his estate. ' Sir John Roe's father, in his will, begs his wife
to procure the wardship of his son that he be not utterly ruined.
The series of letters which this to Mr. I. L.
l. 2. _My Sun is with you. _ Here, as in the letter 'To Mr. C. B. ' (p.
208), reference is made to some lady whose 'servant' Donne is. See the
note to that poem and the quotation from Sir Henry Wotton. It seems to
me most probable that the person referred to was neither Ann More nor
any predecessor of her in Donne's affections, but some noble lady to
whom the poet stood in the attitude of dependence masking itself in
love which Spenser occupied towards Lady Carey, and so many other
poets towards their patronesses. But in regard to all the references
in these letters we can only grope in darkness. As Professor
Saintsbury would say, we do not _really know_ to whom one of the
letters was addressed.
PAGE =214=, ll. 11-12.
These lines from _W_ make the sense more
complete and the transition to the closing invocation less abrupt.
'Sacrifice my heart to that beauteous Sunne; and since being with her
you are in Paradise where joy admits of no addition, think of me
at the sacrifice'; and then begins the prayer to his friend as an
interceding saint. See note to p. 24, l. 22.
The lines seem to have been dropped, not in printing, but at some
stage in transcription, for I have found them in no MS. but _W_.
l. 20. _Thy Sonne ne'r Ward_: i. e. 'May thy son never become a royal
ward, to be handed over to the guardianship of some courtier who will
plunder his estate. ' Sir John Roe's father, in his will, begs his wife
to procure the wardship of his son that he be not utterly ruined.
The series of letters which this to Mr. I. L.
