_ 'Amber' is here of course 'Ambergris',
which was much used in old cookery, in which considerable importance
was attached to scent as well as flavour.
which was much used in old cookery, in which considerable importance
was attached to scent as well as flavour.
John Donne
19.
273.
'This dark fire, which was not
prepared for us. ' Ibid.
l. 57. _In the East-Indian fleet. _ The MSS. here give us back a word
which _1633_ had dropped, the other editions following suit. It was
the East-Indian fleet which brought spices, the West-Indian brought
'plate', i. e. gold or (more properly) silver, to which there is no
reference here.
l. 58. _or Amber in thy taste?
_ 'Amber' is here of course 'Ambergris',
which was much used in old cookery, in which considerable importance
was attached to scent as well as flavour. Compare:
beasts of chase, or foul of game,
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boil'd,
Gris-amber steam'd;
Milton, _Paradise Regained_, ii. 344.
and
Be sure
The wines be lusty, high, and full of spirit,
And amber'd all.
Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Custom of the Country_, iii. 2.
This was the original meaning of the word 'amber', which was extended
to the yellow fossil resin through some mistaken identification of
the two substances. Mr. Gosse has called my attention to some passages
which seem to indicate that the other amber was also eaten. Tallemant
des Reaux says of the Marquise de Rambouillet, 'Elle bransle un peu la
teste, et cela lui vient d'avoir trop mange d'ambre autrefois. '
This may be ambergris; but Olivier de Serres, in his _Theatre
d'Agriculture_ (1600), speaks of persons who had formed a taste for
drinking 'de l'ambre jaune subtilement pulverise'.
PAGE =134=, ll. 85-6. _Thou hast no such; yet here was this, and more,
An earnest lover, wise then, and before. _
This is the reading of _1633_ and gives, I think, Donne's meaning.
Missing this, later editions placed a full stop after 'more', so that
each line concludes a sentence.
prepared for us. ' Ibid.
l. 57. _In the East-Indian fleet. _ The MSS. here give us back a word
which _1633_ had dropped, the other editions following suit. It was
the East-Indian fleet which brought spices, the West-Indian brought
'plate', i. e. gold or (more properly) silver, to which there is no
reference here.
l. 58. _or Amber in thy taste?
_ 'Amber' is here of course 'Ambergris',
which was much used in old cookery, in which considerable importance
was attached to scent as well as flavour. Compare:
beasts of chase, or foul of game,
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boil'd,
Gris-amber steam'd;
Milton, _Paradise Regained_, ii. 344.
and
Be sure
The wines be lusty, high, and full of spirit,
And amber'd all.
Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Custom of the Country_, iii. 2.
This was the original meaning of the word 'amber', which was extended
to the yellow fossil resin through some mistaken identification of
the two substances. Mr. Gosse has called my attention to some passages
which seem to indicate that the other amber was also eaten. Tallemant
des Reaux says of the Marquise de Rambouillet, 'Elle bransle un peu la
teste, et cela lui vient d'avoir trop mange d'ambre autrefois. '
This may be ambergris; but Olivier de Serres, in his _Theatre
d'Agriculture_ (1600), speaks of persons who had formed a taste for
drinking 'de l'ambre jaune subtilement pulverise'.
PAGE =134=, ll. 85-6. _Thou hast no such; yet here was this, and more,
An earnest lover, wise then, and before. _
This is the reading of _1633_ and gives, I think, Donne's meaning.
Missing this, later editions placed a full stop after 'more', so that
each line concludes a sentence.
