Whilst my
Physitions
by their love are growne
Cosmographers .
Cosmographers .
John Donne
.
only
that bends not to this _Center_, to _Ruine_; that which was not made
of _Nothing_, is not thretned with this annihilation. All other
things are; even _Angels_, even our _soules_; they move upon the same
_Poles_, they bend to the same _Center_; and if they were not made
immortall by _preservation_, their _Nature_ could not keep them from
sinking to this _center_, _Annihilation_' (pp. 216-17).
The difficult line in the sonnet _Resurrection_ (p. 321, l. 8) is
perhaps illuminated by pp. 206-8, where Donne speaks of 'thy first
booke, the booke of _life_', 'thy second book, the booke of Nature,'
and closes a further list with 'to those, _the booke with seven
seals_, which only _the Lamb which was slain, was found worthy to
open_; which, I hope, it shal not disagree with the measure of thy
blessed _spirit_, to interpret, the _promulgation of their pardon,
and righteousnes, who are washed in the blood of the Lamb_'. This is
possibly the 'little booke' of the sonnet, perhaps changed by Donne to
'life-book' to simplify the reference. But the two are not the same.
ADDENDUM.
Vol. I, p. 368, l. 6.
Whilst my Physitions by their love are growne
Cosmographers . . . Sir Julius Caesar's MS. (Addl. MS. 34324) has
_Loer_, scil. _Lore_. This is probably the true reading.
ERRATUM.
=P. 274=, l. 28. _for_ figure-inundation _read_ figure--inundation
INDEX OF FIRST LINES.
(VOL. II.
that bends not to this _Center_, to _Ruine_; that which was not made
of _Nothing_, is not thretned with this annihilation. All other
things are; even _Angels_, even our _soules_; they move upon the same
_Poles_, they bend to the same _Center_; and if they were not made
immortall by _preservation_, their _Nature_ could not keep them from
sinking to this _center_, _Annihilation_' (pp. 216-17).
The difficult line in the sonnet _Resurrection_ (p. 321, l. 8) is
perhaps illuminated by pp. 206-8, where Donne speaks of 'thy first
booke, the booke of _life_', 'thy second book, the booke of Nature,'
and closes a further list with 'to those, _the booke with seven
seals_, which only _the Lamb which was slain, was found worthy to
open_; which, I hope, it shal not disagree with the measure of thy
blessed _spirit_, to interpret, the _promulgation of their pardon,
and righteousnes, who are washed in the blood of the Lamb_'. This is
possibly the 'little booke' of the sonnet, perhaps changed by Donne to
'life-book' to simplify the reference. But the two are not the same.
ADDENDUM.
Vol. I, p. 368, l. 6.
Whilst my Physitions by their love are growne
Cosmographers . . . Sir Julius Caesar's MS. (Addl. MS. 34324) has
_Loer_, scil. _Lore_. This is probably the true reading.
ERRATUM.
=P. 274=, l. 28. _for_ figure-inundation _read_ figure--inundation
INDEX OF FIRST LINES.
(VOL. II.
